Chapter 40
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As the command was given, Quirrell did not go for his wand, but instead leapt directly for Ethan, moving with supernatural speed as he crossed the room in seconds.
Drawing a wide arc with his wand, Ethan raised a knee-high wall in front of him, but Quirrell jumped over it without losing any speed, his hand growing long claws as he went for Ethan's throat.
Ethan was not alone, however. Using the cover of the short wall, Miyuki managed to reach Quirrell's midsection, and with a swipe of her claws, slashed open his midsection, aiming to disembowel him.
Taken by surprise, Quirrell stumbled down, holding at his now opened belly and screaming like a banshee. The gash in his waist was enough to spill out the guts of an ordinary man, but Quirrell had already become a Living Dead, and his morphology worked differently from mortal men.
Under the intrigued eyes of Ethan, and the horrified ones of Harry, the wound closed itself at a speed visible to the naked eye as Quirrell got back on his feet, and Diego cheered merrily, "Beautiful execution! But be careful, he learns!"
Ethan was too focused on his task to care about Diego's words however, a part of his attention always kept on manipulating the ground, while the rest was on Quirrell.
Frowning a bit at the exertion from dividing his attention, Ethan enunciated clearly, "Incendio!"
With a flicker of his wand, Ethan conjured a jet of flames from the tip of his wand, forcing Quirrell to cover himself with his cloak, hissing like an angry feline as he did.
"Flipendo!"
Quirrell, still defending himself from the flames, was forced back by a strong force that lifted him off his feet, and blew open his defence.
"Diffindo!"
Finally, Quirrell's coat was slashed open by an invisible attack, leaving a deep gash in the middle of his chest, breaking his chest bones.
But even after all of this, Quirrell still landed on his feet, and was not done. The part about him learning seemed true as well as he suddenly lowered himself closer to the ground, going on all four as he rushed Ethan once again.
Although Quirrell still looked human, his physiology had been completely changed, allowing him to move like a feral but agile animal, almost gliding along the floor.
Ethan fired another Flipendo at him, but Quirrell managed to dodge the spell while not losing any speed. Stepping back, Ethan stopped pouring magic into the ground and fully focused on Quirrell, holding out his left hand towards him and slightly rotating his wand in his right.
The ground on which Quirrell was running was turned soft, and much like a hamster running in his cage, the ground under Quirrell gained a strange rubbery texture, rolling along Quirrell's movement and rolling around him.
For a moment, it almost looked like the world had turned into a cartoon, the very ground forming a wheel around Quirrell. He tried to move away, but his own momentum was used against him as he was sent rolling off-course.
Still, Quirrell quite literally tore it apart, and just as Diego warned, he was relentless, and learning.
The only offensive charms Ethan had learned this year had been Diffindo, Incendio, Flipendo and Petrificus Totalus. And these were quickly turning useless as Quirrell was learning how to defend against them.
Ethan did have means to end the fight, but Quirrell was not the biggest threat in the room.
Pointing his wand at the rapidly approaching Quirrell, Ethan took a deep breath and said, "Protego Malum."
A stream of grey light gently poured out of his wand, forming a silvery barrier deceptively quickly in front of him. Quirrell, despite his agility, ended up crashing into it, and the moment he came in contact with it his skin scalded as he screeched, jumping back from it.
Ethan had managed to learn the spell, and while the irony of the situation was not lost on him, feeling the drain the single use of the spell had put on his reserves, he decided against using it again.
Once again managing to pull the distance between himself and Quirrell, Ethan shared a look with Miyuki, before pointing his wand at Quirrell and yelling, "Legilimens!"
Legilimency, just like any other Charm, could be cast with an incantation and a wand for a stronger impact. Most people used the spell without them however because it was much easier to infiltrate the mind of an unaware target.
Ethan was not trying to be subtle here, however.
Diego seemed intrigued on the other side of the room, and sat contented as he observed.
A bluish hue started spreading from Ethan, and as it reached Quirrell, the Professor held his head and screamed in agony. Its long claw-like fingernails drew gashes into his face, before he screeched at Ethan, forgoing all caution as he rushed at him.
Ethan held his ground, not moving in the slightest as his eyes narrowed, his mind energy burrowing deeper into the chaotic mind of Quirrell, metaphorically stirring it all up.
At the start of the year, Ethan had been surprised by how weak Quirrell's mind had been. Moreover, it had eroded even more through the course of the year, his intentions becoming obvious to anyone with some achievements in the mind arts.
The reason for this was the constant compulsion Diego forced on his mind. One of the racial abilities of vampires was Compulsion, which was a form of mind magic that worked quite similarly to one of the Unforgivable Curses, Imperius.
And just like Imperius, it left sequelas if used too regularly or intensely. From a metaphysical standpoint, it was like Diego had left knives stabbed deep into Quirrell's brain, and all Ethan was doing was wriggling these knives.
Thus, Quirrell was pushed by both instinct and command from his master as he rushed at Ethan with everything he had. Understanding what he was doing, Miyuki, who had been releasing her illusory mist for a while, gathered it all around Ethan, turning his form blurry while she rushed at Quirrell herself, forgoing all pretence.
Although dangerous as a three tailed Kitsune, she was still too young, and could do nothing to stop the frantic Quirrell as all he needed was a swipe of his arm to send the young Kitsune flying.
Still, Ethan did not move, his full concentration on his spell.
Finally, Quirrell was right before Ethan, his clawed hand outstretched, while the blue hue around Ethan had become thick enough to actually be seen by everyone in the room.
Time seemed to come to a stop for an instant, before Harry heard a muffled groan from Ethan.
As for Quirrell, with a silence that made it even eerier, he crashed past Ethan like a puppet whose string had been cut.
Being somewhat learned in the mind arts, even Harry had been able to feel the chaos going on within Quirrell's mind. But all of a sudden, that chaos had disappeared, and the frantic will to survive within Quirrell had been crushed to nothingness.
This time, Quirrell's physical form was next to pristine. His earlier injuries had already healed, even the more grievous ones, yet he did not rise again. He just laid on the ground, motionless.
He… was dead.
"Bravo! I must admit, I did not expect you to be this ruthless, Grindelwald! Killing your Professor is one thing, but shredding their mind apart? That's just cruel! But that will make for an even better story! The dark child, injured by his Professor, lost it and decided to torture him in one of the worst imaginable ways!"
Harry looked back at Ethan, and realised he had missed something. Ethan hadn't come out of the fight spotless. Blood was flowing down his left leg, and the boy was leaning his entire weight on his other leg.
Placing a hand on his injury, Ethan channelled some of his magic in an attempt to slow down the bleeding as he asked, "Is that the plan then? Let me live and make me take the blame for the death of Quirrell? Turning me into a murderer?"
Ethan's eyes met Harry's, and the Boy Who Lived suddenly felt a chill going down his spine. Quirrell had been turned into a vampire, which would be clear for all to see. That wouldn't be enough to turn Ethan into a criminal. Only if…
"Ohohoh, looks like our scarred celebrity finally caught on to the reason for his presence! Yes, Harry Potter. You shall die tonight. And once the news of your murder at the hands of Grindelwald spread in the morning, it will be an entire nation that will chase after him and his family. The entire world by the end of the week, if he doesn't get caught before that."
Harry gulped, and mustering his courage, Harry said, "You won't get away with this. My family-"
"Your family will chase Grindelwald. And so will the rest of the world. Speaking of which, Grindelwald, I am going to need your wand. I hope you are not too attached to it, but we do need some evidence to point out the culprit."
His face paling, Harry looked at Ethan, and said, "Don't give him your wand!"
Ethan's face was grim however as Diego laughed, "You think he has a choice? Him resisting will only make things more enjoyable for me!"
Harry safely out of the way, Diego remained a fair distance away from Ethan as he asked, "So, what will it be? Will you try to resist, or are you going to kill Potter willingly? To be honest, I'm going to enjoy it thoroughly, whichever option you end up choosing, so it's up to you."