Sectumsempra!
As Gerald spoke the incantation and brought his wand down in a slashing motion, an invisible blade of air shot from its tip.
The lectern offered no resistance to the blade and was instantly sliced cleanly in two.
Gerald stood frozen for two seconds, his wand hand still held in the downward-slashing position.
Did it work?
And that was only its effect on an inanimate object. What truly made Sectumsempra powerful was the curse it left on the wounds it inflicted.
Unless treated with the Counter-Curse, those wounds would bleed endlessly and refuse to heal.
That was what truly made Sectumsempra terrifying.
He had tried Sectumsempra many times without success, yet now it had worked just like that.
Is there really much difference between what this book says and how it works in the game? Why couldn't I do it before?
But when he repeated the same steps, his wand did not respond at all.
Huh?
Refusing to give up, he tried several more times. His success rate hovered around twenty percent: out of ten attempts, two or three worked, while the remaining six or seven were complete duds.
Great. This has turned into Duan Yu's Six Meridians Divine Sword. It only works when it feels like it.
Gerald shook his head mockingly at himself.
He knew he probably still had not grasped one crucial point: what exactly powered Dark Magic?
Or rather, what made it different from ordinary magic?
As he pondered this, Gerald cast Reparo on the lectern he had cut in half.
Then he found an empty seat by the wall and sat down, abandoning his practice for the moment.
Repeatedly testing a Dark Magic spell in the Potions Classroom was hardly a wise choice. What if Snape came to class early and saw him?
Even