Sylas and Morgoth had been fighting for an immeasurable span of time. Both sides were evenly matched, trading victories and defeats in equal measure.
In one exchange, Sylas had been careless. Morgoth had blown his physical body apart entirely, leaving nothing but the crystallized soul hovering in the void. But Sylas had used his mastery of time to resurrect himself, pulling his existence back from the River of Time and reconstructing his form.
Morgoth, in turn, had his timeline erased by Sylas, his existence wiped from the world completely. But the Flame Imperishable burned within him, and he simply recreated himself from nothing, stepping back into reality as though he had never been destroyed.
Neither side held anything in reserve. Every weapon, every technique, every trump card was deployed. Yet both possessed a form of immortality that the other could not overcome. No matter how thoroughly one destroyed the other, the killing never held.
The universe around them was on the verge of total collapse, the remnants of reality threatening to dissolve back into primordial chaos at any moment.
"Sylas." Morgoth stopped his attack and spoke. "You cannot kill me. And I cannot kill you. So let us stop fighting and make peace."
His voice was calm, almost reasonable.
"You and I are both half a step from becoming Creator Gods. If we join forces, I will share the Flame Imperishable with you. Together, we can become Creator Gods, lords of this world."
He paused, then pointed upward, toward the void beyond the dying universe.
"Furthermore, the one you should truly fear is not me. It is Him."
"He will not allow a second Creator God to exist in this world. The only reason He has not intervened is that He is composing a new movement of the Great Music in some distant, otherworldly hall, too occupied to concern Himself with what happens here."
Morgoth's eyes burned with urgency.
"You and I are mere discordant notes in that Music, refusing to follow His will, altering the content of His composition. We are things that must be eliminated. Now that Arda is destroyed, the first movement is ending. He could descend at any moment."
"Only if you and I ascend to creation-level power before He acts can we resist Him. So, Sylas, join me!"
"I possess an abundance of the Flame's energy. I will share half with you. We will both achieve what we desire and become Creator Gods together."
His tone was sincere, almost desperate.
"Do not hesitate! I know you are not like those blindly loyal servants of His. You were convinced by my words long ago, were you not? When I stole the Flame Imperishable from the Gate of Sorrow... you had the power to stop me. But you chose not to. Because you, too, had designs on the Flame. You simply did not want to offend the Valar or Him. So you sat back and let me take it."
Morgoth smiled, his eyes glinting with knowing amusement.
Sylas's expression did not change. His voice was level.
"That is merely your speculation. Even if you wished to sow discord between me and the Valar, they would not believe you."
Morgoth waved his hand, sighing with a theatrical smile.
"I have no interest in threats or manipulation. I was simply expressing my admiration for your intelligence and caution. If only I had possessed someone of your caliber before... perhaps I would have achieved my goals long ago, instead of waiting until now."
"Time is running out, Sylas. If we continue fighting, we will only destroy each other to no purpose."
"To show my sincerity, I will offer you a gift first."
Without waiting for a reply, Morgoth plunged his clawed hand into his own chest.
He cried out in pain. Then, with his face contorting, he tore the Flame Imperishable from within himself and, with a violent motion, ripped it in two.
He stuffed one half back into his chest. The other, he hurled toward Sylas.
"This is half of the Flame. And it is proof of my sincerity."
Sylas was genuinely surprised by the gesture. He watched the blazing fire arc toward him, hardly believing what he was seeing.
He was giving it freely?
Sylas caught the Flame and examined it carefully. There was no trap, no hidden poison, no corruption. On the contrary, it radiated boundless, immeasurable creative energy.
Whatever Morgoth's true intentions were, Sylas accepted the gift without hesitation. He sent it directly into the Subspace within his soul.
Even if it were poison wrapped in sugar, he was confident he could consume it.
The Flame Imperishable, even halved, was a creation-level force beyond comprehension. The instant it entered the Subspace, transformation began.
The Flame intensified, expanding into an endless sea of fire that engulfed the entire dimension. Under its influence, the Subspace's boundaries expanded at an extraordinary rate. Matter began to coalesce from nothing. Elements emerged and intertwined.
A world was being born.
Sylas accelerated time within the Subspace to its maximum. One second in the outside world became ten thousand years within. Under this compression, evolution proceeded at breathtaking speed.
Matter formed into rock, mineral, and soil. The elements wove themselves into a permanent sky, oceans, continents, and flames. The most primitive life forms emerged, tiny sparks of existence taking root in this newborn reality.
The Subspace had evolved into a primordial world. It could not yet compare to Arda in its prime, but it was unmistakably a true world, possessing the foundation upon which life could exist and grow.
And with the creation of this world within his soul, Sylas felt his power surge to unprecedented heights. He had already placed one foot across the threshold of a higher realm.
But before Sylas could rejoice, a burst of laughter echoed through the Subspace.
"So this is your secret, Sylas!"
Morgoth's voice reverberated across the newborn world. The Flame Imperishable blazed and reshaped itself into Morgoth's likeness, a fiery specter standing within Sylas's most private dimension. He gazed at the primordial world forming around him with naked envy and greed.
"You possess a World Origin within your body! Such fortune is truly enviable!"
"Morgoth." Sylas's expression turned cold and wary.
So that was his game.
Morgoth had long since fused his soul with the Flame Imperishable. The half he had so "generously" offered Sylas contained half of Morgoth's soul within it. The Flame was bait. Morgoth's plan had been to wait until Sylas merged with it, then seize control of his body from within.
He simply had not expected to find another World Origin already residing in Sylas's soul.
The discovery terrified Morgoth, but it also filled him with ecstatic greed.
"Sylas, you have given me a wonderful surprise! With this World Origin, I can truly become a Creator God and possess a world entirely my own!"
Sylas snorted coldly. He mobilized the full power of the Subspace, directing the crushing force of an entire world against the intruder.
But Morgoth neutralized it with ease.
"Hahaha! Sylas, though you are the creator of this world, do not forget: this world was only brought to completion with the help of the Flame Imperishable. My power has merged with its foundations. I am as much its master as you are. You cannot expel or suppress me."
"Is that so?"
Sylas showed no panic. On the contrary, a look of cold mockery crossed his face.
"You chose the path to heaven instead of taking the road to survival," Sylas said, his eyes gleaming with derision. "If you had stayed outside, I would have had no way to deal with you. But you barged into my world of your own free will."
His voice dropped.
"Then you will never leave."
Sylas activated the System.
High above the Subspace, the golden sun that was the Hogwarts Sign-In System, the World Origin of the Harry Potter universe, erupted with dazzling radiance. Golden light flooded the entire dimension, illuminating every corner of the newborn world.
"What is that?!"
Morgoth sensed the System's aura and his expression changed instantly. Before its activation, he had not even detected its existence. But now, emanating from this golden sun, he could feel an attribute of the same fundamental tier as the Flame Imperishable, and something more: a power even more deeply rooted than the Flame itself.
Seized with alarm, Morgoth unleashed the Flame Imperishable, conjuring a raging inferno to burn the System before it could act. But he possessed only half the Flame. Against the System, which was a complete World Origin, it was utterly insufficient. The fire struck the System and was absorbed, devoured, converted into nourishment.
Morgoth felt the Flame's energy draining from him at terrifying speed. Fear, genuine and primal, gripped him for the first time.
He abandoned all resistance and fled toward the boundary of the Subspace, desperate to escape into the outer void.
But the System, having tasted the Flame's energy, locked onto Morgoth like a predator that had caught the scent of prey. It refused to release him. The golden radiance transformed into a streak of light that plunged directly into Morgoth's fiery form.
Morgoth's expression froze. His defiance dissolved. His form reverted to that of a blazing entity, raw flame and soul intertwined, and the System began to devour him.
The Flame Imperishable, even halved, was a creation-level entity. The System could not consume it as easily as it had consumed Ungoliant or the Nameless Thing. The Flame resisted instinctively, rebelling against absorption, fighting the System from within.
This created an opening.
As the two creation-level forces grappled with each other, their mutual struggle left both momentarily exposed. Sylas recognized the opportunity instantly.
When two tigers fight, the hunter strikes.
With the System's true nature fully revealed and the Flame Imperishable locked in combat with it, Sylas seized the moment without hesitation. He channeled every ounce of his soul power, refined through ages of cultivation and crystallized into diamond-hard perfection, and turned it upon the System itself.
He began to refine it.