Chapter 98 The Rose and the Snake 38
The air in St. Mungo's Intensive Care Ward was thick with a multitude of scents: the bitter hemostatic potion brewed from wormwood, the fishy sweetness of dragon's blood resin that had formed dark red scabs in the corners, and a certain odor of decay that was forcibly suppressed by the potion—as if something was slowly festering in the darkness.
The only source of light was the ebony hourglass in the corner. As the fine sand fell, it rubbed against the inner wall of the moonstone, making a sound similar to a snake's tongue sweeping across glass. Every grain of sand that fell seemed to be measuring some kind of countdown.
Voldemort leaned against the edge of the hardwood bed, the rose stone shackles on his left ankle covered with spider-web-like cracks, and silver-gray lines flowed between the cracks in the stone, gnawing at the stone like a living thing.
Blue light gel seeped out from the cracks, and when it encountered the silver-gray lines, it made a "sizzling" sound and sent up tiny purple sparks.
He could clearly hear the sound of magic colliding in the cracks - it was the imprisoned source of darkness, like a mad bee trapped in a glass jar. Every flap of its wings made the stone shackles tremble, and a burning pain shot through his bones.
His knuckles were white from gripping the edge of the bed, and blood was seeping from the cracks between his nails, but he was completely unaware. His scarlet pupils were fixed on the handcuffs, and a suppressed growl escaped from his throat - these damn shackles were trapping his strength like glass that could shatter at any time.
On the suspended bed at the other end of the hospital bed, Abraxas was wrapped in a dark purple medical bandage.
The bandage hung from the elbow like a pool of solidified purple slurry. Occasionally, a faint light seeped out from the gaps in the fabric, like the bioluminescence of deep-sea fish.
His face was so white that it was almost transparent, his gray-blue eyelashes cast butterfly-wing-like shadows under his eyes, and his breathing was as light as a gossamer, as if it would disappear into the air in the next second.
Voldemort's eyes swept across the faint light, and the scene of last night suddenly flashed back to him: in the dark night, the guy raised his hand and punched, the stone wall shattered into pieces under his fist, and dark purple poisonous blood splashed on his face, bringing with it the biting chill of an icicle - this was definitely not an ordinary Malfoy.
A system notification suddenly rang out in his mind: [Crack in shackles expanding 0.15%/hour! Key charged to 97%!] His pupils shrank, his Adam's apple rolled, and he suppressed the surging murderous intent.
"Bang!"
The sound of the door being violently flung open startled the sand in the hourglass. Officer B's voice was weak, with a deliberately high-pitched throb: "Department of Magical Law Enforcement! Routine inspection!"
Two Aurors followed with rune crystal plates, their wand tips resting on their waists, but their eyes were fixed on Voldemort's handcuffs.
Voldemort's pupils suddenly shrank into vertical lines, and humiliation wrapped around his heart like poison ivy - how dare the Ministry of Magic's lackeys come to "check" him when he was at his weakest?
The shackles trembled violently, the silver-gray lines expanded rapidly, and the blue light gel was forced to retreat step by step, with tiny ice chips splashing with a "sizzling" sound.
A sharp pain shot up from his ankle to the top of his head. He groaned, his knuckles cracking. Blood seeped from between his fingers and dripped onto the bed sheet, which was instantly corroded by magic power and turned into charred holes.
"Cooperate." Officer B pointed at Abu's arm with his head held high, the crystal plate burning in his palm.
The Auror raised the crystal plate and was about to approach when something strange happened!
"hiss--"
A faint sound emerged from the cracks in Abu's bandages. A wisp of deep purple smoke, thinner than a hair, emerged like a living thing, carrying the pungent smell of rotten metal.
It wrapped around the Auror's wrist precisely, and the Auror's expression froze instantly. His skin turned blue and purple at a speed visible to the naked eye. Then, with a "sizzle", his muscles melted as if corroded by strong acid, revealing white bones!
"Ah——!" Before the scream could even finish, the crystal plate shattered to the ground with a "bang".
The ward was so silent that you could hear the ticking of the hourglass.
Voldemort's scarlet eyes glowed with a scorching light—a poison that automatically protected its master? This Malfoy, perhaps, had hidden something more interesting than he'd imagined.
"Isolate! Report to the Mysterious Department!" Officer B's fingers were tightly gripping his cuffs, and the Silver Snitch was burning in his palms.
Just as he was about to wave his hand, Voldemort's pressure came down like a sledgehammer.
It was a force that could crush bones. Officer B and the Auror were shocked and stumbled back, their backs hitting the wall, their internal organs churning.
Voldemort's eyes locked onto Abu's calm face. In his eyes, that pale face was more precious than any Horcrux - he had to find out his secret!
The desire for knowledge overwhelmed the anger of being humiliated. He suddenly raised his right hand, and scarlet magic threads condensed at his fingertips. Like a red-hot needle, it fiercely pierced the thorn mark on his left wrist!
"Well--!"
The excruciating pain felt like millions of steel needles piercing his brain, and a bloody mist exploded before his eyes. The moment his soul was torn apart, a torrent of icy purple energy poured back into him!
That was Abu's original magic power, mixed with broken images: the dark stone prison, the solidified dragon blood, the contract monument engraved with runes, the dagger burning in the ice-blue flame... These fragments hit his head and made it hurt.
The shackles cracked with a "crack" and more lines appeared under the impact of the two forces. The mithril thorn chain made a dying wail, and the silver-gray nebula inside the rose stone was like boiling magma, madly hitting the stone wall!
Abu raised his hand and touched the edge of the torrent, and the ice-blue origin belonging to him suddenly rose up like a living thing.
Spider-web-like dark blue lines seeped out of the originally violent dark purple and dark green magic, spreading like water veins under the ice.
Voldemort's out-of-control dark magic was drawn by the dark blue lines and twisted into a spiral in the center of the torrent. The two completely opposite forces actually began to... blend?
“Click——”
The system notification tone paused for a rare half-second before exploding with a piercing sound: [Warning! Energy collision has exceeded critical value! Key charge 99%!]
Abu's gray-blue pupils suddenly lit up. He looked at his own icy-blue origin entwined with Voldemort's dark magic in the torrent, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth - it was an expression of almost compassion that Voldemort had never seen on any enemy's face.
“Buzz!”
The protective shield of the ward trembled violently, and the magical portraits on the wall screamed and turned into phantoms, and some were even torn into pieces and fell to the ground.
The ground began to crack, and black potion residue seeped out of the cracks.
Voldemort knelt on the edge of the bed, his consciousness torn between two violent tides: on one side were the fragments of memory of Abu Binglan's origin, carrying an eternal chill; on the other side were his out-of-control dark magic, like burning magma, ready to burn everything.
The shackles finally couldn't bear it anymore and broke completely with a "crack"!
"boom--!"
A dark purple and dark green magical torrent burst forth, carrying with it a breath of destruction! The nearest Auror didn't even have time to scream before his body twisted like crumpled parchment, ultimately transforming into a bloody mist and merging into the torrent.
Officer B and another Auror were knocked away and hit the protective shield hard. The sound of the Shield Charm shattering mixed with the sound of bones cracking, and blood splattered on the wall, forming strange flowers.
The torrent swirled in the air, and its scarlet "eyes" (Voldemort's out-of-control will) slowly opened, locking onto two places: Abu on the hospital bed was propping himself up, his gray-blue pupils reflecting the surging torrent; Voldemort, at the core of the torrent, was kneeling on the ground, his long hair lifted by magic, his face intertwined with extreme pain and the pleasure of destruction.
The torrent roared and pounced on the two. Abu's bony left hand (the bandage had shattered) slowly raised, his fingertips trembling slightly, as if he wanted to touch the icy blue essence that belonged to him in the torrent. Abu's calm face was reflected in Voldemort's scarlet eyes, and a crazy idea exploded:
Devour him... or... be devoured by him?
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