Wizette raised his palm and called toward where his finger felt warm. "Firenze, did something hap—"
Before he finished, the warmth vanished.
He closed his eyes and sensed. Even the phoenix feather's presence grew weaker, like being absorbed and digested.
"What's wrong?" Luna noticed Wizette's expression change and immediately came forward with concern. "Something happened in the forest?"
"Yes! Perhaps something big tonight..." Wizette frowned in thought. "Luna, help me deliver this to Professor McGonagall..."
He took out paper and pen and briefly wrote the current situation and speculation.
Luna scanned the note's contents. "You're going into the Forbidden Forest?"
Wizette nodded. "At least need to confirm the situation... Firenze might be in trouble too."
Luna understood priorities and gripped the note tightly. Her expression became serious. "I'll learn Animagus too. Then you can't do this anymore! Pinky promise..."
"Mm!" Wizette nodded and extended his pinky, hooking Luna's extended pinky. "I definitely won't do this then! I promise!"
Watching Luna and Fang's retreating figures, Wizette exhaled.
After confirming his destination, he transformed into a phoenix and dove straight into the fireplace flames.
In the Forbidden Forest, flames appeared from nowhere. Wizette quickly left phoenix Animagus form and returned to human shape.
He didn't appear directly at the incident site but arrived at another location to avoid possible ambush.
Compared to usual, tonight's forest seemed especially noisy, full of sharp bird calls mixed with rustling leaves.
Various small animals burst from surrounding bushes—rabbits, squirrels, foxes, stoats—all visible. These creatures looked panicked, like fleeing some danger.
Click-click-click...
Click-click-click...
Familiar harsh sounds came from the distance, accompanied by hoofbeats and roars.
Those clicking noises were obviously Acromantulas. The hoofbeats and roars should come from centaurs.
"Nox Perspicio!"
"Disillusionment!"
"Aqua Clausa!"
Night-vision charm enhanced perception. Disillusionment Charm hid his form. Modified Bubble-Head Charm blocked scent and could also avoid detection to some degree.
Plus Guardian's Meditation, Wizette followed the sounds and saw a centaur fighting Acromantulas.
The centaur was Firenze. Mottled bloodstains dyed his silver-white coat red, looking especially miserable.
A wound extending from shoulder to abdomen showed faintly against pale skin, with black energy emanating.
Compared to Acromantulas Wizette encountered before, this one was obviously much larger.
Perhaps because it held advantage, the Acromantula didn't rush to attack but kept spitting webs at Firenze.
Though Firenze kept retreating and dodging, sticky webs still bound him. His movement became increasingly slow and difficult.
"Sectumsempra!"
The moment the Acromantula tilted its head back to spit web, Wizette immediately raised his wand and drew a horizontal blade of energy.
This was his full power strike. The blade cut through the Acromantula like hot knife through butter.
The Acromantula didn't even react but still spat out that mouthful of web, sticking to Firenze's leg.
THUD!
After spitting the web, the Acromantula crashed heavily. The blade had split it in two, all legs severed. It couldn't even struggle.
Firenze also felt the sharp blade energy and froze in place, even forgetting to breathe.
When he heard a "crack" nearby and saw several trees cut in half, he finally recovered and knelt on the ground gasping.
"Mundus Totalus!" Wizette raised his wand and cast Ancient Magic: Purification Curse, cleaning malice from the wound.
"One more..." Firenze gasped twice. "Watch out... ambush..."
"I sense it!" Wizette nodded and swept one hand forward sharply.
Ancient Magic: Self-Molding (Devil's Snare Form)
His palm instantly became several Devil's Snare tendrils, lunging toward distant darkness and dragging out an Acromantula.
This Acromantula was much smaller, height barely one meter—similar to the one Wizette dealt with before.
"Firenze, this is Invigoration Draught." Wizette pulled a potion from his pocket and poured it into Firenze's mouth while speaking.
Invigoration Draught worked fast. The wound healed at visible speed.
"Sectumsempra!" The instant Wizette released Self-Molding form, another blade slashed out.
The smaller Acromantula couldn't escape and followed the larger one's fate, split in two by the sharp blade.
"Firenze, what happened? Why were Acromantulas hunting you? And why did the phoenix feather disappear?"
He raised his wand and directed a fireball near Firenze, burning the webs on his legs.
"Eaten by Acromantula..." Firenze stood up and gasped while speaking. "Mars also grew brighter..."
"But the forest was calm... So following my feelings... I speculated Mars anomaly possibilities... So I found this place..."
"For the forest... Acromantulas are absolute outsiders... They don't belong here... So they're most likely to cause Mars anomalies..."
"This is Acromantula territory? Mars means war..." Wizette frowned slightly. "Could it be... Acromantulas plan to attack Hogwarts?"
"Very likely!" Firenze nodded. "But I can't confirm... This is just their territory's outskirts. The real territory is more dangerous."
He touched the blood on his coat and seemed to realize something. His expression worsened. "Wizette... This place is really strange!"
"Normally, this blood smell would definitely attract other Acromantulas, but..."
"Only one Acromantula came!" Wizette narrowed his eyes slightly and scanned darkness to the left rear.
WHOOSH!
Sensing discovery, the lurking Acromantula attacked first and spat sticky web.
Wizette snapped his fingers. Suddenly blooming flames burned the web clean.
Under firelight, no Acromantula was visible in the distance.
Wind sounds appeared in midair. The Acromantula had adjusted position and planned to strike from above.
"I need answers!" Wizette raised his wand. Countless dead branches and leaves followed the wand's trajectory, rapidly converging toward the Acromantula and forming an iron cage...
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