Within Seven Steps, the Witch's Blade Is Faster

Voldemort's reactions were incredibly swift, and his experience was exceptionally rich.

Facing the smoke and the unknown danger, he did not move about blindly, but instead waved his wand casually.

Harley did not hear Voldemort chant any spell, yet she felt a great wind whip up out of thin air within the room, dispersing the smoke.

At the same time, clusters of fierce black flames, filled with the aura of destruction and curses, erupted from the tip of Voldemort's wand.

The flames mercilessly ignited all the threads Harley had released and coalesced into a giant serpent of fire, coiling around Voldemort.

"These little tricks are useless against me!" Voldemort's voice rang out, but Harley remained unmoved.

What Harley wanted right now was to consume Voldemort's time and energy.

There must be many limitations to fighting immediately after forcibly occupying someone else's body, not to mention that earlier in the Forbidden Forest, Voldemort's aura had suddenly surged, likely due to the use of a life-risking forbidden technique.

Therefore, Harley was quite certain that Voldemort could not sustain a prolonged battle. His various aggressive displays up to this point were likely intended to provoke her and make her lose her composure.

Thus, Harley retreated rather than advanced, sticking to guerrilla tactics.

Seeing that Harley seemed prepared to engage in a war of attrition, Voldemort grew somewhat anxious. He was a bit mad, but he was not stupid.

It could be said that to reach this point, Voldemort was undoubtedly a highly intelligent existence.

If nothing else, among the Dark Magic spells Voldemort had invented, there were many that even Dumbledore could not fully comprehend.

Although this was partly due to specialization, it was enough to reflect Voldemort's intellect.

Therefore, he had been keeping track of the situation on the field, clearly seeing through the intentions of the masked girl.

But what use was that? Earlier in the Forbidden Forest, he could still see through the girl's Disillusionment Charm.

But now, in order to control Quirrell's body, he had placed a great burden on his shattered soul.

And the level of the girl's Disillusionment Charm seemed to have improved further, making it impossible for Voldemort to locate her position in the short term.

Voldemort gritted his teeth and squeezed the body's life force once more. The giant Fiendfyre serpent exploded instantly, spreading in all directions, attempting to cover every corner of the room.

The flames at the room's entrance fluctuated violently; forced by these relentless attacks, Harley broke her invisibility and rushed out of the room.

Voldemort's expression was grim, and he pursued her without hesitation.

He had already realized that he currently lacked the ability to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone from the Mirror of Erised.

And this little girl of unknown identity might be the key to him obtaining the stone. Therefore, he had to capture her.

"You cannot escape, little mouse!" Voldemort's voice rang out by Harley's ear once again.

"Do not dream of waiting for Dumbledore's support; I dared to hunt the Unicorn tonight precisely because that old thief is not here!

So you are isolated and helpless tonight! Listen to my command now, and I may yet spare your life and let you become a glorious Death Eater!

Since you are so skilled in magic, you must be a member of a noble pure-blood family, qualified to join the ranks of the Death Eaters!"

However, Harley remained unmoved, continuously laying down one thread after another burning with black flames behind her.

At the same time, seven black flames swirled around Harley, spinning constantly as they bombarded Voldemort.

Voldemort waved his wand with ease, letting the Fiendfyre burn through the layers of obstacles before him. These little tricks could cause him no harm at all.

But this severely slowed Voldemort's pace. Quirrell's body was already riddled with holes and incredibly fragile, lacking the agility Harley possessed after being strengthened by the Assassin pathway.

Moreover, Voldemort did not usually engage in running training, as he mostly traveled by riding the wind when hunting others. The remaining magic in this body could not withstand such extravagance!

Voldemort's face grew increasingly grim, as if he had reached his limit.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks, pointed his wand at Harley's retreating back, and seemed to have made a decision.

If he could not have it, he would destroy it; killing her was better than letting her go out to report to the professors.

"Avada Kedavra!"

A dazzling green light streaked through the air, instantly crossing the short distance and pointing straight at Harley's back.

Harley's spirituality screamed in alarm, and she felt as if death were imminent.

She reacted in time, her hair growing wildly to block behind her, striving to defend against this spell.

However, Harley miscalculated; the spell took effect the moment it touched her hair.

Harley felt as if she had fallen into an icy abyss the instant she made contact with the curse.

It was as if she had returned to many years ago, when she was exploring the tomb of a high-level powerhouse of the Death Pathway. She had experienced this feeling once before.

Harley fell forward, and at the same time, her Magic Mirror Substitute activated automatically, disappearing from the spot. In its place was a shattered mirror.

Seeing the curse hit the back of the girl's head, Voldemort turned away without looking back.

He could sense that there was no longer any life force nearby, and he was confident that the power of his Killing Curse could slaughter anything.

Except for that inexplicable Harley Potter!

Voldemort returned to the Mirror of Erised, frowning as he faced the glass.

He dared not use brute force to break through like he had with the other chambers. After all, the Philosopher's Stone was likely inside the mirror; if he broke the mirror, his efforts would be in vain.

After casting several more spells to no effect, Voldemort began to lose his patience.

Previously, out of caution, he had only dared to let Quirrell scout the location of the Unicorn and wound it, thereby obtaining a limited amount of Unicorn blood.

For some unknown reason, Dumbledore had suddenly left the school tonight, which was why he had dared to order Quirrell to go to the Forbidden Forest to kill a Unicorn and drink its blood to his heart's content.

As it turned out, Dumbledore wasn't there, but they had run into someone else spying on them, and that useless Quirrell had even had his face seen.

Therefore, Voldemort had no choice but to bite the bullet, take over Quirrell's body, and forcibly steal the Philosopher's Stone while completely unprepared.

He still hadn't gathered enough information, and he had no idea when Dumbledore would return. Thus, every single second was incredibly precious.

Voldemort finally made up his mind: he would simply carry the mirror and run!

Besides, he was using Quirrell's body; who would ever know that the Dark Lord had done such a thing!

He walked up to the mirror. Lord Voldemort would certainly not do the manual labor himself; magic was the best tool for the job.

However, Voldemort still needed to perform one more check on the mirror to avoid any accidents.

As Voldemort gripped the frame with both hands and prepared to cast a spell, he saw a girl in the reflection whom he had never seen in the mirror before.

It seemed he had only ever seen her in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class.

She was that Harley Potter, the one who supposedly defeated him.

Why was she here?

Several thoughts flashed through Voldemort's mind, but before he could react, he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his chest.

He looked down and saw a slender, jade-white hand gripping a dinner knife wreathed in Black Flame, plunged deep into his chest.

Blood was slowly trickling down, though not much, as most of it was being consumed by Voldemort to trade for power.

Before he lost consciousness, a playful voice rang out: "Lord Voldemort, within seven steps, a witch's blade is faster!"

(Thanks to Lin Xili for the tip!)

(Thanks to Nine-Tailed Flame Fox for the tip!)