I, Tom, Won't Take the Fall for Voldemort

Murphy: "Arasaka Corporation searched every inch of the battle zone in the three days after Voldemort died in battle, and they found a Horcrux."

"Then they released the research footage."

"It was a locket. Many runes were carved into the yellow gemstone on the pendant, and at its center was a serpentine S inlaid with emeralds."

"Arasaka Corporation claimed that this was a relic of Slytherin, one of the four oldest great wizards."

"And later, that Voldemort turned it into a Horcrux."

"Arasaka Corporation seemed to know a great deal about Horcruxes. They said it was an evil Dark magic object that required murder to split one's own soul in order to create."

"And the one who possessed a Horcrux possessed an undying body. So long as the Horcrux was not destroyed, that person could be reborn forever."

"When I heard this, hope rose in me. Perhaps that Mr. Voldemort could still be resurrected and make a comeback?"

"However, what Arasaka Corporation was best at was shattering people's hopes."

"Their purpose in releasing the research footage was clearly not to proclaim the power of wizards, but to prove that this ultimate wizard creation was still utterly vulnerable before them."

"They first demonstrated the Horcrux's defensive capabilities. Whether it was hacked with knives and axes, burned by fire, or submerged in water, none of it could harm the Horcrux in the slightest. Even grenades, bombs, and the like could not destroy it."

"But the power of modern technology was far too mighty. Humanity could manufacture high-cycle particle blades that cut steel like rotten earth, could create temperatures of hundreds of millions of degrees, dozens of times hotter than the center of the sun, and could make hydraulic presses with millions of atmospheres of pressure that compressed graphite into diamond in an instant. No substance could withstand such destruction."

"In only an instant, the high-cycle particle blade cut the pendant in half. A black aura rushed out with a shriek, then was vaporized by a laser at tens of millions of degrees."

"Arasaka Corporation said they had verified that Voldemort had made a total of six Horcruxes, five of which had already been found and destroyed."

"As long as the final Horcrux was found, Voldemort, the strongest wizard, would be killed completely. And the war between humans and wizards would come to a complete end. Arasaka Corporation offered a bounty of one billion credits for the final Horcrux, and promised that whoever handed over the Horcrux would ascend to a high position within Arasaka Corporation."

"Perhaps this is my only chance to survive."

"Because I may know the whereabouts of the final Horcrux."

"Perhaps it is this diary in my hands."

Diary: "!!!!"

He was utterly stunned.

The Horcruxes had been destroyed?

Destroyed so easily by Muggles?

More importantly, he had discovered that the diary was a Horcrux?!

And he even seemed to want to hand it in??

At this moment, the diary completely believed the story Murphy had written.

The existence of Horcruxes, their number, and what he planned to use to make them were his most central secrets. He believed his future self could never possibly reveal such secrets so easily.

But now this secret had been made public, and had even become common knowledge.

Other than believing Murphy's story, he had no way to understand this situation.

Murphy: "Horcruxes are not easy to destroy, and from the day I obtained this notebook, it has never suffered wear or damage. There was even one time when I accidentally dropped it into a furnace, yet it was still completely unharmed."

"From that moment on, I knew it was a magical object."

"I tried to obtain some power from it to escape my current predicament."

"However, no matter how I tried, I could not make it reveal its function."

"It truly seemed to be nothing more than a diary."

"In two more days, I will be sixteen. My magic is also becoming harder and harder to control. They will discover my identity very soon, and when that time comes, the only thing waiting for me will be death!"

"The only way to survive may be to hand the notebook over to Arasaka Corporation."

"If I do this, I will betray my own kind."

"I will completely kill the king of wizards and destroy all hope for wizards."

Diary: "..."

That was right. He couldn't hand me over!

The diary almost wanted to scream!

It truly began to worry. That Arasaka Corporation clearly had the ability to destroy Horcruxes.

Once it was handed over, it would definitely be destroyed.

It was burning with anxiety, yet Murphy's words continued.

He also seemed extremely conflicted, needing to use this method to convince himself.

Murphy: "But perhaps this is the fate of wizards."

"From the wizarding war forty years ago, we were actually already doomed to fail."

"We exhausted every means—decapitation strikes, the Imperius Curse, time travel! We killed countless Muggles. At the most insane moment, the wizards even launched a nuclear war. We controlled the nuclear launch codes and dropped fourteen thousand nuclear bombs on the surface."

"The wizards hoped to destroy the living environment on the surface and kill the fragile Muggles, thereby winning the war."

"But we still failed."

"We killed billions of Muggles with nuclear bombs and radiation, yet they still had billions of people!"

"A single Muggle was weak. Any wizard could kill one easily. But there were too many of them, and too few of us. Even if we maintained a casualty ratio of one hundred to one in every battle during the war, it made no difference."

"The number of wizards fell rapidly. Our defeat had long since become inevitable."

"The one who started the Muggle war was once regarded by wizards as a god. Now, he has become a fool spat on by everyone."

"Arasaka Corporation once feared his power and did not make his identity public. But now, when he is about to be killed once and for all, all of us know his name."

"He is Voldemort."

"That idiot who started the war!"

"That fool who brought about our extinction!"

"Perhaps I should hand this diary in. Put an end to this war."

The diary: "!!"

So it was me!

It really was me!!

I actually was the one who started the war!

And yet, thinking it over carefully, it seemed reasonable enough.

He despised Muggles. He had even once been tempted by Grindelwald and had wanted to join the Wizard Supremacist Party. It was just that at the time, he had still been researching the secret of immortality, and he had only been a student. Not to mention Dumbledore had been watching him at school, so he had never been able to put it into practice.

However, the idea of making wizards stand above Muggles, having wizards rule Muggles, and himself rule wizards, had certainly crossed his mind more than a few times.

His future self was absolutely capable of starting such a war.

He simply had not expected that even after using weapons invented by Muggles, he still had not managed to win.

Now he had even fallen to the point of being about to die completely.

No!

The stupid things my future self did can't drag the current me down with him!

What does Voldemort's mess have to do with me, Tom?

At that thought, the diary could no longer hold back.

A line of elegant script appeared on the notebook.

"Wait! Don't betray your own bloodline! There may be another way! Wizards still have hope!"

A long time passed. He did not know exactly how long, and he did not even know whether the other party had seen those words.

Maybe several more days have passed?

Maybe he has already handed me in?

He waited in terror and unease, then displayed another line of words. "Don't you want revenge? Don't you want to control your own magic? I'll teach you dark magic! We can escape!"

Again came a wait of unknown length.

Just as the diary was about to fall into despair, a line of words appeared before his eyes. "What can you teach me?"