Humanity's Campione (HP/Campione)

As he walked down the streets of Rome, Harry couldn't help but be bored. The Dursleys had been forced to bring him along when Vernon had won a trip through his job. They were worried that he would damage the house with his "freakishness" while they were gone. At first, he'd been excited to go on his first trip out of the country, but it quickly turned to disappointment when he realized that they weren't going to let him do anything since they were worried a repeat of the zoo incident would happen.

This all led to him being left to wander the streets alone while they got a tour of the Colosseum. 

'And then there's this thing,' Harry thought, looking down at his clothes and tugging on them lightly. He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and jeans, but when he tugged on his shirt it shimmered lightly and the fabric between his fingers seemed to go invisible for a moment.

He'd been packing for the flight and Vernon had actually let him open his trunk since most of his clothing was packed inside. It was while he was getting everything ready that he found his invisibility cloak acting strangely. Every time he looked away it would be wrapped around his shoulders. No matter where he put it, it would teleport right back to him, which was bizarre since it had never done that before. 

Eventually, he'd gotten frustrated and yelled at it. "How am I supposed to go anywhere when you're this conspicuous." Right after he said that the cloak had shifted, turning into casual, everyday clothes and becoming visible. From then on, he'd found that he could change what the cloak looked like, letting it become any clothes he wanted and choose when he wanted to be invisible. It had built-in cleaning and temperature regulation, so he'd just ended up happy with how convenient it was.

His internal musing was interrupted by someone grabbing his arm and dragging him into an alley. He instinctively reached down for his wand, before remembering it wasn't there and trying to writhe out of the person's grip, but found that they were much stronger than him. He was yanked into the alley, the person letting him go and allowing him to finally get a good look at them.

Harry was left gaping as he realized that what he thought was probably a mugger turned out to be an attractive girl around his age. She had long, blonde hair with two crimson ribbons in it, and was a lot more well-endowed than the other girls his age he knew. She was dressed stylishly, with a white blouse and a yellow jacket over it. Alongside that, she wore a pink skirt and long boots that came up to her knees.

"Why are you activating a grimoire in public? Are you the cause of the Heretic God Activity in the area?" the girl interrogated him.

"What are you talking about? What grimoire and what is a Heretic God?" Harry asked, completely confused by the situation.

The girl paused for a moment, taking a good look at him before her eyes were drawn to the scar on his forehead and his green eyes.

"You're Harry Potter aren't you?" she asked for confirmation. Seeing his hesitant nod, she continued. "Did the Wizenmagot send you to investigate as well? I wasn't informed that anyone else would be investigating."

Harry was just getting more and more confused as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Okay, time out. Can you start from the beginning? Just assume I basically know nothing and explain what you were talking about with the grimoire and Heretic God. And who are you?"

The girl looked at him with surprise before taking a breath and composing herself. "My name is Erica Blandelli. I'm here under order by the Copper-Black Cross, a mage association, to investigate signs of Heretic God activity in the area."

"Okay, nice to meet you I guess. I'm assuming a mage association is a group of wizards, but what about the other stuff?"

"Heretic Gods are gods that have descended from their myth in a warped state and cause havoc. Mage associations monitor those appearances and inform a Campione, a god slayer so that they can deal with it," she explained.

Harry could understand the gist, even if it all sounded crazy. Having learned about magic when he was eleven, now that he was fourteen he didn't think anything could surprise him at this point.

"You said this was a grimoire right?" He asked pausing and seeing her nod in confirmation.

"Yes, a grimoire is an object that stores a god's authority."

"As far as I know this is just an invisibility cloak that's been passed down in my family for generations," Harry denied, although he was already beginning to think it wasn't an ordinary cloak since it had started acting weirdly.

"Invisibility cloaks don't last for generations, which is just another sign that it is a grimoire instead with an authority related to invisibility."

Harry nodded his head, accepting the reasoning. He hadn't known that invisibility cloaks didn't last that long, but that information made it all the more apparent that his cloak wasn't normal. He could vaguely recall Hermione mentioning something about wanting to study at a Mage Association some time ago as well, so he was pretty sure Erica was being truthful.

"Do you want help with your investigation? I wasn't sent by the Wizenmagot, but I've got nothing better to do, and my grimoire my help if you need to investigate something without getting caught."

Erica seemed to ponder his suggestion for a moment, before nodding her head. "Very well, your grimoire would probably be helpful if there really is a Heretic God here. Just follow my lead, if Dumbledore hasn't trained you for something like this then it can be dangerous."

"At this point, my whole life is nothing but danger. I'll feel right at home."

The two of them exited the alley and began to walk down the street, Erica leading the way as she idly questioned Harry on certain things.

"We've all been under the impression Dumbledore was training you to be the Witenmagot's Great Knight."

Harry barked out a laugh at that. "Yeah right, I haven't even spoken to him all that much one-on-one and I didn't even know I was a wizard until I went to Hogwarts."

"Hmm, I wonder why he's not teaching you. Regardless, you can ask him when you get back I suppose."

"So how many of these Campione are there?" Harry asked, intrigued by the concept of a human who could slay a god.

"There are currently five devil Kings. Their territories are-" she began to explain but was cut off by a giant flash of light erupting from the Colosseum.

People around them began to yell as a burst of energy rocketed into the air, clearing the clouds in the surroundings.

"Come one, we've got to move fast," Erica said, taking off in a sprint as Harry ran after her. He was in decent shape, years of running from Dudley and his friends doing their job, but Erica was in a league of her own as she pulled ahead of him.

Finally catching up to where she had stopped outside the Colosseum, she turned to him and quickly asked "Are you able to extend the cloak over me too?"

Harry smiled awkwardly at that. "Normally I can, but I'm wearing it as clothes right now so I'd end up naked if I tried to put it over another person."

"You're using a grimoire to not have to deal with laundry?" Seeing him awkwardly chuckle in response she sighed. "Then could you go in there and see what's going on? Power on that level means it's almost certainly a Heretic God. I'll get in contact with the Copper-Black Cross while you figure out what we're dealing with."

Harry quickly nodded, his clothes shimmering as his shirt changed into a hoodie before he put it on over his head and vanished from Erica's sight. Making his way into the Colloseum, he was shocked to find that the center of it had been destroyed. Fragments of debris littered the area, and in the center of it stood what looked like a throne raised above a group of people who were clamoring and calling out to the figure who sat upon it.

He was completely naked save for a leaf to preserve his modesty, with a well-defined body and shaggy blonde hair. In his hand, he held an apple, idly biting into it as he looked down at the group.

"You and you," the figure declared, pointing to a young fit man and, surprisingly, Vernon Dursley.

Harry watched as the two people he had selected were dragged from the group and dropped into a pit together, where he could see several corpses already littered the ground. They were covered in bite marks, seemingly having been torn apart by some wild animal.

He crept along the edges of the hole, watching as a large chimera crawled out of the darkness. The creature was an amalgamation of a bunch of different animals and it pounced forward, tearing through the other man with no effort before its tail came swinging around, cleaving straight through Vernon.

Harry's mouth opened as he let a soft exclamation at the death of his uncle. He hated the man, but he never thought he would be killed in such a brutal way. Looking around, he realized that he couldn't see Petunia or Dudley anywhere, their fate unknown.

The man on the throne's head whipped towards where Harry was hiding when he made noise, eyes narrowing as they began to glow red and a symbol appeared within them.

"Another one of my children has chosen to be punished," he said softly, yet his voice could be clearly heard by all those around. "Your friend outside may join us as well," he continued while gesturing with his hand, causing Erica to come flying in from outside. She seemed to chant something under heard breath as a red, glowing magic circle appeared in front of her. She pulled a silver sword from the circle, continuing to fly towards the man as she attempted to stab him.

He simply backhanded the sword, sending it and by extension, Erica soaring into the pit. Harry took off running, trying to reach her. He could see the man gesture towards him as well, but his cloak lit up and absorbed whatever the god was trying to do. He could feel the power stored inside it, as he began to feel drained. Harry also noticed that he was more tired than he ever had been before, his arms starting to wrinkle and his hair had gone grey.

Ignoring that, Harry kept running, using the rubble as a foothold, and quickly climbed down into the pit where Erica was slowly recovering, her sword now in hand again.

He became visible, and Erica's eyes widened dramatically.

"Harry? What happened to you?"

Looking down at himself, he could see what she meant. He looked like he'd aged 50 years in the span of a second.

"The god tried to hit me with something and the cloak absorbed it."

Erica quickly shook her head. "No, it didn't just absorb it. You activated the authority contained within it, but humans can't use a god's authority. It used your life force, if it happens again it'll burn you all the way out."

"It doesn't matter, if we don't figure a way out of this I'm dead anyway," Harry replied, looking towards the chimera that was shambling towards them.

"Rejoice, possessor of Death's cloak. Your father, Adam, shall properly discipline you along with the rest of my children," the god, now identified as Adam, said.

"Erica, can you handle the chimera?" Harry asked. He didn't have his wand on him and even if he did, he didn't think it would be much help.

"I am the Diavolo Rosso, the chimera is just a construct. You have a plan, no? How can you deal with a god?"

"I either succeed and manage to kill a god, or I fail and die. Story of my life, buy me some time," Harry said, vanishing from sight again as Adam stared down at the two of them, disinterested.

Climbing back out of the pit, Harry crept his way over to the throne while he watched Erica dance around the chimera with her blade, cutting its legs and making it fall to the ground as she jumped upward, slicing along its shoulder blade.

Harry took off running, trying to make it to where Adam's throne was. He made sure to be quiet, moving quickly but silently as he made his way over. He made sure to glance back at Erica as he went, watching her systematically tear apart the beast.

'Damn, did she think Dumbledore trained me to be that good?'

Harry quickly closed in on the steps to Adam's throne, bounding up them two at a time. It was while he was closing in that the Heretic God finally spoke.

"Just because I cannot see you does not mean I cannot hurt you. How long can your grimoire protect you?" Adam spoke, standing from the throne and holding his hands out as his eyes began to glow red. In his palm, a pillar of white light began to form.

Harry sprinted as fast as he could to close the distance between them. "Understand your place," was all Adam said before he swung the pillar of light in a wide arc. Harry tried to move, but it was too fast and slammed into him as he got almost within arms reach of Adam. The cloak once again absorbed the power, the glowing white pillar sinking into the cloak as Harry shimmered into visibility. It was then that anyone around could see what had become of him. 

His hair had gone completely white and fallen out of his head. His teeth shared a similar fate while his body began to wither at a rapid pace. His cheekbones hollowed, while the green eyes he was known for became bloodshot.

Harry could faintly hear Erica scream out his name as he pushed forward, drawing on the power he could feel stored within the cloak, the white pillar once again appeared, although this time it was in Harry's hand. Dragging his frail arms through the air, Adam only had the chance to share a horrified look with him before his entire body was hit by the pillar and a blinding light erupted.

The last thing Harry could see as he collapsed to the ground was Erica sprinting towards him, and Adam's body completely disappearing.

----

"Take care, my youngest child," the voice of a young girl said in Harry's mind as he shot awake. The voice felt vaguely familiar, but he couldn't recall where he had heard it.

'What happened? Where am I?'

Memories rushed back to him and he quickly looked down at his body, finding that he was no longer an emaciated old man. If anything, his body was more fit than it had ever been. He had always been in decent shape, a few years of quidditch conditioning would do that, but now he was lean and muscular. Reaching his hands up to his head, he was relieved to find that he now had a full head of hair again. The cloak was also still on his body, still in the shape of everyday clothes.

"Finally awake," a familiar voice said next to him. Turning sharply, Harry found Erica sitting with a book open in her lap next to him. Looking around the room, he realized he didn't have any idea where he was. It was well furnished, with expensive-looking paintings lining the walls and the bedding was nicer than any he had ever seen before.

"Where am I?" Harry asked.

"My family's villa. I brought you here after I'd debriefed."

Harry ended up just saying the first thing that came to mind. "Your family must be bloody loaded."

Erica laughed calmly in response to his exclamation. "You could say that yes. How do you feel? I've never seen the process of becoming a Campione before, but it seems to have fixed up the problems using a grimoire had caused."

He quickly latched onto the important part of that sentence. "Becoming a Campione, huh," he muttered to himself, remembering at the end he'd managed to kill Adam. He instinctively could feel the authority, as he could now feel it was called, he'd gained from the god.

[Pillar of Humanity]: An authority based on Adam's status as the father of all of mankind. It presents itself primarily as a glowing white energy that can be used in different ways. By default, it is spread throughout the entirety of Harry's body, giving him super-human strength and speed, as well as letting him use the energy to counteract the effects of authorities. Concentrated in his eyes, it would give him [The Eyes of the Lord], allowing him to learn any skill or movement he witnessed once.

[Aurora Pillar] was the other side of the authority. He could discharge the energy all at once, forming a pillar of light that could erase another god's authority and even the god itself, but using it would disable all aspects of this authority for 24 hours.

"I suppose I should be calling you Lord Potter now," Erica said with some amusement. They'd only known each other for a short time, but she clearly could tell that was the last thing he wanted from her.

"What do I do now?" Harry asked, unsure how to feel. He'd killed a god, and now he was apparently a Campione. His family was dead, and although they hadn't treated him all that well, he hadn't wished that fate upon them.

"Now, you can do anything you want. A Campione is a supreme ruler. There's no one on the planet who can stop you from doing what you want, barring the other five Campione."

"That is a lot to take in," Harry said stunned. He hadn't even heard of Campione before today, and now he'd become one and basically become an unchallenged king.

"Your scar is gone, by the way," Erica said, handing him a mirror to see. Harry took in his appearance, shocked that the scar that had marked him as the Boy-Who-Lived was gone, but he couldn't help but be relieved.

Erica stood up, closing her book and setting it on the nightstand. "Well, you don't have to decide now. We're still dealing with the aftermath of the coliseum, but if you want you can stay here with me and I can get you up to speed on everything you need to know."

Harry considered her proposition for a moment. He hardly knew Erica, but facing a god together did a good job of engendering some trust, and Harry was tired of being ignorant. Whether it was Dumbledore hiding something, or Harry just not being aware of some kind of common knowledge of the wizarding world, he wanted to know what was going on.

"I think I'll take you up on that."