Time flowed chaotically in the Valley of Evil Spirits. While Rey felt like he had been underground beneath the ice mountain for an eternity, only a short while had passed above.
Reppel's anger showed no signs of abating. Rey's prank was still fresh, less than half a day old in her mind.
If he went in, he would eventually have to come out. Reppel wasn't one to swallow an insult quietly; she would get her revenge. After pondering for a moment, she finally drifted away. She clearly had a plan.
On the other side of the valley, Terence Barrow had already obtained his Specter Bead. He was heading back, intending to wait for Rey at the entrance.
He wasn't sure if Rey would make it back alive after encountering that little dragon.
But alive or dead, he had to wait. Rey would return eventually, just in different forms. Either as a living person or as a ghost.
If he came back as a ghost, Terence could at least listen to his last words.
If Rey's final requests weren't too difficult, Terence might fulfill them for old times' sake.
"Nine times out of ten, he won't be coming back alive," Terence muttered to himself as he reached the valley entrance.
Before he could even sit down to rest, he noticed the sky in the northern part of the valley changing.
The Valley of Evil Spirits was perpetually locked in a burning twilight. But now, the distant northern sky was brightening, as if the dim, fiery heavens had been ripped open.
A colossal skeletal arm burst from the ground, soaring into the sky before clawing viciously at the air.
The skeletal arm was wreathed in black mist, every bone joint distinct and terrifyingly clear. An arm without muscle shouldn't be able to move, yet it possessed a life of its own. After clutching at the air, it smashed down toward the earth.
Then came the deafening boom, rolling in from the far north.
Terence Barrow stared in horror. He didn't know where the skeletal arm came from or what was happening in the north.
All he knew was that if he didn't run, he would be buried by the sandstorm kicked up by that skeletal hand.
---
The giant skeletal hand was trying to grab Rey, who was currently suspended in mid-air.
In an instant, Rey had been ejected from the underground palace back onto the ice field.
The skeletal hand had chased him all the way from the depths of the palace, intent on crushing him.
Rey was terrified. The feeling of staring death in the face back in that hellish palace was something he would never forget.
If not for the long-lasting effects of the Liquid Luck Salazar Slytherin had given him, he probably wouldn't have made it back.
When he first entered the palace, he saw a girl standing sideways in the main hall. He had expected to see the grim visage of Death in Hell, not a young girl.
She was facing a massive, upright water mirror on the wall. The mirror rippled, displaying events from the mortal world above.
It felt like watching a movie, so Rey stood far back and watched along.
The plot was familiar—anyone who had seen the Harry Potter movies would know it.
It was The Tale of the Three Brothers from The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
Seeing Death appear and grant the three brothers their wishes, Rey knew the ending immediately.
Death gave the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility to the brothers.
As the gifts were given, a phantom image separated from the girl's body, passed through the water mirror, and entered the mortal world, dissipating into the wind.
"Hehehe..."
The girl laughed, but the sound was chilling. Beneath the youthful giggle lay a raspy, heavy undertone.
Intuition told Rey that this girl was Death—the very entity that bestowed the Deathly Hallows upon humanity.
When watching the movie, Rey's first impression was that the third brother was the smartest for asking for an invisibility cloak that could hide him even from Death.
But looking at it from this perspective, things might not be as the story claimed.
Three items combined to form the Deathly Hallows. Death gave them, and humans accepted them.
The key was the acceptance.
It was like a stranger knocking on your door with gifts. The homeowner opens the door and lets them in.
A connection is established. And the stranger at the door is Death.
Rey was certain that after establishing such a connection, this creepily laughing Death had plans far beyond simple gifts.
It was a trap.
He didn't know what Death wanted, but he was sure it was a trap.
---
"Who is spying on me?"
With a heavy, booming voice, the girl in front of the mirror suddenly spun around, staring directly at where Rey stood.
Her left half was human; her right half was a skeleton. This was the girl's true face—Death's true face.
The two halves joined seamlessly down the middle.
Rey's heart stopped. He felt his soul freeze under Death's gaze.
"Run. I have to run."
Rey screamed internally and kicked off with all his might. Whether it was his desperate struggle or the lingering effects of the Liquid Luck, something worked.
He moved. He flew backward at superspeed, like dragging the progress bar of a movie all the way back to the beginning.
He wasn't in the same physical space as Death. This Hell, or this entire world, was like a holographic movie, and he was just an unrelated spectator inside it.
But now, the spectator felt threatened by the character in the movie.
Rey rewound fast, but his opponent was Death.
Sensing an intruder, at the exact moment Rey bolted, her skeletal right hand snatched at him.
No matter how fast Rey moved, the skeletal hand was right behind him, a finger's breadth away.
Bursting out of the palace gates, through the iron forest, across the crystal bridge—Rey rewound at an impossible speed. In a split second, he shot out of the underground and appeared in the sky above the ice field.
But even at that speed, Death's skeletal arm was right on his tail. And it seemed to be speeding up.
"I can't shake it!" Rey's heart sank. Maybe the Liquid Luck had worn off. Facing Death's hand, it felt like all his luck had abandoned him.
---
An instant can feel like forever.
Rey experienced this profoundly. From the underground to the sky above the ice field took an instant. From the sky to crashing through the air wall separating this world from the wasteland took another instant.
He could pass through the air wall because his right hand was gripping the chubby dragon—his pass. Otherwise, he would have bounced off.
Rey crossed the barrier, but the giant skeletal hand didn't stop. Its fingertips pressed directly against the air wall. The barrier stretched like a balloon about to burst, pushed to its limit by the sharp bone fingers.
Just as the barrier was about to shatter, the Specter Bead in Rey's left hand suddenly erupted with black light. Whoosh! It broke free from Rey's grip and flew toward the center of the skeletal palm thrusting at him.
Touching the Specter Bead, the skeletal hand hesitated slightly. It changed from a stab to a grab, smashing down toward the earth from above.
BOOM!
With a deafening roar, the giant skeletal arm slammed into the ground, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
But the Specter Bead, which should have been crushed, suddenly turned transparent and shot out of the skeletal hand. Before Rey could react, it slammed straight into his forehead.
---