416 Chapter 415 Come with me (2 in 1)
"Dang, dang, dang!"
The sound of the Triwizard Cup dropping to the floor made a clear, crisp sound unique to metal.
And at that moment, it was obvious to Jon that something was different about the castle.
Outside the library, those staircases that had been dead and dull suddenly began to come alive again, and the statues and armour all around the castle began to take on an air of vibrancy.
Everything began to look special, and such a change felt like a revival, and a new beginning.
Jon himself did not feel a single change in his body, but the Gryffindor sword that he held in his hand was clearly different.
The slender blade glowed with a faint light as if some strange magic had been attached to it.
But instead of the joy and excitement of such a transformation, Jon's mood sank to the bottom.
He could feel the connection to Hogwarts Castle that Voldemort had been trying to establish for so long, and it was that connection that he needed!
"Did you feel it? You could be the one this castle desires for over ten years, Jon."
Voldemort waved Draco's wand and smiled as he walked slowly towards Jon who had his back against the wall, a black mist rising around him like the countless unjust souls who had died under him over the years and couldn't escape from his bindings!
"You and Dumbledore should both be thanking me, I'm doing you a great favour here, aren't I. This is the championship you've always wanted and the castle you've always wanted to take back, and now that all your demands have been met, shouldn't you satisfy me in return?"
Jon wiped away the blood left at the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
Staring intently at the approaching Voldemort, he plunged the Gryffindor sword into the ground and effortlessly regained his footing back up on the ground.
And just then, the black mist that had just attacked Jon with the trophy suddenly dispersed, and then invitingly revealed a crimson feather inside!
It had snatched it from the pocket compartment of Jon's robes, a backhand that Dumbledore had left with Jon as a precaution, but Voldemort had seen through it all early on.
"That bloody phoenix, I will make it live a life that is worse than death sooner or later."
Voldemort said such ruthless words, but his face remained smiling while he tapped his wand in his hand at the Fawkes feather, and the next second the feather was reduced to a handful of flying ash.
"Dumbledore himself used such a tactic to escape from me in the first place, do you think I would give you that chance again?"
Jon watched as the feather was destroyed and turned into ash which drifted to the ground, without much of a ripple raising in his eyes.
Or rather, since his pupils had turned to that golden fire, no one could accurately read his mood from his gaze at all.
The feather that had actually been carried on Jon's body from the very beginning of the task was indeed a backup that Dumbledore had prepared for him to summon Fawkes out immediately in the event of an extremely dangerous situation so that it could lead Jon to escape.
But now such a safety measure had been discovered and destroyed by Voldemort at the very beginning, it was as if Jon's only backup route had been completely blocked and there was no possibility of escape from the castle.
Jon leaned on his sword and looked at Voldemort who was already three metres away, the sword light emanating from the Gryffindor's sword protecting him from the black mist.
"From the year that Professor Dumbledore was defeated followed by the conquest of all of Britain to scheming the annexation of France, it was you all along, wasn't it?"
Voldemort did not deny it.
"Do you think that dumb bastard could have done what I did if he had been the one to do it all?"
Jon breathed heavily, his lungs having been badly damaged in the blow he had just taken, but he narrowed his eyes as he locked eyes with Voldemort.
"Yes, of course, he can't compare to you, all the changes that have happened in this world actually started with you, if it was the original Voldemort, even if Professor Dumbledore couldn't kill him, there is no way he could have defeated Professor Dumbledore, let alone have that ability and means to control Britain for over a decade without any major mishaps, it has been smooth so far. "
The smile on Voldemort's face faltered slightly at his words.
It was an expression he hadn't even shown when he had been recognised by Jon and used Draco's body to show himself.
"What are you trying to say?"
His face grew calm, and his flat voice sounded like it was unmixed with any emotion.
Instead, Jon smiled, the blood still left on the corners of his mouth, the shift in Voldemort's emotions hadn't made much sense to him, but Voldemort had been acting like he had everything under control from the start, and now there was finally some change of emotion in his expression, much to Jon's amusement.
"I'd say you are variable, and I am a variable too, and our presence has both changed the course of the world in unknown ways. Perhaps God knew this from the beginning, no, you can't exactly call it God, I think it's called fate according to a term used in the magical world, fate had anticipated it a long time ago, the world needed to be fixed, and to remove the wrong changes, of course, it needed a person like me."
"I do owe you a debt of gratitude, Voldemort, let's call you by that name for now, for helping me to make a choice as well."
While listening to Jon's words that sounded like riddles to an outsider, Voldemort's face looked increasingly grim.
"What's the point of you talking about all this? You're not really so whimsical as to think you have a chance against me one-on-one, are you? If that's the case, then I was wrong. I always thought you were a smart boy, and a smart boy should have a clear understanding of himself!"
The moment his words fell, the black mist rose up around Voldemort!
At the same time, he whipped his wand in his hand, and without any forewarning, the green light of death swept towards Jon with a bolt!
As Voldemort's movement unfolded, he dodged the killing curse with the speed of an instantaneous levitation charm, almost as if it were an instantaneous movement.
And as the black mist flooded towards Jon, the light of the Gryffindor sword rose up like a solid shield charm, holding all the black mist back by a metre!
After dodging Voldemort's attack, Jon's body didn't half relax, his feet, which had been pressed against the wall, suddenly shot up, causing his body, which was floating in mid-air, to fly towards Voldemort like an arrow being shot out!
He raised his wand in the face of Jon's counterattack, without reciting a spell or waving it, the surrounding air became sticky the next moment.
The obstruction that seemed to surround him caused Jon's speed, which had been so overwhelming, to become sluggish.
But not even a second before such a sluggishness was created, Jon unleashed the magic of the second gem on the ring!
The spell stopped immediately, all the magical effects clinging to Jon's body were erased, and the Gryffindor sword Jon was holding in his hand was already stabbed in front of Voldemort's face!
The wand in Voldemort's hand, which had been held upright, changed abruptly at that moment.
The entire wand began to stretch and widen, and by the time the tip of the sword had pierced him, the wand had turned into a sturdy iron shield!
"Bam!"
A shuddering, ear-splitting sound echoed throughout the library, and Jon's arm went numb from the shock, yet he still held on for dear life without letting go of the sword's hilt!
The wand that had been turned into a shield then reverted back to its normal form after deflecting Jon's sword, while Voldemort looked at Jon with grim eyes.
The green glow lit up again, and Voldemort had clearly figured out the weirdness in Jon's body.
Not just the kind of flying magic that didn't spill out with any magical fluctuations, but also the strange defence that could wipe out magical effects.
Any other spell would definitely be absorbed by Jon's magic before it could hit him and take effect because even if Voldemort's spell casting was as powerful and subtle as it could be, he still could only mobilise Draco's magic.
This was Jon's biggest advantage, Draco's magic was of course not as good as Jon's, so after using the ring magic's general counter-spell, Jon didn't have to worry about Voldemort's other spells at all, the only thing he had to watch out for was the killing curse which had no counter-spell to speak of!
Voldemort had found this out too, so the only two ways he could kill Jon would be if the killing curse hit him head-on, or if the black mist broke through the defences that came from the Gryffindor sword with the help of the castle and engulfed Jon.
Jon could only be thankful now that Voldemort had a powerful soul and means, but no magic to keep up, and understood very clearly that the most important purpose of the killing curse was not actually to kill him, but to force him away from his side!
The Voldemort in front of him was definitely a man who was willing to use his head no matter what he did or how he fought.
He knew precisely what Jon's strengths and weaknesses were today; human physical strength had its limits, while a wizard would not feel much fatigue at all in the case of casting spells, provided that they would not cast spells at a fast pace for more than three hours in a row.
Voldemort now just had to keep Jon from getting close, like a vicious wolf biting a bull, and when Jon, an already wounded bull, was exhausted, that was when he would really deal with him!
But at such a close range, Jon was more than ready for his chance!
Faced with the green light from the tip of Voldemort's wand, Jon's face was fearless instead, he smiled and threw the Gryffindor longsword out of his hand!
Without the protection of his sword, the black mist around him swallowed Jon up like a swarm!
Voldemort's heart was suddenly filled with fear and anxiety at this very moment!
The killing curse was lit up and shot out from the tip of his wand, but even though he had pushed it to the limit, there was nothing he could do to stop Jon's next move!
Jon opened his arms and embraced the body of Draco Malfoy, which had been manipulated by Voldemort!
The moment he did, Voldemort felt a painful pinprick behind him, in the hand that Jon had held the sword in!
It was so close that the shield charm could not be used as a normal defence!
At the very moment when the pain, which was not too strong, came from his back, Voldemort felt a violent shuddering in his soul!
And Jon's eyes were completely filled with that deadly green colour.
He could not avoid it from such a close distance and had no intention of avoiding it from the start.
After Fawkes' feather had been destroyed by Voldemort, Jon was destined to have no chance of escape today, and he knew better than anyone else that he was bound to die if time dragged on in what seemed like an evenly matched situation.
Voldemort's mastery of magic was not something he could catch up with just by studying magic for a few years, and Jon's only chance was to try to find a perfect timing.
A time when he could die with this Voldemort in front of him.
It was another backhand that Dumbledore and Salazar had prepared together, one that both Jon and Dumbledore themselves had on hand.
Since Voldemort had learned the knowledge of fusing Horcruxes from his ancestors, it was only natural that Salazar could also figure out a way to break his soul back together.
Before the third task began, neither Jon nor Dumbledore knew exactly what Voldemort was trying to do, but both of them had such preparation for disintegrating Voldemort's assembled Horcruxes so that if either of them encountered the Voldemort who had fused the remnants of his Horcruxes, then they would have the means to specifically target him.
According to Salazar's deduction, there was no way a normal person could withstand such soul damage when the soul that had been brought back together was violently torn apart again, but it was up to Dumbledore or Jon himself to create the right opportunity to use the thing.
And Jon had obviously found the right moment, Voldemort thought he was bound to dodge the killing curse, and he just didn't!
It was just like what he had just said.
The world had changed at the very moment that the man who called himself Voldemort was standing in front of him appeared, and Jon himself was not supposed to be a soul of this world!
The world of magic, which had been going through trials and tribulations but which would eventually come to light, had become so full of holes that Jon was conscious of the fact that if he could just erase this Voldemort in front of him, then everything would be corrected to the way it was again.
As for him.
It started out as an unexpected experience that he was not supposed to have, and he had earned it by dying in his last life and crossing over here to meet so many lovely people and have experienced so many wonderful things!
The green light hit Jon completely.
At that moment, there was only one thought left in his mind.
'Come with me, Voldemort, and leave this world that was meant to be without you.'
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