It was the soul of an old man, one who inspired no sense of respect for the elderly in John.
The man before him was the number one among the world's ten dark wizards.
Even Voldemort, who came later, had to rank behind him.
Yet it had to be said—he had the qualifications for it.
Whether it was the Horcrux, which established Voldemort's near-unkillable reputation, or the basilisk he had cultivated, both were achievements without precedent.
Before the creation of Horcruxes, no wizard had ever thought of tearing their own soul apart in order to achieve immortality.
He had been the pioneer who accomplished it.
Of course, the side effects were obvious.
John looked at the illusory, withered soul and greeted it, "Hello there, the infamous Herpo the Foul."
"It is Herpo the Great."
He wore a purple wizard's hat, yet oddly enough, his body was dressed in pharaoh's garments.
Herpo's beard was long, much like Dumbledore's in his old age.
John showed clear interest. "Then I must apologize. In the history I learned, the name associated with you has always been 'the Foul.'"
His wand drew Herpo's soul into nine chains that wrapped around it. John said, "You built this pyramid and conducted research on time magic here."
"Were you searching for another path to immortality?"
Herpo's soul floated silently in the air.
Black hair, and a nose so large it curved like an eagle's beak. The deep sockets of his eyes were hollow—this wizard had placed his eyes within the human-faced serpent.
The loose skin on his face suggested that when this fragment of soul had been split off, he had already been close to death.
Though the Horcrux had remained undisturbed, the passage of time had worn away at it, leaving the soul fragment on the verge of fading entirely.
If John had not taken out the soul potion, he likely would not have attacked him at all.
"Your magic is impressive," Herpo said, speaking from a lofty position like an elder. "Perhaps we could make a trade. What do you think?"
As both a dark wizard and an alchemist, Herpo had weighed the advantages and disadvantages and chosen the path most beneficial to himself.
"I can pass on all the magical knowledge of my lifetime to you. In exchange, you will contribute to my resurrection."
Herpo was undeniably a master. For any wizard, his knowledge was a treasure more valuable than any amount of gold.
Because of that, Herpo was confident his offer would be tempting.
The more talented the young wizard, the harder it would be to resist.
John's first-year teacher, Quirrell, had pursued magic so obsessively that he encountered Voldemort and eventually became his vessel.
John asked in return, "Help you resurrect?"
"Yes. I have prepared everything for it."
Believing that John was tempted, Herpo continued, "I discovered this place, a region where time itself is chaotic."
"Using the knowledge I possessed, I constructed this pyramid."
When speaking of magic, even Herpo's sinister, unpleasant face seemed to glow with the brilliance of a master.
"Ancient Egyptian magic—the scale that symbolizes judgment, and the key that symbolizes resurrection."
John immediately thought of the other three objects he had found in the treasury.
"You escaped death and returned after a thousand years. What kind of path are you trying to pursue?" John asked.
Herpo was the first wizard to create a Horcrux. If John had never come here, Herpo might have achieved a different kind of immortality.
His soul was trapped inside the Horcrux, and after a long time, he realized that this was not true immortality.
"I want freedom," Herpo roared in a voice close to collapse. "True immortality should not mean being trapped here!"
He was merely a fragment of the soul of Herpo the Foul, left in this place for more than a thousand years.
His original self had long since fallen, yet he was condemned to remain here forever in torment.
"Do you know this? Even the basilisk has died. I have stayed in this place for a thousand years without speaking a single word," Herpo said bitterly. "He split me apart to pursue his own immortality, while I am doomed to remain trapped here forever. Is that fair?"
"He was full of treachery—Herpo the Foul!"
There was something almost schizophrenic about him.
A thousand years of solitude was enough to destroy even a powerful wizard.
This fragment of soul had been split off after Herpo built the pyramid. No matter how strong a soul was, a thousand years would make it fragile.
And this fragment had developed hatred toward its original self.
That was why he sought a deal with John—hoping to use what Herpo had left behind in the pyramid to resurrect himself.
For that reason, he extended an olive branch to John, offering conditions that were irresistibly tempting.
Herpo's face twitched as he said, "Help me, and I will grant you any wish. Whether it is wealth or power, the great Herpo can make it happen for you."
"Indeed, very tempting," John said, applauding lightly.
"But I do have one question. If Herpo prepared everything needed for resurrection, why didn't he carry it out himself?"
Everything required for resurrection had been placed in the treasury, and Herpo had once lived in this place.
There were even traces of daily life left behind.
Yet Herpo had not revived himself. Instead, he had chosen death.
The soul of Herpo froze for a moment.
"He realized his own flaws, but within the limited time he had left, he couldn't perfect the solution."
John recalled the experiments he had seen involving the Blood Curse and continued, "He understood that the Horcrux was a mistake, so in his later years he kept trying to refine his work. In the end, even at death, he hadn't succeeded."
Lifting the black leather book in his hand, John said calmly, "The soul inside this should have been split off later than you."
"Yet the power within it is weaker than yours."
John guessed that Herpo had realized death was approaching, which was why he built the pyramid in search of true immortality.
He placed his hopes in his Horcruxes.
Each division weakened the soul further and further, so he didn't resurrect himself immediately. Instead, he hoped his Horcruxes would think, solve the problem he couldn't, and only then bring him back.
But unfortunately, as a Horcrux of Herpo, the soul within the human-faced serpent had spent its days resenting Herpo, never once attempting to think about the problem at all.
"Two Horcruxes. One meant to conquer the curse, the other meant to study time magic."
John stared at the soul of the human-faced serpent and said, "Unfortunately, you don't seem to understand his intentions."
Splitting the soul made a person increasingly foolish.
That had already been proven by Voldemort.
After John's explanation, the Herpo within the human-faced serpent found it difficult to accept.
He had longed for resurrection for so long, only to be told that the resurrection he pursued had already been an abandoned plan.
Herpo's soul became even more faint, almost on the verge of collapse.
John stroked his chin and said, "A fragmented soul cannot achieve immortality. In a way, the moment Herpo split his soul, he had already stepped onto the wrong path."
"What do you know? This is great magic!" Herpo roared. "Even after a thousand years, I am still alive. That is magic!"
It seemed that having his achievement questioned made Herpo even angrier.
"Well then, if you say so."
John shrugged and said, "I'm actually quite interested in your magic."
Slowly and calmly, he picked up the soul potion and casually placed it into his small handbag.
Staring at Herpo's soul, John gave a faint smile. "Compared to your knowledge, I'm more interested in your soul."
"Soul Lamp, accio."
Using a Summoning Charm, John called back the soul lamp that had fallen into the cliff.
The soul lamp, which contained numerous stored souls, flew into John's hand.
Herpo stared blankly at the lamp. As someone equally skilled in soul magic, he began to doubt everything he knew.
What kind of person could turn souls into a lamp that would never extinguish?
Wasn't that essentially another form of Horcrux?
The difference was that John's Horcrux held other people's souls.
John's smile was bright as he said to Herpo, "How about I give you a new home?"
"What do—N-N-N-NOOOOOOOO!!!!"
Herpo's soul was pulled toward the soul lamp, causing him to scream.
The cries stabbed at the soul itself, though to John they meant nothing.
"Let's make some space for you."
John tapped the soul lamp, and the souls inside scattered apart.
Silver-white threads stretched out toward Herpo's soul and dragged it inside.
The ghostly blue flame flickered. After a while, all movement ceased.
"Herpo's soul should be quite valuable."
Staring at the soul lamp, John began calculating how to use that soul for the greatest possible benefit.
This man's crimes were even worse than Voldemort's, but simply handing him over to Death felt like a waste.
As Herpo's soul disappeared, the human-faced serpent statue crumbled into dust and scattered away.
Crack.
The sound of something breaking reached his ears.
John froze for a moment, and then a series of sharp cracking noises followed.
His expression changed as he looked up.
A fracture had appeared on the giant hourglass, spreading outward from a single crack.
With a thunderous boom—BOOM!
The hourglass exploded.
Golden ripples spread outward, and the river-like sand of time lost its balance and collapsed.
Like water bursting through a broken dam, the sand of time surged toward John.
"Fuck.. So you used the human-faced serpent as the core… Herpo, you really planned this well."
John's face darkened as he cursed under his breath and turned to run.
The basilisk was still standing there foolishly. There was no other way out, but John quickly came up with an idea.
"Leave the pyramid!"
John gave the command to the basilisk.
"As you command, great descendant of Herpo."
The basilisk dove into the tunnel beneath the hourglass. Taking the opportunity, John grabbed onto its body and pressed himself against it.
The basilisk raced through the tunnels while the sand of time behind them turned everything it touched into twisted fragments of time and space.
The winding passages slowed the advance of the sand. The basilisk knew the tunnels perfectly, always turning into the correct path just before being overtaken.
At the same time, the outer structure of the pyramid began to collapse.
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