The moment the dagger was plunged into her chest, Mrs. Flamel's body burst into a brilliant glow of blood-red light.
Her entire body was like snow being scorched by raging flames, rapidly melting away and transforming into crimson divine light that shot into the sky.
If Dumbledore had been there to witness this scene, he definitely would have been deeply moved.
Because Mrs. Flamel's love for Link had truly reached the extreme of what was possible in this world.
Only such intense love could make the entire process of "sacrifice" proceed so smoothly, to the point where she could not even feel the slightest bit of pain.
Emily naturally did not understand the meaning behind this. She did not even understand why Mrs. Flamel had suddenly chosen to kill herself. Faced with this sudden turn of events, she had long since been stunned.
It was only when the jeweled dagger fell to the ground with a crisp sound that Emily came back to her senses.
She screamed and lunged forward, wanting to embrace Mrs. Flamel.
But she grasped nothing.
Looking at the crimson divine light gradually dissipating before her, Emily's entire body trembled.
However, she soon understood what had happened.
Because in the image reflected by the two-sided mirror, a large amount of crimson divine light was gathering and gradually forming a familiar figure.
The image began shaking violently again.
The viewpoint in the two-sided mirror slid down from the sky and finally landed on Krell.
At this moment, Krell was no longer as stubborn and ruthless as Emily remembered.
He gazed at the sky with a warm smile on his face, as if he were looking at his most treasured possession.
Wisps of red light began rising from his body. His body became increasingly transparent until it disappeared.
Meanwhile, the figure in the sky became more and more solid as the red light continuously poured into it.
But this process abruptly stopped at the final moment.
All the red light had already entered that figure, yet Link still had not come back to life.
'Just a little more. Just a little bit more!'
Emily screamed inwardly, but her gaze fell on the jeweled dagger.
Without the slightest hesitation, she reached out her hand...
...
Link felt like he was dreaming.
There was nothing much in the dream, only a warm chaos.
It was as if he had returned to the café from before he crossed into the magical world, quietly sleeping with his head on the table.
Link knew very clearly that he was dreaming, but he was simply too tired.
The exhaustion of both his body and mind weighed so heavily on him that he could not open his eyes. He only wanted to rest properly within this chaos.
But things did not go as he wished.
Very soon, he felt someone softly calling to him.
That familiar voice reminded him of his mother.
"No, Mom. I want to sleep a little longer."
Link murmured, yet two completely different faces of his mothers appeared in his mind.
Huh? How did I have two mothers?
Link felt somewhat strange, but soon stopped caring.
Because he knew clearly that both of these mothers loved him deeply, and were even willing to give everything for him.
Looking at those two faces, Link had already decided that once he woke up, he would buy a train ticket and go home to see them.
Come to think of it, it seemed like he had not gone back for a long time either, right?
As he thought this, Link suddenly discovered that there was another person beside him, gently pushing him as if trying to wake him.
This was not his mother, but the aura was just as familiar.
He wanted to open his eyes and see who had come, but after trying several times, he still gave up.
He was too tired.
The two people seemed to notice his thoughts as well. Helplessly, they stopped calling him and stopped moving, simply standing beside him.
Link could even imagine the helpless expressions on their faces at this moment.
This made Link somewhat happy.
He vaguely remembered that when he was a child, his parents had often shown him such expressions when he refused to get out of bed.
However, things soon changed again.
Another new person entered his dream.
She did not call Link's name, nor did she push him. Instead, she leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips.
A fresh and familiar fragrance came over him, and Link suddenly felt a little moved.
He seemed to have... forgotten something...
The moment he noticed this, memories surged over him like a tide.
These memories seemed to give him strength. Link gathered all his strength and finally opened his eyes.
Light entered his world.
The sunlight was so dazzling that Link could not help raising a hand to shield his face.
Only after he came back to his senses did he realize in shock that he was not inside that café, but standing atop a vast expanse of ruins.
Dumbledore, Newland, Skeggen, Cedric...
One familiar figure after another surrounded him, but strangely, tears stained all their faces.
"Link..."
Dumbledore called Link's name, his voice choked with emotion, his eyes filled with a kind of heartache that could not be put into words.
Looking into his eyes, Link seemed to realize something. He turned his head toward the direction of Flamel Castle.
Dumbledore seemed to want to say something else, but a powerful surge of magic suddenly erupted from Link's body, tearing through space in an almost brutal manner and carrying Link away.
...
Inside Flamel Castle, Beckman sat collapsed on the floor, his two bloodshot eyes staring blankly at the empty safe room before him.
Just moments ago, his daughter, his granddaughter-in-law, had simply...
He had tried to stop everything, but it had happened too quickly.
Moreover, there had been the obstruction of the spatial force field.
Under Mrs. Flamel's will, those force fields had even blocked him outside.
No matter what method he used, he could not break through.
Vmmm!
Space trembled, and Link appeared beside him.
Beckman turned his head stiffly. After seeing that it was Link, he gave a bitter laugh.
"Link..."
Link silently stared at the empty safe room before him, just as Beckman had done earlier.
But strangely, there was not the slightest ripple in his heart.
He clearly knew that Mrs. Flamel, Krell, and even Emily had already "sacrificed" their lives.
Yet not the slightest feeling of sadness appeared within him.
In fact, because he had returned to Flamel Castle, his muscles, which had been tense all over, gradually relaxed.
What was wrong with him?
Link asked himself inwardly, but he never received an answer.
He expressionlessly looked at Beckman. Seeing the other party's devastated expression, a powerful sense of shame suddenly rose within Link.
Link pushed away Beckman, who wanted to embrace him, and staggered out.
The Hunter Corps stationed at Flamel Castle had already filled the entire corridor. The moment they saw Link appear, they all surged forward.
They had the same sorrowful expressions as Beckman.
This was not strange. Everyone Link had sent to guard Flamel Castle was utterly loyal to the Flamel family.
All of them had received great kindness from Mrs. Flamel and were filled with affection for her and the Flamel family.
At this moment, however, as Link looked at the expressions on their faces, his breathing became even heavier.
Boom!
An invisible wave of magic swept out. All the Hunters who had crowded forward were sent flying to both sides of the corridor by an irresistible force.
Link quickly passed through the corridor, then crossed the hall and foyer. Only after reaching the dining room did he gradually calm down and sit silently beside the dining table.
[Ga敲 桌 說 法]
A string of garbled characters drifted across his retina, seemingly trying to explain his current situation.
Unfortunately, the information inside was far too chaotic, and Link could not understand its meaning at all.
But it gave Link a hint.
His thoughts shifted slightly, and the data panel appeared before him.
At this moment, there were even more cracks on the data panel.
No, it could no longer be said that there were cracks on the data panel. Rather, countless cracks had been pieced together to form a data panel.
A data panel like this could no longer provide him with any information.
Link made one last attempt to call up information, but as his thoughts swept over it, the data panel before him completely collapsed, turning into ashes and scattering away.
"Have you left me too?"
Link murmured, resting his head against the back of the chair.
The data panel indeed no longer needed to exist.
Because after absorbing Ieta's King's Blood and receiving the "sacrifices" of Dumbledore, Mrs. Flamel, Old Barty, and Emily, Link's current strength had already reached a level that could not be measured.
Link had a feeling that even if he wanted to erase the entire Earth from the universe now, he could do it with ease.
There could only be two possibilities for such a feeling to appear.
One was that his enormous increase in strength had caused his mentality to swell as well. The other was that he really could do such a thing.
Link personally leaned more toward the latter.
Because with his level of Occlumency, there was simply no way his mentality could swell.
But what could he do with such powerful strength?
His mother was dead, his fiancée was dead, and the butler he regarded as family was dead.
What was most shameful was that he did not even feel sad. There was only emptiness in his heart.
He clearly knew that he had lost everything, yet while he was in this familiar environment, it seemed as if he had lost nothing at all.
Link even had the feeling that Mrs. Flamel and Emily would walk in noisily the next moment, happily chatting with him, while Old Barty would follow behind them, covered in the things Mrs. Flamel and Emily had bought while shopping that day. Those enormous paper shopping bags almost completely buried him, yet his face would still carry a delighted expression.
Just imagining such a scene made the corners of Link's mouth rise.
But soon, the smile quickly disappeared again. Link raised a hand and covered his face.
Time passed little by little. The sun sadly hid itself away, leaving only a waning moon hanging in the sky, watching over this ancient castle.
With the help of Newland, Skeggen, and the others, Dumbledore also arrived at Flamel Castle.
Following Beckman, he came to the door of the dining room.
From here, the two of them could clearly see Link covering his face inside.
"Ever since he came back, he's been like this. We can't get close to him, and we can't communicate with him either. I don't understand what's wrong with him."
Beckman spoke in broken phrases. His face was pale, his eyes swollen and red, and he looked as if he was about to collapse as well.
Dumbledore reached a hand toward the dining room, but it was soon bounced back by a huge invisible force.
This power wrapped around the entire dining room, allowing Link to remain safely within the embrace of darkness.
Dumbledore sighed and shook his head.
"This is the first time he has truly experienced the death of a family member, and there were three at once. It's normal that he can't accept it. He's simply not used to this feeling, and his emotions have nowhere to go. He'll be fine as long as he cries."
"The problem is that he can't cry!"
Beckman lowered his voice and roared, "If this continues, he'll go crazy!"
"This is a necessary part of a man's growth. You and I went through it back then too, didn't we? Don't worry. Link will be fine. I have faith in him."
Dumbledore gazed at Beckman as he spoke.
His expression was not cold, but there was an invisible pressure about him that left Beckman unable to say anything more.
He weakly collapsed onto the ground and began quietly sobbing again.
Dumbledore, meanwhile, stared into the darkness before him. A mist rose in his eyes, though he did not know whom he had thought of.
Jingle~
After an unknown amount of time, a crisp bell brought Dumbledore back from his reverie.
He looked toward the sound and saw that Little Button, the house-elf butler of Flamel Castle, was standing before him with a covered tray in his hands.
Little Button looked fairly well. He should have deliberately dressed himself up. Aside from his eyes being somewhat swollen from crying, there was nothing else wrong with him.
Seeing Dumbledore look at him, he forced a smile.
"Little Button has brought Young Master his favorite pumpkin stew. It's already very late. If Young Master doesn't eat something, his body won't be able to hold up. Young Master absolutely must not go hungry. This is the order Madam gave Little Button! So, Professor Dumbledore, could you please move aside?"
Dumbledore instinctively stepped aside, only to realize immediately afterward that the entire dining room had already been sealed off by Link.
He reached out, wanting to warn Little Button to be careful, but before he could say anything, Little Button had already carried the tray to Link.
Dumbledore's mouth fell open in surprise. He reached out to test the dining room's barrier again, only to be blasted away by a powerful force the next moment.
"Young Master, eat a little. Little Button is very worried about you."
Inside the dining room, Little Button spoke in a strange tone.
He did not notice what had happened behind him, because all his strength was currently being used to hold back his tears.
Little Button had seen it very clearly when Young Master had just come out of the safe room. Young Master had locked himself away precisely because he had seen those people crying.
So Little Button absolutely could not cry! If he cried, Young Master wouldn't eat! And if Young Master didn't eat, he would feel bad!
Thinking this, Little Button tried even harder to raise his head. Only by doing this could he keep the tears from flowing out of his huge eye sockets.
And in the darkness, Link slowly turned his head as well.
Smelling the familiar scent, his throat moved twice involuntarily.
Little Button was overjoyed when he saw this. He didn't even care about his tears anymore. He hurriedly arranged the tableware for Link and thoughtfully tied a napkin around him.
Link did not resist at all throughout the entire process. Just as he usually did at home, he let Little Button fuss over him, then picked up the ceramic spoon and began eating.
As spoonful after spoonful of pumpkin stew entered his mouth, the sweet fragrance of pumpkin filled Link's body and mind.
This was his favorite dish in the past.
Even Emily and Mrs. Flamel, who did not like cooking, had personally cooked it for him before.
But the delicious dish that had once been so tasty now tasted bitter in Link's mouth.
Memory after memory surged forth, and the bitter taste grew stronger and stronger.
Finally, a clear tear fell into the bowl.
Then the rain came pouring down.
A sob like that of an injured young beast burst from Link's mouth, but his hands did not stop. He continued stuffing the pumpkin stew mixed with tears into his mouth.
Only after finishing the entire bowl of pumpkin stew did Link stop crying.
He closed his eyes and sat quietly.
But an emotion of grief surged out from within him, mixing with his magic and spreading throughout the entire castle.
Little Button beside him was already sobbing uncontrollably.
The people inside the castle who had finally managed to calm themselves down also reddened their eyes again under the influence of this magic.
Arkham and Liliu emerged from the shadows, nimbly passing through the crowd and following the scent of sorrow into the dining room.
Link had deliberately left them in Flamel Castle before the battle to help protect Mrs. Flamel and Emily.
Now, their mission had failed.
They skillfully climbed onto Link's body. Their two pairs of beastly eyes, filled with anger, stared straight at Link, seemingly asking whether Link wanted to get up and take revenge right now.
And Link gave them a response as well.
In the darkness, Link opened a third pair of crimson eyes.
"Kill!!"
Link roared with a twisted expression.
A terrifying, violent killing intent poured out, surging into everyone's minds with a force countless times stronger than before.
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