"Lumos."
Kain gave a command with his hand, and in the next second, the secret room became as bright as a small sun. This was because his magical power was immense, making his spells far more powerful than those of ordinary wizards.
His magic could absorb natural energy and convert it into power. Additionally, Kain had a Shadow Clone that absorbed natural energy every day. He wasn't entirely sure how immense his magic power had become, but he knew he hadn't reached its upper limit—if there even was one.
With the light from the spell, Kain approached a locked pipe. He attempted the Unlocking Charm but failed. In that moment, Kain regretted not bringing Harry along; he should have had him open the door and send him up.
"Torn apart!"
Lacking patience, Kain cast the Crushing Curse, blasting a hole in the stone wall beside the pipe. With his immense magical strength, the Crushing Curse he used was comparable to five or six C4 explosives.
A passageway was opened, and Kain walked through it. After navigating the long pipe, he arrived at the secret room built by Slytherin, as legendary as it was.
Near the Slytherin stone statue at the other end stood two figures: one was tall, thin, and wearing a Hogwarts robe; the other was very pale.
"Tom, it seems my kindness has given you a lot of illusions, making you think you could resist me. So, you found my goddaughter? What method did you use to control her?" Kain spoke to Tom while casting a Levitation Charm on Hermione, causing her to float toward him.
Throughout the process, Tom didn't stop him—perhaps because he was currently connected to Hermione's life force and couldn't use magic on her.
But his face contorted with rage, and he shouted at Kain, "Mercy? Every day, you burn me with Fiendfyre, no matter how much I beg for mercy. You only weakened the flames as time passed and I pretended to be dying! Mercy!?"
The last two words Tom nearly screamed, as if venting all the grievances he had endured from Kain.
"I've decided," Tom sneered, "I'll kill her first, then you. No one can save you. I swear!"
As he said this, Tom took a few breaths of cold air, suddenly recalling the horrors he'd suffered in the diary. But now, he had been resurrected and was finally free.
Kain, ignoring Tom's helpless rage, held Hermione in his arms as she floated over to him. He carefully examined her condition. "Hermione, are you okay?"
"Godfather," Hermione said weakly, her eyes dull. She couldn't speak further.
"You can't save her," Tom said smugly. "This magic is irreversible. Now she's nothing more than nourishment for my resurrection."
Tom's pride swelled. The idea of tormenting Kain by making him watch his goddaughter die, only for her to be consumed by Slytherin's basilisk, was the perfect gift to accompany his resurrection as the Dark Lord.
"Do you want to know how I controlled her? It's ridiculous, really. Back then, I thought there was no hope."
"Tom, I don't know where your confidence comes from, exposing your weaknesses and lecturing me seriously, but you're still more ridiculous."
After Kain finished speaking, the diary beside Tom Riddle flew toward him.
"No! The diary come back!"
When Tom saw this, panic suddenly gripped his heart. The magic was not yet complete, and he hadn't been fully resurrected.
But his recall spell didn't work, and his current magic power still relied on a second-year Gryffindor. How could it possibly compare to Kain's strength?
"The diary! Come out and kill that person!"
The previous sentence was Tom attempting to use the Flying Charm again. After failing, he started summoning the Basilisk.
After two failed attempts with the Flying Charm, he finally remembered that the one tormenting him in front of him was a Defense Against the Dark Arts professor who liked to study Dark magic.
As Tom summoned the Basilisk in Parseltongue, the stone statue of Slytherin made a tremendous movement, and a hole opened in its mouth. The sound of the Basilisk slithering echoed through the room.
But by this time, the diary had already flown into Kain's hands. Kain shook his head and said to Tom, "Tom, if you'd been honest, you might have lasted a while longer. But now, you have no value left."
Boom!
As soon as the words left his mouth, Kain's hand holding the diary suddenly ignited with violent Fiendfyre. The bright yellow flames that first appeared gradually turned to a dark, blood-red hue, emitting a strange, ominous light.
"Ugh! Ahh!"
The power of Fiendfyre was already terrifying, especially for a Fire master like Kain, who possessed the genes of both a phoenix and a fire dragon.
The diary Horcrux was destroyed in an instant. At the same moment, Tom's nearly revived body was also destroyed, breaking apart with the diary.
No matter how loudly Tom shouted, it couldn't prevent the diary's destruction.
When Tom vanished completely, Kain stopped the Fiendfyre in his hand. Hermione, who had been in his arms, regained her strength and immediately recalled everything she had experienced over the past few days.
Like a nightmare slideshow, her memories played back frame by frame before her eyes.
"Godfather… sorry."
Kain patted her shaggy hair, then cast a cleaning charm on her. "Apologize once we're out of here. This has nothing to do with you. It's all Tom's fault—he's the evil one."
"By the way, there's also the Basilisk, godfather. Let's go, he just summoned it."
"I know. I happen to be interested in basilisks, and it's out."
…
patreon.com/Vks_sh