Rage of the Heavens
The acrid black smoke still swirled along the damp, gravelly ground.
At the edge of the crater, Bellatrix, supporting herself on one knee, shakily stood up from the mud.
The left side of her body was already a bloody mess from the Dustflame had hit her face so close. The charred cloth of her robe clung to the wound, and as soon as she tried to move her mouth, a heart-wrenching cough came from her throat.
Dark red blood trickled down her cracked chin, but her deep-set black eyes, fixed on the boy on the stone steps, instead emitted a hoarse, piercing laugh:
"Send me to see him? With your mere bastard son who hasn't even grown his first hair yet?"
Behind a boulder shelter a dozen steps away, Hermione lay prone on the rubble, her heart leaping into her throat.
She recognized the figure in the Slytherin Black Robes on the stone steps.
The white powder that had just obscured Bellatrix's vision, and the Levitation Charm Wand had lifted her and Draco, wands and all, into the shelter, were clearly the work of Gavin Goo.
But that's Bellatrix!
Even after being struck by Killing Curse and a nearby explosion, that madwoman still clutched her Wand. What difference was there between a third-year student standing there and committing suicide?!
Hermione braced herself against the stone surface with both hands, ignoring the tearing pain in her chest, and screamed hoarsely towards the stone steps:
"Gavin! Run!!"
"While she's injured and can't catch up with you, hurry up and find Professor McGonagall!!"
On the stone steps, the black-haired boy didn't even move his heels.
He glanced down at the woman in the crater below, his tone so calm it was almost casual, as if he were examining a teaching aid.
"Why leave? We've finally found someone who can take a beating. It's a good opportunity to test out our newfound strength and treat it as extra practice."
He paused, then shook his head with considerable regret:
"After all, there are still too many restrictions in the classroom."
Hermione's mind went blank; she could hardly believe her ears.
Extracurricular activities?!
At this point, did he still think he was in Professor Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts class?!
Beside Hermione, Draco, his face covered in blood, gripped the rubble tightly, his hoarse voice like it had been sanded, as he growled uncontrollably toward the stone steps:
"Gu! Have you lost your mind?!"
"You don't actually think the Patronus Charm works on her, do you?!"
"Those little tricks won't kill her! You have no idea! I even hit her with the Killing Curse —she's a complete madwoman! Get out of here!!"
Hermione's eyes reddened with anxiety, and she cried out in a voice trembling with emotion:
"Are you crazy?! That's Bellatrix! She's killed at least fifty people!"
However, the boy on the stone steps nodded very seriously upon hearing this:
"Very good, very strong. And the second day? Did you kill even more?"
Hermione: "..."
Draco: "..."
Bellatrix had just straightened up and was about to let out a sneer, froze in place.
The cold, damp lakeshore fell into a sudden, deathly silence for a full two seconds.
Hermione's mouth was agape, all the warnings in her mind stuck in her throat, unable to utter a single word; Draco's face alternated between pale and flushed, lost in thought; Bellatrix, who was coughing up blood across from her, froze, nearly unable to catch her breath.
The next second, extreme shame and anger exploded in the woman's eyes.
"You little brat who only knows how to ambush, stop being so smug! Die!"
Bellatrix screamed, her blood-stained right hand suddenly raising her Wand.
Hermione's heart trembled violently. Without thinking any further, she grabbed the Wand that had just fallen to her knees with her right hand, gritted her teeth, and struggled to lift the tip of the wand over the top of the broken wall, sending out a red spark of distress towards the night sky!
However, Bellatrix kept a close eye on the movements from the bunker side from the very beginning.
Hermione's staff tip had barely peeked half an inch from the edge of the boulder.
The woman ruthlessly flicked her wrist!
Bang!
A silent Impediment Jinx grazed the wall and exploded with a deafening roar. The violent impact instantly hurled Hermione and her Wand back behind the boulder!
Amidst the flying debris, Hermione crashed heavily beside Draco, who was still panting, her hand gripping the staff going numb.
The women outside gave them absolutely no chance to catch their breath.
Having forced Hermione back with a single blow, Bellatrix regained her confidence, a cruel glint flashing in her eyes. She slammed her black Wand down, aiming it directly at the gap in the cover:
"Heart--"
However, the last two words were not uttered yet.
Laugh!
A pure, pitch-black light, without warning, tore through the darkness of the night.
So fast that even a fleeting afterimage couldn't be caught.
A crisp "snap" was heard.
Bellatrix's bent Walnut Wood Wand snapped cleanly in the middle.
The break was as smooth as a mirror, and the front half of the staff spun several feet before falling into the muddy water on the bank with a thud.
Bellatrix's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints.
She stiffly looked down at the broken piece of wood that was now only half in her hand, then abruptly turned her head and stared in horror at the boy on the stone steps above.
Gavin's right hand remained at his side, gripping the Hawthorn Wand without being raised.
Above his outstretched left palm, a long, narrow black blade formed from a high concentration of black mist hovered silently.
Not a trace of mist dissipated from the blade, and its sharp edge gleamed with a chilling, eerie light in the night wind.
A fleeting glint of pure silver light flashed in the depths of the boy's eyes.
He looked down at the woman in the crater and calmly spoke:
"Your opponent is me."
Above his left palm, the long, narrow Black Blade, compressed from the Obscurus, hovered steadily.
Gavin didn't even need to use his two stiff, grayish-black left knuckles to grip the hilt.
Just moments before, as he slashed the Wand, he simultaneously activated the white Whirlpool in his Consciousness Space —a vortex the size of a washbasin, its swirling patterns as solid as iron.
In the main world, if you wanted the Obscurus unleash such extreme speed that even an adult Death Eaters couldn't react, even if it was just a fleeting slash, you would immediately feel a noticeable draining of Life Force from his body.
But when I made that cut, the familiar feeling of emptiness didn't appear at all.
Within the Consciousness Space, a high-density pure white Whirlpool was slowly circulating, emitting a gentle and mellow white light that perfectly offset the energy required to activate the black Whirlpool at its source.
That's interesting.
It's practically like connecting a high-powered graphics card to an external nuclear power bank.
If I already have this, does that mean I don't need that Tattoo to boost my Life Force?
But--
Cordelia will probably be angry, right?
Before Gavin could even process the feedback from this hedging, Bellatrix, trapped in the crater below, had already gone completely insane.
The breaking of her Wand did not deter her; instead, it fully unleashed the ferocity inherent in this mad dog of Azkaban.
"Court death--!!"
She let out a shrill scream, threw away the remaining half of the broken wood in her hand, and the remaining Dark Magic around her exploded without reservation.
Boom!
A violent wave of staffless Magic swept across the ground, sending rubble and mud flying into the air around the crater, turning into a dense rain of stones that simultaneously pelted down on the stone steps and the nearby cover.
Under the cover of the flying rubble, Bellatrix, disregarding the charred and severely injured left side of her body, pushed off with her feet and flew close to the ground towards the boulder shelter a dozen steps away.
A very clever struggle by a cornered beast.
Knowing he couldn't defeat a direct confrontation without his Wand, his first thought was to rush over and snatch the Wand from the two students, and perhaps grab a hostage to turn the tide.
Gavin stood on the stone steps, finally raising his Hawthorn Wand in his right hand.
His thoughts sank once more into that solidified white Whirlpool, the idea of protection flashing through his mind, and he lightly tapped the tip of his staff:
"Protego."
Buzz--!
It's no longer that thin, invisible air barrier.
With the infusion of pure white Magic, a thick, arc-shaped barrier, two zhang wide and flowing with a tangible silver-white radiance, rose from the ground, instantly sealing off the boulder shelter to his side and the area in front of him.
A series of rapid, crackling explosions followed.
The flying stones, imbued with Dark Magic, crashed into the silver-white barrier, shattering into dust without even causing a ripple.
Bellatrix, who pounced right behind her, crashed headfirst into the edge of the light barrier, and was sent flying back by the gentle yet immense recoil force.
While in mid-air, the charred wound on her left shoulder completely burst open, blood gushing out, and she crashed heavily back to the edge of the rubble pit.
But the woman gritted her teeth and didn't utter a sound. With her right hand forming a claw, she pushed herself through the mud and tried to dart towards the bushes on the other side to retrieve the broken half of the staff that had fallen there earlier.
Gavin didn't give her a second chance.
He deliberately narrowed the output of the white Whirlpool in his Consciousness Space by a fraction, and the Black Blade above his left palm once again pierced through the air, precisely grazing her fingertips and embedding itself into the mud, sending the broken staff flying.
In the brief half-second that the white vortex narrowed, a chilling sense of life being ripped away immediately rose up along the Black Blade; Gavin's mind stirred slightly, and he released the white vortex from his intervention again, and that sense of ripples was instantly suppressed without a trace.
As expected, Gavin's solidified white Magic was able to perfectly offset the Obscurus's Life Force depletion.
But then Gavin dispelled the Black Blade.
The moment the Black Blade dissipated, the needle-like ache deep in my brain instantly lessened considerably.
The cost of all this is obvious.
Simultaneously, it can precisely control both the black vortex and the high-density white vortex, without needing to replenish its Life Force; it consumes only genuine spiritual energy.
The problem is that controlling the white vortex already requires mental strength, and now it's even more demanding.
"Let's hold off on using combo attacks for now."
Gavin muttered to himself, dispelling the black light in his palm, and raised his left hand to rub his slightly swollen brow.
However, his posture took on a completely different meaning in the eyes of others.
Below, at the edge of the rubble pit, Bellatrix, who had been staring intently at him, suddenly brightened, and her cracked, bleeding lips parted into a ferocious, ecstatic grin.
Did that Black Blade dissipate?
This little bastard forced himself to use that strange Dark Magic, but finally couldn't withstand the backlash and his Magic was depleted!
Even without a Wand, her remaining wandless Dark Magic and her bare hands were enough to snap the neck of a thirteen-year-old brat in two on the spot!
"Die, you little bastard—!!"
Bellatrix let out a beastly roar, all the remaining Dark Magic in his body enveloped his five fingers, his mud- and blood-stained right hand transformed into a sharp claw, and with a kick from his legs on the gravel, he pounced like a mad dog on its prey, straight toward the throat of the boy on the stone steps.
Behind the cover, Draco and Hermione, who were staring intently at the battle through a semi-transparent, silvery-white barrier, suddenly felt their hearts stop beating in the same second.
"Oh no—he's in danger!"
Draco's face turned deathly pale, and his fingers, which were bracing themselves on the rubble, tightened abruptly.
Hermione was terrified, frantically pounding on the silvery-white light barrier in front of her, screaming at the top of her lungs:
"Gavin! Watch out!!!"
A foul stench filled the air.
The blood-red claw, imbued with savage Dark Magic, had already pounced within three steps.
On the stone steps, the black-haired boy finally put down his left hand that had been rubbing his temples.
He didn't even glance at the other person, casually pressing his Wand down with his right hand:
"Wingardium Leviosa".
He didn't need the Slowing Charm at all; he felt he could adjust his direction at will.
At the same time, as a white magic purely driven by positive intentions, the Levitation Charm exhibited an exaggerated amplification under the blessing of the white Whirlpool.
The invisible force field that was originally used to support the object has now transformed into an invisible pressure covering the entire crater.
Bang--!!
Bellatrix, who was grinning maliciously and lunging forward half a step in mid-air, seemed to have crashed head-on into an invisible mountain falling from the sky. Her knees sank sharply, and with a piercing thud, she was forced back to her knees at the bottom of the charred pit!
Pebbles pierced her knees, and she braced herself with her hands in the mud, the veins on her neck bulging as she desperately tried to lift her head, but an invisible mountain pressed down on her shoulders, preventing her from raising her head even an inch.
Draco, who was bracing himself with one hand and desperately trying to see out from behind a boulder shelter a dozen steps away, froze the moment he heard the Spell.
Those light gray eyes stared intently at the woman forced to kneel in the mud at the bottom of the pit, her pale lips trembling violently, completely in disbelief.
After a long silence, he managed to squeeze out three distraught words:
"... Levitation Charm?"
Can Levitation Charm achieve this effect?
That--
What exactly is all that Dark Magic he's practiced for so long?
Hermione, standing next to her, also gasped and covered her mouth in surprise.
The Azkaban madwoman who had just withstood a Killing Curse head-on and driven the two of them to the brink of despair was actually forced to her knees in a mud puddle by a Levitation Charm that even a first-year student could recite?!
Unbelievable.
The semi-transparent, silvery-white barrier outside the rear bunker remained firmly in place, providing sufficient protection for the two seriously wounded men inside from the ensuing gale and aftershocks.
As for what they might see--
Gavin didn't care at all.
So what if they see it? They won't be able to learn even a single move from it anyway.
The Heaven-tier Technique were taught to you on the very first day.
Can you understand it?
The trail above had long been blocked by a landslide, and the professors from the school were still busy treating the patrolling students up there, separated by steep slopes and thick fog over the Black Lake.
Judging from the feedback of those two spells, this ball of white Magic has an astonishing amplifying effect on most white magic driven by positive emotions.
Ignoring the two piercing gazes from behind the Gavin, Gavin, Wand in hand, slowly descended the last two steps, stopping three steps above the crater.
Bellatrix strained to look up, trying to see the boy clearly, muttering incoherent curses as she did so.
"You filthy mud—"
Gavin's staff pressed down with its tip.
Bellatrix's chin hit the muddy water, and she swallowed a mouthful of mud. The rest of her sentence turned into a violent coughing fit.
Gavin looked down at the woman at the bottom of the pit, who was trembling all over and trying to stare at him with her bloodshot black eyes, and smiled slightly.
She gently returned to her exactly what she had said when she stepped on Hermione's cheek:
"Mrs. Lestrange, weren't you just being very considerate?"
"Come, let me take good care of you."
Bellatrix, at the bottom of the pit, let out a beast-like roar, her ten fingers, covered in black mud, digging desperately into the cracks in the rocks, yet she couldn't even budge a single one.
Gavin shook his head, sighing inwardly; this older sister was still too weak.
She collapsed before I could even exert any force.
Gavin in a dilemma as he looked at the woman who was powerless to resist.
What should we do next?
A gentle breeze ruffled the stray hairs on her forehead.
Gavin withdrew his gaze from her, then suddenly remembered something and looked up at the sky above Black Lake.
The leaden-grey cumulus clouds hung low in the late autumn evening, and thick moisture swirled and rolled endlessly over the Lake Bay of the Scottish Highlands.
Two years ago, he would have cursed a couple of times upon seeing this awful weather.
But now--
"It's a cloudy day..."
Gavin looked at the thick, almost dripping dark clouds overhead and a slight smile played on his lips.
Such "good weather" is perfect for practicing some different Spell, such as--
Forbidden Curse?
Thinking of this, Gavin sighed softly from the bottom of his heart:
"Cloudy days are great! I love cloudy days the most."
Previously, on the cliffs by the sea in Dorset, in order to create a proper thunderstorm, he had to painstakingly pump out several tons of seawater and then use Fiendfyre to boil it in mid-air.
But now--
It seems unnecessary.
Professor Flitwick's words from his Charms class quietly surfaced in my mind—
When you are familiar enough with a spell, your perception will extend along the spell.
"The spell will guide you to see everything."
Gavin stood in the lake breeze, muttering to himself, his right hand slightly raised at the tip of his cane, deliberately dispelling the Levitation Charm's subtle perception of details.
He once told Gavin that the lower the required precision, the farther the spell could travel.
Now, that's what he plans to do.
Ten feet. One hundred feet. One thousand feet.
Having completely abandoned microscopic precision and been powerfully propelled by pure white Magic, the Levitation Charm's effect boundary expanded upwards at an unprecedented speed, directly crashing into the churning lead-gray clouds above the Lake Bay.
In my rough perception, there were no specific raindrops, only a few huge clouds saturated with moisture.
Gavin twisted his wrist hard.
High in the sky, two thick cumulus clouds, pulled by an invisible force field, collided violently against the original wind direction, like two giant millstones pushing and rubbing against each other.
Just as his senses completely filled the clouds, stirring up the entire low cloud layer and creating a huge Whirlpool—
Deep within the Consciousness Space, the figure that had been silent for so long stirred slightly.
Gavin rubbed his still-heavy head, groggily opened his eyes, glanced outside in the shared view between them, and his voice was still sluggish from just waking up:
"Gai-ge... what are you doing? I feel something's weird."
Without turning his head, Gavin casually answered in his mind:
"Studying magic."
"Oh..."
Gavin obediently responded, his gaze following Gavin's as he moved down from the sky to the charred crater three steps away.
In the dim light, he could make out the right half of the woman's face at the bottom of the pit, the side of which hadn't been burned.
High cheekbones, deep-set eyes, and that ingrained madness.
Just a few days ago, a huge wanted poster issued by the Ministry of Magic was posted on the bulletin board in the Slytherin Common Room.
Gavin jolted awake, his sleepiness instantly vanishing. He cautiously confirmed in his mind:
"Gai-ge... is that... that fugitive? Bellatrix???"
"Yes," Gavin said calmly.
Gavin gasped, his voice suddenly becoming tense:
"Then... then why aren't we running away? Is it because... we can't escape?"
Having just woken up, he hadn't seen the process of severing the Wand and repelling the enemy; all he saw was the infamous Death Eaters just three steps away, and his heart was pounding in his throat.
Gavin corrected him with slight dissatisfaction:
"Why are you trying to escape? That's an experimental subject I finally found; we shouldn't let her get away."
Gavin: "... Huh? Experimental subjects?"
There was an eerie silence for two seconds in the Consciousness Space.
Gavin looked at the wanted fugitive at the bottom of the pit, the one who made the whole school tremble with fear, and then at Gai-ge outside, who was calm and collected. For a long time, he couldn't reconcile the two words.
He swallowed hard and asked timidly:
"... What are you going to experiment on with her for?"
"Forbidden Curse."
Gavin felt the rapidly increasing electrical potential difference in the clouds, and suddenly something occurred to him:
"You're awake now, so I'll teach you this. Watch carefully and learn well."
Gavin: "Huh?"
Should I start studying right after waking up?
Moreover, what are they learning?
Forbidden Curse?
I don't even know any ordinary spells, and you want me to learn Forbidden Curse?
Is that correct?
Boom--!
A deep, muffled rumble of thunder suddenly rolled across the sky above Black Lake.
The once gently flowing lead-gray clouds have now been compressed into a dark, funnel-shaped vortex by the frenzied churning of the Levitation Charm.
Dense, purplish-blue arcs of electricity leaped frequently deep within the cloud, the violent charge accumulating wildly, and a chilling, static-induced stinging sensation filled the air.
Gavin looked up at the awe-inspiring scene in his Consciousness Space, and his voice trembled with fear:
"What... what kind of Spell is this?"
Gavin looked at the lightning flashes below the clouds, about to break the critical threshold, and slowly uttered four words:
"Rage of the Heavens."
The moment he finished speaking, the Hawthorn Wand in his right hand trembled slightly.
A wisp of pure Magic once more separated from the white Whirlpool and flowed into the basic Lumos that every first-year student at Hogwarts had learned.
"Lumos."
There was no gently spreading, shimmering white light.
Just above the crater, less than three feet above Bellatrix's head, a blindingly bright white light suddenly shone.
Bellatrix, at the bottom of the pit, was stung by the sudden burst of light, which brought tears to her eyes. She instinctively tried to turn her head away, but no matter how she twisted her neck, the blinding light source remained fixed directly above her head!
The next second, the ball of light suddenly collapsed and straightened inward, transforming into a beam of intense white light as thin as a chopstick, condensed to the extreme, shooting straight upward and piercing through the dark night sky, reaching the center of the churning thunderclouds overhead!
In his Consciousness Space, Gavin stared blankly up at the blinding light that illuminated half the pebble beach, and murmured:
"Is this the Forbidden Curse? But it looks like a giant light bulb."
"That's the laser version of the Lumos," Gavin replied casually.
The advanced form of the Lumos is the Floating Staff Orb, which can create orbs of light and, naturally, lasers.
That makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
"Why shine the light on her?" Gavin was completely confused.
Gavin uttered two words calmly:
"Attract lightning."
Ordinary light cannot attract thunder.
However, the high-energy beam of light, after being extremely compressed by the high-density white vortex, ionizes all the air molecules along its path the moment it penetrates the atmosphere.
Between the thundercloud thousands of feet in the sky and the target at the bottom of the crater, a plasma conductive channel with the lowest resistance was forcibly burned out.
Having learned his lesson from being struck by a forked arc of lightning on the Dorset cliffs, Gavin lightly tapped the gravel with the toe of his left foot as he did all this.
Three short metal stakes, formed from Transfiguration rubble, silently sank into the wet mud in front of him, and were then covered with a tight layer of insulating iron armor, isolating him and the boulder shelter behind him from the discharge circuit.
After completing the final protective step, the lightning deep within the cloud vortex overhead had reached its peak brightness.
The violent static electricity caused a crackling sound in the air.
An indescribable sense of oppression swept through the entire venue.
Behind the cover, Draco stared in horror at the blazing white beam of light piercing the sky and the dark, swirling thunderclouds pressing down. His breath caught in his throat, and he instinctively lunged to the side, using his left arm to tightly shield Hermione in his embrace.
Before the stone steps, Gavin raised his head, his black Robes fluttering in the violent Updraft.
He raised his Hawthorn Wand, facing the churning sky, and in a deep voice recited the complete incantation he had designed:
"The heavens are enraged, and thunder descends upon the world!"
"Irascere, caelum! Leodero, fulmina demitte!"
Click--!!!!
All sounds in the world were completely erased in that instant.
The entire Black Lake and the rocky beach on its shore were instantly bathed in a ghastly white light.
A thick, terrifying purplish-white lightning bolt, following the straight, blazing white beam of light, crashed down from the heavens and struck the very center of the rubble pit!
Rumble rumble rumble--!!!
A deafening thunderclap followed, and the ground of the entire Lake Bay trembled violently amidst the raging roar.
A terrifyingly high-temperature electric current poured down in a fraction of a second, instantly vaporizing the mud and water accumulated at the bottom of the pit and exploding into visible white shockwaves; the surrounding gravel melted directly into a dark red, glassy liquid under the ravages of the electric arc, sizzling loudly.
There were no screams, no dying struggles.
There was nothing there, only the sound of thunder raging all around.
The blinding white light lasted for several seconds before slowly fading away.
The air was filled with only a strong, pungent smell of ozone and a burnt odor.
In the center of the rubble pit, the once arrogant Azkaban madwoman lay sprawled at the bottom of the charred, glassy pit, her Robes and flesh completely charred, emitting wisps of smoke, utterly extinguished of her last breath.
The muffled echo of thunder rolled far across the lake.
In his Consciousness Space, Gavin stared wide-eyed at the charred, smoking body at the bottom of the pit, completely petrified on the spot.
After a long while, he swallowed hard and stammered in a low voice:
"Gai-ge... is this kind of Spell... something I can use?"
Gavin dismissed the few short grounding posts in front of him that had successfully completed their mission, and replied matter-of-factly:
"Of course. It's just Levitation Charm and Lumos. If you can't learn it, you might as well commit seppuku."
"Ah?"
Gavin looked on incredulously.
Both are basic spells from the first year, but how did they become Forbidden Curse that could turn people into charred corpses when used by Gai-ge?
Is that correct?
Gavin stepped closer to the edge of the rubble pit and looked down at the bottom.
Bellatrix's physical body is completely dead.
In Gavin's perception, a wisp of gray, nearly disintegrated soul, struck by lightning, was swaying and floating up, about to vanish into the night wind.
Gavin's gaze lingered on the wisp of remnant soul for half a second, then he raised an eyebrow thoughtfully.
It would be too easy on her to just let her scatter in the wind.
Besides, since we're already here, we shouldn't waste the opportunity.
He reached out his left hand and pulled the octagonal silver Locket from the inner pocket of his Robes.
With a flick of the thumb, the clasp popped open a tiny gap.
Gavin didn't recite any complicated incantations; he simply tapped the edge of the silver box lightly with his Hawthorn Wand in his right hand.
At the bottom of the pit, the wisp of remnant soul, on the verge of dissipation and utterly powerless, was drawn in and instantly transformed into a gray thread that disappeared into the silver box. In the dark bottom of the box, it barely coalesced into a broken and illusory face, glaring at him with resentment through the crack in the box.
Gavin's thumb rested on the edge of the box lid, and he suddenly paused.
He looked down at the pair of venomous eyes peeking through the crack in the box, and as if suddenly remembering something, he added softly and gently in a voice only he and his soul could hear:
Oh, right, I think I lied to you earlier.
Even if you go to hell, you'll never see your master again, because—
Gavin smiled slightly.
Voldemort is actually still alive.
Deep within the silver box, the illusory face suddenly froze.
The deep-seated resentment was torn apart in an instant by utter absurdity and disbelief. She opened her mouth wide, as if trying to lunge at the crack in the box and scream, demanding an explanation—
Clatter
With a gentle press of his thumb, the lid snapped shut, locking those bulging eyes into eternal darkness.
Gavin looked down at the silver box in his palm, and lightly tapped the surface of the box twice with the tip of his cane.
A wisp of rich, pure white Magic seeped into the inner wall, erasing all the patterns inside the box that were originally used to "stimulate desire" and "absorb Life Force," leaving only a pure, one-way sealing lock.
With the venomous fangs of the Devourer removed, it's now just an ordinary silver box used to imprison the remnant soul.
It might come in handy for other purposes in the future.
He casually stuffed the silver box back into the inner pocket of his Robes, preparing to swing his staff to dissipate the last remaining high-frequency electric arc at the bottom of the pit—
Suddenly, Gavin paused slightly.
Within the still-existing Levitation Charm field of energy and the vision of the Super-Sensory Charm, deep within the scorched, molten glass pit, several wisps of vaporized rock steam, carrying residual electric arcs, twisted into fleeting tiny vortices of light in the shockwave reverberation.
"Huh? What's this?"
Gavin stared at the few tiny vortexes of light at the bottom of the pit that had just formed and dissipated into the air, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes.
"So that's how it is... Interesting."
The thought had barely formed when his peripheral microscopic senses, which extended outwards, suddenly detected another anomaly.
Thirty paces to the side and behind, behind the shadow of a broken wall, a faint, extremely subtle, and definitely not belonging-to-ordinary-student-level Magic fluctuation silently brushed past the air.
Someone was watching this from the shadows the whole time.
Gavin raised an eyebrow imperceptibly, and his right wrist, which was originally intended to dissipate the electric field, subtly twisted back.
Between the charred rocks at the bottom of the pit, a faint wisp of Lumos quietly enveloped the still-scorching steam and electric arc along the invisible Levitation Charm field, drawing inward.
After making this subtle move, Gavin casually waved his Wand, dispelling the semi-transparent, silvery-white barrier outside the cover behind him.
I had barely turned halfway around when the scene behind the cover came into view.
After the blinding lightning faded, Draco, who was still tightly protecting Hermione in his arms, looked up in shock and immediately gazed at the crater outside.
The boy's body suddenly froze.
A few steps away, a black-haired boy stood quietly in the night breeze before the stone steps, his Slytherin Black Robes perfectly still.
In the rubble pit behind the boy, the mud and water had long since evaporated, and on the half-melted dark red glass base, lay a completely charred corpse, still emitting black smoke.
Draco's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of pinpoints, and Hermione beside him stared blankly at the glassy lightning crater, her breath catching in her throat.
That crazy woman--
Dead... dead?
The Azkaban madwoman who had just withstood a Killing Curse and driven them both to the brink of destruction was, in less than two minutes, defeated by this Muggle-born Slytherin —a girl everyone could bully.
He was struck by lightning and turned into a charred corpse?!
The arrogance of a Pure-blood young master that had remained in his bones was shattered in that one glance.
Draco opened his mouth, his face flushing and turning deathly pale in turns. His throat felt like it was stuffed with wet cotton, and he couldn't utter a single syllable.
How is that possible?
What exactly was that Spell?
Does such a curse really exist in this world?
No one could answer the question in his heart.
Until the night wind dispersed the last bit of smoke, the charred corpse at the bottom of the pit remained completely still.
The volunteer passed away peacefully without giving any feedback.
But this time, it seems to be truly over.
The string that had been taut in my mind suddenly snapped, and a wave of exhaustion from surviving the ordeal washed over me.
Draco's shoulders jerked violently, and he could no longer support himself, bursting into a violent cough.
Hermione, who had also been in a daze, was startled awake by the cough and suddenly realized—
They actually survived.
She hurriedly knelt on the gravel, carefully avoiding Draco's bandaged right wrist, and placed her hands on his shoulders to steady him.
The usually arrogant young master Malfoy was pale and his whole body was still trembling slightly uncontrollably. His left hand, covered in bloodstains, was clumsily raised in the air, and his fingertips gently brushed the bloodstains on the girl's cheek.
"Don't push me away again." Hermione's eyes were red, her voice hoarse but carrying an undeniable stubbornness.
Draco's lips moved, and he replied softly, "Yes, not anymore."
You keep your word.
"Um."
Neither of them said anything more. Hermione sniffed and gently rested her forehead on his still-intact left shoulder. The two survivors quietly nestled together in the night breeze.
Gavin, who had just finished fighting, stood a few steps away, watching this scene expressionlessly, his eye twitching slightly.
No.
Didn't I already turn off that multi-watt Lumos light bulb?
How come I've become a third wheel again?
The very next second that Gavin was still doubting himself--
Slap, slap
From the deep shadows beneath the broken wall to the side and behind, a very light yet unusually steady sound of leather footsteps suddenly rang out.
Elliott Vale, dressed in his impeccably tailored dark gray Robes, emerged unhurriedly through the lingering wisps of smoke.
The newly appointed substitute professor of Ancient Runes first glanced down at his palm—
It was an old Copper Disc.
There was a faint light flickering above.
Then, as if confirming something, he put it into his sleeve.
Professor Vale raised his head, his grey-blue eyes piercing through the charred, smoking crater of the lightning strike, locking onto the black-haired boy standing before the stone steps with unparalleled precision. His deep voice slowly spoke:
"Finally found you--"
"Outsider."