"Come out, Tom Riddle, or, as you call yourself now: Cyrus?"

Voldemort's voice was hoarse and he spoke softly, but his voice carried to every corner as if he was whispering.

There was no other movement in the flames, which made him slightly dissatisfied. But Voldemort was not angry. He reserved anger for lowly servants and dirty mudbloods. He would be much more tolerant of someone who might be his own.

His ten fingers were intertwined flexibly, and his back was against the vault's exit, revealing a wealth of emotions, as if he was meeting an old friend whom he hadn't seen for many years.

"Tom Riddle is the murderer who committed terrorist attacks at Hogwarts throughout this school year. He opened the legendary Chamber of Secrets..." Voldemort read the article published in the newspaper softly.

"When I saw this news, do you know how surprised I was? I was in the dark jungle of Albania, possessed by those lowly snakes and rats. But at this time, another person with my name was stirring up trouble in Hogwarts and was free.

"I am very curious - and eager to know, who you are."

The young wizard's facial features changed, becoming a grey, snake-like face. Of course, unlike the resurrected Voldemort in the book, he now at least looked like he still had a nose.

"Come on, let me see who you are. Come in front of me, don't be shy."

His tone was very tolerant, like a teacher who had enough patience to tolerate children's mistakes.

At this moment, the flame burning in the secret room suddenly changed color. It was no longer as red as dragon fire, but turned into a dark blue.

Like the endless bluebells in the wilderness, swaying like waves in the whistling wind.

They seemed to be alive and took the initiative to make way for a flat open space. Cyrus was standing there with a stern face, looking across the fire at the man whose name could not even be mentioned.

The two looked at each other, and Voldemort was immediately stunned.

He almost forgot how handsome he used to be.

After a moment, he slowly spoke: "I have to say, dyeing the ends of your hair a little gold really suits you. If I had done the same back then, it would have been easier to get the gold cup and pendant."

"I'm not going to talk to you about these old things. Neither you nor I like to reminisce about the past, right?" Cyrus was very calm at this moment.

He had not expected to meet Voldemort here, but he did not feel any fear.

A Voldemort who is carrying someone else's body is obviously not in a complete state.

Of course, Cyrus himself had only been resurrected for a short time, and his current magic level was far inferior to Voldemort's peak. Otherwise, he would not be so eager to pursue the power of ancient magic.

If we were to clash with Voldemort at this moment, the outcome might be hard to say.

Moreover, the other party was using a body that could be replaced at any time, while his own body had been resurrected with great difficulty. Cyrus had no need to fight Voldemort to death. Even if he won, there would be no benefit.

But if the other party comes to you on their own initiative, that’s another matter.

"You are wrong. In some ways, I care very much about some old things. For example, I want to know what happened to the diary I left behind?" Voldemort's face turned cold and his voice became more fierce.

"Interesting question," Cyrus said, imitating Voldemort's tone.

This is not difficult. Voldemort's essence is calm madness. Calmness is just his disguise, and madness is his true inner self.

The moment Cyrus appeared before Voldemort, he had already thought of what he was going to say.

He held the exquisite wand in his right hand, alert to the possible battle at any time. But on the surface, he just gracefully passed it in front of him, as if to show himself:

“Right before your eyes!”

At this moment, it seemed as if even time had stopped.

For a long time, neither of them spoke or moved, and they were frozen in place like wooden men. Although their wands were not pointed at each other, the air was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.

No one can tell whether it is communication or fighting.

Cyrus was certainly nervous, because he was facing the most powerful dark wizard on the same level as Dumbledore. But he was not afraid.

And he soon realized that Voldemort, like him, was not so confident and had his own concerns.

Whether Voldemort was worried about his current lack of strength, or was unsure whether Cyrus still possessed the characteristics of a Horcrux and did not dare to act rashly, this was good news for Cyrus.

'I should be able to take the initiative? ' Cyrus couldn't help but think.

He doesn't like being led by the nose by others.

"I didn't expect you to dare to appear in front of me."

After making up his mind, he immediately launched a verbal offensive. This move was called preemptive strike, and its main purpose was to make Voldemort fall into doubt.

Voldemort was indeed subdued.

"What do you mean by that?"

"What do you mean? You lost to a kid, twice!" Cyrus looked at him coldly, as if Voldemort had brought shame upon him.

"That night twelve years ago, the invincible Dark Lord lost to a one-year-old baby. How ridiculous, don't you think?" Cyrus asked softly. He always kept a distance from Voldemort, and the two looked at each other from a distance. He saw Voldemort's distorted face in the firelight.

"You've been living like this ever since? You're such a pathetic creature."

"This is false!" Voldemort retorted angrily, "It has nothing to do with Harry Potter. I lost to Lily Potter's ancient magic. If it weren't for that magic, I wouldn't have fallen to this point!"

"We all thought you were probably dead," Cyrus continued. The "we" he mentioned was referring to the Horcrux. "After that night, I couldn't sense your existence, so I tried my best to revive you and continue our great cause. Fortunately, Lucius was obedient."

Cyrus's words were meant to help Malfoy exonerate himself. After all, his resurrection was inseparable from Lucius' help. He was not the kind of person who would destroy his bridges after crossing them.

"Lucius, ah, yes, he is a good servant." Voldemort sighed.

Although the truly loyal Death Eaters are all in Azkaban, in fact, there are many people like Lucius who excuse themselves. At least Lucius Malfoy is not like Karkaroff who escaped punishment by betraying the identities of other Death Eaters.

"But now, you see, I am not dead. I think you know best that no one has gone further than us on the road to eternal life!" Whenever Voldemort mentioned this, he couldn't help feeling proud.

He created an unprecedented number of Horcruxes just to be able to make a comeback at any time.

Although the Horcrux in front of him seemed to be a little out of his control, he didn't think it was a big deal.

He believed that he would be the person who understood him the most, and if he could join forces with him, then he would no longer have to fear Dumbledore.

Then Voldemort changed his tone, revealing a snake-like greed in his words:

"It's indeed different. You're weaker than before." Cyrus said sarcastically.

He ruthlessly revealed Voldemort's scars, which made Voldemort feel bloody humiliation.

"No, I mean, we can cooperate!" Voldemort's snake eyes flickered, "We have to admit that none of us can be Dumbledore's opponent, but what if we join forces? There will never be anyone in this world who is closer than us, we are the same person!

"Killing Dumbledore is no problem at all. Not to mention we've found ancient magic now—"

Voldemort became more and more excited as he spoke, as if conquering Hogwarts, ruling the whole of Britain, Europe, and even the whole world would be a piece of cake.

But Cyrus interrupted his impassioned reverie.

"We? Sorry, you're wrong, it's me. Only me!" Cyrus said coldly.

The blue flame between the two of them seemed to draw a clear line between them.

Hearing this, Voldemort's expression turned cold, and murderous intent flashed in his eyes, as if a blood-red river was flowing. He stared at Cyrus with his erect pupils for several seconds, and then he lowered his voice and said, "Are you trying to replace me?"

Cyrus could see that if he showed even a hint of such intention, Voldemort would kill him without mercy.

But now he was not afraid.

"Replace you? I have no interest in replacing a loser." Cyrus said calmly, "But I must remind you that many people have heard about you hiding in the dark jungle of Albania after being defeated by that boy. Dumbledore happens to know about it."

"You don't need to remind me. I released this news on purpose. I thought I could wait for a few loyal servants to come and help me revive. But, hum..."

Voldemort did not continue to dwell on the topic of whether the Death Eaters were loyal, and continued: "Dumbledore did come to Albania to find me several times. He wanted to kill me completely, but he could not succeed! He simply could not do anything to me! As long as the Horcrux is not destroyed, I will be immortal! "But you are different, you were resurrected from the Horcrux, and you may even be the Horcrux itself, you can be destroyed." Voldemort tempted, "Come on, go through the flames and come back to me, so that you will no longer be threatened by death."

"Really? Then have you ever thought about this: you have been in that stinking sewer for ten years without getting a servant, so why did a wizard who was going to be the professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts go to Albania by coincidence the year the boy was about to go to Hogwarts?

"Have you ever wondered who told you the news that the Philosopher's Stone can revive you? "Have you ever wondered why the news of my escape from Azkaban could reach Albania across such a long distance? Who wanted you to know this news? " And who sent this dark wizard to you and made him your vessel?"

The more Cyrus spoke, the uglier Voldemort's expression became.

He now began to realize a terrible fact -

And Cyrus helped him tell the truth that he dared not face.

"It's Dumbledore!"

"You're not so stupid. I thought that making so many Horcruxes had made your mind unclear." Cyrus laughed, "He wants to verify whether the prophecy between the Dark Lord and the child is true. He wants to see if Lily Potter's magic is still working. Now, he wants to see what the reaction will be when the two Voldemorts meet, so you can stand in front of me, understand?"

Cyrus' words choked Voldemort.

Voldemort had always lived in Dumbledore's shadow; that was the only person he feared.

Now, someone - this person may be himself to a large extent - told him that everything he had was controlled by Dumbledore. As long as Dumbledore let him live, he would live. If Dumbledore let him stay in Albania, he could only survive by relying on dirty beasts.

Of course, he wasn't scared by Dumbledore.

The Horcruxes are his strength. As long as Dumbledore cannot destroy all his Horcruxes, he will not die.

As long as he didn't die, he would always be able to outlast that old guy.

What's more, now that they have Cyrus, the two of them can definitely join forces. If he can't beat Dumbledore alone, how could he beat him with two of them?

"I think he must think that we are narrow-minded and cannot tolerate each other, and he hopes to see us kill each other." Voldemort laughed, "But he is wrong. I can't do anything to my own Horcrux."

But Cyrus didn't laugh.

He suddenly realized a very serious problem.

After traveling through time, I did merge with that small piece of Voldemort's incomplete soul.

Perhaps he was indeed a humanoid Horcrux of Voldemort, just like Harry.

After Voldemort was defeated by the magic of love, the connection between him and the previous Horcruxes was severed, so Cyrus had never thought about this issue before.

But now, he might have to face it.

He didn't want an extreme person like Voldemort to live, but he also didn't want to exchange his own death for Voldemort's death.

"If that is what he wants, then we can't do what he wants!" Voldemort said seriously, "and once we join forces, Dumbledore won't be a concern."

Cyrus came out of his worries. There was no point in thinking too much now. The most urgent thing was to solve the current trouble.

As for Voldemort's idea of ​​joining forces, he didn't hold out hope. If the two of them could join forces, could Dumbledore not find help? There was a wizard in Nurmengard who had been a widow for half a century! Although Grindelwald was also a dangerous person, he was completely different from a madman like Voldemort. If Dumbledore really felt that the situation had reached a point of no return, Cyrus was not sure whether he would seek help from Grindelwald.

By then, even if he joined forces with Voldemort, he would have no advantage.

Grindelwald is a wizard who is not inferior to Dumbledore. They are almost at the same level, and even if there is a gap, it is not very big. Moreover, Dumbledore has the Elder Wand and the Order of the Phoenix who is willing to sacrifice his life for a noble cause, while Grindelwald has a loyal witch party.

These are not comparable to those good-for-nothing Death Eaters.

All in all, Cyrus was not optimistic about joining forces with Voldemort.

What's more, he and Voldemort are not the same kind of people.

He didn't care whether Voldemort lived or died, and there was no need for him to confront Dumbledore.

What good would it do him to go up against the greatest wizard of the century? Cyrus only wanted to gain access to ancient magic and become stronger.

“Come on, come here. We are the same person, and we are closer than brothers.” Voldemort was still waving at him. “We are born to hold power. We can become the Dark Lord who brings terror!”

"I have no interest in bringing fear to others. What's more--" Cyrus shook his head and looked at Voldemort with contempt.

"Only losers are called Dark Lords!"

Today's two-in-one 　　Also thanks to the cat who takes a nap for the 1176-point reward! Thank you, boss!

(End of this chapter)