Charm Offensive
Skylar suppressed his regret and disappointment, constantly reminding himself that this woman was not May, but Morgan le Fay!
"Selwyn, aren't you coming over here!" Morgan's cold voice shattered the silence.
Selwyn stood up tremblingly. Even under the thick black cloak, his trembling was evident in the bright moonlight. He seemed to take a step, but hesitated.
Among the 100 men in black robes standing behind Morgan, one of the women in the very front row lifted the brim of her hat, revealing the face of a middle-aged woman—it was Lady Selwyn.
Her official identity is Selwyn's wife, but in reality, she is a spy planted by the Shadow of the Magic Dragon within various Pure-blood families. Judging from her position in the first row of the formation, her status within the Shadow of the Magic Dragon is probably not low. Her marriage to Selwyn was arranged by the organization, but people are still made of flesh and blood. After being married to Selwyn for many years and living together day and night, it is impossible for her to be completely without feelings for her husband.
Seeing her man's indecisive look, she could easily guess what Selwyn was thinking. Given the obvious power disparity between the two sides, Selwyn had already been tempted, but having witnessed Voldemort's methods, his fear of Voldemort was deeply ingrained, so he could not overcome his fear and thus hesitated to take that step.
So, she mustered her courage and said loudly, "Trelawyn, you better come here right now! Believe me, with adults around, no one can hurt you."
Upon hearing his beloved wife's voice, Selwyn as if he had suddenly found his anchor. He quickened his pace and ran, stumbling and crawling, towards Morgan and Barbarossa's camp.
"You're asking for death!" Voldemort roared coldly. Betrayed, Voldemort was instantly enraged, and with a flick of his wrist, he unleashed a deadly Killing Curse aimed directly at Selwyn's back. Although Voldemort, facing a shortage of manpower, understood the value of human resources, that didn't mean he could tolerate such blatant betrayal before his very eyes.
The Killing Curse was Voldemort's signature move. It could be said that, in the world today, unless Death or his successor were resurrected, no one could wield the Killing Curse better than Voldemort.
Voldemort's Killing Curse was not only fast and accurate, but also extremely powerful and penetrating. Even Dumbledore needed a large, animated bronze statue to block it.
Speaking of this, a few fools in the wizarding world once thought that the principle of the Killing Curse was simply to harvest souls. So they tried stuffing tiny creatures, such as Flobberworm and ground beetles, into the linings of their robes, thinking that these small creatures' lives could be taken by the Killing Curse in their place. The result was...
They were blown to smithereens, insects and humans alike.
The green light formed by the Killing Curse arrived less than a foot behind Selwyn with lightning speed. Just as the Killing Curse was about to strike Selwyn's back, a faint, mysterious murmur rang out in the air, and a strange, pitch-black vortex suddenly appeared behind Selwyn.
The vortex was like a black hole that devoured everything. The green light that was as powerful as thunder and lightning a second ago disappeared without a trace as soon as it plunged into the center of the vortex. It couldn't kill Selwyn, and it couldn't even make a ripple in the air around the vortex.
Voldemort narrowed his eyes, and the blinding red light in his pupils subtly diminished.
His most prized and invincible Killing Curse failed twice tonight. Moreover, both failures were inextricably linked to magic related to other dimensions.
He wasn't truly dull-witted. He had simply been powerful for so long that it had fostered an unbridled arrogance. When he launched the First Wizarding War, no one except Dumbledore could rival him; even Moody, the first Auror warrior, couldn't last ten rounds against him.
Over time, he became accustomed to a combat style that relied on overwhelming strength to crush his enemies. Tonight's encounter, however, prompted him to reflect on himself—had his over-reliance on brute force revealed a weakness in his practical combat skills?
What he didn't know at that moment was that this reflection would allow him to take another big step forward on his path to further magical advancement.
Morgan first gave a strange smile before turning to Skylar and speaking, her voice surprisingly melodious and Meredith, "Long time no see, Skylar— "
Although Skylar's face remained expressionless, his eyes twitched incessantly; he was trying hard to suppress his emotions.
He knew that the situation tonight had become extremely dangerous. If he made even the slightest mistake due to a loss of composure, it could lead to consequences he couldn't bear. However, that all-too-familiar voice still felt like a sudden, sharp pain in his heart.
"You're also a master of spatial magic," Morgan gazed tenderly at Skylar, like a lover's eyes, filled with affection, and said in the gentlest tone, "Tell me, how does my 'Magic-Devouring Vortex' compare to your 'Moon Shifts, Stars Move'?"
Skylar's face turned deathly pale, and with a hiss, he spat out a small mouthful of blood. The aura that had reached its peak in his repeated battles with Voldemort was noticeably weakened.
What a brilliant psychological maneuver!
Morgan's enchantment was even more terrifying than that of Pure-blood Veela. It was magic that ancient wizards had taken from the ancestors of the Veela, the legendary extinct Harpy, the Siren. It could be said to be even purer than the innate enchanting talent in the bloodline of Pure-blood Veela.
Even more impressively, she incorporated mind magic techniques from Legilimency to invade the mind and memories. By combining the characteristics of both charm and mind magic, her seductive arts broke through Skylar's defenses almost instantly.
Of course, as a high-level brain-sealing master and a master of mental magic, Skylar had also studied magic similar to "Absolute Dominion," so his mental defenses should not have been so weak.
However, his mental state was already unstable upon seeing "Meredith," and the opponent seized this opportunity to intensify Skylar efforts, mimicking Meredith's demeanor, voice, and tone, successfully exploiting this weakness and severely damaging Skylar's spirit. It could be said that even though Skylar was in a mentally unstable state, Skylar wouldn't have been so easily injured if the impersonator hadn't been Meredith.
"Meredith's shadow" is the most important key, because it is Skylar's greatest weakness.
Of course, Skylar was also formidable. The moment he realized his mind had been invaded, he decisively paid the price of physical injury, unleashing all his mental power in his mind to successfully break the opponent's seductive arts. Furthermore, he took this opportunity to use the Occlumency to seal his mind layer by layer, leaving the enemy with no second chance.
Although Skylar was an enemy, not a friend, Voldemort was aware of the principle of mutual dependence; if Skylar were to perish so quickly, he himself would likely find it difficult to escape.
"Avada Kedavra!" Voldemort cast a Killing Curse on Morgan.
Suddenly, a water-man rose from the ground in front of Morgan, instantly turning into an ice sculpture. It took the hit for Morgan and was blasted into ice crystal fragments after being struck by the Killing Curse.
"Voldemort, you haven't forgotten I exist, have you?" The pirate king, who hadn't had a chance to say a single line since his debut, seized the opportunity and uttered his first line of the night, making a strong statement, much like those online novel readers in my past life who would try to leave a comment in the book review section even if they had abandoned the book.
Morgan clicked her tongue twice, and this time she spoke in her own voice, "Voldemort, although you are a junior, you are still a figure who has intimidated an era. How can you resort to such a petty sneak attack? You really disappoint me!"
"The magnanimity and morality of the strong are nothing but hypocritical disguises. I don't need these meaningless things—the way that succeeds in killing is the good way. There is no distinction between noble and despicable." Voldemort said coldly, without backing down.
"Well said," Morgan smiled sweetly and clapped her hands gently. "You truly deserve to be called a great ruler; it seems you've found your own path. Now, do you know why we chose to appear at this moment, instead of waiting until you two were both severely injured?"
Voldemort paused, momentarily stunned. He hadn't considered this question before. Right, why didn't they wait until he and Skylar were separated by death before appearing? By then, the one who died would be irrelevant, and the survivor would inevitably pay the price—that way, whatever their motives, wouldn't they have a greater chance of success if they appeared then?
Morgan's ability to orchestrate the conflict Skylar and Voldemort so clearly, forcing them into a battle between the two demons, demonstrates her remarkable intellect and strategic acumen; it's impossible that she hadn't considered this possibility.
"That's because—" Morgan said with a sweet smile, "We're not enemies..."
"According to the information I have, Voldemort, and you, Skylar..." Morgan said, "you two are ambitious like us... dissatisfied with the existing order... wanting to change the world... and—"
"If we categorize ourselves according to the magical fields we practice, although our magical schools differ, it's undeniable that in the eyes of the general public—" Morgan's voice suddenly turned cold, "We are all dark wizards!"
Skylar frowned immediately. Voldemort was one thing, but why was he also categorized as a dark wizard?
As if reading Skylar's mind, Morgan said calmly, "You don't need to hide anything—the wand in your hand is the Thestral Wand, isn't it?"
Skylar's pupils suddenly contracted, and he pursed his lips tightly, forcibly suppressing the urge to attack Morgan on the spot.