Adele woke up only after lunch. Looking around, she didn't see her brother anywhere. Quickly taking a shower, the girl set off to search for him, deciding to check the place where he usually spent most of his time first — down in Flamel's underground workshop.
However, at the threshold, she froze dead in her tracks.
— Mr. Flamel?.. Um, is everything okay? — she asked hesitantly.
Nicholas, who was squatting in the center of the room melancholically scraping something off the floor, jumped at her voice and looked at her with a bewildered stare:
— Oh, Adele! You're awake already? I'm sorry, did you ask something?
— What... what happened here?!
— Ah, you mean this? Well... I just decided to rearrange things. Get rid of a few items, old devices... Yes, it was long overdue for a fresh update.
Adele looked at him with deep skepticism.
Right now, the legendary workshop of the great Nicholas Flamel looked like an absolute dumpsite after an explosion. Overturned tables smashed into splinters, a heap of shattered glass vials on the floor, ingredients scattered everywhere, and a heavy stench of burned paper hanging in the air... She didn't spot a single intact object!
Adele was about to ask where Victor was, but fell silent when she noticed Nicholas's eyes turning red, looking on the verge of tears as he picked up a scrap of some destroyed device from the floor.
— Ah-h-h... Did she really have to be so cruel?! — Nicholas whimpered softly. — I would've preferred if she had just finished me off...
And he truly was ready to burst into tears. This was his workshop, his life! It housed unique ingredients that he might never be able to find again in his lifetime...
— Why don't you just restore everything with magic? — Adele suggested in all earnestness.
That simple question made Nicholas freeze instantly on the spot.
He blinked in silence, wiped a tear with his fist, and said in utter puzzlement:
— I... I didn't even think of that... Of course, restoring everything completely won't be possible, but... Missy!
The house-elf popped into existence right beside him:
— Mr. Flamel, Missy has already made your bed in the guest room!
Nicholas let out a heavy, quiet sigh:
— Thank you, Missy... Help me fix up this place.
Missy nodded understandingly, and together with Nicholas, they set about repairing the wrecked workshop.
Adele, realizing Victor wasn't in the workshop, headed to the next location — the library.
— Come on... Almost... Almost!
Entering the hall, Adele saw Abigail standing on a tall stepladder, reaching with all her might for a book on the top shelf. Looking up from below, the girl instantly flushed bright red:
"Isn't that dress way too short?! And why on earth isn't she wearing any underwear?!" — Adele hissed softly under her breath.
— Ah, oops!
Abigail suddenly misstepped. Her foot slipped off the rung, and with a scream, she went tumbling down. She squeezed her eyes shut in horror, bracing for a painful impact with the floor, but the crash never came. Opening her eyes, she realized to her utter amazement that she was literally hovering in midair an inch off the ground.
Looking around, she spotted Adele holding her wand.
— Oh, Adelie! — smoothly floating down to the floor, Abigail quickly scrambled to her feet. — Thank you so much! I really thought I was a goner...
Adele merely let out a disgruntled scoff and put her wand away. She didn't even fully understand herself why she had helped this vixen.
— What were you even climbing up there for? — Adele asked sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. — And what are you... an exhibitionist?!
— An exhibitionist?! — Abigail frowned, but instantly realized where the girl had been looking just now, and self-consciously tugged the hem of her dress down: — I'm not an exhibitionist at all! I just don't have a change of underwear yet...
Adele scanned her up and down with a heavy sigh:
— Fine, come with me.
Abigail was genuinely surprised, but nodded in silence and followed the girl. Halfway there, the ring on Adele's finger glowed brightly, and an elegant handbag appeared in her hands out of thin air. Reaching the massive front door, Adele tapped it twice with her wand.
— What are we doing? — Abigail inquired.
— Going to buy you some clothes, — Adele replied casually and swung the door open.
Abigail's eyes instantly widened in astonishment. Beyond the threshold, in all its majestic glory, stood the famous Eiffel Tower.
— Hey, wait! Are... are we in Paris?! — Abigail exclaimed in shock.
— Ah right, we probably didn't tell you... — Adele smirked. — Our home is located in France.
While the girls went off shopping, somewhere deep in a dense forest, amid fallen, shattered trees and scorched earth spanning a radius of hundreds of meters, stood an impeccably neat Perenelle. She was watching a disheveled, breathless Victor with a faint smile.
— I see you've adapted to your new reserve of magic quite quickly?
Victor merely scoffed:
— That's what it means to be a genius.
Glancing at his hopelessly ruined outfit, he frowned in displeasure. When was the last time he had lost this badly?!
— So this is the power of an Absolute level?
— Mmm, Absolute? Ha-ha-ha! Sweetheart, I wasn't even trying! — Perenelle laughed merrily. — This isn't Absolute power at all. If I were fighting at full strength, you wouldn't stand a single chance. Right now, I'm using maybe twenty percent at most.
— Ten percent? Hm, now I get why you're not tired at all, — Victor nodded.
— Ah-h-h, not because of that at all, — Perenelle sighed. — I'm not tired simply because I haven't moved an inch from this spot the entire fight — I've only been flicking my wrist. Unlike you, Victor. You do know you're a wizard, right? A wizard with a vast pool of magic! Yet you fight like a total savage: jumping around, throwing punches, and completely ignoring your wand. That's precisely why you're so exhausted.
— Hm, trading generic spells is way too simple, — Victor smirked stubbornly. — I have my own style. And thanks to it, I am absolutely invincible against any wizard!
Perenelle gave him a stern look, frowning slightly:
— That is flawed thinking, Victor. Developing your own magic based on a physically strong body is wonderful. But you shouldn't completely neglect traditional spells for the sake of it! No matter how strong your body becomes or what martial arts you master — against a truly experienced and powerful mage, all of it will prove useless.
Victor merely shook his head in protest:
— I disagree.
Perenelle let out a heavy sigh:
— Fine. I see you've fully grown accustomed to your new magic supply. That means it's time to move on to serious business. Attack me!
A predatory smirk instantly spread across Victor's face:
— Are you sure about that? Don't go underestimating me...
Perenelle smiled calmly and nodded.
Victor didn't waste any more time talking. His hands began to transform rapidly: his fingers elongated, turning into sharp, lethal claws. Tongues of flame crawled up from his legs, gradually wrapping around his entire body. He dropped into a low stance, preparing for a lightning-fast leap...
Suddenly, Perenelle casually flicked her wand.
In that very instant, another Victor, who had materialized right behind her back already prepared to deliver a crushing blow, froze dead in midair. He couldn't move a single finger. The flame-wreathed Victor remaining out front began to distort until he vanished completely — it was nothing more than a skillfully created illusion.
Perenelle slowly turned to face the suspended Victor:
— Like I said — all of this is useless. In the past, absolutely all wizards carried swords and fought in close combat, and back then it was the norm. But over time, progress in magic made all that obsolete, Victor.
Perenelle raised her own hand — and her delicate wrist transformed before his eyes, taking on the exact same clawed shape as Victor's.
— It's good that you train your body — conditioning is indeed important. But don't you ever distance yourself from magic. Because first and foremost, you are a wizard!
With those words, Perenelle delivered a slashing strike with her clawed hand straight toward Victor's chest... But Victor instantly turned into red smoke and flew off to a safe distance.
Staring at her transformed hand, Victor was genuinely shocked:
— The Copycat Ninja Kakashi?!
— What? Kakashi? — Perenelle failed to grasp his otaku comparison.
Victor merely shook his head:
— How were you able to replicate my magic?!
Victor had developed this technique himself. From the outside, it might look like transforming a part of one's own body was child's play, but it wasn't. You couldn't just up and turn your hand into a weapon. Victor had found a clever workaround: he took the Dantisimus jinx, which causes uncontrolled tooth growth, as a base, and overhauled it radically. So every time he created a clawed hand, he was literally casting a curse upon himself!
— Oh, you mean this? Ha-ha-ha! — Her hand instantly reverted to its usual, elegant form. — Victor, I am a battle mage with over six centuries of experience. I know thousands of spells, and replicating something so simple is an absolute breeze for me.
— Well... I admit I vastly underestimated you. But how will you deal with my main trump card?!
Victor instantly activated his Sharingan. Crimson eyes with tomoe spun rapidly, analyzing the situation at full capacity and frantically seeking a gap in his grandmother's defense. A second passed — which felt like an eternity to his accelerated perception! — but he couldn't come up with a single viable option. Perenelle wasn't just a strong wizard; she was a true ancient monster. Any plan Victor constructed in his head instantly felt completely pointless.
Realizing he couldn't accomplish anything without a distraction, Victor stared straight into her eyes and attempted to cast a Genjutsu... Only to be thrown into deep shock once more: nothing happened!
And it wasn't because he failed to pierce her mental shields — he couldn't feel her consciousness at all. It was as if he were trying to plunge a solid block of stone into an illusion rather than a person. Victor simply couldn't influence her mind because he physically couldn't feel its presence.
— What kind of monster are you even?!
— Ha-ha-ha! Thanks for the compliment, dear! Well, is that all you're capable of?
Victor was starting to get furious. Helpless! Against her, he was utterly helpless! Hellfire? She'd just blow it away with a casual flick of her wand. Get in close and strike in hand-to-hand combat? But how?! He had already tried Apparating behind her back, and that had proven entirely useless.
He needed speed. Speed surpassing even Apparition! Right... Physical strength and ancient experience could only be overcome by unbelievable speed — speed so great that Perenelle wouldn't even have time to react.
A bold smirk returned to Victor's face.
Gradually, branching lightning began to envelop his body. Thin electrical arcs burst straight from his skin with a crackle. And just as he fully concentrated the energy and was ready to burst forward, the moment his foot left the ground...
BOO-O-OM!
A deafening explosion rang out. Victor was thrown to the side as if he had stepped on a landmine. Plowing through the earth with his body, he collapsed a few meters away. Thick smoke rose from his charred clothes, and multiple burns and wounds formed across his body, which, however, instantly began to heal rapidly thanks to his new regeneration.
Victor stared silently up at the sky without blinking.
Soon, Perenelle blocked his view of the clouds. She stood over him, looking down at her grandson with genuine bafflement:
— And... what was that just now?
— I wanted to become the fastest man on Earth. A lightning man... — Victor rasped out.
Perenelle raised an eyebrow:
— Are you stupid?
Victor opened his mouth to reply, but the words failed him. Come to think of it... Where on earth did he get the idea that wrapping his body in electrical discharges would make him faster?!
At that moment, Victor made a firm and bitter decision: to temporarily stop copying combat techniques from movies and anime. He had always believed that fighting in such an unconventional manner would make him completely unpredictable to any wizard. And yes, against Quirrell and Fenrir Greyback, it had worked like a charm! But against truly experienced mages like Perenelle, such tricks proved completely useless.