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The rainy night showed no signs of ending. Ian and Kalan were hiding in a corner of an abandoned clock tower in the eastern part of the city. A pale blue magical barrier surrounded the area; it was a concealment ward that Ian had set up personally. It not only masked their aura but also distorted sight and perception.
Even a high-level wizard would have difficulty detecting it without specialized methods.
"She only collects wizards... but why specifically the living ones?" Kalan was still overcome with fear, his voice trembling. "Where is she sending them? Beneath the temple? What exactly is down there?"
Ian frowned and was about to answer when his entire body suddenly stiffened.
He sensed it, an impossible-to-describe gaze.
He looked up abruptly, peering through the barrier toward the end of the street.
The Ghost Bride dragged five pitch-black coffins as she slowly advanced. Her steps were silent, and her red veil fluttered lightly in the wind.
Suddenly, she stopped.
Then, she slowly turned her head.
Her paper-pale face and hollow eyes, burning with crimson light, locked precisely on the clock tower as if piercing the barrier, shadows, and distance to stab straight into Ian's soul.
"Impossible. With a triple concealment charm and a spatial distortion barrier, it would take even Dumbledore at least three minutes to break my magic." Ian muttered with disbelief and shock thick in his voice. "The barrier wasn't triggered, and there's been no leakage of magical fluctuations. How did she find us?"
"Found... you..."
The corners of the Ghost Bride's mouth split open all the way to her ears. Golden sand gushed out of her eye sockets, forming countless tiny eye patterns in the air.
Her face split open as if it were rotting flesh, the corners of her mouth stretching to her ears and revealing a horrifying, blood-filled maw. There were no teeth inside, only endless darkness.
It was as if it were an entrance to the River Styx, grim and terrifying.
The sight made Cam's breathing stop suddenly. "How can she..."
"...sacrifice..."
Her voice sounded like the whispers of a thousand people, echoing directly in the minds of Ian and Kalan.
"Move!" Ian roared, shoving Kalan aside.
The instant his words fell... the Ghost Bride disappeared.
It was not teleportation, nor phasing.
It was like a "skipped frame." One second she was a hundred meters away, and the next she appeared inside the barrier, standing before them as a foul wind rushed toward them.
Yes, her figure suddenly blurred.
There was no movement, no spatial fluctuation. She simply appeared inside the barrier from a hundred meters away.
Her sudden appearance was completely unexpected. The hem of her decaying wedding dress brushed against Ian's robe, instantly corroding a smoking hole through it with black, viscous liquid.
"Back off!"
Ian's wand burst with dazzling white light.
"Reducto!"
The blasting curse struck the Ghost Bride squarely in the chest. Her upper body exploded instantly into a cloud of golden sand. But the particles did not disperse. Instead, they floated in the air and reformed into a twisted humanoid figure.
In less than a heartbeat, she had restored herself, repaired as if nothing had happened. Even the tear in her wedding dress returned to its original state.
"Useless... The groom prefers me whole."
The Ghost Bride's singing voice turned into a strange duet of male and female voices that squeezed out from deep within her throat. She raised an arm withered like a dead branch. Black liquid dripped from her fingertips, etching spiderweb patterns into the stone floor.
"How is that possible?" Kalan cried out in alarm and fell to the ground when his wand slipped from his hand.
Ian reacted instantly, flicking his wand.
"Confringo!"
He cast another spell, and a blazing burst of fire exploded forward and struck the Ghost Bride squarely in the chest.
Her body was torn apart instantly; her left arm was blasted away, and her chest was pierced, causing black mist to spill everywhere.
Yet no blood flowed from the wound. Instead, more black mist rapidly surged out, and within seconds, her body reassembled itself perfectly intact.
"Invalid?" Ian's pupils shrank.
The Ghost Bride did not respond. She raised her hand and grabbed it. Ian immediately cast a Shield Charm, and a golden barrier formed instantly.
But the crimson threads pierced the shield and slashed toward his throat. Ian twisted his body to evade them. A thread grazed his cheek, leaving a thin line of blood.
"Time Slow!" Ian shouted, attempting to slow her movements.
The Ghost Bride's movements slowed down. However, her very existence seemed unaffected by the flow of time.
Even in slow motion, she could launch attacks. Once Ian canceled the spell, her movements instantly returned to normal, as if the "slow flow" had never occurred.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Ian switched to a disabling spell.
A streak of silver light struck the Ghost Bride, instantly turning her body into a stone statue and freezing her red veil in midair. Ian let out a breath of relief and was about to examine the result when cracks suddenly began spreading across the statue's surface.
Black mist seeped out from the fissures. Pieces of stone peeled away, one after another, and the Ghost Bride reassembled herself, completely unharmed.
"That's impossible..." Kalan collapsed onto the ground, his voice trembling. "She... she simply can't be killed!"
He wasn't the only one who felt terror.
Now, even Ian was personally experiencing the situation those captured wizards must have faced.
"So it's not just that she can't be killed, negative status effects can't be maintained on her for long either?" Ian's pupils shrank to pinpoints. He had never seen such a bizarre regenerative ability. Usually, even undead creatures would leave a casting window between spells. But the creature before him completely ignored the natural laws of time and space when it came to recovery.
"Incendio!"
Blazing white fire surged from the tip of his wand, engulfing the Ghost Bride and turning her into a humanoid torch. The crackling sound of burning grease echoed within the flames.
In the next second, however, all the fire was suddenly sucked back into her body and transformed into crimson points of light flowing within the golden sand.
Cam collapsed onto the ground, pointing his wand at the Ghost Bride, yet he was unable to utter a single spell.
Ian seized the moment and flicked out a silver chain.
"Imprisoning Shackles!"
The magical chain coiled around the Ghost Bride's limbs like a living serpent. In the blink of an eye, however, it shifted from solid to phantom-like and passed straight through her body.
"Physical attacks are ineffective. Elemental absorption is ineffective. Even spatial confinement is ineffective..." Ian's mind raced as he switched spells continuously. He had already tried at least twelve different magical systems, from Hogwarts' The Standard Book of Spells to ancient Egyptian witchcraft. He even risked using two half-finished spells of his own creation.
The closest he came to success was the Time Stasis Spell.
When the silver-blue web of light enveloped the Ghost Bride, she froze for about two seconds.
But then, the golden sand inside her body suddenly began rotating counterclockwise... forcefully neutralizing the time magic entirely.
"Useless... useless..."
The Ghost Bride's limbs stretched unnaturally toward the two of them, elongating like rubber.
"The bride… needs… bridesmaids…"
Ian suddenly noticed a detail: every time the Ghost Bride recovered, the vortex above the distant temple would faintly flicker. Before the golden sand reassembled, it always first formed the familiar pattern of three concentric circles.
"Cam!" Ian shouted, dodging the golden threads slicing toward him. "Look at her golden sand!"
Cam forced himself to concentrate and suddenly widened his eyes.
"That's...the temple's mark?"
"Not just a mark!" Ian rolled sideways to avoid a piercing golden thread, his wand carving complex runes in the air. "It's a state that's neither alive nor dead!"
The young wizard realized that something was fundamentally wrong.
Even though Ian was far stronger than her, the Ghost Bride could still recover from Reducto and other effects as if she were fixed in a perfect state. Any change made to her was meaningless, she would always return to her original condition.
"Heehee~"
The Ghost Bride paused for a moment, as if reacting to those words.
Ian seized the fleeting opportunity. The tip of his wand burst with dazzling blue light.
"Reveal Your True Form!"
The beam of magic struck the Ghost Bride, revealing a horrifying truth.
Her physical body didn't actually exist.
Those seemingly solid parts were, in fact, a superposition of countless microscopic grains of golden sand. Each grain carried a miniature sun totem that resonated with the magical power of the Temple Embryo, maintaining her form.
"Just like Schrödinger's cat..." Ian finally understood. "She exists in a superposition of existence and non-existence. Only the observer's consciousness can temporarily solidify her form!"
This scientific and somewhat AI-like explanation was beyond Cam's understanding. After all, he was just an ordinary ancient wizard.
However...
Ian knew his conclusion was correct.
As if to confirm his deduction, the Ghost Bride split into three phantoms, each of which attacked from a different direction.
Ian swung his wand instinctively to defend himself, only to realize that two of the phantoms were illusions.
The moment he realized that, the illusions instantly became real!
"Multiple Bind! Lightning Storm Strike! Soul Shock!"
Ian gritted his teeth as his wand flashed repeatedly. Three high-level spells erupted simultaneously.
Lightning exploded, chains wrapped around her, and a violent fluctuation of soul energy struck her core.
The Ghost Bride's body shattered into pieces; her head flew off, and her limbs were torn apart. Black mist filled the entire clock tower.
Yet, barely three seconds later, all the fragments floated in the air as if an invisible hand were assembling them. Her body condensed once more. Her wedding dress was intact, and her red veil fluttered gently as if the destruction had never happened.
She stood in place, her crimson eyes fixed on Ian.
Her bloody mouth slowly opened.
"...Sacrifice... irreversible..."
She looked exactly the same as before.
Ian realized once again that his judgment had been correct, her "wholeness" was constant.
No matter if she was blown apart, petrified, frozen, or even had her soul stripped away, she would instantly "return to position." Her existence seemed anchored by some higher-level rule, unaffected by physical or magical changes.
"She isn't recovering..." A flash of realization struck Ian. "She has...never been changed."
Just like Schrödinger's cat, she is both shattered and whole before observation. But her "observer" isn't us; it's the Embryo of that evil god. As long as the Embryo continues to gestate, her "state" remains fixed as intact. Any damage inflicted upon her is "corrected" at the level of the rules themselves.
"So that's it. She's an extension of the Embryo's will. To kill her, we must first destroy the reason she exists," Ian murmured to himself.
At that moment…
The Ghost Bride seized the opportunity.
She raised her hand again, and crimson threads lashed out like whips. Ian barely dodged them, but one sliced across his arm, drawing blood.
"Mr. Ian!"
Cam suddenly lunged forward and shoved Ian aside, though he had already been on guard. A golden thread grazed the young man's cheek, leaving a deep wound that exposed bone.
The instant blood dripped to the ground, the Ghost Bride went berserk.
She stopped singing and instead emitted a high-frequency shriek that shattered the roof tiles of nearby buildings.
Countless golden threads burst from her body and wove into a net that covered the sky.
Kalan struggled to raise his wand.
"Spear of Flames!"
He cast a weak piece of ancient magic.
The fiery spear shot forward, but the Ghost Bride didn't even turn her head. With a casual backhanded swipe, the spear was instantly extinguished.
She turned around, her crimson eyes locking onto Kalan. Her bloody maw opened as she prepared to pounce.
"Grab me!"
Ian seized Cam's arm, his wand carving a blazing white arc through the air. The Ghost Bride's golden threads shot toward them like torrential rain. Just before they struck the two...
They missed.
"Apparate!"
Amid the twisting agony of warped space, the last thing Ian saw was the Ghost Bride tearing open her own chest in fury and revealing the crystal core beating inside.
Engraved on that core were the same runes that appeared on the Black-Robed Woman's face.
When his vision cleared, they were standing on sand dunes outside the city of Memphis.
In the distance, the black smoke vortex above the city was clearly visible. Seven Ghost Bride figures moved through different districts.
Cam collapsed onto the ground, the wound on his face leaking a golden liquid.
"What exactly is she?" The young man asked in a trembling voice.
"A manifestation of belief," Ian said, examining his wound and furrowing his brows. "As long as the Embryo inside the temple believes she exists, no attack can destroy her completely."
Cam's pupils dilated as the golden liquid spread from the wound across his body.
Without hesitation, Ian pressed his wand against the wound.
"Scourgify!"
Silver light clashed violently against the golden fluid, producing a corrosive hissing sound.
"What should we do?" Cam asked weakly.
Ian looked toward the distant temple, a dangerous glint flashing in his gray-green eyes.
"We deal with the source of that belief."
He took out the knowledge crystal he had collected from the library earlier. A distribution map of seven points of light appeared within it.
"First, we find the other members of the Hermit's Society, and then..."
A sudden palpitation interrupted him.
Ian abruptly turned his head.
On the sand, a string of wet footprints had appeared at some unknown time, extending toward them.
At the end of the footprints... There was nothing.
But a faint singing drifted through the air.
"The groom… cannot wait… he will come personally… to claim his bride."
Suddenly, the footprints began to extend faster and faster, each step corroding the dry grains into smoking pits. Ian's wand instantly burst into a blinding silver light and formed seven layers of protective barriers in front of him.
Cam struggled to rise, but the golden patterns spreading across his leg had already reached his knees.
"H-how can she chase us outside the city?" Cam's voice twisted with fear.
"A spacetime anchor." Ian's pupils shrank to needle points as his wand traced complex detection runes in the air. "That Embryo planted a tracking mark on her. As long as we're still in this era..."
Before he could finish, the air in front of them suddenly twisted and rotated as if struck by an invisible stone.
A pale hand reached out from the void.
Its nails were black as ink, and the liquid dripping from its fingertips corroded the sand, creating honeycomb-like holes.
Then a second hand appeared.
The two hands grasped the "crack" in the air and tore it open violently.
The Ghost Bride's head emerged from the rift.
Golden sand poured out of her hollow eye sockets like a waterfall.
The corners of her mouth split all the way to her ears, revealing spiraling rows of sharp teeth.
Each tooth was engraved with a tiny sun totem.
"Found... you..."
Her voice suddenly carried a note of excitement.
Ian's protective barriers shattered one after another like glass.
He grabbed Cam by the collar and retreated rapidly while flinging out a chain of ancient runes with his wand.
The golden runes formed chains in the air.
Yet they disintegrated before touching the Ghost Bride.
It was as if her very existence denied the logic of the surrounding magic.
"There's only one way left!"
There was no other choice.
Ian could only bring out his trump card.
(End of Chapter)