Loki didn't delay.
His first action was to directly, forcefully, accommodate the Mentor of Deceit Characteristics by consuming it directly.
In the same moment, Loki pulled as much of the Grey Fog he could to engulf himself completely, leaving not a single opening behind for his opponent to exploit.
A surge of vitality spread through Loki as he felt the grey fog wrap around himself but he wasn't happy.
Not one least bit.
Since the Grey Fog itself could at most heal him to his peak potential, not give him vitality, especially not when he was already fully healed and when he didn't even have his physical body here with him.
Not even a glance later Loki could immediately tell that it was the spirituality of his enemy that had simply locked him in place by forming a broken oak tree over his body of heart and mind, pinning it to the fabric of reality, rooting him to the same spot he was hovering over.
Simply being 'brushed' by a move from the enemy had given Loki more vitality.
He couldn't exactly put his finger on whether Mother Goddess of Depravity had done it on purpose or if it was a result of 'Her' sudden descent leaving 'Her' new body poorly controlled, at least not yet.
Either way, with no way to 'run', Loki did the next best thing.
He stole the oak tree.
Or at least he had attempted to.
Because for the first time in a long while, Loki truly felt the effects of how long a moment on his level could truly be for a Great Old One that was a Pillar.
In the moment that Loki tried stealing the broken oak tree to break its hold on his body of heart and mind to teleport away back to safety, Loki found himself engulfed by what felt like a few billion more oak trees.
'...how many times do I need to snap my fingers to steal all those…' Loki pondered but soon he couldn't even do that.
Instead he found his thoughts frozen the same way his position had been frozen.
A dense formation of broken oak trees grew, deeply entrenched, into various parts of his body of heart and mind and even the sea of subconscious.
All Loki could do was feel the present.
He couldn't comprehend or react.
Only feel.
With a frozen expression of normalcy on his face, Loki was forced to watch.
Watch as the bulbous bright white moon in the sky was slowly tinged with a vibrant crimson.
Watch as the barrier that had only just been proven to be capable of keeping a True God at bay by burning 'Him', was suddenly tinged with the same crimson.
Watch as the stunning, feminine, motherly face gave a gloating smile as it looked at him gently, like a hunter looking at caught prey, thinking of the delicious ways he could cook it.
Several thoughts would've poured through Loki's mind had he been able to think at this moment, or maybe none given the gravity of the situation, but either way Loki remained fixed in place, statued into obedience.
However his enemy was not the same.
Almost thoughtlessly, Mother Goddess of Depravity slipped through the barrier. It touched nothing about her, as if she didn't exist, only flowing effortlessly along her massive body of birthing organs haphazardly piled together, covering them to form what appeared to be an illusory accretion-disk-like extension that served as clothing, that simultaneously existed and did not, as if in a limbo, as if an Error.
She walked up to Loki, her each step seeming like an eternity that was collapsed into a second as she shortened the distance between them in an unknowable amount of steps.
Finally, she reached Loki.
Her gentle fingers, formed of branches, antlers and fleshy organs, brushed Loki's cheek, leaving a streak of blood on it that caused him to suddenly feel a surging amount of vitality within himself.
Even with his thoughts paused, Loki felt a massive improvement in his quality of life. Suddenly his body felt decades lighter, as if he'd never been born and had lived as a cloud his whole life.
"Oh…"
The word simultaneously was laced with disappointment, and also the same indifference that one would attribute to an inconsequential bug.
As Mother Goddess of Depravity paused, it suddenly felt like Loki's own life had paused, as if something had stopped breathing the world into him. The feeling of surging vitality drummed to a pause. Loki almost wanted to scream, but the thoughts remained frozen, his mind stuck, his body of heart and mind forever frozen in a limbo of eternity.
But thankfully…
… 'She' continued.
"How long has it been since I last… killed you?"
'She' paused again, but this time it wasn't for long, once she realised Loki couldn't say or even think anything she pondered by herself with a light annoyed frown at having to do the work.
"...a decade of centuries?"
"...or two?"
'She' recollected after thinking a little harder, pausing to confirm by looking back at the True Creator who had still been standing behind the barrier that had already been dismantled.
'He' looked at 'Her' and spoke softly.
"Two."
Whether the words were short because the True Creator couldn't speak awed by 'Her' greatness or simply because 'His' eye was already darting towards the Chaos Sea behind 'Her', one couldn't know. Either way, the True Creator had a maniacal grin stretched on his cyclopean face as 'His' gaze fell on the trapped Loki.
Sizzle
"…"
Mother goddess of Depravity pulled her finger touching Loki back as she felt the slow acting Grey Fog try and 'poison' her, but the damage was almost instantly undone, one could only assume that it was the work of the New Life Symbolism that could reset her state eternally and make her immune to everything.
Even still, Mother Goddess of Depravity frowned as if having learnt something unpleasant.
Had an ordinary person capable of withstanding laying eyes upon 'Her' monumental figure existed, they would've felt the expression on 'Her' face to speak directly in their minds, making them ask with pain and agony, "Who dares to rebel against Mother!"
It was an expression that would've sent an execution order to every inn, keep and dome across the universe.
Yet Loki's expression remained frozen in time and in space.
'She' raised her malformed hand, placing it on Loki's forehead and just as one would've felt that she was about to end it all she paused.
Not for Loki or to delay his execution, but as an approval for their observer to interrupt.
"Now?" The True Creator asked, this time keeping his words short on purpose as 'He' felt a dense aura of danger embed itself into the area around 'Her'.
Simply being close to 'Her' made him feel like he would be erased from existence, decayed until nothing existed of 'Him' and 'He' would return to 'Her' embrace in true death without rejoining the cycle of reincarnation.
Seeing Mother Goddess of Depravity not responding and only waiting with her grotesque finger on Loki's forehead the True Creator took 'Her' silence as confirmation before walking forward.
'He' took a single step, yet the shadows of the deep and dark night morphed it in such a way that he was already behind Loki.
In the next moment, the True Creator was already fusing with Loki.
'His' body turned into a shadowy, flowy, gooey mess that flowed into Loki's ears, his nostrils, his eyes, and every other orifice in his body as Loki's flesh began to turn dense, as every fiber of muscle in his body was intertwined with a God's.
Even still, the broken oak trees floating around Loki, imposed upon his figure to keep him locked in place remained rooted in reality effortlessly, as if they'd pinned the very fabric of the universe in place, as if nothing tied to it could ever escape.
With everything in place, Mother Goddess of Depravity finally began.
Without even the slightest of pressure, only by simply driving her finger a little forward, 'She' quietly pierced Loki's skull.
'Her' finger slowly drove a hole into Loki's head, right in between his forehead as her symbolism over New Life manifested.
Loki was dead.
Beyond dead even for some.
However his body remained as New Life was pumped through it, forcibly keeping it awake, alive, and beating.
The broken oak trees all around Loki started to slowly vanish.
One by one at first, but then by the clumps.
Loki's legs lengthened, his arms elongated and his skin turned thin, translucent like an almost milky white bubble. For a moment one could even see the blood clearly pumping beneath them.
The finger drove deeper.
And the very next moment his face began to transform, morphing slowly from its almost mature teenage look to fully mature mid twenties.
Loki looked remarkably like Loki himself, yet he looked aged, older, yet in some sense even younger.
His body filled with vitality from New Life, brought his skin back to its pink.
The oak trees had now started vanishing by the lakes.
Yet in a billion they weren't even a dent.
The finger slipped only a few millimeters deeper again.
However, it was at this moment that a qualitative change occurred.
The Grey Fog swirling around the transformed, now dead Loki, slowly condensed.
It glimmered around his right eye for a moment before forming a silvery golden ring that slowly turned purely gold.
A simple deceiving lens slipped into it immediately after, existing in one moment, vanishing the next, giving an observer the view that it was just a trick of the light.
The grey fog soon slipped quietly into the dead body as the body's lost and faded eyes regained their sparkle.
The sky that had just been a cloud of broken oak trees suddenly cleared. Vanishing entirely as if something had vacuumed it of debris.
Mother Goddess of Depravity paused here.
Her finger that had only been half inserted came to a halt.
It wasn't unclear at all if Mother Goddess of Depravity had paused of 'Her' own accord or was forced, since the clear expression of effort being blocked on 'Her' face revealed that 'She' had been stopped.
Even still, there was no disappointment, shock or even joy in 'Her' eyes.
Instead, after pausing the application of excess effort, 'She' only left her finger still in the macabre hole in Loki's forehead.
'Her' eyes gazed down from her own hand and slowly reached Loki's now life filled eyes.
In them 'She' saw signs of recognition, recognition not of 'Her' but of the situation around them.
The eyes glanced around for a while, eying the world with an intrigued expression as they looked at everything, trying to absorb it all in, for the moment.
The moment didn't last long however, it was interrupted when a new head sprouted on his shoulder, one with a familiar face-
"Hmm…?Herpo?" A voice from within Loki's body said, slightly surprised.
Before, still attached to Mother Goddess of Depravity's finger, Loki's head nodded sagely as if having recalled something interesting, "Of course, the Chaos Sea…so those brats succeeded in making the humans weapons."
"Ha~" The True Creator laughed, not lightly but as a sneer, before he spoke again, "And look where you are."
"Me? Where am I? In the Chaos Sea? What about it?" The voice within Loki's body said calmly.
Slightly annoyed but still proud of 'His' accomplishment the True Creator spoke up, "You are in 'Her' presence! And yet you dare ignore 'Her'!?"
"Huh? Wh- Oh you mean this hag?" The voice in Loki's body spoke out with a half laugh that was quickly stifled as its gaze landed on Mother Goddess of Depravity.
Their gazes matched with the undercurrent of a simmering fire, even still, it felt more like the reunion of two long lost 'friends' than anything.
Each person scouted the other, as if probing their entire repertoire entirely through their eyes.
It seemed completely normal.
But Grindelwald seemed truly bewildered, his eyes switched in between Loki and Mother Goddess of Depravity, slight worry and fear, no doubt noticed by the other two, creeping up in his plight. Yet even still he did not seem to give up his position of advantage.
Instead he said, "Get it over with. You don't want to spend another two millennia recuperating in some corner of the universe do you? Hidden like a rat?"
"Hidden like a rat?" The voice in Loki's body spoke out, a humorous undertone to it as he almost laughed.
Mother Goddess of Depravity's gaze sharpened almost instantly.
And in the microcosm of a moment, a billion things occurred.
Loki's gaze firmed. The previous jovial tone vanishing and morphing into a complete battle focused ferociousness.
The world seemed to bend in place as time seemed to become eternally slow.
A large clock that looked much like the Big Ben appeared over the Chaos Sea.
A large, insurmountable, tree appeared over the Chaos Sea.
The planet trembled next leading to the deaths of countless.
Mother Goddess of Depravity had frozen, anchored, the position of the planet in the physical realm.
Coastal cities and countries were swept away in a fraction of a second due to the sudden momentum of the tides of a frozen planet. Buildings were flung into debris, the people and life all around turned into pulp, magic's dominion over the Chaos Sea paused because there were no longer any souls to cast it.
The world fell into an eternal slumber with its souls converging rapidly towards the point of its termination.
Before any of that could really take effect however, the seconds hand on the Big Ben slipped back, ticking exactly one second.
The world was suddenly reset.
The large, insurmountable tree vanished from over the Chaos Sea as the tremble of the planet was reversed.
Countless deaths were undone.
However, harm was done.
On both sides.
But much more significantly on one than on the other.
"..guk."
Loki's body spat a mouthful of blood.
The blood flew and fell on Mother Goddess of Depravity's face, yet even still for the first time since her arrival here, there was a fierce smile on her face.
One that would give any ordinary person nightmares for an eternity even after death.
Her eyes wide, an open madness blazing in them.
Blood covered face that appeared like war paint.
Even still, more terrifying was the blood that dripped.
Slipping from the tip of 'Her' nose onto 'Her' lush lips, before they simply sunk down onto 'Her' teeth, coating them a deep shade of red, as if 'She' had just consumed 'Her' meal.
"He~" The True Creator laughed.
Blood dribbled down Loki's lips as Mother Goddess of Depravity's fierce gaze only intensified, as if only waiting to consume him whole.
"HehehehehehehHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA~" The True Creator laughed endlessly.
Loki's hands moved automatically.
Clapping in sync, forcefully as the True Creator bent his body and laughed in fits.
Each time his head dipped however, Loki's eyes remained on 'Her'.
And within only a few cycles, Mother Goddess of Depravity began to suddenly notice something wrong.
It wasn't a moment more before the planet trembled again.
Except this time the Big Ben ticked a second backward's, again, preemptively stopping the tremble from even taking place.
The blood on 'Her' face collected.
Forming a small blot before it sank back into Loki's mouth.
Even that wasn't the end however, the second hand on the Big Ben shifted again! Backwards for the third time in the same moment!
The barrier that had turned crimson and been morphed into a veil for Mother Goddess of Depravity was undone.
Even that wasn't the end however, the second hand on the Big Ben shifted again! Forwards this time for the 'third time' in the same moment!
Except this time what was affected was not the world, but time itself.
The Big Ben failed to comprehend the result.
It attempted to go backwards in time on itself by moving forwards to undo its own backwards travel, yet it failed. For it was impossible to undo something you never did in the first place!
A paradox!
An Error in itself!
And for the moment, everything turned into an eternity where everything existed all at once.
…
Loki opened his eyes with a sharp intake of breath.
Air rushed into his burning lungs as he took rapid deep breaths before expelling everything out in a quick flush. It almost seemed like he was drowning for air. Gasping as he greedily filled his lungs with fresh air.
Each breath felt like breathing in a sharp nail of spikes, it clawed at his insides and filled him in an incomprehensible amount of pain.
'What am I breathing!? Glass!!!????' Loki lamented as his head slowly bettered his senses.
His hands already clasped around his knees shook with each breath, trembling like a struck cymbal, shivering as if he'd been plunged in the coldest spot of the universe.
Loki felt his life draining away at a rapid pace like a siphon.
He didn't know what it was, where it was, or even how it was all happening.
Things were a blur and his mind could not remember things clearly at this moment.
It felt like he was forgetting something rather important.
Something that he'd been meaning to remember.
But nothing came up.
His mind turned blank and his body refused to cooperate.
Shelter!
Shelter was the only thing on Loki's mind instead.
To seek shelter, the fastest way was to steal distance to another position.
Using magic to apparate was too slow. He had to form all those complicated symbols- runes in the air with his spirituality and he had no time for that.
His mind already wouldn't cooperate and with his rapidly failing body Loki chose to steal his position away.
However, even doing so required him to first identify where he currently was. Since to steal distance between two positions, you needed to know at least the two end points.
But the world was blank.
Loki's eyes weren't open yet.
Frozen shut due to the frigid nature of his surroundings he assumed, but they were frozen shut regardless of what he thought and so he was blind.
Yet even with his extraordinary senses, the world returned a blank.
Spirit vision showed not a single life in his surroundings.
Not an insect, or a plant nearby.
Antarctica?!
And without delay, Loki snapped his wrist.
He'd only meant to twist it to steal his distance to another position, but the frigid nature of his being had snapped it in two even for the attempt.
Loki did teleport away, as he assumed, however, what he arrived at was not Hogwarts, the Black Manor or even a public bathroom near Elane's orphanage.
Instead Loki felt he dove headfirst into an iron wall.
His head exploded in pain as Loki felt it crack.
Then the rest of his body suddenly turned numb as he felt it, loss of consciousness, again.
Loki didn't know what it was.
Fear of God.
Fear of Death.
Or even the fear of something unknowable and incorruptible, but all he felt was fear.
All he knew was that if he lost consciousness right now, he would never regain it again, ever again.
And so he fought.
Fought tooth and nail with himself to stay awake.
Yet no matter how much he struggled, the deathly siphon on his life kept draining him as did the constant exploding headache that had been slowly turning his body numb.
Even still Loki struggled.
For what felt like an eternity after, Loki felt the world a pure expression of pain and torture.
Until.
A soft vibration jumped at him.
The vibration in itself wasn't very exciting, if not for the fact that Loki realised it was the first real thing he'd ever 'felt' after arriving here, in whatever place he was.
And so Loki did his best to lean in.
Lean towards the vibration as he made sure to scream.
…
Perenelle screamed and sobbed.
All those around her rushed to help as Hermione even started to sob herself, falling to the floor as she looked at Loki's corpse hollow headedly.
Loki's head was blown apart and his face was frozen in a silent scream.
She'd done it herself.
After they'd all heard a clink earlier, Perenelle's control over them had loosened.
In the end, Hermione acted.
Faster than anyone as she teleported right to 'Grindelwald's' side before slamming him with an explosive Bombarda Maxima. Hoping to rid the world of him while he was still frozen.
Seeing the shortcut Hermione had created in space, Perenelle used it too, acting on impulse when she saw 'Grindelwald' stretch out his arm to attack.
She snapped his hand.
She didn't know if it was impulse, fear or rage that blinded her. But in that moment when she heard the crystal snap of the eternal ice that had covered the entire Sefirot, she pounced.
And only after she let out her shot did she realise.
Realise the blunder she had committed.
She had killed Loki!
She could feel it.
The last throes of death emanated from Loki's body, dragging him away into the slumbers of death. Roaring at her like a taunt, daring her to try and perform the miracle for a lost cause.
Had it been Nicholas by Loki's side right then, he could've saved the lovable boy. Through alchemy, through medicine, through anything.
Yet she didn't even turn to look at Nicholas at this moment even though he was right there after he had dragged himself through Hermione's door.
Since she knew, better than anyone, that Loki had already died.
Gone.
Passed through the veil.
Dead.
She'd been worried for only a split second, that perhaps this was all a trap, that this was not Loki. And yet, her wisdom which gave her keen insight only told her otherwise, it told her that the very essence of the corpse in front of her seemed to be Loki.
Everyone's expression was somber.
Few knew what to think, and even fewer knew how to handle what they were seeing. Tears welled up in all their eyes as various moments of self blame happened in each of them.
Hermione's gaze however suddenly hardened.
Her hands stopped quivering and her face stopped wallowing in self guilt.
She suddenly clutched her chest, her hand landing on the innermost pocket of her dress where she'd stored the correction of her previous mistake.
"Daphne!" Hermione shouted, startling everyone else present.
Hermione fumbled for a second, her hands beginning to tremble in fright as she quickly pulled out the glass vial that Nicholas had given her earlier.
At first nothing happened.
The glass vial remained still in Hermione's hands with no indication of it having done anything like come to life to alert Hermione of something.
Things extended in such an austere silence that Hermione almost thought she'd hallucinated the soft pressure she felt from the vial.
Had she truly hallucinated it?
Perhaps she had misinterpreted it?
Maybe instead of wanting to help, Daphne had only been shocked once she realised what had happened to Loki.
Except that was when it happened.
A mercury-like holy light shimmered into the air.
It radiated out of the doll frozen stuck to Loki's other hand. The light filled the air for a moment before condensing into the coiling serpent of oroboros.
The serpent ring landed on Loki's chest before being absorbed fully into it.
And for a moment or two ahead, nothing particularly happened, and yet everyone waited with bated breaths.
"...ugh…"
There was a sound.
Ron, who was being carried by Belmont, woke up with a stiff headache that he'd gotten from Tonks kicking his lights out.
Normally one would show concern, or at least show some reaction to seeing a teenage boy blowing snot bubbles while waking up.
Except this time, everyone stayed still, even Belmont on whose dress a few of those snot bubbles were stuck.
They stared intently at Loki before a soft shimmering light emitted from him.
The light seemed to radiate outwards evenly but landed on only a few particular objects that everyone instantly recognised.
They were fragments of Loki's brain, his skull, and his hand.
Everything that the light shown upon vanished before reappearing in its corresponding place on Loki's body, making it appear as if Loki had fully healed.
The frost seemed to melt away quickly, turning into ephemeral fragments that vanished from sight.
And yet for the moment everyone remained still.
Especially since Loki had yet to take his first breath at this moment.
Until.
GASP!
Loki's body shot up straight.
His body perspired rapidly as he took short quick, but as deep as possible, breaths.
His gaze travelled around, looking at everyone, trying to take the sights around him in as his eyes finally shot open.
Everyone remained silent even as Loki looked at them. Something about him put them all on the back foot, as if they were looking right into the eyes of a deep raging wild animal instead of a human.
And so Loki closed his eyes for a few seconds as he gathered himself.
His posture correction kicked in as it made him look more regal than before, adjusting his mess of a posture into something more refined and king-like.
His spirituality started to slowly grow, filling up for all that was lost.
And yet, his body started to slowly feel the echoes of exhaustion as if he'd just been in hell.
And so Loki collapsed back into the icy floor underneath him.
Resting in its cool embrace as he tried to relax himself, loosen his guard and let the world around him flow through him once again.
It seemed impossible, but Loki somehow put on a smile on his face and slowly opened his eyes.
"...hmm…wherever we are….we seem to be rather far from home…" Loki joked.
Everyone deadpanned but Perenelle was the only one to smile calmly as she spoke softly, "Welcome back."
Loki nodded.
And that was the end, for now.
…