A corpse, now grown with much flesh, climbed out of the sarcophagus, its eye sockets holding only one intact eye, which fixed its gaze on Harry.
"My heir, what have you done?"
Harry paid no heed, his gaze filled with resentment towards Murphy. Suddenly, the hexagram on the ground lit up, and Slytherin, who had just climbed halfway out, suddenly stiffened.
In Murphy's magical vision, the magical hue belonging to Voldemort in the head suddenly expanded, sending out countless tendrils.
These tendrils, twisting and growing like the tentacles of an octopus, reached out towards Slytherin's magic as if roots growing in soil, penetrating and gradually dissecting Slytherin's magic, firmly grasping it.
"Magic parasitism…" Slytherin uttered in a hoarse voice.
Now that Slytherin had awakened, Voldemort had no time to deal with Murphy, immediately activating the hexagram.
He didn't even bother to summon the Basilisk, considering Lucas was already missing, and today's plan of unification was obviously foiled, so he decided to merge with the most crucial Slytherin first.
Slytherin's magical hue was nearly the same extreme violet as the Mother of Shadows, a higher magical tier than Voldemort's, normally shouldn't be controlled by Voldemort.
But his body had been made into a Horcrux. When he returned through the channel at this time, Voldemort's soul fragment had already embedded into his soul, like a foreign parasite mistakenly recognized as its own by the immune system. His magic couldn't identify and destroy Voldemort's.
Under the influence of the hexagram, placed in the position of a sacrificial offering, Voldemort was able to launch an attack.
Slytherin was horrified to find his magic being assimilated by Voldemort.
Murphy glanced at Voldemort and Slytherin's situation, then diverted his attention, focusing on locating the Mother of Shadows.
Voldemort's plan was entirely unexpected, and he had no absolute conflict with Murphy at this moment. Murphy hadn't forgotten his primary goal was to kill the Mother of Shadows. The fleeting sensation earlier was the first time he'd detected the Mother of Shadows since entering the school, and he needed to pinpoint its location first.
Compared to Voldemort, the priority of dealing with the Mother of Shadows was higher.
However, there were no portrait-like objects in this hall. Where could the Mother of Shadows hide?
Under the magic vision, Voldemort's magical hue and the students' filled the entire hall. If observed closely, the hundreds of students' magical pathways resembled a blooming chrysanthemum, their magic all converging at the flower's core—the hexagram.
The mixed magic of hundreds made the hue extremely bright and dazzling, surpassing Murphy's discerning ability.
However, at that moment, he thought he caught a glimpse of a fine extreme violet hue, not the large mass by Slytherin, but a much smaller spot elsewhere.
Despite being inconspicuous among the various blue, green, and yellow magical hues, resembling one pixel among tens of thousands, Murphy still noticed the anomaly.
Extreme violet, a magical hue close to ultraviolet.
This was far beyond the magical level of ordinary students, an anomaly in that place.
Even Voldemort didn't possess this magical hue. It was similar to Slytherin's but still distinct.
Focusing, his optical vision revealed the source of that ultraviolet hue.
Slytherin's locket.
So that was it!
The locket was a Horcrux, but it could hold a small photo inside.
The Mother of Shadows had hidden inside the locket!
Who knew how it managed to hide there!
But as soon as Murphy identified the Mother of Shadows' location, the fine extreme violet hue within the locket suddenly expanded. The Mother of Shadows' specter emerged from the locket, even startling Voldemort.
The ghost-like specter, with drooping eyebrows and slightly open hands, chanted a spell, "Ferryman of the afterlife, Morgana's ship, please take away the oathbreaker thief..."
Not on your life, mate!
Murphy teleported beside the locket, reaching out for it. However, the hexagram's surging magic, like a tidal force, repelled him, pushing him outward.
Extending his finger, a spell shot from his fingertip towards the locket. The spell's power was greatly weakened by the hexagram's magic, leaving the locket unharmed but still flipped open by the spell's force.
A tiny portrait was placed inside.
This guy really knew how to hide!
Had it not revealed a flaw, amid the cover of mixed magic, finding it would have been quite challenging.
But having found it, Murphy wouldn't let it escape.
He drew a specially modified wand, designed to adjust magical frequency without Murphy's intervention. As long as his magic flowed through this wand, it would generate a frequency targeting the Mother of Shadows.
He had prepared for this before coming to Hogwarts.
But before Murphy could aim the wand at the pendant, Voldemort, thinking he was targeting his Horcrux, sent a magical blast his way. Murphy was forced to deflect with an Armor Spell.
That brief delay led to a sudden change.
Struggling fiercely, Slytherin hoarsely howled, "It's coming… it's coming…"
Along with the dense fog, the shadow of a vast lake appeared in mid-air.
The lake grew closer, its rushing waters almost audible, and a black ship emerged, carrying a long-haired shadow at its bow.
Suddenly, a chain shot from the ship, its hooked iron arrow piercing through Slytherin's sarcophagus, impaling his upper body from behind.
"No, no!"
Slytherin roared, but the chain tightened, yanking a transparent figure from the half-dry, half-flesh corpse.
Just escaped from the Spirit World, the former wizarding titan's earthly experience expired in less than a minute.
Even Voldemort and his Horcruxes were dragged down the abyssal channel connected to the sarcophagus by the chain's pull.
Murphy, too, was startled by the Black Ship's chain.
Directly pulling the soul to the Spirit World, wasn't this equivalent to an Avada?
What in the world was this thing?
"Soul Anchor!" At that moment, Dumbledore and Grindelwald finally found their way in. Seeing the scene, both were startled, but Dumbledore recognized the chain.
It was similar to the spell he used to imprison Grindelwald.
A soul anchor?
Acting upon the soul?
In mid-air, Voldemort struggled desperately, but to his horror, found he couldn't sever the connection with Slytherin, forced to be dragged like a string of potatoes towards the Black Ship.
Voldemort instinctively felt a fear, sensing closer to true death than ever before.
Even the students, whose magic was directed into the hexagram, seemed to be pulled by magical tendrils, their bodies showing pale blue shadows, their souls being tugged from their bodies.
"We must destroy this magic circle. Regardless of how many soul fragments or incarnations, the Soul Anchor will take them all. But these students are only connected to Voldemort through a magical bond," Dumbledore said. "Destroying the circle will sever their connection."
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