Regulus of Hogwarts: Lord of the Stars

Chapter 311 Bella, Tragic

Bella saw the change; she recognized it.

Darkness inspires.

The gift his master gave him, that highly condensed dark knowledge entity, carried the dual characteristics of spiritual pollution and spiritual temptation.

She personally delivered the bone box to Plaza de Grimaeus and watched Regulus open it in front of her.

After she returned, she reported all the details to her master. Her master examined her memories and concluded that the corruption of Dark Enlightenment was gradual and deep.

Even if it's initially a disguise, continued contact will eventually lead to assimilation.

Now she sees it.

The composure he had maintained all night crumbled, and an expression she had never seen on his face before appeared on his lips.

The master is right.

The master is always right.

Bella let out a sharp, maniacal laugh, her whole body trembling as she laughed. Tears rolled down her cheeks, it was hard to tell if it was a physiological reaction to extreme madness or something else entirely.

"Can you feel it!" she screamed at Regulus, her voice distorted by laughter. "It's biting you! It's crawling in your bones! You're afraid of it!"

Her lips stretched even wider, revealing all her teeth: "No, you like it!"

She raised her wand and hurled the Killing Curse, unleashing a more powerful surge of magic.

Following closely behind the purple beams, two beams appeared from different angles.

Regulus darted among the rubble, sidestepping the first green light, and flicked his wand, a gray magical entity emerging from its tip.

Instead of emitting light, it absorbs the surrounding light, making the air darker.

He used this magic to deflect the purple beam of light, causing it to veer off course, fly past his shoulder, and strike the distant ruins.

He dodged the second purple beam by sidestepping it.

Bella continued to bombard the other side, unleashing Killing Curse, Crucifixion, purple beams of light, and black magic blasts, so densely packed that there were almost no gaps between them.

"You've finally agreed to use what your master gave you," Bella's voice trembled with fervor, cutting through the light of the incantation. "You liar! You've been pretending all along; you're perfectly well-fed!"

Regulus ignored her, his attention partially absorbed into his body.

The power of Dark Enlightenment was essentially a test for him.

The gray substance adhered to the magic, and its power did indeed increase; the difference was clearly perceptible.

The magic becomes thicker and heavier, giving a feeling of being lifted up when casting spells. The effects of the spells are heavier, more oppressive, and carry a greater load of dominance.

This is only the result of the magic being contaminated by that semi-polluted substance.

It's really strong.

But this thing is from elsewhere, it's not his.

The soul was very quiet, the light of Betelgeuse shone steadily in the depths of consciousness, and the gray matter stayed where it belonged.

Everything is just an appearance.

His lips twitched upwards a little more, this time even wider.

It's time to take out the knowledge inside and put it to the test.

His magic poured out from his body, releasing in all directions simultaneously. Centered on him, it spread out like a heavy fog, covering a circular area with a radius of about ten meters.

The air suddenly became heavy, the gravel sank downwards as if its weight had been increased, and the few remaining flames on the ground were extinguished. The flames bent, shrank, and went out under the pressure.

The air itself becomes viscous, and you can feel resistance when breathing.

This is the knowledge stored in the Dark Awakening, the release of magic that dominates attributes.

Regulus charged toward Bella, using the Sprint spell. His figure trailed a gray tail as he drew a straight line through the ruins and crashed into Bella.

Bella was inside the black barrier, but the oppressive feeling still penetrated through it.

She felt the weight pressing her down, her knees buckled, and her arm holding the wand was forced to drop.

It urged her to kneel down, urged her to submit.

She recognized it; this was how her owner acted when she was angry. She knew this feeling all too well.

This made her even angrier and more frantic, because it reminded her of her master and the feeling of being desecrated.

As he pressed down on her, she screamed and unleashed spells.

But after the spells were launched, they began to deviate from their original trajectory, as if being pulled back by an oppressive force, and they slowed down.

Regulus sidestepped, and three green lights flashed past him without him even using a sidestep spell.

He looked at Bella, his eyes growing brighter, and then raised his wand.

A dark gray spell shot out from the tip of the staff, silent and extremely fast, directly hitting Bella's black barrier.

The barrier couldn't stop it; it went right through.

Bella's body stiffened abruptly, and her eyes widened instantly.

Soul burning.

This spell is an attack method developed by the virtual personality from the Dark Inspiration. It and the Black Barrier should come from the same system, both being Voldemort's creations.

Voldemort taught the Death Eaters the Barrier as a form of defense, while retaining the means to penetrate it.

I'll give you the shield, but the spear is in my hand.

Very Voldemort-like.

The Soul Burning Curse affects the soul, a torment on a different level than the Crucible Curse. It's like roasting the soul over a fire, causing excruciating pain without harming the flesh.

Bella's face contorted to an inhuman degree, her mouth opened, and she let out a shrill scream.

Her body convulsed within the black barrier, and her wand nearly slipped from her grasp.

But Bella is Bella; she's gone mad. The burning pain, ironically, has given her the will to attack again from her madness.

Despite the excruciating pain of her soul being burned, she managed to unleash a deadly curse in the intervals between spasms. Her movements were contorted and her angle was off, but the incantation was complete, and green light shot out from her deformed arm.

Regulus dodged to the side, severing the connection to the soul-burning.

Bella vanished, Apparating.

But she was still within her domain; the space was compressed, and the passage was squeezed when it was formed.

With a snap, she appeared more than ten meters away, but the fabric on her right shoulder and the skin underneath didn't follow; they remained where they were, bleeding from the torn wound.

She fell onto the rubble, supporting herself with her right hand, unable to move her left arm at all, bleeding from her right shoulder, and with few unscathed areas on her body.

Regulus locked onto the landing point in advance, used the Sprint spell to catch up, and was already standing three meters away the instant she appeared.

The wand was pointed at her, and fear was projected.

A mental attack method that erodes willpower, striking the target and making them feel what the caster has infused into them.

What he poured in was domination.

He wanted her to obey, to kneel down, to acknowledge that the man before her controlled her, controlled her mind, and controlled the loyalty that had just been desecrated.

Bella remained in the position of being lying down, her eyes darting around in their sockets, her mouth open, and a muffled sound coming from her throat.

It sounded like someone was cursing or shouting, but the words were fragmented and couldn't be pieced together to form a complete meaning.

She only obeys one person, but now someone is telling her to obey in the manner of her master.

That feeling again, that blasphemy!

"You—" her voice was squeezed out through clenched teeth, bloody saliva dripping from the corner of her mouth: "You don't deserve—you don't deserve to touch that."

She struggled to her feet, her body swaying as if she were about to fall, but the wand was still in her hand.

She screamed, cursed, and unleashed spells, yelling Voldemort's name at him, but her voice was beginning to tremble, and the density and force of her attacks were noticeably decreasing.

There was no strategy, no tactics. They threw out all sorts of spells—the Crucifixion, the Killing Curse, the Explosive Curse—without any accuracy.

Regulus stood a few meters away, watching her.

His expression seemed particularly out of place in this scene; the corners of his mouth were upturned, his eyes were bright, and gray magic seeped out of him, giving off an unsettling aura.

He was enjoying himself.

He relished the sight of Bella struggling and screaming before him, casting out one crooked spell after another with her broken body.

These are the things in the Dark Apocalypse: domination, oppression, forcing all inferior things to submit, and showing contempt for the weak without restraint or explanation.

He is now a person corrupted by these things, a person who has broken free from restraint and composure, a person who has become addicted after tasting the sweetness of power.

He didn't stop, continuing to burn the soul, one wave after another, Bella's screams exploding outwards in rhythm with him.

She couldn't take it anymore; she couldn't even form coherent sentences with her curses. Her syllables broke into her howls, her body arching forward and then backward, with wails and screams gushing out alternately.

But her madness remained; she was still trying to raise her wand.

Then she Apparition escaped again, but this time it was even worse. A piece of her left calf was torn off, and she fell to her knees when she landed.

Regulus didn't chase after him. He flicked his right hand, and the Flame Whip was pulled out from the tip of his staff. The black flames surged, and it was thicker and longer than before, with denser dark red patterns.

He twisted his wrist twice, the whip drawing an arc in the air before lashing out.

The whip tip struck Bella's black barrier, creating a sonic boom that exploded above her head, cracking the surface.

With the second lash, tiny cracks began to appear where the barrier had been struck, and the impact passed through, causing her body to bounce upwards.

The third strike causes the crack to widen and the barrier to deform.

With the fourth lash, the entire structure of the black barrier finally began to crumble under his continuous lashes. Cracks spread outwards from the point of impact, and dark magical fragments peeled off the surface of the barrier.

The fifth lash shattered the barrier.

The impact threw her off her feet and onto the pile of rubble. She still had her wand in her hand, but her body was no longer under her control.

She knelt there, the barrier gone, her left arm useless, her right shoulder bleeding, and a piece of flesh missing from her left leg.

She was still chanting incantations.

From his kneeling position, he used his only remaining mobile right hand, leaning to the side, with the tip of his staff pointing in Regulus's direction, to unleash spell after spell—green, purple, red, all sorts of spells.

Most of them are off-center.

Regulus stood a dozen meters away, watching the crooked spells fly past him, none of them hitting him.

He used a sidestep spell to teleport three meters in front of Bella and then added a Soul Burn.

Her screams were indistinguishable from shrieks or pleas; she arched her back and then fell back down, her soul burning and scorching her will.

She finally lost all ability to resist, collapsed to the ground, her limbs twitching slightly, her mouth still moving as if she were chanting something, but it was no longer audible, like the whimper of an animal dying.

Then she fell down, sideways onto the rubble, her wand slipping from her fingers, rolling twice, and stopping beside a broken stone pillar.

Her chest was still rising and falling, her eyes were still open, she was still alive.

But her role ends here.

A small bird landed on Regulus's shoulder at some point.

Orange-red, not much bigger than a sparrow, with each feather clearly defined, it quietly folded its wings amidst his somber magic.

He didn't even look at Bella, turning directly to Rodolphs next to the door frame.

When Orion saw the little bird, his fingers twitched slightly on his wand.

He recognized the bird.

During the Easter holiday, Regulus showed it to him in the training room.

Orion finally relaxed.

He had overheard Regulus's plan in the study and knew that he was going to use the power of dark enlightenment to stage a play. Regulus said he could handle it, and he believed him.

But seeing Regulus's transformation in person is still different.

His expression was so real, the look of enjoyment in his eyes was so real, as he watched his youngest son cast spells on Bella, who was already lying on the ground, again and again.

That's nothing like him.

At that moment, a flicker of uncertainty did cross Orion's mind, but he didn't show it.

Now he saw the little bird, the Fiery Bird that only he had ever seen before.

Regulus was telling him that he wasn't crazy, that he was still alive.

He acted much better than last time; this time, even his father almost believed him.

Orion stopped looking at the battlefield; he knew what Regulus was going to do next.

That little bird won't stay a little bird forever.

His gaze swept across the banquet hall, then he looked outside, where moonlight shone through the collapsed wall hole.

Regulus had said in his study that he wanted to bring the Lestrange family into the picture, which he assumed at the time referred to as a political connection.

Looking at it now, it's not just about framing it; it's about making Lestrange Manor disappear from the map.

The Lestrange plantation was burned down. Rodolphs was unlikely to have been burned to death, but Bella was mostly ruined.

If Regulus wants her dead, she is; if he doesn't, Fiend can bypass her.

But he didn't intend to get involved. If Regulus really wanted to do that, his son's influence was already enough; the rest was up to him.

The aftermath will be quite troublesome. Burning down the manor of a pure-blood family will require a story from Wizengamor, and Lucius Malfoy, as a witness at the scene, will carry weight in Wizengamor's account.

The Ministry of Magic, along with several powerful families, exerted pressure, classifying the incident as an internal family conflict. Bellatrix used the Killing Curse, which was the key point, and the Unforgivable Curse was the ready-made excuse.

The Black family heir lost control in self-defense, unleashing an uncontrollable raging fire, which, when investigated afterward, is legally justifiable.

The Lestrange family's influence in England will be severely damaged, as will the French branch—

Orion thought for a moment and realized that the assets and connections of the French estate in Lesterrange were independent, so burning down the English estate would not affect them.

However, if we want to maximize the impact of this incident, the French team also needs to be dealt with.

No rush, let's take things one step at a time and focus on the present.

"Let's go," he said, uttering a single word.

He pulled Walbuga along, stepping over the ruins, toward the hole in the collapsed wall of the banquet hall.

Lucius put his arm around Narcissa and followed. He didn't ask why they were leaving. Orion just left as he pleased. The Malfoys didn't ask questions at times like this.

Sirius didn't move. He stood still, staring at Regulus in the center of the arena, his eyes filled with anger and a sense of rage.

He saw the little bird, but he didn't recognize it.

What he saw was the gray magic emanating from Regulus, his cracked expression, and that flamboyant smile that didn't seem like him at all, as he repeatedly cast some kind of spell on Bella, who was lying on the ground, making her scream.

These things piled up and pieced together a conclusion in his mind.

Dark Inspiration, the gift Voldemort gave.

Regulus had told him in the Hogwarts corridor that the thing had no effect on him.

When he asked, Regulus told him to look for himself, and he did, confirming that it wasn't there.

What now?

This is what you call having no impact?

He lied to him.

Regulus lied to him, saying that the Dark Enlightenment had no effect, and then exploded in front of him, turning into someone he didn't recognize.

He wanted to rush out, grab Regulus by the collar, and demand to know what was going on, what that thing had done to him, and why he had lied to him.

He took a step forward, and Orion's hand landed heavily on his shoulder: "Go."

Sirius turned to look at Orion, but Orion didn't look at him. The light was no longer on Rodolphus; it was on the hole in the wall where the moonlight was shining in.

"This is not the time to ask questions," Orion said in a low voice, barely audible to Sirius.

Sirius gritted his teeth as Orion pushed him out.

Narcissa glanced back one last time. Bella lay on her side on the rubble, her body still convulsing, her wand lying two feet away.

Regulus stood beside her, a fist-sized firebird perched on his left shoulder, a creepy smile on his face.

That image was imprinted in her mind.

Lucius grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the hole in the wall.

Rodolphs followed at the back; he was brought out by Orion's gaze.

As he passed Regulus, Regulus turned to look at him.

The expression on his face was cracked, gray magic flowed around him, and the light in his eyes shone abnormally.

His voice had a strange quality: "Rodolphs, the Lestrange family has harassed my people."

Rodolphus stopped in his tracks.

Regulus's lips twitched up a little more: "No need to reimburse the repair costs."

Rodolphus looked at him, his confusion lingering on his face for less than a second before his expression changed drastically.

He simply Apparated and ran away.

Regulus stopped looking at them and glanced down at Bella at his feet.

She was still moving, her lips were moving, her eyeballs were moving in their sockets, and her whole body was convulsing, but she could no longer make a sound.

He looked at her for two seconds, then looked up at the ruins of the building that could no longer be called a manor, and the little bird on his shoulder flapped its wings.

He stretched out his finger, and a little bird hopped from his shoulder onto his fingertip, tilting its head to look at him.

Regulus loosened his fingers, and the bird flew from his fingertips, expanding and exploding in mid-air.

The flames no longer coalesced into a bird shape, but instead transformed into a truly out-of-control form of raging fire, surging and roaring.

The flames along the edges of the giant snake's scales hissed as they burned.

The dragon spread its wings from the flames on the other side, and wherever its wings swept, the stone slabs on the ground cracked and immediately cooled into charred fragments.

The third giant beast emerged from the flames, its six legs stomping on the ground, crushing the stone slabs with each step.

They were no longer under anyone's control and tore at each other as they burned.

The giant serpent coiled around the dragon's wings, the dragon bit Kemera's neck, and flames collided, splashing molten lava.

Regulus stood in the center of the flames, feeling the Fiendfire spiraling out of control, maintaining the most basic connection, but no longer trying to rein it in.

Granite softens like wax in the face of Fiery Inferno, and the structural solidification spell, which had been in place for over two hundred years, instantly fails at this temperature, with the magical protection being peeled away layer by layer.

The banquet hall of Lestrange Manor, or rather the ruins of the banquet hall, began to collapse under the engulfing flames. Cracks in the dome widened rapidly, and stones fell down, disappearing once they hit the fire.

The flames spread outwards from the banquet hall, burning through the corridors and the foyer, engulfing the wood and glass along with the window frames.

Regulus stood in the center of the flames, the fiery flames swirling around him but not touching him.

He looked at these things, his expression flickering in the firelight.

Then he looked at Bella at his feet. The Fiendfire hadn't reached her yet, but the circle of fire was shrinking.

The next moment, the air changed without warning.

One second ago, the air was filled with the intense heat of the raging fire; the next second, the heat vanished.

The way it disappeared was very unusual; the temperature didn't drop, the flames didn't weaken, but Regulus could sense it.

His magical perception sensed the change before his sight detected it; something was being emptied out.

Magic, heat, and even light were collapsing inwards, as if a black hole was coming from that direction.

What he sensed was not the magic itself, but the traces left behind by the magic—deep, cold, oppressive, and deathly.

The texture is the same as that of Dark Inspiration, but it is many times more concentrated, many times thicker, and many times heavier.

Dark Enlightenment is a condensed copy, while those who are leaving these traces are the original, the true form.

It is at a higher level and is more complete.

The flames were rolling, illuminating an area of ​​several dozen meters in radius, but the light in one direction was being swallowed up.

The flames in that direction were dimming, shrinking, and retreating.

It was as if something was coming from that direction, and even Li Huo dared not approach the area it passed through.

Darkness spread from that direction, pressing down on the firelight, layer upon layer.

A figure appeared in the darkness where the flames receded.

Regulus's pupils contracted; this time, the reaction was genuine.

Voldemort.

>