Hearing Voldemort's interrogation, Quirrell's legs went weak and he directly knelt to the ground.
But Voldemort didn't care about any of that. Taking advantage of the moment when Quirrell was distracted and disoriented from the fright, he directly seized control of Quirrell's body.
Not far away, Link and Arkam, who were pursuing Quirrell, also stopped moving.
The cruel smile on Link's face had already disappeared, replaced by a grave expression. In Link's super-sensory vision, Quirrell's aura had completely changed.
At this moment, black smoke was constantly seeping out from around his body. This kind of smoke was ominous and eerie, making people involuntarily associate it with death!
"Voldemort..." Link softly muttered, then flicked his wand and fired a flash of light.
However, just as the light appeared, the kneeling Quirrell suddenly stood up and raised his wand in a terribly twisted posture.
Ssshh~
A sharp buzzing sound erupted in the air. The blazing flash streaked through the forest along with falling plasma, and Link's powerful Level 3 "Blade of No Shadow" spell was actually directly knocked aside by Quirrell's wand.
Seeing this, a trace of surprise flashed across Link's face. He knew very well that what Quirrell had just used wasn't the Shield Charm, but a much more advanced technique, Spell Reflection.
This kind of advanced technique allows the user to block spells without using a defensive charm, but as a price, it requires the user to have extremely strong magical power and extraordinary reaction speed.
Crack! Crack!
Accompanied by the crisp sound of joint grinding, "Quirrell" shakily stood up.
His originally brown pupils and eye whites were all replaced by ink-like blackness. The twisted joints and the still-bleeding wound on his chest made Quirrell's body tremble uncontrollably.
Yet at this moment, Quirrell didn't care at all. He stared wide-eyed at Link, and the corners of his mouth slowly curled up into a vicious smile, "Link Flamel, we meet ag—"
Boom!
Before Voldemort could finish speaking, a flash of light burst from Link's wand and cut him off.
This made Voldemort freeze for a moment, then an overwhelming fury followed.
"Link Flamel!"
Voldemort raised his wand in anger, but Link and Arkam had already disappeared from the original spot.
Link wasn't stupid. Now that Quirrell was severely wounded and obviously couldn't last much longer, why would he fight Voldemort head-on?
At this point, all he needed to do was delay Voldemort until Quirrell died from his injuries.
Voldemort knew this too, otherwise, he wouldn't have rushed to seize control of Quirrell's body. So, reacting quickly, Voldemort immediately resumed the chase, and several red beams of light also burst from his wand.
Unfortunately, compared to Voldemort's two legs, Link riding Arkam had far greater mobility and speed.
Even though Voldemort had forcibly activated all the potential in Quirrell's body to temporarily offset the negative effects of serious injuries, he still couldn't catch up with Link.
And his spells were equally useless against Link. Even if some could predict Link's movements, Arkam blocked them all one by one, they couldn't harm Link at all.
Watching Link and Arkam disappear into the dense forest, Voldemort's expression turned ugly. Voldemort knew very well that Link hadn't gone far.
Right now, he was hiding in the surrounding forest shadows, waiting, waiting for him to collapse from blood loss.
"Hah! What a cunning boy." Voldemort grinned and said.
The current situation was indeed very unfavorable to him. In fact, not only was Quirrell's body failing, but even the dark energy Voldemort possessed had nearly reached its limit. That's also why he forced Quirrell to go after the unicorn blood earlier.
He needed that substance to restore his strength. But even though he was at his limit, there were still things he could do if he didn't care about the cost.
Gritting his teeth, Voldemort suddenly spread both arms and shouted, "Link Flamel! Do you know? That beast you're riding once belonged to me! So… do you really think I have no way to take it back?"
"You must know! I am the true heir of Slytherin!!!"
Boom!
A dazzling green light burst from Voldemort's body. It was like a giant sword of light, piercing through the night sky. At the same time, it illuminated the surrounding forest, along with Arkam and Link hiding inside it.
In that instant, Link felt Arkam beneath him stiffen. This gave Link a bad premonition.
He hurriedly dismounted from Arkam, trying to get away. Unfortunately, it was already too late.
"Roar!"
An earth-shaking roar burst from Arkam's throat. The next second, its tail whipped out, flinging Link, who had only taken a few steps, into a large tree.
"Cough!"
Sliding down from the trunk, Link coughed up a mouthful of black blood.
That tail strike had hit him square in the chest. He knew very well his ribs were broken, and not just one.
"Hissss…" Arkam slowly turned to face Link. Only then did Link notice a faint green glow covering Arkam's eyes. Under that glow, the usual liveliness in Arkam's eyes was gone, replaced entirely by cruelty.
Strangely, however, even after eye contact, Link neither died nor turned to stone.
That meant the membrane over Arkam's pupils still hadn't been withdrawn. So did that mean… Arkam hadn't completely lost his self-awareness?
Noticing this, Link's eyes lit up slightly. He forced out a weak smile, wanting to say something. But the moment he opened his mouth, thick blood gushed out.
"Cough, cough!"
Link violently coughed up blood, and as he did, a small pumpkin pie suddenly fell from his coat.
The pumpkin pie rolled a few times on the ground, finally stopping in front of Arkam.
Arkam's gaze was instinctively drawn to the moving object. Staring at the pie, the green glow in its eyes suddenly dimmed.
It recognized that pumpkin pie, because Link had once fed it to him. Of course, Arkam remembered not because it was especially tasty, it was too small to even taste.
But because supposedly, this was a gift from someone named Emily to Link. Link cherished it a lot, and no matter how much Arkam begged, Link only ever gave him half a box. That made him super mad back then.
As memories of time spent with Link resurfaced, Arkam's pupils slowly dilated.
———
[Flashback]
('Link, will you vanish one day too, like my former master and that liar, never to return?'
'No way! My family's rich! After I graduate, I'll take you home and raise you there! Then we'll be together every day!'
'Really? That's awesome! You're my best friend ever!'
'Stop! Don't get so excited! You're choking me!')
———
Awareness was gradually returning, and things in front of him were becoming clear.
For Arkam, the feeling was strange, just like when he'd awakened from his ancient slumber long ago. But upon seeing what lay before him, Arkam froze.
Because at that moment, Link was sitting there covered in blood, collapsed in front of him.
"What happened? Link! Who did this!?"
Arkam roared to the sky. But then he suddenly remembered everything from just before.
'Did… did I do this? Did I hurt Link?'
Arkam's eyes became dazed. He couldn't believe such a cruel truth.
Just then, another green light shone down on him.
"Kill him."
Voldemort said softly, slowly walking over. His voice sounded weak, his face pale, he seemed close to collapse.
But this time, that green light didn't work as expected. After being struck by it, Arkam didn't attack Link, but instead curled up and struggled violently, crushing all surrounding vegetation.
"I'm… I'm sorry, Link!"
Arkam said in pain. Link heard him and wanted to respond, but then saw Arkam suddenly speed up, dart into the Forbidden Forest, and vanish.
This sudden change stunned both Voldemort and Link. The two stared for a long while in the direction Arkam disappeared, before turning back to face each other.
"What a lucky brat." Voldemort said with a smile. As he spoke, he raised his wand toward Link. He truly was at his limit. Those two bursts of green light had drained him heavily, and Quirrell's body had lost so much blood it was on the verge of death.
Link wasn't in any better shape. His super-sensory spell and Occlumency had worn off. After prolonged battle and serious injuries, Link only had enough magic left for one final spell.
Worst of all, he had lost the ability to move. This meant Voldemort's spell would almost certainly hit.
'So I have to gamble on luck?'
Link smiled bitterly and activated the wand holster on his right arm.
Whoosh!~
With a rush of wind, Link's wand, which was reviously knocked away, flew back into his hand.
He raised it with difficulty and pointed it at Voldemort. At that moment, everything around fell silent. It was as if all living things in the Forbidden Forest were holding their breath, watching the confrontation between the two.
Suddenly, a breeze picked up in the forest. It gently lifted a leaf, carried it between the two, and playfully smiled before letting go.
The powerless leaf fluttered downward. Like a signal, the moment it touched the ground, both wands burst with blinding light.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Blade of No Shadow!"
Bzzzt~
Link's vision was instantly swallowed by green light. But the expected pain or fading consciousness never came. Instead, as time passed, the scene in front of Link gradually cleared.
On "Quirrell's" face was a look of complete shock. On his chest was a new deep slash, forming an X with the original wound.
Beside Link was a deep crater, even oozing green plasma.
"Huh? You missed? Hahaha!" Uncontrollable laughter burst from Link's mouth. He laughed so heartily that even the black blood spraying from his lips couldn't stop him.
(T/N: Voldemort's aura -100000)
At the same time, "Quirrell's" body was slowly disintegrating.
Voldemort was extracting the last of his power, he had already decided to retreat and go into hiding again. But even now, his gaze at Link was full of confusion.
He truly didn't understand how his Killing Curse missed, it wasn't a mistake he should've made.
But seeing Voldemort's confused eyes, Link grinned slyly and slowly pulled out a small, now-empty teardrop-shaped glass bottle from his collar, giving it a kiss.
'Felix Felicis?'
A flash of realization appeared in Voldemort's eyes. If that was the case, then everything that happened tonight made sense.
"Heh! We'll meet again!" Voldemort said meaningfully, glancing at Link.
And as soon as he finished speaking, Quirrell's body crumbled into dust, scattering in the wind.
"I'll be waiting for you." Link grinned and said.
As he spoke, he also pulled out a half-bottle of thick, black potion and began smearing it on himself.
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