Chapter 68: Finally
Draco stared blankly at the slender back standing between him and certain death.
In his wide, trembling eyes, Tamara's figure seemed to stretch and loom, casting a shadow that swallowed the darkness of the forest. She looked less like a first-year student and more like an invincible, blood-soaked goddess of war.
'System,'Tamara commanded in the cold, silent depths of her mind.'Use [Basic Mana Potion].'
[Ding! Potion consumed.]
[For the next ten minutes, your magical reserves will be restored to one hundred percent of their absolute peak. Enjoy the revelry, Host.]
'Then can I kill Potter while I'm at it?' Tamara cast a sideways glance at the supposed savior of the wizarding world, who was currently curled into a pathetic ball on the dirt, clutching his lightning-bolt scar and groaning.
[Oh, no.] The system replied, its perky voice dripping with mock regret.
Boom!
A terrifying, suffocating shockwave of pure magic erupted from Tamara's fragile frame. The sheer force of it shattered the stillness of the Forbidden Forest. Dead leaves and loose soil were violently swept up into a howling gale, forming a localized hurricane with her at the absolute epicenter.
Her long, dark hair whipped wildly in the tempest. Deep within her obsidian eyes, a sinister, blood-red glint flared to life. The soul-crushing pressure of the Dark Lord—unfiltered, unchained, and absolute—was finally released.
Harry gasped for air, fighting through the blinding agony in his skull. He pried his eyes open just a fraction, only to witness a scene that would brand itself into his nightmares for the rest of his life. The usually elegant, aloof, and perfectly poised Tamara Riddle was gone. In her place stood an entity radiating an aura so cold, so ancient and malevolent, that it made the dark shadow hovering before them look like a harmless parlor trick.
"Join you?" Tamara tilted her head. A sneer of utter, unadulterated mockery curled the corners of her lips. "You think you are worthy?"
She took a slow step forward, the gale parting around her.
"You are nothing more than a failed remnant. A pathetic piece of trash barely surviving on parasitism and the blood of beasts."
"I am Voldemort!" the dark shadow roared. The stolen voice of Quirrell warped into a piercing, inhuman shriek of rage. "I am eternal—"
"No. You are not." Tamara raised her wand, the polished wood snapping up to point directly at the swirling mass of dark mist. "You are just a... failed past."
"Reducto!"
A blinding blue light tore through the darkness, erupting from her wand tip with the concussive force of a cannonball.
The dark shadow flinched. It clearly had never expected a first-year girl to unleash a spell carrying such devastating kinetic weight. It hastily threw up a shimmering magical shield.
Rumble!
The impact sounded like a thunderclap. The shield shattered like cheap glass. The massive kinetic force caught the dark shadow squarely in the chest, sending Quirrell's possessed body flying backward through the air. He slammed into the thick trunk of an ancient oak, snapping the wood with a sickening crunch.
"How is this possible..." the dark shadow hissed, its voice trembling with disbelief as it peeled itself off the splintered bark. "This kind of power..."
"Surprised already?" Tamara took another deliberate step forward. Her wand slashed through the air, fluid and deadly.
"Incendio!"
This was no ordinary fire-making charm. Fueled by the system's temporary peak magic restoration and the massive boost from her thirty-one points in Wisdom, the spell mutated. Instead of a simple jet of orange-red flame, a colossal, roaring serpent of white-hot fire erupted from her wand. The beast unhinged its molten jaw and lunged toward the dark shadow, reducing the damp vegetation beneath it to fine gray ash in an instant.
The dark shadow threw itself to the side, rolling through the dirt in a miserable, undignified heap to avoid incineration. Quirrell's physical body was already pushed to the brink, hollowed out and weakened by the constant torment of housing the main soul. No matter how much dark knowledge the remnant possessed, it was severely bottlenecked by this decaying, fragile shell. It could not sustain a high-intensity magical duel.
"Crucio!"
Pushed to the edge of desperation, the shadow abandoned all restraint. A jagged bolt of crimson lightning, thick and dark as coagulated blood, tore from Quirrell's wand. It hissed through the air, carrying the concentrated malice and agonizing soul-torment of the Unforgivable Curse straight toward Tamara.
Faced with the ultimate torture curse, Tamara did not even attempt to dodge.
Instead, the corners of her mouth stretched upward, pulling into an extremely crazed, euphoric smile. Her blood sang. This was it. The long-lost, intoxicating thrill of holding absolute dominion over life and death.
Flooded by the effects of the potion, the magical pathways that had lain dormant and suppressed within her new body for so long were practically screaming in jubilation. They were deep in the Forbidden Forest. The only witnesses were a pair of ignorant, terrified first-year brats.
There was absolutely no reason to hold back.
Tamara flicked her wrist. The motion was elegant, precise, and utterly cruel—the flawless swing of the Grim Reaper's scythe.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A blinding, sickly green light erupted from her wand. It carried the absolute, freezing chill of the grave, illuminating the dark woods in a ghastly, emerald hue.
Boom—!
The crimson lightning of the Cruciatus Curse and the killing green light of death collided violently in dead center of the clearing.
Neither spell immediately collapsed. Two monstrous surges of magic—originating from the exact same fractured soul, yet distinctly different in their current vessels—tore into each other. They tangled wildly in the air, a chaotic vortex of red and green sparks grinding against one another like buzzsaws.
The blinding clash illuminated the depths of the Forbidden Forest, turning the midnight woods as bright as high noon, yet painting everything in a bizarre, surreal, and sickening light. Harry threw his arms over his face, choking as a terrifying wave of displaced air and ozone washed over him. The sheer atmospheric pressure made it almost impossible to draw breath.
And Tamara, standing dead center in the eye of the storm, was drowning in the ultimate release.
Finally. Finally, she could use it again!
That wonderful, addictive rush of watching the green light consume everything in its path. That absolute, unquestionable power to snuff out a life with a single word!
The sheer thrill of wielding true Dark Magic made her heart pound against her ribs like a war drum. Magic surged through her veins like liquid fire. The depths of her dark eyes were completely swallowed by an unmistakable, feral madness.
"Hahahaha..."
A low, dark laugh bubbled up from her throat. She gripped her wand tighter, ruthlessly increasing the output of her magic, forcing the green beam to push back the red.
"The current you is far too weak!"
Tamara stood her ground, an immovable force of nature, while the dark shadow's boots dragged through the dirt, forcing Quirrell to stumble backward under the overwhelming pressure.
"Who... are you..." the dark shadow gasped.
For the first time, the remnant felt true, paralyzing terror.
It could feel it. The girl standing across from him did not just possess a soul that connected with the exact same frequency as his own. She wielded a power that was infinitely more perfect, more potent, and more whole than his current fragmented existence. It was the terrifying potential of a soul in its absolute peak state.
"Who I am does not matter," Tamara replied, her voice ringing with an unmatched, sadistic joy. "What matters is that it is time for you to die!"
The dark shadow let out a furious, unwilling roar.
It knew it could not win this clash. Dumbledore could arrive at any second, drawn by the massive magical discharge, and the terrifying girl standing before him was an even more immediate threat to his survival.
It shot Tamara one last, venomous glare, severing the magical connection. Quirrell's body instantly dissolved into a swirling cloud of thick black mist, abandoning the duel and fleeing frantically into the deepest, darkest depths of the Forbidden Forest.
The battle was over.
Tamara stood exactly where she was. She did not bother to pursue. The ten-minute timer ticked down to zero, and the effects of the [Basic Mana Potion] abruptly vanished. Her magic plummeted back to its normal, restricted levels, and a wave of intense, nauseating dizziness slammed into her skull.
But what startled her far more than the physical vertigo was the sudden, chilling return of her rational mind.
She froze. The blood drained from her face.
She had been so completely caught up in the euphoric high of the moment that she had actually cast the Killing Curse. Right in front of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy!
If she wanted to maintain her perfect, innocent facade and continue staying at Hogwarts, she had to somehow explain away everything that had just happened.
'Damn it...' Tamara's fingers tightened around her wand. A sharp, genuine flash of killing intent darted through her eyes as she stared at the two boys.
With this damned Virtue System monitoring her every thought, she couldn't simply murder them to destroy the evidence. The electric shocks would fry her brain before she even finished the incantation.
Should she erase their memories?
Her magical reserves were currently running on fumes. Whether she had enough juice left to successfully cast a complex Obliviate on two targets simultaneously was a massive gamble.
Just as she braced herself, slowly turning around to gauge the boys' horrified reactions...
[Ding! A friendly reminder from the System.]
That obnoxiously cheerful, patronizing electronic voice suddenly chimed in her mind.
[Detected that the Host just used an extremely uncivilized, discordant, and restricted-level spell.]
[To safeguard the physical and mental health of the surrounding teenagers, and to cultivate a positive, family-friendly campus atmosphere, this System automatically enabled an All-Ages Harmony Filter during the battle.]
Tamara blinked, utterly stunned. 'Harmony filter?'
[Yes! In the eyes of all bystanders—excluding yourself and the intended target—that violent green light was automatically visually replaced by a standard fire-making spell.]
[Additionally, that brutal, unsavory incantation was automatically masked to their ears as harmless electronic static.]
[Please rest assured, Host. Although your methods are incredibly dirty, the System has wiped your slate completely clean. There is no need to thank me; this is simply the sacred duty of the Virtue System!]
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