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Description
January 6, 1894; The Hague, Netherlands

Apsarini sprinted across the rooftops. She ignored the pain in her feet as they slammed hard into the roof tiles and sprung her forward. She couldn't afford to waste any time. If she didn't hurry, Boumeester would…

No, she didn't even have time to think about the alternative. She just had to make sure it didn't happen.

She only allowed herself to stop once Noordeinde Palace was well in her sights across the street. A crowd of well-dressed people and guards were flocking at the entrance, waiting to enter. Apsarini felt at least a little relief from that. There was no massive panic going on. The queen wasn't dead. Not yet. She still had time, albeit very little.

The place was littered with guards, as Apsarini expected. She knew there was no way asking politely was going to get her inside. She had to sneak.

Her eyes darted across the building, canceling out all other sights that weren't an open window, and they locked on to such a window once they saw one. Apsarini dashed across the rooftops again, her robes flowing behind her and her hood threatening to fly off. She reached the closest building to the window that she could find, and jumped straight off the edge. She sailed through the sky, praying her momentum would be enough to carry her to the windowsill. To her relief, it was. Her fingers latched onto the edge of the window, and she hauled herself inside.

She hated having to go slower, but now she had no choice. She had to keep her eyes peeled for any signs of guards. The only blood she intended on spilling today was Boumeester’s and his lackeys’.

She dipped and ducked around the doors and corners of the extravagant palace, taking care not to break any of the valuable decorations that lined the halls. She kept her ears open, and she followed the sounds of the crowds to make her way to the ceremony room.

After knocking out a couple guards with sleep darts, she rushed through the door they were guarding. She found herself on a balcony far above the massive room where everyone was gathering. She ran to the edge and scanned the scene below, using her Eagle Vision to make things faster. On the far side of the room stood two regal women in large gorgeous gowns. One was older, with spectacles and hair that was just beginning to grey. The other was younger, with a smooth, plump face and short groomed hair. The elder, Apsarini recognized as Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the Queen regent of the Netherlands until her daughter reached the required age to fully rule. The younger was the Queen herself, Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the girl whom Apsarini came to save.

The two royals were in the middle of rewarding the honorable citizens that had earned their place in the Order of Orange-Nassau, a big accomplishment and a huge honor based on what Apsarini was told. The ceremony seemed to carry on, unknowingly setting the stage for a bloody spectacle. Apsarini frantically looked around the room, trying to find Boumeester. She let out a gasp when she spotted him, amongst a line of guards that were no doubt loyal to him. They were arranged in front of the stage, between the audience and the royals. Boumeester stood behind them all, with a devilish smile stretching his wrinkled face. He was waiting, Apsarini could tell, waiting for the perfect moment to reveal his true colors and paint this room red. Apsarini had to act fast.

She rushed into a corner of the balcony that was slightly cut off from the crowd's view by a set of curtains. She scurried up the wall and hooked her hands onto the intricate architecture near the ceiling. She shimmied along the wall, acting fast as she knew it wouldn't be long before someone saw her called her out. She noticed Boumeester below, walking towards the Queen as the last initiate was leaving the stage. She greeted him warmly as he approached.

“Ah! General Boumeester!” Apsarini heard Wilhelmina say. “What is it, good sir?”

“I would like to say a few special things to the audience in honor of the new members,” he said innocently.

“But of course! Go right ahead”

Apsarini could practically hear him sneer. She tried to speed up her pace. She tried finding a place where she could easily jump onto one of the chandeliers.

Boumeester stood at the front of the stage for all to see. “Citizens of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” he addressed them, his voice booming. “Thank you all so much for being here tonight, both for the ceremony of these new drones of this Order, and for the beginning of a new era.”

The crowd seemed noticeably confused, as did the royals. Boumeester’s men turned around to face the stage. Apsarini took a deep breath and lunged onto one of the chandeliers, struggling to keep her grip as it swung and trying to haul herself up.

“You see, at the end of the day all of this means nothing,” continued Boumeester as his men blocked the exits. “These Orders, these ceremonies, these monarchs. None of it matters. It's all a pathetic human invention to make yourselves feel like more than you really are. But you're not. You're all just sheep waiting to be led, and then slaughtered. So I figure, why not have a little fun playing with the livestock?”

Apsarini ran across the chandeliers as fast as she could, breaking quite a few expensive crystals on them as she did. Boumeester’s men circled in on the now terrified royal family. The Templar Grand Master reached into his jacket and pulled out a revolver, which he cocked…

And aimed.

It all happened so fast. Apsarini came leaping down from the ceiling, arms outstretched, hidden blade raised. She barreled through the sky right towards Boumeester. One more second, and her blade would be in his throat.

But just as she was about to come down on his shoulders, he suddenly dropped his gun and instead flipped something out of his sleeve. Apsarini didn't even get the chance to register it. Before she knew it, she was hot with a massive blast light and she found herself being flung across the room. The crowd screamed and panicked as Apsarini painfully stood up to face her greatest foe.

“So! The prodigal daughter returns to claim her prize, ey?” Boumeester mocked as he came striding down towards her. She responded by flicking her hidden blades out again.

Boumeester just grinned that obnoxiously arrogant grin and held up the glowing thing in his hand. “Now here's the big question, granny: is your prize me, or this?”

Apsarini couldn't help but gasp as she recognized the object he was holding. In his hands he held the key to the Temple of Lucifer, the trigger to Krakatoa, the beacon of destruction. In his hands was the Pick of Eden. She scowled.

“My prize is the liberty of my people, you scoundrel!” she spat at him.

He laughed. “Really? You're still on that? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're all so daft and simple.”

“Are you going to shut up and fight or will I have to cut your lips off myself?”

“I'd like to see you try.”

That pissed her off. She charged.

She came rushing at him with her blades, and he did nothing. He stood completely still even as she came barreling down on him. He wore that stupid grin as she came closer and closer, and she lunged at him like a jungle cat…

... and she found herself tumbling to the floor as she hit nothing but air. She stood and spun around, looking every direction. Boumeester had just disappeared into thin air.

“What the-” she said. She looked all around, her eyes locking with the queen’s. She seemed safe since the few loyal guards she had around her kept Boumeester’s men, who suddenly seemed too terrified to move, at bay.

“Don't worry,” Apsarini assured her. “I won't let him bring you har-”

She didn't have time to finish before she found herself being kicked to the ground and pinned by Boumeester’s boot. She only barely managed to look over her shoulder. She saw him standing in front of what looked like a glass shatter in midair, just like she had seen in Ketimbang all those years ago. Her heart sank as she realized that he was using the Pick’s bizarre powers to fight her. This was not going to be easy…

“You know, granny, I don't know what's funnier,” Boumeester mocked. “The fact that you think this little shrimp in the fancy furs and crown is going to do anything to really help your people, or the fact that you still think your goals are worth fighting for at all.”

Apsarini grit her teeth and managed to free her arm from his hold just long enough to thrust it back and slice his ankle with her hidden blade. He yelped in pain and with a shout she shoved him off of her. She rolled away and grabbed her mandau. “Better her at least try to make things better than let you and your Templars take control!” she said.

Boumeester’s grin started fading as he drew his sword. “Really? You still think I give a damn about taking control? That I give a damn what these Templars want? I knew you were stupid, but I assumed you wouldn't be stupid enough to not figure it out yet.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Exactly.”

The Pick of Eden glowed and he stepped through another shatter in reality, appearing moments later from another shatter right in front of her. She braced as his sword came swiping down on her. The two clashed and swung with the ferocity of two tigers. Boumeester did have the advantage, however. He used his portals to move about in impossible ways, trying to disorient Apsarini. She did her best to watch for him, however. She couldn't let herself be bested. Too much was on the line. She managed to hack a few bleeding gashes into Boumeester when he popped out into view. His grin was gone, replaced with a look of annoyance over the fact that he was losing. He disappeared again after making his enemy bleed as well.

Apsarini snarled as she spun around looking for where he's pop up next. She heard the portal open behind her, and she did that first thing that her instincts told her to do: she charged. Boumeester barely had time to react before Apsarini lunged at him and tackled him, sending the both of them tumbling through the portal at once.

Apsarini rubbed her head as she pushed herself up off the ground that she had gone rolling across. She heard the sound of something snapping shut behind her, and she gasped. She spun around just in time to see the gateway disappear behind her. Her stomach dropped.

The thing that truly solidified her terror though was the sight that suddenly surrounded her. She put her hand to her mouth. She was… she was…

She had no clue.

Nothing looked like reality. It looked like the entire world around her was made of shattered crystals, each slightly reflecting a different scene. Things seemed to glow and randomly float in air. As she looked down, she saw that she herself was standing on a big floating platform. She couldn't see a floor over the edge. Just a deep, threatening fog. It all looked like something out of a drug-induced fever dream.

She began to breathe faster than she would've liked. What the hell was this place? How was she going to get back? And most importantly, where was Boumeester?

Her last question was at least answered. Up on another floating platform, she heard a portal reopen, and she spun to see Boumeester stepping out of it and looking down on her. That grin of his had returned despite his bleeding scars.

“You really shouldn't have done that, granny,” he mocked. “You're in my domain now!”

“Stop calling me granny!” she said, not having this. “Why do you even do that? And what the hell do you mean ‘your domain’? Where are we?”

Boumeester paced his platform, holding the Pick of Eden as its glow mocked her. “I call you granny because you're her ancestor,” he said. “That little punk who thinks she has a chance of stopping me.”

“What?” she said. Ancestor? But she never even…

...she suddenly started to realize why she kept throwing up in the mornings…

Oh…

“Not that it's important to you at all. You're just a tool in this game, an eyepiece for someone else to look through. Gabriel thinks he's so righteous, saying we should let humans be free. And yet he sets up events like these for you pathetic humans to explore. What a hypocrite…” His face grew very, very dark, but he regained himself and continued. “But that's neither here nor there. You asked where we are? Well honey, we're in Hell.”

“What are you talking about?” She didn't want to admit she was as scared as she was.

“Hell, Ms. Rajawali. Tartarus, Popogusso, Helheim, whatever you want to call it. Surely you've heard of it.”

“This… this can't be actually Hell!”

“Oh but it is. Every one of your human myths holds truth in our technology. Your legends of lost cities and golden apples, all came from us. And this? This place is no exception. It was part of an experiment I helped fund with the King and his scientists. Our first step into the mysterious realm of dimensional shifts. This world has many layers, you see, many plains which we can't see, many worlds beyond our own. A perfect place for colonists and those who don't have room… and those we need to keep prisoner.”

Apsarini found herself instinctively step back a bit. Boumeester held the Pick high and opened another portal, stepping out of another one on the opposite side of her platform. He started slowly walking towards her.

“Who are you?” Apsarini stuttered.

He smiled, a wicked curl that could only be accomplished by a demon. “I think you already know,” he said.

Apsarini started thinking back to Krakatoa. The pieces in her head started clicking together as she realized what happened that day.

“You're him…” she gasped. “You're Lucifer, the Devil himself…”

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!”

Apsarini couldn't think of anything to say. She was going up against the Devil. What could she say? All she could do was flick out her hidden blades.

“So what?” she asked, her voice shaky. “You're using Boumeester as… a sort of meatsuit?”

“Essentially. After what Gabriel and Eve did, I've been trapped as a phantom of information. I need a host, unfortunately. And I need my Pieces too in order to carry out everything I'm planning. This Pick is only the first.”

“I don't care what you need. I'm going to stop you!”

“You're cute when you have hope.”

He charged.

He hacked and slashed at her with a knife he pulled out, landing some deep cuts. But she managed to counter eventually, and she started doing damage of her own. She kicked and bruised and bled, but so did he. Their motions were a blur, each of them putting every ounce of speed and effort into swinging their blades. Lucifer rammed her with his shoulder when she wasn't expecting it and shoved her off the edge of the platform. She screamed as she fell but acted fast and managed to grab another platform that went floating past. She hurled herself up and immediately went to her pistol. She fired a few shots at the Devil, some of the bullets making their mark and some shattering the ethereal crystals that made up the platforms.

She started hopping onto different platforms trying to make her way back up. Lucifer shot at her with Boumeester’s gun, though she managed to dodge. She came barreling down on him when she made it back. He was about to step out through another portal, but she tackled him just as it opened. The two hacked at one another as they went tumbling through the air on the other side. They each slammed into another platform, shattering some of it upon impact. They both quickly recovered and went back to the blur of blades.

Lucifer kept using his disappearing act in an attempt to confuse her, but she learned fast, using her Eagle Vision where she could to help in the slightest. Every time he appeared, she brought up her blade to meet his. He started losing his grin, clearly annoyed of losing. He grit his teeth and swung at her hard with his knife. She thought fast and ducked, but also grabbed his arm and headbutted him. It wasn't much, but he was disoriented just long enough for Apsarini to lunge at the Pick and grab it. She felt that uncomfortable tingle of energy surge through her again, but she ignored it. Lucifer tried to rip it back from her hands, but she kept her grip strong.

“You little brat! Give me it!” He demanded.

“Cium punggung saya!” she retorted.

The two struggled for control and it eventually led to the two of them stumbling over the edge and falling through the void. They punched and kicked but neither would let go. The Pick sparked and glowed furiously, the air around it seeming to crack. The struggle triggered another portal to open up beneath them, and they went flying through. Apsarini barely had time to recognize that they had fallen right back into the ceremony room of the Queen’s palace. The fall was so quick, and the hard painful thud of hitting the floor sent shockwaves of pain through them both as they went tumbling.

Apsarini rubbed her… everything. She definitely had at least one broken rib. She prayed to God that the fall only hurt her and Lucifer, and not… her passenger.

She painfully stood up, clutching the first wound her hand went to. She spun to see Lucifer, who was in just as bad a shape as she was, if not worse. She limped towards him as he limped towards his guards, whom looked like they had just been beaten in a scrap with the Queen's royal guards. One of the Templars managed to run off the stage when his guard turned his head to witness the spectacle. He rushed to the Devil and tried to help him out as both Apsarini and the royal guards descended upon them. Lucifer let out a painful moan and suddenly slammed his palm into the goon’s hand. There was a bright flash of light, and an agonizing scream, first from the goon, then from Lucifer. Apsarini had her hidden blade lodged in his spine.

The world began to slow and disassemble.

She knelt down as the Animus simulation took itself apart save for Apsarini and the bleeding Lucifer. She lunged forward and snatched the Pick from his hand, tucking it right into her pocket. She stood tall over the Devil, victorious.

“Please…” he pleaded, his breaths ragged and weak.

“You don't get to plead, you snake,” she snapped. “You'll not harm any more innocent souls, Devil.”

“I… am not the Devil… Please… I…” he coughed blood and wheezed. “I am not… that abomination…”

Apsarini’s eyes widened. “I… what?” she said. She suddenly realized how glassy his eyes looked, how pale he had gotten.

“I… I am Boumeester…” he choked. “I am… Please… you have to listen to me…”

“Why should I? Either way, you're a scoundrel who puts themselves above the wellbeing of others.”

“You do not understand, Ms. Rajawali… He… he is different… he is much much worse than I and my kind… We wish to control the world so that we may guide it in our image. He wishes to control it to… Oh God… he was in my head! I saw it all! All the flames! All the destruction! Please, Ms. Rajawali! You must stop him! You must! You… must…”

She knelt down beside him. “He did not die with you?” she asked.

“He… he has… moved on…”

“To a new host?!” She suddenly realized why Lucifer had reached out and grabbed the goon’s hand with the Pick.

Boumeester looked at her, his eyes filled with tears and agony as he used his final expression to plead with her, beg her to do what needed to be done. His body went limp, and he died. She closed his eyes. “Your suffering and the suffering you brought to others is over now,” she said. “Berehat dengan selamat.”

She stood from the body as history returned around her and the Animus’s void vanished. She immediately looked around for Lucifer, but all she saw was a cloud of smoke that the royal guards were coughing in. The Templar goon was nowhere to be seen. He was gone. Lucifer was gone. She felt her blood boil and she stomped her foot.

“Damn!” she shouted in fury.

She hung her head, but lifted it up again. He may be gone, but she claimed his prize. She had the Pick of Eden in her pocket again, and without it he was powerless… for now. She had to focus on what was important.

The smoke cloud cleared behind her, and she suddenly heard someone call to her.

“Excuse me! Miss!”

She turned, and saw the faces of the royal guard and the two queens themselves staring back at her. The most decorated of the guard approached her as the rest of his men rounded up the prisoners.

“Their Majesties Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Emma would like to speak with you.”

Apsarini stared at him in disbelief and then looked at the two royal women. After mentally pinching herself, she nodded and stepped forward to address the queens. She gave a slight bow, unsure of what to do.

“You saved my life,” Wilhelmina said. Apsarini nodded. “Why?” asked the Queen.

“I couldn't let an innocent die, Your Majesty,” Apsarini said. “My Creed won't allow for it. Not to mention, your support for my people being invaluable.”

“You are from the East Indies?” Emma asked her. Apsarini nodded. The elder queen continued. “You traveled over an entire hemisphere just to rescue my family and I?”

“To be fair, ma'am, I came to stop Lu… er… Boumeester, and those who followed him in his schemes.”

“In return for what?”

Apsarini shrugged. “The hope for everyone to live freely and safely as all people should,” she said.

The queens seemed to consider this. “What is your name?” asked Wilhelmina.

“Apsarini. Apsarini Rajawali.”

“Well, Ms. Rajawali, you have our eternal thanks. We are in your debt, and we can repay the kindness you have shown to us and by extension our country in any way we can.”

Apsarini’s heart started rising again. She couldn't wait to get back and rub this in Cut’s face. Let's see the Mentor call her a failure to her country now.

“I appreciate it very much, Your Majesty,” Apsarini thanked. “And my Brotherhood will surely be happy to hear that we have your family's support in our goals. But I myself have work to do still.”

“Of course. Is there any way we can help you in your efforts at the moment?” Wilhelmina asked.

Apsarini thought about it. She patted her pocket, felt the Pick of Eden. She looked at the queens.

“Can you get me passage home?”

Description
January 6, 1894; The Hague, Netherlands

Apsarini sprinted across the rooftops. She ignored the pain in her feet as they slammed hard into the roof tiles and sprung her forward. She couldn't afford to waste any time. If she didn't hurry, Boumeester would…

No, she didn't even have time to think about the alternative. She just had to make sure it didn't happen.

She only allowed herself to stop once Noordeinde Palace was well in her sights across the street. A crowd of well-dressed people and guards were flocking at the entrance, waiting to enter. Apsarini felt at least a little relief from that. There was no massive panic going on. The queen wasn't dead. Not yet. She still had time, albeit very little.

The place was littered with guards, as Apsarini expected. She knew there was no way asking politely was going to get her inside. She had to sneak.

Her eyes darted across the building, canceling out all other sights that weren't an open window, and they locked on to such a window once they saw one. Apsarini dashed across the rooftops again, her robes flowing behind her and her hood threatening to fly off. She reached the closest building to the window that she could find, and jumped straight off the edge. She sailed through the sky, praying her momentum would be enough to carry her to the windowsill. To her relief, it was. Her fingers latched onto the edge of the window, and she hauled herself inside.

She hated having to go slower, but now she had no choice. She had to keep her eyes peeled for any signs of guards. The only blood she intended on spilling today was Boumeester’s and his lackeys’.

She dipped and ducked around the doors and corners of the extravagant palace, taking care not to break any of the valuable decorations that lined the halls. She kept her ears open, and she followed the sounds of the crowds to make her way to the ceremony room.

After knocking out a couple guards with sleep darts, she rushed through the door they were guarding. She found herself on a balcony far above the massive room where everyone was gathering. She ran to the edge and scanned the scene below, using her Eagle Vision to make things faster. On the far side of the room stood two regal women in large gorgeous gowns. One was older, with spectacles and hair that was just beginning to grey. The other was younger, with a smooth, plump face and short groomed hair. The elder, Apsarini recognized as Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the Queen regent of the Netherlands until her daughter reached the required age to fully rule. The younger was the Queen herself, Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the girl whom Apsarini came to save.

The two royals were in the middle of rewarding the honorable citizens that had earned their place in the Order of Orange-Nassau, a big accomplishment and a huge honor based on what Apsarini was told. The ceremony seemed to carry on, unknowingly setting the stage for a bloody spectacle. Apsarini frantically looked around the room, trying to find Boumeester. She let out a gasp when she spotted him, amongst a line of guards that were no doubt loyal to him. They were arranged in front of the stage, between the audience and the royals. Boumeester stood behind them all, with a devilish smile stretching his wrinkled face. He was waiting, Apsarini could tell, waiting for the perfect moment to reveal his true colors and paint this room red. Apsarini had to act fast.

She rushed into a corner of the balcony that was slightly cut off from the crowd's view by a set of curtains. She scurried up the wall and hooked her hands onto the intricate architecture near the ceiling. She shimmied along the wall, acting fast as she knew it wouldn't be long before someone saw her called her out. She noticed Boumeester below, walking towards the Queen as the last initiate was leaving the stage. She greeted him warmly as he approached.

“Ah! General Boumeester!” Apsarini heard Wilhelmina say. “What is it, good sir?”

“I would like to say a few special things to the audience in honor of the new members,” he said innocently.

“But of course! Go right ahead”

Apsarini could practically hear him sneer. She tried to speed up her pace. She tried finding a place where she could easily jump onto one of the chandeliers.

Boumeester stood at the front of the stage for all to see. “Citizens of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,” he addressed them, his voice booming. “Thank you all so much for being here tonight, both for the ceremony of these new drones of this Order, and for the beginning of a new era.”

The crowd seemed noticeably confused, as did the royals. Boumeester’s men turned around to face the stage. Apsarini took a deep breath and lunged onto one of the chandeliers, struggling to keep her grip as it swung and trying to haul herself up.

“You see, at the end of the day all of this means nothing,” continued Boumeester as his men blocked the exits. “These Orders, these ceremonies, these monarchs. None of it matters. It's all a pathetic human invention to make yourselves feel like more than you really are. But you're not. You're all just sheep waiting to be led, and then slaughtered. So I figure, why not have a little fun playing with the livestock?”

Apsarini ran across the chandeliers as fast as she could, breaking quite a few expensive crystals on them as she did. Boumeester’s men circled in on the now terrified royal family. The Templar Grand Master reached into his jacket and pulled out a revolver, which he cocked…

And aimed.

It all happened so fast. Apsarini came leaping down from the ceiling, arms outstretched, hidden blade raised. She barreled through the sky right towards Boumeester. One more second, and her blade would be in his throat.

But just as she was about to come down on his shoulders, he suddenly dropped his gun and instead flipped something out of his sleeve. Apsarini didn't even get the chance to register it. Before she knew it, she was hot with a massive blast light and she found herself being flung across the room. The crowd screamed and panicked as Apsarini painfully stood up to face her greatest foe.

“So! The prodigal daughter returns to claim her prize, ey?” Boumeester mocked as he came striding down towards her. She responded by flicking her hidden blades out again.

Boumeester just grinned that obnoxiously arrogant grin and held up the glowing thing in his hand. “Now here's the big question, granny: is your prize me, or this?”

Apsarini couldn't help but gasp as she recognized the object he was holding. In his hands he held the key to the Temple of Lucifer, the trigger to Krakatoa, the beacon of destruction. In his hands was the Pick of Eden. She scowled.

“My prize is the liberty of my people, you scoundrel!” she spat at him.

He laughed. “Really? You're still on that? I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're all so daft and simple.”

“Are you going to shut up and fight or will I have to cut your lips off myself?”

“I'd like to see you try.”

That pissed her off. She charged.

She came rushing at him with her blades, and he did nothing. He stood completely still even as she came barreling down on him. He wore that stupid grin as she came closer and closer, and she lunged at him like a jungle cat…

... and she found herself tumbling to the floor as she hit nothing but air. She stood and spun around, looking every direction. Boumeester had just disappeared into thin air.

“What the-” she said. She looked all around, her eyes locking with the queen’s. She seemed safe since the few loyal guards she had around her kept Boumeester’s men, who suddenly seemed too terrified to move, at bay.

“Don't worry,” Apsarini assured her. “I won't let him bring you har-”

She didn't have time to finish before she found herself being kicked to the ground and pinned by Boumeester’s boot. She only barely managed to look over her shoulder. She saw him standing in front of what looked like a glass shatter in midair, just like she had seen in Ketimbang all those years ago. Her heart sank as she realized that he was using the Pick’s bizarre powers to fight her. This was not going to be easy…

“You know, granny, I don't know what's funnier,” Boumeester mocked. “The fact that you think this little shrimp in the fancy furs and crown is going to do anything to really help your people, or the fact that you still think your goals are worth fighting for at all.”

Apsarini grit her teeth and managed to free her arm from his hold just long enough to thrust it back and slice his ankle with her hidden blade. He yelped in pain and with a shout she shoved him off of her. She rolled away and grabbed her mandau. “Better her at least try to make things better than let you and your Templars take control!” she said.

Boumeester’s grin started fading as he drew his sword. “Really? You still think I give a damn about taking control? That I give a damn what these Templars want? I knew you were stupid, but I assumed you wouldn't be stupid enough to not figure it out yet.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Exactly.”

The Pick of Eden glowed and he stepped through another shatter in reality, appearing moments later from another shatter right in front of her. She braced as his sword came swiping down on her. The two clashed and swung with the ferocity of two tigers. Boumeester did have the advantage, however. He used his portals to move about in impossible ways, trying to disorient Apsarini. She did her best to watch for him, however. She couldn't let herself be bested. Too much was on the line. She managed to hack a few bleeding gashes into Boumeester when he popped out into view. His grin was gone, replaced with a look of annoyance over the fact that he was losing. He disappeared again after making his enemy bleed as well.

Apsarini snarled as she spun around looking for where he's pop up next. She heard the portal open behind her, and she did that first thing that her instincts told her to do: she charged. Boumeester barely had time to react before Apsarini lunged at him and tackled him, sending the both of them tumbling through the portal at once.

Apsarini rubbed her head as she pushed herself up off the ground that she had gone rolling across. She heard the sound of something snapping shut behind her, and she gasped. She spun around just in time to see the gateway disappear behind her. Her stomach dropped.

The thing that truly solidified her terror though was the sight that suddenly surrounded her. She put her hand to her mouth. She was… she was…

She had no clue.

Nothing looked like reality. It looked like the entire world around her was made of shattered crystals, each slightly reflecting a different scene. Things seemed to glow and randomly float in air. As she looked down, she saw that she herself was standing on a big floating platform. She couldn't see a floor over the edge. Just a deep, threatening fog. It all looked like something out of a drug-induced fever dream.

She began to breathe faster than she would've liked. What the hell was this place? How was she going to get back? And most importantly, where was Boumeester?

Her last question was at least answered. Up on another floating platform, she heard a portal reopen, and she spun to see Boumeester stepping out of it and looking down on her. That grin of his had returned despite his bleeding scars.

“You really shouldn't have done that, granny,” he mocked. “You're in my domain now!”

“Stop calling me granny!” she said, not having this. “Why do you even do that? And what the hell do you mean ‘your domain’? Where are we?”

Boumeester paced his platform, holding the Pick of Eden as its glow mocked her. “I call you granny because you're her ancestor,” he said. “That little punk who thinks she has a chance of stopping me.”

“What?” she said. Ancestor? But she never even…

...she suddenly started to realize why she kept throwing up in the mornings…

Oh…

“Not that it's important to you at all. You're just a tool in this game, an eyepiece for someone else to look through. Gabriel thinks he's so righteous, saying we should let humans be free. And yet he sets up events like these for you pathetic humans to explore. What a hypocrite…” His face grew very, very dark, but he regained himself and continued. “But that's neither here nor there. You asked where we are? Well honey, we're in Hell.”

“What are you talking about?” She didn't want to admit she was as scared as she was.

“Hell, Ms. Rajawali. Tartarus, Popogusso, Helheim, whatever you want to call it. Surely you've heard of it.”

“This… this can't be actually Hell!”

“Oh but it is. Every one of your human myths holds truth in our technology. Your legends of lost cities and golden apples, all came from us. And this? This place is no exception. It was part of an experiment I helped fund with the King and his scientists. Our first step into the mysterious realm of dimensional shifts. This world has many layers, you see, many plains which we can't see, many worlds beyond our own. A perfect place for colonists and those who don't have room… and those we need to keep prisoner.”

Apsarini found herself instinctively step back a bit. Boumeester held the Pick high and opened another portal, stepping out of another one on the opposite side of her platform. He started slowly walking towards her.

“Who are you?” Apsarini stuttered.

He smiled, a wicked curl that could only be accomplished by a demon. “I think you already know,” he said.

Apsarini started thinking back to Krakatoa. The pieces in her head started clicking together as she realized what happened that day.

“You're him…” she gasped. “You're Lucifer, the Devil himself…”

“Ding ding ding! We have a winner!”

Apsarini couldn't think of anything to say. She was going up against the Devil. What could she say? All she could do was flick out her hidden blades.

“So what?” she asked, her voice shaky. “You're using Boumeester as… a sort of meatsuit?”

“Essentially. After what Gabriel and Eve did, I've been trapped as a phantom of information. I need a host, unfortunately. And I need my Pieces too in order to carry out everything I'm planning. This Pick is only the first.”

“I don't care what you need. I'm going to stop you!”

“You're cute when you have hope.”

He charged.

He hacked and slashed at her with a knife he pulled out, landing some deep cuts. But she managed to counter eventually, and she started doing damage of her own. She kicked and bruised and bled, but so did he. Their motions were a blur, each of them putting every ounce of speed and effort into swinging their blades. Lucifer rammed her with his shoulder when she wasn't expecting it and shoved her off the edge of the platform. She screamed as she fell but acted fast and managed to grab another platform that went floating past. She hurled herself up and immediately went to her pistol. She fired a few shots at the Devil, some of the bullets making their mark and some shattering the ethereal crystals that made up the platforms.

She started hopping onto different platforms trying to make her way back up. Lucifer shot at her with Boumeester’s gun, though she managed to dodge. She came barreling down on him when she made it back. He was about to step out through another portal, but she tackled him just as it opened. The two hacked at one another as they went tumbling through the air on the other side. They each slammed into another platform, shattering some of it upon impact. They both quickly recovered and went back to the blur of blades.

Lucifer kept using his disappearing act in an attempt to confuse her, but she learned fast, using her Eagle Vision where she could to help in the slightest. Every time he appeared, she brought up her blade to meet his. He started losing his grin, clearly annoyed of losing. He grit his teeth and swung at her hard with his knife. She thought fast and ducked, but also grabbed his arm and headbutted him. It wasn't much, but he was disoriented just long enough for Apsarini to lunge at the Pick and grab it. She felt that uncomfortable tingle of energy surge through her again, but she ignored it. Lucifer tried to rip it back from her hands, but she kept her grip strong.

“You little brat! Give me it!” He demanded.

“Cium punggung saya!” she retorted.

The two struggled for control and it eventually led to the two of them stumbling over the edge and falling through the void. They punched and kicked but neither would let go. The Pick sparked and glowed furiously, the air around it seeming to crack. The struggle triggered another portal to open up beneath them, and they went flying through. Apsarini barely had time to recognize that they had fallen right back into the ceremony room of the Queen’s palace. The fall was so quick, and the hard painful thud of hitting the floor sent shockwaves of pain through them both as they went tumbling.

Apsarini rubbed her… everything. She definitely had at least one broken rib. She prayed to God that the fall only hurt her and Lucifer, and not… her passenger.

She painfully stood up, clutching the first wound her hand went to. She spun to see Lucifer, who was in just as bad a shape as she was, if not worse. She limped towards him as he limped towards his guards, whom looked like they had just been beaten in a scrap with the Queen's royal guards. One of the Templars managed to run off the stage when his guard turned his head to witness the spectacle. He rushed to the Devil and tried to help him out as both Apsarini and the royal guards descended upon them. Lucifer let out a painful moan and suddenly slammed his palm into the goon’s hand. There was a bright flash of light, and an agonizing scream, first from the goon, then from Lucifer. Apsarini had her hidden blade lodged in his spine.

The world began to slow and disassemble.

She knelt down as the Animus simulation took itself apart save for Apsarini and the bleeding Lucifer. She lunged forward and snatched the Pick from his hand, tucking it right into her pocket. She stood tall over the Devil, victorious.

“Please…” he pleaded, his breaths ragged and weak.

“You don't get to plead, you snake,” she snapped. “You'll not harm any more innocent souls, Devil.”

“I… am not the Devil… Please… I…” he coughed blood and wheezed. “I am not… that abomination…”

Apsarini’s eyes widened. “I… what?” she said. She suddenly realized how glassy his eyes looked, how pale he had gotten.

“I… I am Boumeester…” he choked. “I am… Please… you have to listen to me…”

“Why should I? Either way, you're a scoundrel who puts themselves above the wellbeing of others.”

“You do not understand, Ms. Rajawali… He… he is different… he is much much worse than I and my kind… We wish to control the world so that we may guide it in our image. He wishes to control it to… Oh God… he was in my head! I saw it all! All the flames! All the destruction! Please, Ms. Rajawali! You must stop him! You must! You… must…”

She knelt down beside him. “He did not die with you?” she asked.

“He… he has… moved on…”

“To a new host?!” She suddenly realized why Lucifer had reached out and grabbed the goon’s hand with the Pick.

Boumeester looked at her, his eyes filled with tears and agony as he used his final expression to plead with her, beg her to do what needed to be done. His body went limp, and he died. She closed his eyes. “Your suffering and the suffering you brought to others is over now,” she said. “Berehat dengan selamat.”

She stood from the body as history returned around her and the Animus’s void vanished. She immediately looked around for Lucifer, but all she saw was a cloud of smoke that the royal guards were coughing in. The Templar goon was nowhere to be seen. He was gone. Lucifer was gone. She felt her blood boil and she stomped her foot.

“Damn!” she shouted in fury.

She hung her head, but lifted it up again. He may be gone, but she claimed his prize. She had the Pick of Eden in her pocket again, and without it he was powerless… for now. She had to focus on what was important.

The smoke cloud cleared behind her, and she suddenly heard someone call to her.

“Excuse me! Miss!”

She turned, and saw the faces of the royal guard and the two queens themselves staring back at her. The most decorated of the guard approached her as the rest of his men rounded up the prisoners.

“Their Majesties Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Emma would like to speak with you.”

Apsarini stared at him in disbelief and then looked at the two royal women. After mentally pinching herself, she nodded and stepped forward to address the queens. She gave a slight bow, unsure of what to do.

“You saved my life,” Wilhelmina said. Apsarini nodded. “Why?” asked the Queen.

“I couldn't let an innocent die, Your Majesty,” Apsarini said. “My Creed won't allow for it. Not to mention, your support for my people being invaluable.”

“You are from the East Indies?” Emma asked her. Apsarini nodded. The elder queen continued. “You traveled over an entire hemisphere just to rescue my family and I?”

“To be fair, ma'am, I came to stop Lu… er… Boumeester, and those who followed him in his schemes.”

“In return for what?”

Apsarini shrugged. “The hope for everyone to live freely and safely as all people should,” she said.

The queens seemed to consider this. “What is your name?” asked Wilhelmina.

“Apsarini. Apsarini Rajawali.”

“Well, Ms. Rajawali, you have our eternal thanks. We are in your debt, and we can repay the kindness you have shown to us and by extension our country in any way we can.”

Apsarini’s heart started rising again. She couldn't wait to get back and rub this in Cut’s face. Let's see the Mentor call her a failure to her country now.

“I appreciate it very much, Your Majesty,” Apsarini thanked. “And my Brotherhood will surely be happy to hear that we have your family's support in our goals. But I myself have work to do still.”

“Of course. Is there any way we can help you in your efforts at the moment?” Wilhelmina asked.

Apsarini thought about it. She patted her pocket, felt the Pick of Eden. She looked at the queens.

“Can you get me passage home?”