Chapter 194 The Importance of Last Hit
"You... you're a madman, you're just a madman. What good does this do you?" Riddle roared, increasing the power of his spell, and the Cruciatus Curse pushed forward by dozens of centimeters.
But Aaron was also fiercely outputting, frantically consuming his magic to sustain the Confringo. At this point, the gap in strength between the two sides had narrowed considerably, and Riddle's desire for a quick victory was a luxury.
"No benefit, but making the enemy feel overwhelmed means I haven't done anything wrong."
"Aaron Gaius." Riddle gritted his teeth in anger. "Didn't I say I wouldn't kill you? Is it really necessary to fight me to the death?"
"Isn't this all because of you?" Aaron said with a look of grief and indignation, "I don't want to be like this either, but as the saying goes, it's not thieves you're afraid of stealing, but thieves coveting. If I don't kill you today, a Lord Voldemortwill be watching me in the future, and no one can stand that!"
Riddle's old face darkened, and his mouth twitched uncontrollably.
He considered himself to have some cultivation, but at this moment, he had an urge to curse out loud.
But soon he thought of something, a sinister smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, and he calmed down, asking meaningfully, "A good plan, but have you never considered what would happen if it failed?"
"You can rest assured about that, my considerations are absolutely comprehensive enough.
You die, I live is the most ideal, but I can accept a mutual defeat.
Don't forget, I still have a Phoenix, a Holy Dragon, and three second-year Wizards on my side.
Although they can't help much in battle, they don't need to learn how to finish off an opponent." Aaron said calmly, but it struck a heavy blow to Riddle's psychological defenses.
He could accept being defeated by Aaron; being defeated by a genius wasn't shameful, but he absolutely could not tolerate being finished off by a few young Wizards. That would be a tremendous insult.
Especially since Harry Potter was among them, it would be a naked desecration of his corpse!
"I won't give you a chance." Riddle said sternly, "As long as this magic array isn't activated, your plan has no possibility of starting."
"It's as if I need a chance." Aaron said, struggling to pull out a second wand, his free left hand aimed at the magic array on the ground.
"Wait a moment." Harry quickly stopped Aaron and said, "We can help. We should be able to buy you a few seconds."
"No, I beg you, don't make things worse." Aaron said a little flustered, "If you join now, he can completely link the spells and drag you into the magic array, and then it will be difficult."
"Then, what if we just hit him from far away?" Ron asked.
"That's even worse. He could take the opportunity to retreat outside the magic array, and my plan would truly be stillborn."
"No need to be so cautious, you can try." Riddle chuckled, his voice full of temptation.
But the three of them all shivered and silently retreated a distance.
"Aaron, what can we do?" Hermione asked worriedly, "Is there no other way?"
"If there were, I wouldn't have gone this far.
All in all, don't worry about me, I definitely won't die.
You prepare to finish him off, but remember to be quick, accurate, and ruthless, don't give him any chance."
Riddle's expression slightly condensed, feeling as if Aaron had noticed something.
But at this moment, he didn't dare to ask more, after all, his opponent was unreasonably shrewd, and it would be bad if he really noticed something.
Aaron completed the last part of the magic array, the black blood on the formation quickly evaporated and turned reddish-brown, and the magic array also flickered with a dark red light.
A faint sizzling sound came from the air, and black electrical flashes appeared intermittently, at first only hair-thin, but in the blink of an eye, they formed an incredibly ferocious black lightning snake.
The lightning snake roared and shot out from the magicarray, flying straight towards the ceiling. The scattered electrical charges alone gave both of them an electric shock, making them crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.
Riddle trembled all over, wanting to move away from the magic array under his feet, because the thunderstorm above their heads was already brewing. If it fell, he wouldn't die but would be crippled.
But Aaron stubbornly maintained his Confringo, not giving him a chance to retreat.
"Madman, are you trying to die with me?"
"Dream on, you're not worthy of dying with me." Aaron said righteously, "Oh, a friendly reminder, the main material of that sword is Mithril, which conducts electricity quite well."
"What?"
Riddle looked at the silver longsword stuck in front of him, the arcs of electricity clearly visible on it, and couldn't help but widen his eyes.
This wasn't a sword; it was a giant lightning rod!
Rumble... The black lightning snake opened its fangs and fell vertically from above, pointing directly at the core of the magic array.
But the moment it fell, the lightning snake seemed to sense something, diverting part of its energy towards Riddle's side, more precisely, towards the silver longsword in front of him.
Thus, the lightning was split three-seven, Aaron got three, Riddle got seven.
Under the baptism of the thunderstorm, Aaron and Riddlewere forced to retract their respective spells, only having time to let out tragic wails.
The entire Chamber of Secrets shook continuously, and sand and dust mixed with clear lake water fell from the ceiling.
Harry and the other two were also affected, swaying from side to side, staring dumbfounded at the two extremely conspicuous humanoid skeletons bathed in lightning.
A few seconds later, the magic array disappeared with the thunder, leaving two charred figures on the cracked ground.
"Aaron."
Hermione whispered, quickly running towards him.
Harry and Ron didn't just stand there either, taking Ginnywith them and following Hermione.
"You absolutely must be okay!" Hermione carefully turned Aaron's face over, her eyes red from crying with worry.
She was at a loss now, not knowing what to do.
As an academic, she knew many spells, but she hadn't learned healing ones and couldn't help at all.
"He must still be alive." Harry said with some uncertainty, "The Aaron Gaius I know wouldn't risk his life without a plan."
"Let's quickly take him to the Professors!" Ron was about to help Aaron up when he sheepishly withdrew his hands, "That won't work! That barrier will take at least half a day to break."
"Never mind that, let's take him over first." Hermione wiped away her tears, "At least they can tell us emergency treatment methods."
At this moment, the Phoenix Fawkes flew to Aaron, shedding a few crystal clear tears that fell on Aaron's face.
The charred black on his face faded considerably, revealing a healthy flush.
"That's right! Phoenix tears can heal wounds." Harrysuddenly realized, "Aaron is saved."
Hermione also breathed a sigh of relief, smiling as she looked at the Phoenix with blurred eyes, "Thank you, Fawkes."
Soon, Aaron groggily opened his eyes, saw three familiar faces, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth, "I really did survive."
"Still talking!" Hermione rolled her eyes at him, "You almost died, you know?"
"I won't die, I still have a Potion, and Abe will save me in time." Aaron explained, "Oh, where's my dragon cub?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen it since earlier."
"Never mind, since the winner has been decided, that thing isn't so important anymore."
"What thing?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
Aaron didn't intend to answer, but instead waved his hand and struggled to sit up, "Can you help me get my sword back first?"
Harry nodded, pulled out the silver longsword, and handed it to Aaron.
"The quality of this sword is really good; it was struck by lightning so hard and yet it's completely fine."
"Naturally, if the quality wasn't up to par, I wouldn't dare to use it."
Harry was stunned for a moment, then turned his head to look at the two halves of the Basilisk, still steaming from being roasted by lightning, and was speechless.
"Speaking of which, even though you're both in second year, isn't your ability a bit too much?" Ron said with a hint of envy, jealousy, and resentment, "Let alone prefects, I bet even graduates can't beat you."
Aaron gave him a disdainful look and explained righteously, "I just used the time you spent daydreaming on studying, the time you spent playing on training, and the time you spent plotting on thinking."
Ron:...Why does that sound so hurtful?
"Uh... I'll admit the first two sentences, but there really was no plotting."
"Is that so? Then explain the Polyjuice Potion incident."
"I... this..." Ron stammered, looking awkwardly at Harry and Hermione, hoping they could say something to help, after all, the three of them did that together.
The two, however, looked at the ceiling and the ground respectively, cooperating very tacitly.
They weren't stupid; it was better for one person to be embarrassed than for all three to be embarrassed together.
Aaron shook his head playfully, then looked at Ginny, whose face had more color, "How is she?"
"Better than before, but still unconscious." Ron looked at Aaron gratefully, "Thank you so much this time. If you hadn't defeated Tom Riddle and brought my sister's vitality back, I don't know what would have happened."
"You're welcome, I did it for myself too.
If Lord Voldemort revives, it won't do me any good."
"That thought truly saddens me!"
Riddle's voice clearly reached everyone's ears, and they were all shocked, looking over in horror.
They saw the charred Riddle slowly stand up, and his injuries healed at a visible rate, only emitting a faint, hazy glow around him, much blurrier than before.
Aaron was stunned for a moment, then turned to Harry and the other two, "Don't tell me you didn't finish him off just now."
"We saw him so injured and just..." Harry said anxiously, but seeing Aaron's look of exasperation, he couldn't say anything else.
Hermione and Ron also turned pale, trembling with fear.
They had thought that even if Riddle wasn't dead, he would only have half a breath left. Who would have thought he would be fully revived in less than a minute!
"This is terrible. How could you be so unreliable?" Aaron said bitterly. At this moment, he truly understood the horror of incompetent teammates. The favorable situation he had painstakingly created with his life was thus overturned by Lord Voldemort in an extreme comeback.
"Harry Potter, I sincerely thank you all." Riddle laughed, "Just now, I truly felt death brush past me."
"Incendio!" Hermione suddenly shouted.
But Riddle merely raised his wand, and the fire spell was nullified. Hermione's wand was also knocked away.
"If it had been just now, this spell would have been a bit of a threat to me, but now this little fire can't even provide warmth."
Hermione fearfully retreated a few steps. Harry picked up the longsword and charged forward with a roar, but after only a few steps, he was struck by a pale white light and sent flying to the feet of the three.
Ron immediately helped him up, trembling as he said, "Aaron, can you use that move of yours again? At worst, we'll all get struck by lightning with you."