"Heh heh...ugh..."
In the dimly lit room, dozens of pairs of vacant pupils glittered with an eerie light.
The dark gray curtains fluttered with the breeze, carrying a pungent smell of blood. This was like the last straw crushing the camel's back; Zalan Graves' legs started to weaken. The man's face turned deathly pale in an instant, and he uncontrollably collapsed to the ground, supporting himself with his hands. He opened his mouth but could only gag.
As the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in America, Zalan was someone who had seen big scenes before—
He wouldn't say he remained unfazed when Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, but he wasn't the type to gag at the mere smell of blood. However, today's abnormalities couldn't even catch Zalan's attention anymore.
Sweat drenched the man's hair, and the short black hair clung tightly to his scalp. He suppressed his urge to vomit, lifted his head, and pretended to be calm as he looked at William, but the fear he couldn't suppress in his eyes made him look even more pathetic, "Wh-what good does this do you?"
"...What good?"
William squatted slightly, appearing deep in thought, but not for long. Under Zalan's gaze, he quickly shrugged, "Good...it's good for my physical and mental health?" As he spoke, he looked down at the latter, a sarcastic arc curling his lips, "What, even human traffickers are planning to talk to me about human rights?"
"De...demon! You're a demon! A demon trying to be a Savior?! I'm certain now! You have no idea who you're up against!"
The man likely never expected William to reply so casually. He glared with eyes full of terror but roared with a hideous face, "You've offended someone on this land—everyone will know! You won't be able to leave here! Hahaha...even if you kill me now, you'll come to join me soon enough!"
Zalan shouted in a state of insanity, his mental breakdown leaving no room for resistance...
...though it wouldn't make any difference even if he did remember.
"...Is that so."
William nodded, not taking the man's words to heart. After all...he didn't plan to stop there tonight.
So, amidst Zalan's fearful trembling, he raised his hand to grab the latter's head, forcing him to meet his gaze. Then, the blue light in William's eyes flickered slightly, and the next moment, the man's body stopped trembling, his lead-gray pupils contracted briefly before beginning to dilate—
As William released his head, Zalan's expression shifted from fear to distortion, like a man dragged into a nightmare, experiencing the most terrifying thing in the world...
Finally, after a series of uncontrollable muscle spasms, a taut string snapped completely, and the man lost all signs of life—he was dead.
No one knew what the man saw before he died, except for William—but the latter clearly wasn't in the mood for small talk. William fished out a cigarette from his pocket and clamped it in his mouth, trying to look cool. Then, he rummaged through his pockets to find he didn't have a lighter, his brain stalled for three seconds before he remembered he was a wizard.
"Roar, cough cough—"
Norbert choked on a spark, shook his head, and crawled back into William's sleeve, while the latter stood up as well.
Smoke rose, obscuring the glowing eyes of the man.
In the darkness, the flame seemed to be a signal. The gray figures standing like stone sculptures in the room suddenly nodded uniformly and then flooded towards the door. Many people still lived in this manor, and someone needed to clean up.
"...Could it be too harsh?"
Lupin felt a tingling in his scalp...in a physical sense. Every time his gaze fell on those gray figures, an inexplicable impulse rose in his heart, which he could only suppress now, trying to shift his focus with a question.
"Do you think so?"
William turned his head, calmly asking in return.
Lupin hesitated, he clearly wanted to say something, but could only open his mouth. As William's "deputy" for over a year, Lupin could see clearly that those poachers were like the last barbarians adrift in the civilized world. Although they wore suits and ties, their actions were beastly—
In these "wizards'" eyes, Muggles completely became another species, a kind of cargo.
Even with Lupin's typically gentle temperament, whenever he saw the tragic state of Muggles captured by poachers, his blood would surge. But there was nothing odd about his reaction tonight. After all, those lying on the ground were also their kind. No matter how ruthless a person might speak, when truly facing such a scene—
Retreat and hesitation would always occupy his mind first.
Even William wasn't an exception, of course, that was when he wasn't in an all-out mode—William, who had shut off all his emotions, spoke without any fluctuations in his tone.
"...Would you want to be a Savior?"
William asked back, speaking as he walked towards the door, and didn't give Lupin, who bowed his head in thought, a chance to respond as he continued on, "If I were to choose, I wouldn't, Remus, believe me, if Harry had a choice, he wouldn't either."
"..."
Harry's name hit like a critical strike, casting a silence buff on Lupin and Sirius, who wanted to speak but stopped.
"It seems that being a Savior must be tied to sacrifice, as if only by losing something can one gain this 'glorious' title."
"...But."
"But, I don't need it, I have other...I have strength, when I see something displeasing, I will act. I'm not a saint, I never delay revenge, of course, there's nothing worthy of my revenge, except, Sirius ate two of my crab roe dumplings the morning before yesterday..."
"?"
Sirius, who had been immersed in confusion and a trace of sadness just moments before, suddenly raised his head somewhat dazedly when he was summoned. He looked at William and blinked.
...Damn it, he had been so secretive, even going so far as to rearrange the platter!
It was still discovered.
"Acting solely based on one's likes and dislikes, will it end up making one as crazy as Voldemort?"
Lupin paused for a moment, his tone carrying a hint of uncertain bewilderment.
"Even personal likes and dislikes have a limit, and... please don't compare me to that kind of idiot who cuts his soul into madness?"
William curled his lips in disdain, his eyes filled with obvious contempt. What kind of a character is Voldemort anyway? Apart from being slightly more skilled in magic, isn't he just a textbook villain who lacked love as a child and grew up lacking common sense? A madman wielding uncontrollable power, who only knows to kill during his 'movements,' without even a constitution for his organization...
Those pure-blood idiots must have married within the family for generations to be so brainless, to actually discern some sort of... leadership charisma from Voldemort?
In terms of personal charm, aren't they less than a single whisker of the two buffoons in prison?
Sometimes William really fears that someone might someday give him the title of Xth-generation Dark Lord, ah, it sounds so incredibly stupid.
"..."
Lupin fell silent. He had indeed seen no distinctive traits of a Black Wizard in William, such as a bad temper, moodiness, or bullying the weak... even without studying the Dark Arts, he simply utilized them, and putting aside William's methods, Lupin acknowledged that William was doing good deeds.
...Though according to the laws of the Ministry of Magic, the latter would have him serve a life sentence in Azkaban.
What should he be called then?
White Lord?
"...So, the mustard in my sandwich this morning?!"
After pondering for a while, Sirius suddenly stared wide-eyed, seeing William nod, tears of grief and indignation squeezed out of the man's eyes—
Who knows what he went through in the bathroom this afternoon?! Even upon just entering Graves' drawing room, he had to lift half his buttocks while sitting on the couch. The exclamation of "Oh my!" was not only a reaction to Lupin's comment about "the entanglement between American pure-blood families and poachers," but also because he accidentally sat down due to his emotional agitation.
Damn, he even thought it was the shop's mistake at the time and argued with that Muggle shopkeeper for over ten minutes.
"..."
Lupin's thoughts were interrupted, and he looked at Sirius still fretting over those crab meat buns and fell into silence.
Tsk, somehow it feels that not thinking at all might also be good. He suspects Sirius has perhaps gained some enlightenment, since he used to be completely unlike this carefree state—it was thought to be a residual effect from his years in Azkaban, but now it seems like wisdom in disguise?
"But, Lupin also sneaked a bite of your—"
Tsk, it's foolish wisdom.
Lupin closed his eyes somewhat speechlessly.
...
The debate over the mustard sandwich didn't last long; it quickly transformed into Sirius' mutterings under William's gaze.
The three stood not far from the brightly lit Graves' residence, and the once bustling garden half an hour ago was now only left in silence. Time passed second by second until the bright moon climbed overhead, and a grey figure appeared in front of William.
"Sir."
The werewolf, clad in heavy armor, knelt on one knee, its silver-grey tail slightly raised, wagging forcefully.
"..."
Looking at the tail behind the figure, William couldn't help but twitch his eye—why have I trained the Werewolf Corps to behave like dogs?
Blinking, he ignored these seemingly trivial details, nodded, and flicked the magically preserved cigarette butt which had been kept lit for half a day forward, raging flames ignited a large swath of flowers, spreading almost instantly to the manor in the darkness nearby—
"Boom!"
The blazing light suddenly erupted, shaking the earth and mountains, as the mansion, seemingly sculpted from white jade, was completely engulfed by flames.
In the dark night sky, the burning red light flooded a large portion of Manhattan's skies.