Long before the confrontation, Rhys had anticipated the difficulty of dealing with Ravenclaw.
He knew that even in her lucid state, Ravenclaw had been highly resistant to his potions. It was unlikely that the now-insane Ravenclaw would willingly drink any of his concoctions.
So, the challenge was how to get these potions to affect Ravenclaw's soul.
Rhys's solution was to make the potions volatile. By ensuring that the battle would likely take place in a confined space, he could guarantee that Ravenclaw would be exposed to the effects of the potions through inhalation.
As Rhys and Ravenclaw clashed, the potions scattered on the ground had fully evaporated, gradually increasing the concentration of the potion fumes in the enclosed area.
Rhys continued to smash bottle after bottle on the ground, as if the valuable potions inside were as cheap as bottled water. His actions were so extravagant that it was as if the potion ingredients cost him nothing.
If Ravenclaw had retained her intelligence, she would have noticed the peculiarity of Rhys's behavior. Unfortunately, in her current state, she was just as easily deceived as Gryffindor.
The potion fumes in the air began to cling to Ravenclaw's soul. At first, she didn't notice anything amiss, but as the amount accumulated, wisps of black smoke started to rise from her ghostly form.
The soul-deep pain caused Ravenclaw's attacks to pause momentarily.
Rhys, of course, wouldn't miss this opportunity.
He threw the remaining potions in one swift motion. As the potion bottles neared Ravenclaw, one of them suddenly exploded, the shrapnel shattering the other bottles and drenching Ravenclaw in a deluge of potion.
This time, Ravenclaw could no longer maintain her "composure." She let out a scream of agony.
The potions that drenched Ravenclaw were like scalding oil poured onto a living person, causing her immense pain.
To enhance the potions' adhesion, Rhys had deliberately made the last batch particularly thick and viscous, so they clung to Ravenclaw, enveloping her completely.
The potions had a singular purpose: to corrode the soul and eliminate magic.
For an ordinary ghost, these potions would undoubtedly be lethal, but for a soul as corrupted as Ravenclaw's, they worked like white vinegar on tarnished silver, stripping away the decayed parts.
The process was excruciating, and if Ravenclaw had been able to retain some level of clarity, Rhys would never have resorted to such a brutal method.
Ravenclaw's ghostly and mummy form began to resemble boiling porridge, bubbling with countless blisters that swelled and burst, releasing plumes of black smoke.
As the smoke dissipated into the air, shrill screams echoed from the void.
Rhys no longer needed to hide himself within the swamp. He emerged from the ground and watched Ravenclaw, who was now writhing in agony. The potions that had adhered to her form had turned pitch black, resembling sludge.
It was time for the final step.
Rhys rolled up his sleeve, revealing a grotesque, snarling face on the upper part of his arm—Voldemort, who was sealed within his body.
Drawing his wand, Rhys traced a circle around the face on his arm with the tip of the wand, and the face was instantly peeled away.
Unlike the ferocious, tentacled form it had taken when first in contact with his skin, the face now encased in Rhys' magic resembled a water balloon.
As Rhys extracted Voldemort from his arm, he coated the surface with a special ointment. This ointment didn't have any particular effect other than enhancing the face's ability to adhere.
With the ointment applied, Voldemort could absorb even more of the corruption from Ravenclaw's soul.
Carefully, Rhys guided the ointment-coated face towards Ravenclaw. She was too overwhelmed to notice Rhys' subtle maneuver, allowing him to easily attach the face to her spirit form.
*Pop!*
The magic barrier shattered, and Voldemort's remnant soul instinctively extended its tendrils toward the nearest soul...
In an instant, Voldemort's soul merged with Ravenclaw's, both letting out harrowing screams.
At the same time, Ravenclaw's condition visibly improved. The porridge-like substance on her spirit's surface rapidly flowed into Voldemort's remnant soul, while the black, thread-like material within her spirit also began to converge and transfer into Voldemort...
This process lasted for about fifteen minutes.
Meanwhile, Daphne, standing outside the corridor, was growing increasingly anxious—when the countless wind blades had struck, the view in the crystal ball had turned pitch black, as if the lens had been covered in sludge. If not for the occasional sounds echoing from deep within the corridor, she might have thought that Rhys had died in that earlier wave of attacks.
However, the noise soon stopped.
After a few screams echoed from the corridor below, everything fell silent. Fortunately, the screams sounded like a woman's; otherwise, Daphne might have rushed down to check on the situation.
Unlike Daphne, who was filled with anxiety, Rhys was overwhelmed with joy—Ravenclaw's awakening was now only a matter of time.
At this point, more than half of Ravenclaw's ghostly form had returned to that of a normal spirit.
The remaining portion of her body had also seen a significant reduction in corruption, with only a small amount left deep within her form. In contrast, Voldemort's soul fragment had turned as black as ink. The pain caused by the corruption had twisted his features so grotesquely that it was barely recognizable as a face.
This pitch-black, hideous lump resembled a tumor, growing on Ravenclaw's shoulder. Judging by its appearance, the Voldemort fragment was nearing its saturation point with the corruption it had absorbed.
Ravenclaw's ghostly form grew quiet, as if she had fallen asleep.
Rhys stood by, waiting expectantly. Suddenly, he remembered something and quickly conjured a note, sending it up the corridor—he needed to reassure Daphne so she wouldn't be worried.
When Daphne received Rhys' note, she breathed a sigh of relief—everything was fine.
However, she couldn't help but wonder: who was this person important enough for Rhys to go to such great lengths? Why were they sealed away? What connection did they have with Rhys and his family?
Considering the purpose of the dungeon within the seal, Daphne speculated that the person Rhys had come to rescue was likely an ancestor or some former guardian of the seal.
More than half an hour later, when Daphne outside the corridor began to draw a chessboard on the ground and play chess with herself, Rhys noticed that the Ravenclaw ghost's hand trembled.
She suddenly emerged completely from the swamp, and the mud slid off her body without getting a single speck of dirt on her robes.
Ravenclaw's eyes rolled a few times under her eyelids, and suddenly, she opened her eyes.
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12 Advance Chapters—Patreon.com/HornyFBI