Ducking down to avoid hitting our heads on the roof of the cave we had been told to go to by Ami, Priscilla and I made our way through the tunnel. Gravel shifted and crunched beneath our feet as we moved towards the light at the other end of the tunnel. Once we neared the end of the tunnel, we saw several familiar faces awaiting us on the other side of a calm, still pool that glistened like a giant sapphire.

Gravel shifted to green grass that rustled as we stepped towards the edge of the pool, and we looked to see Old Joe conversing with Ami as they stood with the rest of the tribe. "All these wasted years…"

"We all played a part. We all made mistakes." Ami said gently. "The only thing that matters now is that we repair the damage we've caused before it destroys our chance for a future."

"What? I thought we already fixed it. Well, not we as much as…" Kyra trailed off as she made eye contact with me.

"Your mother is right, Kyra." Old Joe said. "Yes, the wards are working again — for now, at least — but the sanctum of the mountain has already been breached. The enemy must be confronted."

Old Joe then turned towards me and Priscilla. "Thanks to you, we have one last chance. With the wards repaired and our family reunited, we might have the strength to fight him. But we do need your help."

"The sword our enemy carries is both a weapon and a key, and the source of all his power. When you last confronted him you were no match for him. This time… This time you go with the power of all the ages. The wells of our forefathers have been filled, and you will drink from them."

"Just think of it as an elixir." Ami said. "It's perfectly safe… I think."

"Not exactly inspiring confidence here, Ami." I said.

"We will channel the spirits of our ancestors to guide you, and the thunder of the gods from the north to still the black waters." Old Joe said as he gestured to the pool of water. "You two will wield this power, and the world will tremble beneath your feet."

"Be quick, though — such magic won't last, and we only have one opportunity to right our wrongs. Both the people of the dawn and the people of tomorrow pray for your success."

"Go team!" Kyra interjected, pumping her fist up into the air. Her fist then lowered itself back down at her side as everyone turned to stare at her. "Sorry, but it really was one of those 'go team' moments."

I chuckled a little at that as Priscilla and I knelt down next to the pool. "It sure was, Kyra. It sure was…"

For a moment, I could see myself in the mirror-like surface of the water with perfect clarity. Then, the well of the tribe's forefathers was disturbed by the ripples of our hands scooping up the cool water. As I stared down at the water in my hands, I could hear it buzz softly with subtle, yet great power, just waiting to be absorbed and used for a righteous cause.

I glanced up from the water to see the tribe looking expectantly at me, and I spoke as I raised my hands to my lips. "Well then… bottoms up!"

The elixir was as sweet as honey, but smooth on the way down. It was cool on the tongue, yet it made me feel nice and warm all over, or maybe it was because my clothes had spontaneously combusted from the excess anima leaking out of my circuits.

As I extinguished myself with a thought, leaving behind hissing streams of steam rising off my unharmed body and clothing, Old Joe asked, "Are you ready?"

"Oh, yeah…" I answered with a fierce grin. "Beaumont won't know what hit him!"

Making our way back to the Blue Ridge Mine and past the wandering golems that patrolled it was easy. The huge clunkers made a lot of noise, so as long as you kept to the shadows and listened closely, you could find a place to hide long before the lights of their lanterns could even be seen. Once we had made it past the golem guards and the lifts that had once ferried the miners up and down, we soon came across the pit that dropped down to the entrance to the cavern where the Gaia Engine was located.

"You ready for this?" Priscilla asked as she checked to make sure her shotgun was loaded, and I nodded as I checked my lighter and pistol. Creating another rope ladder for us to use, we made our way down to the bottom of the pit. As I peered ahead, I whispered to Priscilla, "Look over there! Your hunch was right!"

There he was — Beaumont, with his back towards us, still holding onto his magic sword as he knelt. Bringing out my rifle, I cocked the bolt back slowly with a soft click, and as I braced the stock against my shoulder and took aim, I muttered an incantation so that the surprise would be a little more… shocking. Then, I pulled the trigger.

Beaumont cried out in pain as the bullet struck the back of his head, and he spun around, his sword raised to meet us. "So… we meet again. You're persistent ones, aren't you…? What's that smell on you? You both reek of primitive magics."

In response, I brought my lighter to blast him with an inferno of flame. As the flames howled and washed over him like a tsunami of fire, Priscilla and I moved forward into the cavern, where there was more room for us to fight. As the fire died down, Beaumont stood there, unburnt, as the force field he had conjured up disappeared into orange anima particles.

He then cried out in pain again as Priscilla blasted him with her shotgun from a spot just outside his peripheral vision. She had to make every shot count — though Paul and Annika Gamelin from the trailer park and Red had generously given us their spare ammo from their stores, restocking on ammo from a duffel bag in the middle of a fight was a tricky business, even at its easiest.

However, even when outnumbered and forced to fight a battle on two fronts with two Templars on magic steroids, Beaumont proved to be a formidable opponent. He blocked my elixir-enhanced fireballs with conjured force fields before hurling his own fireballs towards Priscilla, forcing her to get out of the way before she could get a shotgun blast in. Even when we managed to land a hit, his wounds only healed themselves — some kind of cellular regeneration, perhaps?

"Fenrir!" Beaumont cried out as he raised a glowing purple left hand, and a sudden growling sound filled the air as a Big Bad Wolf emerged from the shadows. It roared as it lunged towards me, knocking me onto my back so that I was pinned in between its legs and staring it down eye-to-eye.

However, I had managed to pull something out my jacket just before I was knocked down, and I forcefully it vertically into the hound's mouth so that its jaws were propped open and left unable to close. I then pressed the button and performed the fastest forward crab walk ever.

I rolled out from beneath the Big Bad Wolf just as the pipe bomb exploded in its mouth, killing it as the shrapnel tore their way through the mutt's vulnerable jaws to get at its skull. Still breathing hard from the sudden adrenaline rush, I assessed the situation. Priscilla had been backed into a corner by a concussive blast of wind magic, blood seeping from the corner of her mouth, with Beaumont coming towards her with his sword. I then flicked my lighter, and Beaumont screamed as the fireball struck his backside.

My anima reserves were pretty much empty at this point, only having enough for Reinforcement, and my Beretta was out of ammo, with my Remington 700 broken in two some distance away. Beaumont was standing in between me and my supply, and I had used my third pipe bomb as a distraction so that I could load my last magazine. Drawing my combat knife, I saw Beaumont smirk as he raised his sword. "Compensating for something, Beaumont?"

Though I wasn't sure about how the Norse gods operated back in their day, I was pretty sure that the appropriate response to an insult was an attempted comeback, not attempted murder, as Beaumont had done. Fortunately, the tip of the sword just barely missed my ribcage, and I lunged for his torso with my knife. Steel glinted, and clothing was torn as the edge of my knife created a tear in Beaumont's clothes, leaving the fabric looking like one of my deceased grandmother's curtain after her cat had gotten to it.

We went at each other like this for some time, modern blued steel clashed with ancient metal, with the reflexes and speed of youth proving to be a match for a ancient super weapon at extremely close range. I ducked and dodged, trying desperately not to get killed by Beaumont's swordplay, but my stamina was flagging while Beaumont was still relatively fresh. Plus, I couldn't kill him with a thousand cuts, because every time I managed to cut or stab him, it would heal completely by the time I did it again, though the healing wasn't as fast as Avalon's. He hadn't landed a blow yet, but once he did, it was all over.

My eyes widened as I saw my reflection in the flat of Beaumont's blade, and I grunted in pain as it slammed right into my gut, sending my sprawling onto the rocky ground. I think a few ribs had cracked from the force of the blow, and my insides probably looked like a bruise. A shadow passed over me as I propped myself up onto my elbows, and I saw that Beaumont was standing over me, sword raised to finish me off.

Then, out of nowhere, a blur knocked Beaumont off his feet, and I looked to see Priscilla beating the tar out of Beaumont, the sword laying at their side. I couldn't help but wince in sympathy for Beaumont, despite him being an arrogant, world-destroying douchebag and all that. At least she didn't have a beer bottle with her.

I heard the sound of bones breaking, like a particularly loud crunch of a potato chip or an egg shell, mixed in with Priscilla's heavy breathing, and when she was finally done, Beaumont was lying on his stomach, face bruised, battered, and covered in tiny pebbles from the ground.

Priscilla and I both got up onto our feet, and together, we walked towards the sword lying on the ground. I glanced at Priscilla, and she nodded. However, before I could pick up the sword, I froze in place, like I was encased in an invisible shell, and I found myself rising up into the air.

Thankfully, I was still capable of moving my eyeballs, and I could see that a glowing purple aura was coming off of me like solar flares. I looked to see that Priscilla was also frozen and floating in place, and then my eyes widened as I saw someone I hadn't expected.

"Cassie… Thank Ymir. I knew you'd come through for me." Beaumont said as he tried crawling towards his sword. "There'll be a place at my table, when… when I've taken back…"

Beaumont's gratitudes were suddenly interrupted by the sound of Cassandra's laughing as she rested her palms atop the pommel of the sword. "Come through? For you? Do you have any idea who I am?"

The blade made a distinctly sharp sound as its point was pulled out of the ground by Cassandra. "Or who I am about to become?"

"Don't… don't touch that! It's not for you!" Beaumont wheezed out desperately as he futilely reached for the sword, so close and yet so far away. "You have no fucking idea what you're messing with!"

"Funny, I was gonna tell you the same thing." Cassandra said as she bent her knees to get a closer look at Beaumont lying pathetically on the ground, sword resting across her shoulders. "I just hope you understand, Beaumont, it's not you…"

She then grunted as she introduced her boot to Beaumont's face, her beautiful face twisting into a ferocious visage. "It's me."

It was then that I felt a pulling sensation at the small of my back, as if my flesh was being sucked down a drain. Then, my vision suddenly went black as I was sucked into the unknown.