Chương 197: Chapter 197: The Final Trial and the Eve of Resurrection
The final step of the ancient magic trial turned out to be simpler than Cyrus had anticipated.
Despite his mistrust of Cyrus, the black wizard named Sen Barka, under the pressure of Voldemort's influence, had no choice but to reveal the details of the trial to Cyrus.
He needed to bring a fierce creature known as a Purple Horned Beast to open the door to the chamber.
As it happened, among the magical creatures Newt had previously given Cyrus, there were two Purple Horned Beasts.
These creatures were incredibly powerful, lacking many special abilities, but their skin was as tough as that of a dragon, immune to most wizarding spells. Their massive size allowed them to charge like a speeding locomotive, capable of shattering even mountain-sized boulders!
At that moment, the two Purple Horned Beasts knelt on their forelimbs, bowing submissively before Cyrus.
Cyrus's eyes glowed with a noble and commanding golden light, like a king standing tall in the heavens.
After bringing the Purple Horned Beasts to the chamber, Cyrus effortlessly obtained the final memory and the token stored in the Pensieve.
As expected, the memory was once again about Morgana. The witch had finally embarked on an irreversible path.
Her father, stripped of his emotions by her spells, was reduced to an emotionless shell, his eyes clouded with a shadowy veil.
But Morgana remained indifferent to this.
Not only did she show no remorse, but she also cast the same spell on her student.
The overwhelming negative emotions were sealed by her using Goblin Silver beneath the depths of Hogwarts, resembling a blood-red, bleeding, and ever-pulsating heart!
The four guardians attempted to stop her, but they were no match for Morgana. Ultimately, Sen Barka used the Killing Curse to take Morgana's life through a sneak attack, sealing the terrifying magical power she had gathered beneath Hogwarts.
The specific location of the seal was directly below the Athenaeum!
However, one thing puzzled Cyrus. Both Morgana's father and Fitzgerald had their negative emotions extracted by Morgana. Why did Morgana's father turn into a numb, living corpse, while Fitzgerald seemed unaffected?
There was no mention of any irreversible tragedies befalling the students Morgana had cast spells on.
"Could it be the difference between those with magical power and those without?"
After returning to the Hall of Knowledge, Cyrus voiced his doubts to Fitzgerald, but the witch dismissed his hypothesis.
"It's not like that. Human emotions cannot be entirely stripped away in an instant. They ebb and flow like tides. Morgana temporarily alleviated her father's grief by extracting his pain, much like the receding tide when the moon fades. But inevitably, the tide will rise again."
Cyrus understood her point.
Initially, the magic extracted only a particular emotion. However, if the magic wasn't regulated, it would lead to the complete loss of the ability to feel emotions, and even the loss of emotions themselves. It was because Morgana repeatedly extracted her father's inner pain that the tragedy occurred.
"You've completed the four trials. Before we open the door to the final chamber for you, you need to craft a special wand using the four tokens you've collected," reminded Rookwood.
The tokens Rookwood mentioned were obtained along with the memories. Each time the memory of a guardian was placed into the Pensieve, a spiraling light orb would emerge from it.
When it came to custom wand-making, Cyrus's first thought was to make a trip to Germany. However, that seemed a bit too far, so Ollivander's wand shop was a good alternative.
This was Cyrus's first time returning to Gringotts after he had destroyed it.
The entrance that Voldemort had blown up and the ceiling that had been shattered by the dragon's explosion had long since been repaired. However, the goblins standing at the entrance looked listless, as if someone owed them a lot of money.
Moreover, they were now unfriendly to everyone, even wizards who intended to deposit money at Gringotts were met with suspicious glances, as if the goblins were worried they were dealing with another hidden dark wizard planning to steal their treasures.
"Heh~ It seems that the two attacks have made the goblins extremely paranoid," Cyrus remarked with a smile.
This was good news for him. If the goblins were treating wizards who wanted to deposit money so poorly, it was even worse for those who wanted to withdraw their funds. If this continued, who would want to store their wealth in Gringotts?
Cyrus wasn't too concerned, as this matter had already been handed over to Lucius. The only potential uncertainty lay in the future of the British wizarding world, especially after Voldemort's resurrection. It posed a significant challenge to the wizarding bank.
But, of course, it also presented an opportunity!
"We should have Lucius go undercover with Voldemort for a while, transferring all the pure-blood wealth to our side," Cyrus mused. Once Voldemort is defeated, those people will inevitably face retribution, and the excuse of the Imperius Curse won't hold up a second time. When that time comes, the wealth they've stored in the bank would effectively become unclaimed property.
The more Cyrus thought about it, the better the plan seemed, especially given Lucius's nature. Keeping him close wasn't particularly useful, but placing him with Voldemort might cause some discomfort for the Dark Lord.
Moreover, he wasn't worried about Lucius betraying him. As long as Draco and Narcissa were in his grasp, Lucius wouldn't dare defy him.
With that in mind, Cyrus knocked on the door of Ollivander's wand shop.
The small shop's interior was much larger than it appeared from the outside. Shelves lined with thousands of wand boxes stretched all the way to the ceiling. Given the number of children entering wizarding school each year in Britain, the Ollivander family's stock of wands would last generations, even if they stopped making them.
The elderly shopkeeper noticed Cyrus and immediately approached.
"Hello, are you here for wand maintenance?" he asked, unsure as he looked at Cyrus.
Ollivander wasn't particularly familiar with Tom Riddle's appearance. He had only seen Tom once when he was a student, and by the time Voldemort's terror gripped Britain, his appearance had drastically changed.
And now, Cyrus's hair and eye color were different as well.
"I want to commission a custom wand," Cyrus said, presenting the relics of the guardians. "I've already prepared the materials."
He handed the materials over, immediately catching Ollivander's attention.
"Oh Merlin! I've never seen such unusual materials before."
Ollivander seemed genuinely surprised. The relics of the guardians appeared to be both metallic and crystalline, and they piqued his interest greatly.
Although Ollivander typically used materials from only three magical creatures—dragon, phoenix, and unicorn—for wand cores, this was due to years of comparative results. Now, faced with a completely new and unfamiliar material, he was eager to experiment.
He was so intrigued that he even waived the usual high cost of commissioning a custom wand.
The crafting of the wand would take some time, and during this period, Cyrus had no choice but to wait.
Meanwhile, at the manor where the Death Eaters had gathered, Bellatrix and the other senior Death Eaters who had escaped from Azkaban were feeling extremely anxious and restless.
They had believed that they were deeply trusted by the Dark Lord and thought that as soon as the news of the Azkaban breakout was made public, the Dark Lord would immediately summon them. However, this did not happen.
Despite the increasing pain from the Dark Mark day by day, the expected call had not come.
As a result, those Death Eaters who had previously betrayed them were secretly mocking them. Enraged by this, Bellatrix drew her wand and cast a curse to severely punish them.
Their wands, of course, had been painstakingly procured by Lucius.
"Why hasn't the Dark Lord contacted us yet? Could it be that he's displeased with our failure?" Augustus Rookwood anxiously paced back and forth in the manor. He was a loyal follower of Voldemort, but now it seemed that Voldemort might have lost faith in them.
After Voldemort's downfall, these followers had not surrendered, but they had quickly been defeated. Perhaps it was this incompetence that led Voldemort to feel disappointed in them.
"Maybe the Dark Lord simply doesn't know we're back yet!" someone suggested.
This speculation clearly convinced Bellatrix.
"I've been saying we should have used the Dark Mark right away!" Bellatrix said wildly. "We should go to the Ministry now, slaughter those Aurors and officials, and release the Dark Mark!"
She wasn't making a suggestion but issuing a declaration. As she spoke, she was already moving toward the manor's entrance. However, an older voice stopped her.
"Calm down, Bellatrix," an elderly Death Eater rose to his feet.
He was as old as Voldemort himself, one of the original followers from Voldemort's school days. Perhaps due to the earlier timing of the breakout compared to the original events, this old man was still alive.
At that moment, he held up a newspaper and spread it out for everyone to see.
The front page featured an image of Cyrus.
"The Master hasn't summoned us yet, which clearly means he has his reasons," the old wizard said. "As the Dark Lord himself said, on the path to immortality, he has gone further than anyone else. Twelve years ago, everyone thought he was dead, but the truth is, he has returned!"
The old wizard's withered hand tapped the Daily Prophet, drawing the attention of the Death Eaters.
Voldemort's appearance had drastically changed over the past two decades, but if one looked closely, a trace of resemblance to Cyrus could still be discerned from the wanted poster.
The old wizard folded up the newspaper and continued, "What we must do now is quietly wait for the Master's summons, so as not to disrupt his plans."
As his words settled, even though Bellatrix harbored a great deal of discontent, she dared not risk making a grave mistake for the sake of a moment's satisfaction.
At that moment, a sharp voice suddenly rang out among the group, like an eagle appearing in a flock of ducks.
"A reasonable statement, Mr. Bulstrode."
A gaunt, scarred man, looking disheveled, had somehow appeared among the group.
Nearly a hundred Death Eaters immediately became alert, raising their wands in unison to point at the man.
"Remus Lupin?!" Lucius's pupils contracted, clearly shocked to see this man here. How had he gotten in? Could it be that Dumbledore had discovered what they were up to?
If that were true, it would be disastrous.
"Remus Lupin? No, it's me, Crouch!" The flesh on Lupin's face swelled and shifted, transforming into another appearance.
Everyone recognized this face—Barty Crouch Jr. one of the Dark Lord's trusted Death Eaters!
However, seeing this face shocked them even more than seeing Lupin.
No one lowered their wands; some even had green sparks dancing at the tips, ready to fire at any moment!
"Barty Crouch Jr. is dead!" Rodolphus snarled, stepping forward. The young Death Eater had died shortly after being imprisoned—they knew that better than anyone.
"Are you certain the one who died was really me?" Barty Jr. chuckled. "Shall I remind you that after drinking Polyjuice Potion, if you die, you don't revert to your original form?"
As he spoke, the Death Eaters quickly understood. The Barty Crouch Jr. who died twelve years ago was a substitute. The real Barty Jr. had escaped from Azkaban back then.
This revelation stirred a great deal of discontent among the Death Eaters.
"You've been out of Azkaban for twelve years?!" Bellatrix, her tone venomous, stormed up to Barty Jr. and grabbed him by the collar.
Her nails, twisted and thickened from years of torture, were an ugly gray.
"Why didn't you go find the Dark Lord?!"
"Since my escape, I have been serving the Dark Lord!" Barty Crouch Jr. showed no fear, his tone even tinged with contempt. "I saw the news about your prison break in the paper. Who orchestrated it?"
His accusatory tone silenced those Death Eaters who had initially suggested the breakout. Lucius Malfoy, however, stepped forward, taking responsibility.
"I was the one who gathered them," Lucius admitted.
"Very well, Lucius." Barty Jr. gave Lucius a strange look, seemingly surprised that he had such resolve. But instead of commenting further, he issued a warning.
"No matter what, the Dark Lord is executing his plan now. He doesn't want any foolishness to jeopardize his success. So, until he summons you, it's best that you do nothing."
With that, he paid no mind to Bellatrix or the others' reactions and Disapparated from the manor.
Barty Jr. made several stops before returning to Hogwarts.
"The Dark Lord has returned from France. The potion and body needed for his resurrection are ready, as well as that useless Karkaroff. Now, all that's left is Harry Potter's blood, and the Dark Lord will be reborn!"
His eyes gleamed with excitement, and he licked his lips eagerly, as if he couldn't wait any longer.
Meanwhile, back at the Death Eater manor, Bellatrix and the others still believed Barty Jr. was referring to the youth full man in the news—Cyrus!
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