HPxLOTM: A Wizard's Path to Divinity

You want to talk?!

At that moment, Zatwen successfully stole Edward's current thoughts and was about to seize the opportunity to finish him off—when his own mind suddenly erupted like a boiling pot, filled with the clamour of seven or eight different voices arguing at once.

Edward had already rejected the idea of reporting to the Church. Instead, he flung out five coins. Bribe, Disorder, Magnify—all three powers were applied to the coins at once, greatly weakening his opponent's morale and making the projectiles terrifyingly destructive.

Zatwen's expression changed dramatically. He immediately shifted into his Wraith form and used the stolen Distortion ability to cause the flying coins to miss him by a hair's breadth.

Then, in return, he twisted Edward's intentions, forcing him to run toward him.

"Magnify—No stealing allowed here!"

Edward immediately banned the act of theft to prevent Zatwen from stealing more of his powers.

"Magnify!"

This time, the amplification targeted the sealing artifact on Zatwen's hand—Edward magnified its negative side effects.

Zatwen instantly fell from midair, switching erratically between Wraith and corporeal states as if he'd short-circuited.

Bang!

He crashed heavily to the ground, creating cracks over two to three meters wide. He reentered Wraith form and let out a piercing shriek.

"The Emperor's New Clothes."

A non-existent layer of protection formed around Edward, completely isolating him from the damage of the Wraith's shriek. At the same time, the illusory book in his eyes flipped again, and the terrifyingly ancient Spear of Longinus materialised out of thin air.

The next moment, the spear appeared right in front of Zatwen. His instinct was to dodge using Mirror Blink, but no matter how he tried to teleport away, the ancient spear relentlessly tracked him—it was impossible to shake it off.

Even a demi-god level Distortion couldn't budge the spear in the slightest.

"Magnify—BIink is banned here!"

This use of the Sequence 5 power Prohibition was ordinarily difficult to enforce against a demi-god, but with the help of Sequence 4's Magnify, the restriction approached the level of divine authority—though the spiritual energy consumption skyrocketed accordingly!

Zatwen failed to teleport. His expression twisted into a cold sneer.

"Hmph! Then let's die together!"

———

Meanwhile, in a small villa in Empress Borough.

Lilith lay sprawled on the bed, playfully hooking her little wand with a claw and trying to cast spells:

"Wingardium Leviosa."

With a gentle wave, the pillow on the bed wobbled into the air.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

She gave a forceful flick. The pillow instantly turned to stone and thudded onto the bed.

"Miss Lilith is simply too clever~"

Satisfied, Lilith nodded and tucked the wand away.

"Why isn't Edward back yet?"

She rolled over, jumped onto the desk, and looked up at the crimson moon outside the window. "Why does it look like someone's living in the moon?"

Suddenly, her ears twitched. A glimmer of light flashed in her eyes. In the next moment, her body turned into a shadow and vanished into the corner of the room.

Moments later, the moonlight spilling onto the floor coalesced, stretching upward and forming two humanoid figures—both with crimson eyes, clearly vampires.

"You sure this is the place?"

"The clues we found on Emlyn pointed directly here."

"All right then."

The two didn't speak out loud but communicated instantly. Relying on their sharp vampire senses, they silently advanced toward the bedroom.

Suddenly, one of them stiffened and quickened his pace: "The target's escaped! After her!"

The two flashed out of the room using moonlight and summoned ghostly bat wings from their backs, gliding swiftly forward.

Lilith sprinted frantically, but the two vampires closed in rapidly. Her eyes scanned the surroundings. Suddenly, she turned and bolted toward a sewer entrance, diving straight in.

Seconds later, the two vampires arrived. They glanced at each other.

"Do we go after her?"

"Duh!"

"Ugh! My brand-new custom-made suit!"

——

Zatwen's body suddenly transformed into a paper figure that looked exactly like Edward. Instead of dodging the Spear of Longinus, he charged straight at it.

Edward instantly felt his spirituality explode. Without hesitation, he dispelled the Spear, turning it into countless sparks that vanished into the air.

Zatwen didn't give him a moment to think. The paper figure suddenly reached for its own head.

"Magnify—no self-harm allowed here!"

"Confusion!"

Edward threw a few enchanted coins, stunning Zatwen and making him momentarily lose all will to fight. The Confusion effect followed, throwing off his balance and coordination—he couldn't even stand.

Edward's eyes flipped through the phantom book again. Brilliant starlight flared around him, then compressed and surged toward Zatwen, forming a massive translucent amber that encased him and locked him in place.

Ding!

A coin popped up: Attacking the opponent now will harm yourself.

Heads—affirmative.

"Damn it, that ability is so damn broken!"

Edward immediately activated Madman to the Right to reverse the result, then donned Ravenclaw's Diadem, unleashing a torrent of spells and recorded supernatural abilities that blasted the area where he was trapped.

BOOM!!!

For a long while, the light blazed—

Zatwen's body was riddled with wounds—so many that in several places his pale white bones were exposed. Even with his doubly enhanced "Zombie" physique, the bombardment he had just endured had left him badly injured.

Meanwhile, over half of Edward's spirituality had already been consumed.

Zatwen's eyes gleamed with malice as he stared at Edward, rage now completely overtaking him.

"I want you dead!!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Just then, the skies above the warehouse lit up with columns of flame, each blooming into brilliant, dreamlike flares—especially the largest one at the centre, dazzling and resplendent.

It was Klein and the others—having successfully completed the kill, they were now executing a flashy escape using pre-planted explosives in the role of a Magician.

Edward grinned. "The official Beyonders will be here any minute now. Are you sure you want to keep fighting?"

Zatwen's face darkened.

He knew that Edward definitely didn't have the power of a demigod, yet the man somehow wielded or recorded abilities from multiple demigod pathways—enough to counter even his prized Thief's Gloves. And if this dragged on, who knew what would happen?

But…to lose three subordinates and retreat with nothing to show for it? He'd become a laughingstock!

His expression turned vicious. The black gloves on his hands lit up once more as he stared daggers at Edward. His form began to shift again—he was transforming into the Source of Curses.

Edward immediately cast a second "Emperor's New Clothes," followed by: "Magnify—No self-harm allowed in this area."

But Zatwen's hand still pierced directly into his own heart!

At almost the exact same moment, cracks appeared across the non-existent Emperor's New Clothes. A creeping pain began to spread through Edward's heart.

Zatwen had ignored the self-harm prohibition?

No—he hadn't ignored it.

He'd acted before it.

Edward's eyes widened in realisation. He stole a moment of my time just now?!

It had only been a fraction of a second, but it was enough for him to complete the curse before Edward's prohibition could take effect. If it hadn't been for the Emperor's New Clothes absorbing the brunt of it, his heart might've exploded from the sustained curse the moment the clothes shattered.

"Magnify—No curses allowed in this area!"

The pain in his heart lessened, though it didn't vanish entirely.

"Magnify—No self-harm!"

"Magnify—Weaken mysticism, strengthen reality!"

With the third prohibition layered on, the heart pain nearly disappeared completely. Meanwhile, Zatwen let out a pained scream as he reverted back to his original form.

Puppets were terrifying because it could harm enemies by harming themselves. And with its massive vitality, it could survive even if its heart or head were destroyed.

But with mysticism weakened and reality enhanced, that supernatural resilience was gone. The Puppet's strength plummeted, and Zatwen bore the full backlash of his own self-inflicted curse.

"AAAGHHHHH!!"

Edward immediately tried to follow up with magic to finish him off—but found that his magic abilities, too, were now being classified as mysticism. His wand sparked, but nothing came of it.

Soon, the prohibition effects—undermined by "weaken mysticism"—wore off completely.

Zatwen swiftly yanked his hand out of his chest and flung the blood from it in one sharp motion.

"Cull—Distortion!"

The blood morphed into countless crimson ice arrows. With the added "Culling" effect, they were deadly enough to kill Edward outright. And the "Distortion" forced Edward's escape reflex to instead charge him forward into danger!

"Magnify—Unfettered!"

"Magnify—Unfettered!"

"Unfettered!"

At the last moment, Edward finally broke free from the distortion, then decisively used the resistance of the air to drastically slow down the ice arrows, giving himself just enough time to activate Apparition.

Zatwen wasn't surprised. He promptly activated the Thief's Glove once more—after all, the previous prohibitions had been nullified when mysticism was suppressed.

Black light glimmered from the gloves. Edward's abilities began to vanish one by one—Bribe, Disorder, Light of Holiness...

"Magnify!"

Edward reflexively used Magnify again, targeting the Thief's Glove.

But in the very next second, that ability, too, was stolen.

Zatwen's face suddenly twisted in shock. The negative effects that weren't supposed to appear until half an hour later hit him now—all at once, and far more violently.

On the surface, it looked like he had just stolen seven or eight of Edward's abilities. But in reality, he hadn't retained a single one. Every time he successfully stole an ability, he lost one of his own. And the very first thing he lost…was the vital body enhancement from Zombie!

When there were no more abilities left to lose—his life would be taken instead by the sealed artifact.

A wave of intense weakness overwhelmed him. The wounds that had previously looked critical but non-lethal were now turning into life-threatening injuries one by one.

Zatwen made a split-second decision. Before he lost his Wraith Transformation and Mirror Blink abilities, he teleported away without hesitation.

Edward, now stripped of most of his powers, panicked. If Zatwen managed to steal "Prohibition," or launched another "Source of Curse" attack, escape would be impossible.

So—almost in unison—the two of them vanished.

A mutual, unspoken retreat.

———

A few minutes later, a Machinery Hivemind team arrived at the open lot surrounded by abandoned warehouses.

Each member was armed with a different kind of mystical weapon, but when they saw the scorched battlefield, they couldn't help frowning.

Until suddenly, one of them let out a gasp. "There are Tarot cards everywhere!"

The group moved closer, only to find cards pinned all around—on the ground, on the walls, embedded in crates. They saw cards like The Fool, The Tower, The Hanged Man, The Sun, The World—a mixture of Major Arcana and numbered Minor Arcana.

Some were upright, some reversed. Some hadn't even been flipped yet, showing only their backs.

It looked like an elaborate and ominous Tarot divination ritual.

Originally, Klein hadn't left any cards at the scene since Edward's appearance had interrupted the kill on Lanevus.

But because of tonight's hunt…the Tarot cards had appeared all the same.

———

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