The Vault – 4 August 1944

Lutz pointed to a point on the map, the centre of Germany, where all the roads converge and where all the roads branch out from.

"Then it has to be Berlin," he says firmly.

"Why?" asked one of the Assassins.

Many of the high-ranking Assassins had gathered in Lutz's study. In total, there were almost a dozen people in the room, including Lutz, Jan, and Elisabeth. They had gathered to determine the target of the weapon.

"It's just a test," pointed the Assassin out. "We should choose a smaller target, so we know the capability of this weapon, if it works at all."

"That's precisely it," he says as he took his finger off Berlin. "If this works, the enemy will know. They will know that there is some weapon being used against them, capable of such destruction – if the eagle is to be believed. The common man will be confused, but the Templars will realise immediately what has befallen them: that we have found and used the weapon they had been searching for for so long. If they will figure it out anyway, then we must cut the beast right at the neck. Hence, Berlin."

There was a lull in the discussion as they took Lutz's words in. He was right, everyone realised.

"But Berlin is a very populated city… especially with all the war refugees…"

The Assassin's words faltered towards the end. But when Lutz's reply came, it was the complete opposite.

"Brothers! Sisters!" he shouted, surprising his audience into attention. "Are we the Red Cross? Are we monks? Nuns? No! We are Assassins. You all know what that word means outside of our order. We are merchants, and death is what we deal in. I know what the maxim says, what our great forebears said. Stay your blade from the innocent. I know, brothers, sisters. I know. I am one of you, rest assured. But we are facing a crisis the world has never seen before. Millions have died. Do you want millions more dead? And perhaps worse than death, what we are seeing unfold before our very eyes is not just the death of millions, but the murder of freedom. Isn't that what we're fighting for?"

Like a fiery preacher, Lutz had the attention of all those in attendance.

"When you want to be sure that you've killed an enemy, you aim for his head."

With a dramatic flick, he put his finger on Berlin.

"This is the head."

Jan looked across the room. Some doubt still lingered in the air, but it was fast receding. Wavering eyes were replaced by grim determination. It was a choice nobody wanted to make, but one everybody had to. As one, those in attendance agreed on the target: Berlin.

With that settled, they made preparations. Most of the Assassins were moved to places as far as possible from the weapon. Only those involved with it were permitted to go near it. Lutz stood in front of the orb along with some other high-ranking Assassins, while Jan went with Elisabeth as she made her way to the 'coffin'. They stopped right in front of it.

"Are you nervous?" Jan asked.

"A little bit," she said as they kept their eyes on the 'coffin'. "Like I said, it doesn't hurt. But it's not really comfortable to be completely lucid but unable to move."

"Can you speak when you're in there?"

Elisabeth shook her head.

"If I could do that, I would've said something the moment I felt myself stuck."

"True. But I did see your eyes moving."

"You're right," Elisabeth said, turning to Jan. "I could move my eyes and see left and right for some reason."

"I think you were blinking too."

"Probably, yeah. I didn't feel like my eyes were dry."

"Then how about this? If something's amiss, just look to me and blink as fast as you can. That's the signal."

"Alright, sounds good," she said as she nodded multiple times, more to herself than to Jan.

"Are you ready?" Lutz called out from behind.

Elisabeth turned around, nodded, and turned back to the 'coffin'. She stared at it for about two seconds, let out a deep breath, and then stepped inside, positioning herself like a 'corpse'.

Jan turned around and gave the thumbs up to Lutz. No sooner had he done that, than the lights on the machine went on once again. It began at the base of the 'coffin', before flowing through the pipes that led to the 'trunk'. From there, it spread through all the pipes, and then the orb began glowing. Then, Aquila appeared once again.

"Greetings again," it said as it turned on.

"Hello again, Aquila," Lutz said confidently, standing his ground and looking at the mystical bird as the other Assassins moved back slightly.

"How may I help you today?"

"Is the weapon operational?"

"Analysing…"

Aquila froze for a few seconds, presumably thinking, before speaking once more.

"Systems are 100% functional. Ready to fire."

"Let me confirm once again. Has this weapon ever been used?"

"Not on a real target. Only for experiments by my master."

"But did they work?"

"There was an 85% success rate."

"What happened when they failed?"

"In 97% of cases, only system malfunction."

"And the remaining 3%...?"

"An explosion occurred, damaging the system and the surrounding area."

A collective gasp came out of the Assassins. One man stepped forward and spoke to Lutz.

"Lutz, maybe we should rethink this. It's all pointless if we die."

"It's only 3% of all malfunctions, which only happen 15% of the time. If my mathematics is not mistaken, that's 0.45%."

"It does seem small, but it is there…"

"Nonsense!" rebuked Lutz quickly. "There is always a risk. We risk our lives even more when we go out there and fight. Much, much more than 0.45%. If we dare not take risks, then we are not worthy of our name."

Another group of Assassins led by Caspar – the Assassin who helped Jan and Elisabeth several times – stepped forward, fists raised into the air.

"Nothing is true, everything is permitted!"

They chanted it like a political slogan, not too different from the Nazi parades. The only difference being the righteousness of their cause.

Lutz looked at them, satisfied. The hesitating Assassin saw this, stepped back slightly in surprise and fear, but then steeled his resolve. Jan saw it in his eyes.

"I understand. Sorry. I should've thought better," he said as he bowed slightly and moved back to where he was.

"Then let us proceed. Aquila!" summoned Lutz.

"Yes?"

"Let's test the weapon."

"Of course. And where would you like to aim it?"

"Do you know Berlin?"

"I'm sorry. I do not know this name. Could you point it out to me?"

Light shot out of the orb and stopped in front of Lutz. But instead of continuing onwards, it shaped itself into a ball. Not just any ball, but Earth. All those in attendance looked on in marvel. Lutz was confused.

"What should I do with it?"

"You can touch it."

Lutz's hand slowly moved towards the globe, and he touched it. There was no resistance. After all, it was light. But then he moved his hand, and the globe turned, much like a real one. After turning it around several times, Lutz moved towards Europe and pointed at roughly where Berlin was in Germany.

"Here," he told Aquila.

"Could you please specify?"

The globe disappeared. In its place, a large three-dimensional representation of continental Northern Europe appeared. Lutz took it in and pointed at where Berlin was.

"Understood."

A red circle appeared where Lutz had pointed to.

"Confirm target?"

"Confirm," Lutz said firmly.

"Confirming target… Target confirmed. Preparing systems."

Immediately the lights in the Grand Vault went off. This was followed by the lights of the machine becoming brighter and brighter. There was a great noise. From where, Jan could not tell. At times, it felt like it was coming from inside the pipes. Other times, from behind or under it. Others still, from all three.

Light was moving from the extremities of the pipes towards the trunk. All the coffins were now dark, except Elisabeth's, which was shining brightly. Similarly, light was streaming through the pipes that came out of her coffin. Eventually, the lights on the trunk became brighter and brighter. It flashed and flashed, bathing the Vault in flashes of white light. The noise became more intense, until finally it settled down. The lights coming from the pipes disappeared, left only with the light of the trunk.

"Systems prepared," Aquila announced in a flat tone. "Ready to fire on command."

Lutz stepped slightly forward and, with a resolute voice, gave his answer.

"Fire."

"Beginning firing sequence…"

The noise picked up again, like a thousand gears rolling together, going faster and faster as the seconds went.

"3…"

Aquila began the count.

"2…"

But everyone's attention was shattered at that moment.

Elisabeth screamed at the top of her lungs.

Jan leapt forward, his eyes only on her.

"Elisabeth!"