From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 620 Shane's Angel
"Professor Doom?" The dwarf Sundere and the demon Resca stared blankly at the young man who was slowly descending from the sky, and couldn't help but repeat the little elephant's address to him.

"He's my mentor, a powerful spellcaster!" The little elephant nodded excitedly, waving its arms vigorously at Ivy, who was slowly descending from mid-air. "Professor Doom, I knew you would find me!"

“This is truly a coincidence, Little Kun.” Ivy had already carefully examined the world before her as she descended. It was a broken lower plane, yet it was also mixed with the material foundation of the prime material plane. Like a dilapidated thatched hut, it leaked air everywhere. The magical mark on the little elephant was transmitting the elephant’s exact coordinates to Ivy through the gaps in these thatched huts.

“If you hadn’t arrived here, I’m afraid it would have taken me a while longer to find you.” Ivy glanced at the refugees shivering in the cold wind and cast a spell to drape the three of them in thick, warm fur cloaks.

“Oh—” Dwarf Sunder buried his face in his fur collar and let out a long, comfortable sigh. “Great! Now we have another powerful ally. We’ll definitely be able to thwart Heathcliff’s plot!”

"A conspiracy?" the demonic Resca instinctively retorted. "Besides wanting to kill you, you hat-wearing dwarf, I don't see any other conspiracy he has..."

“Wait…you’re Professor Doom, the one who prepared the adventure backpack for Quintor?” Resca suddenly realized something and turned to look at the handsome young man.

“Genuine, no doubt about it.” Ivy nodded easily. “Looks like it came in handy, didn’t it?”

"How did you get here?" The middle-aged demon-born Resca suddenly became suspicious, a subconscious reaction from his role as a Divine Eagle Guard agent.

“Use magic.” Ivy’s answer was not unexpected.

"But how did you and Quintorli get separated in Kanaburi?" Resca pressed on. "You're not a historian, are you?"

“Our new friend is indeed very perceptive, Kun.” Ivy didn’t answer the demon’s question, but looked at the little elephant that had disappeared for several days. “You’ve been very careful in concealing your identity and have gained their trust. However, perhaps it’s time to be open and honest, don’t you think?”

As Resca questioned Ivy, the little elephant watched the situation with great concern. He knew very well that his professor was a dragon, and dragons were creatures with very strong pride. Even if he believed his professor was restrained and kind enough, what if he decided to punish his new friend a little? Then Resca would be in trouble.

Hearing Ivy say this, the little elephant breathed a huge sigh of relief: "That's great, Professor Doom. To be honest, I've been quite uneasy these days."

“Little Kun and I both come from a magic school called Strelhaven. He was teleported there because of a magical accident—” Ivy looked at the little elephant, signaling him to finish.

"Kannabri, and just happened to run into the demon invasion..." Although it was for his own safety, the fact that he had kept it from his friend still made him quite uneasy.

He rummaged in his bag and handed over his unfinished journal, hoping to help Ivy understand this unknown world.

Ivy calmly accepted the document and quickly learned everything with a single Scholar's Touch, including information about Kanaburi, the Crusaders, Montevi, and the World's Tragedy.

"It is precisely because you arrived in this world in the cracks that I was able to use magic to pinpoint Little Kun's exact coordinates." Ivy slowly turned her head and surveyed the bones and corpses in the icy world. "In my opinion, you have been caught up in some conspiracy of a lower dimension!"

"How do I know that what you're saying is true?" Resca remained skeptical.

“Take a look at this.” Ivy stretched out his palm and hovered it above the masked man whose face had been melted into a puddle of water by his divine light. In no time, a large amount of icy mist reappeared, and a crystal-clear but malevolent ice crystal suddenly appeared.

“This is a fragment of the soul of a powerful being, containing the power of frost, but also being incredibly evil,” Ivy explained. “And in my opinion, it’s resonating with the foreign object in this warlock’s left eye.”

"Ah! I bet my gold earring that this must be the soul fragment that masked bastard was talking about, belonging to the dead demon lord Hishod!" Sendri shrieked, touching his still gleaming left eye.

“The Demon Lord?” Ivy understood. “Then this is the Abyss. I’ve visited Hell before, but this is my first time stepping into the Abyss. Besides the fragment in your eye, there’s also this one in my hand. There are other fragments belonging to Hisod in this world, and one of them is heading this way. It shouldn’t be long before it arrives.”

"So he's the guy hiding behind the masked man?" the warlock Sandri asked. "Haha! Let's all give him a good beating!"

"That's not necessarily true. Maybe they're victims of Hiscot's soul fragments just like you." Ivy shook her head. Since this team arrived here in a daze, there would definitely be a guide or something similar jumping out from the roadside bushes to prevent them from continuing their adventures in a confused manner.

I just don't know if this newbie guide is good or bad, or if they have some ulterior motive.

“It’s here.” Ivy looked toward an iceberg in the distance, and sure enough, just as he had said, a strange shadow appeared in the cold wind at the top of the mountain, looking like a tattered kite.

Without hesitation, the shadow leaped down from the mountaintop, drifting crookedly toward them. Along the way, it collided rather awkwardly with the bones buried in the iceberg, triggering a series of sizable avalanches.

As they drew closer, the true identity of the figure gradually became clear: it was a scarred angel.

His wings were tattered and his body was covered with mottled, horrifying frostbite. Even though his equipment was still impeccable, his mirror-like, gleaming armor could not carry him through the air.

Only those tattered wings, frozen stiff, could barely provide a negligible amount of gliding power with the help of altitude.

Ivy squinted for a moment and then determined that the angel flying crookedly in front of her had no power to threaten her at all.

The sun's divine light pierced through the layers of ice and snow in the abyss world, enveloping the angel who was winding his way through the icebergs, and slowly drawing him to this place.

"Praise be to the radiant Shane!" These were the first words spoken by the wounded angel. "He heard my prayer and sent a noble messenger! After a long wait, I have finally received reinforcements."

Ivy didn't reply, but instead increased the output of his divine light, trying to heal the angel's frostbite. After this brief encounter, he had a pretty good idea of ​​who the "Shannri" the angel spoke of was. The residual power on the angel was of the same origin as Ivy's solar divinity, therefore the deity he served must be the sun god of this world.

Ivy's divine light healed the angel's new wounds, but it had no effect on the chronic frostbite that covered his body.

“Please stop, Your Excellency.” The angel looked longingly at the divine light emanating from Ivy, but still rationally explained the origin of the frostbite on his body, “These wounds have been with me for many years. Due to the trickery of the abyss demons and my own recklessness, fragments of the demon lord Hishad’s soul penetrated into my body, causing a violent conflict with the divine power of the Dawn Flower, which is why it manifests as frostbite…”

The angel paused slightly before continuing, "I am Stallma, captain of the Blazing Cavalry Squadron, loyal to the radiant Shane."

“Great! A cavalryman! But where is your horse?” Sendri asked, seemingly overjoyed.

Angel Stallma stood upright on the ice, supporting herself with her greatsword, like a standard-bearer awaiting inspection: "The abyss has taken my steed, but my duty and rank will not disappear with it."

“Let’s go back to my sanctuary first, then we can continue. I will tell you my whole story, because you are now part of it too. It’s a long story, too long to tell in such a dangerous environment. The minions of Heathcliff are lurking behind the ice and snow, watching us with predatory eyes.” Angel Stallma looked at Ivy, hoping to get her approval.

Ivy sighed softly, revealing her true form as a golden dragon amidst the snow and ice, and said in a deep voice to the three stunned people, "You guide the way, Captain Stallma, I'll take you there."

After saying that, the huge dragon claws grabbed the bewildered demon, dwarf, and angel in two on each side. Only the little elephant Kuntorli managed to adjust his posture in time and was carried into the sky by Ivy in a relatively comfortable position.

"Your teacher is a golden dragon!" Resca shouted at the other baby elephant, braving the cold wind. "Why didn't you say so sooner!"

The little elephant on the other side was a bit aggrieved. How could he have known that Professor Doom would suddenly reveal his golden dragon form?

In fact, Ivy made this choice mainly based on the content of Little Elephant's Notebook.

The guardian of Kanaburi is a silver dragon named Terendilifer, so a gold dragon sharing the same values ​​would surely gain the locals' trust quickly. This would allow them to skip introductions and jump straight into a mutually beneficial arrangement.

Although Ivy hasn't yet witnessed the true face of Grallion as described in the Little Elephant's Notebook, the gains she's made in this abyssal demiplane alone have already made the trip worthwhile.

After all, the soul fragments of a demon lord are not something you can find just by traveling through time.

As for the primordial deities of Grallion, Ivy doesn't yet feel they pose a threat. The demon lords have come all the way from the World's Lament to his doorstep, and have carved such a large breach in a human city, yet not a single one of the Crusader gods has descended to earth to intervene.

Shanri, the sun goddess of Grallion, seems much more restrained than Losanda, the dawn goddess of Faerûn. As long as Ivy doesn't mess things up, she shouldn't receive any pressure or obstacles from the benevolent gods.

The golden dragon's high-speed cruising didn't last long. Not wanting to hear these guys chattering in his hands, Ivy deliberately didn't cast any wind-avoidance magic on them, so they arrived at their destination in just a minute or two.

The sanctuary spoken of by the angel Stalmah was a frozen temple, with rough runes carved on the frost-covered rocks, and flat stone slabs and curved ribs forming the roof. A campfire shone in the sheltered spot.

“This place once belonged to Grallion. This filthy temple was originally used by the giants to worship Heathcliff, but for some reason he was dragged into the abyss and then seized by Heathcliff.” The angel led the group into his sanctuary and stretched his heavy shoulders slightly. “I can report the results of our long-term vigil and the enemy intelligence we have gathered at any time. I am very confident in my battle plan.”

No one responded to the angel's report. The dwarf and the demon were still immersed in the previous high-altitude flight. Although Kanaburi really did have a guardian dragon, being carried by the dragon was not an experience that every citizen could have.

“Let’s clear up this misunderstanding first.” Ivy nodded to the angel Stallma. “I am not Shane’s messenger. This radiance from the sun is a power I obtained unintentionally. Even my arrival at this demiplane, located on the edge of the Abyss and the Prime Material World, was only to find my student.”

“This is the wonder of fate. I called for reinforcements from the Dawn Flower, and fate sent me a companion who shines with the light of the sun.” The wounded angel remained unmoved, looking at Ivy with sincere and fervent eyes.

Seeing that the other party didn't care, Ivy didn't need to dwell on the issue any longer. She decided to take the benefits first: "How much do you know about Hiscot and this fragile space? I can feel these soul fragments attracting each other."

“That’s right.” Stallma nodded. “The glaciers outside this world have important strategic significance. Here, you can see soul fragment carriers from the mortal realm. If you use the gravitational pull between the fragments as a guide, you can open a portal to the location of other fragments.”

"As long as we can gather all these fragments together and pray for the help of Shane's supreme divine light, we can completely sever Heath's corruption of the mortal world."

"So, we can only return to Kanaburi after everything is over?" The middle-aged demon scratched his chin in distress. "How are we supposed to survive in this freezing wasteland?"

“Ha! Of course we should ask our senior for advice on this kind of question!” The dwarf Sundere smiled as he looked at the angel. “He has been waiting here for so long, he must have enough experience to help us survive!”

“You don’t have to survive in the freezing cold forever. The space here is very unstable, and each portal leaves a fairly obvious mark. As long as you figure out where you came from, you can go back smoothly.” Ivy pointed to Sendri’s left eye, which was emitting a cold light. “Using the fragments of Hishad as a casting medium, you can easily maintain a portal.”

"Then what are we waiting for! This godforsaken place is freezing! With our beautifully carved, ornate goblets, our horseless cavalry captain needs a chair by the fireplace and a hot cup of spiced wine!" Sundere immediately cheered.

“Thank you for your kindness, but I’m afraid I cannot leave here.” Angel Stalma slowly shook his head, the frostbite on his body peeling away ice crystals with his movements. “The fragments of Hishad’s soul have taken root in my body. Although they can provide power to mortals, they will cause serious harm to angels like me. Like a poison that can cause pollution, it is constantly eroding me from the inside, and completely binding me to this miserable world.”

"What if I had a way to free you from the fragments of Hishod's soul?" Ivy raised his hand slightly, and an ice crystal that constantly emitted an evil chill immediately appeared, wandering around in the cage he had constructed with magic, but it could not break through.

“There are three fragments here. Besides the one I have, the fragment in the dwarf's eye is not deeply fused with him and can be removed with a little effort. Once the two fragments are combined, it won't be difficult to use them to draw out the third fragment in your body. Then you can leave this space and return to the Celestial Realm.”

(End of this chapter)