Inside the Room of Requirement, Louis sat on a chair formed from liquefied Volumen Hydrargyrum, holding in his hand a dark-gleaming, yin-aspected Philosopher's Stone. His face was expressionless.
But within his body, power was rioting, and his emotions were shifting in strange, dangerous ways.
Something was clearly wrong!
Blood vessels crawled across Louis's eyes, and a surge of black miasma—far more violent than the dark aura he usually commanded—sought to consume his clarity of mind.
Yet the Eye of Fate's Observation truly lived up to being a prize from the Fate Lottery. No matter how wildly the blackness attacked, it could not erode Louis.
At the same time, the Nightmare bloodline in his veins, a special inheritance from the Merlin Template, carried its own "clarity buff." No matter how much rage and mania crashed against him, Louis's consciousness remained firm as a boulder.
But even with both powers working together, they could not withstand the black energy that only grew stronger and stronger.
Keeping his mind keenly awake, Louis became aware that his body itself was changing.
It was as if his perspective had drifted above his own form, "seeing" his skeleton elongating, muscle cells splitting at frantic speed.
He was transforming into something unknown—something that was certainly not human!
"Something's wrong… this isn't right!" Louis hurled the yin-aspected stone from his hand. The speed of the black aura's growth slowed, but it did not stop.
Right now, the blackness was like a roller coaster dragged up to its peak. Even without fresh momentum, its leftover force was still enough to smash through his consciousness.
If this kept up, both his mind and body would lose control, consumed by his own negative emotions.
But what could save him now? Was he supposed to gamble on another lottery draw right here on the spot?
Suddenly, Louis remembered the other half—the yang-aspected Philosopher's Stone that had been split apart by the Tiger Talisman.
"Of course. That one should be able to reverse my state!"
He snatched the identical-looking but opposite-effect stone and activated its power just before losing control.
In an instant, the suppressed power of the Talisman reversed, wrapping around the rampaging miasma and binding it.
Even Louis's own swelling black aura began to subside, gradually returning to normal.
In his eyes appeared once more the phantom of the Tiger Talisman, but this time, it was not the Talisman's ordinary yin-yang balance that activated. Instead, a far stranger, deeper equilibrium manifested upon him.
The chaos inside him calmed. Louis sat back against the marrow chair, eyes thoughtful.
"Using brute force to break the Tiger Talisman's bonds won't work… Strange. It's all the power of the Talismans, yet what's inside me feels… different."
Rubbing his temples, he replayed everything that had just happened.
"If this were the true power of the Talismans, then when the Tiger Talisman was shattered, I should have gained mastery over its strength—not the other way around, being controlled by it."
Glancing down at his torn clothing, he muttered, "It wasn't only my mind being corroded… My body itself was changing in that instant."
"…Which means the Twelve Talismans' power is only the surface. Inside each of them, something else lies hidden."
Quickly, Louis sorted his thoughts and formed a plan.
"The Tiger Talisman can't be destroyed with brute force. It's the key to balance. But if I want to truly master it, I must find a way to bypass that balance and unlock its deeper strength…"
It was like a feast sealed under a glass container. He wanted to eat it—but if he smashed the glass, he'd only get shards with his meal.
"An almost impossible task… unless a miracle occurs."
He looked down at the yang-aspected stone in his hand, then at the yin-aspected stone lying where he had thrown it aside.
If there was ever a miracle, the Philosopher's Stone itself was one.
And he just happened to have a piece of that miracle in his hand.
"What if I use a complete Stone to maintain the yin-yang cycle, creating a safe chance to harness the power? …No. Balance won't work. I need separation—yin and yang divided, set against each other… No, that doesn't work either."
Louis spiraled through contradictions, denying every theory—until at last, an idea flashed across his mind.
"Maybe… this way will work."
He smiled with satisfaction, gaze falling upon the stone in his palm.
Now the focus was simple: the Philosopher's Stone. He needed someone to steal it, to draw all the attention—so he himself could use the Stone without restraint, the thing he needed most.
"…Not yet."
After thinking a moment, Louis etched a teleportation mark onto the yang-aspected Stone, then handed it to Chuan, who stood silently nearby.
She hadn't noticed anything strange earlier, since his violent inner struggle had left no outward trace.
"Chuan, return this Stone to its place. Erase every trace—don't let anyone find out."
"Yes." Chuan nodded, took the Stone, and dissolved into water, vanishing.
The yin and yang Stones looked identical in appearance. Not even Dumbledore could tell the difference.
Louis hadn't refrained from returning the yin Stone because he coveted its boost to his dark aura, but because he needed insurance.
Insurance against Voldemort truly stealing the Stone and using it to resurrect himself.
The chance was slim—but not nonexistent.
Voldemort must not return. If he did, then all the Horcrux soul fragments that hadn't fully matured would immediately fall under his control. Louis's mission to orchestrate Voldemort's grand melee would collapse.
"If he's going to come back, it will only be after I've collected every Horcrux and nurtured them all myself."
At the moment, there were six Horcruxes total—including Harry Potter, the living one.
(Nagini only became a Horcrux after Voldemort's resurrection, and she remained fully loyal to him, so Louis didn't count her.)
Counting Voldemort himself, that made seven—enough to form a complete Holy Grail War lineup.
Of course, to stage such a war, he would need to summon from the Throne of Heroes. The system's Legendary tier wouldn't even be enough. It would probably take something higher—though he didn't even know what higher tiers were called, let alone how to access them.
For now, his study of the Stone had reached its limit. But his training continued.
The strange nature of the Twelve Talismans gave him new suspicions. He had to polish the Tiger Talisman more carefully, truly master it.
He had to transform that glass container into something he himself controlled—so he could reach for the feast inside at will.
Only then would Louis's theory have a chance of becoming reality.
*