Wayne kept quite a few pets, each exceptionally beautiful and perfectly aligned with his aesthetic tastes.
From the pink-hued Diana to the plump black and white Tuantuan, thanks to his remarkable Magical Creature Affinity talent, Wayne had established a peculiar bond with his pets, enabling him to sense their locations and issue commands.
But the deepest connection Wayne had, from beginning to end, was with Ho-Oh.
Ho-Oh was hatched by Wayne from an egg, with a drop of his blood shed upon it at the time, forging a mysterious ancient contract between them.
It could be said that Ho-Oh was Wayne's life-bound divine beast.
Years had passed, and the once small fledgling had gradually entered its youth, approaching its peak, with its power growing increasingly terrifying.
Some time ago, Wayne had tested that even within a spatial rift, he could use Ho-Oh as an anchor to pinpoint his original world at any time.
Taking that step, Wayne entered the world beyond the arch.
A milky-white halo enveloped him, containing a peculiar fluctuation that sought to separate his soul from his body.
Frowning, Wayne spread stellar energy across his body's surface, isolating this force from the rest of his body.
What puzzled him was the source of this power—it wasn't from the arch, nor was it a method of the Ministry of Magic, as they lacked such capability.
A hidden measure left by Slytherin?
Suppressing his doubts, Wayne pressed forward. Just like the puppet he had thrown out earlier, after breaking through the white mist, he entered a silent void where even the light of the stars could not penetrate.
From the Dragon King's inheritance, Wayne had learned much about worlds and planes. Currently, he hadn't completely left the spatial scope of his own world; this was an interstitial layer, a transitional area.
Only by rushing through that distant, folded rift—like the pages of a book—would he formally enter the void.
The void held no material existence, yet it acted like a network or bridge, connecting numerous real planes.
In the Netherese system, the void had another name—the Astral Plane.
At that moment, a fragmented spatial turbulence abruptly appeared ahead. Wayne pointed a finger, and a starlight emerged from his body, colliding with the spatial turbulence until both silently annihilated each other.
For safety's sake, he deployed Rho Aias, layer upon layer of energy petals closing to protect him at the very centre.
Like an immortal cultivator treading on lotus flowers, Wayne flew out of the fold and fully entered the void.
Pausing outside the passage, Wayne confirmed he could still clearly sense Ho-Oh's coordinates and wouldn't get lost before continuing onward.
The environment here was harsher than outer space, with electromagnetic storms, spatial turbulence, and distorted vortices—all sorts of dangers slowing Wayne's progress. Yet, he wasn't in a hurry.
As long as his magical power didn't cease, he wouldn't lack energy within his body, remaining perfectly fine without food or drink for months.
The consumption of magical power was of no concern either; the amount used to unleash his Noble Phantasm didn't even match his natural recovery rate. The only trouble was that in such a damned place, he couldn't perceive the passage of time, making it impossible to determine how long he had been out or how far he had travelled.
'Hmm?'
Feeling the sudden increase in spatial fragments around him while the lightning storms and other terrifying phenomena gradually diminished, Wayne set down a petal before him to clear his vision.
After drifting for an unknown length of time, a white light ring similar to the main world appeared, though its glow was at least a hundred times dimmer.
After some thought, Wayne still piloted the flower into it.
...
Main world.
September 1st, another year's school opening day. King's Cross Station was crowded.
Near Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, the Ministry of Magic had deployed several times the usual number of guards. This year, there were too many young wizards starting school, many from Muggle families who had followed instructions to come to the platform but were too afraid to enter, attracting numerous strange looks.
Tonks' wand never stopped moving, constantly casting Confundus Charms as fine sweat beaded on her forehead.
"I've never seen so many new students," she complained to Kingsley beside her. Kingsley noticed another Muggle becoming aware of the platform's abnormality and silently cast a Confundus Charm to drive them away.
"Neither have I, but isn't that a good thing? You'll have more juniors now."
"That's true." At this, Tonks brightened up again. "I expect most will go to Hufflepuff, certainly not Slytherin anyway."
"By the way, are you returning to the Ministry after this mission?"
"No, continuing patrols. No one is allowed into the Ministry until further orders." Kingsley shook his head.
"What exactly are they up to? Didn't Dumbledore tell you?" Tonks grew more curious.
Kingsley shrugged. "Don't ask. This has nothing to do with Dumbledore. If you want to know, go find Lawrence - if you can find him."
Tonks stuck out her tongue and said no more.
It wasn't just them—the Ministry's unusual actions had left many people puzzled. Except for essential staff, everyone had been given a day off, and whether they needed to work tomorrow still awaited notification.
Nearly half the Aurors were patrolling three surrounding streets without any clear purpose.
...
"Dad says this is related to Wayne."
On the Hogwarts Express, Ron and Harry were also discussing this. "He's thrilled about having a day off today - after seeing me and Ginny off, he went back fishing."
"What's inside the Ministry?" Harry thought of the Department of Mysteries. Voldemort had been unusually obsessed with that place, but ultimately never succeeded. Could Wayne have gone there, too?
But why would they need to evacuate everyone and have Aurors patrol on alert? Was there some danger?
They were destined not to get the right answers. After thinking for a while, Harry and Ron changed the subject to Quidditch.
This year was yet another of their most promising year. Hufflepuff's best players had graduated, and Ravenclaw lacked talent apart from Cho. If they couldn't win the championship this time, Harry felt like selling his Firebolt.
What use was that broken broom to him anyway?
The train unknowingly reached its destination. As everyone disembarked, Harry suddenly realised that not only had Wayne been absent throughout the journey, but Hermione, Astoria, and Cho hadn't shown up either.
...
At Wayne's home, Grace looked helplessly at the large group of beautiful young women sitting there in complete silence.
"Aren't you two going to school at all?" Grace asked.
Fleur raised her smooth chin. "Do you think we're in the mood for school now?"
Grace let out a long sigh, her figure gradually fading. "Fine, don't go if you don't want to. But you must stay home properly, remember, absolutely do not go near the Ministry of Magic."
...
In the dark void, a dazzling white light suddenly burst forth, in an instant becoming more brilliant than the sun.
The already turbulent and treacherous void grew even more violent; countless spatial fragments and chaotic currents shot out from the white light. Wayne, shielded by the blazing, seven-layered ring, fled somewhat awkwardly alongside them.
This was already the third small world he had visited, and gradually he was beginning to discern some patterns.
The layer of white, hazy substance surrounding the world's edge could be called the world's amniotic membrane, a protective barrier that shielded the world from the harsh external environment, similar in concept to the atmosphere.
When a world became too weak, the amniotic membrane would gradually weaken as well, until eventually it disappeared completely.
The void would pull apart the unprotected small world, which would then shatter into countless fragments and chaotic currents, until eventually everything returned to nothingness.
Of course, Wayne wasn't idly destroying worlds for no reason - these small worlds had already become completely dead lands. He had checked each one just now; aside from endless deserts and magma, there were no signs of any living beings inside, and all traces of life had been erased.
Most crucially, he had also seen these small worlds moving towards the direction of the main world. It was predictable that they would inevitably collide with their world in the future.
In that case, it was better to destroy them directly to avoid potential crises after a collision.
Riding the powerful shockwaves from the explosions, Wayne drifted along with the flow, but deep in his soul, he remained constantly aware of his connection to Ho-Oh. Once it became faint, he would immediately return to the main world and abandon his exploration.
Along the way, he encountered several more fragments, but couldn't be bothered to enter and inspect them. Instead, he directly blasted them with a terrifying flash from outside, annihilating the worlds.
Wayne silently speculated whether these small worlds and sub-spaces might be the remnants of ancient ruins that once existed on Earth.
If so, had Slytherin already died inside? And of those powerful beings who lived in ancient times, how many could have survived until now?
Wayne's form transformed into a stream of light shuttling through the void. Just then, a blood-red glow suddenly appeared, catching his attention. He controlled his direction of movement to approach it.
This was the first time he had seen a different colour in the void.
As the distance closed, the outline of that world completely appeared before his eyes. Wayne's expression turned serious because this small world's volume was hundreds of times larger than those he had destroyed, and there were almost no spatial fragments around it, indicating exceptionally stable space inside.
What did the blood-colored halo represent?
Instead of acting directly from outside, Wayne merged into the world's amniotic membrane and entered the small world's interior.
"ROARRR!"
A deafening roar shook the heavens and earth, followed by dozens of terrifying energy pillars. The seven-layered circular ring blocked all the attacks, and Wayne finally saw what his enemies looked like—they were giant snakes several kilometres long, staring at him with eyes taller than mountain peaks.
They opened their bloody maws, energy gathering once again as they prepared for a second round of attacks.
After quickly scanning the entire world's landscape, Wayne decisively chose to retreat. Besides the giant snakes, there were only beasts—creatures dozens of metres in size appeared as insignificant as ants before those serpents. Several water sources had turned blood-red. Anyone with poor mental strength appearing here would likely be driven insane by the baleful aura in an instant.
Boom!
The second wave of attacks arrived, energy pillars forming a grid that sealed off all of Wayne's escape routes. Due to the charging time, these attacks were several times more powerful than the initial ambush when he first entered.
The seven-layered ring shone brilliantly, its petal-shaped barriers shattering one layer, then another. When the third layer became covered in cracks, it finally neutralised all the energy.
Wayne's gaze turned icy cold. Instead of advancing, he retreated through the world's membrane and put additional distance between himself and it.
'A world full of beasts holds no exploration value. Better to blow it up.'
But this world was far larger than the minor worlds he had previously destroyed, with an exceptionally intact world membrane possessing astonishing defensive capabilities.
Even through the membrane, he could faintly hear the beastly roars from within.
Wayne extended his hand, an ornate purple wand materialising in his right palm. Then a vintage mage's hat appeared above his head while his left hand grasped a book whose pages flipped continuously.
The Void Staff, Mejai's Soulstealer, and Rabadon's Deathcap.
These were the fruits of exhausting all his points. Empowered by these three artefacts, his aura surged wildly, even showing tendencies of breaking through the boundary of Legend and kindling divine fire.
With the mysterious glow unique to mages shimmering in his eyes, Wayne raised the Void Staff high and cast the ultimate spell.
An exaggerated rift tore open in the space above, brilliant starlight pouring down as countless stars flickered incessantly, answering the call.
"Gate-Open!"