Luna walked over with a light, airy step, dressed in a patchwork nightgown. The ruffles at her waist and hem swayed back and forth with her movements, making her look incredibly playful and endearing.
"What are you doing?"
Luna turned off the Lumos glowing at the tip of her wand and flopped down right next to Ethan, blinking her round eyes as she stared at him with curiosity.
Ethan crossed his arms, adopting a mock-philosophical expression. "I am pondering a riddle of the century—specifically, who is the wisest entity in this entire world."
Luna tilted her head, then replied with absolute certainty, "The most intelligent creatures must be gnomes!"
"They've actually built a massive empire underground, using squirrels as scouts. One day, they're going to swarm the surface and declare war on wizardkind!"
"Hahaha!"
Ethan threw his head back and laughed out loud. His gloomy mood vanished instantly, leaving him thoroughly amused.
Luna puffed out her cheeks, glaring at Ethan with mock annoyance as she muttered, "It's all true..."
"I've never doubted it for a second. Just like how Minister Fudge is actually a rock star who loves wearing purple underpants," Ethan said with a completely straight face.
He wiped a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye, reached out, and affectionately ruffled Luna's hair, tilting her head back and forth until she loudly protested.
The quiet moonlight poured in through the window, illuminating the faint motes of dust drifting through the room.
For a moment, the two sat in silence, as if connected by a sudden wave of telepathy, understanding each other's thoughts without a single word. Only their shadows, cast across the bed, crept steadily closer together.
"...You know what, Luna?"
"Hmm?"
Ethan turned his head away, avoiding her clear, innocent blue eyes. Staring down at his shoes, he murmured, "I really think I should spend some time inside the Book of Hell I created, just to clear my head."
He was referring to the endless prison made from a diary—an alternative 'home' for criminals to replace Azkaban.
Luna's eyebrows arched slightly as she pouted, staring intently at Ethan for a few seconds. Finally, she let out a heavy sigh, flopping backward onto the bed with a soft thud as her silver-blonde hair spread out across the sheets like silk.
Staring up at the ceiling, she murmured, "Ethan, I really ought to keep a tighter leash on you..."
"Heh, I'm looking forward to it," Ethan replied, his eyes crinkling in a half-joking, half-serious smile.
The heavy air in the room seemed to flow freely once again.
After a long pause, Luna spoke up. "Why are you looking for the wisest mind? By everyone's standards, only Lady Ravenclaw deserves that honor."
Ethan replied, "A key to a certain door is said to be hidden there. Right now, I don't have a single clue."
Ethan rubbed his chin, falling into deep thought as he muttered to himself, "Hmm... do I need to use Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem again...?"
Just then, a rustling sound came from beside him. The mattress shifted, and a slender, pale little hand tugged gently at his cuff.
"Ethan. Ethan."
"...Huh? Yeah?" Ethan pulled himself away from his thoughts and glanced over.
He saw a pure white key floating right in front of him, glowing with a soft, warm radiance under the moonlight.
Ethan's eyes slowly widened, a spark igniting within his cobalt-blue irises. He could feel a profound, mystical magic emanating from the key. Almost instinctively, he knew with absolute certainty that this was the key to opening the Apex Gate!
"This is the key I've been looking for..." Ethan said, his voice raspy.
He reached out, his fingertips brushing across the pure white key before closing his fingers tightly around it. Looking at Luna in sheer, ecstatic disbelief—as if he'd just been struck by a falling star—he asked, "How did you get this?"
Luna's eyes crinkled into crescents as she said with a bright smile, "Well, out of curiosity, didn't I try on Ravenclaw's diadem before? But nothing happened back then. Later on, when I was changing my clothes in the evening, I found this white key sitting in my pocket."
Seeing the sheer joy on Ethan's face, the smile on Luna's lips widened even further. She said cheerfully, "I'm so glad I could help you!"
—————Help? This was far more than just help; it had completely shattered the final obstacle on his path to godhood!
"You're amazing, Luna!" Ethan could no longer contain himself. He sprang up, scooped Luna up by the waist, and spun her around in excitement.
"Oh!" Luna gasped, a brilliant smile blossoming across her face. Her cheeks flushed bright red, looking like a flower bud ready to bloom.
...There was no doubt about it. As the girl who, in the original canon, had helped locate the legendary lost diadem of Ravenclaw, Luna perfectly fulfilled the conditions required by the key.
A moment later, Ethan's eyes shone brightly. Clutching the key, he said to Luna, "No time to lose. I'm going to use this key right now. Luna, please keep watch over me."
"Mhm, don't worry," Luna nodded seriously, gripping her wand tight as she stood guard by his side.
Ethan took a deep breath and closed his eyes, allowing his consciousness to sink into the dark. Guided by the light, he navigated the winding, secretive paths. Before long, that pure white gate materialized at the edge of his vision.
The moment the key, made of the exact same material, touched the gate, a squelching sound echoed. Several thin, fleshy tendrils resembling sea anemone tentacles wrapped around the key, pulling it deep into the gate's "body."
Click.
A turning mechanism echoed from within the frame. Immediately after, the gate swung open.
In the next second, countless jet-black, translucent arms dripping with a sludge-like, viscous liquid swarmed over Ethan's body like a tidal wave!
[The new sun is here... the new sun has arrived...!]
Distorted, agonized faces wailed, staring intently at Ethan with hollow eyes that had degenerated from spending eons in the dark. Like desperate beggars, countless hands clawed frantically at the hem of Ethan's clothes, terrified that their only beacon of hope would escape!
[Come... cast aside your useless mortal shell and become our newborn sun!!]
[Take control of this chaotic world and become... our new God!!!]
Ethan's pupils dilated. What greeted his eyes behind the gate was not the glorious, golden path he had anticipated, but a dense, impenetrable darkness that felt like a viscous quagmire!
In an instant, memories of the Secret Domain's past flashed through his mind. The wild, untamed forests; the freezing, desolate lands where lost souls wandered; the blood-red Stygian beaches where spirits lingered... Why were all these places so utterly morbid and sinister?
It turned out it was entirely due to the "absence of a shining sun"!
"And here I thought the aesthetic of this place was just naturally edgier!" Ethan muttered in astonishment, shaking his head with a chuckle. "As expected, nature is full of wonders, always striving for beauty and harmony."
He casually swatted away the arms clutching at him. They dissipated like smoke, posing absolutely no threat to him. Yet, those desperate words held everything a mere mortal could ever crave or long for.
—————To become the sun of a new era, to illuminate and rule over this Secret Domain, gaining boundless power and absolute authority. To become the "new God" of all living things! To truly stand above millions!
But what was the catch?
"'Cast aside your mortal shell'... I see. So that's the path Credence chose, which is why he left behind several 'remnants' and ultimately became the Grim Reaper." Ethan thought out loud, staring into the abyss that teemed with boundless power.
If Voldemort were here, he would probably wriggle his way inside without a second thought. Even Grindelwald would likely hesitate before such power. With just one step forward, he could truly become a "God" of the new age. It was a temptation no one could resist.
"...But you know what I'm going to say, right?"
Ethan's lips curled into a smirk. His cobalt-blue eyes flashed with utter contempt and disdain.
"Screw off! I have no intention of becoming fate's next slave—!!"
Boom!
As the words left his mouth, a brilliant burst of silver-white radiance erupted violently! Like a surging tidal wave, it instantly swallowed the skeletal remnants and wandering souls.
Bang!
The Apex Gate slammed shut right in front of Ethan, cutting off the agonizing wails behind it in an instant!
Right after, the silvery moonlight enveloped Ethan's body like a gentle, massive hand, pulling him backward. The surrounding scenery warped, leaving only the pure white gate standing tall in the high heavens within his field of vision.
[Warning! You have rejected the path to godhood. Your soul has experienced severe turbulence!]
[Soul Synchronization dropped by 1%]
[Current Soul Synchronization: 99%]
Ethan's consciousness snapped violently upward, returning to reality.
"Are you alright?" Luna asked with deep concern. Silvery-white magic surged around her, making her look like a radiant full moon in the dim bedroom.
"...I'm fine. Thank you, Luna." Ethan shook his head, paused, and let out a soft sneer. "It was nothing more than testing a useless path, anyway."
Passing through that gate meant becoming a god. It was like a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate—an alluring fantasy.
"But if I have to give up everything in the mortal world, wouldn't I have to abandon my art as well? That would be completely putting the cart before the horse."
Furthermore...
Ethan looked at Luna, a smile gracing his lips as he thought to himself: There are people in this world I care about too much to ever leave behind. Even if my soul synchronization drops by 1% and leaves me short of completion, I will never accept a fragmented, hollow 'victory'!
"But looking if I look at it this way," Ethan mused, "I won't be able to stand on equal footing with the Grim Reaper. To completely defeat Him, I need greater power... there has to be another way—"
Just then, a voice echoed.
[There is.]
A crisp, freezing voice rang out from the side. Ethan turned his head and saw a faint, deep-blue silhouette reflected on the windowpane————the servant of a higher entity, the "Mirror Girl"!
In the past, this spectral entity of unknown identity had provided Ethan with many clues. It was she who had told him about the key to the Apex Gate.
[There is another way.]
Her lips moved soundlessly, and frost crackled across the glass pane, spelling out words.
[And that is... to slay the existing God!]
Ethan replied, "What a coincidence. I was just thinking about how to bring down the Grim Reaper."
————As if I didn't already know! Tsk, when did she suddenly turn into a malfunctioning AI...
Mirror Girl: [I can grant you greater power.]
Ethan instantly beamed with a bright, charming smile. "My dear lady, I am entirely at your service."
[...I am aware that you refused to cross the Apex Gate. Consequently, you cannot wield the power within the gate to oppose the Grim Reaper.]
[Therefore, I shall overstep my bounds and temporarily grant you a fraction of that inner power for your own use.]
As her words faded, a shard of frost drifted away from the window glass. It swirled through the room and landed directly onto Ethan's palm, melting into his skin with a bone-chilling cold, leaving behind the faint imprint of a frost flower.
Vaguely, Ethan sensed a trace of familiar magic within this icy touch, but the sensation vanished too quickly for him to grasp.
Deep blue subtitles materialized before his eyes:
[You have received the assistance of the "Mirror Girl"!]
[Painting Level Up!]
[From now on, you can create up to three Tier-5 paintings! Paintings of this tier can inflict substantial damage upon the Grim Reaper.]
[Tier-5: Boundless Infinity — Render Count: 0/3]
———A Tier-5 painting!
Ethan's breath caught in his throat. The words "Boundless Infinity" instantly triggered a memory of the illusion he had witnessed inside Ravenclaw's diadem. That was true, absolute art capable of completely enchanting anyone—the supreme art that could coat the mortal world in its own colors! An art forbidden by the mortal realm!
A flush of heat rushed to Ethan's cheeks.
Thump-thump, thump-thump!
His heart hammered violently against his ribs, swelling with boundless exhilaration! Exhaling a long, deep breath, Ethan clenched his fists and closed his eyes to suppress his wild emotions.
After a long moment, he said softly, "Thank you for your assistance, my lady."
[...I hope that you can become the new sun,] the Mirror Girl said at last.
Leaving behind those final words, she vanished like frost melting under a spring sun. Only the gradually fading chill in the room bore witness to her presence.
"What a kind-hearted soul," Ethan remarked, his mood soaring. With the power of a Tier-5 painting, he finally possessed the means to truly slay the Grim Reaper! Countless concepts for his next masterpiece were already flooding his mind uncontrollably.
Just then, Luna spoke in a soft whisper.
"I... I might not be able to give you such immense power, but I will stand by your side and fight with you until the very end..."
Ethan turned around. Luna was looking down, her lips pouted, twirling her index fingers together in a thoroughly bashful and awkward display.
"Heh."
Ethan let out a soft chuckle. Reaching out, he pinched Luna's soft, squishy cheek and teased, "Even if you wanted to hide, you couldn't escape me."
"Hehehe~" Luna finally let out a silly, goofy grin, the corners of her mouth curling upward.
Suddenly, Ethan froze. His gaze sharpened, locking onto Luna's face.
...For a split second, Luna's features seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance to that mysterious Mirror Girl.
An owl brought an urgent message:
After a year of searching, members of the Order of the Phoenix had finally discovered the suspected location of the final remnant of the Grim Reaper. The freezing Alps—stretching across southeastern France, northern Italy, and various Nordic regions.
The letter read:
[Deep within the Alps dwells one of the rarest magical beasts in existence: the Titan Whale.]
[They are colossal creatures; an adult male can grow to a staggering length of over a hundred meters! Navigating through the jagged peaks and thick blankets of snow, their cries echo like the howling wind, and local villages worship them as guardian deities.]
[However, in recent years, the usually docile Titan Whales have suddenly grown violent, and their population has suffered severe sickness and injuries.]
[Upon conducting a mountaineering expedition, we discovered to our astonishment that an unprecedentedly powerful magical fluctuation has erupted at the mountain peaks!]
[It has even begun to influence the blizzards and disrupt our own ability to cast spells.]
[...Following your instructions, Durmstrang Institute and Beauxbatons Academy of Magic have confirmed their assistance and participation.]
[At the same time, the Magizoological Society has requested to intervene.]
[The petitioner is: Newt Scamander.]