HPxLOTM: A Wizard's Path to Divinity-Chapter 723: Projection of the Future

If this were all there was to it, Edward would still have been incapable of dealing with a Pillar-level Mother Goddess of Depravity—let alone the Oldest One lurking behind Her—

But Edward could climb one step higher still, reaching beyond the Sequences, beyond the Pillars.

He would become the Creator: the beginning of all things, the end of all things, the origin of everything that exists, the true master of the world.

In other words—the so-called "Original Creator."

To reach that step, there would be no need to accommodate Sefirot, no need to accommodate Beyonder characteristics or Uniqueness from other pathways. All that was required was for Edward to think, and he could instantly seize the Oldest One’s authority and power, taking everything that belonged to It and making it his own.

But at that point...would he still be himself?

Would the one who became the Creator be Edward—or the resurrected Oldest One?

Although the "Creator" of the Harry Potter world had said that He would be responsible for resisting the Oldest One’s will, setting aside whether those words were true or false, could He truly suppress the Oldest One’s will?

This doubt was not merely Edward’s own conjecture. It stemmed from a profound, ineffable premonition born of his experience as a former master of Sefirah Castle—one who had briefly served as the Lord of the Mysteries for a few fleeting seconds.

Edward stepped out of the current dimension and ascended to a higher one, attempting to observe the future timeline. What he saw, however, was pitch-black darkness—an outcome that was clearly unreasonable.

If things truly unfolded as that "Creator" claimed—if they truly succeeded together in replacing the Oldest One—then the future should have been bright, clear, and fully determined.

The present situation suggested only two possibilities: either someone was concealing the future, or the future itself had yet to be fixed.

Thus, Edward’s decision not to hastily take that final step and ascend to [Creator] was the correct one.

With a thought, he appeared amid the starry sky, standing before the Mother Goddess of Depravity.

This most powerful of Pillar-level Outer Deities immediately sensed Edward’s presence. Originally in the midst of tearing open the barrier to force Her way into Earth, She instantly redirected Her target. In a single moment, multiple authorities—corruption, decay, life drain, and more—surged toward Edward.

Edward retreated, cutting off the Mother Goddess’s assault with a wave of his hand. Then he casually slapped toward Her, intending to flatten Her into two dimensions. Yet the Fallen Mother Goddess’s form merely swayed slightly—she actually resisted this dimensional reduction strike.

Instead, as She opened Her deep, abyssal eyes, Edward’s vitality began to drain away at an alarming speed. The Worms of Star within his body all became pregnant, brewing life that would be controlled by the Mother Goddess of Depravity. A sense of degeneration so intense it threatened madness surged up from the depths of his heart.

Bang!

Edward’s body abruptly annihilated itself. This was his own doing—he deliberately destroyed his physical form, using a separated Worm of Star to complete an instantaneous "resurrection." Immediately afterwards, he unleashed several consecutive [Fooling] and [Distortion], plunging the Mother Goddess of Depravity into a brief state of stupidity and cognitive chaos.

Then he extended a hand and gently pressed in Her direction.

In an instant, the surrounding space rapidly collapsed. Time was stretched infinitely, trapping the Mother Goddess within a narrow region and swiftly transforming Her into a book.

This was precisely the same technique Edward had previously used against Cheek.

However, before he could even turn a page of the book that the Mother Goddess of Depravity had become, a force that shattered authorities and laws alike suddenly erupted—

It was the Mother Goddess’s "Original Sin."

In a single instant, time, space, rules, order, laws, and even the authorities controlled by gods were all annihilated under the "Original Sin." If Edward had not promptly mobilised a vast amount of imagination to seal the barrier, then at this very moment, Earth—aside from the nine Sefirot and a handful of gods—might already have been reduced to cosmic dust.

Fortunately, the Mother Goddess of Depravity’s "Original Sin" was not something She could unleash without limit. Otherwise, Earth’s barrier would have long since been shattered by Her.

"This won’t work."

Edward stared solemnly at the Mother Goddess, who had restored Herself from the book back to normal form.

"The gap is simply too vast—whether in terms of status or raw power. No matter what, I’m still only a Sequence 0. Even if I’m abusing a ’cheat’ tied to the Oldest One, I can’t skip two entire tiers and kill the Mother Goddess of Depravity."

This was not merely because the Mother Goddess of Depravity was a Pillar. More importantly, it was because Her essence was that of the embryonic Original Creator of the next universe, still in the process of gestation.

"In that case, this is a good opportunity to test the authority that can only truly be wielded after reaching Sequence 0."

Edward vanished from the starry sky. In the next instant, he appeared in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, right before Klein, who was in the midst of organising the evacuation of the people of the City of Silver and Moon City from that accursed land.

Klein was somewhat surprised by Edward’s sudden arrival. "What’s wrong?"

Edward looked at him and spoke terrifying words in a calm, even tone, "The apocalypse has already arrived."

"???"

Klein froze in shock. Instinctively, he rubbed his ears, afraid that he had misheard—but the gravity on Edward’s face made it clear that he meant every word.

The problem was that, even now, Klein had yet to truly understand what the apocalypse actually was.

Well...he did have some guesses. It should be related to sequences higher than the gods—to existences beyond divinity itself.

Edward extended a finger and gently tapped Klein’s temple. All information concerning the apocalypse, the Outer Deities, the Lord of the Mysteries, the Oldest One, and everything related surged into Klein’s mind in an instant.

Half a minute later, Klein opened his eyes with a complicated expression.

"So that’s how it is...No wonder both you and Roselle called me the ’saviour.’ But I’m only Sequence 4 right now. What do I have to fight a Pillar with?"

He suddenly felt all the strength drain from his body. Staggering backwards, he sat down heavily on a rock.

"So...does that mean all we can do now is wait for death?"

Edward shook his head. "No. It’s far too early to say that. No one can shake your position as the saviour."

Klein laughed bitterly. "Then how do I save anyone?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Edward did not explain further. Instead, he brought Klein into the Astral World. To Klein’s astonishment, Edward lightly pressed down toward him. The surrounding space instantly collapsed, time was stretched infinitely, and Klein was rapidly transformed into a book whose cover depicted Klein, the Lord of the Mysteries, seated upon the bronze throne within Sefirah Castle.

Edward picked up the book and stepped beyond the current dimension. With a snap of his fingers, the pages began to flip rapidly—yet unlike when he had dealt with Cheek before, this time the pages flipped from the beginning toward the end.

As the book continued to turn forward, the illustrations of Klein kept changing.

From the initial confusion and helplessness of his transmigration...

To the firm resolve and seriousness of a Nighthawk...

To the shrewd and capable detective Sherlock Moriarty...

To the frenzied pirate hunter Gehrman Sparrow...

To his advancement as the elusive and uncanny Magician...

To becoming the Scholar of Yore who knew the past...

To becoming the "God of Wishes," the Miracle Invoker...

Then advancing to Sequence 1 as the Attendant of Mysteries...

Then accommodating the Uniqueness and the other two characteristics to ascend as The Fool...

And finally, accommodating the Beyonder characteristics and Uniqueness of the other two pathways, leaping in a single bound to become the Above the Sequence, Lord of the Mysteries. A Great Old One. A Pillar!

When the pages reached the end, the entire book transformed into a wooden door eroded by time. Moments later, the door opened on its own, and through the doorway could be seen two paths of light leading toward distant unknowns.

Edward reached into the door and grabbed hold—just as a Scholar of Yore would seize a historical projection from the gaps of history.

Only this time, what appeared before him was not a projection of the past, but a projection of the future.

After a brief moment of blankness, the eyes of Klein, the Lord of the Mysteries, quickly regained their vitality. He nodded slightly toward Edward, then took a single step forward, emerging into the starry sky—standing before the Mother Goddess of Depravity.

With a grafting, he redirected the Mother Goddess’s attack back onto Herself. Then, a series of Deceptions followed in rapid succession, plunging Her into blindness and foolish confusion.

"MYSTERIES!!!"

The moment the Mother Goddess of Depravity recovered, She stared at Klein and let out a shrill roar. Her massive body trembled violently as the authority originating from within the womb erupted once more—unleashing an "Original Sin" so terrifying that even the Great Old Ones would recoil from it.

BOOOMMM——!

The entire solar system shook violently.

———

Edward then moved on to Grisha Adam and the Evernight Goddess, intending to repeat the same method and pull out their future projections as well.

Although projections were weaker than their original bodies, in a three-on-one situation, the Mother Goddess would absolutely gain no advantage whatsoever!

The Evernight Goddess gave Edward a deep look. Soon after, She too transformed into a book whose cover was shrouded in Eternal Darkness. After a rapid flipping of pages, Edward pulled the future projection of Eternal Darkness out from the wooden door, joining the encirclement of the Mother Goddess of Depravity in the starry sky.

However, when it came time for Grisha Adam, He shook His head and refused.

"No. I still have something more important to deal with."

Edward’s gaze sharpened. "You’re talking about the Oldest One?"

"Yes."

Grisha Adam nodded slightly. A hint of apology showed in His pale golden eyes. "I’m sorry. There’s something I kept from you."

"You mean...that you were always Adam?"

"No."

Grisha Adam shook His head. "Lilith."

Edward’s pupils shrank. "What happened to Lilith?"

Grisha Adam grasped the cross at His chest and spoke softly. "Not long ago, the ’Creator’ you know contacted me through the Chaos Sea, asking me to tell Lilith to go see Him."

"I don’t quite understand," Edward said slowly. "Why would He want to see Lilith?"

"Because—" Grisha Adam looked straight at him. "Lilith is the ’Creator.’ The ’Creator’ is Lilith. Their relationship is like that between me and the Sun God."

"!!!"

Edward’s heart shook violently. He pressed on urgently, "Then what does He want Lilith to do?"

"He told me that during the long struggle against the Oldest One’s will, He may have been eroded and influenced by the Oldest One, and can no longer continue suppressing It. Therefore, He needs Lilith to help Him resist the Oldest One together."

"How...together?"

"To fuse into one."

Edward clenched his fingers, his voice turning icy. "Why didn’t you tell me earlier?"

"For me, resisting the apocalypse and saving the world were the foremost priorities. If I had told you too early, would you still have been able to calmly take that step and advance to Sequence 0?"

After a pause, He continued, "Moreover, without the joint suppression of the Oldest One’s will by the two of them, the very instant you advanced to Sequence 0, the Oldest One’s consciousness would have revived within your body."

"You mean...Lilith has already—"

A tearing pain ripped through Edward’s heart. In that instant, he finally understood the price he himself would have to pay.

It was Lilith.

———

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