"—Luna," Ethan murmured softly, his brow furrowing.
Under the current moonlight, Luna's pale face appeared even more translucent, shimmering like flawless jade. It was breathtakingly beautiful, even tinged with a hint of divinity.
Yet, the expression between her eyes was as utterly lifeless as a doll's.
The moon turned slowly, revealing its hidden side—the side it never showed to the world.
It was a hideous, grinning face!
The Death's sealed eyes curved upward, and its mouth stretched almost to its ears. Its pale features looked like a relief carving jutting out from the surface of the moon. Silently, maliciously, and mockingly, it "gazed" down at the scene.
Luna's actions left everyone frozen in their tracks!
"...No, how is this possible?!" Hermione shook her head in fierce denial, her eyes wide with shock. "Even if Luna is eccentric, she would never betray us! Is there another plan? Otherwise, it makes absolutely no sense!"
"Hmph," Fleur snorted coldly. "Whether she has betrayed us or not, we will know with a simple test!"
With a flick of her wrist, Fleur raised her wand. The tip pointed deftly at Luna, moving like the arched toe of a ballet dancer.
"统统石化! (Petrificus Totalus!)"
Whoosh!
The spell shot forward, slamming into the protective barrier in front of Luna. In those unblinking blue eyes, the scattering red light of the jinx was perfectly reflected.
The next second, a streak of silvery-white moonlight arrived in a flash!
Before anyone could react, it struck Fleur squarely in the abdomen!
"Ugh!" Fleur cried out in pain as she was sent flying backward, hitting the ground with a heavy thud. Her arm fell limp, her wand rolled away, and she passed out on the spot!
A one-hit victory!
The crowd swallowed hard. They stared at Luna in shock and vigilance, a heavy grimness settling in their eyes.
[Heh heh heh...]
The Death's face on the moon let out a raspy, wheezing laugh like a broken bellows, as if mocking their ignorance and stupidity.
"There's no doubt about it, she has defected," Viktor Krum said gruffly, his iron grip tightening around his wand. "She has become another powerful pawn under Death!"
Not a single one of them had been able to block that last move, which combined both devastating power and speed.
"No!" Hermione shouted in anguish and frustration. "But why?! Luna is clearly the one who stands by Ethan the most!"
Ethan gazed deeply at Luna ahead of him. The two stood facing each other.
The cold, clear moonlight poured down from behind Luna, shrouding her face in shadow. Yet, it illuminated Ethan's face, creating a stark contrast of light and shadow, like a sharply drawn boundary line.
"...Step into eternity with me, Ethan," Luna spoke softly, her chin slightly tucked. Her blue eyes traced along the extension of her wand, locking onto Ethan ahead.
With her words, the pitch-black "lake surface" beneath her feet rippled with faint, concentric rings.
"Just the two of us."
As her voice fell—
Boom—!!!
A torrent of deep-blue magic, like a trailing comet across the heavens, erupted from the tip of Luna's wand! The colossal force blasted the lake surface below, carving out a long trench!
"Ahhhh!!"
Someone was unfortunate enough to be caught dead-center by the torrent. Their protective barrier shattered instantly like an eggshell, and they were completely submerged in the azure floodwaters!
"C-Can this kind of magic even be cast instantly?!" Ron gaped, scrambling to the ground in a disheveled mess, staring at Luna in sheer shock!
She was a year below them—how could the power gap be this massive?! Was everyone who hung out with Ethan a monster?!
Ethan, can you please keep your girlfriend under control!!!
"That's Ancient Magic!" Hermione yelled.
The magnificent torrent was reflected in her brown eyes, and she felt as though her very soul was being stirred. "I've read about it in books, b-but this kind of magic is supposed to be lost to history!"
"How did Luna learn it? Is it the power of Death?"
Ethan: "Ah, that's the Ancient Magic Luna and I learned together. It seems she's exceptionally talented."
Swish!
Everyone's eyes snapped to Ethan in unison!
—It turns out that without the Club Leader around, there wouldn't even be a storm out here!
Ron pinched the bridge of his nose. "Boss, please read the room..."
[Exhausted.jpg]
After a few breaths, the azure torrent gradually subsided. On the ground, a straight line of unconscious team members was left behind. They were elites among wizards, yet before this miraculous Ancient Magic, they were utterly defenseless.
Luna truly is Death's best vessel, Ethan thought.
He watched the blonde girl, who resembled a white porcelain doll, slowly turn her head and lock her indifferent blue eyes onto him. It was as if, in her world, no one else existed but him.
"Luna, what exactly is going on inside that eccentric little head of yours..."
Ethan had tried attacking Death on the moon directly. But the deity seemed determined to play the coward; that was merely a phantom projection. Even with a god-killing weapon, if he couldn't reach it, he couldn't inflict damage.
"It seems I have to defeat the 'guard' first," Ethan said deeply.
Sheathing his twisted black blade, he raised his hand, and his wand naturally transformed into a paintbrush. No matter the time, and whether there was a canvas or not, this was the "Miracle Paintbrush" capable of creating artistic wonders!
Ethan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and "opened" his second pair of eyes—Spirit Vision.
Unsurprisingly, everything in this pitch-black space served as Luna's source of magic. The full moon, and the glass-like, black lake stretching into infinity. This was a colosseum constructed by Death, boundlessly funneling magical energy to its chosen warrior.
What was even harder to imagine was that her petite body could withstand all of this without undergoing any horrific mutations.
As expected of Luna... Cough, wait, I shouldn't be thinking about this right now.
Ethan took a deep breath, clearing the stray thoughts from his mind. Turning his head, he looked at his companions. "I need some time!"
—Since this space is Death's colosseum, he would simply redraw reality itself!
Hermione: "Alright! We'll buy you some—ah!"
An azure meteor zipped right past Hermione's body.
"Ethan, you're looking elsewhere again."
Luna stood upon the dark lake like a lunar goddess, surrounded by several swirling meteors that radiated a spine-chilling, hazardous glow. A frigid mist rolled in, rising into midair and condensing into a colossal shape—
"Merlin's dentures, is that a Titan Whale?!" Ron threw his head back, his mouth agape as he stared blankly at the intensely familiar figure.
[Woooo—!]
A low, drawn-out horn-like sound resonated through the surroundings. With a swing of its tail fin, a body as massive as a battleship hovered above everyone's heads, before crashing down toward them!
Bang!
In the midst of the massive collision, Hermione's hair was left a disheveled mess. Abandoning her previous confidence, she cried out, on the verge of tears, "Ethan! Please, hurry up!"
She didn't know if it was just her imagination, but the phantom whale seemed to have slammed directly toward her! Yet when she turned around, she met Luna's cold, detached gaze.
Hermione: I have a really bad feeling about this...
Bang! Bang!
"Ahhhhh!"
"Holy crap! Why am I seeing a phantom of a moving castle?! What on earth has Britain turned into?!"
The chaotic noises were relentless. The overwhelming commotion and the rushing gales whipped Ethan's black hair around, but he remained completely deaf to it all. At this moment, he was entirely focused on his painting.
His cobalt-blue eyes locked onto the swirling grey brain mist before him—this was the "material" dropped after defeating the final remnant of Death. It was perfect for crafting his second Rank-5 painting!
Rumble—!!!
The waves surged violently. The brilliance of the meteors illuminated Ethan's face as spells flew in a spectacular display. Occasionally, a heavy strike from the white mist phantoms would land right next to Ethan, the residual scraping causing a faint stinging sensation on his skin.
...This was far too thrilling.
Ethan felt his inspiration gushing out in a never-ending stream. Flecks of ink-blue pigment flowed from his brush tip into the black mist. With a firm twist of his wrist, he painted vortex after vortex, dotting them with brilliant, radiant light.
Boom!
The full moon that Luna had embodied crashed down with a resounding roar. It blasted away everyone who drew near, leaving them sprawled miserably on the ground, groaning in pain.
"Ethan..." An Order of the Phoenix member strained to lift their head, squeezing words from their throat. "Are you done yet...? We can't hold on much longer!"
Despite being seasoned veterans in fighting Dark wizards, they had never faced an opponent who defied logic to this extent! Even though she was continuously unleashing incredibly powerful Ancient Magic, Luna's magical reserves and stamina seemed utterly inexhaustible! Her relentless casting left them absolutely no room to breathe!
Hogwarts truly was a breeding ground for hidden talents and eccentric geniuses. Every year brought a new Dark wizard, and every generation was uniquely unhinged. Someone seriously needed to check the background and sanity of the Four Founders.
[Heh heh heh...]
On the colossal full moon, Death used its hollow eye sockets to sense the flow of magic on the ground, pulling its lips into a smug, triumphant grin.
[Pitiful, ignorant, and foolish humans. You clamor to declare war against Me, yet you remain blind even to the betrayal of those closest to you...]
[Do you still not understand? You are trapped upon the earth, while I go as I please. I am omnipresent and omnipotent!]
[So what if I am forced to bring My true form down to the mortal realm? You will never catch Me, and My power is infinite!]
As it spoke, the surrounding pitch-black space suddenly surged like a rising tide! It whipped up colossal waves, opening a cavernous, bloody maw to swallow everyone whole!
"Ahhhh!"
The crowd screamed and struggled, a profound sense of helplessness washing over them. As long as they remained mere mortals, they would forever be playing on a high-tier deity's home turf! Like ants stranded in the middle of an ocean, they could only be swallowed by the giant waves, with no hope of turning the tables.
Unless—someone could reverse all of this.
Harry strained to poke his head above the crashing waves, his emerald-green eyes locked onto the figure not far away. Opening his mouth, he poured every ounce of his remaining strength into screaming the name of the person who had always protected and led them:
"Ethan Vincent!!!"
"Do it—!!!"
The next second, Ethan made his final stroke. Curving his lips into a smile, his cobalt-blue eyes burned bright like fire.
"It's finished."
Rank-5 Painting: The Starry Night!
Whoosh!
Ink-blue pigment poured from his brush like a raging river! Like a vast carpet unfurling, the swirling nebula instantly swept across the entire pitch-black space, blanketing the ground beneath everyone's feet.
The surging black tide roared in reluctant fury but was entirely swallowed by the ink-blue starry sky. The flowing brushstrokes seemed to breathe life into this night sky that should have been tranquil; like curling wisps of clouds, it stampeded in all directions, extending far past the boundaries of the space constructed by Death!
—The sky fell dark.
Britain, France, Germany, Russia... Countless countries, countless wizards and Muggles alike, witnessed this unimaginably fantastical sight at this exact moment.
As if pigment had been splashed across it, the dim sky was replaced by a dark, dazzling starry night. The ink-blue night sky swirled, irresistibly staining the original firmament, exuding a magnificent, serene, and profoundly intimidating aura!
In stark contrast, the golden-yellow stars blinked with brilliant radiance, acting like guiding beacons to show the people on the ground the way forward.
"So... beautiful..." someone murmured in awe.
Just as someone uttered that heartfelt exclamation—
Squclch, squelch.
The stars opened their eyes. Quite literally.
One by one, the dazzling, brilliant stars split open down the middle, revealing bloodshot eyeballs. From them flowed a deep, crimson liquid.
Pitter-patter.
Pitter-patter.
The crimson liquid rained down from the sky like the merciful tears of angels, dripping onto rooftops and splashing across terror-stricken faces. It was as if it were saying:
Behold, world, and witness the most perfect painting in human history!!
Everyone: ???
W-Why does it feel like an evil god suddenly possessed the world?!
"This... this is a miracle! It's divine punishment!"
Thud, thud, thud!
Countless religious believers dropped to their knees in tremors, weeping and praying desperately to the gods they worshiped.
"The apocalypse! The apocalypse is upon us!!" Others shrieked doomsday prophecies, spreading their arms wide and laughing maniacally as they welcomed the rain of blood, as if embracing their own rebirth.
Meanwhile, in the wizarding world, every witch and wizard realized an obvious fact—
"Ethan is fighting Death."
Inside Hogwarts, the Acting Headmaster, Dumbledore, stood on a terrace, his face solemn as he spoke. He reached out a hand, catching the flowing crimson liquid.
Grindelwald stood beside him, equally grave. "Do you think... this might be someone's blood? A symbol of how the battle is progressing? Perhaps those horrifying eyeballs hold some deeper meaning?"
Dumbledore fell silent for a moment. Then, he suddenly let out a chuckle, saying helplessly, "No. I'm afraid this doesn't have any symbolic meaning at all. This is simply Ethan's sense of aesthetics."
"Ethan's aesthetics? Ethan did this?" Grindelwald raised an eyebrow. "I thought Death was behind it..."
For a moment, it was hard to tell which side was actually the evil one. He stared at the sky full of eyeballs for a brief moment, only to feel a sharp sting in his eyes and a wave of dizziness. He quickly looked away.
"So what do we do now, Albus?"
"We wait."
"Please call me Professor Dumbledore, Mr. Grindelwald," Dumbledore replied politely. "Right now, all we can do is prepare, and wait."
"...Wait?"
"Yes," Dumbledore nodded. "Prepare, and wait. Wait until the moment Ethan needs us."
Ethan was the only mortal capable of standing against Death. What they needed to do was to lift Ethan up at the crucial moment, allowing him to step into a realm equal to Death!
"On a side note." Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, looking at Grindelwald with a completely humorless expression. "Please call me 'Mr. Dumbledore,' thank you."
Even though it's summer, his words are sharper than the winter winds of Nurmengard, Grindelwald thought gloomily.