"It's truly remarkable. For millennia, not even Merlin could break through the boundary of transfiguring into magical creatures, yet you managed to surpass it."
Even Voldemort couldn't help but admire the magical creature Animagus
"So why are you standing before me like this?" he asked suavely.
"Why am I here? Don't you know?" Alaric retorted.
"Ah, you're here to protect those two girls," Tom suddenly realized, nodding.
"I think I know who you are now. With such talent and a close relationship with those two girls, it can only be the prodigy of Ravenclaw, and the heartthrob of Hogwarts—Alaric."
Even Alaric, seeing the other instantly guess his identity, couldn't help but admire his intelligence.
"You've guessed my identity. Although I just mentioned it, I have to repeat it. You truly deserve the title of Voldemort."
"Being able to transform into a dragon, indeed, you can contend with me," Tom Riddle looked at Alaric with a playful expression.
"But why do you oppose me for these weaklings? With your immense power and talent, why not join me? Only then can you have a position that matches your strength."
"Me, a Muggle? Join your ranks?" Alaric sneered disdainfully. "You actually want me to join your ranks, it's simply not possible!"
"That's truly unfortunate," Tom mocked, smiling. "But you're alone, and I can challenge you just with the serpent, and I will personally kill you!"
As he said the last sentence, his handsome face turned terrifyingly sinister.
"Last year, you did the same," Alaric taunted. "Guess how he's doing now? Probably still clinging to some beast, barely surviving."
This immediately enraged Tom.
"You're as good as dead!" he snarled menacingly. "I'll have the basilisk slowly devour you, making you feel the agony of death."
At Tom Riddle's command, the serpent roared and lunged towards Alaric with its gaping jaws.
"In such a narrow space, daring to engage in close combat with a dragon, you are truly foolish," Alaric sneered coldly, then took a deep breath.
Then, he opened his draconic maw.
A stream of golden-red flames spewed forth from his mouth. The dragon's breath, carrying scorching heat, immediately engulfed the serpent.
The burning of the dragon's breath made the serpent scream in agony.
It thrashed around in pain, its massive body smashing the surrounding walls, leaving cracks as if they were on the verge of collapse.
A scent of cooked meat wafted from its body—the intense heat had seared its skin.
"Damn it! Such powerful dragon breath," Tom cursed inwardly.
This dragon breath far exceeded his understanding of a fire dragon. He had to resort to using water-making spells on the serpent.
However, even with his magical power conjuring a powerful stream of water, it didn't completely extinguish Alaric's dragon breath.
This result left Tom incredulous.
"What's going on? Why is his dragon breath so strong?"
Frustrated, he had no choice but to resort to his last resort.
In this state, only shedding could rid him of the dragon's breath, which clung to him like maggots to bones.
The basilisk struggled hard, soon shedding a layer of burning skin under Tom's command and retreating.
The burning snake skin became a natural barrier blocking Alaric's path.
Even a fire dragon would fear the dragon breath of another fire dragon.
Though fire dragons could breathe fire, it didn't mean they weren't afraid of it, as the temperature of the dragon's breath reached its maximum after leaving the body, something even they couldn't fully immunize themselves against.
"Thinking you can escape me like this? You underestimate the power of a dragon too much," Alaric snorted coldly, forcefully pushing through the fire.
Though the fire's temperature was high enough, it couldn't affect Alaric's dragon scales.
With his legs, Alaric was much faster than the basilisk.
He caught up to it in just a few steps, and his dragon mouth, filled with sharp teeth, immediately clamped down on the serpent's body, preventing it from escaping.
With one bite, the serpent winced in pain but couldn't break free.
So, instead of struggling, it turned around, intending to entangle the dragon tightly while also biting towards the dragon's neck, hoping to kill the dragon from both sides.
Whether by venom or strangulation, a dragon would ultimately die.
But how could the basilisk's strength and agility compare to that of a dragon?
Seeing it turn around, enclosing itself in its snake form, Alaric released the serpent and firmly pinned down its abdomen with his forelegs, preventing it from moving further. Then, he bit towards its head.
Both sides bit towards each other's heads, competing in reflexes and speed.
Yet, with this bite, the dragon still prevailed.
Alaric was quicker off the mark, biting directly onto the serpent's flattened head, the tremendous biting force causing the serpent's skull to emit a mournful crack.
With another forceful bite, the serpent's skull would be crushed, leading to instant death.
Seeing the serpent facing a fatal attack, Tom Riddle panicked.
He had been using magic to attack the dragon, attempting to support the serpent, but the dragon's magical resistance far surpassed that of the fire dragon's scales, completely blocking him.
Now, in his rage, he finally cast an explosion curse on Alaric, causing him to stagger.
Seizing the opportunity, the serpent broke free from the dragon's jaws, narrowly avoiding death.
However, the bite was not without effect; the serpent's skull was now cracked, its vision blinded, and its hearing severely impaired, almost losing more than half of its combat capability.
"Retreat!" Tom gritted his teeth, unwillingly giving the order.
He now fully understood that he couldn't deal with the dragon, but the dragon could easily inflict harm on the basilisk, leaving him with no chance of winning.
The basilisk retreated in a sorry state. As Tom Riddle's body was illusory, the dragon couldn't harm him.
Thus, he stood between the dragon and the serpent, using magic to interfere with the dragon's pursuit of the serpent.
"Annoying little pest," Alaric grumbled.
However, seeing the serpent about to escape, he devised a new winning strategy.
He took a few steps back, then charged forward with all his might, ramming towards the walls of Hogwarts castle.
The power of the dragon was immense.
With a loud "boom!"
Much of the walls had already been damaged due to the aftermath of the battle, and now they completely collapsed.
A huge gap appeared in Hogwarts castle.
The sunlight streamed in through the gap into the dark castle.
Recovering from the daze of the impact, Alaric charged forward again, biting the basilisk's tail once more.
Then, he forcefully dragged it towards the outside of the castle.
The friction force of four legs on the ground was far greater than that of the legless serpent, so it was easily dragged out of the castle by the dragon.
Two huge creatures, thus, fell from the gap onto the ground outside the castle.
The several meters-high castle naturally couldn't restrain these two behemoths. But this also meant that the battlefield had changed.
The narrow corridors of the castle turned into a broad open space.
And this was the dragon's territory.
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