HPxLOTM: A Wizard's Path to Divinity

The harsh sunlight forced Klein to instinctively shield his eyes.

After more than ten seconds, his eyes adjusted to the light, and he realised he was standing at the entrance of a dilapidated church. Around him, several puppet-like townspeople moved stiffly as they stepped into the building.

This was…

A church that existed during the day!

Inside the church, every surface was coated in a sticky, web-like substance. Enormous tentacles writhed across the space, their source a colossal creature: its upper body vaguely human, but its lower half reptilian, covered in scales, and towering several meters high.

Despite its massive size, Klein could clearly sense that its strength was nowhere near that of Lanevus.

The townspeople entering the church walked numb and expressionless toward the monster. One by one, they were swallowed whole by the gaping maw in its lower body. After being chewed up, they were reduced to pools of blood, which were absorbed by the writhing tentacles and channelled into the book the creature was holding.

The process was gruesome and horrifying—yet carried a bizarre sense of vitality.

It was both the end of death and the origin of rebirth.

Klein raised his revolver and aimed it directly at the monster within the church. "Found you."

Bang!

As the first bullet fired, a bloom of crimson blossomed on the humanoid portion of the monster's head.

Yet the creature didn't seem to feel a thing. It merely cast a cold, golden vertical pupil toward him before continuing to write in its book with a feathered quill.

It didn't care.

And Klein? He cared even less—who didn't love target practice on a stationary enemy?

He unloaded the entire cylinder in one go, targeting its heart, tentacles, mouth, and the joints connecting upper and lower body. Between shots, he continuously launched Air Bullets.

Half the bullets bounced off its scales. The rest embedded into its flesh. Repeated Air Bullets hitting the same spot managed to lift its tough scales.

Klein flipped out the cylinder, ejecting the brass casings, and swiftly loaded it with silver Demon Hunting Rounds.

Click.

He snapped the cylinder shut, thumbed it into place, and pulled the trigger again.

Bang!

The monster's head once again erupted in a spray of blood—but this time, it let out a shrill screech.

Its grotesque tentacles thrashed wildly. Each moved with an eerie autonomy—some writhed chaotically, others lashed out randomly. Some even sprouted mouths that screamed in agony. The remaining ones locked onto Klein and launched a barrage of furious attacks.

Klein, relying on the agility granted by the Clown, dodged with a rolling leap, then used Flaming Jump to evade once more. Activating his Sun Brooch, he infused it with spirituality and summoned multiple rays of Holy Light to strike the monster.

The searing light caused it immense pain. One by one, its tentacles rose like sharp arrows, shooting forward at high speed and blanketing the entire church.

Snap.

Klein snapped his fingers and transformed into a pillar of flame, reappearing outside the church.

But the tentacles refused to give up their target and surged toward the doorway, forming a terrifying torrent of flesh and blood.

Yet the moment they crossed the church threshold, they recoiled in agony. Amidst overlapping howls of pain, they frantically retracted, even turning against one another in a frenzied struggle.

"They can't leave the church?"

Klein pulled out a thin golden talisman engraved with intricate mystical patterns—his final Flaring Sun Charm.

"Even if this won't kill you, I'll tear the whole church down. Let's see where you hide then!"

—Though of course, there was also the chance that the monster would be set free.

He poured the majority of his spirituality into it, then hurled the golden sheet into the church, chanting in ancient Hermes:

"Sun."

Golden flames burst forth inside the church, expanding into a glowing orb like a miniature sun. Fire coiled around it, crackling and dancing.

BOOM!!!

The light sphere swelled to its limit and detonated.

The earth shook violently. Cracks split the ground surrounding the church as though a fierce earthquake had struck. Klein leapt again and again to avoid falling, bouncing like a clown on a tightrope—several times narrowly avoiding tumbling into the chasms.

Yet at the epicentre of the explosion, the church remained unmoved—as if it hadn't been touched at all.

Half a minute later, the blast faded. The flames dissipated.

Klein exhaled a breath of turbid air. He brushed the dust off his clothes and, with utmost caution, approached the church doors.

The monster was gone!

The towering form and mass of writhing tentacles were now absent—vaporised in the explosion of the Flaring Sun Charm. All that remained was the humanoid upper body, suspended from the ceiling by web-like goo, emitting a low, mournful wail.

But before the joy could fully surface on Klein's face—it froze.

The monster was regenerating at a speed visible to the naked eye. First its body, then its scales, then the tentacles and that sticky, foul substance. In mere seconds, Klein was watching a full "rewind of time" unfold before him.

Even if this regeneration could only happen once…he had no more Sun Flame Talismans left.

"Heh."

Klein reloaded his revolver again. "At this point, what is there to hesitate over? Let's keep going."

He pulled out a bottle and hurled it with all his strength. The enormous monster opened its maw and swallowed it whole.

———

[Snowy Town—Inside the Church]

Jessica suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

Fors rushed to her side. "What happened?!"

Wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, Jessica still wore that gentle, serene smile. "Your friend…he successfully found her."

"…"

Fors stared at her in silence for a few seconds. "You knew everything?"

"Of course. He's unlike anyone else here. I noticed him very early on. Time after time, he died. Time after time, he lost his memories. And yet, he never gave up—he kept getting closer to the truth."

"So I had to keep killing him off, erasing the clues he left behind. But each time, he would somehow reconstruct the information. I even implanted mental suggestions to prevent him from leaving himself any direct clues."

"He noticed that too. And soon, he came up with another method—leaving himself vague, paradoxical hints. The three ambiguous phrases he found later."

"Unfortunately, by that time, he had already lost most of his memories and was on the verge of becoming a mindless puppet. I thought his story had come to an end…but then, the day he met you, he suddenly regained most of his memories."

"At that moment, it occurred to me—perhaps he was the one destined to accompany you to the end. So, I stopped interfering. As expected, he didn't disappoint. Heh…what an interesting man."

Jessica's rambling explanation finally helped Fors piece together a rough picture of what Klein had been through. Respect welled up in her heart for the boy who always seemed so mild and scholarly. If it had been her in his place, she probably would've given up long ago.

After a moment's thought, Fors asked, "You said Klein found 'her.' Who is 'she'?"

Jessica put down her quill. "She is me…or more accurately, the dark side of me, born of jealousy and madness."

"Too bad—your friend can't kill her."

"Why not?"

"Because her power comes from this town, from its residents. For every puppet inhabitant, she has a life. She has as many lives as there are puppets."

Fors lowered her voice. "Then what if I kill you?"

"Then 'she' will be completely unleashed. No one in this world will survive."

"…"

Jessica smiled again. "Now, the only one who can help your friend…is you."

"You once said that my stories were decent, but my characters were poorly written—like emotionless puppets that only existed to serve the plot. So I created this puppet-filled town."

She extended her scaly hands and passed the book and quill to Fors.

"Now it's your turn to prove yourself. Use your talent—give them flesh and blood, vibrant souls, grant them true life."

"For every character you bring to life, 'she' will lose one of her lives, and she'll grow weaker in turn."

"When you've brought everyone to life, this book will reach its conclusion."

"So? Do you like this story?"

Fors's hands trembled again—but this time, it wasn't from fear or anxiety. She felt…like she was going mad—because somehow, she was getting excited.

As she accepted the book and quill, Jessica smirked and said, "Did you know? I first got the idea to write novels after reading yours."

"...Really?"

"Of course I'm just—"

She chuckled. "—messing with you! Heh, the real you is nothing like the clever protagonists in your stories."

Fors gripped the quill tightly and lit her final cigarette.

As the faint blue smoke curled upward, she entered her writing trance.

———

Inside Edward's Mental World

Darkness.

Darkness.

And still—nothing but darkness.

A blurry figure paced in circles through the gloom. Nothing could be found here—no matter how hard he searched—not even Edward's soul.

"Did I misjudge him? Is he also just a puppet forged by the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery?"

"No…I've lived too long to not be able to tell the difference between a puppet and a living person. Heh…so he's hiding his soul, then?"

Of course, Edward had no idea how to hide his soul.

But the moment he heard that voice, he had instantly activated the third ability of the Resurrection Stone—Specter—to let his soul leave his body.

Immediately afterwards, he summoned Phoenix, instructing it to seek help from Bernadette, from Mr. Azik, and from Reinette. Once those tasks were done, he patiently waited a moment longer…then plunged back into his body without hesitation.

Even though a Sequence 4 Spectator demigod was waiting for him in his mental world…

Even though he had never once fought a battle within the spiritual realm...

He simply couldn't afford to burn through his spirituality maintaining the Specter state. If he ran out, even if the negative effects didn't transform him into a wraith, he would still be a helpless fish on the chopping block—at someone else's mercy!

The very next second, he arrived in a world of utter blackness.

There was nothing—nothing in any direction, as if he had fallen into a vat of ink.

"Why is my mental world like this? Is it because of the out-of-body experience? Or due to the Spectator demigod's invasion?"

"Oh? So you're here?" Hvin Rambis appeared abruptly. "You weren't hypnotised at all…You really do have secrets."

He snapped his fingers lightly.

A violent wind roared to life from every direction—it felt both real and illusory. The storm carried with it a strange will, brushing past Edward and immediately infiltrating the psychological "islands" within his mind.

Crack.

Edward reflexively used Apparition to dodge, but the psychological pressure of Dragon's Might burst outward from Hvin Rambis' body in all directions—it was a spherical attack with no blind spots.

Even as Edward kept shifting his position, he still felt a trembling deep in his soul. He lost control over himself.

Hvin Rambis stepped forward and stood before him. His aged eyes glowed with an authoritative force that allowed no resistance.

"Now…tell me everything you're hiding deep in your heart."

Edward clenched his jaw against the overwhelming compulsion and forcibly distorted Hvin Rambis' current intent.

Magnify—Distortion!

He immediately changed tactics—magnifying the surrounding "air" and binding it tightly around Hvin Rambis, while distorting the damage it caused to intensify it.

But golden scales quickly formed across Hvin Rambis' skin, and he easily broke free. With a sudden wave of his hand—

Boom!

A powerful storm erupted outward once again.

Each time it swept past him, Edward's concentration weakened.

Until…his consciousness began to blur—washed away by the tempest.

And then—suddenly—his mind cleared.

Unfettered had finally taken effect after consuming a massive amount of spirituality.

Regaining control of his "body," Edward instinctively blinked away to open up distance.

A question formed in his mind:

Just now, outside…I only had one-sixth of my spirituality left from drinking that Sequence 6 potion. So where did the spirituality for Unfettered come from?

Oh—

Suddenly, it clicked.

This is my mental world. My dream world.

And in my dream world—I make the rules!

———

[Note]: Don't forget to VOTE. It keeps me motivated.