A hostage situation.
It was likely something Voldemort had never experienced in his entire life.
To be precise, he had probably never been on the receiving end of a hostage situation.
He was the one who took hostages to threaten others; who would dare threaten Voldemort with a hostage?
It was only natural that Tom Riddle's mind went blank, faced with this for the first time in his existence.
To put oneself in danger to save another's life was, by Tom Riddle's standards, utter nonsense.
But what happens if you change the premise from 'another's life' to 'a fragment of your own soul'?
Just like that, you could force Voldemort into a hostage situation.
Tom Riddle asked in a trembling voice, "H-how in the world did you get that?"
Aisen replied with a smirk, "Surely you didn't expect me to answer that?"
*No. No. Think calmly.*
*Is that really a Horcrux?*
His diary, Tom Riddle's diary, was the very first Horcrux ever made. That meant he had no way of knowing what the others looked like.
The only reason he had judged the objects from before to be Horcruxes was because the magical wavelength emanating from them perfectly matched his own.
But couldn't a wizard of such skill create a simple fake?
Rather than believing that Knightly had found the Horcruxes his great original self, Lord Voldemort, had hidden across the world, wasn't it far more likely that he had forged them?
As if sensing Riddle's thoughts, Aisen said, "Well, if you're so curious, I'll tell you. I found this when I was robbing a Gringotts vault… no, I mean, in a vault that was destroyed during my consulting process."
Despite his brilliant mind, it took Riddle a moment to comprehend. He meant that he had robbed Gringotts under the guise of consulting.
At Aisen's sheer madness, so brazenly claiming to have robbed Gringotts, even Riddle broke out in a cold sweat. *What is he? Is he serious?*
And the statement was all the more threatening because, in the memory of Tom Riddle's diary, Gringotts was indeed one of the places he had considered for hiding a Horcrux.
If he believed Aisen's words, it meant the cup was a real Horcrux.
Tom Riddle was once again lost in thought.
If so, assuming that Horcrux was real, what was he to do?
Quietly submit to this hostage situation?
That was the worst possible outcome. The diary would be destroyed, and Aisen would still have another Horcrux in his hands.
Then what if he refused to comply?
Even if he killed Malfoy and Lockhart, the Horcrux would be destroyed.
It wasn't a fair trade at all. And after that, he would have no way to coerce Knightly. In other words, the diary would be destroyed in this scenario as well.
It was a dilemma no matter which way he turned.
In the end, whichever path he chose, the diary would be destroyed.
Riddle gritted his teeth and screamed, "Graaaaargh! Knightly!!"
He would die no matter what he did. The moment he realized that fact, all sorts of thoughts flashed through Tom Riddle's mind.
The day he learned he was special.
The day he learned he was a wizard.
And the day he learned he was the heir of Slytherin.
He wasn't human, so he didn't know it, but if he had been, he would surely have called this phenomenon 'his life flashing before his eyes.' (TN: The term used is 'jumadeung' (주마등), a revolving horse lantern, which is the Korean cultural equivalent of one's life flashing before their eyes.)
In that flash of memories, Riddle reflected.
Why were the Horcruxes made? Why had he made them?
It was to escape the 'fear of death.'
If so… if a Horcrux, a part of his soul, was destroyed, was that death?
It was because he believed it wasn't that he—no, that Voldemort—had made the Horcruxes.
But what about him? What would happen to Tom Riddle's diary, specifically?
When his thoughts reached that point, the diary finally understood.
The destruction of a Horcrux was not Voldemort's death, but 'his own' death.
Was that death? It was death.
And then, he reached a conclusion.
"I… am not Voldemort. I am Tom Riddle."
"What?"
"That Horcrux belongs to Voldemort, not to me."
The fear of death was intense. In that brief moment, in true Dark Wizard fashion, he had narrowed the scope of 'self.'
And then he shouted, "I don't care what happens to that pathetic Horcrux! It is Voldemort's Horcrux, not mine!"
At last, the Heir of Slytherin, through the power of his ambition to escape death, had cast off his original shackles.
Freed from Voldemort, Tom Riddle laughed manically and shouted, "Do you understand, Knightly? That Horcruux no longer has value as a hostage. In other words, the situation has returned to how it was at the start!"
Aisen observed him with fascination. "I see. So a Horcrux isn't a mere possession or a clone, but a fragment of a soul. It's fascinating that it can defy the will of the original."
And then, he raised his wand.
"But, you're willing to abandon your hostage, so why do you think I won't abandon mine?"
…??
***
Fundamentally, I am a good person.
You might question that statement, coming from someone who so unabashedly calls himself good, but when I say 'good,' I mean that I pursue a universal morality.
Of course, that universal morality is the 19th-century version, so I can't say it doesn't have parts that don't quite fit in the 20th century.
In any case, it means I basically pursue morality. If I didn't, I would have been in Slytherin.
In such circumstances, situations that force a moral dilemma are bound to arise. Like this hostage situation, for example.
So, how does one resolve a hostage situation?
In most cases, you can just dispose of the threat before they even have a chance to endanger the hostage, so hostage situations rarely even occur.
But occasionally, a hostage situation is unavoidable, like now, when the enemy cannot be killed.
An opponent who is a Horcrux cannot be killed by ordinary magic. That is why this hostage situation is possible.
Of course, being one who pursues universal morality, I fundamentally value the life of a hostage. But in such situations, my response has always been consistent.
*I'll make amends to the hostage for their misfortune later.*
Because being dragged away by a criminal worsens the situation under any circumstances.
Moreover, this is even truer when the opponents are disreputable individuals like Lockhart or Malfoy.
The threat with the Horcrux was more of a "nice if it works" kind of gambit.
Therefore, the moment Tom Riddle gave up on the Horcrux, I raised my wand.
*Boom. Crash. Kaboom.*
After that, it was simple.
While Tom Riddle was stunned from being blasted by my magic, I found a single note, steeped in dark magic, between the unconscious bodies of Lockhart and Malfoy.
On the outside, it was just an ordinary notebook, but my 'eyes' clearly told me it was the same kind of object as Slytherin's Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup.
Now then, what should I do with this?
The method I used to destroy the note last time—that is, crisping the outside with the Tsar Bomba then completely destroying it with Ancient Magic—was, no matter how I thought about it, far too flashy to use in the dungeons of Hogwarts.
Was there a simpler way?
As I pondered, the now-recovered Tom Riddle saw me holding the notebook and shouted, "Wait, that thing! No!"
*Ah, right. There's that.*
Ignoring Riddle's words, I approached the still-unconscious Basilisk and pushed the notebook onto its fang.
*Crunch. Thud.*
Even though I'd only pierced the notebook, a sound like shattering glass echoed, and behind me, Riddle collapsed.
Starting from the center of his chest, cracks began to form. The cracks spread across his entire pale, bluish body.
"Ah."
Riddle looked down at himself and muttered, "I didn't want to… die."
*Crack.*
With those last words, Tom Riddle's form crumbled into dust. Ink gushed out of the pierced diary, as if it were his blood.
I stroked the unconscious Basilisk and muttered, "Hmm, destroying Horcruxes would be so much easier with this one around. Should I just break off a fang and use it…?"
Though it was supposed to be unconscious, the Basilisk flinched as if it had sensed my intent. Must have been my imagination.
"Aisen!"
Just then, Harry and Hermione, who had been collapsed on the floor far away, ran toward me.
"Aisen, are you alright? What happened to the heir?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Not a scratch on me. It's all over, so don't worry."
I barely managed to calm Hermione down as she showered me with questions.
Harry rushed over to me and whispered urgently in my ear, "Master. Silly is mine, so don't touch her."
"Silly?"
"The Basilisk."
I asked, dumbfounded, "She's yours? But that Silly seemed to be listening quite well to the heir just a moment ago, Harry."
"That's because she's enchanted to be fundamentally loyal to the Heir of Slytherin."
"Right. Let's say that's true, Harry. But that's not what's important right now, is it?"
"…Pardon?"
I said quietly to the excuse-making Harry, "It seems you lost your duel with Tom Riddle. You still have a lot to learn, don't you?"
"…Ah."
Harry's face instantly darkened as he realized his holiday break was about to be filled with work.
He looked like he had a lot of excuses to make, but seeing the smile on my face, he seemed to realize that making excuses would only make things harder, and he quietly shut his mouth.
For now, I kept to myself the fact that I was more surprised by his near-successful Apparition than by his losing the duel. That kind of praise could wait.
Just then, Hermione shouted, "Harry, Aisen! Look over here! Malfoy and Professor Lockhart are…!"
Where Hermione was pointing, the unconscious Malfoy and Lockhart were gasping for breath.
They were in a state where it wouldn't be surprising if they stopped breathing at any moment without immediate action.
Hermione stomped her foot in distress. "Wh-what do we do? Isn't there anything we can do?"
I glanced down at them for a moment, then asked Hermione, "Lockhart is one thing, but Malfoy insulted you. Do you still want to help him?"
At my words, Hermione hesitated before answering, "Dying like this doesn't seem like a fitting punishment for Malfoy, at least."
*If you say so.*
I sighed inwardly, looked behind them, and shouted, "Ah! The heir is back!"
"What?"
*Zing!*
As Harry and Hermione whipped around in surprise, I used the opening to quickly hit them with a Stunning Spell, knocking them both out, and approached Lockhart and Malfoy.
Although I had used magic, it was a spell that was meant to hit the hostages along with Riddle, so I had used a subduing spell with as little lethal force as possible.
Therefore, I had thought that while they might be seriously injured, their lives wouldn't be in danger.
But their condition was more serious than I had thought.
Malfoy and Lockhart were breaking out in a cold sweat even while unconscious, and their skin was so pale it was becoming translucent, their blood vessels showing through.
Yes, if I had to draw a comparison, it was just like the Horcrux from before.
It was clearly due to the Horcrux draining their life force.
I thought for a moment, then sighed. "Only Ardeura can solve this."
*Is it really right to go this far for a criminal and a bigot?*
I hesitated for a moment, then glanced at the unconscious Hermione and said reluctantly, "Ardeura! Come here!"
For some reason, the Stunning Spell hadn't worked properly on Hermione, and she was watching the entire scene with her eyes slightly open. At that time, I couldn't have imagined it.
***
Hermione fell with a thud from the attack that came from behind.
But that was only for a moment.
*'Ugh. I think I got hit by something.'*
As she thought that and clutched her head to get up, she heard a familiar voice.
—*Kirururuk!*
*'…Ardeura?'*
Realizing that something she didn't know about was happening, Hermione instinctively stopped herself from getting up.
If she got up now, she would surely miss an interesting scene…!
And sure enough. Perhaps not noticing that Hermione had woken up, she heard Aisen speak.
"Ardeura, share some of your tears."
—*Kirururuk?*
Peeking through slitted eyes, she saw Ardeura, with her beautiful red feathers, tilting her head as if to ask a question.
Though Hermione couldn't speak the language of animals, she could fully understand the meaning behind the cry.
*'Are you serious? You want me to cry for them?'*
Aisen placated her. "Still, the kids want it. Their life force has been almost completely drained by the Horcrux, so they can't be healed with ordinary magic. I'll hunt a delicious Kraken for you later."
*…Hunt a Kraken for her? That's a metaphor, right?*
Just then, something happened that completely blew away Hermione's brief pondering.
—*FWOOOOSH!!*
With a brilliant sound, the parrot was enveloped in a halo of light.
And then, when the light subsided, the figure that was revealed was by no means a parrot.
Hermione barely suppressed a huge smile from forming and laughed silently.
*'Goodness! I was right! It really was a phoenix!'*
***