"Ghosts? There are no ghosts in this old house, Master Wade," Toby said with tearful eyes, clearly still reeling from the earlier shock.
Telling a house-elf that there were dirty things in a place they cleaned was more painful to them than being killed.
Fortunately, the "dirty things" Wade had meant were only ghosts.
Otherwise, Toby would have already fulfilled the self-task of killing himself on the spot.
"Then is there anything about this old house that you haven't told me?" Wade asked deliberately, guiding the conversation.
House-elves were loyal, but at times rather single-minded. Even when giving orders, one had to be very explicit.
So it was possible that there was something about this old house that Toby had forgotten to mention.
Toby wiped his tears, then lowered his head and began counting on his fingers. Only then did he look up and say, "No, Master Wade. Everything Toby knows about this house, Toby has already told you."
"Is that so…" Wade frowned and began to examine his surroundings.
He wasn't being overly cautious. That sensation from earlier had been far too strange.
Even when facing Dementors, he had never felt such an eerie chill.
It was as if… a ghost had passed straight through his body.
Wade had experienced this sensation once before at Hogwarts.
That time, he had been reading on a chair by the wall of the common room when the Bloody Baron emerged from the wall and accidentally passed straight through his body.
That chilling feeling was truly distinctive, like being plunged headfirst into icy water.
That was why Wade felt certain that something unseen had just passed through him.
Which raised the question. If this ghost had come from outside, how had it found the hidden wizard tower?
That was almost impossible, leaving only a second possibility.
That there had always been a ghost within the wizard tower.
But if an unknown ghost had been hiding in the tower all this time, why had it never shown itself before?
If the ghost had been a former owner of the tower, a member of the Somnolen family, there would have been no reason to hide.
And if even a single Somnolen family ghost were present, Toby would never have been able to change masters this easily.
So this had to be a ghost unrelated to the Somnolen family.
Then when had it slipped in?
Or could it be that long before the Somnolen family's progenitor, the banshee named Leticia Somnolen, built the wizard tower here, that ghost had already existed?
Wade silently drew his wand. "Toby, leave for now."
Toby looked at Wade's actions in surprise. Though confused, he obeyed and Apparated away.
"Come out. I've already noticed you," Wade said, holding his wand as he stepped to the center of the laboratory.
Yet the laboratory was utterly silent. Aside from the echo of his own voice, there was no other sound.
It was as if everything had merely been Wade's imagination.
Wade did not rush. He lowered his wand slightly, then slowly traced a circle.
A mass of white mist burst from the tip of his wand, spreading instantly and filling the entire first-floor laboratory.
The white mist did not stop there. It began to creep up the staircase, spreading to the second floor, then the third.
Whatever might be hiding within the wizard tower, anywhere covered by nightmare magic would leave it nowhere to hide.
Wade had conducted countless experiments in this wizard tower, many of which could never be made public.
Including the human experiments he had once carried out on captured wizards.
So no matter whether what was hiding in the wizard tower was a ghost or something else, it had to die today.
Whoosh!!
Just as the mist began to spread throughout the entire wizard tower, a sudden breeze rose in the first-floor laboratory.
Immediately after, that same chilling sensation struck again.
But this time, Wade was prepared. Nightmare magic born of soul power wrapped around him completely, protecting him on all sides.
He felt as though something had slammed hard into his soul armor.
It was hard to imagine what would have happened without the protection of nightmare magic.
Wade turned sharply and immediately spotted a humanoid outline taking shape within the dense mist.
So that was it. An invisible ghost.
Rip!
A sound like tearing cloth came from the figure, and then the humanoid shape dispersed.
At that moment, a surge of unfamiliar magic suddenly appeared, mixing into the magical flow of Wade's nightmare magic.
Wade felt the world spin violently, and in the next instant, everything around him was completely different.
Originally, Wade had been standing in the laboratory on the first floor of the wizard tower.
Now, however, he found himself standing on a vast platform.
Beyond the platform stretched an endless sea of clouds.
It was as if the platform were floating high in the sky.
In the next instant, the platform began to churn. Magma burst up from cracks in the ground, and at the same time, all manner of venomous snakes and savage beasts began raining down from the sky.
An ordinary person would have panicked at such a sight.
But Wade, trained in nightmare magic, saw through it at a glance.
"An illusion? You're playing illusions with me?" Wade frowned as his nightmare magic surged to full output.
His nightmare magic was still far inferior to his senior's, but simulating a small city block in reality was already well within his capabilities.
The moment his nightmare magic was pushed to its limits, the magma, poisonous creatures, and ferocious beasts all froze abruptly.
As if a video had been paused.
Then, the surrounding environment changed once again.
The vast platform and the boundless sea of clouds churned and shifted, gradually transforming into a corner of a city street.
If not for the complete absence of pedestrians, it would have looked no different from a street in London.
"It seems my illusion is superior to yours," Wade said as he surveyed his surroundings, finally locking onto a direction down the street.
Within his own nightmare magic domain, he could now clearly sense that thing's location.
Whoosh!
Wade raised his hand and fired off a Severing Charm in that direction.
Suddenly, the normally invisible and instantaneous Severing Charm slowed down in midair, its path revealing a clear curved trajectory.
Wade was startled. The Severing Charm always struck instantly.
Unlike other spells, it had no visible spell beam or ballistic path of any kind.
Yet now, his Severing Charm seemed to be affected by some force, forced into slow motion in midair.
In the next moment, the spell's trajectory was deflected, instantly regaining its original speed as it shot off to the side.
Slice!
A nearby streetlamp was cleanly cut in half, as easily as slicing through tofu.
Bang!
The streetlamp pole hit the ground with a thunderous crash.
"A very realistic illusion. But if you're saying your illusion surpasses mine, I can't agree with that."
In the corner from earlier, ripples suddenly appeared in the air.
As if that space were not air at all, but the surface of water.
Then Wade saw a withered hand reach out from the "water," followed by a cane, a dark green robe…
When the figure fully stepped out of the rippling surface, even someone as composed as Wade couldn't help but curse.
"Bloody hell… don't tell me you're Slytherin."
"You Muggle born actually recognize me? If you recognize me, then you should show more respect. Standing before you is the greatest of the Four Founders, Salazar Slytherin."
Wade frowned, staring at the hunched, bald old man before him, identical to the statue in the Chamber. For a moment, he felt as if he hadn't woken up, because this was simply too absurd.
It was like walking down the street and suddenly having someone in a Persian royal dress come up and tell you he was Alexander the Great, asking you to fund the restoration of his empire.
Still, Wade reacted quickly. Looking at the old man with his nose practically pointed at the sky, he straightened his own back as well.
So you want to play pretentious and theatrical? Then I'll be even more so.
"You want me to show you respect? Then do you know who I am?" Wade replied coldly.
"And who are you?" Slytherin asked.
Wade lifted his chin and straightened his chest. "Listen carefully. Standing before you is the Editor of the Threads of Fate, the Guardian of the Corridors of Time, the Favored of Ancient Magic, the Mender of Temporal Rifts, the Foretold Outsider, the Balancer of Light and Darkness, the God-Chosen Child of Merit and Sin, the Secret Disciple of the Twin Lords of Black and White, the Reformer of the World, Wade Reynolds!"
Slytherin stared at the youth before him, whose nose was lifted even higher than his own, genuinely feeling a little dizzy from the barrage of titles.
He could not fully understand what those titles meant, but they certainly sounded impressive.
And yet… no matter how he examined him, the bloodline of this young man was not pure-blood.
On the contrary, he seemed to be of Muggle birth.
Slytherin scrutinized Wade suspiciously. "Are you mocking me? A wizard of Muggle birth, not even a pure-blood, how could you possibly achieve something so extraordinary?"
"Only beasts judge worth by bloodline," Wade said coldly. "Are you a beast?"
Slytherin's expression turned cold as well. "Then I'll see just how powerful those so-called spells you're pretending to know really are."
Boom!
Slytherin struck first. Countless strands of black mist poured out from his sleeves, then transformed into innumerable tiny venomous insects that swarmed toward Wade from all directions.
At that moment, Wade was finally certain that even if this old man was not Slytherin himself, he was definitely connected to him.
Because Wade had seen this Dark spell in the manuscripts from Slytherin's study.
Those countless insects were all formed from curses. Even if a single one touched the body, or even brushed against clothing, the curse would take effect immediately.
The victim would sprout maggots all over their body within seconds, then be eaten alive in unbearable agony.
After devouring the victim, the maggots would turn back into new curses and begin consuming any living beings nearby.
If the caster did not stop the spell, these curses would spread like a plague. Wiping out cities or even nations would not be difficult.
Such a vicious curse right from the opening move. Just like you.
Wade reacted instantly. Even as his mind raced, his movements did not slow in the slightest.
He lowered his wand and spun lightly, and a ring of deep blue flames instantly formed around him.
Countless cursed black insects were immediately swallowed up by the all-consuming Protego Diabolica, the best version of Fiendfyre.
"Hey, old man, have you never seen a gas stove before?"
_________
o(*￣▽￣*)ブSupport and read 12 Chapters ahead of WN at-
Patreon/Captain69