You can read ahead up to 110 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395
The thunderous clash of gods and demons outside sounded like muffled, distant thunder, echoing continuously through layers of flesh and space. Each time the Wailing Souls' hymn to Osiris reached a piercing crescendo or the evil god's tentacles tore through space with a shriek, the 'heart'-like platform of flesh beneath Ian's feet trembled violently. Its pulsing became increasingly frantic and rapid, like a colossal beast running in rage.
These relentless, violent energy fluctuations struck the structure of the Vault like invisible hammers and battered Ian's already taut nerves.
Suppressing the instinctive chill brought on by the pure darkness of those eyes, Ian kept his wand steady, its light firmly fixed on the boy. This eerie calm stood in hellish contrast to the violent throbbing all around.
The mysterious boy appeared completely harmless.
He had drawn his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around them, burying his head deep between them. He was motionless, like a forgotten, discarded doll.
His pale gold hair faintly gleamed under the golden light of the wand.
Most strange of all, the boy himself seemed out of place amid the pulsating flesh and pervasive evil energy. There was not a single sign of assimilation — no flesh growths or mucus. Even the omnipresent throbbing seemed to weaken drastically within a one-meter radius of him, as if he were a 'silent zone' that repelled the power of the evil gods.
Of course.
Even so.
Ian's vigilance did not lessen in the slightest. How could there be a living person in this vault? And a child, at that? Was it a trap? Or another incarnation of the evil gods? Or something else entirely?
A strong urge, mixed with curiosity and suspicion, drove Ian forward. Step by careful step, he approached the corner. With each footfall, he landed on the pulsing flesh, amplifying the deep heartbeat beneath him with every step. As he drew closer, the wand's light clearly illuminated the boy's back.
At that moment, the boy seemed to sense something.
Very slowly, almost mechanically, as if it were rusted, the head buried in his arms began to lift inch by inch.
Still curled up, those unusual eyes turned towards Ian but seemed to look through and beyond him into the distant void of time and space.
There was no fear. No hostility. Only a dead, empty confusion remained.
"This doesn't seem like a place to wait for someone."
Ian held his breath, his wand steady.
He took another cautious step forward. The golden light shifted, illuminating a small patch near the boy's feet. There, the pulsing of the flesh had grown even weaker and formed an almost imperceptible golden halo, like an ancient sealing rune.
It stood in silent opposition to the surrounding purple-red veins of the evil gods.
Perhaps this was why the boy hadn't been influenced by their power. Then again, it could have been another carefully manufactured illusion meant to lower Ian's guard. Either way, the boy's presence here was deeply suspicious.
The evil gods could devour anything. They could imitate anything.
A harmless, amnesiac child would be the perfect disguise.
They could be waiting for him to relax, to approach, and then strike.
"Do you know what's happening outside?" Ian asked cautiously.
The boy shook his head blankly, but, for the first time, a flicker of emotion passed through his eyes.
"It's noisy. Painful. There are so many voices screaming."
He still seemed harmless. Slowly, painfully slowly, he blinked once, the motion stiff as rusted gears. Then he tilted his head slightly and answered in a voice that sounded childlike yet gratingly stiff:
"That is the evil god Set-Apep... fighting a god," Ian explained, watching him closely.
At the name 'Set-Apep,' the boy suddenly trembled, and a flash of golden light passed through his eyes.
"Evil god... evil god..."
He seemed to want to say something, but his language system had been shattered and put back together again, leaving him able to produce only broken, pained syllables. He raised a pale, trembling hand to his cheek as if to confirm his existence.
At last, a faint ripple appeared within those hollow eyes... Confusion.
"Amnesia?" Ian's heartbeat quickened.
This reaction didn't feel like an act. A pretender wouldn't be this completely blank. But the more genuine it seemed, the more dangerous it felt. This "amnesia" could be the evil gods' most vicious trap, using truth as camouflage to control the boy and launch a surprise attack at the final moment.
It was baiting sympathy. Luring him closer.
A clone of an evil god capable of perfectly imitating a child's helplessness and confusion would be far more cunning than we could imagine. It might wait for a 'hug', and a 'touch', and then strike instantly. Perhaps not just an attack, but an attempt to devour him. After all, the evil gods had already shown an unusual interest in Ian.
"The evil god… he stole… stole…"
The boy murmured softly, his tone carrying a strange sense of familiarity.
"Stole what?" Ian pressed urgently.
But the boy slipped back into that hollow state, as if the earlier outburst had never happened.
"I don't remember." He lowered his head again, curling back into himself.
Then, suddenly...
"I am a god… pain… tearing… Sun… extinguished… no…!"
The boy's body convulsed violently. He clutched his head and let out a wounded, suppressed whimper, like an injured beast.
"Huh?!"
Ian witnessed the reaction, his heart pounding wildly. A bold speculation surged in his mind. He recalled ancient texts he had read in the Hogwarts Restricted Section, records of secrets from the Egyptian pantheon. According to these texts, the Sun God Ra would die at sunset each day, only to be reborn at dawn in the form of a child.
"No way…" Ian muttered, stunned by his own thoughts.
He examined the boy again: the pale golden hair; the unnaturally pale skin; the hollow eyes that occasionally flashed with intelligence; and the sun-shaped mark. Everything matched the description of the 'reborn form of Ra' in the ancient texts with uncanny precision.
Suddenly, the boy raised his head, and clarity flashed in his eyes like never before.
"Chaos devours order, darkness veils the light… but the Sun will rise again."
His voice turned ancient and majestic, a stark and eerie contrast to his youthful appearance. Ian Prince stared at the boy curled within the darkness. The meaningful words once spoken by Osiris echoed in his mind: "Perhaps you should return to the Vault once more."
At the time, Ian had thought Osiris meant the mysterious Vault beneath the Sun Temple. But now, he suddenly realised that Osiris might have been referring to this very place: the true secret hidden beneath layers of corrupted divine flesh.
The seemingly ordinary boy before him might be the key that Osiris wanted him to find.
"Did the Underworld god know all along?" Ian murmured with waves of thoughts crashing through his mind. As the ruler of the underworld, Osiris would naturally be aware of the delicate balance between life and death.
Guiding Ian here was no coincidence.
Ian's gaze fell back onto the boy, the youthful face, the pale skin, and especially the faint sun mark on his chest. Everything aligned perfectly with the records of Ra's rebirth.
An unbelievable thought formed:
Perhaps the Temple's attempt to create an artificial Sun God had not been completely unsuccessful.
"Do you remember your name?" Ian stepped closer carefully, his tone as gentle as possible.
"My... name?" The boy looked up. A faint glimmer flickered in his empty eyes.
He repeated the word softly, as if savoring an unfamiliar idea. "Once... many people called me... many names..."
Ian's pulse quickened.
"Did anyone call you 'Ra'?"
At the mention of the name, the boy suddenly began to tremble, clutching his head as a groan of pain escaped him.
"Ra... Sun... flame..."
He spoke in fragments. The gold in his eyes grew brighter and brighter, like molten metal flowing within.
"It hurts… so many voices… calling me…"
Perhaps, in this moment of crisis, countless believers of Ra were praying to their deity, indirectly confirming something far deeper.
"Alright, calm down. Don't get agitated... and, most importantly, don't mutate on the spot."
Ian took half a step back cautiously, his wand ready for any sudden change. But the shock in his heart refused to settle. The boy before him was most likely the reincarnation of the Sun God Ra.
The supreme deity of ancient Egypt, long thought to have fallen, had returned in this form.
"But how is this possible?"
Ian's mind raced.
"The artificial Sun God project clearly gave birth to the evil god Set-Apep… so why would it also revive the real Ra at the same time?"
Suddenly, Ian recalled a key figure: the Black-Robed Woman in the temple who was regarded as a favored servant of the sun god Ra.
On the surface, she had helped the High Priest with the ritual to create an artificial Sun God. But looking back now, many of her actions seemed suspicious. She always stood in the shadows, chanting ancient prayers. Her ritual movements were subtly different from those of the others. Most importantly, at the moment the evil god's embryo was born, Ian had seen her secretly toss a glowing object into it.
When he had transformed into a raven to spy on them, he had seen this with absolute clarity.
"So that's it!"
At that moment, realization struck Ian like lightning.
"On the surface, she was helping to create a new god, but secretly, her plan was to use the entire ritual as a cover to resurrect the real Sun God, Ra!"
This theory was far from implausible.
The discovery left Ian both shocked and impressed. Under the Black-Robed Woman's plan, the birth of the evil god had become the perfect cover for Ra's resurrection. Set-Apep had consumed vast quantities of energy and souls, yet he was unaware that the true Sun God was being nurtured within his own body.
"What an unexpected turn."
Ian couldn't help but marvel.
At that moment, the battle outside reached a new climax. Deafening explosions erupted one after another. The entire Heart Chamber shook violently, massive blood vessels bursting apart in the ceiling and foul, putrid liquid cascading down like a waterfall. It was clear that the evil god was struggling in his battle against the Underworld couple, and the upheaval only worsened his situation.
Ian knew time was running out. He had to confirm the boy's true identity; otherwise, everything would be lost.
"If you truly are the Sun God Ra," Ian said, staring directly into the boy's eyes, which were gradually turning gold. He didn't care whether the boy still had amnesia or had yet to fully awaken.
"Then prove it to me."
He needed undeniable proof before making his decision.
The boy, or rather, Ra, seemed to still be struggling against some inner torment. Clutching his head, he spoke in broken fragments:
"Proof… what? What do I need to prove?"
Before he could finish, a sudden mutation erupted!
The sun mark on the boy's chest burst forth with a blinding radiance. The light spread like a tangible force, and, wherever it touched, the evil god's flesh melted away like ice in sunlight. The entire Heart Chamber trembled violently, the thick biological tissue on the walls withering and peeling away at visible speed.
The ancient stone structure was revealed.
Ian stared in shock. The stone walls were adorned with exquisite relief carvings and ancient emblems of the Sun God, which were now coming to life under the golden light. The carvings depicted the Sun Boat sailing across the heavens, and the emblems radiated immense divine power.
This was not the heart chamber of an evil god after all.
It was a temple of the Sun God buried beneath layers of flesh.
"So that's how it is."
The boy, now confirmed to be the Sun God Ra, slowly stood up. Although his body remained small and youthful, the authority and power radiating from him made even Ian, a legendary wizard, feel suffocated.
It was a force born from the origin of the world itself, far beyond ordinary magic.
It was as if something had just been awakened within him.
He was completely different now.
'Set-Apep stole my divine body, yet failed to realise that the true Sun was never extinguished.'
Ra's voice had fully transformed into that of an ancient god... deep and majestic, with golden flames burning within his eyes.
"He believed he had devoured the light, but in truth he had merely forged a golden prison for himself."
Suddenly, a furious, pained roar echoed from outside, clearly, the evil god had sensed the change within his body. The entire space began to convulse violently. The walls of flesh writhed, attempting to suppress the awakened Sun God.
But it was all in vain.
The golden radiance surrounding Ra formed an absolute domain.
Any corrupted divine flesh that came near was instantly reduced to ashes.
"My followers have succeeded."
Ra simply smiled faintly, a smile that carried millennia of wisdom and power. His sun-like eyes turned towards Ian as if he could see straight through his body and into his soul.
He extended his hand, palm upwards.
Ian suddenly felt the magic within his body surge uncontrollably, resonating with Ra's power. Even more astonishing, he sensed a dormant bloodline awakening—an ancient force passed down through generations of the Prince family, yet never fully awakened.
"This is…"
Ian stared at his hands in shock. Beneath his skin, faint golden patterns seemed to flow.
Outside, everything suddenly fell silent, the uneasy calm before a storm. Then, an indescribably terrifying energy began to gather. The evil god was clearly preparing for a final strike.
Yet the Sun God Ra showed no urgency at all.
"Descendant of the Prince family, your arrival was no coincidence."
The Sun God turned to Ian, his golden gaze deep and solemn.
"The contract within your bloodline… is finally to be fulfilled today."
Prince.
Once again… Prince.
(End of Chapter)