A.N. Yep, it's here.
....
As soon as Martina entered her room, she fell into her bed, her head still playing the series of events that she'd just witnessed.
'It's a mess,' she concluded with all her genius. Her head was currently a mess with her thoughts going haywire. Too much had happened, all within a few minutes, and even when she thought she was ready, she realized that she was still terribly unprepared.
With so many changes, she was a bit hopeful that nothing bad would happen this year. And she had also decided to not get involved. After all, she had already tried playing the hero in her previous life and that had gotten her killed.
Thus, she had just spent the year not meddling and minding her own business. But... as it turned out, her inner self just couldn't find peace doing nothing even after knowing that something was going to happen.
That's why, she found herself going towards the third-floor corridor anyway. If something was going to happen, it would be tonight. And as she had expected, things did happen. The only thing she didn't expect was, how different things will be.
As soon as she opened the door, she found Fluffy's dead body lying on the floor.
That was just the beginning though.
The rest of the traps were destroyed as well and instead of Quirellmort, there was the most hated character in the last chamber, with a Horcrux of Voldemort around her neck and two tied-up girls.
She couldn't make sense of what was happening. Especially why there was Voldemort's Horcrux here instead of his wraith.
After that, she heard Voldemort say some confusing lines. Why would he say he'd grant Lily Potter an easy death? Is she not already dead?
Ignoring all that, she was about to help out Rose but at that moment, to her surprise, there was a bright flash of Electricity and Umbridge fell to the floor.
That flash of light gave Martina a strong feeling of Deja Vu for some reason.
She realized that there might actually be someone else present in the room as well under Disillusionment.
"But, why did that light seem so familiar...?"
In her bedroom, Martina sighed as she sat up on her bed, giving up on trying to sleep. The surprises of the night didn't end there.
The biggest and nastiest surprise was when she saw a real Lethifold in person, an XXXXX creature.
Upto now, very few people have actually managed to escape alive from a Lethifold and they're so rare that very few people even know about them, let alone seeing one.
Martina shivered recalling the appearance of the creature.
Lethifolds are worst than Dementors. They eat their victims and are practically indestructible.
And upon actually seeing one, she was extremely horrified even as she cast the Patronus. Because... unlike Dementors, a Patronus can't really do much against a Lethifold.
And as she'd expected, the Patronus wasn't enough to deter it from eating its prey.
But...just as she was about to lose hope, golden lines appeared out of thin air, as if someone was slashing at it and the Lethifold actually took damage! The Lethifold let go of Daphne and Martina was already rejoicing. But...as if the invisible person had a Vendetta against the creature, it wasn't allowed to flee as hundreds of thousands of slashes were piled up on every part of its being... to the point that even Martina felt a bit sorry for the creature.
In her bedroom, Martina dug out a book on dark creatures from her bag to research what exactly was that magic. The inner geek inside her was going crazy.
After this, she will also have to research what exactly had happened with Rose when Voldemort attacked her. What was that turbulence and the crack in the space? This is going way off canon.
Jeez! So much has happened, there's no way anyone would be able to calm down after having so many surprises back to back, right?
This was going to be a long night for Martina.
....
Meanwhile, unaffected and unconcerned by the night's events, Axel was currently in his most focused state as he strictly followed the steps of the recipe to make his Potion.
Everything he'd done after knowing about the recipe was for this moment. And it'll be worth a suicide if he failed NOW, after he'd overcome so many obstacles. Thus, whatever happened tonight would be the last thing he'd have on his mind right now.
He continued making the Potion as he guided the tools using his magic, paying attention to every detail.
Yeah, if he actually wants to, he can be quite good at Potion making. It needed loads of practice and time, but... he just couldn't trust anyone but himself to make this recipe.
Looking at it from a different perspective, he could have still gotten an Outstanding in the practical exam of Potions, but he'd have had to reveal his ability of controlling multiple objects at the same time. And, did he care enough to do that just for a better grade? Hell no.
It took around two days for him to make the Potion. During this time, at times when he had nothing to do but wait, he'd also check out the information in his head that he got from the system.
The information on the Nether World.
Contrary to his expectations, turns out that the NetherWorld isn't just some lawless land filled with savage animals. In fact, it's quite similar to Earth in some ways.
Like Earth had Humans as its ruling intelligent species, the NetherWorld has a Race called the Dark Elves who rule the world.
Or at least, they used to…
After Voldemort appeared, the man somehow found a way to fix himself, and then, his rise to power began. He recruited creatures from all the races, corrupted dark Elves, and managed to build himself an army that began conquering everything.
When it looked like the Dark Elves were going to lose, the Queen of Dark Elves, Icitra Giedendros gathered all the remaining Dark Elves who were still loyal to her and went into hiding.
That's all he got from the system. But, he can't understand one thing: Why would the system give him all this information?
Though he didn't spend too much time thinking about it since he mostly focused on making the Potion.
…
"So… this is it, huh?" Axel murmured as he held a Potion Vial containing a dense Silver liquid.
He'd done it. After so much hard work and waiting, it was finally time.
And now that he was on the verge of being healed, he was beginning to have some last-minute thoughts that hadn't occurred to him until now.
"System… if this is a very powerful healing potion, will it heal my scars as well?" He asked with uncertainty.
His whole body, unsurprisingly, was filled with a number of scars of all kinds that he'd gotten through various injuries throughout the years.
[No, the area of the scars are considered healed. There's nothing to heal there. If you want to remove the scars, then just cut open those areas. This time they'll heal cleanly.]
Axel sighed,
"No thanks, I think I'll just keep the scars,"
Contrary to what one might expect, he didn't actually want to lose them. They are a necessary reminder of what happens to the weak. They remind him of the times when he got them and what led to him getting them. They remind him of his mistakes. And if possible, he wanted to keep it that way.
Do they look bad? Maybe, maybe not. But does he give a fuck? Hell no.
Axel clenched and unclenched his fist several times, jumped up and down lightly on his toe, and performed several different light exercises in succession.
"Yup, I hate this," he muttered as he uncorked the bottle. Now that he had the cure ready in his hand, he could freely admit just how unbearable being this weak and crippled had been to him. And frankly, he wasn't willing to stay like this a moment longer.
Before taking the Potion, he first took a painkiller potion, then he took out his knife and peeled off the skin of the back of his hand with difficulty, erasing the scar he got from Umbridge. This one, he didn't want to keep.
"This had better work now," he muttered as he downed the contents of the bottle in one go.
"Cough! Guh!...Cough!" He started coughing immediately and saw heat coming out of his mouth. The potion was so strong that it left a burning sensation as it went down his throat. Soon after, he fell unconscious.
*Ding*
When he finally did wake up, Axel felt as if he was in a dream.
???!!!
Why does it feel like he's in heaven? How can he feel so relaxed?
And the most surprising thing was… there was no pain. And this made him realize that he'd been in pain for a whole year.
[Pain Tolerance: 87%]
Pain Tolerance doesn't lessen his pain. No, not at all. It's only an indicator of how much pain he can tolerate… endure, without letting it affect his mental state or body functioning.
And his pain tolerance had gotten so high that he'd gotten used to enduring all that pain without letting it affect his daily life.
But… Now that there was no pain, he felt quite surreal. He felt so light that he could fly.
Axel decided to focus on the most important thing now.
He slowly, ever so slowly, with all the hope and apprehension, looked down at his hands. They were covered in black ash, but this time… they weren't trembling.
They Weren't Trembling And They Didn't Hurt! Not At All!
He finally clenched and unclenched his fist and his eyes in satisfaction as he realized just how effortless doing that felt, unlike before, when he had to struggle to even make it move!
He didn't even dare to pinch himself to confirm if this was a dream. If this was a dream, please let him stay a while longer before letting him wake up to the cruel reality.
"I'm healed…" he murmured, wiping away the moisture from his eyes.
"I'm actually healed!" He exclaimed jumping up, but… he jumped so high he almost reached the ceiling!
[Arcane Acrobatics:
Progress: 19% -> 45%]
"The hell?" He murmured even as a bunch of new information began to pour into his head.
Looks like his body really was messed up badly, huh?
He took out a knife and began twirling it in his hand like he used to. Right after which, he casually threw it as it got buried to the hilt in the Target Dummy's skull.
*Ding*
*Ding*
*Ding*
[Knife Throwing:
Progress…]
Knife-Wielding:
Progress:...]
[Special Skill Unlocked.
Magic Hands
Progress: 3%]
Axel ignored all the notifications. Right now, he was having just too much fun welcoming a precious part of himself that he thought he'd lost forever.
He took out his wand which greeted him with multicolored sparks in celebration and it hummed excitedly. Even as he did that, notifications kept coming to him of various skills increasing their proficiency.
"Okay, let's see," he muttered as he pointed his wand at the dummy placed at the far end of the room.
"Expulso," he chanted, thinking of starting small, but—
*BAAM* *Booom*
The spell hit the dummy so hard that it was blasted straight into the wall, causing cracks to appear in the wall.
*Humm*
His wand hummed excitedly upon amplifying so much magic at once.
*ding*
*ding*
More system notifications came.
"Hah… hahahah… Hahahahaha…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"
And, for the first time in a long long while, Axel laughed freely as he felt himself breaking free from the invisible shackles that were holding him back.
****
Just like this, the year at Hogwarts had passed with lots of events happening.
Mysteriously enough, a certain Damien Malcolm found out that all of his possession had disappeared without a trace. While he was going mad with rage, the poor boy didn't know that this was just a teaser of what was actually about to come.
Also, rumors about how Rose Potter and Daphne Greengrass had had a confrontation with Voldemort and how they had managed to stop his return were spread throughout the school.
Rose, who had recovered just after a day, managed to get Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup right after, and thus the house cup.
Meanwhile, Daphne who was more injured of the two, had to stay a while longer in the Hospital wing. But lots of people also visited her as well and gave her gifts and treats since was also a hero who survived an encounter with Voldemort's Lethifold.
But, despite all the attention, Daphne didn't feel happy at all. Because,
1:She'd absolutely failed in getting the stone.
2:The stone was now destroyed, as confirmed by Dumbledore, leaving no hope for Astoria and Axel to be healed. Her sister's lifespan wouldn't be extended and any chance she thought that it might help Axel with his condition had also got away.
3:Axel, the person she wanted to see the most hadn't even bothered visiting her during these days.
Furthermore, she didn't even see him on the train. But apparently, enough people had seen him to conclude that he wasn't actually missing, just not willing to meet her.
Daphne was sad throughout the summer as owls failed to Deliver letters to him and his Magi-mirror was switched off.
She'd almost lost hope of their friendship, when mid-summer, out of nowhere, an anonymous package arrived, addressed to her name.
It read—
"Here are the first clear words I'm writing with my own hands in a long while. Thanks for being my hands until now."
Inside was.... a bottle containing a few drops of Silver Liquid with the label: For Astoria.
—END OF VOL. 1—
****
VOL. 2: The Rise
Prologue
A woman with red hair walked through the corridors of a Grand Castle in a hurry.
The woman could be considered quite beautiful, with emerald green eyes and red hair tied up in a bun. She was wearing a cloak that covered her whole body, only leaving her face exposed.
As the woman walked by, guards in dark skin and black Armor would Bow to her with reverence, even though the woman didn't seem to acknowledge them.
She took out her wand and opened a heavy pair of doors as she went into the room.
"Icitra!" She called out as walked in.
"Icitra! There was a dimensional disturbance! In the North of Alastropha. We need to check it out!"
Inside the room, there was a chocolate-skinned woman wielding two swords as she fought against multiple creatures. She wore no Armor or protection as her whole body was covered with a dark energy that she'd channel in her sword.
This woman was tall, around 6'2, and with a well-proportioned body that was visible through her small garment that only covered her essentials.
She had long pointed ears, and a perfectly symmetrical face with exquisite features but her eyes were fierce and her disposition was such that it'll make anyone bend their knees in her presence.
The woman, Icitra, finished off the creature as she sheathed her sword.
"Lily, what exactly is a Dimensional-what-did-you-call-it? Is it important enough that I have to stop my training over it?" She asked with slight annoyance. Though from her behavior, it could be seen that she treated the other woman as her equal.
Lily nodded her head urgently,
"Yes, it is! It means that Voldemort might have succeeded in opening a way back to the Mid World. Or maybe someone from the mid-world managed to connect to this world."
Icitra tilted her head,
"And that is important because...?"
Lily sighed,
"Because… if Voldemort actually succeeds in finding a way back into my world, it'll be destroyed. And I can't let that happen. Now, do you want to help me or not?"
Icitra shook her head unwillingly,
"I'd rather not, since it would only be beneficial to us if Voldemort focuses on another world. But—" she sighed.
"How can I deny you? When you are the only reason why we managed to survive this long..." she said as she began putting on her Armor.
*****
A.N.: Next Chapter: Axel's power and Daphne's Reaction
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