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Deep beneath the French Quarter, where even demons feared to tread, Lucifer worked his craft with meticulous precision. The cavern predated New Orleans by millennia, its walls carved with symbols that made reality flinch. Holy hell, even the air down here felt wrong - thick with power that had existed before light learned to dance.

Artifacts of corrupted grace surrounded him, each one pulsing with energy stolen from sacred ground. Their glow cast shadows that moved with hungry purpose, eating away at stone older than human memory. The Prince of Lies had been busy during his exile - collecting toys that would make Heaven's archivists weep.

His fingers traced ley line convergence points on a map spread across an altar of black stone. Each mark pulsed with possibilities darker than sin. Power radiated from his perfect form in waves that would have driven lesser beings mad. But then, that was the point.

"Soon." His voice carried echoes of the void as he completed another sigil. "Everything returns to its original state. No more artificial barriers. No more rules about what should and shouldn't exist."

A smile curved lips that had once sung Heaven's praises. Now that same beauty promised chaos older than Creation itself. The expression would have made demon lords run screaming.

"Let's see how they handle what comes next." Pure satisfaction filled each word as he turned to the artifacts he'd spent millennia collecting. "Time to wake the universe's firstborn children."