Chapter 77

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As the runic circle above them lit up like a thousand stars, Tracey suddenly lunged for Helene, in a bid to stop her. She was being controlled, Henry easily guessed as he intercepted her.

Remembering that he was not really facing an eleven years old girl, Henry transfigured his arm into that of an ape, and aimed a punch at her face.

The controlled Tracey replied in kind, her lithe arm going against the enlarged one of Henry, and despite the disparity in size, it was Henry who felt a vivid feeling of pain as he was forced to take a step back.

Moreover, Tracey used the momentum from Henry's strike to twirl around, smashing her bare-foot towards Henry's jaw. He raised his other arm, transfiguring it to be like a hippopotamus' hide. Even then, he skidded across the ground.

But he had earned enough time as chains appeared from the runic circle, and bound Rakepick. She tried to stop them, but her magic was of little effect against them as they bound all of her limbs, and one even went around her neck.

Still, not to leave her with any chances, Helene hit her with a Petrificus Totalus, completely paralysing her.

Anchoring the now very real chains into the ground, Helene turned to the controlled Tracey. She had felt the presence within the earrings the moment Tracey had entered within her magical perception.

And now, she could feel that it was not that presence that was in control, but something else. An enchantment within the earrings themselves. It was quite the advanced one as well as it was not just controlling Tracey and Nefertari, it was also forcing them to fight to their utmost capabilities. It almost felt like one of the Unforgivable Curses, the Imperius Curse.

Still, as much of a menace Nefertari was, not only was she within the body of a child, which came with its own set of limitations, but even if they were standing before the woman herself, Helene did not believe they would lose.

Now that Helene was not in the middle of a spell, Henry no longer had to remain on the defensive. He smiled slightly at the controlled Tracey who was running for him, and said, "I never thought I would have to use this against a little girl."

Then, he teleported right behind her, slamming his ape fist down on her. She managed to block it just in time, but the power behind it was even greater than before as she was forced into the ground. And before she could rise up to attack, Helene slammed her hand onto her belly, causing her to abruptly freeze up.

Every adversary had been neutralized, but neither Helene nor Henry were relieved as they kneeled next to Ethan, checking him.

Henry used his Mind Magic to try to help his son, but it as if there was a veil covering Ethan, making it impossible for him to intervene. All he could do was watch.

So, he turned to his wife, and asked, "Can you do anything?"

Helene nodded, but did not act immediately. Instead, she asked, "What about what he said? What do you think he was trying to tell us?"

Henry frowned, trying to decipher the meaning behind his son's words. 'Let's devour the fucker', that did not sound like something his son would say indeed. Ethan always remained calm and collected, and even when emotions slipped out, this was not something he would get excited about.

"Do you think he wants to 'devour' him? To assimilate him?"

Helene shook her head, "Why would he say it out loud then? Instead, I think he wanted Ramesses to believe this. So, should I help with assimilating Ramesses, or simply destroying him?"

It was a heavy decision to make, and the possibility of making the wrong choice was soul-tearing. Still, Henry managed to say, "He believed we would make the right choice, didn't he? Go with your gut."

Helene nodded resolutely, and took off Ethan's shirt. Using her finger as a brush, she drew runes onto his chest.

It did not take long for her to finish, and meanwhile, Henry was looking at the fight between his son and Ramesses.

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Ramesses and Ethan stood across from each other in pitch darkness. They floated in the dark, with no apparent light source or any construct. Still, they could easily see each other.

Ramesses looked livid as he roared, "You will watch helpless as I slowly feed your whole family to beetles, flay their skin, pull their limbs apart and enslave their souls!"

"Is that so?"

Ethan's voice remained flat as stars once again started forming in the sky. While Ramesses looked up in alarm, Ethan observed the panicking Pharaoh and said, "I've won. Now, you can gently wait to be destroyed."

"You think you have won!? Foolish child, all I have to do is devour you before that enchantment activates!"

Ramesses lunged at Ethan, while the boy looked on with a small smile, stepping back. Ramesses reached him all the same, and grabbed Ethan by his shoulders, firmly locking him into place. At the same time, two massive land-masses appeared in the darkness, rapidly approaching them.

One was visibly smaller than the other, although still huge. It was a small mountain covered by a forest, with a crescent moon in the sky. It was noticeably slower in its regeneration than before, however.

The other landmass was several times the size of the first one, and was flat. It looked like an endless field of reeds, with a sun high up in the sky. However, there was something wrong with that sun. As the landmass approached, the sun started dimming, before turning into a mass of swirling shadows.

The two slammed into each other, causing a shockwave that made both of them tremble. Ramesses' eyes widened as he looked up, then down, and laughed, "Are you mad? You want to assimilate me!?

"These runes, they are not to erase me, they are for you to assimilate me. Oh, how greedy you are! You could have had a chance at life if you had done your utmost to destroy me, but instead you want to devour me. Foolish child."

Everything was falling into place. Ethan showed a grin, and kicked Ramesses in the chin, forcing him to drop him. He looked down at the two mind-scapes below and raised his hands, channelling the power of the stars to devour Ramesses'.

His mindscape did not suddenly grow teeth and start biting into the field of reeds, of course. Instead, the forest and the fog were encroaching on the field of reeds, taking it over. There was a strong resistance, Ethan felt like a wall was stopping him.

But if the resistance was like a wall, the power of the runes in the sky acted like a wrecking ball, shattering the defences.

Ethan expected Ramesses to fight, yet, against all expectations, Ramesses narrowed his eyes at Ethan, and asked, "You think I don't see what you are doing, boy?"

Ethan's grin was swiftly replaced by a frown as Ramesses as he flew away, towards his shrinking mindscape, and more importantly, the sun that had turned into a sphere of swirling shadows. He merged into it, and caused it to start pulsing, much like a heart.

The field of reeds was completely left behind, allowing Ethan's own mindscape to rapidly assimilate it as the forest grew. Ethan was completely devouring Ramesses' mindscape, and his spirit was growing rapidly stronger with it.

However, he still frowned, because this was not how he wanted things to go. He wanted Ramesses to fight him, to make him fight for every centimetre of his mindscape, because he knew that he would inevitably win.

Ramesses might have been a master of the mind arts, a wizard who had dominated over a whole period of time, but in the end, thousands of years had passed, and he was trying to take over the body of someone quite capable in the mind arts. But most importantly, Ethan also had the help of his mother, which made him very confident that while difficult, he would have won the battle of attrition.

He would have eventually forced Ramesses to retreat. But it seemed the old pharaoh was smarter than that, and had realized the situation he was in as well as he retreated directly, not hesitating to leave behind his mindscape to conserve his strength.

Soon, his entire mindscape was assimilated by Ethan's, which made him feel stronger than ever. The mountainous forest had expanded so much that even from his high vantage point, Ethan could barely see the edges of his mindscape.

A red temple had appeared in the midst of the forest, and on the very edge of the mindscape were the outskirts of a city.

The only trace of Ramesses left was the swirling orb of darkness, hanging ominously in the sky. Ethan looked at it for a moment, before reaching out towards the nearby moon. Tsukuyomi, which had been a wild card difficult to control before, now obediently followed his will as all the mist moved towards the moon, completing it, but also concentrating all the wisps of the technique in one place.

It had grown strong, and extremely tenacious as Ethan had essentially merged his spirit with it. His spirit had grown so strong now however that he felt he could discard it, and so he did.

The constant pain he had been feeling disappeared as the moon was crushed to nothingness. Ethan did think about throwing it into the orb, but he did not know what effects it could have.

Now truly at his peak, Ethan entered the dark orb.