So strong!
Truly so overwhelmingly strong!
He is so incredibly powerful!
Jennifer watched Sean display his magical might with growing admiration. The Slytherin Brotherhood itself had long since faded completely from her mind as a priority. All she truly knew now was that Sean was incredibly powerful, and she genuinely admired him for it. With Sean as her strong and capable partner, they would have a significantly greater chance of successfully bringing Oliver down and claiming victory.
It was not just Jennifer who felt this way. Barrett, standing not very far from her position, appeared outwardly solemn and serious, but in actual reality, his mood was growing increasingly relaxed and satisfied.
Ever since Sean had completely conquered him during their last confrontation, Barrett's previously unwavering faith in Voldemort had completely transformed into absolute faith in Sean instead. Secretly, Barrett had become Sean's complete and devoted disciple. Seeing Sean display magical power far greater than ever before, Barrett's heart was already filled with silent praise and worship.
This is my master! My true master!
If it were not for Sean's specific request that Barrett remain embedded within the Slytherin Brotherhood, Barrett would have already fallen to his knees in humble submission.
Sean looked carefully at the man who was entangled by Kulkan's coils. He remembered that his surname was Brooke, but he had completely forgotten the student's first name. It did not particularly matter anyway. Brooke was a fifth-year Slytherin prefect and a relatively recent member of the Brotherhood. His knowledge of Sean came solely from exaggerated legends and rumors, so naturally, he had not been properly afraid of him beforehand.
"Brooke, I know perfectly well that you went to my private room and tried to steal my thesis data and research materials. Before I hand you over to the Headmaster for official punishment, I will charge you a small amount of interest first," Sean stated coldly.
Stone-frozen Brooke looked at Sean, who stood before him with his wand raised threateningly. He desperately wanted to say something in his defense, but absolutely no words came out of his petrified mouth. He could only watch helplessly as Sean prepared to cast a spell directly upon him.
Sean's wand flashed with light, and before Brooke's horrified eyes, the petrification binding his body was completely lifted.
"Kulkan, release him now," Sean commanded.
In front of outsiders and other students, Kulkan was always incredibly obedient to Sean's commands. Although she privately thought it would have been considerably easier and more satisfying to simply strangle the petrified man to pieces, since Sean clearly had other ideas and plans, she naturally obeyed him without question.
Kulkan released her tight grip, and her serpentine body smoothly returned to its original smaller size.
Sean looked directly at the bewildered and frightened Brooke and said bluntly without preamble, "Pick up your wand immediately! The duel begins right now."
Brooke looked at Sean with a mixture of fear and defiance. Sean was undoubtedly formidable and powerful, but even if Brooke lost this duel, he would not let Sean humiliate him so easily!
However, if Brooke had possessed the good sense to ask ahead of time, Draco Malfoy—who had already hidden himself strategically in a dark corner when Sean first arrived, using the hanging curtains to obscure his presence—would have immediately told him that the absolute best approach when facing Sean Bulstrode in any confrontation was to surrender immediately and beg for mercy. Otherwise, Malfoy's nose, which had been broken countless times over the years, served as a perfect painful lesson for what Brooke was about to experience.
In actual fact, the precise moment Brooke and Sean started fighting seriously, Brooke knew with absolute certainty that he was completely wrong in his assessment.
When people casually watch others fight from a safe distance, they often feel smugly superior, utterly convinced they could do just about anything better. However, when they actually draw their wands and start fighting for real, they invariably discover that while they might be theoretically perfect in their minds, in actual combat situations, they perform at barely even one-tenth of their imagined capability. Brooke was experiencing exactly that harsh reality now.
Drawing his wand with trembling hands, Brooke exchanged the traditional dueling salute with Sean, then swung his wand desperately, fully intending to cast a powerful family curse directly at Sean. However, Sean's Disarming Charm reached Brooke's chest first with devastating speed, sending him flying backward through the air. His body slammed violently against the solid wall behind him, and his wand clattered uselessly to the floor, rolling to a stop directly at Sean's feet.
Sean casually kicked the wand with his foot, sending it sliding back across the floor to Brooke. He said with deceptive calmness, "Again."
Gritting his teeth painfully, Brooke—facing Sean's clear defiance and overwhelming superiority—had absolutely no choice but to pick up his fallen wand once more. He roared with desperate anger and cast another curse directly at Sean with all his remaining strength.
But this time, there was no exception to the pattern whatsoever.
Sean simply waved his wand once with casual ease, and an invisible force of pure magic violently whipped Brooke away again. His body was lifted high into the air and then dropped directly onto the hard ground, leaving Brooke groaning loudly in considerable pain.
"Again!" Sean commanded coldly.
At this critical moment, Brooke finally realized with crushing certainty the absolutely huge gap that existed between his own abilities and Sean's power.
He raised his bruised head with tremendous difficulty, looked up at Sean with mixed hatred and fear, and practically scolded him, "Sean Bulstrode, even if I did break into your room without permission, there was absolutely nothing of value in it! I found nothing useful whatsoever! You have knocked me away violently twice in a row already—is that not enough to properly make up for my minor mistake?"
"Make up for your mistake?" Sean repeated with cold amusement. "As the victim of your crime, I have not even said that I can accept any compensation for my mistake, and yet you—the actual culprit—dare to suggest that being hit twice can somehow make up for your theft attempt?"
"Then what exactly do you want from me! Just give me a Killing Curse and kill me once and for all!" Brooke shouted desperately.
"That would be far too easy for you and let you escape punishment. Come at me again!" Sean insisted.
"Sean Bulstrode, do not go too far with this!" Brooke protested weakly.
Looking down at Brooke sitting pathetically on the ground and refusing to get back up, Sean raised his wand deliberately and said with clear intent, "Since you do not want to get up and do not want to duel with me again properly, then I will not be polite with you either anymore."
"Oscausi!"
Transparent ethereal energy threads mixed with Brooke's own shadow began pulling out from Brooke's eyes, ears, mouth, and nose simultaneously, all converging together into a single twisted thread of pure energy that poured directly into the glowing tip of Sean's raised wand.
Feeling the intense joy and blissful happy memories flooding powerfully into his mind, Sean's previously depleted mental energy rapidly recovered, along with a significant portion of his consumed magical power reserves. Brooke, with an expression of pure agony written across his face, suddenly fell forward onto his knees, clutching his head desperately in both hands, wailing in complete torment.
By this particular time, both Samuel and Irina had also finally freed themselves from their respective spell effects. They watched Brooke wailing and groaning pathetically at Sean's feet, their eyes widening with shock and horror. If they had not been absolutely certain that Sean was not using one of the Unforgivable Curses, they would have genuinely mistaken what they were witnessing for the effects of the Cruciatus Curse.
"Sean, stop this immediately," commanded a cold voice.
Turning to face Professor Snape, who had suddenly arrived silently at his side, Sean gently shook his wand once, and the translucent ethereal thread snapped cleanly, breaking the magical connection completely.
As the Pain Extraction spell finally lifted, Brooke collapsed limply to the ground, tears and mucus streaming down his face uncontrollably. He lay there completely dazed and broken, exactly like a shattered doll.
"Professor, he sneaked into my private room before and tried to steal my experimental data and research materials, so I came here directly to demand an explanation from him," Sean explained calmly.
"I already know about this entire matter. Just leave everything to me from this point forward. I will come up with a satisfactory result for everyone involved," Snape stated firmly.
"Thank you very much, Professor," Sean replied.
"Go back to your dormitory now. I will take care of this situation," Snape ordered.
"Very well, goodbye, Professor," Sean said with a respectful nod.
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