Just as the cloud of black mist was about to reach the enormous silver sphere, a blinding bolt of lightning descended from the heavens.
It was too fast.
Voldemort barely had time to sense the searing heat bearing down on him before—
Boom!
A bolt of lightning as thick as a barrel tore through his right arm.
The entire attack took less than a second.
"Arghhh!"
Voldemort released an agonized scream.
His body convulsed violently, and all sensation vanished from his right arm.
He hastily retreated. The black mist churned and twisted as though struggling to maintain its form.
When Voldemort materialized again, he stood on an open stretch of ground more than ten meters from the sphere.
He lowered his gaze toward his arm.
A mangled wound had been blasted through it, its edges charred and smoking. Dark-red blood seeped from the torn flesh, mingling with wisps of sinister curse energy.
Voldemort raised his head.
Lynn was standing in front of the silver sphere, one hand already reaching toward its surface.
"Lynn!"
Voldemort roared and snapped his wand forward.
A streak of green light erupted from its tip and shot toward Lynn's back.
Lynn didn't even turn around.
His wand slid from his sleeve and traced a circle through the air behind him.
An enormous wall of ice materialized out of nowhere.
Boom—!
The Killing Curse struck the barrier.
The instant the green light penetrated the ice, cracks spread outward from the point of impact. It was as though a bomb buried deep within the barrier had suddenly detonated.
The entire wall exploded into countless shards.
Lynn turned to face Voldemort.
But the place where he had been standing was already empty.
Lynn's pupils contracted.
Damn it.
He shouldn't have tried to look cool by blocking the curse without turning around.
In the next instant, every hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
The gigantic metal drill, which had stopped rotating only moments ago, suddenly appeared directly in front of him.
His body reacted before his mind could.
He kicked off the ground with tremendous force and shot backward.
His speed was so great that an afterimage remained in place.
The drill crushed it the instant it formed.
Lynn landed in the distance, but the attack did not end there.
The drill seemed to have locked onto him.
No matter where he moved, it reappeared in front of him only seconds later.
When Lynn materialized once again, the drill hovered less than ten meters away, its enormous tip aimed directly at his chest.
He took a deep breath.
He hadn't wanted to confront this ridiculous thing head-on.
But now, his patience had run out.
Being chased halfway across Azkaban by an oversized drill felt like having someone repeatedly throw filth in his face.
Enough was enough.
Lynn looked up at the enormous object suspended before him and abruptly raised his right hand.
His palm opened.
His fingers spread wide, pointing directly at the drill's tip.
Blue ice crystals and white lightning rapidly converged above his palm.
The crystals spun, collided, and fused together. Countless tiny particles merged into a single mass of translucent, ice-blue crystal.
At the same time, lightning surged from Lynn's body.
Arcs of electricity leaped between the crystals, binding them together, locking them into place, and gradually molding them into shape.
In the blink of an eye, an ice-blue spear appeared in Lynn's hand.
It was longer than he was tall.
Its translucent shaft gleamed coldly beneath the moonlight, and countless intricate patterns ran along its surface. Blue-white lightning crackled around the spearhead, releasing sharp bursts of electricity into the air.
"Take this!"
Pitch-black scales instantly spread across Lynn's shoulders.
At the same time, he silently activated an ability.
[Thousand Refinements.]
A warm current erupted from his heart and spread through his limbs, muscles, and bones.
There was no elaborate magic.
Only raw strength.
And an exceptionally hard spear.
Lynn lowered his body slightly.
His feet pressed into the rubble beneath him, forcing the broken stones deep into the ground.
His right hand tightened around the spear.
The crackling spearhead aligned perfectly with the drill charging toward him.
"Go!"
The spear left his hand with a piercing hum.
Its tip tore through the air at such tremendous speed that the friction caused it to vibrate at an extraordinarily high frequency.
Boom—!
An earth-shattering detonation rocked Azkaban.
The ice-blue spear plunged into the tip of the drill and burst out through the other end.
The entire collision lasted less than a second.
Then the drill exploded.
Countless fragments of metal scattered through the air and drifted down like snow.
Lynn remained where he stood, his body still frozen in the throwing posture.
At that moment, layer after layer of dark-red shockwaves began radiating from the sphere that had been gleaming silver only moments earlier.
The sphere was changing.
Its once-brilliant surface turned crimson at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Beside it stood Voldemort.
His wand was pointed at the sphere as streams of dark-red light flowed from its surface and converged within his body.
His injuries began to heal.
The arm that had been pierced by lightning and was still releasing wisps of smoke rapidly regenerated.
Charred skin peeled away from the edges of the wound, revealing fresh flesh beneath it. Torn muscles reconnected, severed blood vessels regrew, and the gaping wound steadily closed.
Voldemort shut his eyes.
A satisfied smile appeared on his lips.
Lynn frowned as he watched.
With a wave of his wand, a torrent of water surged from its tip.
The water rapidly wrapped around him, forming a spherical barrier that completely enclosed his body.
The first dark-red shockwave struck.
Thump!
Lynn's heart skipped a beat.
Then his emotions abruptly changed.
A violent killing intent flooded his mind so suddenly that, for one brief moment, he forgot what he was doing.
Lynn immediately cast Occlumency, struggling to keep his thoughts clear.
It wasn't completely ineffective.
But the effect was minimal.
Wave after wave of dark-red energy battered the water barrier. Each impact caused his emotions to surge, and with every fluctuation, his Occlumency weakened a little more.
It felt as though he were standing behind a dam being pounded by a relentless tide.
Every time the water surged, the dam trembled.
A new crack appeared.
Another drop seeped through.
Lynn's gaze sharpened.
He couldn't allow this to continue.
Abandoning his defense, he shot toward the blood-red sphere at full speed.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Three consecutive shockwaves struck him without obstruction.
Each impact felt like a high-speed train slamming directly into his chest.
Lynn's body shuddered violently.
At the same time, the fury raging within him intensified.
"Socket Spirit! Die!"
Lynn roared.
A sphere of Four-Colored Flames appeared in his palm, its power continuously compressing toward its center.
He no longer cared about the Horcruxes.
His mind contained only one thought:
Kill Voldemort.
The Horcruxes could be found later.
Voldemort was right in front of him.
Within reach.
All Lynn had to do was press the sphere of flames against his body, and the Dark Lord would be reduced to ashes!
Voldemort, who had been savoring the feeling of power pouring into his body, suddenly sensed the approaching danger.
His head snapped around.
"Lynn! How dare you!"
His wand rose instantly, its tip pointing directly at Lynn's face.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The Killing Curse erupted from his wand once more.
"One into Three!"
Before the final word had even left Lynn's mouth, his body split into three identical figures.
The Killing Curse passed through the narrow gap between them.
It struck a distant wall and blasted an enormous hole through it, sending rubble flying in every direction.
Voldemort's mind went blank for a moment.
Three Lynns?
Before he could react, one of them had already reached him.
The Four-Colored Flames in that Lynn's hand slammed directly into Voldemort's body.
At the same time, the other two Lynns pressed their own spheres of Four-Colored Flames against the enormous blood-red sphere.
Crack!
A fissure appeared across its shell.
It was not large.
No thicker than a strand of hair.
But that was enough for whatever lay inside to begin leaking out.
Blood-red light shone through the crack.
Hummm—
A sound so deep and strange that it was almost impossible to describe emerged from within the sphere.
Then—
It exploded.
Boom—!!!
The shockwave struck Lynn head-on and launched him backward.
His body tumbled uncontrollably through the air.
He crashed through one wall.
Then another.
Finally, he struck the ground, bounced twice, rolled several times, and came to a stop amid a pile of rubble.
His robes had been reduced to unrecognizable tatters.
Bloody wounds covered his entire body.
Some had been carved open by flying debris.
Others had split beneath the sheer force of the shockwave.
Still more had been scorched by the backlash from his own Four-Colored Flames.
Had Lynn's body been any less durable, the explosion would have killed him outright.
He shook his throbbing head and closed his eyes.
Drawing a deep breath, he forced his raging emotions back under control.
Then he felt it.
For some inexplicable reason, he seemed to have grown stronger again.
Lynn was about to push himself off the ground and use his wand to heal his wounds when a faint humming reached his ears.
His expression changed instantly.
That sound...
It was the sound of a Time-Turner activating.
Lynn had never personally used one before, but he still recognized the noise.
He looked down at his pocket.
Deep within it, the Time-Turner was glowing.
Its outer rings spun rapidly.
The sand within the hourglass swirled with them.
With every rotation, the light grew brighter.
More dazzling.
More violent.
More unstoppable.
A terrible premonition seized Lynn.
The Time-Turner had been sitting untouched in his pocket.
He hadn't activated it.
He hadn't spoken an incantation.
He hadn't done anything at all.
So why had it started on its own?
There was no time to think.
"Levi!"
Lynn shouted the name with all his remaining strength.
Golden-red light flared within the darkness.
A vortex of energy enveloped the two figures.
Then Lynn and Levi vanished from the devastated ruins of Azkaban.
---
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