Inside Silver Hand Manor.
A corpse floated in the air.
The Legendary Auror looked grave. "He was killed by an unknown force."
John circled the vampire's corpse and raised his palm slightly.
The corpse rotated until it faced downward.
John stepped up to it and examined the bullet hole in the back of its head.
His pupils narrowed into vertical slits.
A power both familiar and unfamiliar lingered around the wound.
He reached out to touch it, and a sharp sting shot through his palm.
John knitted his brows. "How could this happen?"
"Have you discovered something, Wizard King?" the Legendary Auror asked.
"Avada Kedavra," John said.
The Legendary Auror exclaimed in surprise, "How is that possible? There's no trace of dark magic on him."
"Not literally. Do you remember what the Killing Curse does?" John said gravely. "It damages the soul and brings death to a living being."
"This is similar, but different."
"How is it different?" the Legendary Auror asked.
As an Auror, he was unquestionably the best.
But when it came to magical research, he fell considerably short.
John said, "This attack imparts the concept of death."
"In other words," John said, turning the corpse over again and fixing his gaze on the bullet hole in its forehead, "this is a kind of rule."
"We could call it..."
"Godslayer."
Death by Avada Kedavra caused no external wounds. It did not even leave poison or any fatal injury inside the body.
Death was simply death.
Something sudden, yet perfectly natural.
John had once used the Killing Curse to kill Killian, despite his powerful regenerative ability.
This was even stranger. An ordinary bullet had killed a vampire, a creature that could otherwise only be killed by silver or magic.
It made John think of someone.
"Wait a moment."
John