"Remain outside until further orders."

Ulysses felt it again, as clearly as he had ever felt anything in his life - the familiar tug within his very being, the call of the First Civilization. If the call of the Apple was something he could not resist, this was even stronger and undoubtedly so: his legs moved mechanically, carrying him down the once polished marble steps into the central chamber.

Just as it was outside, the interior of the chambers had not been spared from the might of nature, with green vines creeping up the walls and out of the crevices. Every nook and cranny in the chamber was either occupied by copious amounts of greenery or by rubble.

The Supreme Commander's steps stopped before the center of the chamber, at the base of the flight of stairs leading up to a raised platform. A beam of sunlight shone down from a square opening set into the pyramid's top, the light just enough to illuminate the entirety of the way up the steps and the empty dias. His boots kicked up thick clouds of dust with each step up.

It is all an illusion, there is no way one of the First Beings would leave powerful artifacts unguarded.

Ulysses knelt, his gloved fingers tracing along the circular dias top, over the symbols carved into the stone. It was as though they knew his touch, as he had expected, the symbols glowed brilliantly, stone creaking again until an indentation appeared in the center of it: the Apple of Eden fitting perfectly within it.

Slowly, surely, Ulysses drew in several long breaths. Something had magnified the power of the Apple, something within this Temple he could not name but could feel it tugging at the very core strings of his being. No human words would have done justice to how this was like, for in several seconds, the Supreme Commander of the Armada bathed in the newfound strength pulsating through his veins.

He might as well have shaken the Spiral down to its very core with this.

Septimus' lips curved upward, more and more so until his mouth had stretched into a wide grin beneath the mask he wore. He could not take his eyes off of the silver staff which had been revealed when the hidden compartment's cover slipped away. For something made of seemingly metal in its entirety, the staff was surprisingly light -

About eight feet tall in length, crafted with some sort of otherworldly precision, symbols inscribed down the staff briefly shone with an ethereal light when the Apple of Eden was retrieved and set into the cradle atop.

"Now, nothing shall stand in my way…!"

There was little doubt that this was the ancient power within the ruins, the power which so many had coveted and was now all his to command to his whim and will. It was almost morbidly laughable how so many had fought to just gain the pieces of the map that would lead into El Dorado, and yet this power was now his.

"Not unless I stop you first!"

The Emperor of the Spiral spun sharply on his heel.

Oh how interesting it always was, to watch a pathetic insect by the likes of Adrian Devereaux believing that they had the strength needed to turn the tide of a battle that they were destined to lose.

"Bravo, messere, such spirited words, but you have no idea of the powers you are trifling with."

Plucking his mask from his face and laying it on the pedestal the Apple sat upon - Ulysses wanted to look right into the eyes of this worm when he extinguished the light in his eyes - the Emperor thrust out the staff, the resulting bolt of blue fire easily blowing a hole in the area where the swashbuckler had been standing merely seconds before.

The sweet euphoria of power coursing through his veins nearly succeeded in drowning out the memories which returned with seeing this worm of a man, visions of his dear rose, his defenseless love.

"What are you, Ulysses? What have you became?! Has the hand of Kane become this strong within you?"

Adrian's voice trembled, and it did not take the heightened hearing of a clockwork to hear how his heart was racing, how fear coursed through his being and turned the blood in his veins into ice. And he savored it, Ulysses savored the fear he could sense from his foe with each blast of fire he threw at him with the staff.

"I am his appointed king, I am the Lord of the Valencian Empire, I am the Emperor of the Spiral!"

Rocks shattered by the energy blasts had thrown up clouds of dust into the chamber, but even through that Ulysses could see Adrian's attempt to run up to the dias where he now stood. Even if he had been a tool to the Grand Master Templar Atticus Mercilus, Ulysses still could not bring himself to in even the slightest sense to forgive this criminal.

"That's right, messere, keep walking this way...!"

In his mind, Ulysses heard himself laugh, dry and airy as he firmly planted the staff into a crack in the stone of the dias. His laugh resonated through the Temple in a eerie reenactment of the night when he had ordered Skull Island to be completely and absolutely destroyed, bouncing off of the rocks and amplifying the sound of his sword being drawn from its sheath.

"Will you face me like the great warrior you claim you are, Devereaux, or will you run and hide behind another temporary ally?"

Adrian only had a long dagger on him, and Ulysses could only laugh at how pathetic his bladework was when he lashed out at him: the momentum throwing his form back until he collided painfully with the floor of the Temple. He could take this moment to play with his prey, yes, in the fashion of a true hunter.

"I will end you, you tyrant, and I will be remembered as the greatest hero of the Spiral!"

The swashbuckler's desperate battle cry was in nowhere close to the power held by Ulysses' own spoken words. It prompted naught but a little smile to work its way onto the Emperor's lips. The mere thought of this worm and coward as the savior, the beacon of so - called hope by the Resistance was laughable.

"You? You are nothing but a coward who ran away from all of his responsibilities, and a fool who could do nothing but hide behind the shields of your allies and run when all goes awry!"

Ulysses' entire frame trembled with the force of the laugh which followed his words.

"Tell me a better joke than this, Devereaux..!"

He lunged at the swashbuckler, the sting of Devereaux's dagger digging into his upper arm only a momentary flash of pain which faded swiftly when his fingers clamped down on his throat. Ulysses' vision swam, and he could hear the sound of his own heart pounding against his chest, he could feel the way his lips curved into a wide smile every time the pirate twitched.

Adrian Devereaux choked, sputtering as his face purpled from the lack of oxygen, clawing at the Supreme Commander's wrists.

Ulysses laughed at this, he laughed until his breaths fell short and his ribs ached and his muscles strained.

OH, SWEET, SWEET REVENGE!

"Where did all of your courage go, Devereaux? Did you not boast that you were the greatest, the chosen one of the pirates?!"

His words echoed off of the walls, and Ulysses could not feel it when Adrian finally managed to throw him off, his hip colliding rather painfully with a rock which jutted out of the Temple's floor.

The Emperor of the Spiral leapt up, Hidden Blades extended and just in time to block off the dagger lashing toward his face: blades locking just long enough for Ulysses to kick the pirate squarely in his chest, sending him flying off toward the wall, his body colliding with a dull crack that resonated throughout the entire chamber.

"Come on, stand, stand and prove your worth! Or are you the worthless insect I have always thought of you as?"

Adrian wiped away a trickle of blood from the corner of his lips, his eyes darting from the figure of the Supreme Commander towards the stairs leading up to the only exit from the chamber. Ulysses' lips only widened into a ear to ear grin: the thing deep inside of him baring its fangs, licking its lips in anticipation for what was soon to come.

"There is nowhere for you to run, Adrian, perhaps you could attempt it, but where would you go? My soldiers are right outside, I could order you killed right here and now like the inglorious fool you have made yourself out to be."

Ulysses sheathed his hidden blades, the weapons clicking back into their housings within his sleeves. There was no need for any weapon other than than his bare hands, he was certain of it.

All but pouncing on his foe with a sound Septimus only recognized several seconds later as an unearthly, almost banshee - like screech, blood was splattered into the air with each blow he dealt to the swashbuckler, blow after blow, strike after strike. It was addicting, to say the very least, the sensation of bone shattering beneath his fists, until Devereaux managed to pull a leg free and kick him right in his lower abdomen.

The impact from the blow was enough to knock Ulysses backward, his form colliding with the steps leading up to the dias hard enough to make his vision swim for several seconds.

"You call me a inglorious fool when you act as though nothing can topple you? Who's the fool here?!"

"Oh, how funny!"

Ulysses snarled, rising to his full height.

"The joke's running thin, Devereaux."

One swift kick was all that it took to launch himself up into the air, backflipping once until he landed on the dias once again. The look of fear on the pirate's face only made Ulysses grin even more so, his hands moving of their own accord rather than his own: lifting the staff high above his head then bringing it down onto the floor in a sharp, thunderous sound.

Tendrils of golden light extended as though they were serpents, wrapping around the pirate's limbs.

"Supreme Commander!"

Servius' voice shook him out of his almost trance - like state, head snapping toward his direction although his hands had not yet relented their grip on the staff of Eden within his grip.

"I assure you, I have not been harmed."

Perhaps that was true, Ulysses felt the impact of Adrian's blows, each of the hits and the bruises left on his flesh. They throbbed in pain, and Septimus involuntarily winced when he brushed against a tender area in the right side of his ribcage.

"Are you certain of it...?"

"All that matters is that the city of El Dorado is the property of the Armada, and that this fool - "Ulysses used the staff to gesture to Devereaux's trapped form. " - has delivered himself right into our hands. Put him in chains and take him back to Valencia, he has escaped his due punishment for all too long."

The Supreme Commander brought his free hand up in a mock salute as the pirate, the last of them all, was placed in chains by the hands of Aetius, Servius, and Albinus. Even if the worm of a man had a retort hanging on his tongue, Sentus Optimus ensured it would never sound by winding a length of chain around his mouth.

For a brief second, the marine's eyes met his, and though Optimus did not speak, Ulysses noted, but his eyes still spoke for him. There was absolutely no emotion in those eyes, not even hatred or anger. Instead, there was only the same sort of vacancy one may have expected to find in an actual clockwork, that is, if they had eyes.

Ulysses cast one last glance at the ruins of the golden city as he boarded his flagship, Staff of Eden in hand and with the Apple still attached to it, his mask attached to the mechanism on his belt. Perhaps it was only his mind playing some sort of trick on him, but it seemed that Golden City was that much emptier, more of a ruin, now that its power had been claimed by the Armada.

He pivoted around on his heels, resting his weight against the railings of the Malevolence.

Sentus Optimus' gaze met his, the marine only just emerging from the depths of the ship's brigs.

"How long until we reach Valencia, Captain Optimus?"

"A little less than an hour, Supreme Commander."

Briefly, Ulysses mused over how much he could do within this span of time. Torture was an art, unlike murdering. It took very little skill to slip a blade between the ribs of a man, but to draw out their screams and relish in their pain all while ensuring the prisoner was alive, it required the utmost skill. And skill was what he had in plenty.

There was no need to carry the Staff, hence Ulysses made sure to leave it within the confines of his cabin before heading down the steel steps.

Devereaux's cell was located at the very back of the brigs of the Malevolence, with two marines flanking the door: both snapping into a salute at his presence.

"Supreme Commander."

"Open the cell door, I wish to speak with the prisoner."

Devereaux was unchained, but he doubted the pirate had anything within him to continue fighting. Ulysses' lips twitched up into a smirk, nudging the door closed behind him with one boot.

"Adrian Vries Devereaux, we meet again. Remember how high and mighty you made yourself out to be? How you left behind your friend Wolf Hawkins, thinking he would distract us, in order that you might escape?"

Ulysses clasped his hands behind his back, stepping forwards and backing the swashbuckler further into the corner. By this point, his fear was palpable in the air, as he had lost the will or the courage to fight, even when the Emperor clamped his hand over his throat. Oh how he would relish snapping his neck, this instrument responsible for snatching his king from him.

"..a mad tyrant-!"

Adrian sputtered, gasping for air when he was thrown, flung sideways, his head colliding loudly and rather painfully against the side of the cell. Ulysses crossed the cell in but a few strides, noting the bruise that was already forming on his forehead from the force of the impact.

"A mad tyrant? Do you curse the monster you have made yourself, messere?"

The Emperor firmly planted a boot on his chest, pressing down until he was certain that he had snapped several of the pirate's ribs, drawing a cry of agony from Devereaux as he tried and failed to throw him off. Each of those sounds sent shivers up his spine, those shivers that never failed to please the monster deep inside of him, the thing within his mind that purred in satisfaction with each blow dealt.

"Ulysses Septimus…y-you are mad! One day... someone will dispose the Spiral of your filth!"

He should be angered, his mind remembered with what he could only name as amusement, enraged by the words of this pathetic worm, and he should have sliced his tongue out of his mouth for daring to speak against the Emperor of the Spiral, the very figure holding the fate of all known worlds within the palm of his hand.

But he did not.

Septimus only laughed, his frame rattling with the sound. Ironically, he would actually have to say he agreed with the swashbuckler's words: he certainly was mad, insane, even though it was not his fault. It was what Adrian himself had done, the seeds he had sown and would now be forced to reap, him and Atticus Mercilus both.

"I won't deny that I am…mad, Devereaux, but can you truly blame me for who I have become?"

Ulysses spread his palms by his side.

"You and Mercilus have taken everyone that I held dear, all that I have ever treasured, and dashed them into one thousand pieces before my eyes! YOU MADE ME A MONSTER!"

There was no controlling his rage at this point.

"I could have spared you, I could have, I could have…you see, the Lord Kane himself had offered to all who were willing to leave the path of piracy amnesty, something which I agreed entirely upon, for we could avoid more needless slaughter. And what did you do? You went and murdered him!"

He threw Adrian against the back of the cell, and the younger man shrunk back with a whimper of terror when the Emperor advanced.

"I was his...puppet - "

His breathing was frantic, chest heaving up and down with each syllable as they poured forth without his control.

"He was…my master…the one who held me together…"

Ulysses' gloved hands went to his own torso, as though to show the strings, the puppet strings that had once been there but were now severed, severed and fraying just like the rest of his mind.

"And he's gone...GONE!"

His own shriek echoed throughout the cell. Vaguely, Ulysses sensed the two marines stationed before the doors glance at him, even if it was only a temporary action that could not have lasted for more than a second until they turned back around, motionless as they were supposed to be.

"My Lord…my King…my God…dead!"

The Emperor found himself laughing again, or was he screaming? It was nigh impossible to differentiate.

"So could you…blame me?"

Whatever answer the pirate would have given would never be heard, not when the familiar jolt of landing went through the entirety of the Malevolence, the voice of marine Captain Sentus Optimus slashing through the fog enough for Ulysses' head to snap right back up.

"We have reached Valencia, Supreme Commander, it would be advised that you are present for disembarking."

"I will be there in a minute."

Without looking back at his lieutenant, the Supreme Commander's lips twitched up into yet another grin. How he would relish in this worm's fear as he personally saw to the administration of his due punishment.

"Enjoy the remainder of your time in this life, Devereaux - you won't have much more of it."

Each step felt as though there were springs beneath his feet, nearly wobbling rather dangerously while he made his way up the stairs.

Clockworks lined in perfect rows on the deck of the Malevolence, with his creations standing at the front and his lieutenant just by the side of the gangplank. Their eyes were trained on him, each one of them, awaiting his command to proceed.

"Escort the prisoner to the mausoleum, then return to your posts. I shall deal with him personally."

The walk through the streets of Cadiz was uneventful, aside from how the crowds gasped and some turned away from the sight of their battered prisoner being pushed and dragged along roughly by the Armada marines. Ulysses could feel some of the Valencians drop their gaze away from his figure, walking before the rows of clockworks, head held high and mask obscuring his face.

Be it reverence or hatred at the sight of him, he did not care.

The Supreme Commander of the Armada dug his heels into the ground when he came upon their targeted location.

He remembered, vividly, the day this great mausoleum was built, out of great slabs of the purest white marble and carved by some of the most skilled of the Assassin Order in the style of the older buildings of Valencia: golden roses within the cogwheel of the Armada decorating each of the double doors and padlocked with a key Ulysses kept with himself.

Ulysses' smile dropped behind his mask, and for a brief second it was almost impossible to keep his hand from reaching toward his own torso, towards his heart. Those voices were quick to return at this, reminding him, cackling in his ear of the memories of that night -

Of Kane's terminated, bloodied frame within his arms, blood pouring from his golden painted lips and out of the hole dug into his chest from Adrian Devereaux's dagger -

Shaking himself out of the trance, Ulysses pressed the key disk into the carved slot and turned: hidden mechanisms creaking, double doors swinging open.

"Remain here."

And that was it, here he was dragging the pirate down the stairs by the scruff of his collar, through the double doors until they stepped into a chamber illuminated only by a electric light in the ceiling and some barely burning tinders of flames in their brackets. But even with this there was no denying that this entire building was a work of art.

Nothing else furnished the room save for a burning alter before the raised platform, bearing the marble sarcophagus of the first Supreme Commander: a great casket of marble and gold, carved with the cogwheel mark of the Imperial Valencian Armada.

"Three long years I have fought, and all will end here now."

He was not so certain as to whom he meant for this to address, as he knelt before the great sarcophagus and pressed his forehead into the cold marble floor.

"I am here, as how I have sworn, my master and king."

Ulysses' final words choked up in his throat, and they burned as though coals were being shoved into his throat. Tears brimmed within his eyes, spilling onto the marble floor then down his cheek when he finally stood. He was going to avenge him, yes, but much like it had been with Quintia Presidos' death, it would ultimately fix nothing in the end. It would not bring him back, it would not patch together his shattered psyche.

Mechanically, he reached toward his waist, fingers wrapping around the hilt of his dagger.

Tears still trickled down his face, dripping into his cravat even when he tangled his long, slender fingers in the pirate's hair and pulled back, yanking a pained yelp from Adrian's throat as his eyes widened in fear.

What happened next seemed to be, like so many times before, in slow motion.

The Emperor watched his own hand plunging his blade into Devereaux's chest, pushing it in until it was up to the hilt and then yanking down, hard. Adrian Devereaux's scream was but one sound in the muffling background noise, of the hum within his ear when he finally withdrew the blade.

Ulysses dug his fingers into the wound, twisting and turning until his entire hand was buried within his chest cavity. Adrian's screams only increased in volume, escalating until they died to a gurgle, blood pouring from his lips until Ulysses' fingers released him.

"And so the chosen one of the Resistance is no more."

Ulysses chuckled, his gaze now returning to the bloody heart held in his right hand. The organ which looked so similar to the mechanism he had placed within the chest of Aetius Varius Septimus, except it was all made of flesh, of flesh and of blood which was no longer flowing.

Dropping the heart of the last pirate into the alter, Ulysses' eyes closed, sensing a weight lifted off his chest as the organ was slowly consumed by the licks of blue flame.

So ends the reign of the pirates, of the Templars.

This time, he did not cast a second look back as he walked out of the mausoleum - its doors slamming shut behind him - and up the steps, now back amongst his troops.

Now would begin his era - as Emperor of the Spiral, as the ruler of the Valencian Empire.

FIN.

The finale to Valencian Empire, and the end of Adrian Devereaux. But what of the fates of the living characters of the cast? I am, actually, considering to write a follow up saga to this, with the clockwork Assassin Aetius Varius Septimus, but until I have that decided, the fates of the characters will be up for you to speculate ;).

Following up to the note in my previous chapter, sometimes this month I might start posting a one shot dump which will fill in the gaps in the VL/VE storyline, so stay tuned!

Read and review! Until next time :D

-Hades