novelraw Chapter 312 - 313: Fated Death? Then I will Defy Fate. Death Eaters: Is This Hell?
Chapter 312 - 313: Fated Death? Then I will Defy Fate. Death Eaters: Is This Hell?
That enormous eyeball stared down at Ethan from the horizon, from an even farther vault beyond the sky itself. It radiated malice so dense it felt almost tangible, pressing against the skin like a heavy fog.
[Ignorant, foolish vermin, daring to alter fate again and again…]
The voice that poured into Ethan's ears was like television static, hoarse and jagged, a stream of incoherent muttering. It was the kind of sound that would drive any normal person mad.
Ethan, however, looked almost pleased. He gazed up at the giant eye with bright interest, wearing an expression that clearly said: Go on, keep talking.
The eyeball went silent for a moment.
[…]
Fine, then.
Normal people were clearly not getting a turn today.
[To behold me is your privilege.]
[The one you face is the god who governs death and fate, the existence that brings all living beings their destined end… My name is Death.]
Death?
Ethan remembered the title from wizarding fairy tales. Not to be outdone, he introduced himself right back, smiling as if this were a formal reception.
"The one standing before you is Mr Lamp, who governs light and justice, an artist who brings supreme aesthetics to all living things. My name is Ethan Vincent."
Death: [...]
There truly were humans this shameless.
Had Merlin secretly buffed humanity behind everyone's backs?
[What a slick-tongued little insect… Still, I do not dislike your reckless courage.]
[I will be generous and grant you one final chance.]
The eyeball rotated, and like someone inspecting a slice of bread, it lowered its gaze to Cedric, lying collapsed to the side.
[Kill that human. He should die here, at this exact moment.]
[Let fate return to its proper course.]
Ethan turned his head and looked at Harry, who was crouched by Cedric's side.
Harry could not see any of what was happening here, which was probably for the best. He only gripped the Triwizard Cup in one hand and his wand in the other, standing stubbornly in front of Cedric as if his body alone could block the world. In those bright green eyes, courage and defiance still burned.
So Ethan let out a long, unhurried sigh. He turned back, lifted his chin, and looked up at the giant eye in the裂 of the sky.
Politely, he declined. "Go haunt someone else's dreams."
A Morning Star Club member he had painstakingly trained, a close-range battle mage, was not going to be erased with a casual decree. And if Death could wipe away his people whenever it pleased, what, exactly, did that make Mr Lamp?
[Stupid vermin! Since you refuse to recognise your good fortune, I will harvest your soul and imprison you in suffering for eternity!]
As the words fell, a surge of black mist slammed down from above. It struck the spot where the pillar of fire had been a moment ago, then poured into the puddle of unknown, drained Voldemort slime left behind.
Gloop, gloop. Gloop, gloop.
The mucus-like sludge swelled with huge bubbles, then rose, and rose, and rose again.
"W-what's happening…?" Harry's eyes widened in horror as his gaze kept climbing.
A beastlike skeleton took shape first, bone by bone, as if sculpted by an unseen hand. The slime clung to it, forming blood-red, withered flesh that dripped down in stringy threads. Voldemort had long since stopped resembling a normal human, but now, under that power from beyond the sky, he looked fully reborn as a monster.
Only the noseless face at the very top remained unmistakable.
His mouth opened to an impossible width, and a howl full of animal savagery ripped out.
[ROAR!!!]
The sound shook the grass and trees until they rattled.
"I'm always saying flesh is weak," Ethan muttered, staring at this new Voldemort with open disgust. "But I still don't want to end up looking like that. There's absolutely no aesthetic value."
[Ah… power. I can feel it surging through me!]
[This is what I've always wanted—the power to rule the world!]
[Ethan Vincent!! You cannot kill me… even fate is on my side!!]
Countless thin arms and tentacles whipped through the air. The whole thing looked like a meat-mountain forced into shape, stacked up by brute will.
Ethan shook his head and sighed. "You've lost the light of reason, and you've lost the last scrap of humanity you had."
"To become a higher being's chess piece in the mortal world, and still feel proud. You used to be an outstanding student at Hogwarts. You learned all that knowledge and delicate magic just so you could throw it away one day and become a monster."
"Tsk. Pathetic."
Still, one thing was becoming clear from Voldemort's grotesque transformation. This so-called omnipotent "Death" did not seem able to directly interfere with the mortal world at will. It needed a method, a medium, a workaround.
Maybe that could be used.
Ethan's eyes darkened slightly as he considered it.
On the other side, Ethan's words hit exactly where it hurt. Voldemort exploded, fury drowning what little rationality he had left. The only obsession holding him together now was simple.
Kill Ethan Vincent.
[I'll kill you! I'll tear you into pieces!!]
The rumbling roar echoed through the graveyard. At the edges of the mirror world, cracks began crawling outward, one after another.
[I'll peel your skin off bit by bit! I'll make you beg me to kill you!!!]
Ethan's mouth curved, utterly unthreatened. He looked at Voldemort's raging fit and offered an earnest reminder.
"Do you know something? The way you talk right now sounds exactly like a troll that's just learned to speak. If you performed at Hogwarts on Halloween, you'd get thunderous applause."
Watching Voldemort look like it was about to explode from rage, even Harry felt a flicker of pity. He clutched Cedric tightly, hugging the Cup hard to his chest, his thoughts fierce and clear.
I have to bring Cedric back. We are going back to Hogwarts with honour.
"Ethan," Harry whispered, voice shaking, "hurry…"
[HRAAAAGH, I'LL KILL YOU!!!]
Voldemort bellowed, and the enormous magic he had been granted poured out in a single flood.
Crack.
Then, with a violent shatter, the space around them splintered apart. Tombstones, grass, the night sky, even distant houses, all fractured into mirror shards. It was like they had been standing here for ages, only to realise the world itself had always been false.
Harry gaped again, stunned.
He was starting to understand a rule of life. The moment Mr Lamp got involved, meaning Ethan, reality stopped behaving normally. Magic became a string of miracles that should not have been possible.
[The Mirror World is about to collapse!]
[Countdown: 3, 2…]
"Hmph," Ethan snorted softly, and something alien flashed in his eyes. "If we're going to chase excitement, then let's take it all the way."
He moved on the very last second before the countdown ended, stabbing his wand down into Barty Crouch Jr's left arm, straight into the Dark Mark.
"Come out, Voldemort's followers."
Whoosh.
Dozens of streams of black mist dropped from the air and struck the ground, resolving into figures in black cloaks and grey-silver masks. They formed a dense ring around the area, radiating a cold, oppressive menace.
Then every single one of them froze.
They stared blankly at the apocalyptic scene, at the collapsing world around them, and at the terrifying crimson meat-mountain ahead. The thought seemed to pass through them all at once.
Was this… still Britain?
"We heard the Dark Lord's summons and came," a short, stocky Death Eater muttered dully. "Nobody said the meeting point was hell."
He glanced around, as if searching for the one face conspicuously absent, that so-called platinum aristocrat.
Ethan turned his head and gave them a gentle, friendly smile.
The next moment, the mirror world shattered completely.
The ground beneath them became the Third Task arena of the Triwizard Tournament: the rose maze. Hogwarts Castle stood in the distance, unmistakable and solid.
"Hogwarts?!" someone screamed.
A Death Eater tried to Apparate at once, then jolted as nothing happened. The magic refused to answer.
"Damn it, it's a trap!!"
None of them even questioned whether the summons had been real. After all, who would be insane enough to imitate the Dark Lord to summon Death Eaters?
One Death Eater snapped his wand up, pointing it straight at Ethan. "Avada Keda—"
"Stupefy!"
A faster spell shot in from behind, striking the Death Eater dead-on and blasting him off his feet. He rolled across the ground and went limp, unconscious.
The Death Eaters whipped their heads around.
Aurors had already closed in, ring after ring, wands raised. Mad-Eye Moody held his wand, its tip glowing red, and let out a short snort.
"One."
Ethan looked at the Death Eaters' panic, his grin widening with unmistakable pleasure. "Welcome to beautiful Hogwarts," he said brightly. "Today's trip ends here."