Blaspheming Loyalty, Bellatrix Has Gone Mad

On Bellatrix's side, there was churning darkness; on Regulus's side, there was a roaring flame.

Black Mist covered half the floor of the Banquet Hall, and flames burned a territory in the darkness.

The Black Mist corroded his flames, which he constantly replenished.

The flames burned away some of the Black Mist, but they also continued to be replenished from Bellatrix.

Nobody's getting a free ride; everyone's burning through their Magic Power.

The two men, about ten meters apart, began firing at each other.

Bellatrix's Black Arrows materialized from the thick fog and shot out, while Regulus's flames split into fireballs the size of human heads and hurled them at her.

After the fireball shot into the Black Mist, the Black Mist surged up and enveloped it, entangled the fireball, and weakened it.

It wasn't easy; the expansion and explosion of the fireballs would blast the Black Mist apart somewhat, but it was fast enough to consume most of the fireballs before they reached their target.

He then unleashed two more conventional spells, Piercing Curse and Cutting Curse, which shot through the flames toward Bellatrix.

The Black Mist came forward, enveloping the beam of the incantation. The silvery-white light dimmed within the Black Mist and dissipated halfway through its path.

The few that managed to break through the Black Mist were completely absorbed by the Black Barrier before reaching Bellatrix.

Black Arrows shot from the opposite side, and he directed the flames to meet it.

As the arrow passed through the flames, a layer was burned away, making it thinner and weaker, reducing its force significantly when it struck the Shield Charm. After penetrating, its power was minimal; the Shield Charm only flickered slightly.

It can block.

Bellatrix's Magic Fluctuation were doubly blocked by the Black Mist and the Black Barrier, making it impossible for her senses to penetrate.

He couldn't see her energy consumption, but judging from the output speed of the Black Mist and the density of the arrows, her Magic Power circulation was quite stable.

Regulus raised his wand again, gathering the metal fragments.

This time the Transfiguration was faster; the Tungsten Alloy alloy Metal Spike took shape in three seconds, shorter than the previous one, but denser.

It begins to rotate, the speed increases, and the tip becomes white-hot again.

Then he let the flames adhere to it.

A wisp of white-blue flame separated from the flame, wrapped around the spinning Metal Spike, and coiled along the spike from tail to tip.

The flames and the rapidly spinning metal merged into one, the heat wave doubled, and the hum in the air turned into a shriek.

Bellatrix witnessed this scene from deep within the Black Mist, and the slight relief on her face vanished.

Then the Metal Spike shot out.

The flaming Metal Spike through the Black Mist, Black Mist tried to envelop it and entangle the spike, but the flames burned it and the swirling mist flung it away. The Black Mist only managed to envelop it for a moment before being flung away.

Passing through the Black Mist, it crashed into the Black Barrier.

This time, the barrier withstood a much greater impact than before.

The explosion was larger, the flames were brighter, and the shockwave cleared a large area of the surrounding Black Mist.

The Magic Power of the white and blue flames and the Black Barrier intertwined, and the high temperature burned a bright spot on the surface of the barrier.

The dark patterns on the barrier's surface brightened dramatically as it absorbed the energy of the explosion, but this time, the absorption reached saturation.

The barrier trembled, and a tiny gap briefly appeared in a small area, rapidly healing itself as the explosion subsided. Regulus noticed it.

The explosion blinded everyone's vision. In that blinding white light, his wand pointed at the healing gap, Piercing Curse. The spell didn't travel in a straight line; the instant it left the tip of the wand, it entered Spatial Channel, skipping the distance in between and the healing barrier gap, striking Bellatrix directly through the opening.

A pale beam of light pierced through her left shoulder, entered through her chest, and exited through her back, leaving a cloud of blood mist.

Bellatrix stumbled backward, her left foot slipped half a step, and her wand nearly slipped from her hand.

She glanced down at her left shoulder; the wound was bleeding, but only for a few seconds.

Black Mist surged up from her feet, climbed up her legs, up her waist, up her shoulders, and seeped into her wounds, filling them in.

The mist mingled with the ruptured muscle tissue, and black filaments intertwined inside the wound to form a temporary filler, blocking the blood and filling the wound. The flames and debris dissipated, revealing Bellatrix's figure.

Her gaze pierced through the churning Black Mist, fixed intently on Regulus.

His eyes held pain, surprise, and something new: apprehension.

These two Magic were personally taught to me by my the Master.

The Black Mist and Black Barrier —since she was able to use them, no one had ever been able to break them on the first encounter, or injure her.

Whether they were Auror from the Ministry of Magic or Mudblood who thought they could resist, they all fell into the Black Mist, were corroded to nothing, and were nailed to the wall.

But Regulus was able to spot the flaw and exploit it within minutes.

He used that evil Transfiguration imbued with sinister flames to blast a crack in the dark barrier, then used a Piercing Curse to pierce through the crack and instantly strike her shoulder. There was a reason why her the Master valued him; therefore, she had to defeat him even more.

Her eyes turned fierce, and the dark light on her wand intensified.

Regulus stood in the flames, watching her.

She was injured; her Left Arm was temporarily useless, but her right hand was still there, her wand was still there, the Black Mist was still circulating, and the gap in the Black Barrier had healed. Her fighting ability remained intact.

Moreover, her emotions...

He observed Bellatrix's expression.

There was anger, there was fear, but there was also reason in her eyes.

Despite the beating, her reaction wasn't one of losing control; instead, she became even calmer.

The attacks are more ruthless, the spells are more powerful, and Dark Arts has been switched, elevating the level significantly, but essentially it's still a tactical upgrade.

Her emotions were still under control.

The problem remains the same: it's not crazy enough.

Bellatrix, being rational, uses Dark Arts; it's powerful and troublesome, but that's about it.

Bellatrix's madness and use of Dark Arts are exactly what he needs.

He needed her to lose her judgment, needed her to act recklessly.

The next moment, Bellatrix moved.

The Black Mist surged and expanded instantly, no longer spreading along the ground as before, but expanding simultaneously from all directions, rising upwards and spreading outwards. The mist spread from the ground to the dome, from the ruins of the walls to every broken stone Black Mist, filling the remaining space of the Banquet Hall. Darkness swallowed all light except for the flames.

People outside can't see anything anymore.

Orion's barrier was covered by Black Mist, leaving only a small patch of light visible from the inside of the silver barrier, blocking the spreading Black Mist Sirius's hand clenched tightly on his robe, and Narcissa took a step closer to Lucius, Lucius held his wand horizontally in front of him.

Walburga gripped Orion's hand tightly, his hand trembling slightly.

Only two lights remained in the Banquet Hall.

A ball of white-blue flames rolled around Regulus, burning in the darkness and illuminating an area of several meters in radius.

The other was a dark light from the tip of Bellatrix's staff, gleaming in the darkness a dozen meters away.

Regulus's lips twitched slightly.

It's completely covered; people outside can't see inside.

very good.

He instantly activated the Sidestep Charm and the Sprint Charm, switching between them in quick succession, leaving a straight trail of flame in the Black Mist.

He moved swiftly through the darkness, passing through the churning Black Mist, and arrived directly two meters outside Bellatrix's barrier.

Bellatrix saw the flames approaching and assumed he was about to attack head-on. She raised her chin slightly, but her mouth wasn't fully open in a grin.

A ball of light exploded outside the barrier.

With a slight flick of his other hand, he created a Spatial Warp, opening a tiny window—the size of a pinhead—on Bellatrix's Black Barrier for less than three tenths of a second.

That's enough.

The light shone through the window.

Bellatrix saw the light.

Her eyes were illuminated by the white light in the darkness, causing her pupils to contract instantly and the darkness on her irises to be diluted.

The essence of Light Magic is information writing.

Light enters the retina, which transmits the signal to the brain. While processing the visual signal, the brain receives the information embedded in the light. The Shield Charm Shield Charm cannot block light, nor can it filter the information within the light. Black Barrier may or may not be able to.

But Regulus, seeking the best of a safer option, decided to accept it.

In a very brief instant, the information was sent.

It's a very simple thought: your the Master doesn't need your loyalty.

Bellatrix's brain processed the thought as her own within a fraction of a second.

A voice deep within her consciousness was saying, "He doesn't need you."

Then she saw a scene that her own brain automatically generated in response to that thought.

She saw her the Master sitting in a high-backed chair, and she knelt at his feet, as she had done countless times before. She was speaking, reporting, and expressing her loyalty. Her the Master did not look at her.

The Master was looking elsewhere—out the window, at the wand in his hand, in any direction—but not at her.

Then the Master, with his back to her, was talking to someone whose face she couldn't see.

That the Dark Lord's voice was flat, so flat it was almost contemptuous.

she?

Her loyalty was worthless.

The Master did not refute.

She called out, "The Master."

There was no response.

She called out again, this time louder and more urgent.

Still no.

The image disappeared; the entire process took less than half a second.

Bellatrix's eyes widened suddenly.

Her body froze, the wand still pointing forward, but her fingers were still, her breathing stopped, and she was completely still.

Then she realized that the thought wasn't hers; she couldn't possibly have had that thought.

Her loyalty to her the Master grew from her very soul; it was the sole reason for her existence, her identity, her faith, and the meaning of every morning when she opened her eyes.

The saying "Your the Master doesn't need your loyalty" doesn't apply to her.

Someone has slept with her.

Someone, in a way she didn't know, slashed the most sacred bond between her and her the Master.

This bond is everything to her.

Her loyalty to her the Master was not a choice, an attitude, or a stance.

That is her; that is the very definition of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Someone touched this thing.

Someone left a mark on this thing.

Bellatrix's face changed.

The smile froze on her face, then became distorted, and finally transformed into something she couldn't control.

Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. The muscles in her throat were spasming; her teeth clenched and unclenched repeatedly. The muscles above her cheekbones began to twitch uncontrollably, pulling upwards along with the corner of her right eye, but not her left. For a moment, her entire face became asymmetrical.

Something shattered in her eye.

Blasphemy.

Someone has desecrated her loyalty.

"How dare you—" Her voice was forced out of her throat, distorted by rage. "How dare you touch that!!"

Her Magic Power exploded.

Dark Magic Power surged from her body, shattering the Black Barrier as the Magic Power spiraled out of control. Fragments bounced outwards, piercing through the Black Mist she herself had spread out. Regulus watched her, watched the Black Mist churn uncontrollably around her, watched the light in her eyes change completely. She was enraged, utterly out of control, and had finally gone mad.

This is exactly what he wanted.