The general alarm had gone off in the Prodigium complex, putting all personnel on high alert. The dangerous non-human specimen Ahmanet had escaped from confinement. In addition, the other alert of the containment of Doctor Jekyll's office, being activated only in the event of a "crisis" of the doctor, had only accentuated the already great feeling of worry.

Agent Carson had rushed to the armory section of the complex, accompanied by the men and women constituting the elite intervention teams, who began to equip and arm themselves very quickly.

_"This time, no more hesitation." Carson ordered them, cocking her gun. "You have the order to shoot to kill."

**********

The pressure inflicted on his ribs had been so strong that Mathias was still in pain, having trouble breathing, dizzy and struggling to stand, having to lean on the desk to keep from falling. He stood back, worried about the monster fight that was about to begin right before his eyes.

Ahmanet had picked up Set's black dagger, holding it in a firm hand. Her gaze full of hatred, she faced Doctor Jekyll, totally possessed by his second, fundamentally evil personality, Mr. Hyde. This one, more psychopathic than ever, living only to spread pain and violence, smiled and sneered in an unhealthy way at the idea of the confrontation which was going to ensue. Stepping back to the broken wall window where all his surgical instruments were normally stored, Mr. Hyde picked up a surgical knife right at his feet, licking the blade with his unhealthy tongue and his eye glinting with cruelty at the mere thought to use it. Both now armed, the two monsters continued to face each other, separated by only a few meters of distance. Mathias watched with great anxiety for Ahmanet as the tension was heavy and praying for her to win.

_"It's time to see if you have guts, pretty princess." Mr. Hyde growled sadistically.

Ahmanet didn't respond, containing a monstrous growl and striding forward towards the possessed doctor. The duel began.

She tried to deliver a side dagger blow but Hyde dodged and responded with an elbow blow to Ahmanet's shoulder who was pushed to the side without falling and feeling nothing. Laughing at his too-easy dodge, Hyde tried to kick but Ahmanet grabbed his leg, then his collar, and threw him back. Flying across the room, Hyde's back hit hard against the wall not far from the front door. Ahmanet jumped towards him, not giving him any respite and grabbing him by the neck, began to knock him against the different blocks of glass containing various artifacts, the windows exploding into pieces with each impact. Half stunned, his face covered with cuts, Hyde fell to his knees in front of Ahmanet, but showed no pain. On the contrary, he smiled a bloody smile and looked at her defiantly.

_"I love strong women. It's hot!" he commented, in a perverse voice.

Ahmanet raised an eyebrow in outrage, but was taken by surprise by Hyde who like a wrestler making a hold quickly closed his arms around her waist, lifting her up and throwing her violently to the ground. Immediately afterwards, the possessed doctor, in a psychotic laugh, repeatedly struck the blade of his knife into Ahmanet's flanks, but no drop of blood flowed and Ahmanet expressed no pain, but rather anger and struggled, managing to push Hyde back with a kick to the stomach. Retrieving Set's dagger from the ground, Ahmanet quickly got up, just like Hyde who was waiting for her.

_ "Is that all you have? Come on, I'm sure you can do much better than that!" asked Mr. Hyde, taunting her.

Ahmanet still says nothing, refusing to answer this cursed demon. At the doctor's desk, Mathias continued to look worriedly, seeing the terrifying look Ahmanet showed. A look full of hatred and violence. He clearly saw that her part of darkness generated by Set was beginning to take over and this worried him even more, fearing that she would shift irreversibly. He had to do something, but what? He was only a simple human and therefore had no chance of stopping this fight by interposing himself between these two beings, he would be killed for sure. And this monstrous dagger, gifted by Set himself. Mathias had a presentiment and noticed that since Ahmanet had it in her hand, her aggressiveness and violence had only increased, as if an absolute darkness emanated from the weapon and had an influence on its bearer.

_"Ahmanet..." Mathias wanted to say to warn her.

_"Stay safe, Mathias. I'm going to eliminate this vermin!" interrupted Ahmanet in a voice of hatred towards Hyde.

She didn't even listen to him. Mathias didn't know what to do, when suddenly he noticed Doctor Jekyll's injector still on the desk. He took it, knowing that the serum had the ability to attenuate Mr. Hyde's influence and perhaps end the fight. All that remained was to find a way to approach and inject him with the serum.

With a psychopathic sneer, Mr. Hyde tried to stab Ahmanet again but she effortlessly disarmed him with a back of her arm. Not at all distraught at having lost his weapon, Hyde wanted to punch her in the face but she stopped his fist with ease, and struck him back, pushing him back. On his knees, spitting a trickle of blood on the ground, Hyde seemed to be stunned, unable to get up. Ahmanet came to him, towering over him and grabbing him by the hair to force him to raise his head and look him in the eyes.

_"You are nothing compared to me. Submit and perhaps I will agree to spare your miserable life." ordered Ahmanet fiercely.

_"Tell me..." Hyde then replied with a blood-red smile. "Don't you know the saying: too much confidence kills confidence."

At this strange sentence, Mr. Hyde grabbed Ahmanet's hand which was holding Set's dagger and with a quick movement made her stab herself in the stomach. This time, unlike before, Ahmanet gasped in pain, her eyes wide as she threw Hyde backwards in a defensive reflex and took several steps back, extracting the cursed dagger from her bruised flesh and this time letting some of her black blood flow.

_"Ahmanet!" Mathias gasped, horrified at having seen her get stabbed by surprise and ran up to her.

Putting pressure on her bleeding wound, Ahmanet dropped to one knee, still feeling the immense pain inflicted by the cursed blade of the dagger, visibly the only weapon capable of truly seriously injuring her. Worried by the state of the injury, Mathias wanted to support the princess to help her get up, but Ahmanet quite abruptly pushed him away from her, driven by pain but also anger. Mr. Hyde, still laughting and psychotic, got up, readjusted his tie and walked towards Ahmanet, but Mathias chose to intervene and attempted a tackle by charging at the possessed doctor, but the latter stopped the young man clear in his attempt.

_"The brave knight comes to the aid of his princess... How noble!" Hyde mocked cruelly.

No match for the doctor's unnatural strength, Mathias was thrown violently against the desk which he hit. He didn't have time to regain his senses when Hyde appeared, blocking him and closing his two powerful hands around his neck. Mathias tried to struggle but in vain and began to suffocate, the sadistic and murderous face of Hyde right in front of him. Seeing this, Ahmanet drew on his strength and against the pain to get up.

_"I gave you a chance, you should have taken it." Mr. Hyde growled at Mathias. "In the end, you're just a weakling. You don't deserve to have this power!"

_"Go...to hell, asshole!" breathed Mathias defiantly.

_"Oh... you first!" Hyde retorted with a predatory smile, and raised one of his fists, ready to bring it down with all his might on Mathias' face and kill him.

Suddenly, Ahmanet's powerful arm stopped Hyde's, and the princess, with a roar of fury, lifted the doctor from the ground to throw him violently against the shelf full of books which fell backwards under the impact in a heavy and noisy crash, a pile of books covering the doctor who no longer moved. Mathias rubbed his sore throat, coughing and catching his breath while Ahmanet glanced at him, as if to check that he was okay, but her attention quickly returned to the doctor.

_"This time, it's time to end it." hissed the princess full of hatred.

But as she headed towards the doctor with the Set dagger to finish him off before he woke up, Ahmanet was surprised to see Mathias blocking her way and placing himself between her and her target.

_"Mathias, move aside." ordered Ahmanet.

_"You don't have to do that." Mathias replied, trying to soothe her and pointing to the injector with the serum in his hand. "He doesn't have to die. We can help him with that."

_"He wanted us both dead." Ahmanet retorted darkly. "I will show no mercy to those who threaten us. So stand aside... Don't make me say it again."

But despite the serious, threatening tone and the fierce gaze of the Egyptian princess, Mathias did not let himself be intimidated and looked at her without saying a word, making it clear to her that he would not obey and that if she wanted to pass, she will have to do it by force. Ahmanet seemed outraged by this behavior, gritting her teeth.

_"Would you dare stand in my way?" she asked. "You too would be ready to betray me for these... miserable creatures?!"

_"You know that I will never betray you, Ahmanet." Mathias replied calmly. "And I refuse to let you betray yourself. Believe me, I can understand your disgust for humanity. I felt it myself, I felt like a stranger among them during all my life, but despite all the evil that exists in them, I could also see that there was good. We are a young species, still inexperienced. So please forgive them, give them a chance and also... Don't become what they think you are."

Ahmanet had listened, and seemed to be hesitating between pushing Mathias out of her way or following his resonance. Forgive humans? After everything they had put her through? The very idea repelled her. But on the other hand, Mathias seemed convinced of what he said and she trusted him.

The desire to kill was still visible on her face, her hand holding the dagger trembling. Mathias remained in his position, continuing to look at her without saying anything, showing her that he would respect her choice no matter what. Set's influence was still very powerful, especially thanks to the proximity of the dagger, but Ahmanet also felt the sparkling, hot laziness of the bond she shared with Mathias, trying to guide her towards the light out of the darkness. Finally, after endless seconds of hesitation, Ahmanet lowered the dagger, managing to calm down and Mathias smiled at her, thanking her for making this choice.

Noticing that she had calmed down but wanting to avoid the influence that the dagger had on her, Mathias gently took the weapon from her hand, while wrapping it in a cloth to avoid any physical contact with it. Ahmanet did not try to keep the dagger and left it to him, as if noticing her sudden change in attitude.

Suddenly, Mr. Hyde appeared like a devil from the pile of books and tried to throw himself at Mathias again, but the young man in an almost superhuman reflex stuck the injector in his chest, the serum flowing into the body of the doctor who immediately groaned in intense pain, the veins throbbing on his head. The effect only took a few seconds to act and already the doctor's complexion became lighter again, his eyes lost this monstrosity to return to normal and Mr. Hyde's mind, although combative and tenacious, gradually faded away...

_"Well done, Mr. Parrish... Well done..." then whispered Doctor Jekyll who had finally regained control of his evil side.

Removing the injector from his chest, Doctor Jekyll had to sit against the wall, drained of all energy and having to catch his breath. Reassured to see that the effect of the serum had worked, Mathias let Jekyll regain his strength and stepped back to join Ahmanet who for her part remained very suspicious and angry of the doctor even if he had regained his human consciousness. She would surely never forgive him for the treatment she had suffered within Prodigium, but at least she had granted Mathias' wish and had not killed him. However, she wanted to warn Mathias.

_"You have a good heart, Setepai..." she said. "I grant you, but your excessive kindness could cost you dearly."

_"Well if I have to die for remaining faithful to my convictions, I won't have died for nothing." replied Mathias.

A response filled with a certain strength and wisdom, Ahmanet had to recognize it, but that did not reassure her. Slowly, she came to take Mathias' hands in hers, looking into his eyes.

_"Please..." she asked in a soft voice. "Promise me you won't die. I... I won't be able to bear the loss of..."

She didn't dare finish her sentence, her cheeks turning slightly red and her embarrassed expression making her look adorable. Mathias smiled and reassured her.

_"I promise."

Ahmanet smiled in turn, but very quickly she grunted and grimaced from an intense pain that seized her in the stomach. Seeing her writhing in pain, Mathias became greatly concerned and supported her, noticing with horror that her wound was unable to close, even with Ahmanet's powers. Mathias took Ahmanet's arm around his shoulder, supporting her with his own body. However, the confinement of the office was lifted, the metal curtains on the windows raising and the thick locks on the doors deactivating. Voices and footsteps began to be heard, moving closer to the main door of the office.

_"Mathias... run away now." Ahmanet asked him.

_"And leave you here? Out of the question." retorted the young man.

The metal door was suddenly forced open and Agent Carson, accompanied by a squad of heavily equipped and armed Prodigium soldiers burst in. The latter did not even ask a question and opened fire towards Ahmanet and Mathias, who jumped behind Jekyll's desk to take cover. Bursts of rifles and submachine guns fell in destructive rain, riddled the wood of the office and caused an eardrum-tearing din. Ahmanet then decided to take Mathias in her arms, holding him firmly and lifting him effortlessly thanks to her superhuman strength.

_"Hang on, Mathias!" the princess shouted at him.

Mathias, still under the effect of stress from the shooting, did not even have time to respond and clung tightly to the princess who, while holding him, made a masterful and agile leap through the bay window behind the desk, passing through and shattering it. Ahmanet covered Mathias' head to protect him from the broken glass. The fall was however harsh and the duo landed very suddenly on a pile of waste and garbage bags piled up in the deserted alley in which they were now.

Although they managed to get out of the building, the couple were not safe. Prodigium's soldiers had run up to the breach in the bay window and continued to fire at them. Ahmanet pushed Mathias to the side to prevent him from being shot and, although injured, managed to keep her strength and picked up one of the garbage bags which she threw violently towards the soldiers, one of them taking the projectile in the face. But the injury quickly caught up with Ahmanet who staggered again and had to be supported by Mathias.

Then, under their perplexed gaze, the manhole cover a few meters from them slid and a figure dressed in black and with his face hidden under a gray scarf appeared from the hole, waving at them.

_"Come this way!"

Although confused but having no other alternative to escape the shots of Prodigium's men, Mathias supported Ahmanet, walking together and descending into the manhole following the mysterious stranger, thus escaping the sight of the soldiers.

Meanwhile, in the office, Agent Carson had come to see Doctor Jekyll.

_"Sir, is everything okay?" she asked.

_"I... yes, I think..." he replied.

_"The young French man and the mummy managed to escape. But don't worry, we will find them, wherever they are." added Agent Carson, who immediately turned around and left to give her next instructions to the agents.

Jekyll didn't respond, letting her go as he stood up after regaining a few ounces of breath and strength. He picked up his injector from the floor, looking at it with a look of confusion and thought. Even though he no longer had control of his body, he had been aware all along of what Mr. Hyde had tried to do to Mathias and Ahmanet. He also remembered this moment when the Egyptian princess agreed to listen to Mathias' voice and not finish him off while he was knocked out under the pile of books.

This decision of Ahmanet not to give in to her monstrous impulses left Jekyll pensive, confused. It wasn't logical... She had given in to the attraction of absolute evil, denied her humanity for the benefit of power, and yet, she had listened to the voice of Mathias, her chosen one. What if... Mathias Parrish was telling the truth about Ahmanet. Not recognizing it as an absolute truth, Jekyll nevertheless let the theory cross his mind.