With the reincarnation of Set in the physical world, the very laws of nature were turned upside down and the elements went crazy. Once again, the streets of Paris were rife with chaos and death, the hordes of walking corpses having suddenly rise again to resume their wave of carnage. A monstrous storm, accompanied by freezing rain, fell on the French capital.

On one of the streets leading to the Eiffel Tower, a Prodigium armored vehicle managed as best it could to make its way through, sometimes having to hit some abandoned cars and push them aside to pass. Several undead came to throw themselves and be violently hit by the vehicle while trying to attack it. Agent Sandra Winters was behind the wheel, Henry Jekyll sitting in the passenger seat and observing the situation outside with an anxiety that was difficult to hide. Behind them, several armed and equipped soldiers from the organization stood ready to act when the moment came.

_"Faster, Winters! Every second counts now!" ordered Jekyll.

_"Got it, hold on!" the woman replied, pressing the speed pedal. "I hope your plan works!"

_"This is our last chance. Only he can do it!" added Jekyll, looking at what he held preciously on his lap: an ancient-looking box adorned with Egyptian engravings.

************

On the Champ-de-Mars square, just in front of the Eiffel Tower, a savage battle had broken out between the monsters remaining loyal to Princess Ahmanet and the army of the dead now serving the god Set. Lawrence, almost entirely transformed, now looking more like a wolf than a man, unleashed his bestial fury, leaping and moving at great speed, tearing off the heads and limbs of the undead with his fangs and claws. Not far from him, Marya, the gothic vampire lady, invoked the dark arts of which she had the secret, using her telekinetic powers to lift packs of undead and crush them to the ground or throw them at others. She was also capable of turning into black smoke, making herself impossible for enemy hands to grasp.

The amphibian creature from the Black Lagoon, with its strength and imposing stature, was wreaking havoc among the ranks of the undead, tearing them in half, crushing their skulls in its hands and even lifting a car to crush two of them. With a gruesome guttural noise, the creature bulged its throat to spew a geyser of a viscous, steaming slime-like substance onto a group of enemies, who were reduced to mush within seconds by the acidic slime.

Jack the Invisible Man, with his peerless shooting skills, served as a sniper for his comrades, blowing heads off one by one with his precise shots from his pistol. Unfortunately, an undead creature surprised him from behind and grabbed him, pinning him against the car and attempting to bite him. Not far, the little Frankenstein girl, terrified by the situation, had curled up, crying and clutching her doll.

_"Frankie, run! Save your life!" Jack yelled at her, struggling and holding back the zombie's jaws.

But at the sight of her friend, almost her new father, in danger, Frankenstein was assailed by flashes from her past. She saw herself, coming back to life in a body made of different pieces of corpses of young girls her age, resuscitated by her brother Victor who had gone mad... She had killed him, thus losing the only family that gave her remained... She then remembered her real name, the one she had when she was human... Trudy. Trudy Frankenstein.

Refusing to lose her family again, having regained courage and with a scream of anger, she jumped on the back of the undead and struck him with extreme violence in the eyes and on the head, making him let go. Catching his breath, the Invisible Man then saw his little protégé continue to attack the zombie, having made him fall to the ground and reducing his face to shreds under her blows. Despite her frail appearance, little Frankenstein demonstrated superhuman strength, having pulverized the face of her enemy and then getting up, her hands and face splashed with black, viscous blood.

_"Well... Remind me to never get you angry. Thank you, my little Frankie." huffed Jack, impressed.

_"Trudy... Name... Trudy..." she then replied in her little childish voice, which had become innocent again and pointing to herself.

_"Ok... As you wish, my little Trudy." Jack then said to her, with a feeling of pride for her, then reloaded his pistol. "Let's go help our comrades."

At this, Trudy Frankenstein nodded and picked up a piece of sharp glass as a weapon.

Meanwhile, Mathias, having no weapon or supernatural ability, had to rely on his reflexes and speed to avoid all the undead who were trying to grab him. While running in the middle of the infernal fight, he tried to follow the confrontation taking place between Ahmanet and Set. The princess and the reincarnated god were still moving at extraordinary speeds, struggling, pushing each other against the ground, walls, cars and causing monstrous collateral damage among the undead around them but Set didn't care at all about causing losses to his own troops. Set was jubilant, laughing like a madman, while Ahmanet screamed in fury. He was playing with her and she was so blinded by her anger that she didn't see it. Mathias had to quickly find a way to help her or she would be killed.

But several undead blocked his path, forcing him to deviate and run. He tried to climb onto the roof of an abandoned van, but one of the creatures grabbed his ankle. Mathias struggled, managing to free himself with a well-placed kick and hoisted himself up. The group of grunting dead surrounded the vehicle, their emaciated hands flailing around in an attempt to grab the trapped young man. Unfortunately, one of the dead was smarter and climbed onto the hood at full speed.

_"Ah shit..." the young man breathed.

Mathias found himself fighting the enraged corpse, preventing it from biting him at all costs. The hands of other undead managed to grab his feet, trying to make him lose his balance, or even make him fall from the roof of the vehicle. Mathias was starting to panic inside, trying at all costs to keep his balance while having to stop this stinking corpse from tearing his face off with its teeth. If he fell among these things, death was assured.

Suddenly, the head of the undead against whom he was fighting exploded in a masterful gunshot, Mathias finding himself with his face sprayed with disgusting black blood of which he spat several drops. Jack came running and still shooting, and not alone. Trudy Frankenstein emerged like a ninja from behind a zombie's back, piercing him between the eyes with her sharp piece of glass. Marya arrived as well, effortlessly lifting a zombie by the throat and slamming it violently to the ground, and with her other hand summoned a powerful telekinetic wave that swept away the rest of the creatures around the van, allowing Mathias to have a way free.

_"Thanks guys." whispered the young man who thought he wouldn't make it this time.

_"Let's talk later! Go join the princess, we'll hold them back!" Marya replied without looking at him, sending another telekinetic shockwave and supporting Jack and Trudy against the rapidly approaching creatures.

Despite her harsh and cold tone, Mathias smiled briefly at her, knowing that she had been the first to be suspicious of him when they met. He followed the advice and ran as quickly as possible to reach Ahmanet. On his way, not far from him, he noticed an object abandoned on the ground: Set's dagger.

***********

The fight between Ahmanet and Set had moved to the foot of the Eiffel Tower. The Princess of Egypt was thrown and hit a lamppost, but quickly recovered. Set arrived, as sure of himself as ever, his eyes shining with the unhealthy glow of death. Not admitting defeat, Ahmanet managed to catch him and threw him forcefully against one of the pillars of the tower. But the god also got up very quickly, without showing any sign of weakening.

_"I can't even feel pain, it's so delicious... Oh yes, I'm going to enjoy this world." he said sadistically.

Ahmanet tried to grab her again, but Set was faster and stronger, grabbing her by the throat, lifting her and slamming her on the ground, then managed to block her. The princess fought fiercely to try to free herself but the god's strength was much greater. She punched him in the face several times, but he remained unmoved.

_"So much persistence is pathetic... Have you forgotten? I created you, little idiot." Set hissed through his teeth. "I made you forget the feeling of hunger, fear and of course... pain... But what I took away from you, I can give it back."

With these cruel words, he thrust one of his fingers imbued with his dark magic, piercing the flesh of Ahmanet's shoulder who, for the first time in millennia, felt pain. An excruciating and indescribable pain that made her scream with all her might.

_"Yes, that's it... Feel this pain specific to the weak!" Set growled with unparalleled cruelty, continuing to torture her with his dark magic by slowly rotating his finger in the wound. "For that's all you will have been in the end, princess. Weak!"

Ahmanet suffered like a martyr, unable to free herself from the grip of the god who held her firmly by the throat and kept her on the ground. She hit him again several times but without success, and this only incited him to torture her even more. She was just entertainment for him and once he got tired of playing, he would be done with it.

But suddenly, the current form of Mathias appeared from behind from the smoke, Set's dagger in hand. Without any hesitation, as if driven by the force of despair, the young man rushed forward and stabbed Set between the shoulders with the black blade. This time, the evil god tensed and even uttered a brief cry of... pain?! Letting go, he stood up and stepped back, still affected by the stab he had received and even feeling a trickle of blood running down his skin.

_"Huh?! What?! But... no... Impossible!" the god growled.

Meanwhile, Mathias had rushed to Ahmanet to support her, help her get up and was worried when he saw her panting and injured.

_"Ahmanet..."

_"I'm fine, my Mathias." she replied with a loving tone. "Don't stay here, you're in danger."

_"It's out of the question and you know it. Did you see what that dagger just did to him?! He's not that invulnerable!" said the young man with conviction.

Indeed, despite the pain, Ahmanet was able to observe and witness this injury inflicted on Set. The latter also finished regenerating his wound, not without showing a certain frustration. Ahmanet then knew what to do. What better way to defeat a god than with a weapon made by him? Set, finishing healing, turned his anger-filled eyes towards Mathias.

_"You!" he spat with all the hatred he could muster.

Set leapt with superhuman speed towards the young man to kill him, but Ahmanet reacted in time, taking the dagger from Mathias' hand and using it to pierce one of Set's eyes. The god let out a scream of pain like a powerful, gaunt roar echoing through the air, thick black blood flowing from his wound. Ahmanet, growling with rage, held her ground, keeping the blade in the gouged eye and forcing harder and harder, drawing even more blood.

But Set, with a masterful swing of his arm, struck Ahmanet and threw her several meters backwards and sending her crashing into a newsstand, but with the bloody dagger still in her hand. Already healing his gouged eye, Set growled like an animal, turning his attention to Mathias who found himself defenseless against the Egyptian god. The young man began to back away in fear, knowing full well that he could not escape.

_"Not bad for an insect." Set growled. "It lacked a challenge, that's what I need to celebrate my victory. But prepare yourself... to meet the true face of DEATH!"

With this last word, much more overwhelming and powerful, the possessed body of the late Jonathan began to undergo horrible physical transformations. His fingernails broke to give way to black claws, the same for his feet. Its ears gradually became pointed and its face mutated, into a mixture of african wild dog and human, its mouth showing a row of sharp, salivating fangs as well as bottomless black eyes. Set's true appearance was beginning to take over his human host.

_"You're one ugly motherfucker..." breathed Mathias, in shock.

He quickly regretted those words when Set, in barely a second, moved right in front of him and delivered a blow so hard that Mathias flew backwards more than twenty meters, rolling on the ground. Breathless, coughing up a little blood, Mathias suffered horribly in pain in his ribcage, feeling as if he had been hit by a car. He was no longer able to get up and saw the monstrous Set advancing towards him, with a slow, heavy and confident step.

_"Still alive? You are rather resistant for a mortal, I admit. Usually, your peers break like twigs!" Set growled.

_"And I believed that a god did not bleed. If I were your father, I would have died of shame." Mathias replied with difficulty, suffering with every word he spoke but without regret.

Set's eye flashed with boundless rage at this remark. But Ahmanet jumped at his back, clinging to him and began to stab him repeatedly and forcefully in the chest. Set emitted roars of pain and anger while struggling furiously, trying to remove Ahmanet who was holding on despite everything. Seeing her, Mathias got back up, holding his ribs which were extremely painful, and contemplated the struggle of the two entities. The dagger blows rained down, the black blood spurted freely but it still didn't seem enough, Set didn't weaken.

_"He has become too strong... the dagger is no longer enough..." Mathias breathed, distraught.

The sound of an engine then caught his attention, making him turn around. From the smoke, a black, armored vehicle, bearing the symbol of the Prodigium organization, appeared and stopped. Mathias was more than surprised to see Jekyll and Winters descend quickly, escorted by a troop of soldiers who took up positions and opened fire on the arriving undead. Upon joining them, Mathias immediately noticed the box that the doctor was holding in his hands.

_"Mathias, thank heaven, you are alive." Jekyll said.

He and Winters then further noticed the monstrous confrontation that was taking place between Ahmanet and Set, the Egyptian princess continuing to cling with all her might to the god's back and to stab him as much as possible while he struggled to free himself from her. Mathias could not hide his deep concern for his princess.

_"We have to help her." admitted Mathias. "Look, the dagger is capable of seriously injuring Set but not killing him completely, he's become too powerful! I don't know how we're going to stop him!"

_"I think I have what you need." replied Jekyll, pointing precisely to the mysterious box. "Winters, go help our men!"

_"Understood!" said the agent.

Without wasting a moment she took her weapon from her belt and went to lend a hand to the squad of Prodigium soldiers who managed to maintain their positions and eliminate the approaching undead. Additionally, they received unexpected help from Jack the Invisible Man and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Lawrence, Marya and Trudy Frankenstein arrived in turn, and rushed to Ahmanet's aid against Set. At the same time, Jekyll, using a key, opened the box and revealed its contents to Mathias: a book, old and shriveled, but whose binding was covered in pure gold and magnificently crafted with hyeroglyphs and which turned out to be sealed by a symbol in the shape of a sun.

_"What is this?" Mathias asked, perplexed.

_"The Golden Book of Amon Ra." revealed Jekyll. "I don't have time to tell you how we found it but what you need to know is that it was once created, according to legend, to become a prison capable of holding captive a being as powerful as a god."

Mathias was shocked by this explanation and Jekyll was not the type to joke about such things. A prison capable of holding a god? Mathias met the doctor's gaze and immediately guessed his intentions.

_"You want...?"

_"Exactly!" Jekyll cut him off. "By combining the powers of the dagger with those of the book, you can defeat Set! It is the only way to stop him once and for all! But the book... can only be opened by the blood of the one who will have proven himself worthy of the greatest sacrifice."

Mathias was taken aback by this new revelation, not really understanding what it meant. But the sounds of combat pressed on him. Despite their intervention, Marya, Lawrence and Trudy had been removed from the fight, knocked to the ground by the strength of Set, who despite his body covered in wounds and oozing blood, had managed to regain the upper hand, throwing Ahmanet to the ground.

_"But how could I be worthy? I am just an ordinary human, without a title, who has never accomplished anything extraordinary in his life." Mathias panicked.

_"Of course yes." replied Jekyll. "You sacrificed everything for the one you love, in this life and in the one before. You, the open mind who gave his heart to the monster and kept her from sinking into darkness. You never renounced, being ready to die for her, again and again. Your blood is that of the greatest, because it is defined by your actions, not by your birth status."

Mathias had listened, his hands trembling and his expression lost. Looking over his shoulder, he could see Ahmanet struggling more and more against the god of darkness who was already regaining his strength and healing his wounds. He managed to take the dagger from Ahmanet's hand, blocking her against one of the pillars of the Eiffel Tower and stabbing her savagely with it in the ribs. The princess emitted a shrill, inhuman scream of pain. Set continued his slow torture session, throwing Ahmanet to the ground, hitting her to prevent her from getting up and even crushing her back under his foot. He pulled her by the hair to force her to stand up and stabbed her a second time, this time in the back, making her suffer even more just from cruelty.

Pressed by time and galvanized by his deep desire to save his beloved, Mathias did not hesitate. He bit his hand with all his might, almost tearing off a shred of flesh in terrible pain, and let his blood flow onto the symbol of the book, which then began to absorb the blood and turn on itself, unlocking access to pages. Jekyll had stood back, contemplating this with a glimmer of amazement and hope in his eye as Mathias, his hand bleeding and gritting his teeth against the pain, stood up, his eye glowing of determination and the golden book in hand.

Wounded by the dagger, Ahmanet was weakened and Set lifted her from the ground as if she were nothing, compressing her throat so hard that he could crush her windpipe.

_"No more games. Now, it's time to die, for good this time!" Set growled.

_"LEAVE MY PRINCESS ALONE, YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Mathias' voice proclaimed loudly.

The angry god turned around to see the young human standing a few meters away, fearlessly, one hand draining blood and holding in the other an ancient, golden book that he recognized with amazement.

_"No! How did you find this...?" Set panted.

Taking advantage of this moment of distraction, Ahmanet freed herself from Set's grip, clung to him and with all her strength pierced both of his eyes with her thumbs. Blinded, Set roared in rage and lost his balance, falling backwards. Ahmanet, still on him, retrieved the dagger and stabbed him forcefully in the heart, again and again, lacerating the flesh and spurting blood. She then plunged her hand into the deep wound and violently tore out the black, deformed and putrid heart of the god who emitted unspeakable groans.

_"Now, Setepai!" Ahmanet shouted, stepping aside.

Mathias opened wide the golden book of Amon Ra, now nourished by his worthy blood. A burning, blinding glow like the sun emanated from the pages, forming a beam that surrounded Set's battered body, which emitted roars of pain, as if he were being burned alive. A black, moving smoke, the very essence of Set, was gradually forcibly extracted from the body and gradually devoured by the glow of the ancient book. Once all the black smoke had been swallowed, Mathias firmly closed the book which sealed itself again, and this time, not empty. Deprived of the essence of the god, the body of Jonathan de Mirand lost its monstrous physical transformations, becoming again an ordinary human, but well and truly dead.

The undead army, no longer fueled by the god's necromantic magic, collapsed and everywhere in the capital, chaos gave way to silence. Jack came to Trudy's aid, helping her up while Lawrence and Marya supported each other, joined by the creature from the Lagoon. Falling to his knees, book in hand, Mathias exhaled, relieved and his body tired. His smile returned when he saw Ahmanet coming, dropping the dagger and falling to her knees right in front of him to delicately take his face in her hands. Their loving gazes met as the rain and clouds gave way to sunshine. They had done it. Set was defeated. Slowly, their foreheads came to touch.

_"I..." Mathias breathed with relief.

_"Yes, my beloved." replied Ahmanet, interrupting him with a small smile. "I too."

No need for words to express how they felt about each other. Mathias let this silence become much more expressive and took advantage of this tranquility finally found with his princess. For the first time after millennia of waiting and meeting again beyond death, they were finally free.