Merger

Cellarius seemed suspiciously delighted with my decision. I did not question him on it. I knew that there was a high possibility of many people picking this option and then failing their mission, hence occupying hell indefinitely. Must be a boost to his resume or something. But that would not change my decision, I could thrive in a world of magic.

"You said something about being given tools?" I asked, remembering what he previously stated during the briefing.

"Hmm, technically speaking, the magic of that world would be all you need, but once again, we have complications. You need to match Voldemort, so, we will be doing a couple of things. There are issues pertaining to the overall health and lack of knowledge and training. And you would have a year at most to prepare as well. Sadly, we can't give you the memories of the soul shard since it has already been sent to its destination."

"So, what do I get?"

"Firstly, we will heal the body and bring it to optimal health. This includes the stunted growth and the poor eyesight. You can explain the lack of the leech for your sudden growth. It will increase your magical capabilities also. We will also remove the trace from you, so that you can train during the summer. Apart from this, we will give you one single ability from any fiction. Unfortunately, you won't be able to choose the specifics. You will only be able specify if you want a weapon bound to you or an ability. Rest assured though, we will not be giving out weak tools. Ultimately, we want you to succeed in your mission, after all." I sincerely doubted his last statement.

Beggars can't be choosers I suppose, "Will I be given instructions on how to use whatever you give me?"

"Definitely. We will even give you some time to get used to the ability before you embark on your quest. So, what will it be?"

"Ability. A weapon bound to me would be useful, but I would be hard pressed to explain where I got it from. An ability on the other hand, can be just something that awakened after the killing curse right?"

"Indeed. Now, if you agree to the terms, please read the contract and sign it. Once that is done, we will proceed with giving you magic and the additional ability that shall be determined soon."

"How do I use magic though? I just know the names of the spells, I am sure that there is a lot more to casting than just the incantation."

"It's all explained in the contract," he states, after pushing a sheet of paper to me.

I read through the contract and it was just like he said. Two mission parameters, guaranteed pass to heaven on completion. Apparently, I would get Harry Potter's memories in order to facilitate my magic. What caught my attention was the part about my memories.

"What is this about erasing my memories?" I ask with rising rage.

"Oh that. Don't fret Mr. Knight. That is a necessity because as you are, you would be hard pressed to make certain decisions. We will merge both your personalities. The resultant personality will carry both of your best traits. It will retain your pragmatism and Harry Potter's instincts and willingness to take action. As for your memories, you won't remember your past life, but you will retain your knowledge. This includes knowledge about the canonical events as well. It is just your personal life that will be removed. It would be better that way since you would not need to yearn about people who are no longer accessible to you."

Once again, it made sense. But it was infuriating. I did not know how they would retain my personality without the memories to back my actions up. I suppose these were powers that were beyond my understanding.

Sighing, I read through the rest of the contract. Once satisfied that there were no other surprises, I signed it.

"Excellent. Now, let us see what the ability assigned to you is," he held out his palm and a card appeared on it. His smile was immediately replaced by a grimace.

"Your luck seems to be good today. You have received an ability that has multiple facets. It is one of the stronger ones we have."

I took the card from him and read it with a growing sense of elation. This would make things a lot easier.

Ability: Six Paths of Reincarnation (Katekyo Hitman Reborn)

This was the ability that belonged to Mukuro Rokudo. Of course, the things it was capable of could be replicated by magic. But being able to do it without a wand or an incantation would be a boon. And if I mastered all the paths, then it would give me a decisive edge against Voldemort.

"Once the memories are merged, you will receive instructions on how to use your abilities. But please do keep in mind that it is up to you to master these abilities. We will not be giving you complete control right off the bat."

He waited for my affirmation and continued, "Now please proceed to the mission center. You will be given your abilities and sent off on your way. Good luck on your mission."

His tone was clipped and the sour expression never left his face. Despite his assurance that he wanted me to succeed, it looked like he wanted me to fail after all.

The next couple of hours were a blur as the department staff walked me through the memory wipe and then the personality integration.

Waking up, as an amalgamation of Harry Potter and myself, felt odd at first. But as I perused my mind, I felt a sense of clarity that he never felt in his entire life. My magic felt stronger than his magic ever was. I did not know if there was a magical core, and it did not seem like he was informed of anything similar to that as well. But there was definitely magic inside my body. And it felt glorious. It made me feel complete.

As I perused the memories that were given to me, I realized how tough my job actually was. The duel between Voldemort and Dumbledore was spectacular in the books and the movies, but in this reality, it was something else. The sheer speed and force behind the spells, was something that I had never seen. Moreover, the variety was truly beyond the spell repertoire that I had been handed. There was a lot to do if I hoped to win against Riddle without any gimmicks.

After my mind was integrated, they gave me the six paths ability. What I was not prepared for, was the immense pain that came with the initialization of the six paths. My right eye and my brain felt like they were being melted into nothingness. I screamed and writhed in pain as the ability finally took hold. And with that, came a bombardment of instructions into my mind. My right eye turned red and instead of the pupil, there was the kanji of six on it in black color. It was quite unnerving to look at. I smirked at my reflection and thought how it could potentially unsettle my opponents just by its appearance.

I cycled through each path and tried out the abilities. Apparently it had been modified to feed on my magic instead of the dying will flames of that universe. Made sense. It was also seemingly always active and would never be separated from me. The always active mode would be an inconvenience, but I didn't have to worry about anyone stealing the ability from me at least.

The first path was called The Realm of Hell (Jigokudo/Niraya Path). It allowed me to create reality warping illusions. Truly, a frightening ability. Right now, I was just capable of creating normal illusions, but with time and practice, I would be casting real illusions. The kanji in my eye shifted to the number one in this form. The real illusions will not facilitate creation because the illusion will disappear once I stop feeding magic to it, but I knew that the damage these illusions make will be reflected on reality. The development of this path should be my priority.

The next path was The Realm of Hungry Ghosts (Gakido/Preta Path). It shifted the kanji to the number two, and gave me the ability to perfectly use the skills of others when I possessed them. But one change that was made to it was that it gave me incredible learning comprehension when I was using it in my own body.

The third path was The Realm of Beasts (Chikushodo/Tiryagyoni Path). The ability it gave me was the summoning of animals. I could only summon small animals now, but the potential was massive. I could summon even magical creatures if I was strong enough. It also gave me complete control over the summons and shifted the kanji to the number three.

The Realm of Demons (Ashurado/Asura Path) was next. Apart from the standard Kanji shift, the ability bathed my right eye in dark indigo flames. The flames are an indication of the amount of boost to my magical capabilities this path provides. Once the magical flames die out, it signifies the end of the boost. Then it would need time to absorb ambient magic and recharge itself. This was once again a change from its original ability, but I liked this change. It would help me a lot when facing stronger opponents. Unrelenting force was after all, formidable.

The fifth path was called The Realm of Humans (Ningendo/Manusya Path). As opposed to the other paths, the kanji was white in color in this path. It was also modified to fit this world. It would take a bit of concentration to activate this path. Once activated, blood would flow from the eye while the veins in my body bulged and my magic flared out. It gave me absolute control over my senses and my body and also gave me a minor healing factor. This was also suited to combat, and would be needed when skill and superior reflexes are needed more than brute force. I also realized that this would be great for training my body as I could use this form to easily form muscle memory and facilitate muscle growth as well due to the healing factor. I tested the healing factor and it was not on the level of wolverine, but it was enough to survive near death situations. Due to the strain placed on the body, this path could only be used once per day.

The final path was The Realm of Heavens (Tendo/Deva path). It was marked by the black kanji of the number six and was the default path the eye was settled in. It allowed me to completely possess people as long as I injected my magic into their bloodstream, provided that their occlumency was not too strong. I would need to saturate a dagger with my magic for using this ability.

It also boosted my occlumency and legilimency by leaps and bounds. I did not have these skills hitherto, but just the fact that I had this path made me adept in these abilities. I needed to train these skills to better use this path. And also for situations when I would need to protect my mind while using other paths. Now I understood why this was the default path.

Another facet of the sixth path was that once possession was active, I could either possess the target completely, which would display the path on their right eye as well, or I could just form directives and plant them into their mind. The first method would allow me to see from their eyes and make dynamic decisions while the second method would be similar to an imperious curse. Each had their uses. I needed to gain more proficiency in my abilities as quickly as possible.

Once again, most of these could be performed with magic, but the possession of the paths gave me a shortcut that would be unparalleled in this world.

Soon, it was time for me to embark on my quest. I was filled with trepidation, yet, there was a sense of elation budding inside me as well. Even though I would be thrust into the middle of a war, I looked forward to spending time in the magical world.