Twelve Prisoners (Seeking Collection)

Chapter 029

"Perhaps I will soon be known as the Third Generation Dark Lord."

Li Mu muttered to himself.

Victory makes the king, defeat makes the bandit. Before he conquered the Wizarding World, he was the Dark Lord. Once he conquered it, the title of Third Generation Dark Lord would leave him, and he would become the sole Wizard Emperor of the Wizarding World.

With a casual Polymorph Spell, a large stone nearby transformed into a sofa.

Li Mu sat on the soft sofa, fusing the Elder Wand while waiting for the Basilisk that had gone out to hunt.

He didn't wait long before he heard a crawling sound from one of the pipes.

Avada Kedavra!

Before the Basilisk could even poke its head out, Li Mu had already cast a Killing Curse, amplified by the Elder Wand to LV8.

The moment the black-green light hit the Basilisk's head, it lost all life.

Although Basilisks could be immune to most magic, the Killing Curse was clearly not within their range of magical immunity.

Li Mu checked but found no fire seeds dropped, so he regretfully put away the Basilisk's corpse.

He Apparated away from Hogwarts on the spot.

Knockturn Alley, Borgin and Burkes.

Mr. Borgin, who was worrying about Gold Galleons in the basement, suddenly felt a surge of magic power from above.

He left the basement and saw a strange Easterner standing in the shop.

The shop door was locked and undamaged. The stranger who appeared inside could only have entered via Apparition.

Mr. Borgin was about to question him when he suddenly noticed the stranger's attire, which was the same as the Mysterious Wizard who had left an hour ago. The height and build were also similar, only the wand in his hand had changed.

"Have you considered it?"

Li Mu pointed his wand at Mr. Borgin.

Mr. Borgin almost instantly activated an Alchemy Necklace enchanted with the Iron Skin Charm. However, it had no effect. He collapsed to the ground, convulsing violently, feeling as if every bone in his body was being smashed bit by bit, and his flesh was being continuously ground down.

The immense, excruciating pain made Mr. Borgin feel that life was worse than death.

After a full ten seconds, Li Mu finally ended the Cruciatus Curse he had cast on Mr. Borgin.

Ranked alongside the Killing Curse and the Imperius Curse, the pain of the Cruciatus Curse far surpassed childbirth. Even the most resolute wizard would go mad from the torment of the Cruciatus Curse. If the curse lasted a little longer, it would be enough to torture someone to death.

A character like Borgin, who thrives in Knockturn Alley, wouldn't behave without a little... persuasion.

"Have you considered it?"

Li Mu asked again.

Borgin collapsed on the ground, nodding frantically. The Cruciatus Curse wasn't a Dark Magic with direct killing power; the Iron Skin Charm could easily block it. Yet, the Iron Skin Charm on him just now had been pierced as if it were made of paper.

He had encountered powerful Dark Wizards before.

Voldemort himself had worked at his shop when he was young. He was certain even Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse wouldn't be this potent. He even wondered if Dumbledore was truly dead.

"How many wizards are in Knockturn Alley?"

Li Mu asked.

Before Borgin could answer, Li Mu shook his head and looked directly at Borgin.

His Legilimency, originally Level 6, had reached Level 8 with the amplification of the Elder Wand, coupled with the boost to spell power from his vast Magic Power. He had directly seen Borgin's memories through Legilimency, seeing his fear and terror, and Borgin's knowledge of Knockturn Alley.

He had to admit, Legilimency was truly useful.

For anyone much weaker than him, standing before him meant having no secrets.

Of course, one couldn't rely on Legilimency entirely. Some wizards were skilled in Occlumency, able to hide their true thoughts and even weave false memories. Wasn't that how Snape deceived Voldemort's Legilimency and became a spy back then?

Li Mu took out the shrunken Miracle Building, Azkaban, and cast the Imperius Curse on the twelve prisoners within.

He then took out twelve wands, transforming them into Kindling Wands through the Anchor of Fantasy.

Finally, he produced some healing potions. Soon, the released twelve prisoners were full of vigor.

These twelve wizards were the elite among all Azkaban prisoners, capable of escaping the Fiendfyre-scorched Azkaban back then. Besides Sirius Black and another unknown wizard, the remaining ten were elites among the Death Eaters who had followed Voldemort.

Therefore, the strength of these twelve wizards was not weak, and with the Kindling Wands, they were even more formidable.

Simultaneously controlling the mental consciousness of twelve wizards with the Imperius Curse was a huge burden, even with the Elder Wand in hand.

Divided into pairs and assigned tasks, the twelve prisoners each cast the Illusionary Body Curse and left Borgin and Burkes.

They would scout Knockturn Alley and then track wizards leaving the alley.

Finally, they would capture them secretly and send them all to Azkaban.

If he handled it personally, the speed would undoubtedly be faster.

But he currently lacked means to control subordinates. While martial deterrence and Gold Galleons could win over many wizards, there was no guarantee some wouldn't betray him the moment they turned around. Therefore, he needed a method of control to hold the life and death of those unruly and difficult-to-subdue wizards.

In the end, he would employ a two-pronged approach: primarily winning them over with favors, and secondarily controlling their life and death.

Voldemort controlled the Death Eaters who followed him using the Dark Mark branded onto their skin.

Snape's Dark Mark had been studied, requiring very profound Magic Power to cast.

He could now cast the Dark Mark, but it was Voldemort's Dark Mark.

While the Twelve Prisoners were out capturing Wizards, he had the perfect opportunity to design a magical mark exclusively for himself.

Its appearance was a black Phoenix. The magical mark needed to possess perception and communication abilities. Neither of these abilities was difficult to add. The truly difficult part was controlling life and death with the magical mark. He racked his brain but couldn't come up with a good method for this.

Finally, his attention shifted to Alchemy, specifically to Alchemical Enchantment.

There was a special type of Alchemical Enchantment that could empower a spell on the skin through an Enchanted Tattoo.

When it was first created, the creator of the Enchanted Tattoo believed they had ushered in a new era of magic.

However, the Enchanted Tattoo was soon abandoned. Firstly, the difficulty of creating an Enchanted Tattoo was extremely high. Secondly, the limit of spells that could be enchanted was only the Iron Skin Charm. Lastly, spells enchanted onto an Enchanted Tattoo could only be cast once.

The benefits gained were vastly disproportionate to the price paid, even inferior to a disposable Enchanted Alchemy Item.

The Wizard who created the Enchanted Tattoo later considered improving these flaws.

However, human skin was too fragile, and the strength of the Enchanted Tattoo could never be effectively improved.

"Skin won't do, what about bone?"

Li Mu mused.

Bones could also be tattooed, even increasing the strength of the Enchanted Tattoo.

But it was still the same problem: the spell carried by the Enchanted Tattoo could not be used repeatedly. In fact, if an Iron Skin Charm was enchanted onto a bone tattoo, when the Iron Skin Charm was activated, it would activate directly between the bone and flesh. The result would be the flesh being repelled by the Iron Skin Charm, causing separation of flesh and bone.