You Mean This Ladies' Favorite Is a Master of Dark Magic?

The moment Kane realized what was attacking him, he immediately flipped the switch on the bedside table, and the entire room lit up.

He had thought the light would disperse the shadows, but reality defied his expectations. It had no effect at all. Instead, it let him clearly see the shadows attacking him: twisted, grotesque black tentacles stretching out from every nook and cranny, from places where their source could not be seen.

"What is going on?" Kane asked, forcing himself to stay rational. He knew Maxwell could hear him.

With a bang, Maxwell suddenly appeared and plopped down on the windowsill. "When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back at you. You can use shadows in the real world, so naturally... ahem."

"I know all that. Could you get to the point? Why isn't the light working?" Kane carefully controlled his own shadows as they tangled with the others, but as one of his shadow tentacles after another was snapped off and carried away, he only felt himself growing weaker.

"You're using a real-world light bulb to drive away shadows from the Eternal Realm. What impressive official authority. You need light that shares the same origin as the shadows," Maxwell said concisely.

"Light that shares the same origin as the shadows..." Kane frowned, then suddenly seemed to think of something. A mass of shadow condensed in his hand, and then a cluster of dark blue flames burst forth from within it.

As that faint source of light appeared in his hand, the tentacles within the other shadows instantly retreated.

"Thank me. I helped you survive your first day outside the nest," Maxwell said before vanishing once more.

"Mm. Thanks." Kane leaned against the headboard, cradling the shadow flame in his arms as he slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next day, Kane got up with every inch of his body aching. He extinguished the shadow flame that had burned all night. Honestly, it felt as though it had not been burning shadows, but Kane's very lifeblood.

The price of keeping it burning all night was pale skin, dark circles beneath his eyes, and not a shred of energy left in him.

"Maxwell, are you still here?"

"I am." At some point, Maxwell had already lain down on the bed, his hands tucked behind his head as he spoke leisurely.

"How do I recover?" Kane asked directly.

"Eat something, or wait until tonight and try your hardest to tear off the shadows from the Eternal Realm that are chasing you. Whatever you tear off becomes yours. How much you can take depends on your skill," Maxwell replied.

"Thanks, though it feels like asking was the same as not asking." Kane wearily walked out of the room, locked the door, pocketed the key, and left the motel.

He found a street stall and spent a few coins on two hot dogs, having the vendor slather them heavily with sauce. Corn syrup was unquestionably a calorie bomb, but a calorie bomb was exactly what Kane needed right now.

After wolfing down the two hot dogs, Kane felt slightly better. The shadows on the ground also became a little denser again. It was limited, but enough.

With a casual wave of his hand, the shadows condensed into a black top hat. It was time for today's magic show.

At the same time, in a massive conference room at the Ministry of Magic, two groups from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes had been forcibly dragged in for an early-morning meeting because of Kane.

Auror Kingsley strode in. He had already gone to the Magical Monitoring Office to obtain the data on several high-energy magical reactions in London yesterday. Then he waved his wand, and light shone from its tip, projecting a 3D map of London, England into the air like a projector.

Kingsley pointed at Plum Blossom Cross Street in Little Whinging. "At six o'clock yesterday afternoon, low-intensity Dark Magic fluctuations appeared on Plum Blossom Cross Street in Little Whinging for an entire hour."

Then his finger moved to an alley near Plum Blossom Cross Street. "At 7:12, a brief burst of mid-to-high-intensity Dark Magic fluctuations appeared in this alley."

Finally, he pointed to the miserable motel where Kane was staying.

"Starting at midnight, high-intensity Dark Magic fluctuations erupted from this motel for twelve seconds. They were followed by low-intensity Dark Magic fluctuations that did not disappear until sunrise."

"Oh, it seems to be a very strange Dark Magic experiment," Dawlish said with his arms folded.

"That is why we did not mobilize everyone yesterday and instead gathered here for a meeting first thing this morning. Though the intensity of the Dark Magic fluctuations at those three locations differed, they were all extremely pure and were determined to have come from one person's magic. On top of that, he had been conducting Dark Magic experiments continuously since dawn. If we rushed in recklessly, there was a chance we would all be wiped out," Kingsley said helplessly.

"So what is the point of this meeting besides telling us that this dark wizard is powerful?" asked a witch whose hair kept changing colors.

"Of course it has a point. You didn't think I called this meeting mainly for you, did you? I went to bring in reinforcements, and this meeting is mainly for that reinforcement." Kingsley casually shrugged and looked toward the back of the conference room, where a white-haired figure had appeared at some point—Dumbledore was smiling at everyone in the room. After all, every one of them had once been his student.

The moment Dumbledore appeared, the previously quiet conference room erupted into commotion. His prestige was obvious. At that moment, a junior employee from the Magical Monitoring Office burst in clumsily.

"Those Dark Magic fluctuations—they've started again! At Swan Cross Street!" the employee said in panic.

Kingsley's expression darkened. Swan Cross Street was the busiest intersection in all of Little Whinging. If that mysterious dark wizard appeared there and decided to cause trouble, casualties aside, erasing everyone's memories after the crowd scattered would be a headache on its own.

Kingsley looked at Dumbledore. "Albus, we need to move faster."

"Yes, we should. Come here. I'll have the phoenix take us... no, Apparition will do." As Dumbledore spoke, he walked over to Kingsley and placed a hand on his shoulder.

At the same time, at Swan Cross Street.

Kane was entertaining two wealthy ladies with a trick involving his hat and a hairpin. If the script went as planned, these ladies who had stepped out of a stretched Cadillac could casually tip him enough to cover half a month's lodging.

But as everyone knew, scripts were usually wrong.

For example, in the alley not far away, Dumbledore and Kingsley suddenly appeared. The instant they arrived, they sensed that heavy aura of Dark Magic.

"This is going to be a tough fight." Kingsley rubbed his wand as though psyching himself up.

Dumbledore did the same, quietly drawing his Elder Wand. When the two of them stepped out of the alley, they saw the source of that Dark Magic...

It was a child doing his utmost to entertain two wealthy ladies.

???