Aiden walked slowly towards the fallen, unknown Death Eater, his gaze calm and unnervingly steady.
Suddenly, with a movement too fast for a normal eye to follow, Aiden stretched out his right hand, seized the Death Eater by the neck, and yanked him closer, their faces inches apart.
'Kill him.'
A thought, cold and sharp, surfaced in Aiden's mind.
'He was there. He killed your parents. This is justice.'
Another voice, seductive and dark, whispered.
'Blood feud. The most ancient, the most righteous form of justice there is…'
'Kill him, kill him, kill him, KILL HIM.' The whispers grew into a chorus, a roaring crescendo in his head.
Strange, violent thoughts boiled up, unbidden and overwhelming. Bloodshot veins began to web across his originally beautiful, clear heterochromatic eyes.
A suffocating murderous intent gathered around Aiden, a palpable aura of cold fury. He raised his wand, and a sickly green light, the unmistakable hue of the Killing Curse, began to coalesce at its tip.
'Yes… cast Avada Kedavra on him. Let him finally get what he so richly deserves…' The insidious thoughts urged him on.
"Ding."
A single, crisp notification sound echoed in the recesses of Aiden's mind, sharp and clear, cutting through the rising tide of rage. With that sound, Aiden blinked, and the strange, consuming state receded, leaving him shaken but back in control.
He casually, almost disdainfully, flung the gasping Death Eater away.
"System," Aiden mentally projected, his internal voice tight. "What in Merlin's name was that?"
"Ding. Ever since the Host stepped onto the Sequence pathway, he seems to have developed a preference for utilizing his abilities to maintain a constant state of external composure and emotional detachment."
Aiden frowned. "What's wrong with that? Is there a problem?"
"Ding. Maintaining composure at all times can be beneficial, Host. However, you must understand that emotions which are not expressed, which are suppressed, will never truly disappear. They are merely buried alive, and one day, they will erupt, often in a far more hideous and uncontrollable way."
The System continued, its tone unusually grave. "This is the single greatest taboo of the Visionary pathway. Its practitioners possess stronger innate patience and emotional control than those of other transcendent sequences, but at the same time, they are profoundly more prone to utter depravity precisely because they can glimpse so deeply into the hearts and minds of others and themselves. Please keep one thing in mind, Host: do not shatter your own soul for a piece of worthless trash."
Aiden took a deep, shuddering breath, then exhaled slowly, deliberately releasing the lingering tension. He lowered his wand, the green light fading from its tip.
Instead of the Killing Curse, he decided on a different, perhaps more fitting, punishment. He would use his abilities, combined with his refined magic, to cast a uniquely tailored Memory Charm on this particular Death Eater.
"It's really letting you off far too cheaply to just let you die like this," Aiden murmured, a cold glint in his eyes. "Memory Charm… with a special instruction: keep your mind-body in a perpetually conscious state."
Aiden stroked his chin thoughtfully, intricate lines of magic beginning to gather and weave around the Death Eater's prone form.
"More meticulously… even more meticulously than before."
The subtle tendrils of magic permeated through the pores of the Death Eater's skin, passed through the delicate capillaries, combined with the very cells in his blood, and finally, with the inexorable flow of the systemic circulation, reached his brain.
"Well then," Aiden said, a slow, chilling smile curling his lips. Combined with his flawless, ethereal face, the expression appeared both bewitching and terrifyingly dangerous. "Let us begin. Although I can't bring myself to use Avada Kedavra on you, don't even think about getting an easy death, my 'friend'."
Magic wrapped around the man's brainstem. Every evil deed the Death Eater had ever committed, every act of cruelty, every moment of vile pleasure taken in the suffering of others, was dredged up from his memories, demonstrating the terrifying precision and power of a true Hypnotist.
The potent ability of the Memory Charm, now supercharged with Aiden's unique magic, penetrated the Death Eater's mind-body, twisting and warping his perception of reality.
"I don't want to make decisions for those who have already died," Aiden stated, his voice soft but resonant with an unyielding finality. "But you are my enemy, and I won't let you off easily either. So, you can face the countless people you have hurt in a Distorted Illusion, a personal hell from which you will never, ever be able to reach reality."
"Ugh!" The Death Eater's eyes snapped open. He found himself surrounded by the spectral, accusing figures of every person whose life he had taken in the past. They stared at him coldly, their eyes burning with an eternity of pain and judgement.
At this moment, he was like a defenseless Muggle, without his wand, utterly unable to cast any magic.
He struggled, trying desperately to escape, but the vengeful figures behind him were relentless, always chasing, always closing in. Blood, guttural roars, and endless, unimaginable torture took turns, replaying in an unending loop.
Everything he had ever done to innocent people was now engraved upon his own mind-body, forced upon him through the lens of his own twisted memories.
'Why… why am I still conscious? Why haven't I died yet?' The thought echoed in his crumbling psyche.
Finally, lost within a Distorted Illusion from which he could never truly reach reality, this Death Eater gave up thinking, his consciousness dissolving into an endless abyss of self-inflicted torment.
No longer paying any attention to the twitching, whimpering form of the Death Eater, Aiden turned and ran towards the main altar.
On the altar, Oliver was engaged in a desperate, passionate fight against the monstrous figure that had once been his father.
"Stop, Father! Please, don't make another mistake!" Oliver's eyes were filled with tears as he cast a Stupefy charm at his transformed parent.
Unfortunately, the swirling black colloid that now surrounded Clint Graves, a writhing mass of unknown origin, easily blocked the Stunning Spell.
"You fool!" Clint's voice, distorted and alien, boomed. "We should all understand the infinite greatness of ■■! Why do you resist so stubbornly?"
Clint waved his hand dismissively, and thick, black tentacles lashed out from his shadow, brutally sweeping Oliver off his feet. Aiden rushed over, catching Oliver just before he hit the stone.
"Enough!" Clint roared, his patience clearly gone. "I am utterly fed up with your ignorance!"
He stood in the very middle of the bloodstained altar and began to recite the ritual text, his voice echoing with unholy power.
"You slumber in the deepest Dream, waiting for the precise moment when the stars return to their ancient, rightful positions! At that time, you will rise again and rule over all things!"
"We, your humble, devoted believers, hereby offer our deepest, most profound respect! Our minds are open to you, utterly willing to become the sacred carriers of your divine will!"
"Please, hear our fervent prayers, oh Great ■■! Grant us the wisdom to comprehend the forbidden mysteries of the universe! Grant us the strength to ride the chaotic waves of the coming Abyss!"
As Clint Graves chanted, the flames in the bonfire at the center of the altar burned with a violent, unnatural ferocity, the fire soaring high into the oppressive darkness of the cavern.
More and more of the black, viscous colloid began to flow out from beneath the central bonfire. Black, writhing tentacles stood tall, then swept out over the terrified, praying residents who were gathered around the altar.
One by one, they were dragged by the grasping tentacles into the swirling black colloid.
During this horrific pulling process, some of the residents' heavy robes fell off, revealing their hideously swollen, pale bodies.
Disgusting bulges wriggled and pulsed beneath their skin, and then, fat, glistening worms began to crawl out, piercing through their flesh.
The sacrificial ritual had truly begun. Originally, what the town called the "Zhu'er Festival" – their ancient name for Yule or Christmas – was a festival to worship the great god Odin.
However, under Clint Graves's insidious modifications, this sacred sacrificial ritual now pointed towards an unknown, unnamed, and infinitely more terrifying god.
As the sacrifice progressed, the Collective Unconscious Sea, the vast ocean of shared thought and emotion that lay beneath reality, began to churn in violent turmoil. In the deepest, lightless sea beneath that collective consciousness, a behemoth, ancient and terrible, was slowly, inexorably rising.
A single, colossal tentacle, impossibly vast, pierced through the roiling surface of the Collective Unconscious Sea. It crossed the very boundary between illusion and reality, its tip touching the present world with devastating consequence.
The entire underground burial ground, the charnel house, began to shake violently. The surroundings felt as if they were being entangled and crushed by some immense, unseen creature. This was followed by a sickening sense of suspension, and then the entire burial ground was dragged downwards, sinking into the abyss.
With Kingsport as its epicenter, radiating outwards for fifty kilometers, all living creatures instantly lost consciousness.
Inside the collapsing burial ground, Aiden swiftly transformed into his Dragon-Human form, his powerful wings instinctively wrapping around the unconscious Oliver, shielding him. The underground cave where the charnel house was located was constantly crumbling around them, stone and earth raining down.
After what felt like an eternity, the outside world returned to a semblance of calm. Aiden carefully unfurled his wings. The choking dust around them had finally settled, revealing a sky of flat, featureless gray.
Everything around them had lost its color. Aiden and Oliver found themselves standing on a desolate, gray sphere, its surface pockmarked with countless impact craters formed by small, long-dead celestial bodies.
The surroundings of this strange sphere were the boundless, terrifying expanse of the universe, dotted with innumerable bright points of light, as starkly brilliant as the starry sky viewed from the deepest countryside on a clear night.
In the far distance, there was a huge, faintly luminous body, and a cold, gray light scattered from it, dividing the landscape of the sphere into stark light and deep shadow, accentuating the large and small pits that marred its surface.
"System… where in the blazes are we?" Aiden asked, his voice hoarse.
"Ding. Deep Realm, First Layer: The Barren Courtyard. What is buried beneath the Collective Unconscious Sea is the Deep Realm. What is buried here, in this specific layer, is the raw detritus of human emotion."
The System elaborated, "When living beings are alive, their souls and minds primarily reside and interact within the Collective Unconscious Sea. When living beings die, their souls and minds typically fall into the Distorted Illusion, becoming part of the energy that maintains that realm. When magical creatures die, their souls also return to the Distorted Illusion, but their minds often travel far beyond it, heading into the unknown to start entirely new adventures. Originally, Host, you should not have been able to enter this place physically before reaching the Saint sequence. But now, you have been forcibly pulled in."
While the System and Aiden were conversing, the figure of Clint Graves, or what was left of him, crawled out from the deepest shadows. He had been utterly infected, consumed by the unknown monster from the abyss.
His skin had turned a sickly, corpse-like gray-white. A network of thick, black blood vessels pulsed visibly beneath its surface. His eye sockets were severely sunken, and all his hair had fallen out, leaving his scalp stretched taut over his malformed skull.
"If Oliver sees you like this," Aiden said softly, his voice heavy with a grim pity, "he will definitely be heartbroken."
He spread his wings, his right hand transforming seamlessly into his long, silver staff. He grasped the staff tightly with both hands, its golden sun-disc tip pointed directly at the abomination that was once Clint Graves.
Clint didn't seem to hear what Aiden said. He spoke to himself, his eyes empty and unfocused.
"I once knew a beautiful woman. She had long, golden hair, and though her health was poor, she loved to smile. Her smile was… beautiful. Every day when I got off work, I could see her waiting for me. That… that was the happiest time of my life."
Then, Clint Graves turned his grotesque head slowly towards Aiden, his dead eyes staring intently at him, and then at the gem hanging around Aiden's neck.
"Let me ask you a question," Clint rasped, his voice a dry crackle. "It's about God. You are supposed to protect us. Where are they?"
Clint almost roared the last sentence, his voice breaking with an eternity of pain and betrayal. He stomped heavily on the gray, cratered ground.
The shadow beneath him writhed and extended, and all manner of shadow creatures, nightmarish and vaguely formed, crawled out from its depths, roaring and rushing towards Aiden with blind, destructive fury.
Aiden spread his Dragon wings wide and flew up, transforming into a deadly, floating turret in the gray, alien sky. He shot out various Charms – blasts of concussive force, cutting hexes, and binding spells – dispersing the first wave of shadow creatures.
But with the corrupted Clint Graves as their source, an endless stream of shadow creatures kept crawling out of the ever-expanding shadows.
'No, this is unsustainable. I have to take out the summoner first.'
Aiden thought, then flapped his wings with powerful strokes, diving towards Clint. He raised his staff hand and shot out a potent offensive Charm.
Clint blocked with both his monstrous hands, and simultaneously, two thick tentacles surged from his side, deflecting the incoming spell.
Then, Clint stretched out his palm, and the tentacles, now imbued with a terrifying psychic energy, swept towards Aiden with blinding speed.
"Protego!"
Aiden hurriedly cast a Shield Charm, but the tentacles, carrying the crushing weight of raw mind power from the abyss, directly shattered Aiden's magical shield as if it were fragile glass.
***********
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