Chapter 58: The Temptation of Darkness

"Leonard Taylor, use your power for me, the Dark Lord Voldemort."

Leo is a little surprised by the sudden invitation. But the shock was even greater for the Death Eaters than for Leo.

"My lord!? Why such a child!"

"His father is that Erskine Taylor. It's dangerous!"

"No matter how superior he is, he's not pure-blooded!"

"Silence."

With one word from Voldemort, the noisy voices disappeared.

"This one has many times the value of you cowards. To master magic, one needs a ruthless mentality, creativity to create magic and potions like never before, excellent magical skills, and above all, the "Eye" to decipher magic. Each of these is wonderful. It would be a waste to let him rot in a place like that old Dumbledore. How about it, Leonard Taylor? Wouldn't you like to do as much research as you want under me? No matter how far it deviates from ethics, I won't blame you. I won't avoid it because it's dark magic. You too will eventually reach your limit in your current environment. If you come here, there will be no such thing. How about it? It's not a bad deal."

Leo thinks. Indeed, it's not a bad condition. There must be many things he can't learn in his current environment. But what would happen if he joined the Dark Lord's camp with such a short-sighted idea? First of all, he needs to listen carefully and consider.

"It's certainly attractive. May I ask some questions?"

"No problem."

"Thank you very much. First of all, what do you want from me? Secondly, what is your ultimate goal? Thirdly, what will you do if I refuse?"

He asked what he was wondering about for now. Now let's see what kind of answer comes back.

"I'll answer in order. What I want from you is the development of excellent magic and potions, and I want you to do many things for my purpose. And my ultimate goal is total domination. Superior wizards rule over inferior Muggles. It's only natural that the superior ones rule. If you resist in the end... Torture, brainwashing, gouging out that "Eye" and making it mine. Well, ultimately I'll kill you. Anyone who opposes me will experience the fear of death."

The ultimate goal of Voldemort, the Dark Lord, is world domination - world governance by wizards.

Hearing that, Leo thought it was indeed a goal worthy of being called an emperor.

"I want to prioritize my research, so your requests may be postponed."

"If that's the case, I'll think about requests that will interest you. So, what will you do?"

(It's an attractive proposal. If the dark camp loses, I could just say I was brainwashed and run away... But there's one more thing I need to ask.)

The face of Hermione, Leo's beloved girlfriend, comes to mind.

"What happens to Muggles after they are ruled? What are the specific methods of governance and treatment of Muggle-borns?"

"First of all, after unifying the British magical world, all Muggle leaders will be made puppets with obedience spells. Then the common people will be at our mercy. We will gradually take over the magical worlds of other countries as well. Muggles are livestock or slaves. As for Muggle-borns... they are treated as slightly superior labor force than Muggles."

Voldemort is basking in a sense of superiority, envisioning the scene he is dominating. He seems to believe it will certainly be so, but it probably won't go so smoothly. It's hard not to say that he's underestimating Muggles and other countries too much.

Moreover, it's clear that he regards Muggle-borns, in other words Hermione, his beloved lover, as a worthless existence. Just for that reason alone, it's impossible for Leonard Taylor to side with him. If it had been Leo before, he would have joined the dark camp without hesitation if he could do better research.

However, Hermione's existence changed that. When she confessed her love to him, he said he would prioritize magic, but when it came to that point, he realized that Hermione was more important.

Love sometimes surpasses everything.

"I've heard various things, but I refuse."

"Ho. It's surprising. You can do more wonderful magic research."

"I understand that there are limits to the current research environment and I have already constructed improvement measures. Besides, I'm not interested in a place where I will lose eventually."

At his current remarks, anger welled up in Voldemort. He tries to speak calmly, but his uncontrollable anger is overflowing. Just because of that, the surrounding Death Eaters are frightened.

"Do you think this Dark Lord will be defeated? What do you base your assertion on, you genius wizard?"

"A box and blood."

"A box... No way, why that! And what is blood!?"

"Do I need to answer the enemy?"

From Tom Riddle's diary two years ago, Voldemort is creating Horcruxes to become immortal. Probably multiple. Dumbledore is probably investigating it, so eventually only the remnants of the soul left in the body will remain.

Also, because Harry Potter's blood was used at the time of resurrection, the blood protection resides in Voldemort as it is. In such a state, Harry Potter cannot be killed.

"So what should I do... It's troublesome, so maybe I should go home."

"Do you think I'll let you escape like this? You're underestimating me."

Voldemort instructs the Death Eaters to capture Leo. To meet the expectations of their master, to punish the cheeky brat who they think is more valuable than them, and just because they can hurt Arskin Taylor's son, they are excited.

Their faces are hidden by masks, but you can tell they're grinning. They don't know that they won't be able to make such a face soon.

The figure of one of the leaders disappeared. A puddle made of blood and flesh spreads in its place. And one after another invisible forces crush them and continue to spread a sea of meat and blood.

The sight of their comrades becoming corpses one after another confuses the Death Eaters. The only being who would do such a thing is Leonard Taylor.

But Leo isn't even holding his wand. He's just watching. But just by doing that, the people who were seen are crushed. Those whose necks were cut off are not even looked at.

The survivors who fell into a state of panic all cast spells at Leo at once.

Stupefy, Expelliarmus, Crucio, Imperio, dozens of spell flashes rush towards Leo.

But Leo's cloak stretches out and deflects most of the spells.

Even a few spells that couldn't be blocked were reflected without hitting Leo and hit the Death Eaters.

Within 2 minutes of the Death Eaters surrounding Leo, about a third had died and the rest had lost their will to fight. If these were subordinates who had fanatical loyalty to Voldemort as if they were imprisoned in Azkaban, they would still have the spirit to fight.

But those who had returned to a peaceful life with excuses and bribes had their hearts broken.

"Monster..."

Someone muttered. That's right, this is a monster. He kills people as if he's just doing a job, without changing his facial expression. Magic doesn't work on him. Even his father, Erskine Taylor, is better. He's just an extraordinary wizard. But the kid here seemed like an unknown entity.

"It seems you guys couldn't handle this one after all. Step back. Even you incompetent ones are valuable resources. If the number decreases any further, I'll have to revise my future plans. I'll take care of it myself."

Voldemort stands in front of Leo. At the same time, a force to crush him, just like the other Death Eaters, descends upon him.

However, as expected of the Dark Lord. He blocks the invisible force with a shield spell deployed above his head and avoids the slashing attack with a quick disappearing act.

The emperor who appeared makes the tombstones in the cemetery float and charges them at Leo at high speed.

Leo deploys countless spells around him to shoot them down.

Voldemort knew that he couldn't inflict even a single wound on Leo with such things.

But there was a slight gap. He takes advantage of that gap to appear right behind Leo and casts a death spell.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Voldemort was convinced of his victory. Unlike Harry Potter's time, no one is sacrificing themselves to protect him. This spell is fatal as there is no counter spell.

However, that common sense was meaningless to Leonard Taylor. Even though he was hit directly in the chest when he turned around, he stands calmly as if it had no effect at all.

He seems to be touching around his chest to check, but it doesn't seem like there's any damage.

"Hahaha, as expected of Ku. You can block the death spell of the strongest dark wizard"

"You..."

The Dark Lord is not a fool. He understood that if he challenged the threat in front of him without any countermeasures as it is, there is a high possibility of defeat. He might be able to fight alone, but all his minions would be killed without exception.

Distorting his face in anger and even if his pride is shattered, he chose the method to win in the end.

"Everyone, disappear and retreat! Leonard Taylor! Cherish your life as much as possible. I will definitely kill you someday!"

The Dark Lord and the surviving Death Eaters disappeared. All that was left were many corpses and Leo.

"This might have gotten a bit troublesome. Maybe I should have interfered with the resurrection. Ah, but then I wouldn't have been able to see the resurrection ceremony. I guess things don't always go as planned."

"What will you do now, Master?"

"I won't do anything in particular. If they attack, I'll annihilate them. If they don't do anything, I'll spend my time as usual, doing research."

The disposal of the bodies was left to the Ministry of Magic or the dark forces who didn't want the resurrection to be discovered, and he disappeared back to Hogwarts.