The soul monster suspended impossibly in mid-air extended a gigantic hand composed of countless grimacing spectral heads, each one twisted in agony or malice. Under the horrified gaze of everyone present, Aurors and the few surviving vampires, it directly seized Bryan in a grip that seemed absolute and inescapable.
In that instant, the hearts of everyone from the Magical Congress of the United States of America plummeted to rock bottom, sinking through layers of hope into pure despair.
Influenced for so long by Graves's subtle dismissals and careful criticisms, Selena had never thought highly of Bryan Watson, had considered him potentially dangerous, someone who needed watching. But at this moment, her heart was flooded with surging despair that had begun to overwhelm her.
She stared blankly at the countless shrieking, maniacally laughing faces composing that terrible hand, and regret gnawed at her heart like venomous snakes biting repeatedly.
For so long, for years of dedicated service, Trask Graves whom she had respected and admired like a role model, whom she'd tried to emulate in every way, was actually a dark wizard willing to abandon his faith and violate every law he'd sworn to uphold, all just to cling desperately to life.
Yet Bryan Watson, whom she had believed should be restricted as a powerful wizard who broke the established order, had not held any grudge at all despite the unjust treatment he'd suffered for weeks.
Instead, he was making amends for the catastrophic disaster Graves had caused, fighting selflessly for the safety of the American magical community and all its citizens, and now facing death because of their failures...
A sparkling tear appeared in Selena's eyes, running down her cheek and tracing a track through the dust on her face. In this moment of dreadful clarity, she sincerely acknowledged Bryan Watson's rightful status as the most powerful wizard of this generation and well-deserved Vice President of the International Confederation of Wizards!
"No—"
A voice suddenly emerged from the world that had fallen into crushing silence. Amelia's entire body trembled violently; her every muscle was tensing. Her heart was drowning in endless agony, submerging in grief yet somehow, she managed to ignore certain magical suppressions and cry out with desperate force.
Staring blankly at the clenched phantom fist suspended above, at that terrible hand, Amelia's tears streamed down her face like rain like unstoppable, uncontrollable!
This was too unfair, unbearably unfair!
Fate had been far too cruel to Bryan throughout his entire life!
Amelia sobbed in grief, her shoulders shaking.
This man had been abandoned by his parents from birth, left without support or love, destitute and impoverished, with nothing but his own determination. Yet he had climbed to the absolute pinnacle of the wizarding world completely through his own efforts, through brilliance and dedication and sacrifice.
He should have hated this world that had given him nothing, should have been filled with bitterness and resentment. But he didn't, had never. All along, throughout his entire life, Bryan had firmly fought against the forces of darkness and ultimately earned the respect of the entire magical world!
Bryan was a kind person. Amelia, who had spent these past days living under the same roof with him, who'd seen him in normal everyday life moments, was absolutely certain of this truth.
Despite holding nearly unrestrained power in the wizarding world, despite being strong enough to do almost anything he wanted, he had always restrained himself, always chosen the harder right path over the easier wrong one.
He could have ignored the MACUSA's unjust treatment of him, could have left them to their fate. But he tried his best to follow their rules, to work within their system. He could have dismissed her own parents given what he'd experienced with them. But he was willing to extend goodwill, to be gracious.
Most importantly, most tellingly, he could have ignored the trouble Graves had caused, could have said it wasn't his problem and left. But tonight, he had ultimately chosen to stand here, fighting to protect all of them even after everything they'd done!
Despair and sorrow lingered heavily in everyone's hearts like gym weights, except Sirius's!
After attempting several times to shake off the magical restraints binding him, straining against the invisible force, Sirius finally noticed something crucial.
This miraculous magic that imprisoned everyone and dragged the entire world into paleness, transforming it; if he hadn't been seeing things wrong just now, if his eyes hadn't deceived him, it should have come from either Bryan or Dumbledore!
And with Fawkes's rebirth, with the phoenix reduced to a chick, Dumbledore's power attached to it had already dissipated completely, the connection was severed.
Yet the power restraining them had not vanished, had not weakened in the slightest. This seemed to mean—
It was Bryan's magic holding them. And if Bryan's magic still functioned, then Bryan still lived!
Just as the fury and fear in Sirius's eyes transformed into new rising hope, as understanding sparked, an intense change suddenly occurred in the pale sky above!
A beam of light—
In this colorless world where everything was rendered pale and lifeless, where all vibrancy had been stripped away, a milky-white radiance suddenly emerged from the gaps between the monster's clenched fingers.
That light was pure and flawless, pristine as fresh snow, warm as divine light filtering through clouds. It gave people infinite hope, a promise that darkness could be overcome!
The triumphant, arrogant monster froze completely, its countless faces were showing sudden confusion. It stared blankly at the milky-white glow streaming out from its palm in thin beams, beam after beam growing stronger. The creature didn't understand what was happening, couldn't understand this power.
Hum—
Suddenly, without warning, an indescribable pressure descended from the sky like divine judgment. Every inch of air in the frozen space trembled under this strange, overwhelming pressure, vibrating at a frequency that made reality itself seem uncertain.
It was as if within that milky-white aura, within that growing light, a sacred saint was brewing into existence, something holy taking form!
Roar!
The vampire progenitor, whose massive body was composed completely of chaotic soul force filled with desire and hunger and centuries of malice, suddenly screamed in genuine agony.
Thousands upon thousands of shrill voices wove together in a symphony of pain, causing noticeable ripples to appear in the air of this seemingly unshakeable world. The screams were so intense they actually weakened the restraining force of this eerie space. Amelia discovered with shock that she could suddenly speak freely, the paralysis was lifting.
"Bryan!"
Amelia's face still bore scattered tears, her cheeks had turned wet and shining. But now she screamed in rising excitement rather than despair, her voice was cracking with emotion.
"Bryan!"
Everything that had happened, filled Sirius's heart with surging emotion and tremendous excitement. He too shouted toward the sky with all the force his lungs could muster!
"Mr. Watson!"
"Judge this monster, Mr. Watson!"
"Don't let it escape, Mr. Watson! Destroy it!"
Amelia and Sirius's enthusiastic cheers opened the floodgates of hope. Roar after roars of shouts from the gathered Aurors made this imprisoned pale world suddenly feel vivid and colorful again!
Life returned to the frozen scene.
Roar!
The monster's howl revealed uncontrollable pain, pure agony without any trace of triumph now. Under everyone's enthusiastic gaze, watching with held breath, the milky-white aura blooming from the gaps of the soul hand gripping Bryan blazed even more dazzlingly, intensifying until it hurt to look at directly.
Meanwhile, the gigantic hand itself, all the evil souls composing that terrible thing, began to melt like snow meeting spring sun at a visible rate. They dissolved, screaming, into nothing.
Before long, that sacred, dazzling sphere of light finally appeared completely before everyone, fully revealed as the hand disintegrated.
When the sacred, dazzling glow dimmed slightly, pulling back its intensity, and the figure at its center could finally be caught by normal vision, the rising and falling cheers on the ground strangely stopped. The excited eyes of the crowd became confused, and uncertain.
Surrounded by the protective milky-white aura was not Bryan's familiar human figure, but rather a magical creature of extraordinary beauty: a serpent with black and white wings that seemed to shimmer with light...
"Oh, this is—!"
Blinking in confusion, trying to process what he was seeing, Sirius suddenly recalled with a flash of memory.
He had seen this exact magical creature before, back when the false charges against him hadn't been cleared and he was still being actively hunted by the Ministry of Magic as a dangerous criminal.
He had secretly infiltrated Hogwarts to watch Harry's Quidditch match. The Dementors guarding Hogwarts had suddenly lost control during that match and rushed into the school grounds, threatening the students.
To drive away the Dementors, to protect the children, Bryan had released his Patronus: an incomprehensibly massive Patronus unlike anything Sirius had ever seen, which was precisely this strange, magnificent snake with black and white wings!
Gazing at the strange serpent within the protective aura, each of the countless tortured faces still attached to the soul monster revealed expressions of pure, primal fear. They could see, could sense, that this was a complete, pure, and immensely powerful soul.
Such a flawless soul was, to them, like a natural predator to prey.
Timidity and fear appeared on every twisted face simultaneously. The terror was even causing the indescribable body of the massive soul monster to teeter on the brink of complete collapse, to dissolve totally from fear alone.
The Feathered Serpent within the aura also promptly detected the retreating intent of those remnant souls. It stretched its body, and the twin wings on its back flapped gently—
Accompanied by an invisible force rippling out in concentric circles, in the vast space centered on Bryan's position, many golden points of light suddenly appeared from the void itself, materializing from nothing.
They were distributed throughout the three-dimensional space in complex patterns, like stars in the deep universe, seemingly random to the common naked eye, yet clearly connected to each other through some mysterious, geometric relationship that showed Advanced Mathematics Rules.
The numerous golden points of light began to flicker in order, pulsing with power. The pale void they encompassed suddenly took on a faint crimson color, as if reality itself was being tinted.
Within the crimson-shrouded area, there seemed to exist an irresistible heat, an impossible temperature that had nothing to do with normal fire. Even space itself became distorted under this reality-warping heat, bending like glass near a furnace!
The soul forms that Fiendfyre couldn't destroy, that had proven resistant to conventional magic, let out heart-rending screams one by one.
Under this higher-level power, this force that attacked their very essence, they rapidly dissolved. Layer after layer of souls were stripped away, peeling off like burning paper, their forms visibly shrinking with each passing second.
The process continued persistently until finally, at the very core, revealing a dark crimson, liquid-like core.
When even this core was utterly destroyed within the domain constructed by the golden points of light, when the last fragment was annihilated—
Bang—
As if losing its power source, its connection to existence, the numerous golden points of light suddenly exploded simultaneously into a sky full of dazzling fireflies.
The beautiful display was almost peaceful after the violence. The Feathered Serpent within the milky-white aura also transformed back, shrinking and shifting until it became Bryan's human body once more.
He appeared physically unharmed, not a scratch was visible on his skin. Though his face was stamped with deep fatigue, as if he hadn't truly rested for several nights. Dark circles shadowed his eyes.
"Failed again..."
Gazing at the firefly-like glow drifting lazily through the air after those unstable magical nodes dispersed, watching them fade, Bryan said thoughtfully to himself.
Only after the drifting glow completely extinguished, winking out one by one like dying stars, did Bryan seem to notice the vanished vampire progenitor.
He raised his eyelids slightly in mild realization, as if remembering something he'd forgotten.
"Oh, I forgot to ask its name. That was probably rude."
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