"You're nothing but a monster pieced together from countless shattered souls!" Ian's words were like the sharpest Treasure Sword, piercing straight through Set-Apep's flawless divine disguise. In that instant, the frozen spacetime itself seemed to shatter like glass struck by a sledgehammer; for the first time, real cracks appeared on the Evil God's gold-cast face.
"Silence!" Set-Apep's voice suddenly split into countless tones, some shrill, some low, "I am myself! I am perfect! I am eternal! I am—"
"You are nothing." Ian cut him off icily. "You're nothing but a monster pieced together from countless shattered souls. I am all beings, yet all beings are not me—that is the true law contained in the sun!"
The words seemed to trigger some kind of mechanism.
The Evil God suddenly clutched his head and let out a howl that no human throat could produce. His body began to swell and contort in chaotic spasms: at times turning into a many-handed, many-legged abomination, at times snapping back into a perfect human form.
The faces on the Light Wings behind him all opened their eyes and emitted their own voices—some weeping, some cackling, some chanting Spells long since forgotten.
These minute changes confirmed Ian's conjecture—the so‑called "perfect existence" that had been forcefully assembled was fundamentally unable to control the myriad souls devoured within.
"You can't even maintain your own form anymore, Set-Apep." Ian pressed on, his Magic Wand quietly sketching a complex Magic Array behind his back. "Or rather… should I call you 'them'?"
Skillful use of the power of language was also one of Ian's most outstanding talents as Hogwarts' oratory prodigy—don't forget he'd once stood against Slytherin College and even Voldemort, debating them into silence.
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
The Evil God's roar was like ten thousand thunderbolts detonating at once. His body suddenly ballooned and warped, dozens of struggling human faces surfacing beneath his skin. The twelve Light Wings hammered wildly, each beat stirring up a cataclysmic energy storm. The Pyramid's massive stones were flung up into the sky, and the Nile River's waters surged backward, flooding into the city.
The entire city trembled beneath divine wrath.
Ian had been prepared. His Magic Wand traced a perfect circle forward: "Magic Matrix Defense System, activate!"
Seven layers of different-colored Magic Barriers unfolded before him, each etched with spinning Ancient Runes. This was the composite Defense system he'd spent three years developing—the outermost layer was an improved "Armor Protection," followed by "Anti-Magic Barrier," "Elemental Deflection," "Mental Protection," "Physical Isolation," "Magic Reflection," and the innermost "Absolute Domain."
Far stronger than the protective measures Ian had used before.
After all.
Those who grow during battle are never limited to the Evil God.
Ian was the same.
The Evil God's first wave of attacks arrived in a blink. The golden storm birthed by the beating Light Wings slammed into the first Barrier layer; web-like cracks instantly spread across the blue shield, but it succeeded in diffusing the energy through the entire Matrix system. The second wave followed on its heels—hundreds of miniature suns fired from the Evil God's palms.
However, they exploded before the third Barrier layer, and the blazing plasma was driven underground by "Elemental Deflection."
"Useless! Useless!" Set-Apep's voice had already warped beyond recognition, shifting between male and female tones. "I'll tear you into shreds and nail your soul beneath the eternal scorching sun to roast!"
The third wave of attacks was the most terrifying. The Evil God opened his mouth and vomited a beam of pure white light. Wherever it passed, space itself twisted and liquefied. It pierced the first five layers of Barriers with ease, only to be barely deflected when it reached the sixth layer, "Magic Reflection"—the refracted beam swept across the city's northwest quarter, and that entire district vaporized in an instant, leaving only a lava crater glowing red.
Cold sweat seeped across Ian's forehead. His Magic Matrix could withstand ordinary Forbidden Curses, but under the Evil God's full-force assault, even the innermost "Absolute Domain" was showing signs of instability.
He had to switch from defense to offense!
Seizing the brief gap between attacks, Ian suddenly dropped his Defense, thrusting his Magic Wand toward the sky: "Elemental Torrent: Full Release!"
This was the ultimate Elemental Magic he'd developed under Dumbledore's "Fire God's Path" guidance. In an instant, the four basic elements simultaneously rampaged—the Nile River's waters soared skyward, forming a gigantic waterspout; the earth split open, belching columns of lava; the vaporized water condensed into countless ice blades in midair.
And the scattered stones of the Pyramid rose up as Stone Giants from the ground.
The waterspout struck the Evil God first, dragging him into the heart of its maelstrom. Lava pillars then poured into the water, triggering violent explosions. Amid the billowing steam, thousands of ice blades poured into the blast center like a torrential rain, while the Stone Giants' heavy fists smashed down viciously from above. Clearly, the entire city shuddered beneath this one strike.
The shockwave swept across several miles, shattering the remaining windows of every structure. Ian had to raise another protective shield, squinting toward the heart of the blast—there, a small mushroom cloud had formed.
The air was thick with the acrid stench of ionized char.
"Did it work…" Ian panted, his Magic Power already more than half spent.
He did not feel much joy.
Because the old saying "smoke without harm" was something he understood quite well. Sure enough, the smoke was suddenly forced aside by some invisible power. Set-Apep was still floating in the same spot, but his form had now completely changed—his golden skin was covered with flowing human faces, and three of his twelve Light Wings had already snapped.
The rest were mangled and incomplete. Most horrifying of all, his head now displayed a nightmare carousel of seven different faces, constantly rotating.
"It hurts… it hurts so much…"
Seven voices sobbed in unison, only to turn into manic laughter a heartbeat later.