Chapter 76 - Invasion of Hogwarts (9)
The Archbishop was the first to strike, light shaping into his hand into a whip of light, tearing through the air and heading towards the humanoid monster with wings protruding from its eye sockets at a speed almost impossible for a human to catch.
The whip of light tore Mahoraga in half, causing the Archbishop to display an arrogant smile.
But in the next moment, his smile stiffened as he heard a loud sound echoing within his mind.
Clang!
The golden wheel floating above the head of the pale abomination spun!
Then, something not too surprising for a cursed spirit happened, it regenerated completely in a single instant.
The Archbishop attacked once again with the same whip of light, but instead of the previous scene repeating, the whip struck Mahoraga, causing some damage, but much less than the previous time.
This made Voldemort and Herpo's eyes worthy.
"I hope it's not what I'm thinking, otherwise, we're completely dead," Herpo joked with a smile, licking his lips feeling how dry they were.
Perhaps he would really lose this Horcrux, which would certainly be a pity, as he had only made two.
The Archbishop didn't care about the heretic's words; he didn't believe his attacks had no effect on this pale abomination.
"Innate Feat Manipulation - Father of Light - Celestial Light Manipulation."
With his words, behind him manifested balls of golden light, from these balls of light, numerous energy beams were fired rapidly!
Hundreds of high-heat energy rays hit Mahoraga, who still hadn't moved, almost as if he wanted to be attacked.
All the attacks hit Mahoraga, causing huge holes in his body, but in the next moment, all his wounds regenerated completely.
The Divine General showed a grotesque smile to the Archbishop and slowly walked towards him, each of his steps causing a hole in the ground.
As he walked, the golden wheel above his head spun once again.
Clang!
The sound echoed louder in the Archbishop's mind, causing his face to contort in fury; he felt that this cursed spirit was mocking him.
"I will kill you as I did with that cursed spirit before—" Before the Archbishop could continue, a huge fist appeared in front of him. He didn't even have time to react when the fist hit him.
The Archbishop had only a brief moment of clarity before a tremendous force sent him flying away, leaving blood, teeth, and a large part of his face floating in the air.
"I guess he can't talk anymore," Herpo said, looking at the Archbishop's body. The man was still alive, but he didn't think this deplorable state could exactly be called living.
"Asterion is crazy for creating this abomination," Herpo muttered to himself, looking at the pale cursed spirit. Is he not afraid of losing control? What if this monster adapts its own innate technique it was created with and breaks free from control?
Watching the "fight," if it could be called that, Herpo knew the Cursed Spirit's innate technique in front of him.
"Adaptation..." Herpo spoke. "Every time we attack, he adapts to our innate technique. Using spells is out of the question; he'll adapt each spell we cast immediately because of the simplicity of the spells."
"So that's why my Horcrux is afraid; he can adapt to my innate technique, [Supreme Soul Permanence], and cause damage to my Horcrux," Herpo muttered to himself, looking at the two-headed serpent hovering above him.
He could see Asterion looking at him with a sadistic and cruel smile.
"I take back what I said; you're nothing like Corvinus. You resemble Salazar more; both of you are mad. Salazar for creating that abomination he calls a Basilisk, and you for creating this monster," Herpo said to Asterion. He knew the young man heard every word, reading his lips.
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Watching the fight, Rose furrowed her brow and came to the same conclusion as Herpo in her mind. She looked at Asterion and asked seriously, "Are you really crazy or just stupid? How could you create something that can adapt to everything?"
Asterion shrugged indifferently. "Mahoraga will not adapt to my Innate Technique; it's impossible for him to break free from my control."
"If you say so, but don't ask for my help when that thing goes out of control." Observing Asterion's indifference, Rose spoke with an irritating smile on her lips.
Asterion just scoffed coldly. He wasn't afraid of Mahoraga going out of control; once created by him, the cursed spirit would always be his slave.
Although Rose's concerns were valid, it didn't mean they would happen, especially when Asterion had complete control over his creations.
"By the way, those two are really strong," Rose said, pointing to the barriers where Grindelwald and Dumbledore were fighting. "If it weren't for that barrier, everything within a radius of dozens of kilometers would be turned into nothing but ashes."
"Dumbledore's Innate Technique has devastating power," Asterion agreed with Rose's words. Even behind extremely powerful barriers, the blasts of hot air could still be felt by him and anyone close enough.
"He's worthy of being called the Most Powerful Wizard in the World," Rose smiled and pointed at herself. "But not for a long time."
"Yes, yes, Miss Most Powerful in the World," Asterion replied sarcastically.
"Mr. Second Most Powerful in the World," Rose retorted with the same sarcasm.
Then, she wore a serious look, she looked down and focused her gaze on Voldemort and Herpo.
"Why did four Special Grade wizards attack Hogwarts? Three of them were targeting me."
Honestly, she already knew the purpose of these three; one was a mad scientist who wanted her eyes, the religious fanatic wanted to kill her for something she did, to be more precise, for being born. Voldemort probably just wanted revenge.
After a brief silence, Asterion replied.
"If you want my guess, I would say Grindelwald wants something that Hogwarts possesses, something valuable enough to risk fighting against the Most Powerful Wizard in the World."
As for what that thing was, Asterion had no idea, although he had studied a lot, his accumulated knowledge was too thin to compare with wizards who had over a century of accumulated knowledge.
Especially the low-budget Kenjaku whom Asterion presumed to be thousands of years old; the man was probably a walking library. There was no possibility of him comparing to someone that old with only three years of study.
Rose stroked her chin and looked at Hogwarts with a pensive look. In her eyes, the castle looked completely different from the first time she saw it; at that moment, Hogwarts no longer had that extraordinary magic. It seemed like an old, sick man, about to die at any moment.
Rose supposed they had cut off Hogwarts' power source, effectively breaking the impregnable barrier around the castle. But this would only be possible if there was a spy inside the castle, skilled enough to hide from the castle's magical protections.
The first suspect in Rose's mind was obviously Voldemort himself.
Even with all of Rose's extraordinary wisdom, she never thought that the barrier protecting Hogwarts for thousands of years would be destroyed by a magicless Squib.
"No matter, in the face of absolute strength, conspiracies are irrelevant. A dragon does not fear ants gathering against it; on the contrary, the dragon would watch with interest as they gather to fight against it," Rose spoke aloud, causing Asterion beside her to roll his eyes at the arrogant words of the thirteen-year-old girl.
If he were the dragon in Rose's analogy, he would kill the ants before they could gather against him. It was a danger, however minimal, that Asterion couldn't ignore.
You could call him paranoid, but he called it precaution!
"I'll love to see you getting beaten by those you call ants. I'll watch with popcorn," Asterion sarcastically retorted to Rose, who just showed a big smile on her face.
"No matter, it will never happen because I am strong," she said with an extremely confident smile capable of irritating anyone with sight.
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Thoughts of the author: I think I'm bothering the Archbishop a bit... the poor guy is getting beaten up like a punching bag in a boxing gym. :D
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Next Chapter: Chapter 77 - Invasion of Hogwarts (10), Chapter 78 - Invasion of Hogwarts (11), Chapter 79 - Post-War (1), Chapter 80 - Heir of Salazar Slytherin (1), Chapter 81 - Heir of Salazar Slytherin (2), Chapter 82 - Heir of Salazar Slytherin (3), Chapter 83 - Salazar's Heir Slytherin (4), Chapter 84 - Sequels, Chapter 85 - Civil War (1), 86 - Civil War (2), 87 - Civil War (3), 88 - Civil War (4), 89 - Civil War (5), Chapter 90 - Civil War (6), Chapter 91 - Battlefield (1), Chapter 92 - Battlefield (2), Chapter 93 – Conflicts on the Battlefield (1), Chapter 94 – Conflicts on the Battlefield (2), Chapter 95 - The War Intensifies (1), Chapter 96 - The War Intensifies (2), Chapter 97 - The Death of Voldemort (1), Chapter 98 - The Death of Voldemort (2) And end of the first volume.