Eternal Life

As the flames continued to rise, Riddle's body grew more and more ethereal.

Until his body was almost transparent, barely able to maintain human form, Cyberlina waved her wand with a small, subtle movement—the flames extinguished.

Riddle, enduring intense pain, floated up and discovered others in the room—Harry and the Potions professor sat beside Cyberlina in order, Dumbledore stood to the rear-left of Cyberlina's chair, looking at him with complex eyes.

In an instant, Riddle understood everything.

The diary wasn't discarded or lost by Ginny as he had thought, it was taken deliberately. Cyberlina's conversation with him wasn't a coincidence because Harry found the diary; this was a premeditated action!

"Tom..." Seeing Riddle's drastically changed expression, Dumbledore knew he had understood. He then further explained, "Cyberlina asked me to keep an eye on Miss Weasley during the start-of-term feast."

Riddle: "!"

Cyberlina added, "I chose today because I noticed your soul had recovered quite a bit."

Enough to be burned by you?

--Harry thought to himself.

The long-lost pain stimulated Riddle's soul, making him calmer than ever, but also more frenzied. He knew he was now a prisoner in this room, facing certain death. And since Cyberlina could currently read his thoughts, acting was useless. So—instead of futile begging, he might as well go out with a bang, and before being destroyed, add a spark of trouble for this seemingly united teacher and student.

He wasn't afraid of Cyberlina catching this thought, after all, only Cyberlina could know his thoughts, not Dumbledore. He knew deeply how hypocritical and suspicious this seemingly kind person was, and he vividly remembered the apprehension in his eyes when he discovered himself asking the portrait about Cyberlina's deeds.

Riddle stood upright in the air, mobilizing the remaining strength within him to make his upper body clearer—he realized then that the strange white flame was burning not only the life force Cyberlina had given him, but also his own meager soul.

What a powerful person.

Insightful, skilled in magic, profound in soul, even—master of life, transcending death.

Riddle looked at Cyberlina's face again, younger than in his memory, and laughed with a dark, slightly deranged tone, "Cyberlina... Sekerei--Madam Sekerei! Your student, Dumbledore once warned me that immortality does not exist, and death is unavoidable... You, who have long since sent out the message of death, what is happening now—don't tell me it's some age-reducing potion or a spell to change your appearance! You clearly aren't! You—Ha! Those studies—"

Riddle's face contorted, but at the same time, there was clear joy.

"So it's because of your research, your research on souls! So my direction was correct, and I—"

Dumbledore frowned, glanced at Harry, who was sitting upright, and raised his hand to tap the back of Harry's head in the air. Harry suddenly yawned, his eyes glazed over, his body swayed left and right, and finally, he lay down on a small sofa that had transformed from the chair beneath him. Snape looked at Dumbledore questioningly. Dumbledore shook his head, indicating he could continue listening.

"—Through your research and those books, I also succeeded in preserving myself—you succeeded, so I, who am even more advanced than you, must have succeeded too!"

"No, Albus is right, child, death is unavoidable." Cyberlina looked at Riddle's slightly twisted face, staring at the foul stench emanating from the depths of his soul, and smiled gently. "You've seen me before, where?"

"To be precise, your photograph." Riddle thought of that photo hanging on the wall, repeatedly damaged and repaired, then destroyed again, and sneered, "Your photograph, torn to shreds."

"Oh, Marvolo..." Cyberlina nodded in understanding.

Riddle froze, immediately averted his gaze, and thought in disbelief: Could my proud Occlumency have failed? Dumbledore back then didn't even... It's probably because Cyberlina is controlling my soul right now—

"No, it's because my Legilimency is much, much better than Albus's from decades ago." Cyberlina glanced at Dumbledore, then at the sleeping Harry, before turning back. "I am not like this because of immortality, Mr. Riddle. You know I've researched souls deeply... I can tell you clearly, your act of splitting your soul is only accelerating your demise."

Dumbledore: Hmm, Cyberlina has interrupted Tom impolitely multiple times now. It seems her dislike for him is far greater than for Lockhart.

"Ha, impossible! Your research does indeed involve soul separation—"

"You don't need to waste your breath trying to sow discord, Mr. Riddle. Albus knows what I've done, and he's even seen me extract a soul from a human body." Cyberlina tilted her head slightly, looking with polite yet mocking eyes at Riddle, who was avoiding her gaze. "You're a clever child, you saw that Albus suspects you and is wary of you. But why would you think he shouldn't be, and why would you think he's wary of you based on my 'precedent'?"

Before Cyberlina had even finished her first sentence, Dumbledore was already looking at her speechlessly—is revealing something she extracted from his mind with Legilimency something to be proud of?

After listening to Cyberlina's next sentence, Dumbledore immediately turned to look at Riddle's phantom, surprised—when did he ever show that he suspected him of being a bad child because of Cyberlina?

Riddle remained silent, not understanding why Cyberlina had suddenly shifted the topic to this. Did it have anything to do with immortality?

"Tom—oh, I hope you don't mind me calling you that. I'm not speaking up for Albus, I just know he isn't someone who acts without reason. He targets you because you must have done something." Cyberlina gently clapped her hands on the diary. "And look, his suspicion isn't wrong, is it?"

"But if it weren't for him, I—"

"Don't say things like that, Tom. Nothing is an excuse for you to do bad things. See your own heart clearly, and don't make excuses for your downfall."

Dumbledore paused, his lips tightening.

"Look at this, Tom." Cyberlina raised her hand and sent the diary floating into the air, letting it drift in front of Riddle. "Did you open the Chamber of Secrets and kill classmates, and then do this—become who you are now to bewitch younger students, all because Albus treated you badly?"

Riddle was speechless. He looked at the diary floating before him, feeling something was wrong. What did these things have to do with Dumbledore? Shouldn't we be discussing—Wait, it has nothing to do with Dumbledore?

Cyberlina subtly raised an eyebrow and continued, "If Albus had treated you kindly, would you not have sought out Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets?"

Cyberlina slowly stood up, her hands clasped around the hilt of her wand at her abdomen, tilting her head up slightly.

"If Albus had never questioned you, would you not have sought the origin of your blood?"

Cyberlina took a step forward, and the diary, which had been between them, floated to the side. Riddle once again met those eyes that had never lost their smile.

"If Albus believed you were a good child, would the facade of goodness you put on be real?"

Cyberlina took another step forward. Under the gaze of those pale golden-brown eyes, Riddle, whose upper body was clear, subconsciously drifted back a little. At the same time, he realized a problem—Cyberlina had definitely seen all his memories!

Then why... did she deliberately ask him where he had seen her just now?

"If Albus's wariness wasn't there—" Cyberlina chuckled and stepped forward again, "—would you not have named yourself Voldemort?"

Riddle was struck dumb.

In the bright light, in this rather spacious room, his vision was a blur of light. The only thing he could see clearly was Cyberlina, backlit. The only thing he could focus on were her eyes—and in those eyes, there was nothing but a smile. That unknown blankness sent a chill from the depths of his soul once more. Her pale eyes, almost invisible against the light, were extremely eerie. The invisible pressure made his soul tremble uncontrollably, and he involuntarily spoke—

"No."

"See." Cyberlina smiled. "Everything Albus did had no effect on you. His suspicion was correct, and it should have been. You were a bad child from start to finish."

Riddle's lips trembled. Lacking a physical form, he inexplicably felt a cold sweat breaking out all over his back.

Imperius Curse?

No, it wasn't. If it were the Imperius Curse, he wouldn't have felt nothing—no, that wasn't the point right now—none of this made sense!

Why would she ask him that? Was it really just to make him see his inner self, or whatever nonsense that was? But then why bring up Dumbledore so many times—

Riddle looked up sharply at Dumbledore, only to find him looking at Cyberlina with a complex expression. Cyberlina, meanwhile, turned her head and smiled at Dumbledore. "Is my testimony enough to clear that tall half-giant's name, Albus? Do you want my memories, or do you need me to accompany you to the Ministry of Magic?"

Dumbledore lowered his head slightly, took a deep breath, and then looked up at Cyberlina again. "It's more than enough. If you want to see the Ministry of Magic as it is now, you can come with me."

It was more than enough to clear Hagrid's name…

Dumbledore forced his emotions down.

He knew Cyberlina was making him clear his own name—she was counseling him.

He just didn't know when she had managed to glimpse his thoughts.

"...You went through all this just to clear the name of that filthy half-giant?" Riddle asked incredulously. There were more incredulous things he didn't say, because he didn't think Dumbledore would have any psychological burden from that—from the suspicion he'd harbored for years.

"If you wish, you can also consider this me counseling you," Cyberlina turned back, looking gently at Riddle. "But I suspect you won't accept my good intentions."

"Good intentions?" Riddle sounded annoyed. "How could what you said be good intentions towards me!?"

"Didn't you just think it yourself? That I wanted you to see your own heart."

"I always! Knew what I was doing!" Riddle glared at Cyberlina. "I want eternal life, I want power, I want to be forever undying! I see perfectly clearly! And there's nothing wrong with that!"

Cyberlina continued to look at Riddle calmly and gently, smiling. "'Undying,' what does that mean? There is no eternal life in this world, but souls are indelible. If you truly desire eternal life, then you can certainly fear death and become a ghost wandering this world, doing nothing. If you simply want to gain power, then countless ancient texts welcome you."

Cyberlina reached out and recalled the diary.

"But that's not you, child."

"...What?"

"You are not pursuing eternal life, nor are you pursuing power," Cyberlina lowered her head, opened the diary, and gently touched the name Riddle had left behind. "Tom Marvolo Riddle, you are simply afraid of not gaining power, afraid of being mediocre, afraid of being beneath others, afraid of death—while at the same time, you dare not admit you fear them, because you consider yourself strong."

"What nonsense are you talking about!"

Cyberlina's calmness made Riddle even more agitated, as it made him look like he was throwing a tantrum in front of her.

"Your future is incomplete and ugly. Others obey you because of your control and methods, but they also fear you. You think you have gained followers, but in reality, most of them are prisoners wanting to escape their cells."

Cyberlina looked up, smiling at Riddle.

"Ever since you chose to split your soul and abandon your past, your future was destined to be filled with failure."

"Cyberlina Sekerei—"

Cyberlina waved her wand slightly, and Riddle's mouth was forcibly shut, but his thoughts were filled with curses.

"Don't be so agitated, be civilized... Think it over, Tom. You're smart enough to figure it out."

With that, Cyberlina tapped the diary with her wand. Riddle's phantom form twisted and spun in the air before being sucked into the diary.

"Snap!"

Cyberlina closed the diary once more.

Silence returned to the room.

"Don't worry, Severus. He hadn't figured out the trick when he split his soul, so this young Mr. Tom isn't connected to his main soul," Cyberlina looked at Snape and winked. "Besides, knowing a few little secrets about your former boss, isn't that interesting?"

Snape, who had been hesitating about whether to cast a Silencing Charm on himself, but ultimately listened to the entire conversation: "..."

Honestly, it was quite interesting.

But the problem was that his former boss was very likely to become his future boss.

She must have known that, hadn't she?

Snape had also looked at Dumbledore many times during the process, only to find him completely permissive towards him. With a mix of confusion and speculation—did he have a plan different from before?

"Severus, take Harry back to the dormitory."

"What?" Snape stared at Dumbledore, pointing at Harry, who was lying on the small sofa. "Me? Him? A Gryffindor—take him back to the Gryffindor dormitory? Dumbledore, has your brain finally been clogged with sugar?"

Dumbledore paused, and Cyberlina burst out laughing.

Cyberlina walked forward and tucked the diary she was holding into the pocket of Harry's school robe.

"Severus, take Harry out and have Minerva pick him up. She's probably still worried. Personally escorting Harry back to his dormitory will allow her to rest with peace of mind."

Snape pouted, cast a disgusted glance at Harry, who was sleeping soundly, then raised his wand and levitated Harry out of the Room of Requirement.

As he reached the door, Snape glanced again at the metal ring-like object on the door he had seen before, and then paused—it seemed to have some scorch marks on it now, more than before.