Simply put, if he chose to make a move here…
It would be a guaranteed death sentence—unless he could strike a lethal blow in one shot before Kasenhis had the chance to react.
That seemed a bit difficult.
"I'm very sorry, but I just don't think I can," Kasenhis said, lounging back in his chair, watching this so-called Lockhart through his monocle.
Killing people was unlikely. After all, the lineup of Hogwarts professors could genuinely be described as a gang of battle-hardened lunatics if viewed from a Dark Wizard's perspective. That wand of Dumbledore's had certainly put more than a few Dark Wizards six feet under.
And young Dumbledore? That guy had dueled his way from London to Paris, wand flashing like a sword, arms never tiring.
Yet even he only had the standard [Human] and [Magic] tags under Kasenhis' lens. Nothing weird.
This was something else.
A certain time-honored tradition of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors, perhaps.
Like… say… possession.
Much like the previous year, when Voldemort took up residence inside Quirrell.
The only question was—who exactly had moved into Lockhart this time?
"What a pity," Tom Riddle—wearing Lockhart's skin—sighed, shaking his head.
But to Kasenhis, all he saw was Lockhart's exaggerated, showy face being forcibly piloted by a soul far more composed and restrained.
Now, he could be one hundred percent sure—this Lockhart was absolutely possessed.
Tom Riddle, controlling Lockhart, showed no expression at the professor's quiet hum. He simply turned around and walked across the long stretch of the office towards the door.
Kasenhis leaned back in his chair, watching coldly. Only when Tom reached the door after a few minutes did he suddenly extend his hand.
A strong wind howled through the massive office. As threads of darkness intertwined with the growing storm, Tom turned his head in surprise.
He saw Kasenhis still seated beneath the large window, relaxed as ever, just like when he had first walked in.
The only difference was the hand he had stretched out—at the center of his palm, a vortex swirled like a collapsing star, emitting an immense gravitational pull.
Tom immediately turned his head back, unwilling to look again.
Only now did he finally understand—the so-called alchemy professor was no easy target. If he was a soft one, then Dumbledore was at most a slightly firmer fruit.
But there was no time to think.
With all his strength, he sprinted towards the door, reaching out to grab the handle.
Just as he touched it, the force from the vortex pulled him back.
In an instant, Tom reacted—without hesitation, he pulled out his wand and turned around.
The deadly curse was blocked by a piece of obsidian, but at least it finally dispelled the eerie vortex's gravitational pull.
Tom quickly cast two layers of the Shield Charm on himself and watched as Kasenhis slowly stood up.
The latter pulled out his wand from his sleeve and toyed with it. "I knew it. You're not Gilderoy Lockhart. That fool could never cast the Killing Curse."
Tom gripped his wand tightly. "Then if I hadn't resisted and you had caught me, would you have let me go?"
"Not necessarily. Depends on my mood. Maybe I'd plant you in a flower pot."
"Got it… Avada Kedavra!"
Another Killing Curse shot toward him. This time, there was no sudden obsidian to block it, but when the curse hit the massive floor-to-ceiling window, it didn't even leave a proper crack.
"What's this? You're a weakling too? No, actually, Lockhart is stronger than you. At least he has his own body, while you… just a soul? A wandering ghost?"
The voice came from behind. Tom quickly turned around and saw Kasenhis standing there with his hands behind his back.
Unbeknownst to him, eerie chains, formed from interwoven hexagons embedded with triangles, had silently spread from Kasenhis and completely surrounded him.
"Fiendfyre!" Follow current novels on 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝔫𝔢𝔱
From the depths of his soul, Tom felt an instinctive rejection of these strange chains—something he had never seen before and couldn't control. Without hesitation, he unleashed Fiendfyre, trying to burn them all away.
However, as fate would have it, the chains were the exact opposite of the chaotic and unruly Fiendfyre.
They were formed using the Order element that Kasenhis had previously extracted from an Order Crystal, allowing them to completely suppress the cursed flames.
As soon as the fire was restrained, a water source block appeared and vanished in the blink of an eye. The Fiendfyre, which had just been raging wildly, disappeared without a trace.
Tom's face paled slightly as he stared at the man in front of him, hands clasped behind his back, leisurely observing him. He swallowed hard—something he hadn't done in a long time.
This feeling was eerily similar to that distant memory buried deep in his mind—the moment Dumbledore had appeared in his room, casually waving his wand and setting his cupboard ablaze.
Though the display of power between the two wasn't even remotely comparable, the sensation was exactly the same. That bizarre, oppressive feeling that made resistance seem utterly pointless—like the person before him wasn't even standing there to fight, but merely to observe, as if watching an experiment unfold or studying a pet's reaction.
"Are you ready to tell me who you are now?"
Kasenhis stepped forward and asked.
"As long as I don't say it, no one will ever know." Tom sneered maliciously.
"The things you've done always leave traces. Let me guess… There's nothing unusual about Lockhart's body, so you must have used some strange object as a medium to possess him?" Kasenhis circled around Tom as he spoke.
"Looks like I hit the mark. Is that thing still on Lockhart? Let's be civilized about this—just tell me directly, and I won't have to strip the guy. Let's keep this dignified."
"You're the ones being undignified, you and Lockhart. What does this have to do with me?"
Kasenhis nodded. "Hmm, fair point." Then, a crackling surge of electricity began to spark in his palm.
"Honestly, I really regret not learning the Cruciatus Curse."
Just as the lightning in his hand was about to make contact with Lockhart's body, Tom suddenly stuck out his tongue at him.
"I told you, as long as I don't want to be known, no one will ever find out who I am or where I came from."
The next moment, Lockhart's body convulsed. In an instant, the eerie intelligence in his eyes vanished, replaced by a familiar clarity and... stupidity.
He stared at Kasenhis, whose face had darkened considerably, and at the crackling bolts of lightning in his hand.
Swallowing hard, Lockhart said, "Oh.. what.? I-I think we might have a bit of a misunderstanding here."
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