On the vast and desolate flatland, a massive throne bore the weathering of ages.
"This is it?" Dumbledore asked, looking at the rotting giant nailed to the throne before him.
"The Deep Realm King—Chaos, the monster entangled with your Dumbledore family for a thousand years. Also the culprit who caused the fall of your nephew and sister."
Two streams of cold air exhaled from Aiden's nostrils. The surrounding black gel couldn't approach under the intimidation of His dragon might.
"So what do we do now? Release it?" Dumbledore swallowed.
Aiden didn't answer Dumbledore, only narrowing his eyes and opening his mouth toward Hatred.
Purple particles began gathering in His mouth. Mental breath mixed with magic sprayed out.
A massive beam of light cut through the sky and collided with the throne.
Boom—the white beam produced by the explosion swallowed the entire plain.
Crack—the Arrow of Love nailed to Hatred's heart completely shattered.
"Roar!" The Deep Realm King's roar pushed away the air. Aiden protected Dumbledore with his wings.
The shockwave collided with the wings. Friction between the wing tips and air produced a whooshing sound.
Black gel surged toward Hatred, helping It construct a massive axe.
The giant dragon fearlessly opened its mouth and pounced. The mythical battle was reenacted here.
Aiden let out a long dragon's cry.
Magic power shone through the mysterious symbols on His scales. His body began rapidly expanding.
Raising His claws, He pressed Hatred into the earth. The next second, the injured Hatred swelled up, becoming as massive as Aiden in the blink of an eye.
"The ability of reciprocal revenge?"
Aiden spat and flapped his wings to fly into the sky.
Hatred raised its head. In its hollow eye sockets, it displayed a humanized expression.
The next moment, gel surged, and a great black bow appeared in Hatred's hands.
Black particles began gathering. A black arrow carrying resentment was nocked on the longbow.
Release. The arrow roared toward Aiden.
"Roar!" The giant dragon roared. The symbols on His body flashed again, and a layer of grey mist wrapped around Aiden.
Then the black arrow pierced through Aiden, but he slowly faded into an illusion and disappeared.
Hatred sensed danger. With a swing, the longbow transformed back into an axe and swung behind.
Faster than It was lightning from Aiden.
"Destructive Thunder (Judrasium)"
Lightning flashed on the dragon's body, accompanying his giant maw.
Sharp teeth bit through Hatred's axe while also exploding its head.
Taking advantage of Hatred's retreat, Aiden's two claws grabbed its arms.
"Ignite Karmic Fire (Volzanbell)"
Black-red flames spread from Aiden's claws onto Hatred's body.
More black gel wanted to surge up and extinguish the flames.
Unfortunately, karmic fire magic was developed by Aiden combining his Discerner abilities.
The flames could identify the enemy's mental weak points and burn specifically on their spirit.
Hatred fell powerlessly in the flames. Though it tried to recover many times, it was stopped by Aiden's continuous flame breath.
Extending His claws, sharp dragon talons dug open Hatred's heart and extracted Its core.
Hatred, having lost its core, became even weaker.
And having become a Discerner, Aiden observed clearly in Hatred's core the agreement Lady Rowena once told him about.
Essentially, the Deep Realm Kings were a kind of emotional consensus among numerous socialized creatures.
The reason they evolved into what they are today could be called the original sin of living beings.
Seeing the battle end, Dumbledore walked over through the scorching air.
"How is it?" Dumbledore asked.
"Here, this is it. How do you plan to use it? My personal suggestion is to eat it directly. Should be quite chewy."
Aiden handed over Hatred's heart. The black and broken heart continuously oozed gel.
Dumbledore swallowed and took a step back.
"Can you divide it a bit? I don't think a complete Deep Realm King core is something I can bear."
After hesitating, Dumbledore made his request.
"OK."
Aiden made an OK gesture with his claws and directly opened his mouth to bite off more than half.
The system quietly emerged, fully extracting something conceptual from the core.
And this time, the subtle fluctuations produced by the system's actions were finally discovered by a certain Discerner.
System, you're not being honest, Aiden's teasing voice transmitted.
'Hmph~'
Knowing what the system was doing, Aiden didn't stop her, allowing her to extract characteristics.
Handing the remaining Deep Realm King core to Dumbledore, Aiden looked at him expectantly.
Dumbledore looked at Aiden with surprised eyes, finally grasping the core in his hand under his eager anticipation.
The dragon showed disappointed eyes.
Black gel poured from the heart fragment, piercing into Dumbledore's arm. The blood vessels in his arm bulged, and something black squirmed under his skin.
As Hatred's power continuously poured into Dumbledore's body, his left eye had already been dyed black.
Aiden looked at Dumbledore worriedly while his entire body rapidly shrank, returning to human form.
"Perhaps I don't need to chew with my mouth after all," Dumbledore said. Though his body curled slightly, he still turned sideways and cracked a joke.
"This is no time for jokes!" Aiden covered his forehead.
Reaching out to place his hand on Dumbledore's forehead, he sealed off his five senses.
Before everything fell into darkness, Dumbledore heard Aiden say one last sentence:
"I'll seal your five senses first, to prevent hallucinations or body spasms from hurting yourself later."
"Aiden watched the Othala (ᛟ) rune in Dumbledore's body being dyed black and lay down beside him."
In Dumbledore's consciousness, endless black mist wrapped around him.
He kept falling, all the way to the end of darkness.
A glimmer of light appeared. A silver-haired youth appeared beside him.
"Why betray our ideals, Albus?"
"No, I—" Dumbledore reached out his hand but was swept away again by the black mist.
"Brother, I'm so cold. It's the Killing Curse. So cold. My soul is trapped."
A young girl's crying voice continuously poured into Dumbledore's ears.
"Ariana!" Dumbledore turned sharply, but there was nothing behind him.
"Professor," "Brother," "Albus"...
More and more chaotic voices wrapped around Dumbledore.
The Deep Realm King's power pulled him deeper.
As if facing the original sin of the human world, Albus Dumbledore, through partial agreement, touched humanity's deepest, darkest side.
Black fluid formed a vortex. Countless people's resentments circulated in this cauldron of suffering.