The evil god was about to enter Phase Two.
Ian wasn't surprised at all.
Before his crossover, he had occasionally played video games. After crossing over, he had even enjoyed designing tabletop games involving magic, so he knew that encountering a second phase when fighting a boss was practically inevitable.
After years of struggling through virtual worlds, he had long internalized the idea that whenever you face a boss, there's a high probability that it's hiding a second phase. In games, the first phase might follow recognizable patterns, but once the health bar drops to the brink, everything changes: skills upgrade, the difficulty skyrockets, and the entire style shifts dramatically.
This kind of gaming experience, accumulated over time, becomes deeply embedded in a player's cognitive system. When players project this onto real life, they develop a unique perspective: that major challenges or 'bosses' encountered in reality are also very likely to have a 'second phase', just like in games.
Yes.
Thinking about it this way actually made perfect sense. After all, everyone knows that fantasy originates from reality. Following that logic, the concept of bosses having second phases must also originate from reality.
Hmm.
There's no problem with that reasoning.
"Do you see it, mage?" Countless mouths opened and spoke in unison. "This is evolution! This is perfection! With every soul I absorb, I move closer to my ultimate form!"
With this blasphemous proclamation, the remains of the evil god's body, which had been a phantom composed of light and darkness, blood and gold, collapsed inward with a thunderous implosion. An indescribable stench, thick with the sickly-sweet rot of decay mixed with the metallic tang of rust, spread through the air immediately afterwards.
Face after face surfaced on the same torso while a voice, like the wailing of billions of beings fused into a single torrent, exploded within Ian's soul.
At that moment, Set-Apep's transformation reached its peak.
His remaining human form completely disintegrated. Sixteen wings of light melted into a golden liquid that wrapped around his swollen, berserk body. His once flawless golden skin cracked and peeled away to reveal writhing flesh beneath. The faces he had devoured surfaced directly on his body, rising and sinking like relief sculptures and muttering maddening whispers that drove one insane.
The most terrifying aspect was his head.
Seven faces had fused into a massive compound eye structure beneath which a mouth split open, revealing spiraling, jagged teeth. His arms morphed into various weapons: some became tentacles covered in eyeballs, some turned into bone scythes, and others spat thick black mist from their fingertips.
In response to this transformation, the sky changed.
The false sun began to pulse like a gigantic heart, contracting and expanding, and its light turned thick like blood. The clouds twisted into impossible angles, as if the entire sky had become a distorted oil painting. The air was filled with a cloying, rotten sweetness; merely breathing it in caused dizziness.
The Egyptian sky, which had only just begun to return to normal, was like a mirror struck by a massive stone, suddenly warping and folding upon itself. The once-warm sun stretched into a gigantic, pulsating eyeball oozing pus-like light. It hung high in the sky, casting nauseating, sickly purplish-red rays. The earth groaned as ancient stones writhed and fused together like living creatures.
They formed countless fleshy hills that oozed fluorescent slime.
The evil god was no longer a perfect reflection of Apollo; rather, he was a nightmarish being straight out of Cthulhu mythology.
"Dumbledore, I…"
Ian took half a step back instinctively. Despite his experience as a legendary wizard, he had never witnessed such a blasphemy against nature. His magic matrix let out a piercing wail in response to this pure, chaotic energy.
The massive maw of the evil god's new form opened and closed, spewing black mist laced with starlight.
"Thank you, mage. It was you who made me realize that perfection does not lie in unity but in embracing countless flaws. Do you see the true meaning of 'perfection'? This symphony of flesh, this tapestry of pain; this is the most fundamental form of the universe! Your struggle, your 'magic', is nothing more than a child flailing helplessly in the mud!'
Before his words had faded, a colossal tentacle thick as a mountain and covered in suckers and spikes tore through the air and smashed towards the ruined high platform where Ian stood. Its speed far surpassed that of any previous magical attack, this was pure, overwhelming physical destruction!
"Damn it! This thing's not even pretending to be human anymore!"
Ian urgently apparated away. The ground where he had been standing split open to reveal a bottomless chasm from which a multicolored, oily liquid seeped out.
"Protego · Matrix Overlay!"
Ian reappeared thirty yards away, instantly deploying twelve layers of rotating magic shields. However, the second wave of attacks followed immediately: three bone scythes slashed in from different angles, tearing through the shields as though they were paper. Ian barely managed to twist his body to avoid a fatal blow, but his robes were shredded.
A deep wound exposing bone opened up on his arm.
"What the hell is this thing?!"
His pupils shrank sharply as his survival instinct overwhelmed his physical limits.
"Run! Run!"
Mocking laughter echoed from every part of the evil god's body. "Let your fear season my feast!"
It was clear that the creature was enjoying the hunt.
Gritting his teeth, Ian swung his wand.
"Thunderclap Burst: Chain Reaction!"
A thicker-than-ever bolt of lightning struck the evil god's chest, erupting in blinding light. But when the smoke cleared, all that remained were scorch marks on the writhing flesh, which were healing at a visible speed.
"Such a pathetic spell."
The evil god's compound eyes rotated in unison.
"Let me show you true power."
He suddenly vanished from his spot, not by Apparition but through pure physical acceleration. Ian barely had time to cast Accelerated Thought, which slowed the world around him just enough for him to see a massive, scale-covered fist slowly crashing towards his face.
"Protego · Absolute Defense!"
He completed the spell in a thousandth of a second. The gigantic fist slammed into the diamond-shaped barrier that had formed suddenly, unleashing a deafening roar. The shield blocked the strike, but the transmitted shockwave still hurled Ian hundreds of feet away, smashing him through three stone walls before he finally stopped.
"Cough..."
Ian spat blood as he struggled to stand up from the rubble, knowing that at least three of his ribs were broken.
He quickly pointed his wand at himself.
"Skeletal Regeneration · Pain Suppression!"
The intense pain faded temporarily, but his magical reserves dropped further. The opponent's attacks seemed to interfere with magical recovery, leaving a lingering parasitic effect that clung like maggots burrowing into bone.
"Your magic is interesting, but far too civilized."
The creature strolled forward. Wherever it stepped, the ground decayed into a purplish-black swamp. With a casual wave of its hand, five black lightning bolts shot out from its fingers.
These bolts could track and curve, bypassing Ian's hastily erected defenses.
"Phase Shift!"
Ian urgently shifted himself into the Spirit Realm. The black lightning passed through his intangible body and corroded the entire temple behind him into bubbling sludge. When he rematerialized, he was covered in cold sweat.
This monster was terrifying not only in physical combat, but also because its magic had extreme corrosive properties.
"Elemental Torrent: Ultimate Compression!"
Ian decided to take a gamble.
The four elements were forcibly compressed into a sphere the size of a tennis ball, inside which a violent fusion reaction raged. It was a forbidden technique that he had developed in the underground laboratory at Hogwarts.
It had never been used in real combat before.
The energy sphere shot forward, warping space as it traveled. Sensing the threat, the evil god met it with sixteen different weapons, but the moment they touched the sphere, they were vaporized.
Finally, the energy sphere struck the evil god's chest, triggering a silent explosion.
'Did it work?'
Ian stared tensely.
At the center of the explosion, more than half of the evil god's body had vanished, and the remaining parts were continuing to disintegrate.
But just as Ian began to relax slightly, the drifting flesh suddenly stopped dispersing.
Instead, it began to reassemble in reverse.
"Not a bad attack." The remaining head was still speaking. "You almost managed to truly harm me."
And then...
Its flesh recombined in blatant violation of all physical laws. Within seconds, it had fully regenerated and become even stronger. Its new body was covered in shimmering starlight scales.
Each scale blinked with tiny eyes.
"But energy-based attacks are ineffective against me. I am energy itself."
"You try to define 'good' with fragile concepts like 'freedom' and 'choice,' yet you fail to understand that 'unity' and 'eternity' are the ultimate harmony. Your existence and your struggle only prove that my path is correct; only through complete fusion can this meaningless cycle of suffering truly end."
Countless voices sang in unison.
Seeing this, Ian frowned.
"Avada Plague!"
This was no ordinary Killing Curse. Ian had fused ancient Hogwarts Transfiguration with dark magic, completely transforming the spell. Instead of a green light, a condensed beam of death burst from the tip of his wand, composed of countless rotating Egyptian hieroglyphs and radiating an ominous black light as solid as substance.
It struck precisely at the base of the incoming tentacle!
"Boom!"
The beam collided with the tentacle, erupting into a chaotic surge of energy. Yet the 'killing curse' beam, formed from pure magical power, left only a charred mark on the tentacle's surface, which seemed as tough as stellar core material.
The tentacle paused for only an instant, then snapped back even faster than before.
The immense force of the storm completely blew Ian, and the platform beneath his feet, into the air!
"Triple Guard · Starlight Barrier!"
"BOOM...!!!"
The massive tentacle slammed viciously into the Starlight Barrier! The crimson flames were instantly crushed and extinguished; the deep blue starlight flickered violently; and the warm golden glow dimmed completely. The entire shield groaned painfully as space itself warped and fractured under the overwhelming pressure. Countless tiny black cracks spread across the barrier's surface.
Ian's arms trembled violently and his bones felt as though they were about to shatter. His feet sank deep into the writhing, flesh-like ground, and blood seeped from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
This pure, transcendent physical force had completely overwhelmed his defenses.
"Ha… hahaha…"
Sixteen twisted faces burst into deafening laughter at the same time, their voices filled with extreme mockery of mortal intelligence and magic.
"Magic? Legacy? Before absolute existence, they are nothing but decoration! Look at your 'protection', it's as fragile as a sandcastle! Is this the 'Legendary' power you're so proud of?"
Before Ian had time to catch his breath, the evil god's attacks surged again!
Countless thin tentacles shot out from the monstrous mass, like venomous snakes. Each one gleamed with a metallic sheen and had a drill-like tip that shrieked as it twisted in from all directions. At the same time, several enormous tentacles whipped through the air like world-ending serpents; each strike caused space itself to collapse.
Ian's figure flickered and blinked amid the storm of tentacles. Every teleportation consumed vast amounts of magic. He continuously cast extreme variations of Hogwarts magic.
Brilliant spells collided violently with the corruption of the evil god in the warped world. Each clash triggered localized spatial collapse and raging energy storms.
And yet, the result was brutally clear.
No matter how refined or powerful, Ian's legendary magic was like an ant trying to shake a tree when striking the evolved body of the evil god, which seemed to be formed from the most primordial substance in the universe. His attacks could not inflict effective damage, while every physical blow from the evil god severely injured him.
Of course...
Ian had already used the power of Paradox to negate the possibility of his own death. So he didn't have to worry about dying. However, this meant that he could no longer spare any additional Paradox power to influence his opponent.
Perhaps going all out wouldn't make much difference; the Eye of Ra embedded in the enemy's chest granted it an existence far too high a level.
The stronger the enemy, the harder it was for Ian's Paradox power to take effect.
"Is there even the slightest shred of dignity left in this…?"
Ian knelt on one knee on the writhing, flesh-like ground. His nearly broken wand was stuck beside him at an angle. He gasped for breath, tasting blood with every inhale. His vision darkened in waves due to pain and magical exhaustion.
He looked at the terrifying mountain of flesh and tentacles beneath the distorted sky, at the sixteen constantly moving faces, each one displaying a kind of 'divine' intelligence.
What rose in his heart was not despair but a cold, piercing sorrow that saw through the essence of it all:
"I alone have the right to define life!"
The evil god slowly 'moved' its massive body like a living mountain shifting across the land until it stopped before Ian. A tentacle resembling a maw, lined with sharp teeth, lowered gradually until it nearly touched Ian's forehead.
The mouths opened and closed in unison, their voices carrying an unprecedented calm that bordered on satisfaction.
"Ian... I thank you."
There was a trace of genuine sincerity in its tone.
"Heh…"
Ian struggled to lift his head. His silver hair clung to his face, matted with blood, but his eyes remained as sharp as blades.
"Thank you for your resistance,"
The voice of the evil god echoed like a whisper from the universe.
"Every one of your attacks, every ounce of your magic, and your unyielding will… all became indispensable pieces of my 'perfection'. You made me realize that so-called 'flaws' are not blemishes to be hidden but necessary steps towards a higher form."
"Yes, because of you, I have embraced this chaos of flesh, this tapestry of pain, this instinct to devour; only now does this form represent the true 'me'!"
"Now..."
The voice of the evil god suddenly rose, filled with sovereign authority. The purplish-red light from the eye in the twisted sky converged entirely upon its enormous body.
"I have perfected all 'flaws.' I am evolution. I am perfection. I am… the one true god!"
With this declaration, the massive body composed of countless tentacles and tumors gradually ceased its writhing and twitching.
In its place, an eerie, suffocating sense of "order" spread throughout.
(End of Chapter)
You can read ahead up to 110 chapters on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395