"Hmm? What was that noise?"
In the cavern, Percy looked up with sudden alertness.
Through the thick slabs of rock, he thought he could hear a faint vibration. And along with it, a scream that drifted in and out of hearing range.
It sounded as if chaos had erupted within Azkaban.
At the same time, a cluster of light reflected against the rock wall ahead.
It seemed to originate from far away, dazzlingly bright, making the salt crystals condensed on the cavern walls sparkle with brilliance. It was far more intense than the Lumos from his own wand.
Gulp.
Percy swallowed hard, his heart pounding against his ribs.
A sense of panic and unease grew more intense by the second.
As if to embolden himself, he muttered under his breath:
"Just wait until I find Ethan. I'm going to have a serious talk with him..."
"He clearly has such outstanding talent; how could he not use it on the right path! If he dedicated himself wholeheartedly to serving the Ministry of Magic, he would surely be entrusted with important tasks!"
"Doing something so self-destructive destroys his own future... it's simply stupid beyond belief."
As he spoke, Percy's tone took on a touch of arrogance.
He believed that people like himself—those who were "loyal and devoted" and willing to "break ties even with their own family"—were the ones who were truly [Right].
However.
Less than two minutes later, the noise from above became violently intense!
"Don't move—!"
"Are you all mad?! Petrificus Totalus!"
"Ahhh!"
The commotion traveled down along the rock face—roars mixed with the banging sounds of spell impacts—utterly chaotic!
"What is going on?" Percy threw his head back, stunned. "Is there a riot in Azkaban? That's impossible!"
Even without the Dementors guarding it, Azkaban's cells were incredibly sturdy and reinforced with multiple layers of magic.
There was no way these prisoners, deprived of their wands, could break through.
But very quickly, Percy felt the ground beneath his feet vibrating!
Yes! It felt as if countless feet were trampling the ground simultaneously, charging recklessly in his direction.
Gravel and debris rustled down from above.
Then—
What appeared in Percy's vision was a tidal wave of prisoners surging toward him!
On those skeletal, ashen faces, their eyes flashed with a blinding golden radiance! It almost formed a continuous, golden tide!
Percy's eyes went wide. He stumbled backward in terror, screaming in shock, "W-What is this situation! Don't come over here—Impedimenta!"
He frantically waved his wand, but no sooner had his spell knocked one person down than another immediately rushed in to fill the gap!
They were clearly alive, yet they moved like controlled Inferi!
Numbly, yet swiftly, they ran toward him!
"Ahhhhhhh—!"
Percy was knocked to the ground in an instant, swept up by countless arms and countless feet!
He was passively carried forward along with them!
He desperately reached out his arm, like a drowning man, only to be irresistibly dragged into this golden tide!
—Madness! It was all absolute madness!!
Azkaban, the fortress proclaimed to be "impregnable," was actually having a prisoner riot!!
How on earth did they get out?
And why were they rushing frantically toward this underground cavern as if they were possessed?!
Percy bobbed up and down within the sea of bodies.
Viewing them up close, he felt a chill run from the bottom of his heart at the sight of those numb cheeks flickering with golden light!
It was as if that brilliant gold had washed away all their self-awareness.
They had turned into puppets—the most loyal form of existence.
Finally, after an unknown amount of time, the tide of people came to a halt.
"Ah, ah, ahhh...!"
Percy crawled out from the crowd with great difficulty, weak and dizzy, his face bruised and swollen.
It felt like he had been kicked like a football the entire way; in fact, he literally had been kicked over here!
"What the hell is going on..."
Percy lifted his head tremblingly. In his blurred vision, a standing figure appeared.
"Are you a new prisoner? You weren't brainwashed... looks like your faith isn't pious enough."
A familiar, clear voice drifted over.
Immediately afterward, the figure bent down slightly and extended a fair, clean hand toward him.
In the palm of that hand, a golden light shimmered.
...The fingers were long and slender, the knuckles well-defined.
It was completely different from the gnarled, eagle-claw hands of child-eating hags in storybooks. It looked like the hand of a young noble—extremely harmless.
Yet, in that instant, it instilled Percy with immense terror!
Just a moment before the palm pressed against him, Percy blurted out, "It's—it's me! Ethan! Percy Weasley!!"
The voice fell.
The hand stopped.
Then, it grabbed him by the collar!
Like lifting a baby chick, he was yanked violently upward!
His blurry vision cleared, revealing Ethan's handsome, smiling face.
Ethan: "Why would Percy be here? And looking like a toad, no less!"
"You must be an imposter! Such audacity! Watch me make you experience the allure of art—"
Percy: "..."
Injustice!
He only looked like this because he was beaten by the prisoners!
Percy shuddered violently, a genuine fear finally welling up in his heart.
He pleaded desperately, "I really am Percy! If you don't believe me, use a detection spell on me, or just heal me!"
Under the gaze of Ethan's cold, indifferent cobalt-blue eyes, Percy's legs shook like sieves. Every second felt like a year!
He finally realized, somewhat belatedly: If Ethan really was a heinous villain, why would he care about their past acquaintanceship?
Percy: Whimper QAQ
Just as the terror in his heart nearly reached its peak, and he was about to kneel and hug Ethan's thigh to beg for mercy, Ethan suddenly grinned with a smile as bright as the sun.
He laughed loudly twice.
He put Percy down, and under Percy's bewildered gaze, patted his shoulder like a good brother.
"Hahaha! I'm just joking. Of course I recognize you, Percy! My friend!"
Saying this, Ethan winked playfully at Percy. "Wasn't that interesting?"
Percy: ???
...More than just "interesting," my soul was almost scared out of my body!!
"W-What exactly are you doing, Ethan!"
Percy shouted with a trembling voice. Once he was sure Ethan seemed to remember him, his tone immediately shifted to becoming a bit lecturing.
He first cast a healing charm on himself, then crossed his arms and said sternly:
"Do you know that your second trial is starting very soon! And you're still fooling around here!"
"Oh?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow and said regretfully, "So soon? I haven't played enough in Azkaban yet."
Percy said seriously, "This isn't funny, Ethan."
Ethan: "I wasn't joking?"
Percy: ?
The two stared at each other for a moment.
Percy took a deep breath, feeling his brain throb in pain!
It was simply like talking to a creature from another dimension!
"Anyway!"
Percy grabbed Ethan's arm, turning around as he spoke:
"You need to come back to the Ministry with me right now, admit your mistakes properly to the Minister, and submit to the judgment of the second trial! That way, you can leave this hellhole!"
And incidentally, he thought, demonstrate my own merit.
Percy couldn't help but curve his lips upward. The thought of being able to hold his head high in front of everyone made him want to hum a tune.
Then.
He turned his head.
And met a numb, dull face.
—No, not just one face.
But hundreds of faces!
Like a silent wall, the prisoners who had run all the way here—treating him like a football—were now standing soundlessly behind him.
They formed a blockade, cutting off any path of retreat.
In every pair of eyes, an alien light flickered.
In an instant, Percy was scared into a blank slate, his body freezing in place.
He stared blankly at these terrifying figures.
His thoughts finally caught up.
...Why did they run to such a deep underground location?
And the instigator who turned them into this is actually...
Percy slowly turned his head back.
In his regained clarity of vision, the smiling face of the black-haired boy appeared.
He also saw clearly the brilliant radiance emitting from the open notebook in the boy's hand.
—Ethan Vincent!!
This "imprisoned" new Savior was the mastermind behind the massive riot involving everyone in Azkaban, from top to bottom!
"A-Are these... all controlled by you?"
Percy's voice began to tremble, his eyes filled with shock and disbelief.
Facing that thick wall of human bodies, his breathing grew rapid.
He finally realized how laughable and powerless his earlier words had been!
...Someone with the strength to easily breach Azkaban's defenses and control countless vicious criminals as if brainwashing them—Ethan—had absolutely no need to curry favor with the Ministry of Magic!
If anything, the Ministry of Magic should be the one currying favor with Ethan!
Only now did Percy understand.
Why, when there were so many excellent seniors, they had sent him, a rookie, to contact Ethan.
This was simply a death trap!!
In the dead silence, Ethan's clear voice rang out:
"Why leave, Mr. Percy? The feast is just about to begin."
Ethan raised the corners of his mouth.
His cobalt-blue eyes gazed at the young man who had caused the Weasley family so much grief.
Then he shifted his gaze, landing on the prisoners who flickered with the light of the lantern.
He spread his arms wide and spoke, enunciating every word:
"Go."
"Go and offer up your filthy souls. Burn yourselves."
"Open for me that door leading to ascension!"
--
Support me & read more advance & fast update chapter on my pa-treon:
pat reon .c-om/windkaze