On Sprout Island, fierce winds and torrential rain now raged. Dense rainfall fell like curtains, shrouding the entire world. In the dark ocean, huge waves churned, seemingly capable of swallowing everything.
Even the massive trolls, far larger than humans, trembled before such power, feeling instinctive fear.
Sirius's eyes showed anxiety. Though the current storm was already terrifyingly powerful, it hadn't yet reached its peak. His gaze fell on the distance, where the sky appeared especially low and oppressive.
Like a black line continuously approaching. That was the most ferocious part of the storm.
"The lightning rod's almost complete. It must be fully finished before that storm arrives. I can't disappoint my king!"
Then Sirius raised his "wand" again, striking the ground heavily. Between the dark sky and earth, another flame leaped up, casting blazing light across Sprout Island.
The combination of ancient flame magic and alchemy steadily melted the final metal ore into liquid metal, even in the raging storm. Sirius personally carried the last of this metal, step by step fighting against the storm toward the mountain peak.
But the already steep, difficult path became even more slippery in the wind and rain. The mountain trail the trolls had trampled flat was now buried in mud.
As Sirius searched for a climbing route, a small figure appeared before him with an explosive sound. Eugene, the house-elf from the Charman family that Ciel had taken in.
Currently looking like it might be blown away by the storm at any moment, it struggled to support itself and snapped its fingers. Instantly, an invisible force cleared away the slippery mud from the path ahead, revealing flat ground.
Sirius's eyes lit up with joy: "Thank you, Mr Eugene."
Eugene huddled behind Sirius's tall frame, using it to shield against the wind and rain: "I would've wandered homeless in the magical world, but young Mr Sprout gave me shelter and even gave me my own territory."
"Whatever young Mr Sprout wants to do, I must help with all my strength. Don't say more. The storm's centre is coming fast. Hurry!"
So next, Sirius strode forward while Eugene used house-elf magic to clear obstacles ahead.
Finally, as Sirius poured the scorching metal onto the mountain-top lightning rod and carved the final alchemical patterns with his wand, the entire lightning rod flashed with silver-white light, becoming brilliantly radiant.
Only then did Sirius breathe a long sigh of relief. Just before the storm completely engulfed this place, it was finally complete!
At that moment, another figure burst through the heavy rain curtain, appearing here. It was Ciel.
Seeing the storm approaching at Hogwarts, he'd rushed to Sprout Island without delay, witnessing the moment Sirius and the others completed the lightning rod construction.
Looking at the towering metal structure before him, he showed satisfaction. Under such terrible construction conditions, even a modern construction team would struggle to build such a structure on a deserted island in the vast ocean in such a short time.
Sirius and the others had truly done their utmost.
"You've worked hard. The storm's too fierce. Quickly return to the caves to shelter."
But as he was about to step into the space reserved within the lightning rod, he suddenly sensed something. Turning around, he saw Sirius's figure standing motionless in the pouring rain like a silent reef.
Not only that, but even the trolls who should've retreated to the caves had come here. Even house-elf Eugene only hid in the gaps between trolls to avoid being blown into the sea by the fierce wind, but showed no intention of leaving to avoid the rain.
He paused: "You all...?"
Sirius's eyes showed devotion and fanaticism: "My king. The troll clan only escaped the Forbidden Forest and saw daylight because of you. If my king goes to battle strong enemies, though the troll clan's still ignorant, there's no reason to let my king fight alone."
"Moreover, I'm the troll clan's priest. Recording the king's deeds should be my mission. Following behind my king, even storms are nothing."
The trolls behind him couldn't yet express their thoughts fluently in words, but their repeated calls of "Groonk" honouring their king were enough for him to feel the troll clan's determination to follow him to the death.
Little Eugene also struggled to raise his shrill voice in the storm: "Young Mr Sprout, please let me stay too. Maybe I can help somehow!"
His eyes showed some warmth. Then he took a deep breath and stepped into the room beneath the lightning rod that connected with it as one structure.
Entering, he wasted no time, immediately taking out the large bottle of Quintaped blood he'd obtained earlier.
Now, the bewitching power from the Quintaped blood had reached its peak. Even with his Occlumency constantly running, he could feel wave after wave of strange enchantment attacking his defences like a tide.
As if it contained strong temptation, urging him to quickly use the Quintaped blood to obtain that ancient, powerful force.
To this, his eyes flashed with cold light: "You've been waiting a long time, haven't you? Then let me see what you've prepared."
Then he waved his wand. A spray of Quintaped blood immediately became blood mist, dispersing. He'd also brought large quantities of luminous mushroom mycelium, letting the Quintaped blood engulf the mycelium.
Soon, that eerie red colour began spreading across the mycelium, growing red hair-like growths. Not only that, but many mycelia tangled and writhed together, gathering into increasingly disturbing human faces forming within the mycelium.
Mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms were being induced in large quantities.
He looked at his system panel. The Demeter ritual magic had finished cooling down. He took out the silver chalice, lightly tapping it with his wand.
Pleasant humming sounds immediately echoed around.
Meanwhile, Delia Island was also suffering the storm's assault. But the Quintapeds still knelt devoutly and fanatically outside the temple, as if worshipping their believed deity.
However, compared to a few days ago, the number of Quintapeds worshipping here seemed obviously much fewer. Instead, there were nearly ten piles of broken bones emanating evil magic.
The curse magic emanating from the Delia Island temple far exceeded before, surging like ocean waves. Obviously, through the previous eerie, terrifying ritual, the temple hadn't only recovered the power he'd stolen but even greatly enhanced it in a short time.
This was naturally to give him, this blasphemer, an unforgettable lesson.
As he began using Quintaped blood to cultivate mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms, sinister, triumphant voices echoed from the temple's depths:
"Little wizard, finally couldn't resist? I've been waiting for you for a long time. Didn't you want to steal my power? Come on then. You'd better properly experience the magic I've prepared for you!"
Clang.
The silver chalice hummed. Solemn ritual magic incantations also issued from his mouth:
"Proscindite glaciem, vomere fulgente!"
"Ring the silver chalice once, break the frozen earth, let the ploughshare shine!"
"Spargite grana auri, paleasque territe!"
"Ring the silver chalice twice, scatter golden grain, grind the chaff!"
"Cantate ovantes, seges alta viret!"
"Ring the silver chalice thrice, sing of rich harvest, let tall crops flourish!"
Immediately, on the system panel, the Diamond-level Demeter ritual magic blazed with light. This was already sufficient to receive oracles from Demeter herself. Even in the Olympian age, he could've been a qualified divine priest.
Though the Demeter silver chalice remained damaged, under his incomparably superior ritual magic, its effects far exceeded the previous use. The soil stored in the silver chalice was instantly enveloped by silver radiance, then filled with ancient, fertile magic.
Seeing this, his eyes flickered. The ancient magic saturating this soil seemed nearly half again more than before? It seemed his previous ritual magic mastery hadn't been able to fully utilise the Demeter silver cup's power.
But this was an unexpected joy. This time, he might "fleece" even more "wool" from the Delia Island temple than expected.
Then he waved his wand. From the silver chalice, specks of soil carrying that magic which could force almost all plants to grow and mature fell onto the freshly induced mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms.
Immediately, these mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms seemed to have consumed some supreme tonic. Each mycelium thread was no longer as slender as before, but began growing grotesquely thick.
Even in just moments, these mycelia became like red, hair-covered earthworms writhing there. Just watching this scene gave an extremely eerie feeling, enough to make one nauseous.
This was far more dramatic than when he'd previously cultivated mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms. And this wasn't even finished.
The mycelial threads began tangling and coiling together, hungrily devouring each other! Even the eerie human faces above began tearing and consuming one another.
In moments, the originally numerous mutant human-faced luminous mushroom mycelia were reduced to just one exceptionally thick strand. But compared to the huge human face it topped, it looked like a thin neck supporting a big head. Both comical and chilling.
He sensed extremely concentrated curse magic emanating from this thing. Without exaggeration, his currently most powerful cursed object, the voodoo doll that had consumed his flesh, was still inferior compared to this thing.
At minimum, this was an Epic-level cursed object!
He'd previously experienced this thing's troublesome nature. Almost all magic was unable to affect this body filled with curse magic. Even with similar curse magic, due to its extremely high position, it was difficult to have much effect.
Last time, if not for having ancient weather magic as a trump card to restrain it, he would've had to ask Dumbledore to destroy these things.
This time, this thing's ferocity exceeded the previous occasion by unknown amounts. If he hadn't made sufficient preparations, rashly catalysing mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms might've truly backfired.
At this moment, that eerie human face swayed its neck, slowly extending toward him, looking down from above:
"Surprised? Unexpected? Did you think I'd have no preparation against your thieving actions?"
Just by approaching and speaking a few words, he felt dense curse magic emanating from this human face, sweeping toward him.
He had no intention of wasting words. Waving his wand, smoke filled the air as seven black serpents, seemingly real yet illusory, surged forth. They too carried dense curse magic, rearing up with hissing roars, pouncing at the eerie face.
The eerie face first showed slight surprise, seeming not to expect that in just this short time, his curse magic mastery had made such rapid progress.
But moments later, surprise turned to mockery: "Seems you've made some preparations too. But is this your struggle? Heh, how powerless."
Just as the words fell, the face's thin, long neck suddenly coiled like a python around the attacking seven black serpents.
No matter how the seven black serpents struggled, trying to tear apart the face and neck together, all they could do was make the face and neck slightly undulate.
Instead, the eerie face easily twisted off all seven black serpents' heads. Then that thin, red neck burrowed into the seven black serpents' neck wounds, becoming an even more bizarre monster with serpent bodies and human face.
Seeing this, even though he was prepared, his pupils couldn't help contracting slightly. This thing from the Delia Island temple was truly evil to the extreme. His Serpensortia spell had actually been controlled by it?
At this time, the human face let out mocking laughter: "Any other tricks? Where's your weather magic? Your lightning? Try using them!"
Before the words finished, dazzling lightning burst from his wand tip, striking it. But unlike the previous time when it could almost effortlessly destroy mutant human-faced luminous mushrooms, this time the lightning struck the face with a strange, slippery feeling.
Most of the lightning seemed to slide off, with only a small portion of the spell's power actually landing on this thing. This naturally couldn't destroy it, not even causing effective damage. At most just slightly more commotion than the previous Serpensortia.
Seeing this scene, he raised an eyebrow. His gaze quickly fell on the surface of the human face, where the curse magic seemed to display a peculiar property. The previous magic had struck this surface, which was why most of its power had been weakened.
Noticing his gaze, the face laughed: "Discovered it? You little wizard's senses are quite keen. Though weather magic's powerful, I've battled against it before. Your crude usage is too easy for me to counter."
Speaking thus, strange fervour flashed in its eyes: "Now do you recognise the gap? But no matter. I still appreciate talent. Tell me where you obtained weather magic, and I'll give you a chance to enter the temple and prostrate in worship."
"You know, some of Delia Island's original inhabitants have been kneeling for centuries without such honour."
But he responded with a cold laugh: "Trapped on Delia Island, never seeing daylight, with only a group of brainwashed Quintapeds worshipping you. What're you pretending now?"
Obviously, his words struck this mysterious being's sore spot. The face's expression became increasingly ferocious:
"You've missed your last chance. I'll let you know that even though the age of gods has passed, blasphemy remains an unforgivable sin."
"Do you know how we used to punish sinners? Physical death was practically mercy. Once, renowned heroes were punished. Overnight, they transformed from heroes to lowly beasts, their dignity crushed."
"Others weren't spared even in soul, locked in dark prisons to suffer eternally. What do you think I should do to you?"
While speaking, the face slowly descended from midair, gradually approaching him. He gritted his teeth, lightning after lightning bursting from his wand.
But just like before, it couldn't cause effective damage. Even the final few lightning bolts seemed to shake, directly passing by the face and striking the metal walls.
This made the mocking smile on the face's lips even more intense: "I thought this little wizard who dared blaspheme would be braver. At such close range, your spells can still miss?"
Then he exhaled softly, lowering his wand as if no longer planning to use ancient weather magic. The smile on the face became even more ferocious, laughing sinisterly as it approached him.
But what it didn't expect was that he, who should've been terrified and collapsed on the ground, actually wore a brilliant smile?
"Hm? You can still smile?"
His lip curve became even more obvious: "You can laugh. Why can't I?"
The face wanted to say something more, but then a strong sense of crisis enveloped it. Only then did it react, suddenly turning its head as its vision was filled with dazzling light.
His continuous casting of ancient weather magic had caused lightning to spread through the surrounding metal walls and alchemical patterns, extending throughout the entire lightning rod.
Now the lightning rod's tip gathered with electrical light. The clouds in the sky seemed drawn, with countless electrical serpents writhing within them, converging above the lightning rod.
Even the originally pitch-black clouds above were growing brighter and brighter...
Only then did the eerie face understand his plan. He was trying to draw down natural lightning?!
Even as such an ancient being that had experienced countless years and witnessed countless strange things, it had never seen such unreasonable behaviour.
If this feeling had to be described, it was like seeing someone enter a vegetable garden to steal vegetables, planning to discipline them, only to discover this vegetable thief had come strapped with explosives and directly pressed the detonation button.
For some vegetables? Was it really necessary?
This was probably the face's current mental state.
At this moment, he smiled even more brilliantly: "Didn't you want me to experience those punishments? Here I come. Don't you dare leave!"
Next moment, he loudly chanted the runic incantations of ancient weather magic:
"Fehu..."
"Thurisaz..."
"Dagaz..."
The face watched his actions, feeling unprecedented fear. No way. Weren't Hufflepuff House wizards supposed to be the gentlest? Where was this gentle? Wasn't this way too extreme?!
"Wait! Don't you just want some power? We can negotiate; everything's negotiable!"
"Life's precious, only once. Think of your family, your friends!"
"There are still many beautiful things in this world. Don't think too hard; don't go to extremes!"
But he showed no hesitation whatsoever. His wand struck down decisively.
Complete ancient weather magic erupted thunderously. And equally explosive was the lightning that had accumulated to its peak in the sky's clouds under electrical current guidance.
At this moment, a massive lightning bolt that illuminated dozens of miles around struck directly down, engulfing both him and the eerie human-faced monster!