The third duel.
John adjusted his sleeves, his expression calm and unhurried.
"If you had received a complete Hogwarts education, then you should know…"
He gave a faint smile, raising his wand in his left hand. "The etiquette before a duel~"
"Is he insane?!" Sirius, despite acknowledging the boy's strength, couldn't believe it. To face Voldemort and actually demand a duel—this was madness.
"We have to break this barrier." Dumbledore's expression changed. He raised his wand, preparing to act.
But then—six sharp cracks rang out. The six members of the Constellation Society appeared, blocking his way.
"What are you doing?" Dumbledore looked at them.
Kim lifted his wand, his voice steady. "How could we let you interfere with our king?"
"Don't steal my lines!" Malfoy shouted at Kim, then struck a pose, voice dripping with arrogance. "Even if you are Dumbledore—you can't."
Neville silently drew his sword. Fleur tossed her long hair over one shoulder.
Cedric let out a bitter laugh, but his feet did not move.
Percy cast a dark look at his younger siblings.
The Death Eaters staggered back to their feet, gathering behind Lucius.
"What do we do?" one of them asked.
Lucius's face remained unreadable. "We can only wait."
If they fled now, Voldemort would surely exact retribution later. But against Dumbledore, they were no match either.
The Death Eaters seethed with frustration, but there was nothing they could do.
"Are you alright?" Tonks leaned against Lupin, who was supporting her. For a moment, she found this man unexpectedly reliable.
Tonks shook her head.
Dumbledore was blocked, his compassion forbidding him from raising a hand against his own students.
...
Inside the barrier, John inclined his head with elegant composure.
Voldemort sneered. "You've got some nerve, challenging me to a duel."
John slowly slipped a silver ring onto his left hand, chuckling. "Why wouldn't I? Should I fear a man who has already lost to me once?"
Voldemort's face darkened. "Do you think defeating fragments of my soul by taking advantage of my weakness is enough to make you smug?"
"Then face me properly, Tom Riddle."
"Don't call me that name!" Voldemort roared at the hated surname, raising his wand to strike.
John's right hand closed on air, the silver sword flashing into existence as he swung it down.
The blade split the curse apart. Lifting his left hand, he sent out a burst of white light that split into several streaks.
Without Dumbledore restraining him, Voldemort's full power was terrifying.
Back then, John had nearly been killed just from watching him from afar.
Green light tore through the floor as John twisted aside, dodging nimbly—his right hand supporting, his left hand driving the attack.
He clashed violently with Voldemort, Harry caught between them. Watching green and white light streak past, Harry's heart hammered in fear.
"Is that all you've got, Tom?!"
John roared, silver spreading across his left hand.
Embedded there was not just a magic crystal, but a super magic crystal.
He charged a Shattering Curse until it blazed like dazzling white fire. Voldemort's wand poured out a flood of blackness, rushing to drown him.
Their spells collided, locking in a deadly standoff.
Voldemort's eyes flicked briefly toward Dumbledore. He knew he couldn't let this drag on.
It had to end quickly.
The black tide shrank, condensing into a massive shockwave that struck the barrier.
Voldemort twisted his wand back, and that chilling, familiar incantation rang out.
A shadow flickered in John's eyes as he swung his wand in turn.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Confringo!"
Green collided with white.
For Harry, it was like being thrown back to second year—to that battle between John and Tom Riddle.
Bolts of green and white light clashed, and Harry scrambled frantically to another spot.
Voldemort realized something was wrong.
At the point of impact, there was… music. Celestial, ethereal music.
His wand shuddered as though electrified, and the beam connecting their wands shifted into a brilliant gold.
The sight struck Harry with déjà vu so strong he froze.
Even Dumbledore's face darkened in shock. "This is—?!"
John and Voldemort were lifted into the air at the same time. Above them, thousands of arcs of light appeared.
The arcs wove together around them, forming a golden dome of lightning that no one could penetrate.
Harry was pulled into it as well.
The phoenix's song left everyone stunned.
Especially Dumbledore. He remembered clearly—there were only two wands made with Fawkes's feather.
One in Harry's hand, the other in Voldemort's.
What was going on?
"If you think you can stall me like this, it's useless," Voldemort sneered at John. "No one can enter."
Crushed beneath the weight of that immense power, John still smiled. "Did you forget there's a third person here?"
Voldemort's expression shifted drastically as his gaze snapped to Harry.
"You mean to have him kill me?" Voldemort's voice quivered with a flicker of fear at the thought of death. "This is a duel—defeating the Dark Lord is the greatest honor. You'd hand it to him?"
"Of course not," John said firmly, shaking his head. "Do you know something?"
"What?"
Voldemort couldn't make sense of what John was playing at.
John grinned. "It's about your Horcruxes."
Under Voldemort's horrified gaze, John slapped his satchel.
Two objects flew out from inside.
Hufflepuff's cup.
Ravenclaw's diadem.
"It was you—the one who stole the cup!"
Voldemort's eyes went blood-red. He would never forget: someone had planted a bomb in Gringotts.
And he had taken not just one Horcrux.
Panic flickered across Voldemort's face. "What exactly are you trying to do?"
"Tom," John's eyes were clear as he looked straight at him, smiling. "I'm going to rewrite everything."
With that, he swung his right hand in another direction.
Not toward Voldemort. Not toward the two Horcruxes.
But toward—
Harry!
A vast aurora of starlight cascaded down, forming a magical domain.
Strands of white threaded through John's hair, and his voice crackled with static.
||I will step onto the path of no return!||
Black tendrils uncoiled from his right hand, wrapping around Harry. Under Harry's terrified gaze, they bound him tight and dragged him upward.
"What is he trying to do?"
"Harry!"
Those outside the barrier cried out in alarm at the sight.
Sirius tried to rush forward, but Neville seized him by the throat, lifted him, and hurled him toward Ron's feet.
Ron shouted furiously at Neville, "What are you doing! You're a Gryffindor!"
"You're just going to stand by and watch John Wick kill Harry!"
Neville's voice was low and steady. "John won't do that."
But Ron wouldn't listen. He charged forward in anger, only to be kicked flat by Malfoy.
"Stay down, or die." Malfoy's wand pressed against Ron's head.
"No!" Hermione shouted to stop him. Malfoy didn't use his wand—he just kept knocking Ron down each time Ron dragged himself back up.
Again and again.
Finally, Malfoy put his wand away altogether, grabbed Ron by the collar, and drove his fist into him over and over.
Dumbledore saw John seize Harry, and his wand was instantly in hand.
"I should never have given it to him," Dumbledore said grimly.
Kim and Percy moved at the same time, but against Dumbledore they weren't even close.
Not on the same level at all.
Fleur threw herself in front, but with a single flick of his wand, Dumbledore froze her in place.
Cedric murmured an apology and tried to stall him with Transfiguration, only for Dumbledore to shatter it effortlessly.
His advance was stopped by the magical domain itself.
Looking up, Dumbledore saw that the stars above were actually countless magic crystals.
Even he could not break through them in a short time.
Inside, John already had Harry in his grasp. He looked straight at him and said, "Do you remember our deal?"
Harry froze, recalling the deal from before.
"You're going to kill me?" he asked, unwilling to believe it.
"No, I won't," John replied calmly. "I only need to take something from you."
"What thing? Arrrrrrrrgggggghhhhh—!" Harry asked in confusion—only for the scar on his forehead to explode with searing pain.
John's right hand pressed against the scar, as if trying to bore straight into his skull, forcing Harry to scream in agony.
Everyone watching felt their hearts clench.
"Here lies a secret no one else knows."
From the Ravenclaw diadem, silver threads rose and drilled into Harry's body.
"That's… a soul!"
Dumbledore's expression darkened completely, his face sinking.
Where had John gathered so many souls?
Wielding souls as his blade, John plunged into Harry's consciousness.
After a long, disorienting drift, John finally arrived at his destination.
A white train station.
Harry's head throbbed to the breaking point, and just before he thought it would explode, his consciousness arrived at the station.
He looked around blankly, not knowing where he was.
But John knew very well. He'd been here before.
The Realm of Veils.
The place where he had once met Death.
And this time, it was his true purpose.
To meet Death again.
________
o(*￣▽￣*)ブSupport and Read 12 Chapters ahead: Patreon/Dragonel