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Description
November 27, 75005 BCE; Asgard

The city was up in flames.

The sky was blood red, with smoke pouring into the air and threatening to block out the last traces of color. Buildings were beginning to crumble and fall as war machines filled the air and flooded the streets. Beams of energy zipped in every direction, kicking up a massive explosion from whatever surface or person they hit. The screams of civilians echoed across the city that had suddenly become a battlefield. It was as though the apocalypse had come for them all.

Hovering tall and proud in the middle of all of it was Lucifer, his armor emitting red lights between the cracks of his silver armor. His cracked wings were outstretched, and his mouth stretched his scarred face into a malicious grin as he observed the chaos around him.

“Nothing like a good round of utter destruction, is there, Eve?” he called out. He turned around on the air to face his opponent standing on the rooftop nearby. Eve looked at him with eyes as cold as steel.

“What?” Lucifer continued. “No comment on my latest work?”

“This is where you die, Lucifer,” Eve told him. “For your treachery, and for the destruction you’ve caused.”

That made Lucifer laugh. “Really? You're gonna take me on all alone? Honey, I'd love to see you try!”

“She's not alone.”

Lucifer spun around to see Gabriel flying up to his level, sword in hand. Lucifer scoffed. “My baby brother and his little pet have come to kill me. I took you on just fine last time. I'll gladly kick your asses again.”

“Oh this isn't all of us.”

Suddenly, a blast of energy came hurdling towards Lucifer. It smacked him in the side, causing him to go reeling a bit. The fallen angel spun around again to see Michael hovering above him, his sword glowing bright in his hand.

“This ends now, Lucifer,” he declared, his voice booming.

“Indeed,” said Thor, who appeared on another rooftop with his mighty hammer in hand. “Quite a shame we would have to part as enemies. You were always great at parties!”

Lucifer's grin faded, but not by much. He straightened himself and cracked his knuckles. “Well I'm glad everyone could make it to the grand performance!” he said. “Looks like we've got some honored guests here tonight!”

“You wouldn't know honor if it looked you in the eye!” Eve spat.

Lucifer made a face of mock hurt. “Ouch!” he said. “You wound me with your cruel words, Eve! And after all I've done for you!”

“We're about to hurt you with a lot more than words, you snake.”

Lucifer's grin returned. He pulled out his sword and spread his arms out. “Come on then!” he shouted. “Let's see if you have what it takes!”

And so the battle began.

Eve sprinted over the rooftops and jumped through the air to land on Gabriel's back. Gabriel then dashed forward with his sword, swinging it with all his might at his traitorous brother. Lucifer countered, striking his blade and sending sparks flying. Gabriel unleashed another strike, and another. The two zipped and dipped all through the air with each strike. Eve used her energy gun in the meantime, trying to land a shot. Lucifer reeled back for another attack, but suddenly found himself being tackled by Michael, who had charged him and slammed him straight into the wall of a building, causing it to buckle and crack. Lucifer kicked up the power in his wing jets, thrusting the two of them forward. They wrestled in midair as Eve tried to shoot their enemy without hitting Michael as well.

Lucifer's sword glowed and a burst of energy blasted out of it, sending Michael soaring backwards. Lucifer dashed forward, pulling his sword back for a devastating swing, only to be blasted with a bolt of lightning caused by Thor. The god of thunder swung his hammer in his hands, building up momentum and swinging it upwards. The weight of the hammer carried him into the sky with it, and with a mighty shout, he smacked Lucifer square center with it. The fallen angel went flying into another building, crashing into the roof and leaving a massive dent in the material. Footsteps came his way as Eve ran across the rooftops with her hidden blade raised. She let out a shout as she lunged forward and tried to jab her blade down into his throat. He scowled and brought up his sword to block her arm, however. He lunged up and grabbed her by the collar before activating his thrusters again and taking off into the sky with Eve in hand.

Eve screamed as they went higher and higher, and Lucifer let her drop.

“Eve!” Gabriel shouted as she went screaming through the air towards the ground that was several stories below. Gabriel kicked up his thrusters and dashed up, just in time to catch his friend and save her life.

“Thanks,” she told him.

“Don't thank me yet,” he joked.

They looked over and saw Lucifer was fighting Michael and Thor at once. Thor wielded his hammer, smacking Lucifer and sending vicious bolts of lightning his way. Michael on the other hand did his maneuvers through the air, finding what few openings he could and bombarding Lucifer with strikes of his sword. Lucifer proved a capable fighter though. He used his sword and the energy blasters on his palms to counter and strike. Every drop of blood they drew from him, he paid them right back. All three of them went smacking into buildings left and right, causing them to crumble and fall like all the rest. Eve and Gabriel ducked and dodged around the falling debris as the fight continued.

“I can't get an opening! They're moving too much!” Eve said.

“I can get you in close,” Gabriel told her. She nodded, and so Gabriel kicked up his jets again and dashed straight towards Lucifer. He rammed shoulder first into him, sending both of them spinning away from Michael and Thor. Eve jumped off of Gabriel's back and onto Lucifer's. Gabriel flew back to give her room as she wrestled with Lucifer. The two of them spun wildly in the air as Lucifer tried to shake her off and Eve tried to wound him with her hidden blade.

“You little brat! Get off!” Lucifer shouted.

He shifted the direction of his thrusters and dashed backwards towards another building. Eve gasped as he slammed back first into a window, causing Eve to fall off into a halo of shattered glass. Lucifer took off to return to the fight, while Gabriel rushed down to check on his friend.

“You okay?” he asked her as he helped her to her feet.

“I'll be a lot better once this guy is in the ground,” she told him.

“Bastard's a good fighter, I'll give him that…”

“We gotta find his weak point.”

“Heh. That's gonna be kinda tricky. Archangel armor is one of the toughest things to get through.”

“There's gotta be some kind of weak spot we can use against him.”

Gabriel put a finger on his chin as he thought. “Well…” he said. “I guess if we can damage the main power terminal on his armor-” He pointed to the glowing circle on his own chest for emphasis. “-then we'd be able to ground him and get a chance to stab him.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. You'll have to get me in close again.”

Gabriel nodded. “Gotchya. I can do tha-”

There was a loud bang from outside, even louder than any of the others. The Assassins rushed back to the window and saw the other three duking it out. Thor was crawling out of the wreckage of a building he had just been thrown into. He was very beaten up and very bloody. His hand shook while he held his hammer. Michael, meanwhile, was still attacking Lucifer in the sky with all his might. Their swords swung hard and fast, looking like glowing blurs that sparked and crackled with an unspoken fury. Lucifer's grin was gone now. He was getting really tired of this game really fast.

“Enough!” he shouted suddenly. He set his thrusters backwards again as he used his sword to send out a massive pulse of energy that sent Michael flying into the ground below. Michael's sword flew out of his hands and went spiraling into a rooftop nearby. Lucifer flew up higher into the sky, his sword crackling viciously as it continued to let out energy pulses. Building infrastructures shattered all around him.

“Change of plans,” Eve said to Gabriel. “I'll go grab Michael's sword while you distract Lucifer. Try to lure him towards me and I'll ram it through his heart.”

Gabriel nodded, and with that, he took to the sky again, timing his take off between Lucifer's energy blasts so that he actually had a chance of getting back into the fight. Eve ran to another side of the building, using a chair to break a window and give her access to the rooftops outside. She climbed up and sprinted across the skyline, only looking back to catch a few glimpses of Gabriel trying to fight Lucifer in between his energy pulses. After dipping and dodging past the bolts of lightning that came streaking from the clashing weapons, she leapt down to the rooftop where Michael's sword had embedded itself and sprinted forward to grab it. Lucifer let out another energy blast from his sword, knocking Gabriel into another building. He turned around and spotted her going for the sword.

“Nice try, you sneaky little rat!” he shouted at her. Her swung his sword around, aiming it straight at her. It glowed bright red and let out a surging bolt that streaked in her direction. Her fingertips just touched the handle of the sword when she gasped and jumped backwards. The floor beneath her gave out in a smokey boom. She slammed hard into the floor a couple levels down as ash and rubble rained down on her. She winced in pain as she struggled to stand back up. She clenched her fist, and her eyes widened as she realized she was holding something. She looked at the sword in her hand. Michael's sword. She grinned. She slammed the handle down hard onto the floor and used it to push herself up. She stood as tall as she could to face Lucifer. He didn't seem pleased.

“If my idiot brother couldn't do anything with that little toothpick, then what the hell do you think you're going to do?” he mocked.

She opened her mouth to make a witty comeback, but she was suddenly cut off by a mechanical whir that resonated from Michael's sword. The handle started shaking in her hand. At first, Eve feared it was broken, but suddenly the handle quickly telescoped out, becoming longer than the blade and making it so that she had to hold it with both hands. The blade itself broke apart into four segments along its length. The blade started to curve along the axis that kept each segment in place. Even the blade itself pivoted downwards to become horizontal with the handle. The whirring stopped, and the weapon glowed even brighter.

“A scythe?” Eve gasped as she looked down at it. “Not bad.”

She looked back towards Lucifer, and gasped when she saw him darting through the air right in her direction, his sword raised high. She swung the Scythe around, and with a mighty shout, she whipped it forwards just as Lucifer brought down his blade. The fallen angel went spiraling into the side of a building, sending good layer of concrete down on top of him. Eve looked down at her new weapon with wide eyes.

“This… this is going to be fun!” she managed to laugh. She watched as Lucifer bitterly clawed his way out of the rubble, his face scarred and his eyes full of anger. Eve smiled and posed heroically with the Scythe. She held up two fingers and waved them towards herself, taunting him.

He snarled, and he lunged.

He put his jets in full thrust, and he came barreling out of the rubble towards her. Eve dodged his next attack, flipping onto the nearest rooftop and taking aim with her Scythe. As Lucifer charged her again, she used her weapon’s energy blasts to try and blow a hole in him. She only managed to land a couple shots though, and the devilish fiend was upon her again. They locked blades and sparks went flying. He swung his sword at her head. She ducked and swung back with twice the fury. She flipped and dodged as he tried to attack at different angles in an attempt to confuse her movements. Both seemed equally locked, until suddenly Lucifer flipped around after one of her attacks and rammed her with his shoulder. The force of it sent her flying over the edge of the building. She screamed as she fell and the ground came closer and closer.

“I got ya!” she suddenly heard as Gabriel came flying to the rescue. He caught her close to the ground and started to hover down to a solid standing surface, but suddenly a bolt of energy hit him in the back. He yelled in pain and dropped Eve as he fell himself. They were close enough to the ground so that all the landing gave them was a few gashes and a searing pain. Eve struggled to push herself back up, as did Gabriel. Eve saw her Scythe sticking out of the rubble not far away, and she slowly and painfully tried to pull herself towards it. She heard the sound of jets behind her and she looked just enough to see Lucifer land amongst the rubble and grin maliciously at her.

“Should've just let it happen, Eve,” he gloated as he slowly advanced on her. “It all could've just ended quickly and painlessly if you'd only have let me do my job properly. Now I have no choice. Now I'm going to enjoy killing you, every minute of it.”

He held up his hand. The energy blaster of his palm glowed brighter as a ball of crackling red light started growing above his fingers. It reflected off his scars and bloodstains, giving him an even more hellish look. Gabriel tried to move his arm so that he could shoot Lucifer with his own palm blaster, but Lucifer saw him and used his other hand to give him a quick blast to the funny bone. Gabriel yelled in pain as his arm fell back into the ground.

Lucifer returned his attention to Eve. He seemed to enjoy her struggle to crawl towards her Scythe.

“Not gonna lie,” he went on, “I'm pretty damn pissed about that stunt you pulled back in Tartarus. Do you realize how much of a pain in my ass it was to build all that reality-destroying equipment? Now I have to go around this planet and dig up all the components I need all over again. It could take years to do!”

“Sorry for not being sorry,” she spat back at him, but not looking behind her. She just kept trying to get to her Scythe. Lucifer's energy ball continued to grow and crackle.

“You know, Eve. I'm gonna miss you. I mean it. You were my most entertaining agent of chaos I've made so far.”

He pointed his palm at her, taking aim and about to flex his fingers to unleash his killing blow.

Then suddenly the roar of thunder came booming from behind him.

“For Asgard!” the booming voice of Thor shouted as the thunder god jumped towards Lucifer with his mighty hammer raised high. “This snake shall be slain!”

He brought his hammer down towards Lucifer's face. Lucifer's eyes widened as he frantically spun around and brought his blaster arm up in a vain attempt at defense. Thor’s hammer crashed down onto Lucifer's crackling energy ball, and the next thing all of them experienced was a blinding white flash of light and a deafening bang.

It all happened so fast. The noise was overwhelming. They could hardly even process the smoke that was choking them. After what felt like hours but could've only been a minute or two, the smoke cleared.

Eve coughed and hacked as she got the soot out of her lungs, and then she looked around the battlefield.

Or at least… what was left of it.

The buildings around them had been blasted to shreds, forming a crater of rubble that stretched for dozens of meters in every direction. Smoke filled the skies and blackened out any trace of the sun. She looked around for Lucifer and her allies. Gabriel was on one end of the crater, struggling to his feet. Michael was embedded in a chunk of wall, clearly in pain but still breathing. And Thor…

Thor came walking out of the clearing smoke towards Eve. His face was pale and a clear sign of his agony. He took a step forward, his blood-soaked body shaking with every move. He took another step, and another, and another, and on the ninth step, he fell. His hammer rolled out of his deathly hands and his eyes glossed over as he laid there and went completely still the the burning rubble. Eve put her hand to her mouth. He was gone.

As her mind tried to process this change of events, she caught sight of Lucifer. He was still breathing, and was trying to pull himself up out of the pile of ash and his own blood. Eve frantically looked around, and she saw Michael's Scythe not far away. She used every ounce of her strength to force herself onto her feet and sprint over to it. She yanked it out of the rubble and pivoted the blade back to align with the handle. She ran forward, not slowing down even with how much running hurt. Lucifer painfully turned his head just in time to see her rush up to him, raise her blade high, and with a shrill shout of rage, she brought the Scythe down on him, driving it straight through his heart. Lucifer let out his final scream of agony, and then his body went limp. The last bit of movement he ever did was rolling his glassy, bloodshot, angry eyes in her direction.

Eve stood there, leaning on the handle of the Scythe for a long moment, before she finally ripped it out of the devil's body and she collapsed onto her knees. She felt herself crying, but she didn't feel it. She was drained, in body and mind. She barely even noticed Gabriel limping over to her and staring down at his dead brother. He lowered his head in sadness. He put his hand on Eve's shoulder.

It was done.

The city around them seemed unnaturally quiet, even with the battle raging around it. The world almost seemed to be shut out. She only really began to notice once everything started to fade away from view, disappearing into the blinding light that consumed her vision and carried her back to her own time. The light faded away, retreating back into the memory disk, leaving Arktalaki back in the snowy forests. She sat in silence for a moment before stowing the disk back into her satchel. So much destruction, so much loss.

As the forest gave way to the Animus’s sea of ones and zeroes, the thought lingered on her mind: “I hope I can help bring an end to it all…”

That was the last thought before her mind gave way and let Ava's go free once more. She felt her body returning to her as she floated her way back through the void of binary that was going to carry her to Animus Island.

But something felt… wrong. It felt different this time, not as smooth, as if the Animus was having a tough time piecing her back together. She managed to finally drop back down onto the soft grasses of the Island.

And the ground was rumbling.

Description
November 27, 75005 BCE; Asgard

The city was up in flames.

The sky was blood red, with smoke pouring into the air and threatening to block out the last traces of color. Buildings were beginning to crumble and fall as war machines filled the air and flooded the streets. Beams of energy zipped in every direction, kicking up a massive explosion from whatever surface or person they hit. The screams of civilians echoed across the city that had suddenly become a battlefield. It was as though the apocalypse had come for them all.

Hovering tall and proud in the middle of all of it was Lucifer, his armor emitting red lights between the cracks of his silver armor. His cracked wings were outstretched, and his mouth stretched his scarred face into a malicious grin as he observed the chaos around him.

“Nothing like a good round of utter destruction, is there, Eve?” he called out. He turned around on the air to face his opponent standing on the rooftop nearby. Eve looked at him with eyes as cold as steel.

“What?” Lucifer continued. “No comment on my latest work?”

“This is where you die, Lucifer,” Eve told him. “For your treachery, and for the destruction you’ve caused.”

That made Lucifer laugh. “Really? You're gonna take me on all alone? Honey, I'd love to see you try!”

“She's not alone.”

Lucifer spun around to see Gabriel flying up to his level, sword in hand. Lucifer scoffed. “My baby brother and his little pet have come to kill me. I took you on just fine last time. I'll gladly kick your asses again.”

“Oh this isn't all of us.”

Suddenly, a blast of energy came hurdling towards Lucifer. It smacked him in the side, causing him to go reeling a bit. The fallen angel spun around again to see Michael hovering above him, his sword glowing bright in his hand.

“This ends now, Lucifer,” he declared, his voice booming.

“Indeed,” said Thor, who appeared on another rooftop with his mighty hammer in hand. “Quite a shame we would have to part as enemies. You were always great at parties!”

Lucifer's grin faded, but not by much. He straightened himself and cracked his knuckles. “Well I'm glad everyone could make it to the grand performance!” he said. “Looks like we've got some honored guests here tonight!”

“You wouldn't know honor if it looked you in the eye!” Eve spat.

Lucifer made a face of mock hurt. “Ouch!” he said. “You wound me with your cruel words, Eve! And after all I've done for you!”

“We're about to hurt you with a lot more than words, you snake.”

Lucifer's grin returned. He pulled out his sword and spread his arms out. “Come on then!” he shouted. “Let's see if you have what it takes!”

And so the battle began.

Eve sprinted over the rooftops and jumped through the air to land on Gabriel's back. Gabriel then dashed forward with his sword, swinging it with all his might at his traitorous brother. Lucifer countered, striking his blade and sending sparks flying. Gabriel unleashed another strike, and another. The two zipped and dipped all through the air with each strike. Eve used her energy gun in the meantime, trying to land a shot. Lucifer reeled back for another attack, but suddenly found himself being tackled by Michael, who had charged him and slammed him straight into the wall of a building, causing it to buckle and crack. Lucifer kicked up the power in his wing jets, thrusting the two of them forward. They wrestled in midair as Eve tried to shoot their enemy without hitting Michael as well.

Lucifer's sword glowed and a burst of energy blasted out of it, sending Michael soaring backwards. Lucifer dashed forward, pulling his sword back for a devastating swing, only to be blasted with a bolt of lightning caused by Thor. The god of thunder swung his hammer in his hands, building up momentum and swinging it upwards. The weight of the hammer carried him into the sky with it, and with a mighty shout, he smacked Lucifer square center with it. The fallen angel went flying into another building, crashing into the roof and leaving a massive dent in the material. Footsteps came his way as Eve ran across the rooftops with her hidden blade raised. She let out a shout as she lunged forward and tried to jab her blade down into his throat. He scowled and brought up his sword to block her arm, however. He lunged up and grabbed her by the collar before activating his thrusters again and taking off into the sky with Eve in hand.

Eve screamed as they went higher and higher, and Lucifer let her drop.

“Eve!” Gabriel shouted as she went screaming through the air towards the ground that was several stories below. Gabriel kicked up his thrusters and dashed up, just in time to catch his friend and save her life.

“Thanks,” she told him.

“Don't thank me yet,” he joked.

They looked over and saw Lucifer was fighting Michael and Thor at once. Thor wielded his hammer, smacking Lucifer and sending vicious bolts of lightning his way. Michael on the other hand did his maneuvers through the air, finding what few openings he could and bombarding Lucifer with strikes of his sword. Lucifer proved a capable fighter though. He used his sword and the energy blasters on his palms to counter and strike. Every drop of blood they drew from him, he paid them right back. All three of them went smacking into buildings left and right, causing them to crumble and fall like all the rest. Eve and Gabriel ducked and dodged around the falling debris as the fight continued.

“I can't get an opening! They're moving too much!” Eve said.

“I can get you in close,” Gabriel told her. She nodded, and so Gabriel kicked up his jets again and dashed straight towards Lucifer. He rammed shoulder first into him, sending both of them spinning away from Michael and Thor. Eve jumped off of Gabriel's back and onto Lucifer's. Gabriel flew back to give her room as she wrestled with Lucifer. The two of them spun wildly in the air as Lucifer tried to shake her off and Eve tried to wound him with her hidden blade.

“You little brat! Get off!” Lucifer shouted.

He shifted the direction of his thrusters and dashed backwards towards another building. Eve gasped as he slammed back first into a window, causing Eve to fall off into a halo of shattered glass. Lucifer took off to return to the fight, while Gabriel rushed down to check on his friend.

“You okay?” he asked her as he helped her to her feet.

“I'll be a lot better once this guy is in the ground,” she told him.

“Bastard's a good fighter, I'll give him that…”

“We gotta find his weak point.”

“Heh. That's gonna be kinda tricky. Archangel armor is one of the toughest things to get through.”

“There's gotta be some kind of weak spot we can use against him.”

Gabriel put a finger on his chin as he thought. “Well…” he said. “I guess if we can damage the main power terminal on his armor-” He pointed to the glowing circle on his own chest for emphasis. “-then we'd be able to ground him and get a chance to stab him.”

“Sounds like a plan to me. You'll have to get me in close again.”

Gabriel nodded. “Gotchya. I can do tha-”

There was a loud bang from outside, even louder than any of the others. The Assassins rushed back to the window and saw the other three duking it out. Thor was crawling out of the wreckage of a building he had just been thrown into. He was very beaten up and very bloody. His hand shook while he held his hammer. Michael, meanwhile, was still attacking Lucifer in the sky with all his might. Their swords swung hard and fast, looking like glowing blurs that sparked and crackled with an unspoken fury. Lucifer's grin was gone now. He was getting really tired of this game really fast.

“Enough!” he shouted suddenly. He set his thrusters backwards again as he used his sword to send out a massive pulse of energy that sent Michael flying into the ground below. Michael's sword flew out of his hands and went spiraling into a rooftop nearby. Lucifer flew up higher into the sky, his sword crackling viciously as it continued to let out energy pulses. Building infrastructures shattered all around him.

“Change of plans,” Eve said to Gabriel. “I'll go grab Michael's sword while you distract Lucifer. Try to lure him towards me and I'll ram it through his heart.”

Gabriel nodded, and with that, he took to the sky again, timing his take off between Lucifer's energy blasts so that he actually had a chance of getting back into the fight. Eve ran to another side of the building, using a chair to break a window and give her access to the rooftops outside. She climbed up and sprinted across the skyline, only looking back to catch a few glimpses of Gabriel trying to fight Lucifer in between his energy pulses. After dipping and dodging past the bolts of lightning that came streaking from the clashing weapons, she leapt down to the rooftop where Michael's sword had embedded itself and sprinted forward to grab it. Lucifer let out another energy blast from his sword, knocking Gabriel into another building. He turned around and spotted her going for the sword.

“Nice try, you sneaky little rat!” he shouted at her. Her swung his sword around, aiming it straight at her. It glowed bright red and let out a surging bolt that streaked in her direction. Her fingertips just touched the handle of the sword when she gasped and jumped backwards. The floor beneath her gave out in a smokey boom. She slammed hard into the floor a couple levels down as ash and rubble rained down on her. She winced in pain as she struggled to stand back up. She clenched her fist, and her eyes widened as she realized she was holding something. She looked at the sword in her hand. Michael's sword. She grinned. She slammed the handle down hard onto the floor and used it to push herself up. She stood as tall as she could to face Lucifer. He didn't seem pleased.

“If my idiot brother couldn't do anything with that little toothpick, then what the hell do you think you're going to do?” he mocked.

She opened her mouth to make a witty comeback, but she was suddenly cut off by a mechanical whir that resonated from Michael's sword. The handle started shaking in her hand. At first, Eve feared it was broken, but suddenly the handle quickly telescoped out, becoming longer than the blade and making it so that she had to hold it with both hands. The blade itself broke apart into four segments along its length. The blade started to curve along the axis that kept each segment in place. Even the blade itself pivoted downwards to become horizontal with the handle. The whirring stopped, and the weapon glowed even brighter.

“A scythe?” Eve gasped as she looked down at it. “Not bad.”

She looked back towards Lucifer, and gasped when she saw him darting through the air right in her direction, his sword raised high. She swung the Scythe around, and with a mighty shout, she whipped it forwards just as Lucifer brought down his blade. The fallen angel went spiraling into the side of a building, sending good layer of concrete down on top of him. Eve looked down at her new weapon with wide eyes.

“This… this is going to be fun!” she managed to laugh. She watched as Lucifer bitterly clawed his way out of the rubble, his face scarred and his eyes full of anger. Eve smiled and posed heroically with the Scythe. She held up two fingers and waved them towards herself, taunting him.

He snarled, and he lunged.

He put his jets in full thrust, and he came barreling out of the rubble towards her. Eve dodged his next attack, flipping onto the nearest rooftop and taking aim with her Scythe. As Lucifer charged her again, she used her weapon’s energy blasts to try and blow a hole in him. She only managed to land a couple shots though, and the devilish fiend was upon her again. They locked blades and sparks went flying. He swung his sword at her head. She ducked and swung back with twice the fury. She flipped and dodged as he tried to attack at different angles in an attempt to confuse her movements. Both seemed equally locked, until suddenly Lucifer flipped around after one of her attacks and rammed her with his shoulder. The force of it sent her flying over the edge of the building. She screamed as she fell and the ground came closer and closer.

“I got ya!” she suddenly heard as Gabriel came flying to the rescue. He caught her close to the ground and started to hover down to a solid standing surface, but suddenly a bolt of energy hit him in the back. He yelled in pain and dropped Eve as he fell himself. They were close enough to the ground so that all the landing gave them was a few gashes and a searing pain. Eve struggled to push herself back up, as did Gabriel. Eve saw her Scythe sticking out of the rubble not far away, and she slowly and painfully tried to pull herself towards it. She heard the sound of jets behind her and she looked just enough to see Lucifer land amongst the rubble and grin maliciously at her.

“Should've just let it happen, Eve,” he gloated as he slowly advanced on her. “It all could've just ended quickly and painlessly if you'd only have let me do my job properly. Now I have no choice. Now I'm going to enjoy killing you, every minute of it.”

He held up his hand. The energy blaster of his palm glowed brighter as a ball of crackling red light started growing above his fingers. It reflected off his scars and bloodstains, giving him an even more hellish look. Gabriel tried to move his arm so that he could shoot Lucifer with his own palm blaster, but Lucifer saw him and used his other hand to give him a quick blast to the funny bone. Gabriel yelled in pain as his arm fell back into the ground.

Lucifer returned his attention to Eve. He seemed to enjoy her struggle to crawl towards her Scythe.

“Not gonna lie,” he went on, “I'm pretty damn pissed about that stunt you pulled back in Tartarus. Do you realize how much of a pain in my ass it was to build all that reality-destroying equipment? Now I have to go around this planet and dig up all the components I need all over again. It could take years to do!”

“Sorry for not being sorry,” she spat back at him, but not looking behind her. She just kept trying to get to her Scythe. Lucifer's energy ball continued to grow and crackle.

“You know, Eve. I'm gonna miss you. I mean it. You were my most entertaining agent of chaos I've made so far.”

He pointed his palm at her, taking aim and about to flex his fingers to unleash his killing blow.

Then suddenly the roar of thunder came booming from behind him.

“For Asgard!” the booming voice of Thor shouted as the thunder god jumped towards Lucifer with his mighty hammer raised high. “This snake shall be slain!”

He brought his hammer down towards Lucifer's face. Lucifer's eyes widened as he frantically spun around and brought his blaster arm up in a vain attempt at defense. Thor’s hammer crashed down onto Lucifer's crackling energy ball, and the next thing all of them experienced was a blinding white flash of light and a deafening bang.

It all happened so fast. The noise was overwhelming. They could hardly even process the smoke that was choking them. After what felt like hours but could've only been a minute or two, the smoke cleared.

Eve coughed and hacked as she got the soot out of her lungs, and then she looked around the battlefield.

Or at least… what was left of it.

The buildings around them had been blasted to shreds, forming a crater of rubble that stretched for dozens of meters in every direction. Smoke filled the skies and blackened out any trace of the sun. She looked around for Lucifer and her allies. Gabriel was on one end of the crater, struggling to his feet. Michael was embedded in a chunk of wall, clearly in pain but still breathing. And Thor…

Thor came walking out of the clearing smoke towards Eve. His face was pale and a clear sign of his agony. He took a step forward, his blood-soaked body shaking with every move. He took another step, and another, and another, and on the ninth step, he fell. His hammer rolled out of his deathly hands and his eyes glossed over as he laid there and went completely still the the burning rubble. Eve put her hand to her mouth. He was gone.

As her mind tried to process this change of events, she caught sight of Lucifer. He was still breathing, and was trying to pull himself up out of the pile of ash and his own blood. Eve frantically looked around, and she saw Michael's Scythe not far away. She used every ounce of her strength to force herself onto her feet and sprint over to it. She yanked it out of the rubble and pivoted the blade back to align with the handle. She ran forward, not slowing down even with how much running hurt. Lucifer painfully turned his head just in time to see her rush up to him, raise her blade high, and with a shrill shout of rage, she brought the Scythe down on him, driving it straight through his heart. Lucifer let out his final scream of agony, and then his body went limp. The last bit of movement he ever did was rolling his glassy, bloodshot, angry eyes in her direction.

Eve stood there, leaning on the handle of the Scythe for a long moment, before she finally ripped it out of the devil's body and she collapsed onto her knees. She felt herself crying, but she didn't feel it. She was drained, in body and mind. She barely even noticed Gabriel limping over to her and staring down at his dead brother. He lowered his head in sadness. He put his hand on Eve's shoulder.

It was done.

The city around them seemed unnaturally quiet, even with the battle raging around it. The world almost seemed to be shut out. She only really began to notice once everything started to fade away from view, disappearing into the blinding light that consumed her vision and carried her back to her own time. The light faded away, retreating back into the memory disk, leaving Arktalaki back in the snowy forests. She sat in silence for a moment before stowing the disk back into her satchel. So much destruction, so much loss.

As the forest gave way to the Animus’s sea of ones and zeroes, the thought lingered on her mind: “I hope I can help bring an end to it all…”

That was the last thought before her mind gave way and let Ava's go free once more. She felt her body returning to her as she floated her way back through the void of binary that was going to carry her to Animus Island.

But something felt… wrong. It felt different this time, not as smooth, as if the Animus was having a tough time piecing her back together. She managed to finally drop back down onto the soft grasses of the Island.

And the ground was rumbling.