It must have been some stealth-type magic, or he had simply been careless. Either way, the opponent was only an ordinary student—not worth taking seriously.
No matter how talented someone was, what could a fourteen-year-old possibly have learned?
At most, he was a fledgling chick flapping its wings, imitating the soaring posture of an eagle.
"I'll deal with him first, then help you finish off that woman. You can hold her off for a bit, right?"
Pisces said to Gemini. As far as he was concerned, Gemini was also a domain wielder—tens of seconds should be manageable.
"No problem." Gemini's confidence surged. They both had domains—why should he be afraid?
Helga watched their exchange with icy indifference, making no attempt to interrupt. But when the two kept prattling on endlessly, she grew impatient.
Pa!
She brought her palms together in a sharp clap. Helga's sudden motion immediately drew Gemini and Pisces's attention—and the next moment, they felt the earth tremble.
"You must have witnessed the Earth Domain when you fought Cedric. Then allow me to show you what a true Rock-Earth Domain looks like."
As soon as she finished speaking, Helga lifted her hands in a light upward motion.
The ground beneath Gemini surged upward as if alive, shooting skyward and forcibly lifting him—along with nearly a hundred meters of surrounding terrain—straight up into the air. In mere seconds, he found himself a hundred feet above the ground.
And as if intentionally avoided, Pisces—who had been standing right beside him—remained exactly where he was, feet still on solid ground.
He stared up at the massive raised plateau, utterly stunned.What kind of magic is this? Or is this the power of a domain? But this scale—this spectacle—is insane! Isn't she afraid Muggles will see this?!
Whoosh—
A spell streaked past, blasting a crater open right at Pisces's feet.
"I said your opponent is me. So please, don't get distracted."Rhys idly twirled his wand between his fingers as he reminded Pisces in a lazy, almost casual tone.
Pisces's expression darkened instantly—Rhys's sneak attack had blown apart the magic circle he'd drawn earlier. To cast another curse, he would now need time to carve out a new one.
He tapped his wand rapidly.
With a smooth chain of precise spellwork, he conjured:
—a solid earthen wall—reinforced with a Shield Charm—and a snarling conjured tiger bristling with fangs.
Pisces was confident: these three defenses would buy him more than enough time to cast his next spell.
But what he didn't expect was that the student named Rhys just stood there quietly watching him prepare—showing no intention of interrupting him at all.
Overconfident, are you? Pisces's lips curled into a mocking smile. You'll regret this, Rhys Lint.
He quickly redrew the magic circle, then pointed his finger at Rhys and shouted:
"In the name of Hela, Queen of the Underworld, I, Pisces, curse you—Rhys Lint!"
But after the curse was unleashed, Rhys showed no reaction whatsoever.Pisces himself didn't feel even the faintest echo of pain.
Then it hit him—This brat hadn't told him his real name at all!
"So that's why you felt familiar," Rhys said at last, understanding the strange aura he'd sensed from Pisces. "Pfft~ That's Hela's power."
As Loki's daughter and Jörmungandr's sister, she was someone Rhys had dealt with before—once, long ago.
"To think such a stupid spellcasting method still exists a thousand years later," Rhys muttered in exasperation. "A curse that only works if you know the target's real name—really?"
He looked at Pisces and added casually, "If you want to try again, try the name Salazar Slytherin."
Pisces: !!!
"You've got to be joking!" Pisces roared, his voice cracking with panic or rage—it was hard to tell which. He yanked open his robes, baring his upper body to the cold night air.
"Then I'll let you witness the power of an ancient god!"
"Oh?" Rhys took one look and immediately understood what Pisces's trump card was—Growing out of the center of Pisces's chest was a face. The left half looked like that of a normal, healthy woman, but the right half was a rotten, blackened skull.
It was the face of Hela, Goddess of the Underworld—the very same deity Rhys had once encountered.
Pisces suddenly bit down hard on his own tongue, severing the tip, then spat the hot blood directly onto Hela's face.
Bathed in blood, the closed eyes on the eerie face began to tremble. Rhys watched the scene unfold with genuine interest.
A few seconds later, Hela's eyes opened—and to Rhys's surprise, there was intelligence flickering within them. Unlike other gods who had decayed into unconscious remnants, this fragment of Hela still retained awareness.
"Ruler of the Underworld, curse him!" Pisces shouted. He had no idea about the history between Rhys and the deity whose remains he was wearing. He simply followed his usual ritual—offer blood, pray for power.
Hela's gaze locked onto Rhys.
She froze.
From the figure standing opposite her, she sensed a breath that was familiar… and ominous…
"It's been a long time," Rhys said, even lifting a hand to greet her. "Didn't expect you to still be around~"
Hela's face: !!!
Chaotic fragments of memory surged violently through what remained of the goddess's mind. Agony twisted her features, and she let out a piercing, explosive shriek.
"Underworld Lord, what's wrong?!"The emotion rippling through the divine fragment transmitted directly into Pisces, making him panic.
To his shock, the divine remnant—which had always accepted offerings silently and then released a curse—actually responded.
"Run…"
That was all she managed to utter—just one syllable.
Pisces: "???"
Even he wasn't dull enough to miss the warning, but it was already too late. A layer of frost bloomed rapidly across his skin, freezing him rigid on the spot. More and more ice crystals formed, making it increasingly impossible for him to move.
Rhys walked toward him.
He intended to peel Hela off this Cult member and examine her properly. He had killed several of their followers before, but it was his first time encountering a divine remnant that actually retained consciousness. That alone made it worth studying.
As Rhys approached, Hela's face grew more and more agitated. When she realized her host couldn't move, she began to save herself.
"Eh? Underworld Lord, w-wait—" Pisces sensed something was wrong, but he couldn't stop anything. His life force began draining away rapidly—as it always did when he performed a sacrifice—but this time, it didn't stop.
Within seconds, all the color drained from Pisces's face, turning his skin corpse-white.
Then the flesh on his cheeks vanished.
In just a single heartbeat, he shriveled into a skin-and-bone corpse, every nutrient in his body—along with his soul—rushing toward the Hela head embedded in his chest.
After completely draining her host dry, Hela's head separated from the desiccated corpse and fell.
Only now did Rhys finally see clearly: the "face" embedded in Pisces's chest had been only the front half of Hela's head. The entire back half—everything behind the skull—was gone, replaced by wriggling pink tendrils.
Those tendrils were what she used to anchor herself inside the host's body and siphon off their life.
Staring at the severed head of Hela, Rhys suddenly remembered how she died: Rowena Ravenclaw had cleaved her vertically in half, splitting her from the middle, and then most of her body had been shredded into pulp by the raging tempest that followed.
Cleaning up that mess afterward had been an enormous headache for Rhys. This half a head must have been something he overlooked during the cleanup, which later ended up in the hands of the Secret Order.
Hela's remains let out a sharp, explosive shriek and attempted to shoot upward into the sky. But Rhys summoned the moisture in the air, weaving it into a massive net that enclosed her completely.
His powerful domain wrapped around the head, steadily eroding the residual strength within.
[No—!!!]
Hela's head released one last, piercing scream before falling silent forever.
Rhys caught the scattering fragments as they fell from midair, then closed his eyes, focusing on the final scraps of memory that had escaped from her remains.
He wanted to understand what caused Hela's strange mutation.
[A black-haired wizard in a green cloak… The corpse of a colossal serpent… Horror, terror, unavoidable blades of wind… And then overwhelming, searing pain…]
Rhys strained to grasp the fading fragments. But this was merely a remnant—its memories were shattered and incomplete.
He could barely extract anything useful, only those last moments etched into the remnant's fading consciousness, the scenes that had burned themselves deepest into what was left of her mind.
In the final flicker of memory, Rhys saw a man with messy black hair, clad in a green cloak. His lake-blue eyes gleamed with cunning, and a sly, scheming smile curled at the corner of his lips.
"Loki…" Rhys narrowed his eyes.
Woosh!
At that moment, an intensely violent surge of magic erupted nearby. Startled, Rhys turned—and saw the surrounding earth rise and shape itself into a giant over a hundred meters tall. A tiny black speck was plummeting from midair.
Had Helga gone mad? Was she not worried about being seen by Muggles at all?!
Yes, the Cult had ambushed Cedric in the wilderness, but it wasn't an uninhabited wasteland. For Helga to cause such a spectacle… she clearly no longer cared about concealment.
There was no time to marvel or complain. Rhys instantly invoked teleportation magic and moved himself several miles away.The moment he landed, the ground beneath his feet shuddered violently.
A few seconds later—another tremor. Not long after—yet another…
The shaking continued for nearly a full minute before it finally stopped. Cracks had even split open under Rhys's feet.
Rhys: "..."
_____
12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI