HP: From Failed Art Student to Dark Artist of Hogwarts - 318

Chapter 318: Voldemort Defeated!

When that familiar voice rang out from above, everyone present froze.

Snape’s face twitched. He stopped dead, abandoning his attempt to rush back to the castle, and stared up at the figure standing in the sky. He pursed his lips, snorted through his nose, and muttered, “Smug little brat. Always has to make an entrance at the finale.”

Dumbledore, after a few stunned seconds, finally caught up with reality. The heavy seriousness on his face vanished, replaced by complete relief, and he chuckled. “Dear me. I really am getting old. To think I did not recognise the owner of such glorious magic…”

Within the layered golden magic circles, Voldemort’s expression locked.

His heart sank.

He snapped his head up. The moment that figure in the high sky entered his sight, Voldemort unleashed the most twisted, hateful howl of his life.

“Ethan Vincent!!!”

Ethan’s lips curled. His black hair swayed in the tide of magic, his features strikingly handsome, his whole body shining with dazzling brilliance.

In that lightless, crow-black night, he was the brightest star.

“So handsome…” Cho Chang stared upwards without blinking, a flush rising across her pale, gentle face.

Hermione immediately shot her a wary look.

Hermione remembered. There had been a year when this seemingly innocent, delicate girl had followed Ethan around for more than half the term with a damp, stubborn intensity. Even now, Hermione could still occasionally feel that burning gaze from behind corners.

Luna watched in silence, utterly entranced, as if she wanted to carve that vigorous silhouette into her eyes forever.

Thump. Thump.

Luna pressed a hand to her chest, feeling her heart hammering against her ribs. At the same time, a warm current surged from somewhere deep inside her.

“I’m really looking forward to the summer holidays,” Luna murmured. “Then I can play with Ethan for ages.”

Her eyes, reflecting Ethan’s figure, glittered brightly, as if countless stars had pooled within them.

【Name: Skyfall】
【Type: Spell】
【Rank: Tier 2 · Purple Epic】
【Effect: One-time high-tier magic. Requires 3 minutes of preparation time. Calls down a holy pillar of light from the sky, dealing devastating damage to all hostile creatures within a radius of 300 to 800 metres. Extra effective against evil creatures.】
【Evaluation: This strike will pierce through Hell!】

“It’s over.”

Ethan lowered his gaze. Behind him, 【Wings of the Death Bird】 spread wide, and he looked like an angel both merciful and terrifying. He cast a pitying glance down at Voldemort, who was still roaring in fury, and left his respected enemy with one last line.

“A corpse is talking.”

I’m waiting for the cooldown. What are you shouting for?

Ethan raised his hand.

He brought it down.

Boom!!!!!

In that instant, the world fell silent, as if someone had pressed a mute button.

In everyone’s eyes, there was only the golden pillar of light descending from the heavens. It was as if they had been dragged into Paradise in a single step, as if heaven and earth had been painted gold.

And then it swallowed Voldemort, who had been roaring in the second before.

It erased everything.

“W-what is that…?” an Auror whispered, trembling.

Staring at the golden pillar that pierced sky and earth, his knees went weak. He dropped to the ground with a thud, kneeling.

Tears poured down his face. He threw his arms up, both eyes dyed with gold, and screamed from his throat like a man who had lost all reason. “A miracle, it’s a miracle!”

Rumble!

The ground split.

The earth heaved like a blanket being yanked up, and then, in that radiant light, it disintegrated into dust. Nobody could fight that vast, natural force.

They could not scream. They could not move.

They could only be dragged helplessly into the collapsing shockwave, filled with reverence, looking up at the only pillar of light in the world. From the depths of their souls rose a shudder that would never fade.

“Ah… is this the miracle of magic…?”

Dumbledore watched, and for a moment his eyes grew wet.

Perhaps this was simply what happened when a scholar stood before magic at its highest.

“Honestly, I almost want to ask Ethan to take me as his apprentice,” Dumbledore muttered. He removed his spectacles and dabbed at the corners of his eyes, letting himself be bathed in that beautiful, destructive light.

Far away at the castle, students and professors witnessed it as well.

“Merlin, what on earth is that…?”

“It’s Ethan! That’s Ethan’s magic!”

“I want to worship the God of Light!”

Professor Flitwick’s eyes brimmed with tears as he babbled about the future, about how Ravenclaw’s glory was finally secure because there would be a successor.

Draco Malfoy stared at the golden pillar, pouring down like a reversed flood, driving into the sky itself. The last speck of worry in his heart evaporated completely, and he whispered in awe and excitement, “This time, the Malfoy family chose the right master to follow…!”

A moment later, the pillar of light finally began to fade.

In its place remained a colossal crater that cut across the entire Quidditch pitch, as if someone had taken a spoon and scooped a chunk out of Hogwarts itself.

The land was scorched black. Shreds of canvas drifted in the air, turning into points of light and dissolving. Blue-grey smoke rose. The earth was searing hot, and the surface layer had already turned into sandy dust.

And Voldemort, who had taken the strike head-on, still had a fragment of limb left.

At the crater’s centre, a lump of rotting flesh shaped vaguely like a face wriggled. From a black hollow that seemed to be a mouth, a weak, hoarse voice leaked out.

“I… lost…? Impossible… I was given the power of a ‘god’… How could I lose!”

“Even fate… was on my side…!”

Voldemort howled and wailed in unwilling fury, staring hatefully at the figure descending from the sky. For the first time, a terror like nothing he had ever known seized him.

As if the very thing he feared most, death itself, was walking towards him.

Scrape.

A leather boot stepped to a halt in front of him.

Voldemort forced his head up. Through blurred vision, he looked into those cobalt-blue eyes, as if two blazing flames churned within them.

That gaze left Voldemort speechless. No sound would come.

In the end, he could only ask the confusion that rose from the bottom of his heart.

“Why… can you still defeat me… even after I got that kind of power…”

Ethan looked down at him, indifferent. In his mind, he recalled the arrogant, elegant silhouette that had once appeared in that diary, and he sighed.

Then he lifted a brilliant smile and said with pity, “That’s art, mate.”

And art would never borrow another’s hand, never compromise with external crutches.

Hearing that half-sense, half-nonsense answer, Voldemort seemed to finally be furious enough to die. His last trace of life scattered with a hoarse murmur.

“I’m the Dark Lord…”

The wind passed, carrying away soul-dust like ash.

Ethan could feel it. Voldemort still had other soul remnants elsewhere, but after this sacrifice, he would be completely unable to rise again.

“Fear death, and you’ll never surpass it. Hand everything to fate, and fate will only mock you.”

Ethan snorted softly. He flicked his hand, and the withered strip of human skin on the ground flew into his grasp.

【Congratulations! You have obtained an extraordinary item: The Former Dark Lord’s Face】
【Born from cursed flesh, it has extremely high malleability.】
【Even fate cannot easily peer at the soul behind this mask for a short time.】

“A mask that can block fate’s sight? That’s a good one.”

Ethan’s eyes lit up. He immediately tucked it into his robes.

Only one of the Deathly Hallows, the Invisibility Cloak, was supposed to evade Death’s gaze. No wonder something dropped by Voldemort was special.

“Not only did you help me complete the Soul Cauldron ritual and massively boost my magic, but you even gave me a precious extraordinary material.”

“Hajifu, you’re making me feel embarrassed.”

Ethan rubbed his nose and spoke shyly, then frowned in thought. “But why is this extraordinary material called 【Former Dark Lord】?”

“Is a new evil faction showing up already? Tsk, the wizarding world really is dangerous.”

At that moment, pale-blue text appeared again.

【Congratulations! You successfully reversed fate! You saved Cedric Diggory’s fate and prevented Voldemort’s resurrection!】
【Soul Fusion Rate increased by 5.2%!】
【87.9 → 93.1%】
【Soul Fusion Rate has exceeded 90%!】
【Immortal Advancement Pathway unlocked!】