— — — — — —
Really, Tom calling himself a demigod wasn't that far off.
After all, Hercules was a demigod, right? And now Tom had the Twelve Trials—the system's version of the Twelve Labors—and he'd eaten the Golden Apple, still brimming with divine power.
By that logic, he wasn't exactly wrong.
Ravenclaw understood that perfectly well. But that didn't mean she could tolerate Tom standing there showing off in front of her.
She sprang to her feet with decisive speed, grabbed Tom, and dragged him straight toward the arena, clearly intending to beat some of that smugness out of him.
...
When sparring with Ravenclaw these days, Tom didn't bother using Hakuna Matata anymore. That wand was simply too powerful; using it didn't show any improvement from him as its master.
So… he always lost. Badly.
Today, though, Tom decided to try something different.
Instead of chasing complex spellwork or intricate ancient runes, he chose to imitate Rayquaza's style—relying purely on instinct. No finesse. Just raw, brutal force unleashed as simply as possible.
And surprisingly…
It worked.
Not long after the fight began, the various ancient bloodlines within his body started to boil.
A scorching warmth surged through his limbs in an instant. Beneath his skin, faint streams of multicolored light flowed like living currents, as though countless creatures were awakening inside him, roaring to life.
The cry of a phoenix.
The furious roar of a fire dragon.
The sharp neigh of a unicorn.
The cold, hissing presence of a basilisk.
Divine power acted like a catalyst among them. Aside from the ancient phoenix bloodline, whose rank was almost equal to it, the other bloodlines erupted with strength far beyond their natural limits.
Tom's consciousness gradually blurred, drowned beneath the wild instincts buried within those bloodlines.
His attacks grew increasingly chaotic, and the magic he unleashed became far more violent.
Black lightning cracked through the air, every bolt shrieking as it tore across the sky. Crimson flames burned so fiercely that the surrounding space warped slightly from the heat. Dark mist spread across the ground, writhing with shadowy serpents.
Ravenclaw noticed the change immediately.
She adjusted her rhythm on the spot—maintaining enough pressure to keep Tom fighting, but carefully holding back so she wouldn't end things too quickly and disrupt whatever state he had entered.
For her, that balance wasn't easy.
When the gap in strength between two people was large, controlling the pace of a fight was simple. But when both sides were close in ability, guiding the battle exactly the way you wanted became incredibly difficult.
In the past, only Tom wielding that strange wand could give her real pressure.
Now this "berserk" version of him could do the same.
Worse still, his style had become completely unpredictable. Keeping the fight balanced was far harder than before.
The commotion quickly drew the attention of Andros and Grindelwald, who had been nearby discussing magical circuits.
The moment they arrived, both men's expressions shifted.
Just standing at the highest edge of the arena, they could feel a savage aura rushing toward them like a tidal wave.
It felt as if they were facing… not one beast.
But an entire pack of XXXXX Creatures.
"Did he go crazy?" Andros asked blankly.
Grindelwald analyzed the scene with seasoned calm. "Looks like Tom confessed his feelings and got crushed. Judging by how this went down, it was probably Lady Ravenclaw's doing. She must have really hurt him—otherwise, he wouldn't be losing it like this."
The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly felt two sharp gazes stab into his back.
He turned around.
The feeling vanished.
Only Jeanne stood behind them, her clear blue eyes filled with innocent confusion.
"Mr. Grindelwald, Mr. Andros," Jeanne greeted politely.
Grindelwald assumed he had imagined it and simply nodded in response.
"T-Tom…"
Seeing Tom in the arena—so different he seemed like another person entirely—the girl's face turned pale.
Worry and fear filled her pure amethyst eyes. Her slender fingers twisted the hem of her dress without her realizing it.
She had no idea what was happening.
She often watched the two of them spar, but she had never seen Tom like this before.
While Jeanne's thoughts spiraled into anxious speculation, a vast aura suddenly swept across the entire arena.
The air itself seemed to freeze, crushing down until breathing became difficult.
"Fall back!" Andros' expression changed dramatically. Fine beads of sweat formed on his forehead.
The instant he shouted the warning, he Disapparated without hesitation.
Grindelwald reacted even faster—vanishing into a blur before Andros had finished speaking.
Only Jeanne was a step too slow.
She let out a muffled groan as the magic within her body fell into chaos. Her attempt to Disapparate was forcibly interrupted.
When she tried to cast again, she found she couldn't focus at all.
Inside her mind, there was only a single image. A pair of golden vertical pupils was looking at her.
Her thoughts froze completely.
"Expecto Patronum!"
Andros raised both arms. The muscles across his body flushed red, veins bulging as he poured every ounce of power into the spell.
A colossal Patronus burst forth—over twenty-five meters tall.
The enormous guardian reached down from the sky, barely managing to grab Jeanne and pull her to safety.
Then, suddenly, the pair of golden vertical pupils that had existed only inside Jeanne's mind now appeared in the sky itself.
Clouds churned violently, as if stirred by an invisible force. Amid the storming sky, only those golden eyes shone with overwhelming authority, declaring that the entire sky was their domain.
"Is that… Tom's strange dragon?"
The three people who had retreated to the edge of the space glanced up at the eyes with lingering fear. Shock filled their faces.
Everyone knew how powerful Usaki was. Not long ago they had watched her kill Quetzalcoatl in seconds.
But who could have imagined she was this powerful?
Just a pair of eyes… and the sky itself was already hers.
"Rayquaza... The ruler of the sky…" Grindelwald murmured.
He remembered Tom describing Usaki that way before.
Back then he had assumed Tom was just hyping up his pet, the same way Grindelwald himself used to boast that Dumbledore was the greatest white wizard in history. A lot of people had believed that one, too.
But looking at this now…
He had been exaggerating back then.
Tom, on the other hand…
If anything, he had been too objective.
They were only spectators standing outside the arena, yet the pressure alone was overwhelming.
So what about Ravenclaw, who was facing it head-on?
…
At that moment, Ravenclaw seriously wanted to die.
If Tom was going berserk, fine. But why did it have to come with a power surge too?
Those cold golden eyes were fixed squarely on her. Their gaze blazed with immense authority, a domineering presence that tolerated no resistance.
Dammit. She was one of the founders of Hogwarts. One of the greatest witches in history. The embodiment of wisdom.
And she was feeling fear… because of a pair of eyes?
Her robes billowed violently. Her black hair whipped around like a storm-tossed ink dragon. Starting at the tips, it rapidly shifted into a translucent, phantom-like blue.
Every strand shimmered with runes and sparks of light, humming with mysterious power.
Countless spells erupted from her hair, swirling rapidly around her body. They formed a massive pale-blue barrier that sealed her inside. Runes flowed across its surface, reinforcing the defense from every direction.
Grindelwald and the others stared in stunned disbelief.
You could use magic like that?
She had basically turned her hair into a forest of wands.
Crack—
Under the gaze of those golden eyes, Ravenclaw's painstakingly constructed defense lasted only a few seconds before cracks began to spread across its surface.
The fractures multiplied rapidly. The collapse was inevitable.
What kind of monster was this?!
Ravenclaw felt numb.
She was pretty sure she hadn't provoked Tom that badly. So why had he suddenly powered up like this?
Boom!
A towering pillar of green light descended, swallowing the entire area where Ravenclaw stood.
The radiance was blinding. The surge of energy made the space itself tremble faintly. At the same moment, the golden eyes in the sky vanished, as if nothing had happened at all.
When Grindelwald and the others rushed over, the only thing they saw was Tom lying on the ground, fast asleep.
Ravenclaw was nowhere to be seen.
Jeanne hurried over and carefully lifted Tom's head onto her lap. She gently brushed aside the messy strands of hair across his forehead.
Whoosh—
Ravenclaw suddenly reappeared inside the arena.
Andros stared at her in shock. "You actually survived that?"
That final attack had looked apocalyptic. The arena itself appeared completely unharmed, but that was because Tom had set rules on the space. No matter how intense the battle became, the structure wouldn't be damaged. Otherwise they would have had to rebuild it again and again.
If Grindelwald had been the one hit by that attack, he probably would have been erased on the spot.
Yet Ravenclaw stood there as if nothing had happened. The gap between them felt almost unreal.
"Don't put it that way." Ravenclaw shook her head calmly. "It was still somewhat threatening to me."
Survived my ass.
She cursed inwardly.
The space's protection mechanism had triggered automatically and pulled her out. She had slipped away before they arrived to change into a fresh set of clothes.
"Lady Ravenclaw, is Tom okay?" Jeanne asked anxiously.
"He's definitely fine," Ravenclaw said with certainty. "He just awakened some hidden bloodline power that went beyond his control. It drained him. After a bit of rest, he'll wake up."
Only then did Jeanne relax a little. Even so, she refused to let go of Tom and simply held him quietly.
Andros and Grindelwald stayed as well. Both of them were extremely curious about the state Tom had entered and wanted to figure out exactly what had happened.
After some time, Tom finally stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw was Jeanne's beautiful face, bright with relief and joy.
And beside her stood Ravenclaw, watching him with a half-smile.
"Well, well… our demigod has finally decided to wake up?"
Tom gave an awkward grin.
.
.
.