Chapter 21
"Let's begin." With Lucian's command, Jeffery waved his wand solemnly, placing a wooden stake as thick as an adult's arm into the central pit.
"Pestis Incendium" Lucian softly incantated the spell, and a heart-palpitating deep crimson flame burst forth from the tip of his wand.
"Go." Lucian gently pointed, and the deep red flames immediately shot out from the wand tip—but this projected method of release clearly had significant limitations. The Fiendfyre only traveled less than a meter before it lost momentum and stopped.
Immediately afterward, the flames attached to the wooden stake, rapidly igniting and growing stronger!
Grim faces emerged from the flames—those of all the creatures that had perished in Fiendfyre before. They looked as if branded with red-hot irons, churning and vanishing within the fire.
In just half a second, the wooden stake was completely devoured. In contrast, the sea of fire had expanded tenfold.
Jeffery and Camille stood behind Lucian, continuously testing it with various spells.
Freezing Charm, Shield charm, Frost Curse, Finite. Any conventional spell—or even dark magic—failed completely against these flames.
Not only did these spell lose effect, but they instead became fuel for "its" blazing growth, causing the layered rings of fire to surge once more. In the end, only an ultimate spell like Finite Incantatem could impose some restriction on this curse.
To deal with Fiendfyre, one could only use its counter-curse to restrain it—even then, it couldn't fully extinguish the flames, only temporarily suppress them. To make Fiendfyre stop, one had to wait until it had consumed everything it could devour, then it would extinguish itself.
"Truly terrifying magic. I can feel it—as if it's 'alive'." Jeffery watched the flames greedily burning everything, a look of dread in his eyes.
This magic, though not as evil as the three Unforgivable Curses, was no less dangerous—if not more so. The slightest carelessness could lead to backlash.
Unlike Jeffery's caution, Camille was instead dissatisfied with the power displayed by Fiendfyre.
"From what we've seen so far, this spell lacks practicality—if a wizard dared to use this magic in front of me, I could just cast a single Ventus Tria and make him burn himself in his own fire."
"That's only because you haven't discovered its true power yet."Lucian shook his head; to dispel Camille's underestimation, he released the Fiendfyre curse again.
This time, however, he increased the magical output.
"Hiss————————"
Suddenly, the hall echoed with the hissing of a snake, chilling those who heard it; within the sunken pit, the deep red flames transformed into a gigantic serpent, raising its head.
"Roar————————"
In just a few coils, the massive fiery serpent's body swelled against the wind, greedily devouring the magic Lucian poured into it. And by this point, only two seconds had passed since Lucian cast the spell.
Jeffery secretly glanced at his professor, inwardly shocked—a master of magic like the professor, once turning to dark arts, learned with terrifying speed and power. No wonder Dumbledore had come knocking back then. The professor truly deserved such treatment.
"Camille, try it. Use every spell you can think of to affect it." Lucian calmly used the counter-curse to restrain the massive flame serpent before him, issuing instructions to his assistant.
Camille pursed her lips and solemnly raised her wand.
"Ventus Tria!"
Under perfect casting, a massive spiral of wind gust capable of covering half the "cavern" formed in five seconds.
Sweat beaded on Camille's forehead as she struggled to control the gust of wind—Jeffery, standing nearby wanting to help, was stopped by her glance.
In the next moment, the enormous spiral of wind enveloped the ferocious fire serpent, attempting to push it to the other side.
But it was futile, as soon enough, the tornado that had taken its shape was instead covered by the ever-growing body of the fire and completely devoured!
The situation in the hall suddenly became somewhat uncontrollable; the giant fire flexibly flicked its tongue, its slit-like eyes already fixed on the three people present.
"Jeffery, Camille—Take position."
"Yes, Professor." The two positioned themselves one on each side behind Lucian, pointing their wand tips at both sides of his back. In the next moment, the magical circuits connected. Lucian waved his wand, combining their magic and will, and incantated the counter-curse.
Invisible ripples formed in the air. The massive flame serpent was pushed, compressed, and coiled together by some unknown force.
Lucian waved his wand again, and the two behind him shouted in unison with him "Finite Incantatem!"
Under the surging tide of magic, the giant serpent, having lost all combustible material, finally perished. Lucian dispelled the formation and faintly looked at the two.
"By now, you should both have a profound understanding of this spell's danger and potential for development."
The disdain in Camille's eyes completely vanished, and Jeffery nodded solemnly.
"Next, we'll begin verifying the emotion catalysis hypothesis. Jeffery, you're in charge of monitoring; Camille, record the data."
"Yes."
Lucian waved his wand, about to cast the spell, when his brow suddenly furrowed. He turned to look toward the door, his gaze piercing through the steel fortress-like underground chamber.
"Someone's coming. We'll stop here for today."
Today was Saturday, originally a day for Lucian to focus on his research. Being interrupted didn't greatly affect his mood, but it certainly wouldn't improve his attitude.
Opening the door revealed Hermione Granger and two underachieving students. Seeing Lucian open the door, Hermione awkwardly put away her wand.
It seemed she had just dispelled the silencing charm Lucian had placed on the door. After all, this was inside the school; excessive sealing wasn't wise, so Lucian hadn't used overly powerful curses.
Even so, a student shouldn't have been able to undo such a spell, so he asked "Was it you who undid the charm on my door?"
"Professor, I'm sorry—I really have something very important to tell you." Hermione's expression was somewhat anxious, fearing she had angered Lucian.
"It's fine." A glow flashed in Lucian's eyes as he quickly examined the residual magical traces on the door and nodded.
"Though the method was a bit clumsy, in my expectations, even upper-year students might not be able to undo this spell. For you to achieve it is no small feat." He stepped aside, looking at the three uneasy students, a thoughtful glint in his eyes—so soon connected to the protagonist trio?
Was this some invisible guidance, or the inevitable momentum that those with power could not escape?
"Come in."
"Thank you, Professor!" Hermione, greatly relieved, excitedly followed behind Lucian.
Harry uneasily glanced at Ron, who was making a face and mouthing "Thank you, Professor," clearly unhappy with Hermione's overly ingratiating manner.
Harry forced a smile and quickly followed. They had just been driven out of Hagrid's hut.
That fellow had denied any connection between himself and the basilisk, yelling about how "Hogwarts couldn't possibly have a terrifying creature like a basilisk," and roughly chased them away.
Hagrid's attitude made one thing clear—the professors wouldn't believe the seemingly absurd claim that "there's a basilisk in Hogwarts Castle." Probably except for Professor Lucian.
Note : Drop Powerstones.
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