The entire corridor fell silent. To the Gryffindors, it appeared Harry had cast the magic himself. Everyone except Ron and Neville, who recognized Sterling's thorn magic, gazed at Harry with reverent awe.
Seeing their companion killed so brutally, the two remaining trolls froze, but Vitam didn't. Seizing the chance, she pulled a flintlock pistol from her pocket and loaded ammunition.
Once ready, those two trolls were already corpses in her eyes.
She aimed at their massive skulls and fired twice. Two-metre-wide beams of magical energy erupted from the tiny barrel, completely vaporising both heads. Not even ash remained.
"Don't stand there gawking! Run! What if more trolls show up?" Vitam gave the Gryffindors no time to celebrate. She only had five rounds left.
The Quidditch players led by carrying girls too weak to walk. Vitam scooped up the vomiting girl, slung her over her shoulder, and rushed toward Gryffindor Tower.
At the corner at the corridor's end, she glanced back.
She'd never imagined such gaps could exist between people... No, as Professor Flamel had said, his essence might not quite fit the definition of human.
If only that were truly the case.
How could someone in first year already be approaching that boundary...?
Her specially modified right eye twisted away, and Vitam continued carrying students to the common room.
Sterling opened "Witness of the Author" on the spot. He'd been drawn here by a prophecy of "Harry might die" while tracking Quirrell. Now that the problem was solved, he needed to find Quirrell again.
He wrote "Quirinus Quirrell", and the reality prophecy appeared:
"Quirinus Quirrell seeks the centaur tribe in the Forbidden Forest's depths. He will build a high altar to offer the purest creatures and blood of wisdom to one who thirsts for life."
The target was clear: the centaur tribe.
Due to their extreme xenophobia, Sterling hadn't reached them during the day, but it didn't matter. His magic temporarily brought this entire forest under his control. As long as it was part of the Forbidden Forest, it was Sterling's home field.
Through the eerily quiet entrance hall, with no one to stop him, Sterling quickly reached the forest's edge, where Quirrell's tracks were clearly visible.
As Sterling stepped into the Forbidden Forest, pure white radiance rose beneath his feet, and iris blooms opened along his path.
Points of light spiralled upward. The originally sinister ancient forest seemed suddenly bathed in sunlight, and many light-seeking magical creatures poked their heads out to watch the figure walking in light...
Sterling felt the forest's breathing.
Peaceful, tranquil... except for one place that erupted with jarring tension, anger, hatred...
The centaur tribe, where Quirrell now stood.
Sterling's sensation was wondrous. He wasn't controlling the forest through magic; rather, the forest was feeding magic back to him. A thousand years of accumulated forest magic flowed through his body.
Though limited by his magical output ceiling, he couldn't use sheer quantity to create qualitative change, but within that limit, all magic became unrestricted...
For instance, the manifestation adapted from Hero's Heart.
The word "flower" constantly floated beside Sterling. Through this ancient power, the blossoms beneath his feet transformed from temporary magical constructs into genuine, living flora. Flowers burst from the earth, and something seemed to bloom within Sterling's heart as well.
"Witness of the Author" grew more exquisite, a hint of green appearing on its cover as a vine gently wound around the hero's sword.
The Thirteen Magics seemed about to favour Sterling once more.
Though he hadn't truly obtained it yet, the forest told him that after he removed its poisonous tumour, the seed would take root and sprout.
So Sterling ran faster.
With the forest's blessing, the path was completely unobstructed.
Coiled roots shifted aside for him, thick leaves bore him across streams, birds guided him from above, and even drooping branches lifted as he passed...
Unfortunately, this intoxicating serenity didn't last long. As the forest grew deeper, it actually brightened from towering flames.
Pitiful howls reached Sterling's ears, and the sound of burning, falling trees was like the forest's sighs.
So Sterling knew it was time to raise his wand.
"Maleficent!"
The Life Magic Flame's incantation bore the name of its inventor. Since learning this magic, this was Sterling's first time casting "with voice and wand".
Behind Sterling, a vast expanse of blue-pink mist suddenly unfurled, from which emerged two enormous claws of pure deep-green magical flame.
The claws tore left and right, expanding the mist to frightening heights, so tall that even Quirrell, busy with his cruelties in the centaur tribe, couldn't ignore such a towering presence. Then a dragon's roar emerged.
A deep-green dragon head appeared, followed by wings burning like flowing clouds. Its presence raised the temperature of the entire area.
Sterling wasn't worried about the fire dragon burning the forest. Life Magic Flame only burnt what he wanted burnt, leaving everything else untouched.
Pointing his wand down at the flames, the fire dragon immediately soared skyward, then dove straight down, exploding the instant it touched ground.
The moment Quirrell took the direct hit, he lost all sensation of his body. His soul seemed stripped away, floating without substance...
Then came unbearable heat. He was bathed entirely in magical flame, like a towering fire pillar, screaming as he ran about and rolled, trying to extinguish the flames.
Not that he didn't want to use magic. In the first second of the dragon's descent, his faithful wand of many years had become a handful of charcoal.
Nearby centaurs struggled to control their trembling, aftereffects of the Cruciatus Curse.
Quirrell had perfectly replicated every torment he'd suffered onto the sacrifices chosen by the Dark Lord. His current pitiful state was partly due to so many Cruciatus Curses draining his magic.
Feeling a chill from the back of his head, Quirrell felt even greater fear. Ignoring the magical flames slowly burning him, he immediately knelt.
"...Quirrell, you disappoint me again."
Voldemort spoke coldly. He had no intention of lifting the flames; instead, he added a Cruciatus Curse.
"Master! Master!"
Quirrell immediately screamed in panic. He could feel this was different. All previous Cruciatus Curses had been punishments, precisely calibrated to that breaking point for repeated torment.
But this one stripped away his ability to think in an instant.
It truly intended to torture him to death.
Only managing that thought, Quirrell's consciousness was shattered by Voldemort, leaving only a burning, soulless shell.
"What made you think I would tolerate a useless servant destroying my plans again and again?"
Voldemort looked at Quirrell's corpse like garbage.
An arrow shot toward Voldemort, passed through his misty form, and embedded in a tree.
Though it didn't hurt him, it caught his attention.
He simply extended his hand and gently flicked at the centaur. Its head seemed crushed by something, splattering indescribable filth everywhere.
Then a spell shot through the canopy. Voldemort didn't react, letting the curse pass through his "body".
"Truly remarkable talent..."
Voldemort commented with interest, descending from Quirrell's hastily built altar. One step, two steps. His ethereal body gradually solidified.
Through living sacrifice and a "willing" sacrifice by a wizard "of great power", Voldemort could briefly obtain a body little different from his living form.
"I never expected Hogwarts could still cultivate such genius... Would you follow me? I could lead you down the path of immortality..."
Voldemort tried persuasively to convince Sterling, but strangely, a train whistle suddenly echoed through the Forbidden Forest.
Two great lamps suddenly blazed, focused beams instantly blinding Voldemort. The sound of rolling wheels drew closer, and before he could react, tremendous impact force struck him.
"Choo-choo-choo-choo!"
Watching the speeding Hogwarts Express slam Voldemort away, Sterling raised his pen again and wrote another word beneath "Hogwarts Express":
"Meteor."