Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures - H.P.S.T Chapter 1703: Fragility

The Veil of Death swung open, lifted high above the arch by the cold, howling wind pouring out from within.

That place was the Far Shore, the Land of the Dead, the realm of the God of Death.

Amid the sickly green glow, Evan caught sight of the fleeting shadow of an ancient temple.

It flashed into view for only an instant before being obscured by a tide of black flies, Dementors, ghosts, skeletons, and Inferi. Beyond them, innumerable other grotesque creations of the evil god poured forth from the gate — each one part of the Dark army, birthed by forbidden magic, forged by Herpo the Foul.

The monsters roared as they surged forth from within the Veil of Death.

It was an exceptionally horrifying and terrifying sight!

Yet before they could wreak any havoc upon the world, they were ensnared by the omnipresent tentacles of the devouring evil god outside the gate, crushed and obliterated in moments, reduced to ashes and dissipated into black smoke.

Truly…

Evan did not know what to say. From the way things stood, Herpo and his so-called army were utterly useless.

They were no match for the Devouring God!

They couldn’t even struggle, let alone fight back; they were nothing more than nourishment.

Under normal circumstances, the opening of the Veil of Death would have been a catastrophe of the highest order — one far exceeding even Voldemort’s return. After all, Voldemort’s reach was largely confined to Britain; many countries had watched his resurgence from afar, some even with thinly veiled satisfaction, content to see the British Wizarding world weakened.

This was evident from feedback regarding the Order of the Phoenix’s activities outside of Britain.

However, the opening of the Veil of Death was entirely different; it was a terrifying event in Dark magic that could affect the entire world.

Behind the gate lay the world created by Herpo the Foul, the world of the dead. The opening of the Veil of Death meant the barrier between the real world and the world of the dead had been torn apart. Herpo and the dead could return to the real world, bringing death and destruction.

All living beings were their enemies!

That was how things were meant to be, assuming their opponents were wizards.

Except — this was not a battle against wizards.

In reality, the creatures pouring from the Veil of Death became nothing more than fuel for the Devouring God, strengthening him with every soul, every fragment of magic consumed.

Evan was certain that in this brief span of time alone, the sealed Devouring God had absorbed more flesh, magic, and power than it had in the previous thousand years combined.

Herpo — arguably the most dangerous Dark wizard in history — could he please stop feeding the Devouring God already?!

As a teammate supposedly on the same side, Evan felt utterly drained — this was someone you simply couldn’t prop up, no matter how hard you tried.

He was gathering his strength, preparing to unleash his strongest attack.

And on the other side, even if Herpo could not fight the Devouring God, the least he could do was delay him.

Even if he could not delay him or couldn’t fight him head-on, at the very least he should stop feeding him power!

Seriously.

Seriously.

Seriously — stop feeding him!

If this continued, the battle would be unwinnable.

The Devouring God’s magical domain was all about devouring; the more he devoured, the stronger he became. With Herpo feeding him like this, in just a short time, his form and power had more than doubled, and his shadowy form was gradually solidifying.

Even with the aid of Gryffindor’s Philosopher’s Stone, the magic Evan was gathering and controlling could not keep pace with the Devouring God’s terrifying growth.

He seriously doubted whether his attacks could cause any devastating damage to the evil god’s statue if he continued.

No, it was questionable whether he could even break through the Devouring Evil God’s defenses.   

At this moment, Herpo the Foul had completely lost the ability to fight the Devouring God. Terrified, he had only one thought left: to escape back into the Veil of Death and seal it shut.

If he could do that, he would be cut off from the Devouring God and might yet escape with his existence intact.

Otherwise, he would truly be devoured, dying here — Horcrux or no Horcrux.

A Horcrux, in essence, was the division of the soul: a fragment severed and sealed away through Dark magic, preserved within a closed space beyond the reach of time, space, and the forces of the world. As long as that fragment endured, one could achieve immortality.

Or, more precisely, one would no longer be eroded by time, nor destroyed by external forces.

With a Horcrux in place, the main soul was immortal.

But nothing in its principles said it could not be devoured!

What use was a Horcrux if the main soul had been devoured? The possibility of revival would be extremely slim, and even if revival were somehow possible, what emerged would no longer be the same being. It would be another Herpo entirely, one that had never ascended to godhood.

In that case, every scheme, every calculation, every sacrifice would be reduced to ashes — an outcome far more unbearable than death itself.

As for resistance, there was no chance.

As the last ancient sorcerer and creator of Horcrux magic, no one understood the ancient evil beings known as the evil gods better than Herpo. His transformation into an evil god had been made possible only by years of meticulous study and obsession.

The more he studied and understood, the clearer he became about the terrifying nature of the evil gods.

These ancient Dark monsters had existed since the beginning of the universe itself. They came from the Void — and they could not be defeated!

What Herpo had achieved was merely an imitation of their existence.

Through Dark magic, he had seized a fragment of an evil god’s power and grown vastly stronger.

It had been a bold, reckless ambition — and he had succeeded. He had truly transformed himself into a god, ruling the domain of Death, the greatest enemy of all mortal beings. But he was never a match for a true evil god.

Before a true evil god, death and immortality were utterly insignificant.

In the presence of a genuine evil god, Herpo was completely suppressed — not merely in strength, but in the very hierarchy of existence. Indeed, his resistance was now even weaker than that of an ordinary wizard. His power shared the same origin as the Devouring God’s, yet existed on a lower plane, making it all too easy to consume and absorb.

Therefore, the Devouring God’s instruction to Voldemort on how to become an evil god might not have been well-intentioned.

Seemingly becoming stronger actually made it easier for the evil god to control him, or even devour him as nourishment.

This, too, explained why the evil god’s statue and the Dark Witch had always wanted to open the Veil of Death. Perhaps the gate contained the method to become an evil god left by Herpo the Foul, but Herpo himself was also nourishment that the Devouring God had long coveted.

Once he devoured Herpo, the Devouring God would be able to command those kindred powers and obtain a formidable body in the real world. Then, who would still be able to stand against him? No one would be able to stop his true form’s arrival.

And even if devouring Herpo failed, it hardly mattered — there was still Voldemort!

It was like raising livestock; if there was a ready pig to slaughter, so much the better. If not, raising another one would do just fine.

At this moment, neither Voldemort nor Evan had realized this truth.

However, Evan had begun to sense that something was wrong. In the confrontation with the Devouring evil God, Herpo’s outer form seemed… far too fragile. …

Translating_Wizard

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