However, Voldemort quickly broke free from his frenzied state. He stared at Audrey with wild excitement.
"I knew it! I knew Slytherin's locket must contain secrets leading even deeper into the dwelling of the gods. Tell me—otherwise I will slaughter everyone in Hogwarts!!!"
Audrey's expression changed instantly, and she immediately turned her gaze toward Lilith.
Just then, a soft laugh drifted toward them.
"Oh? Planning to kill everyone? Then I suppose that includes me as well."
A blond boy wearing Ilvermorny wizard robes slowly stepped forward.
"Tsk…so this is the Voldemort who has terrified the British wizarding world for so many years? He looks…utterly pathetic. And ugly."
He sighed dramatically. "It seems the British wizarding world has declined far more than I imagined."
Snape shouted immediately, "Don't come any closer—run!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Voldemort flicked his wand, sending another Killing Curse arcing through the air. But the blond boy didn't even move; he allowed the spell to strike him directly. A translucent golden armour shimmered over his body, blocking the curse entirely.
"You—!" Voldemort stared at him in shock.
The boy grinned.
"Funny coincidence, isn't it? Magic hardly hurts me either."
Then, without warning, he leaned back, arms spread wide as if embracing the sun. A second later, a magnificent, pure, blazing pillar of light descended from the sky, striking Voldemort before he could fully dodge.
A shrill scream tore through the air.
The evil-spirit form Voldemort had become was rapidly purified by the column of light. Within seconds, he was completely erased from existence.
Voldemort died—not at the hands of the prophesied Saviour, but at the hands of an unknown student from America.
Snape froze. Though he already knew Voldemort's threat had diminished greatly in the face of Edward's miraculous potion abilities, he still hadn't expected him to die so abruptly…like a stray dog kicked to death by a passerby, unnoticed and unmourned.
What confused him even more was—
Why could an Ilvermorny student use such abilities as well?
Audrey's green eyes trembled slightly.
"This is…a power of the Sun pathway?"
The blond boy looked over. "Well then, now that the irrelevant one has been dealt with, let's return to the previous topic."
He extended a hand. "Slytherin's locket—where is it?"
Snape immediately stepped in front of Audrey. "Mr. Andrew, thank you for eliminating Voldemort. However, if you have something to discuss, I suggest we speak with the headmasters instead."
"Stupefy."
In the next second, a spell hit Snape squarely, sending him flying backwards and knocking him unconscious. Almost simultaneously, Susie—who had been hidden in the shadows all along—darted out and activated [Frenzy] as she leapt at the boy.
Andrew fell into "Frenzy" for less than half a second. He sidestepped easily and kicked Susie midair, sending her crashing heavily to the ground with a pained "Awoo!"
Audrey gasped. "Susie!"
But what shocked her even more was—
Why were Lilith and the others still standing off to the side, just watching?
Andrew still wore a pleasant smile, but his eyes radiated superiority.
"Relax. I'm not here to steal anything from you. Honestly, if someone hadn't insisted that I come, I'd still be relaxing comfortably back in America."
"I simply want to eliminate all traces left by Slytherin, to ensure that information about the 'dwelling of the gods' is completely severed."
Audrey asked in surprise, "Why?"
"Heh. Because someone told me—once the gate to the dwelling of the gods is opened, it's the same as opening Pandora's Box. From that moment on…wizards will no longer be the only ones capable of wielding extraordinary power. Any ordinary person could trample wizards beneath their feet."
Andrew sneered.
"Honestly, I don't care about the rest of what he said. But as far as I'm concerned, the fewer people with such power, the better…ideally, only me."
Audrey took a deep breath. "When I found Slytherin's locket, Voldemort burned it to ash with Fiendfyre. I truly don't have it."
Andrew shrugged. "Then how did you gain such abilities?"
He waved dismissively before she could answer.
"Ah, never mind. It doesn't matter."
He suddenly pulled a golden sun-shaped badge from his pocket.
"Because after today, you'll just become another fool who knows nothing but praising the Sun."
He flicked the badge casually. The moment it left his hand, it activated—transforming into a blinding beam of golden light that shot straight toward Audrey.
Audrey immediately retreated, activating [Frenzy] multiple times in succession while drawing her wand to cast the Patronus Charm. A silver-white dragon erupted from her dragonbone wand, surging forward to collide with the incoming golden light.
Silver and gold met—clashing, dissolving into one another.
But the dragon Patronus was weakening far more quickly.
Just as the golden light was about to overwhelm the Patronus and strike Audrey—
Everything vanished. Instantly. Without warning.
"!?!?"
Andrew's smile froze on his face, replaced entirely by shock. He had no idea what had happened.
The next second, the entire world shattered like glass and began to collapse.
After a brief moment of disorientation, everyone slowly opened their eyes—and the scene before them left them stunned.
Snape was not unconscious. He still stood exactly where he had been, clutching his wrist, his face full of urgency.
Voldemort had also not died; he floated in midair, looking utterly bewildered.
Andrew stood holding a black-covered notebook, his eyes vacant, as though his soul had left him.
Audrey lay back against a couch that had somehow appeared out of nowhere. Susie rested by her feet, and Lilith stood with arms folded, leaning casually against the side of the sofa.
Everything that had just happened…had been nothing more than a dream.
Andrew seemed to awaken from a dream. Seeing the two suddenly appearing children before him left him utterly stunned. Memories of the dream he had just experienced flashed rapidly through his mind, making it impossible to distinguish illusion from reality.
Then, the notebook in his hand began trembling violently, as though it wanted to escape his grasp.
At that moment, the Evernight Goddess extended her hand. Voldemort's evil spirit whirled rapidly in place before condensing into a translucent mass of energy, which she caught and casually sealed inside a small tin box. She then tossed the box toward Audrey.
"Whether you give it to Dumbledore or Harry Potter, do as you see fit."
Immediately afterwards, she lightly tapped Andrew's notebook.
The notebook froze, and a translucent figure slowly rose from its pages—a bearded, frail-looking old man with a monkey-like face.
Audrey recognised him at once.
It was Salazar Slytherin, the same remnant soul she had met in the dream world last time!
This time, Slytherin stared at the Evernight Goddess with extreme terror, stammering, "You…you…"
Amanises spoke calmly, "You have been to the dwelling of the gods? What did you see there? Did you encounter the deity?"
Slytherin trembled harder, voice quavering.
"You…how could…you…"
The next heartbeat—without any warning at all—Slytherin's remnant soul vanished like a drawing erased by a rubber, disappearing without a trace.
"…"
The pupils of the Evernight Goddess rippled slightly.
This was the first time since her ascension that she had encountered such a situation: someone had used the very Authority she governed to erase, right under her gaze, the exact person she was questioning.
Even though the consciousness inhabiting Priscilla's body was but a faint fragment of her full power, the fact that it could happen at all was astonishing.
Audrey finally asked, belatedly, "Slytherin…why did he disappear?"
Lilith frowned and looked toward the Goddess.
"Wasn't that you, Amanises?"
The Goddess shook her head.
"But that was clearly the power of the Authority of Secrecy, wasn't it?"
Her expression remained tranquil. "Do not forget—in this place…there may be another person capable of wielding the Authority of Secrecy."
Lilith's eyes widened.
"River of Eternal Darkness?!"
Snape, who had been standing nearby in complete shock, suddenly felt his pupils contract sharply.
"Just now…what happened? Who are those two—"
Before he could finish, both girls vanished before his eyes. His thoughts were abruptly cut off, and a moment later, a chunk of his memory simply disappeared. He blinked in confusion.
"…Did I…forget something?"
As for Andrew—at some point he had already fallen to his knees, his expression feverish and deranged as he lifted his face toward the sky and screamed:
"Praise to you, Sun! Stand still and hear my voice—I pray to you, overjoyed; in this moment, my heart burns as brightly as you…I extol your holy power…"
"Ah! Sun! My Sun!"
As he chanted, cracks formed across his skin, glowing with golden radiance. His entire body looked ready to ignite into a humanoid fireball, and the temperature in the surroundings rose rapidly.
Audrey shuddered. "What…what's happening to him?"
Lilith lifted a brow.
"He's turning into a mindless Sun-worshipping lunatic—and losing control."
She flicked her wrist. A mirror formed beneath Andrew's feet. The blazing, near-detonating Andrew fell through it, vanishing. Lilith dusted off her hands and turned to the Goddess.
"Amanises, what on earth is going on?"
The Goddess replied coolly, "Isn't it obvious? Someone does not want us learning certain things from them."
Lilith's expression darkened. "The creator of this world, then?"
"What is He trying so hard to hide?"
"If He can erase those two at will—if He doesn't want them talking—then how did they even get the chance to approach us in the first place?"
She raked her fingers through her hair, growing increasingly anxious.
"He wouldn't harm Edward…would he?"
———
Meanwhile…
The train glided silently across the dark water. Mist gathered on the window, forming tiny beads of moisture. Edward stared at the floating copy of Lord of the Mysteries in the so-called Creator's right hand. The grey fog seeping between its pages intertwined with the golden light radiating from Harry Potter in His left hand, spiralling together.
"So you're saying…" Edward's throat tightened. He unconsciously traced the patterns carved into the armrest beneath his fingers. "These two worlds are both—"
"Just kidding."
The inspector abruptly clapped his hands shut. Both illusory books dissolved into particles of light.
Before Edward could exhale in relief, the being added lightly, "In truth, I don't even know whether the world of Lord of the Mysteries is something I created."
"???"
He propped his chin with one hand and sighed.
"Unlike how I deliberately used the Sea of Chaos and the River of Eternal Darkness to create the Harry Potter world—slowly transforming it from the fictional world of a book into a real world…"
"The reason I started writing Lord of the Mysteries in the first place…was simply to copy books and make money."
———
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