"You really are useless. I can hardly believe that I used to be this weak."
'Harry', or rather, Voldemort, said mockingly. Then he completely dispersed the power protecting Gerald and let him fall to the ground.
This treatment naturally made Gerald, who was also a fragment of Voldemort's soul, extremely dissatisfied.
He glared angrily at Voldemort, as if wanting to argue or curse at him, but in the end, he couldn't say anything and could only bare his teeth in frustration.
It wasn't that Gerald had nothing to say.
It was because he knew what Voldemort's main soul had become.
It was a madman completely driven insane by the agony of splitting his soul.
Most of the reason and wisdom he should have possessed had been lost through repeated soul-splitting. All that remained was madness.
The soul fragment standing before him now was the final Horcrux Voldemort had created unconsciously.
That also meant this soul fragment was very likely a madman as well.
If he truly angered him, the other party was fully capable of suddenly turning against them in the middle of battle.
Seeing Gerald's furious yet silent expression, Voldemort lost interest in continuing to deal with him.
With a cold snort, he turned his gaze toward Link and Dumbledore in the distance and said with a sinister smile:
"Impressive, Dumbledore. Is this your newest student? Just in terms of talent, he's even more outstanding than I was! Hahaha, "
His crazed laughter echoed across the battlefield.
The intense killing intent and jealousy hidden within it made people uncomfortable. Even those fighting inside the castle shivered involuntarily and looked over.
Then everyone who saw this "Voldemort's" true appearance widened their eyes and fell into a brief daze.
Ron even pinched his thigh hard.
Only after the piercing pain arrived did he finally have no choice but to believe that everything before him was real.
But how was this possible?
That was Harry Potter!
His best friend!
The savior of the wizarding world!
The person who defeated Voldemort over a decade ago!
How could someone like Harry stand against them in such an evil form?
And why was he continuously releasing that uniquely Voldemort-like evil aura?
Shock appeared on everyone's faces.
Even Link was no exception.
The only difference was that Link quickly adjusted his emotions.
The shock on his face changed into a complicated expression mixed with surprise, worry, and sadness.
The current situation was easy enough to understand.
The Voldemort fragment inside Harry's soul had successfully awakened and taken control of the body.
That much was obvious.
The question was, why had this happened?
Thinking this, Link turned to look at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore smiled bitterly and said helplessly:
"Don't look at me. I don't know exactly what's going on either. But based on the information we have, this should be related to Severus. In fact, the person who broke Hogwarts' anti-Apparition enchantment and allowed these people to invade Hogwarts was Severus. He himself has also disappeared."
Hearing this, the gloom in Link's eyes deepened, mixed with traces of anger.
He had only been away from Hogwarts for a few days.
How had things reached this point?
And Snape...
He had already laid out an almost perfect path for him.
As long as he followed that path, everything would have moved toward a better future.
So why was he unwilling to walk it?
Taking a deep breath, Link slowly looked at Voldemort occupying Harry's body and said coldly:
"Where is Professor Snape now?"
Meeting Link's gaze, Voldemort looked equally unpleasant.
The greeting, or rather, the mockery, he had just delivered had been completely ignored by Link and Dumbledore.
That gave him a strong sense of humiliation.
Gerald, standing nearby, could even clearly see the veins bulging on his face and arms.
"Who knows?" Voldemort said through gritted teeth. "Maybe... dead."
The moment those words were spoken, a trace of blood-red flashed in Link's eyes.
Driven by the intense killing intent in his heart, translucent Fiendfyre and pale-green terrifying winds appeared around him once more.
The two powers intertwined without the slightest conflict.
Instead, the fire borrowed the strength of the wind, releasing even more terrifying heat and pressure.
Not far away, the fire dragon that had previously battled the sea of darkness seemed to sense its master's anger.
It raised its head and roared furiously.
Voldemort was equally unwilling to back down.
As the armor covering his body twisted, endless darkness poured out.
Behind him, it formed a terrifying giant face that greedily grinned at Link and Hogwarts behind him.
Seeing this, Gerald's expression changed and he hurriedly said:
"Don't fight him alone! Coordinate your attacks! That guy isn't someone you can defeat easily! He and Dumbledore have already killed many of our soul fragments head-on!"
Perhaps Voldemort really listened to Gerald's advice.
Or perhaps he simply found Gerald annoying.
The next moment, the hideous black giant face swallowed Gerald whole.
Immediately afterward, the red aura of slaughter and death appeared once more within the thick darkness.
But unlike before, the red and black no longer existed in equal fusion.
Instead, they transformed into a blood-red long blade that Voldemort gripped in his hand.
The several-meter-long crimson blade twisted continuously, protesting Voldemort's rough control and refusing to participate in battle while being dominated like this.
But it was completely useless.
The sticky darkness possessed the ability to suppress all pure energy forms.
It had previously been dispersed by Link only because Link's attacks were purely physical in nature.
As for resistance from a pure energy being like Gerald, Voldemort didn't care at all.
"Come!"
"I'll show you what true power is!"
As soon as Voldemort finished speaking, he became a blur and charged forward, dragging endless darkness behind him.
Link refused to be outdone.
Wrapped in raging winds and Fiendfyre, he immediately unleashed a stream of dragon fire head-on.
But the attack missed.
In the middle of his charge, Voldemort used a bizarre method almost like spatial magic, completely ignoring inertia as he suddenly changed direction and rushed toward the Fiendfyre dragon.
Boom! Shing,
Accompanied by a tremendous sonic boom and the chilling sound of a blade leaving its sheath, a fine crimson line appeared across the middle of the Fiendfyre dragon.
Its body was instantly split in two.
That wasn't all.
The magical power that erupted immediately afterward transformed into endless blood-red blades, cutting the dragon and the surrounding golden-white holy light into the most basic particles of magical dust.
It completely eliminated any possibility of regeneration through Fiendfyre's special properties.
After that, Voldemort even performed a flashy blood-shaking flourish.
Combined with the huge exaggerated blade, the movement looked ridiculously showy.
If anyone else had done something this over-the-top, it would have been socially fatal.
But neither Link nor Dumbledore could laugh.
Because that slash had already proven one thing.
Voldemort had truly trained in swordsmanship.
And it was authentic ancient wizard swordsmanship, specifically designed for killing wizards and giant magical creatures.
Both Link and Dumbledore sensed the purest form of mortal danger.
Close combat and spellcasters naturally counter each other.
Everyone knew that.
And it applied to wizards as well.
Especially against a close-combat fighter like Voldemort, whose speed and destructive power had reached terrifying levels.
"Huu, "
Link took a deep breath.
Mist Armor slowly appeared around his body as he looked toward Dumbledore.
Dumbledore happened to nod at him.
The two instantly understood each other's intentions.
Carried by the wind, they joined forces.
Golden-white light merged with ultimate Fiendfyre.
In the next moment, it transformed into a massive fire tornado that surged toward Voldemort.
Voldemort didn't waste a single word.
He simply slashed once.
The terrifying fire tornado was instantly cut apart, meeting the same fate as the Fiendfyre dragon.
But this time was different.
As magical dust scattered through the air, a powerful beam of Vanishing Spell suddenly shot forward.
Everything touched by the beam was reduced to its most basic atoms and scattered into the world, becoming nothing.
Even the sharp residual energy slashes left behind by Voldemort's blood blade were no exception.
This terrifying scene finally froze the grin on Voldemort's face.
But only for an instant.
The next moment, he reacted.
He first shifted backward to create distance.
Then, using the blade as though it were a sword, he thrust it forward.
Bzzz,
The instant the blade touched the beam, the Vanishing Spell personally cast by Dumbledore shattered apart.
A horrifying buzzing sound echoed through heaven and earth.
Even Dumbledore himself was struck.
An energy blade pierced his shoulder.
His dominant right arm was completely disabled and hung limply at his side.
Seeing this, Link immediately stepped forward and blocked the remaining attacks for Dumbledore.
Both of their expressions became grim.
Because they had discovered something.
The swordsmanship Voldemort was using was no longer merely close-combat combat.
Nor was it simply magic.
Voldemort had accomplished something even Godric Gryffindor had failed to achieve.
He had truly fused magic and blade into one, creating an almost omnipotent magical edge.
"How the hell are we supposed to fight this?"
Link couldn't help complaining.
Voldemort in this state was practically unbeatable.
The fact that he had shattered the Vanishing Spell beam alone proved that he could likely destroy most of the other attacks Link and Dumbledore possessed through overwhelming slashes from his magical blade.
This was the ultimate defense created by ultimate offense.
At this point, the only thing Link and Dumbledore could do was continuously bombard Voldemort with large-scale magic and keep him from getting close.
That meant the battle would enter a prolonged stalemate.
But was that even possible?
Given the mobility Voldemort had displayed, how long could they hold out?
Even if they managed to endure, both sides were legendary wizards with nearly endless magical power.
By the time the battle dragged on long enough to decide a winner, Hogwarts Castle would likely already have been reduced to ruins.
Without question, the battle had entered a dead end.
Yet while Link was gritting his teeth, a look of sudden realization appeared on Dumbledore's face.
He transferred his wand to his left hand.
Together with Link, he cast another Vanishing Spell to block Voldemort's charge.
Then he calmly said:
"Link, where do you think Voldemort learned such pure ancient swordsmanship?"
"Professor Dumbledore, have you gone senile?" Link said unhappily after blocking another energy slash with his Mist Armor. "When Voldemort was young, he traveled across most of the wizarding world. He even mastered the forbidden art of bloodline modification and turned himself into that half-human, half-snake thing. I wouldn't be surprised no matter where he learned such techniques."
"No, no, you've misunderstood me," Dumbledore said. "What I mean is that we all know the Voldemort fragment occupying Harry's body was created more than ten years ago. Since he can use this swordsmanship now, that means Voldemort's main soul could use it as well. If that's the case, then why didn't the main soul display even the slightest close-combat ability when we fought him before?"
Link froze slightly.
That really was impossible to explain.
If Voldemort's main soul had displayed this extraordinary fusion of magic and swordsmanship during the battle at the Department of Mysteries, then Link's allied forces would probably have been the ones who lost.
"So what you're saying is that Voldemort knew the technique back then, but couldn't use it?" Link asked tentatively. "And the reason this soul fragment can use it now is because it possesses something the main soul didn't have?"
Dumbledore nodded approvingly and said nothing more.
There was no need to continue.
The answer could not have been more obvious.
The only thing this Voldemort fragment occupying Harry possessed that the main soul lacked was the blood-red blade formed from another Voldemort soul fragment.
That blade was the key to using such terrifying swordsmanship.
From another perspective, it made perfect sense.
Combining swordsmanship and magic was an astonishing feat.
At its core, it was essentially the same as using a sword as a wand.
And that created a problem.
Normal melee weapons capable of surviving intense combat could not function as true wands, that is, magical amplifiers.
Meanwhile, sword-shaped wands created according to wand-making principles lacked the hardness and toughness required for high-intensity combat.
This formed an unsolvable cycle.
Even Gryffindor's sword, forged by goblins, had failed to overcome this issue.
Probably only a blade formed from another Voldemort soul fragment could possess both characteristics at the same time.
Taking a deep breath, Link and Dumbledore exchanged a glance and nodded.
Now that they knew their enemy's weakness, all they needed to do was continuously attack that blood-red blade.
That was far easier than attacking Voldemort himself.