Mr. Rainier looked up as Jared returned, two staffs in his hand and two gods at his side. He gestured for Nefertem to work his magic, and Nefertem glanced over at Ptah before kneeling down to Lucille and Sarah. He whispered simple phrases over them both and drew from his lotus two bright orbs which passed straight into Lucille and Sarah's bodies.

After a moment of waiting and once Nefertem had risen to his feet again, Jared asked, "Why aren't they waking up?"

"They'll only start healing once they're actually given life," Nefertem explained. "You know, by the Giver of Life." He nodded over toward Ptah.

Jared held Ptah's staff up to the god, and Ptah directed the staff at them both muttering a different set of words so that Lucille and Sarah drew breath once again.

Jared smiled up at him.

"Okay, anyway," Jared stated after a moment, "staffs please."

Jared knelt over by the book, in between Lucille and Sarah who still hadn't gained consciousness. Jared set Sekhmet's staff beside him and adjusted the others' that way as well as soon as they were handed down to him.

Mr. Rainier knelt down by Jared as he flipped through the random pages and through gritted teeth he whispered, "Might I ask what you're doing?"

"Saving your butt, that's what," Jared gritted back.

Mr. Rainier stepped a few paces back. Ptah and Nefertem looked down at Jared who was still flipping through the pages. Ptah furrowed his brows, doubting Jared's legitimacy, but he didn't question it yet.

Lucille and Sarah eventually woke up and glanced around, taking in the situation. Ptah and Nefertem were there before him, Jared was in between them, and Mr. Rainier behind them. Lucille scrambled over and wrapped her arms around Jared, and as she did so, she whispered into his ear.

"Keep it as brief as possible. What's going on?"

"The gods believe I can make them more powerful," Jared responded. He added, "But I'm kind of stuck here."

Lucille finished up her embrace.

"We have no time for this," Ptah sighed, lifting his hand, flicking his fingers, and causing the book to fly off out of sight. He looked over at his son. "This boy has no idea what he's doing."

Ptah directed his hand at Jared, but Lucille reacted instinctively, and a translucent shield of sorts appeared in front of them all, canceling out Ptah's powers.

"Perhaps he needed more time," Nefertem advised.

"I'm not giving him so much of our time that I miss my passage back home." Ptah guided his staff back over to himself. "Let's go."

Nefertem guided his staff back to his own hand as well, but he hesitated for just a moment. "I can't."

Ptah stopped in his route and turned back to face his son. "Why not?"

"I assisted in the killing of these innocent people under your instruction," Nefertem explained. "As a god of healing, I am nowhere near prideful. Not of you, not of myself. I surely don't deserve to return home and surely not at the side of the likes of you."

"Oooh," Jared gasped.

"Very well then, son."

Ptah aimed a pulse of energy straight for Nefertem, but Nefertem hoisted it in his hands, fiddling with it until it changed into a comfortable shade of blue, and he tossed it to the ground, lotuses blossoming from where it hit the ground.

As they engaged in combat, Jared lifted up Sekhmet's staff and handed it over to Sarah. "Okay Sarah, get far away from here, where no god or evil Egyptian supernatural being can find you and break this apart."

Sarah nodded. "Okay." She took the staff and hurried off while Ptah and Nefertem preoccupied.

~~~~~
Sarah traveled a fair distance before she stopped and decided it was a good place to be. She was about to separate the pieces, but a few yards ahead she spotted Rusk and some other Society members. She hid behind some rubble and took a deep breath before taking apart the staff, starting from the top (which was no longer on fire out of Sekhmet's hands) until she reached the final piece.

Meanwhile, Sekhmet was still near the portal, and she suddenly attracted Niamh and Jonah's full attention when she engulfed herself in flames and yelped up into the air, sounding more like a lion's roar than anything. The fire dissipated and she still stood there, enraged.

"I..have no time for...waiting," she struggled to say. She made her way to the portal with her arm clutching her stomach.

"We can't let her go through that portal," Niamh declared, not wanting to take the chances of something even worse happening.

She came out into view and picked up pebbles and small stones, tossing them at Sekhmet. Jonah followed her lead until she stopped walking and glanced back at them. She opened her mouth a beam of flames raged out causing Niamh and Jonah to dive out of the way. Sekhmet staggered toward the gateway, but she was too late for her own good. Her body erupted into flames again, and it seemed she was going to implode, but rather she exploded into fire and embers, destroying the support for the portal with her so that the portal closed and the stone toppled atop one another.

"That's a death if I've ever seen one," Niamh admitted.

The ambulance and police officers drove around the destruction, all of them stopping behind the one police car which had pulled up to Niamh and Jonah. The two of them stood to their feet as the officer stepped out of the car.

"Are either of you hurt?"

"No, but...but there are a lot of injured all around the campus," Niamh said, gesturing in s certain direction with her hands. "Some casualties too, I think."

The officer nodded and although there were many questions arising with law enforcement about what exactly happened, they first had to rescue all the people in critical danger on the campus.

Niamh and Jonah watched as they all drove by and instead of being offered a ride, they had to head back on foot.

~~~~~
Lucille, Jared, and Mr. Rainier were still around to watch the battle between Ptah and Nefertem. It reached a climax when it had practically become a sword fight, their staffs meeting one another and sending out a pulse which knocked Mr. Rainier, Lucille, and Jared off their feet.

Ptah swung his staff around and directed it so that it would collide across Nefertem's cheek, sending him helplessly to the ground.

"You never were as strong as me," Ptah muttered to him, raising his staff over Nefertem's body.

As he guided it down, straight toward Nefertem's chest, Lucille and the others turned their gazes away. When they were sure it was safe, they turned back to see Nefertem wisping away with a slender trace.

Ptah faced the Chosen One, Osirion, and Mr. Rainier as they were rising back up on their feet. "Do you understand my power now? Don't you fear it?" Ptah addressed them with a smirk.

Just then, an idea clicked in Lucille's head, and she came to a sudden realization. "Jared, fear is only an illusion of power," Lucille muttered quickly.

"Come again?"

"Power thrives from fear. Fear is its own reality. A god thrives from power, so a god thrives from fear..."

"Should I know what this all means?"

"Fear makes us instruments of power. Fear makes us obey."

"Uh-"

"-so how do you defeat a god?" Lucille mumbled further. She raised her eyebrows. "You stop being afraid."

"Lucille, I don't think that-"

Jared was caught off by Lucille suddenly facing up to Ptah and declaring, "I'm not afraid of you."

Ptah raised his eyebrows at that.

"And I know I can defeat you," Lucille continued.

"How's that?" Ptah chuckled.

"Because I'm the only reason you're actually here. If anything, you're no more capable than me."

Ptah shook his head in mockery and attempted to use his staff once again, but this time nothing happened. Lucille was genuinely surprised by this, as was everyone else, but she still felt proud for figuring out the trick.

"Now," she smiled, "you can either hand over the staff or I could take it from you."

"Please," Ptah remarked. "My power may be dwindling, but I still just so happen to be a god."

"Yes, and we just so happen to be the Chosen One and Osirion," Jared jumped in, taking a step forward. "If I were to convince you of anything, it's that you should be afraid of us."

Before Ptah could react to that, the staff suddenly had flown from his hold to Lucille's. She presented a slight grin toward him.

"So like we were saying."

~~~~~
So, I considered making this just a really really long chapter and wrapping it up in this one, but I just made this chapter a teeny bit longer than usual, and the final chapter actually comes next.

So we can finally figure out how this all ends!

It only took 80 chapters.

So as always, until next time, Aristocrats.