"Stop fighting! Bane! Stop it!"
"Stop it! Tiger!!!"
"Please!"
"They're not enemies!"
Accompanied by hoarse shouting, a blonde centaur dragged the heavily breathing Hagrid as they stumbled out from the depths of the Forbidden Forest. His usually steady hooves were disorderly and staggering from fear and exhaustion.
Seeing the tragic scene before him, Hagrid instantly froze in place. He covered his mouth in disbelief, murmuring in a low voice:
"Oh, no..."
"We're too late, Firenze."
The rich bloody scent in the air intertwined with the forest's unique fresh aroma, becoming increasingly foul and pungent.
"Bane, I told you before..."
"Look what you've done..."
"Ronan, Ratch, Campa..."
Seeing familiar figures, Firenze's trembling voice was filled with despair, his handsome features twisted to the extreme with grief.
However, he quickly turned his gaze toward those centaur companions still breathing.
He bit his teeth and walked directly toward Venom, resolutely blocking the continuously trembling Bane.
Eyes full of sorrow stared intently at Venom, his suppressed voice squeezing out deep, painful pleading:
"Please, Mr. Tiger."
"Enough have died already."
"This is just a misunderstanding—I offer you the most sincere apology for Bane and the others' rashness."
"I guarantee the centaur tribe has no ill will toward you, and centaurs won't harm the foals."
"Bane and the others aren't—"
Before Firenze could finish speaking, evil wind swept over as Venom impatiently swatted him away.
Time seemed to stop at that moment, bewildered eyes still carrying traces of grief.
With a dull impact sound, Firenze's body flew high, crashing hard against a nearby tree trunk, stirring up dirt and dead branches.
Everything around became deathly silent.
Only the heavy echo of Firenze hitting the ground reverberated long through the dense forest.
Hagrid wanted to reach out and stop it, but Venom's appetite-filled gaze made him instantly freeze in place.
"Very sorry, golden chocolate bean—Tiger isn't here. I'm afraid you've got the wrong person."
"Regarding food, we have huge disagreements."
"He's not here, so I'm in charge. No symbiote would refuse dessert delivered to their door."
"Your fur is beautiful—I'll save you for last. Wait there peacefully..."
The low, hoarse laughter contained no trace of apology.
Venom suddenly grabbed Bane's neck, lifting him before its face. Its crimson, elongated tongue licked Bane's pale cheek, leaving sticky saliva trails.
"Tell me, dark chocolate bean."
"Where's the buffet?"
"Or rather, where's your tribe?"
"Heh heh heh, hahahaha—I'll give you thirty seconds. I'm really hungry right now..."
Excited laughter echoed in its chest cavity like muffled thunder, filled with impatient meaning.
"No, no, no... you can't..."
Hooves struggled constantly as Bane used all his strength to push against Venom's arm, but to no effect.
Painful suffocation gradually stripped away all his strength, tears of regret and torment sliding from his eyes.
"Crying counts toward your time too..."
Venom cruelly curled the corner of its mouth.
Pitch-black twisted tentacles suddenly shot out, tightly binding an injured centaur and dragging him forward.
The crack of steel gates closing rang out—hysterical cursing stopped abruptly.
In Bane's dazed gaze, his companion's corpse fell powerlessly, scalding hot blood splattering all over his head and face.
"Twenty seconds left..."
Venom licked the corner of its mouth with lingering satisfaction.
Tentacles shot out again, tightly strangling a centaur trying to escape and report back, then slowly retracting.
"You... demon..."
"I curse... you..."
"You'll... go to... hell..."
"You... die..."
The centaur's face flushed red from being choked, hooves constantly struggling and retreating, but to no effect—instead plowing several messy, deep furrows in the ground.
"Hell?"
"You have excellent taste—that's a wonderful place." A lazy, low voice reached everyone's ears.
"Bang!"
A deafening gunshot suddenly rang out.
The centaur's chest bloomed with a shocking hole—blood and life's essence instantly dissipated into nothingness.
The next second, his body crumbled like lava ash stone baked for millennia, shattering thunderously before everyone's astonished gazes into countless tiny fragments, scattering in all directions with rolling hot dust.
This eerie scene made all the Slytherins' hearts tremble.
"Oh! Damn bastard!"
The pitch-black tentacles suddenly contracted as Venom cursed and swatted at the flames on them, pale eyes glaring viciously toward the flickering firelight deep in the forest.
The centaur's head completely turned to stone, rolling to the ground with a dull, despairing echo.
Then hooves wrapped in hellfire crashed down, crushing the stone to powder.
Tiger shouldered his Winchester while riding the nightmare, eyes lowered as if seeing something through the void.
"Donkey."
"Stay away from my living room."
"Otherwise, your soul will be devoured too."
The nightmare snorted disdainfully, hellfire blazing all over its body suddenly surging upward. Heart-stopping screams tore through the night sky, though no one saw what happened.
Toward these creatures that were neither human nor horse, it was equally filled with disgust. Did they really think unicorns had no racial prejudice?
"Night... nightmare..." The Slytherins' eyes widened exaggeratedly.
They never dreamed they'd see legendary creatures—Lisa's eyes were particularly entranced.
"Merlin's lace panties..."
"What am I seeing!"
"Damn Shelby—does he really have a home in hell?!"
(???)(???)(???)(???)
"No, no, no..."
"I must stop all this."
"Centaurs shouldn't suffer such calamity."
Firenze staggered to his feet. In his vision, there wasn't just the eerie, terrifying nightmare.
There was also the brightest Mars in the night sky—that dark red, blood-like ominous light almost covered half the horizon.
Bone-deep cold surged up his spine as Firenze's face turned deathly pale, his gaze trembling uncontrollably.
Drawing arrow and nocking bow.
Under Hagrid's surprised gaze, two slender demon-breaking arrows shot directly at Bane and another living centaur. Scalding blood instantly overflowed from the centaurs' chests, dripping along the arrowheads.
Bane looked at Firenze—unwilling, shocked eyes gradually showing a trace of realization before losing their light.
"Damn! My midnight snack!"
To a symbiote, dead creatures were no different from expired, moldy desserts. Venom roared angrily.
Just as it prepared to grab Firenze to eat him, Firenze had already prostrated himself before the nightmare.
"Great Mars."
"The centaur tribe has unintentionally offended you. Humble centaur warrior Firenze begs your forgiveness."
"For this, we're willing to offer everything."
"Including our lives..."
Sobbing sounds faintly arose.
Firenze, ignoring hellfire's scorching burn on his soul, held a stone spearhead carved with strange runes above his head, presenting it before Tiger's eyes.
This was one of the centaur tribe's sacred objects—only centaur sages could possess it. Wearing it allowed passage through barrier magic into any centaur tribe.
"He's clever..."
Male prefect Bested nodded slightly.
The screams that had just occurred in the void made him instantly realize something.
Though soul annihilation left no visible traces, that heart-wrenching sense of loss deeply affected everyone—some girls even inexplicably shed tears.
This wasn't sympathy for fellow creatures.
It was resonance from the soul...
Clearly, this centaur before them showed no fear facing life and death—what he truly feared was that more terrifying nightmare.
The annihilation of centaur souls was like an irredeemable abyss, devouring all light and hope.
In the centaur world, soul purity and immortality far exceeded life's continuation—it was their inviolable bottom line and faith.
And the Father riding the nightmare was the god who could casually trample their faith.
Male prefect Bested's eyes gradually showed traces of devotion and fanaticism, just like Tiamat nearby...
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