"We have, for the first time, observed irrefutable evidence supporting the theory of the soul's three layers, and have fully verified the Vokanova Hypothesis—that is, that vitality is indeed a component of the soul. According to our experimental results, the soul can be clearly divided into three strata: vitality — mental force — soul core. Vitality serves as the bridge linking the intangible soul to the physical body, allowing thought to control flesh. Mental force is responsible for cognition, memory, and emotion, and due to the bidirectional linkage of vitality, it is influenced by bodily organs—such as hormones and neural signals…"
"As for the soul core, it remains the most inscrutable component. Almost no known magic can act upon it, and the effects of Horcrux magic are far too singular to provide diverse samples for study. At present, we can only confirm that the soul core is the true 'self' of a sentient being—the source of self-awareness itself… This is also the chief imperfection of this paper. I hope that future scholars will be able to fill in these gaps in our research…"
"…"
Avada stared at the article before him, sinking into silence.
What was with this overwhelming academic tone? Was this really something a mad Dark wizard could have written? Weren't their manuscripts supposed to be filled with warped scribbles and deranged ravings?
He suppressed the urge to complain internally and continued reading.
"Since the wizard Morgana of Merlin's era first proposed the hypothesis of layered souls, discussion regarding the structure of the soul has continued uninterrupted to this day, occupying a position of exceptional importance in the history of magical development…"
"With the successive proposal of the 'Herpo Two-Layer Hypothesis' and the 'Vokanova Three-Layer Hypothesis,' both of which provided reproducible experimental results, the controversy surrounding soul structure has been reduced to two remaining points of contention: whether vitality is a component of the soul, and…"
"Our research team (there's a team for this?) takes the Vokanova Three-Layer Hypothesis as its foundation. By employing the three Unforgivable Curses on living samples of varying genders, ages, and states of health, we designed controlled experiments to prove the correctness of the three-layer model, and…"
"During this process, we successfully overcame the issue of the Cruciatus Curse interfering with the surface layer of mental force, which previously produced irregular noise in our observation instruments. Our solution was to have a Dementor administer the Dementor's Kiss to the subject, and to conduct observations during the extraction of mental force…"
"Through these methods, after the loss of twenty-one samples, we finally obtained a Cruciatus Curse–mental force surface fluctuation pattern free of all interference, as shown in the figure below…"
"…"
Avada took a deep breath, forcibly steadying himself, though his expression remained frighteningly dark.
He tried to summon the most vicious curse words he knew to damn the author of this paper, but after searching his mind for a long while, he found none sufficient—these people deserved to be subjected to the Cruciatus Curse ten thousand times over, then thrown into Fiendfyre and burned to nothing but ash!!
No wonder Professor Baker had warned him about the authors' ultimate fates, and instructed him to read with "reverence for life and mourning for the dead." No wonder Professor Baker fought Dark wizards with such tireless resolve…
Resisting the urge to tear the book apart, Avada forced himself to continue.
The sections that followed were largely devoted to detailed experimental procedures, methodological explanations, and result data. The sheer volume of unheard-of technical terminology, symbols, and charts left him completely lost. Worse still, his turbulent emotions made focused analysis impossible. In the end, he simply skipped ahead, flipping straight to the conclusions.
"Ultimately, we have fully confirmed the three-layer structure of the soul—vitality, mental force, and soul core—as well as the functions of the first two layers."
"Vitality serves to connect mental force and the body, enabling thought to influence physical condition, and can be affected by certain spells, potions, and Transfiguration. Furthermore, we speculate that so-called 'wizarding bloodlines' are also manifestations of vitality's structure. Vitality with special configurations can, in turn, influence mental force, making it more prone to developing traits capable of affecting magic…"
"Mental force is responsible for thought, emotional generation, and memory storage. A wizard's spellcasting is likewise achieved by using mental force to influence ambient magic…"
"As for the soul core, we have only confirmed the existence of this phenomenon, and are almost entirely unable to conduct any direct investigation into it…"
"References: …"
"…All right."
Avada pulled a water flask from his cloak and gulped down a massive mouthful, nearly draining the entire bottle in one go.
"At least now I know what that void in my Magical Perception is—it must be this so-called 'soul core,' something that practically transcends magic itself. And my abilities simply aren't sufficient to observe it…"
"But if the soul truly transcends magic, then what exactly is a Horcrux?"
Rubbing his eyes, he turned to the second paper.
A Newly Discovered Natural Phenomenon — Tentatively Named: The Power of Death
"Death…?"
Avada frowned. That word carried no small weight.
"First, I must extend special thanks to the researchers in Brazil. Without their confirmation of the soul's three-layer structure, this study would never have come into being."
"After learning of the soul's layered nature, a question arose in my mind: how does the phenomenon of 'death' actually occur? Does it act upon vitality, mental force, or the so-called soul core?"
"Using instruments lent to me by a friend in Greece, I began research in this direction."
"First, I attacked a living subject with the Killing Curse. As expected, the subject's vitality was annihilated in an instant, after which the mental force structure immediately began to collapse…"
…
"The fourteenth subject, after having their vitality destroyed by the Killing Curse, exhibited an abnormal transformation of mental force, allowing it to persist within a magical environment without collapsing. Yes—this is the origin of ghosts…"
"It can now be confirmed that vitality serves a protective function for mental force. It can recover on its own after sustaining a certain degree of damage, but its upper limit continuously declines. The essence of biological aging is, in fact, the gradual reduction of vitality's maximum capacity. When vitality is completely exhausted, mental force collapses as well, and the life is generally considered fully ended…"
"But what about the soul core? During this process, what is the most crucial component—the soul core—doing?"
"To answer this question, I designed an extraordinarily complex set of experiments, the ideas and principles of which are as follows…"
…
"In the end, I observed a truly shocking result: at the very instant mental force completely collapses, the unshielded soul core vanishes from the world entirely!"
"Note—this is not dispersion, but disappearance. Without warning, without trace, vanishing more quietly than an object struck by a Vanishing Spell… To be honest, upon observing this phenomenon, I felt a measure of fear."
"The soul core is the true self of a sentient being. Can it really disappear into nothingness?"
"I attempted to continue my investigation, but merely tracking the destination of the soul core through countless indirect and complex methods had already exhausted my intellect. I truly cannot imagine how one might explore the soul after it has vanished…"
…
"At the suggestion of one of my students, I decided to attempt experimentation through the creation of Horcruxes, to see whether any data could be obtained…"
Avada flipped pages rapidly, skipping every brutal experimental description and jumping straight to the results.
"…Ultimately, all observed phenomena and data point to a single conclusion: there exists a higher-level force which, at the moment mental force disappears, extracts the soul core from this world—at the very least, from this layer of reality."
"The origin and nature of this force are unknown. What can be confirmed is that, unlike gravity, it does not constantly permeate space. Instead, it only appears when a soul core loses its mental force and is directly exposed to the magical environment. At that instant, it manifests and draws the soul away—like the Death of legend, guiding the departed soul into the underworld…"
"And thus, I have decided to name this force: the Power of Death."
(End of Chapter)