Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

In the original plan, when Dumbledore entered that world, he was meant to encounter nothing more than the defeated soul of an evil god.

That soul shouldn’t have much power left!

After all, its physical form had already been destroyed, and so much time had passed — by any reckoning, it ought to have been weak.

Yet judging from the present situation, after Evan and his companions destroyed, one by one, the eye, the body, and the brain of the evil god that Slytherin had sealed away, the evil god within the Veil of Death was very likely growing stronger instead.

Without the constraints of his original body, he could use some kind of magic to restore himself completely.

That, precisely, was why the ancient wizards had never destroyed the evil god’s body, choosing instead to seal it away.

Only in that way could his power be weakened to the greatest possible extent.

Without first destroying the Horcrux, he could never be killed.

No one knew where Herpo the Foul had hidden his Horcrux — so sealing him was the only option!

It was important to understand that an evil god reduced to nothing but a soul, and an evil god restored to his full power, were two entirely different things, much like the difference between Voldemort without a body and resurrected Voldemort.

Even Dumbledore would not be a match for Herpo the Foul at the height of his power.

A sudden wave of anxiety swept over Evan. Though this was only a conjecture, the possibility seemed alarmingly high.

Evan could only hope that Herpo had not yet succeeded in fully reviving!

Was this what Dumbledore had foreseen — that he had no choice but to enter the Veil of Death to stop Herpo’s resurrection? This was as vital as preventing Voldemort from becoming an evil god — perhaps even more urgent.

The tangle of thoughts flashed through Evan’s mind and vanished just as quickly. Almost at once, his attention returned to the three plaques he had picked up from the evil god’s body.

These plaques were undoubtedly important, but what exactly were they?

Objects hidden by Herpo the Foul, connected to his Horcrux?

Or items placed on the evil god’s body by Slytherin, related to the key to his secret treasure?

Evan didn’t have many clues in this regard, and he didn’t have time to think further.

As countless souls flew towards the Veil of Death, the scene before him changed once more: a strange red hue appeared abruptly beside the phantom of Herpo’s incarnation, at first a faint red, then steadily deepening.

Soon, a withered, root-like statue of an evil god materialized out of thin air, flickering with crimson light.

“Souls, so delicious!”

The cold, emotionless voice echoed once more in Evan’s mind; it was the voice of the evil god he knew.

“How did this thing end up here as well — back a thousand years ago?” Evan’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Could it be that the Dark Witch’s attempt to recreate that spell had drawn it here?

Things were growing worse by the second. This being was far more powerful than the evil god Herpo the Foul had transformed into.

It should not have been here! It should not have existed at this point in time!

In the eerie red light, Evan watched as the evil god represented by the statue emerged.

As soon as he appeared, he brandished countless terrifying tentacles, frantically devouring the surrounding souls.

With every soul he consumed, the phantom grew clearer, his strength increasing at a pace visible to the naked eye.

In the blink of an eye, a crimson light rose to stand in stark opposition to the green glow that had been there before.

High in mid-air, two terrifying evil god phantoms, one red and one green, answered one another, dominating the entire sky.

Countless black flies and the souls of innocent people swirled around the two phantoms of evil gods, being rapidly devoured by them. Unlike what Evan had seen before, the two evil gods now seemed locked in opposition, as though competing to devour souls the faster.

Evan had no mind to spare for whether they were fighting or merely contending. He knew only that matters had become catastrophically worse.

In the normal timeline, had the evil god represented by the statue ever appeared here?

The answer was definitely no!

Under normal circumstances, that being should have been sealed by Gryffindor within the centaur temple.

Whatever magic the Ravenclaw family had left behind, Evan could only hope it would activate soon.

It was the only magic capable of destroying an evil god!

He sensed for a while longer, but there was nothing around him except endless magical energy.

Evan didn’t know what had become of Dalian, or even his current situation.

At this point, it was clear he could not rely on anyone else. He would have to depend on himself.

He seemed to have transformed into magical energy, attached to the Valkyrie statue, with more and more magical energy surging in from below, becoming increasingly powerful and uncontrollable.

It was incredible that so much magical energy hadn’t exploded yet.

The entire Ravenclaw castle was essentially a massive magical energy aggregator.

The enchantments left behind by Ravenclaw’s ancestors in the castle were used to gather magical power. Endless magical energy was poured into the magical nexus in the library at the top of the castle, transformed, and then attached to the Valkyrie statue.

What, then, lay upon that statue — what secret did it hold — that allowed such magic to converge here?

Evan had no desire to unravel the spell’s workings. By all rights, he should have activated it by now — but in reality, he could do nothing. He struggled to sense and restrain the magic, like a lone skiff tossed about in a storm.

The two evil gods not far away, oblivious to the anomaly above the castle, faced each other, devouring souls.

Amidst the clamor, two completely different voices alternated in Evan’s mind: one deep and indifferent, the other urgent and icy.

“Death is the end of all life. Surrender before the God of Death!”

“How laughable. That which sleeps eternally is not dead. In the long and strange flow of time, even death itself may meet its end. God of Death, calamity is about to fall upon your pitiful little world. Your fate is sealed — you will be devoured by me.”

“No!”

“Across endless ages, even Death will perish. To be consumed by me — that shall be your final destiny…”

If this was a dialogue between evil gods, then the evil god represented by the statue seemed to have the upper hand.

It seemed intent on devouring the evil god transformed from Herpo the Foul — on consuming all souls, all dead, perhaps even the gods themselves.

Evan had a feeling that if he did nothing — if he simply stood there and watched — he would witness a scene beyond imagination.

He would see one evil god being devoured by another!

As for what this would mean, he didn’t know, but it certainly wouldn’t be a good thing.

After consuming Herpo, this evil god would become unimaginably powerful. Surely he would not simply descend into the real world — would he? Manifesting directly at a point a thousand years in the past, and destroying everything before it had even begun…