2 Ruined City

Appearing from the magic circle, Erica and I found ourselves in the ruins of a city. The ground was melted, the asphalt appearing deformed. Buildings had parts melting off of them and there were slash marks all around us. There were also pieces of charcoal littering the ground.

'So this is the damage a Heretic God can cause. I guess the Mage Associations do a pretty good job of covering this stuff up if I've never noticed anything like this not the new before.'

"This is bad. It seems like the god is wiping out people in large numbers," Erica said.

Taking a second look at the charcoal, I realize that they were charred corpses, burned beyond recognition. All that was left was a black lump, with small pieces of bone sticking out of them. I took a deep breath, steeling myself to the sight. I wasn't unused to death, I had killed Quirrell my first year at Hogwarts.

'It took me a while to get over that during the summer. It wasn't like anyone at the school thought to talk to me about it.'

"We need to find where the god is. Follow the trail of bodies," I said. We broke into a run as we looked for the source of these deaths. I realized that I didn't feel remotely tired after some time running, my stamina having been greatly enhanced by becoming a Campione.

As we moved deeper and deeper into the city, it began to get warmer and warmer. Eventually, Erica had to put up a magic barrier over herself to protect herself from the effects of the heat. My clothes were beginning to melt, but my skin had only blistered a little before it quickly went away, my authority [Humanity's Resilience] adapting my body to the new conditions.

My ears began to pick up a whistling noise as I came to a halt, Erica stopping next to me.

"What is it?" she asked.

"There's a noise. It sounds like whistling," I said, trying to pinpoint where the noise was coming from when all of a sudden the noise turned from a whistle to howling winds. A hurricane formed in front of us, blowing us into the air as I reached out and grabbed onto Erica, pulling her close to my body to prevent her from getting blown away from me.

Wind pelted my skin as I shielded Erica, small pieces of rubble being picked up as well and tearing at my skin. Small cuts formed all over my body and my pants and shirt were torn to pieces, tattered scraps preserving my modesty. We flew through the window of a building and I adjusted, landing on my feet as I stood Erica next to me.

"Whoever this god is, it seems like they've got some dominion over wind and fire. Any ideas which god it is?" I asked.

Erica took a moment to catch herself as she said "Thank you. As for who this god is, the domains it has narrowed it down some, but there are still a few different gods that have power over fire and wind."

"Okay, well I'll have to figure it out when I meet them. Maybe their appearance will give some clues. You stay here, I'll go find the god and end this," I said, moving towards the window to leave.

"Wait, you're not leaving me here," Erica said in annoyance.

Turning back to her, I said "How are you going to deal with the conditions? My body can handle the heat and winds, who long can your barrier last before it's overwhelmed? I can't worry about you if I'm going to be fighting a god."

Erica moved towards me, getting in my face, and poked me in the chest. "Just because you became a Campione doesn't mean the rest of us are deadweight. I've encountered Heretic Gods before you even knew they were a thing. I'm coming, whether you like it or not."

Looking at her, I realized that I towered over her a fair few inches. It was a surprise, I had been on the short side for much of my first few years at Hogwarts. "Okay, but if your barrier runs out get out and I'll handle it from there. Let me be the frontline, focus on trying to figure out what god it is and what weaknesses it could have."

"Fine, that is the most sound strategy anyway. Now are we going to keep talking or are we going to get moving?"

I nodded, jumping out of the window and pushing off, my authority giving me increased strength as I jumped across rooftops towards the center of the city, where I could feel the Heretic God was.

Erica seemed to be propelling herself forward with a type of magic circle as she followed me. I stopped on a rooftop and looked down at a huge crater in the middle of the city, where I could see the Heretic God waiting.

It appeared like a normal man, with dark brown hair and a thin build. What stood out, however, was that one of his legs was that of a serpent.

"That narrow it down any further?" I asked Erica.

"Yeah it does, but it's not exactly good news. That's Huracan, one of the twin Mayan creator deities. He's one of the strongest gods in his pantheon."

"Well, I already know he can control fire and wind, anything else to look out for or weaknesses?" I asked.

"He's also the god of storms. It's possible his serpent leg could be a weakness."

"Okay, I can work with that. Back me up," I said as I pushed off the rooftop, rocketing towards Huracan. He turned towards me, a smirk forming on his face as he waved his hand a sent me rocketing into the air.

'Well that didn't go so well,' I thought as I began to fall towards him. I tried to see where he was as I fell, but instead, what I got was a gout of flames rushing towards me, and without any way to move out of the way, I fell through them. I shielded my face with my arm as the skin on my arm began to burn and blister, the intense heat surpassing the heat my body had adapted to previously.

"Aguamenti" I called out, the magic flowing easily from my hand as water emerged from my palm, forming a burst of steam. I continued to supply the water with magic, but the fire was easily overpowering it.

I landed on the ground, kicking up dust as I saw the silhouette of Huracan. Running at him quickly, I grabbed onto his arm in the dust and swung his body over mine, slamming him into the ground.

"Humanity's creation was a mistake, one I wish to rectify," he said. A strong wind swirled around us, clearly the air of dust, and began to pelt my body. Cuts formed all over my arms, but I held onto Huracan, rearing my fist back as I delivered a punch to his midsection. I continued to one deliver punches with one hand as my body began to get more and more torn up.

Huracan's face twisted into one of annoyance as a spark formed in the air that ignited the oxygen being controlled by Huracan. A whirlwind of flames formed around me, burning my skin, but as it burned, my skin was slowly adapting. The fire wasn't doing as much damage to me as it did before, and the wind wasn't cutting me up as badly. I grabbed Huracan's arm in a vice grip, which caused his snake leg to react. It reached up, latching onto my arm and biting into it. It's fangs went straight through my skin as I gritted my teeth in pain, but continued to hold my grip.

I stopped trying to resist the pull of the wind, allowing it to lift me up as I took Huracan's body with me into the air.

"All you've done is brought me to my own domain," Huracan said.

"No, all I've done is give Erica a better shot," I said, looking over at Erica who was holding a spear. She reared back her arm and threw it. I watched as it sailed through the air, but winds picked up, moving it slightly off course to where it would glide past Huracan.

Reaching my arm out, I grabbed it out of the air, swinging it around and piercing Huracan directly in his chest with the spear and drove it cleanly through him.

"Ahh, you miserable rat," Huracan yelled, fire emanating off his body as I continued to twist the spear deeper into him. We began to fall from the air, Huracan's concentration slipping as he focused on trying to remove me instead of keeping us afloat. I held on as we fell to the ground, landing and creating a hole in the ground.

Standing up and looking down, I found Huracan with a large hole in his chest as the spear disappeared, likely returning to wherever Erica had summoned it from.

Huracan's body disappeared, turning into motes of light that entered my body. I felt reinvigorated for a second before I collapsed to the ground.

"Harry!" Erica called out as she ran towards me, supporting my body as I struggled to stand.

"Didn't do too bad for a new Campione, now did I?" I said with a laugh which was quickly followed by a cough from smoke inhalation.

"You did alright," Erica replied, still supporting me.

"Give me a minute and I'll be fine."

"A minute? Your skin is charred and you have cuts all over you and fang marks on your arm," Erica said in a chiding manner.

"Surface wounds, I can walk it off," I said, taking a breath as lightly pushed Erica away from me as I stood on my own. The burns on my skin disappeared, but the cuts still remained. [Humanity's Resilience] had done its job and kept me from dying during the fight, but it takes time for the adaptions and I hadn't fully adapted to the fire or damage during the fight. I had adapted enough to be able to last through the fight, but the reason the burns were disappearing was because of the authority I had taken from Huracan.

[Scorching Winds: The ability derived from Huracan's identity as the god of wind and fire. Makes the user immune to fire and gives the user the ability to manipulate and absorb fire, along with the ability to manipulate wind and air. Fire can also be used to fire travel.]

"See, totally fine," I said with a smile as I showed a thumbs up to Erica. It was at this moment that the tattered remains of my clothes finally decided to give out, falling off my body.

Erica's face turned a little red, while I quickly moved my hands to cover myself.

"Can we just get out of here? And maybe find me some clothes," I said urgently.

Erica's face broke out into a smile as she nodded her head, grabbing onto my arm and dragging me away from the site of the battle, as I struggled to keep myself covered.

"Erica, I kind of need my arm right now."

"Oh I know," was the response I got as she continued to pull me.

'Maybe it was better when she was mad at me for telling her to stay behind.'

--------------------------------------------------------------After that, we managed to locate me some clothes from a nearby building. Paolo showed up, along with a bunch of people who went straight to work cleaning up and fixing the city while taking the bodies away.

Erica, Paolo, and I ended up back in the limo we had first taken as I asked, "So how are you going to deal with all the deaths? That can't be easy to cover up."

"The public will see this as a hurricane that ended up hitting a gas line that ignited it. The bodies will be delivered to families and the public at large will remain unaware of the true nature of this disaster," Paolo explained.

"I guess that's the best option. It's been a hectic day, I'm ready to sleep," I said with a yawn.

We returned to the mansion, and Erica led me directly to where I would be staying. As soon as I walked into the room, I was shocked by how big it was for a moment before walking directly to the bed and falling face-first onto it.

"Campione should be more dignified than that," Erica said, but her tone was light and it was clear she was kidding.

"Yeah well, I'll be as undignified as I want after being burned alive thank you very much," I replied, my voice muffled by the blankets.

"Goodnight Harry, I'll see you tomorrow," Erica said, turning off the light and walking out of the room.

"Night," I mumbled back as I quickly fell to sleep for the night.

--------------------------------------------------------------A few days passed as I spent time in the Blandelli's mansion. The maids, who I hadn't noticed when I first came, were avid about serving me, but I realized that I wasn't used to getting whatever I needed. It felt weird to have people waiting on me, and I quickly grew tired of it.

Erica and I had spent some time hanging out since she had warmed up to me after the fight against Huracan. I got to know her a little more and realized she was a lot different than I first thought. I thought she was an overly serious knight type of person, but now she had started teasing me about stuff like how my clothes had been destroyed. I figured it had to do with the way I acted as a Campione since I doubted she would act like that with any of the others. Apparently, I was the seventh, and everyone else seemed terrified of interacting with me like I'd kill them for doing one thing out of line.

Right now Erica had to go to some meeting with the Copper-Black Cross, so I was wandering around the streets of Italy taking in the sights. Erica had offered to have her driver drive me where I wanted to go, but when I heard the screeching of the tires as she pulled up I decided to just walk. With my new authority, I could just teleport back to the mansion anyway.

"Meow," I heard. Looking down, I found I small black cat in front of me. It had hazel-gold pupils and was looking up at me.

'I wonder if it realizes I can tell it's not a normal cat?'

I could sense a large amount of magic contained in this cat. It was pretty well concealed, but with how strong my senses were I could feel it brimming beneath the surface. It wasn't anywhere on the level of my own, but it was still strong.

Reaching down, I picked up the cat and began to pet it. The cat made a purring noise as I began to walk once again, while still carrying the cat.

"Where'd you come from little buddy?"

The cat just stared up at me.

"Well, I guess you'll just have to come home with me."

I wanted to figure out what this cat was and why it came up to me. There was no way it was a coincidence that a cat with a huge amount of magic came to me. It was either sent by somebody or was drawn to how much magic was in my body.

I wasn't all that worried about whatever goal it had. I was powerful, and even with how much magic it had, Campione had a strong magic resistance that made it so very few magic could even manage to affect them.

People looked at me a little oddly due to me walking around carrying a cat, but I ignored them as I turned around and began to head back to the mansion.

"Hm, what should I name you? How about Milo?" I asked the cat. In response, the cat's claws tried to dig into my skin, although they failed at actually piercing my skin, which caused the cat to have what I guessed was a surprised look on its face.

"Not Milo then? Maybe you're a girl cat. How about Luna?" I asked again.

The cat looked up and me and tilted its head.

"Yeah, that's not it either. Well, I guess I can just call you cat until I figure something out."

I ended up back at the mansion, making my way to my room and setting the cat on my bed.

"You stay here, I'm gonna go take a shower."

Grabbing a towel, I closed the door behind me and got in the shower. When I finished, I got out of the shower with my towel wrapped around my waist and somehow found the cat sitting in the bathroom staring up at me.

"How did you even manage to open the door?"

Something about the cat's gaze made me a little uncomfortable as I picked it up and took it back to the bedroom, setting it back on the bed as I got dressed, keeping the towel around my waist as I did so because of the way the cat made me feel. There was a large selection of clothes that were provided for me, but I chose some simple jeans and a black hoodie.

A knock on the door came as I finished getting dressed.

"Harry, I heard you were back from your walk," Erica's voice filtered in.

"Yeah, come in."

The door opened as Erica walked in, her eyes immediately being drawn to the cat sitting on my bed.

"Why do you have a cat?"

"Wow, not even a hello? I found her while I was walking around. She's got a lot of magic power, so I was curious why," I answered.

I noticed that the cat's eyes widened at the mention of its magic power, but it didn't do anything past that. Erica walked over to the cat, looking it over.

"I can't sense any magic power from it. I don't doubt you, so maybe only a Campione can sense it."

I shrugged my shoulders.

"I guess. By the way, I'll need to leave in a couple of days. I don't need the flight anymore, I've got another way to get home."

"I'm assuming it has to do with the authority you got from Huracan. Alright, I'll let my uncle know. Have you eaten yet?" Erica asked.

"No, I just got back and showered."

"Well then let's go out. I know a place and I'm hungry," Erica said, grabbing my hand and dragging me from the room.

The cat ran after us, following behind us as we closed the door.

"Is she just going to follow you everywhere?" Erica asked.

"I don't know, but I guess so. I'll just keep her hidden," I said, picking up the cat and putting it in the pocket of my hoodie, its head poking out the side.

Apparently, the place wasn't far away, so Erica was content to walk there. It only took a few minutes to get there as the woman at the counter seemed to recognize Erica, as she immediately seated us past the line that was waiting to get in.

We quickly ordered our food and began to talk.

"Have you gotten more used to being a Campione yet?" Erica asked.

"I've finally wrapped my head around the idea, but it's still a huge change. I guess I never had a shot at being normal, did I? Going back to Hogwarts will be weird though."

"You know you don't have to go back. The wizarding world is so reclusive and generally behind the rest of the world that you would be better off in the regular world," Erica said.

"I don't know, I guess I looked at Hogwarts as an escape. It was the place I could get away from my relatives, but now I don't know. I've been thinking about it the past few days, and I'm not so sure it's as great of a place as I thought it was."

"What do you mean?" Erica asked.

I proceeded to explain the events of my first three years there. The whole time, I was making use of [Scorching Wind] to manipulate the air so that our conversation didn't go past our table. I had found that this authority was extremely versatile, especially the wind part of it. I could use wind currents to fly, which I greatly enjoyed. It was even more freeing than being on a broom since I was completely in control of my movements. The fire manipulation was also interesting, as I could absorb and create my own fire. For some reason my fire was azure, but I liked the color.

"Wow, what are the staff at that school even doing? And you still want to go back there? I doubt anything else you could encounter would be an actual threat to you, but it sounds like there's not much worth even returning."

"I know, but there's some stuff I want to figure out. I realized some things about Dumbledore I'd like to get some answers for. And I still want to learn magic, especially with how strong my magic reserves are now."

'I'd especially like to know why I ended up with the Dursleys. When I get back I want to take a look at this so-called magical protection.'

"Well, if you ever do want to leave you can always become affiliated with the Copper-Black Cross," Erica threw out.

"Oh, so was you trying to convince me to not go back to Hogwarts all a sales pitch to join you," I said, a sour look on my face, but I wasn't all that serious.

"No, of course not, but it would give you an option in the outside world."

"Well thank you, but I'm going to think about what I really want to do with my life now before I make any decisions."

"Meow" was heard in my pocket. Getting the queue, I placed reached down and fed the cat some bread, which it quickly ate and licked my hand.

--------------------------------------------------------------A few more days passed and it was finally time for me to leave. I needed to get back to England since the Weasleys would be picking me up for the Quidditch World Cup in a little while.

"Well I guess this it," I said to Erica. She was the only one seeing me off, as Paolo had something to do and I hadn't really interacted with him all that much, so I didn't really mind.

"It's been nice Harry. Come visit sometime, I'm sure you can manage it," Erica said.

"I will."

Erica moved forward and wrapped her arms around me in a hug, which I reciprocated before an annoyed "Meow" sounded out from my pocket, where the cat was being crushed between us.

"And you've now got a cat to bring to school with you too."

"Yeah, we'll see how that goes."

I stepped back from Erica and activated [Scorching Winds], disappearing in a burst of blue flames from Italy and reappearing outside Number 4 Private Drive.

"Meow."

"Don't act like that hurt. The flames only burn what I want them to burn," I chided and took a step up the driveway.