"No! The Serpent of Slytherin, do not concern yourself with something as trivial as a rooster!"
Riddle was shouting at the gigantic snake with a body as thick as an oak tree trunk. The basilisk writhed its slick, venomous dark-green body, looking as though it were suffering from the rooster's crow.
"Damn it! Curse it! To think I have to waste my magical power on something like this…"
Riddle shouted irritably, then once again let out a low hissing sound, seemingly issuing a forceful command to the basilisk. After a short while, the basilisk calmed down and began moving toward us.
"Kill!"
By pouring magic into the Slytherin heir's unique ability to command a basilisk, he seemed to have forcibly brought it under his control.
Although a basilisk dislikes a rooster's crow, it is merely an aversion and not a fatal weakness. As long as its master issues a strong enough command, it likely has no choice but to obey, albeit reluctantly.
"W-what should we do, Elaina!?"
"Run with everything we have."
At this point, the situation was truly dire. I grabbed Saya's hand as she clutched the rooster, and we turned our backs on the basilisk and ran.
Our only saving grace was that every time the rooster crowed, the basilisk flinched and froze for a brief moment. That allowed us to barely gain some distance as we fled.
"Nebulus, form mist!"
For now, I sprayed thick fog from the tip of my wand to prevent eye contact with the basilisk, hoping that we might even conceal ourselves entirely. Then I shifted slightly into counterattack mode.
"Impedimenta, obstruct!"
"Diffindo, rend!"
"Stupefy, paralyze!"
Even while running, I stopped from time to time, carefully avoiding the basilisk's gaze, and unleashed a barrage of offensive spells at its massive body.
However, all they did was peel away scales or startle the basilisk long enough to buy time. To make matters worse, the fog was beginning to dissipate.
"Then… Glacius, turn to ice!"
With nothing to lose, I froze a nearby puddle, then used a transfiguration spell to turn it into a mirror, followed immediately by a levitation charm. I held the massive mirror in the basilisk's path so that its own image was reflected back at it.
If reflecting the basilisk's deadly gaze could cause it to die or at least petrify itself, that would be ideal, but…
"Magical creatures are immune to their own magic! Doing that is pointless!"
Riddle's triumphant shout echoed from a distance.
(If that were not the case, then the moment Mrs. Norris or Hermione and the others were petrified via puddles or mirrors, the basilisk itself would have died as well…)
Just as venomous creatures are not killed by their own poison, and phoenixes are not burned by their own flames, the basilisk appears to possess some form of immunity to its own venom and gaze.
"Help! Someone, help!"
When Harry cried out in desperation, a beautiful yet eerie melody that sent shivers down the spine echoed throughout the cavernous Chamber of Secrets.
"That is…!"
Looking up, I saw a deep crimson bird about the size of a swan flying toward us, emitting its mysterious melody. Its long golden tail feathers shimmered like a peacock's, its claws gleamed brilliantly, and its entire body was wreathed in flames. It was a genuine phoenix, the first I had ever seen.
"Fawkes!?"
When Harry called out to the phoenix, Fawkes responded by dropping a tattered bundle it was clutching in its dazzling golden talons at his feet, then dove straight toward the basilisk.
Fawkes circled around the basilisk's raised head, while the basilisk snapped wildly at the air with its long, saber-like venomous fangs. Neither side could land a decisive blow.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo!"
"Another rooster!?"
Ignoring Riddle's curse, the rooster cockatrice cried loudly as if cheering Fawkes on. Hearing the sound it despised, the basilisk froze for just a split second.
Not missing that fleeting opening, Fawkes shot forward like an arrow and drove its long golden beak straight into the basilisk's eye. Without giving the writhing, pain-stricken basilisk a chance to retaliate, Fawkes mercilessly stabbed its other eye as well.
Dark, foul blood spilled across the floor as the now-blinded basilisk thrashed about violently.
"A phoenix is fine! It can tell by scent! Kill those brats!"
At Riddle's shout, the basilisk, though staggering, began slithering toward us once more. Even blinded, its enormous body and venomous fangs remained a deadly threat.
"Everyone, hurry and get out of the chamber! If we seal the door with a blasting curse, even if we cannot defeat it, we can at least trap it inside…"
As I hastily devised a second-best plan, Harry, for some reason, had put on the Sorting Hat and was muttering something under his breath.
"It is too late to decide you want to transfer to Slytherin now! In the first place… huh?"
Something like a silver sword emerged from the hat.
"This is…"
A ruby the size of an egg was set into the hilt, and the blade, shining with dazzling light, was no ordinary two-handed sword.
(Isn't that a goblin-made sword, like the ones displayed in Gringotts Bank…!)
Goblins are renowned for their mastery of metalworking and their ability to forge various weapons using special magic. Not only are goblin-made weapons exceptionally sturdy and sharp, but some are said to possess the property of rejecting rust and filth while absorbing only that which makes them stronger.
If that is the case…
"…! Then we might be able to wound the basilisk!"
At my shout, Harry replied with a firm "Got it!" and raised the sword like a knight of old. He was clearly planning to slash or stab the basilisk and bring it down that way.
I shouted at him.
"Use your head! Are you really a wizard or not?!"
"Oh, right."
As if just remembering, Harry pulled out his wand and shouted,
"Wingardium Leviosa, levitate!"
The sword floated into the air, fixed in place as if poised to thrust at the basilisk. When Harry sharply flicked his wand, it shot forward like a bullet straight at the basilisk.
The sword sank into the basilisk's thick body as if being swallowed whole, and the basilisk let out a scream as it writhed in agony. However, it did not seem to be dead yet.
"Accio, come!"
When I shouted, the sword was yanked free from the basilisk and flew back toward me. Of course, I had absolutely no intention of holding it and fighting directly.
"Relashio, release!"
Commonly known as the "banishing charm," this spell is the counterpart to Accio. Depending on how it is used, it can send an object flying away with tremendous force, the opposite of summoning it.
Once again, the sword was fired like a bullet toward the basilisk, this time plunging forcefully into its raised neck.
No, seriously, the sharpness was incredible. It ignored the basilisk's supposedly tough scales and stabbed in again and again with ridiculous ease.
At this rate, it might eventually bleed to death.
"Accio! Relashio!"
I alternated between the summoning charm and the banishing charm, repeating the process over and over, stabbing the basilisk's massive body countless times with the silver sword.
Before long, the basilisk's entire body was riddled with wounds. An enormous amount of blood poured out as it thrashed about in agony.
But there was no room for mercy. This was a kill-or-be-killed situation. Since we had such an absurdly amazing and convenient sword, we might as well see it through to the end.
"Ugh…"
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ron recoiling in shock. Ignoring that, I mercilessly stabbed the basilisk again and again. Whenever it tried to flee, the rooster's crow carried by Saya and the phoenix Fawkes interfered, cutting off its escape.
Then, with the basilisk weakened by massive blood loss, I delivered the finishing blow. I drove the sword all the way to the guard and plunged it deep into the roof of its mouth.
At last, the monstrous basilisk collapsed heavily onto the floor. After twitching a few times, it fell completely silent.
"..."
"..."
"..."
At the surprisingly anticlimactic death of the basilisk, Harry and the others, along with Riddle himself standing in the distance, stared back and forth between me and the monster's corpse with strained expressions.
The one who broke the awkward silence was the phoenix, Fawkes. With a powerful beat of its wings, it circled back overhead and dropped something at our feet.
It was Riddle's diary.
"..."
"..."
"..."
For a brief moment, Harry, I, and even Riddle in the distance stared at the diary.
"Accio, sword, come!"
Before Riddle could even speak, I cast the summoning charm, and that absurdly amazing and convenient sword flew neatly back into my hands.
"Stop it!"
Riddle screamed when he saw that, but actually stopping just because someone told you to is something only amateurs do.
Before Riddle could make his next move, I swiftly drove the sword straight into the center of the diary.
"———!"
A horrific, ear-splitting scream echoed on and on. Ink burst out of the diary like a raging torrent, soaking the floor.
However, with nothing more than the frail arms of a weak thirteen-year-old girl, I could not quite manage to drive the blade deeply enough. This was a problem.
"Harry, Ron, Saya, please help me for a moment."
As Riddle writhed and screamed in agony, I calmly called everyone over, and then—
"One, two!"
Stab.
When all of us put our strength together and stabbed the sword into the diary once more, Riddle finally began to shine from within. He let out a final scream, then burst apart into countless particles of light and vanished.
(End of chapter)
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