Seeing the new message scroll across the System panel, even Theodore—who'd already witnessed more than his fair share of impossible things—felt a violent shock run through him.
What did the System mean by this?
An avatar of a Saint?!
Even Dumbledore and Voldemort, the absolute ceiling of combat power in the original Harry Potter storyline, had never been rated as Saints. At best, the System had tagged them around the level of the Southern Pole Elder or Perfected Duobao.
Strong, yes—but still worlds apart from an actual Saint.
If even Dumbledore didn't qualify, what in the Black Lake could possibly be judged a Saint's avatar?
While Theodore was still lost in thought, Harry and Draco finally began to come down from the adrenaline of that near-suicidal flight. Their hearts were still hammering in their chests.
Then, all at once, Harry felt a fierce, gnawing sense of dread.
There was something in the waters of the Black Lake below—something namelessly terrifying.
Draco, on the other hand, happened to be looking up. He let out a strangled cry.
"Merlin's beard… why did it just go dark?!"
At Draco's shout, Theodore and Harry both tilted their heads back.
One look at the sky, and Harry almost fell off his broom.
Clouds had gathered at a speed no one could believe, heaping and twisting together to form a vast, whirling vortex.
It looked like some kind of colossal eye of the storm—but to Harry, it felt more like a single, enormous eye: exhausted, half-mad, and staring straight down at them.
"What is that?!"
On the shore, the Gryffindor students erupted into panicked chatter.
Even Hermione, who knew more magical theory and natural phenomena than half the school's professors put together, couldn't say for certain whether they were looking at some obscure spell effect or a freak of the weather.
But everyone agreed on one thing:
Whatever this was, it was bad.
"Get back here!"
The little lions on shore shouted themselves hoarse, waving frantically at the three figures over the lake. But now, only Theodore could still hear them.
An unprecedented storm roared to life, dragging clouds and lakewater upward into a sheer wall that reached from ground to sky. The wind howled and keened, flaunting the raw might of nature.
Harry and Draco tried several times to angle their brooms out of the encircled area.
They didn't even get close. As soon as their brooms neared that wall of wind and water, they began to buck and lurch so violently it was all the boys could do not to be thrown off.
It was obvious: if they tried to force their way through, they'd be shattered along with their brooms long before they reached the halfway point.
But staying here was no safer. The sense of impending disaster only grew sharper by the second.
The clouds overhead seemed to be sinking lower. Dark-violet lightning churned within them.
Then came rain. Then snow. Then hail. A bitter cold spread over the entire zone.
"Theo? What do we do?!"
At their wits' end, both boys turned toward Theodore.
Even Draco, who'd always been prickly and proud, had to admit—somewhere in his heart, Theodore had begun to take on a faint aura of he can do anything.
Theodore's expression was ice-cold. His eyes were locked on the System text in front of him.
[The heart of a Saint is as high as the heavens: unfathomable, immeasurable.]
[When you beheld the Saint's avatar, the Saint had already beheld you. With a casual gesture, the Saint has bestowed upon you a trial.]
He drew in a deep breath. His gaze flickered with doubt for a moment—but in the end, that doubt melted into blazing heat.
So this sudden storm over the Black Lake… was the so-called Saint's trial?
He probably wouldn't be considered befriended by a Saint even if he passed it. But surely, at the very least, he'd inch a little closer.
And this was a Saint they were talking about.
If he could earn a reward from a being on that level, even something tossed out carelessly would likely make Adamantine Body, Unclouded Mind look like a cheap toy in comparison.
He couldn't possibly pass up a chance like this.
But as he felt the magic gathering in the area, Theodore's eyes hardened slightly.
He had Adamantine Body, Unclouded Mind to shield him; there was almost no danger he didn't dare face.
Harry and Draco didn't have that.
Theodore glanced back at them.
"I'll open a path. You two take the chance and get out."
Harry and Draco both froze.
"That's not happening!"
"We go together!"
"Theo, we're your friends. I'm not abandoning a friend just to save my own skin!"
"Do you think we Malfoys are that scared of death? That's an insult!"
Before they could work up a proper outrage, Theodore flicked his staff.
The brooms beneath Harry and Draco jerked as if they'd grown wills of their own, swinging around and pointing straight toward the edge of the storm's domain.
Theodore's voice rang in their ears.
"Don't get in my way. Once you're out, then I can go all out."
The next second, he unleashed one of Snape's nastiest curses.
"Sectumsempra!"
Invisible blades screamed through the air, tearing a massive, jagged gash open in the wall of wind and water. For a moment, it was as if the storm itself were bleeding.
Then Theodore's voice dropped again.
"Fire God, clear the way."
A blazing path surged outward, flames licking and swirling in the roaring gale. The breach widened and held, just long enough for Harry and Draco to shoot through it and out of the storm's reach.
Only after the two cleared the boundary did the sky-reaching wall seal itself up again.
Harry and Draco could only watch, helpless, as hail and wind swallowed Theodore from view. Their voices shredded into hoarse screams.
"No!"
At the same moment, Theodore's System panel refreshed in a rapid cascade of text.
[The Saint's trial is perilous and unpredictable. You sent your companions Nezha and Chong Heihu out of the danger zone; both are grief-stricken.]
[Your relationship with Chong Heihu has risen to Bonds of Life and Death. You obtain the Iron-Beaked Divine Eagle Breeding Method. When fully cultivated, this eagle's speed is unmatched; even immortals and gods struggle to defend against a single peck.]
[Your relationship with Nezha has risen to Bonds of Life and Death. You obtain the divine power—Three Heads and Eight Arms!]
[Receive these rewards now?]
A flash of delight crossed Theodore's eyes.
So after all that, his bond with Harry had reached the life-and-death level—and, as an unexpected bonus, so had his bond with Draco, who almost never let anyone get truly close.
A pleasant surprise.
The Iron-Beaked Divine Eagle Breeding Method… he could probably try that on Hermes. If it worked, Hermes's speed would skyrocket to something downright absurd.
As for Three Heads and Eight Arms—that was a combat divine ability that could hold its own anywhere in the Great Desolation. The boost it would give his fighting power didn't need explaining.
The only unknown was how much spiritual qi it would take to use. Probably a terrifying amount.
Last time, just using Call Soul, Summon Spirit had nearly wiped him out—and that didn't even qualify as a proper divine power. Three Heads and Eight Arms was likely far beyond what he could sustain in the short term.
Theodore shook his head.
Claiming the rewards would take a little time, and this was not the moment to get distracted. First, he needed to see just what sort of thing was lurking beneath the Black Lake.
He pointed his staff at the water and once again intoned:
"Fire God, clear the way."
The spot he targeted erupted; the lake there started boiling instantly.
It was a blatant provocation—and whatever lay below clearly took offense.
Bubbles surged up over a wider and wider area. Then, one after another, thick black tentacles burst out of the depths and lashed at the air, thrashing with fury.
Theodore just stared.
This was what the System had labelled Yuanshi Tianzun's avatar?
No way.
Why did it look so much like a Kraken out of a sailor's nightmare?!
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