Chapter 267 - 266. The Flamels. Part 2. The Core.

Stroking the Qilin’s head while maintaining the mental connection, Severus grimly examined the floating body before him. Over the past few minutes, only a few light spots remained; the rest had been covered in a slimy black substance.

At that moment, Severus was trying to find a solution to the problem.

Finding the source of this filth, the darkest and densest area of devil energy in the body, was not difficult; he located it quickly. Unfortunately, it was in the worst possible place: the magical core.

To cure Nicholas, the core itself would have to be removed, which meant certain death.

Nicholas was only alive because of the core and the elixirs.

But if either of those were to disappear, death would be inevitable.

For this reason, Severus continued searching for a solution. Actually, he did have a solution, two in fact, but...

"Any attempt to harm me will kill this weak human..." the Devil droned in an unnaturally rough bass voice. He stared at Severus with blood-red eyes, exuding a bloodthirst that would make anyone’s hair stand on end and cause the weak-willed to faint. "You won’t be able to hold me like this for long..."

"Can’t you be quiet, at least a little? You’re annoying," Nagini hissed at him, her head already aching from the creature’s chatter.

"So you will fall silent... forever..." he replied in a completely indifferent voice, his wild grin revealing two rows of teeth as sharp as a shark’s.

"Are they all this talkative?" she asked, looking at Severus.

"I don’t know. With the last one, I only managed to exchange a few words before he tried to do something to me," Severus replied with a tired sigh, removing his hand from the Qilin’s head. With a happy squeak, the Qilin darted behind the sofa and pressed against Nagini’s leg.

"I see. And what about Perenelle?"

"She was lucky. She’s perfectly fine, there’s nothing foreign inside her. But here, things are very bad."

"Boy, submit to us, and we will let you live..."

"Just shut up already."

"Try to make me."

"I would gladly shut you up with magic myself, but I’m afraid you’d devour it, and strengthening my enemy isn’t in my best interest," Severus said, rubbing his eyes as he rose from the sofa. A simple golden censer appeared in his hand, and he placed it on the table. "In this situation, we have only two options. Well, three," he said, raising his first finger. "Kill Nicholas."

"Severus!" Nagini exclaimed, but Severus cut her off.

"I wasn’t finished," he said sharply, raising a second finger. "Turn back time with a Time-Turner to before we met Flamel, but he’ll remain a ticking time bomb that could explode at any second. And third... tear the soul from the body and place it in temporary storage, while destroying the body as in the first option."

"So... the third?" She lowered her gaze to the censer, which Severus had found in a Chinese collector’s private collection. It had certain properties related to souls, but she could no longer recall the exact details.

"Correct. This artifact has the ability to steal souls. As soon as someone removes its lid, the souls of all beings within a five-meter radius will be absorbed by it and fall into a kind of hibernation."

"Um... is it safe to explain this in front of him?" she asked uncertainly, glancing at the slightly enraged creature, which understood him perfectly.

"As if I’ll let that happen!" it roared furiously, redoubling its efforts to break free and dismember the human before it.

"It’s fine. He won’t be able to do anything to stop me anyway. Use the Purifying Spell," Severus commanded. Three timid Qilin emerged from behind the sofa, who felt deeply uncomfortable under the Devil’s gaze, from which incredibly powerful dark energy emanated. But thanks to their owners being nearby, they were able to pull themselves together, and their bodies were enveloped in white light.

"No... ARRRRGH!" Dense white beams struck the creature, cleansing the areas covered in the black substance right before their eyes. "AS SOON AS I BREAK THESE AAAAARROKOV..."

But of course, this attack had no real effect on the creature. The Qilin were still too small to harm even a pseudo-Devil like this, but they could certainly cause it pain and distract it, which was exactly what they were doing, preventing it from concentrating on Nicholas’s soul, which remained unharmed.

"H-human filth... know your PLACE!" With the last word, the massive arm, still raised upward, trembled, and a huge amount of black slime from the Devil’s body rushed toward it. Right before their eyes, it began to grow while the red runes cracked. "I WON’T LEAVE SO MUCH AS A WET SPOT BEHIND!"

"Hmm... there’s far more devil energy in this arm than in ordinary Lower Devils, but... that’s strange. How could it even fit inside a wizard’s core? Such an amount would tear an ordinary person apart, which means... the wizard himself is most likely not its vessel, but something else, some object, or even a living being..." Ignoring the cracks, Severus continued thinking out loud, which only further enraged the creature.

"Severus, he’s almost broken free!"

"I see," Severus replied very calmly, extending his hand to her. She quickly grabbed it, and in that same instant, the runes that had nearly been destroyed suddenly restored themselves and shifted to an emerald green hue. "But thank you, you helped me a great deal." He nodded slightly with a small smile at the Devil. "It’s a pity, of course, that I won’t be able to test the barrier’s effectiveness on a Higher Devil, though I doubt it could have held one. Even so, it’s quite good. This information will definitely come in handy on my upcoming trip."

"Severus! Stop talking out loud. What if they’re controlling him from there and everything you say...?"

"Very good. A touch of paranoia in our world won’t hurt anyone, but don’t worry, the first stage of improving our home is already complete, and I specifically started with the living room."

"Huh? Has something changed here?" she asked, embarrassed, looking around curiously for these changes.

"Yes. Even though it’s only sixty percent complete, for now, that’s enough for a creature of this level. This place is now in a completely separate space, cut off from the outside world. He won’t be able to send anything out, even if he knows how, and I won’t let him escape." With those words, Severus removed the lid from the censer. A small vortex burst out, growing larger with each second, but it had no effect on physical objects. The Devil, however, convulsed violently. His wild shrieking was so intense that Severus had to create a separate barrier to protect everyone’s ears in addition to the one shielding them from the artifact.

"HUMAN! STOP THIIIIIS! IF YOU... ARGHHHHH! LET ME GO, I WON’T KILL YOU! I WON’T TOUCH ANYONE! I SWEAR!" Although there was something resembling panic in its voice, the intense bloodlust radiating from it suggested otherwise. The moment Severus released it, the creature would immediately tear them apart. Releasing such a thing would be utter foolishness. Only a true idiot would believe him.

Nicholas’s body was being pulled and twisted in countless directions, contorted into forms that would have instantly killed any other person. The absence of blood from the exposed areas and wounds already testified to the pitiful state of Nicholas’s body, which now retained only the form and name of what had once been a human.

Because the Devil was too strong, the artifact could not simply tear the soul from the body. But as soon as Severus touched it and began channeling Nagini’s magic into it, it emitted a greenish glow, much like the runes earlier.

The suction force increased by an order of magnitude, and finally a white, formless substance burst from the creature’s head, immediately covered by emerald light.

"IF I DIE, I’M TAKING THE OLD MAN WITH ME! LET THIS BE A LESSON FOR LITTLE HUMANS LIKE YOU: YOU SHOULDN’T ANGER BEINGS OF A DIFFERENT ORDER!" With those words, almost all the demonic energy began concentrating in the creature’s head, and right before their eyes it began to swell.

"Too late, buddy. And thank you for this valuable experience." With that, the Qilin was also enveloped in an emerald glow, and the Purifying Spell intensified many times over. When all three combined their beams and focused on the Devil’s head, which was covered in the black substance, it instantly split apart, revealing the deathly pale face of Nicholas himself, contorted with pain. "Forgive me, old man... endure just a little longer..." Severus said, looking him directly in the eyes, guilt plain in his gaze as he intensified the flow of magic entering the censer.

"Severus, I don’t have much magic left," Nagini warned him, concentrating on restoring it, but it was draining away even faster.

"Understood." He extended his palm, and a black flame appeared in it, which he hurled at the Devil. In the next instant, the creature was engulfed in flames up to its neck.

"AAAAAAAAAH! WHAT IS THIS FIRE?! HOW CAN IT HARM ME?!" the creature roared, finding it increasingly difficult to control the human body because of the pain. Before their very eyes, it began to fall apart, large chunks dropping to the ground. At that moment, the censer suddenly flared up, illuminating the entire room, and after a few seconds, it went out, snapping shut.

Only Severus noticed as the soul was torn from the body and absorbed by the artifact, but that was not the end.

The fire consumed the body, becoming a roaring bonfire that devoured the creature before their eyes, leaving not even ash behind. It was a truly horrifying death.

The creature did not stop shrieking for a moment, while the Qilin cast the Purifying Spell over a wide area, reducing its destructive power but increasing its range.

Only after several minutes did the flame begin to die down, and the shriek turned into a death rattle.

Nothing remained of Nicholas’s body except a pitch-black sphere that still emanated devil energy.

This object was the materialized core of Nicholas, which, upon merging with its source, could restore itself and advance to a higher level. However, using it after contamination was impossible, unless, of course, one wanted to turn into a Devil, or rather, become its slave.

Severus decided to keep it for a couple of experiments and then destroy it. But more importantly, he wanted to find the source of the devil energy and develop a method for detecting infected individuals, since carrying a Qilin everywhere would be impractical. He shared this with Nagini.

"Are you sure? I REALLY don’t like this thing..." She emphasized the word ’really,’ clearly sensing the energy emanating from the sphere. When she extended her senses, she immediately felt dirty, as if it were the natural enemy of magic.

This thing made her want to destroy it, leaving no trace behind.

"Yes, so keep yourself under control. And... you did well." He smiled softly at her, making her blush slightly. "I couldn’t have done it without you." Patting her on the shoulder, he walked around the small table with the censer and approached the sphere.

"Human, when the barrier falls..."

"You will already be destroyed," Severus finished for him in a completely indifferent voice. He made several passes with his hand, and runes scattered across the smooth surface of the sphere flared to life.

"Heh-heh... we shall see. You will become our first and primary target..."

"I’m flattered, really. And now prepare yourself. I promise, the sensations will be unforgettable." Seeing the icy, ruthless expression on Severus’s face, the core sensed something was wrong. "You know, usually I try to weaken this pain, but I’ve decided to remove that part of the seal for you. Consider it my whim and a new beginning for me."

"WhAAAAAAAAA!" His entire being was pierced by acute pain hundreds of times stronger than usual, as if someone were driving a red-hot knife into every cell of his body with every passing moment. This pain was many times worse than the last. "HUMAAAAN...!" But a snap of Severus’s fingers silenced him.

"Well then, Gorby." He looked indifferently at the trembling house-elf who had appeared beside him after watching everything from the sidelines. "Clean up and fix the floor." After he used the flame, the floor had melted again, and tea had flooded the small table when Nicholas transformed.

"Severus..." came Nagini’s timid voice.

"What is it?" he asked, looking at her.

"Please, don’t make that expression again... you’re scaring them..." He was surprised by her words, and when he lowered his gaze to the Qilin, they had already hidden behind her, which embarrassed him.

"Sorry." Letting out a tired sigh, he ran a hand over his face and returned to his usual calm half-smile, all traces of coldness vanishing from his eyes.

"It’s nothing, I understand." She smiled gently back at him, stroking the little ones’ heads, trying to cheer them up.

He turned back to the core, where runes were slowly being engraved. Eventually, they would need to contain the demonic energy and prevent it from escaping past the designated boundary, though they would require a constant supply of magic. "This will take some more time..."

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