"That was... the Vanishing Spell?"
At Hogwarts Castle, Professor McGonagall spoke in disbelief.
Link's Transfiguration was indeed excellent, but in her memory, he wasn't good enough to cast a Vanishing Spell on that scale!
Behind her, the crowd watching the battle outside the castle erupted into deafening cheers.
Thanks to Professor McGonagall, they had all truly witnessed the terrifying power of the Vanishing Spell.
It was a destructive spell that worked on the atomic level!
Even a terrifying creature like a dragon would be instantly broken down into its most basic atoms after taking that attack!
So in their eyes, Voldemort, who had taken the Vanishing Spell head-on, was already dead!
Victory belonged to Hogwarts!
Amid the thunderous cheers, only Ron and the other students who were close to Harry, along with Dumbledore, still wore stiff, bitter expressions.
The former were grieving Harry's death.
As for the latter, his eyes were filled only with tension.
Dumbledore himself was one of the greatest masters of Transfiguration.
The Vanishing Spell was indeed powerful!
But could a Vanishing Spell alone really kill Voldemort?
Dumbledore deeply doubted it.
And the truth was exactly as he had expected.
When the light of the Vanishing Spell faded, Voldemort's figure appeared before everyone's eyes once again.
He looked absolutely miserable.
His whole body looked like a melted wax figure, twisted into a shapeless mass.
But even so, he was still alive!
And he was roaring at Link with an inhuman voice!
Roar!
Wild black flames burst from his body.
An enormous surge of life force poured out, clearing away the murky air around him.
Under the effect of that immense vitality, Voldemort's body, which had almost lost its human shape, gradually recovered, barely taking on Harry's original appearance again.
"N-not bad... thief! You stole my power! That blood should have been mine!"
"Link... is that... is that you, Link? Kill me..."
"Give me back my blood!"
"Link, kill me now!"
"Shut up!"
"Please, Link! It hurts so much!"
...
As Voldemort roared, the expression on his face kept changing, while Harry's and Voldemort's voices alternated without stopping.
Although he had barely survived the Vanishing Spell through the power of his powerful curse magic, the spell's atomic-level disintegration seemed to have created cracks in the once-unbreakable control Voldemort had over Harry.
That allowed Harry's consciousness to awaken and begin struggling against Voldemort's soul.
Through the perception granted by the Super Sensory Spell, Link could even see Voldemort's and Harry's souls tangled together!
His expression became conflicted.
Should he kill them?
Kill Voldemort... along with Harry?
Link had never forgotten his wish.
He wanted to save the lives of everyone around him whenever he could.
That was why he had chosen to save Dumbledore, and why he had tried to put Snape's life back on the right path.
Even Lockhart, whom he disliked, had been given a decent ending.
And now Harry, who had survived until the end in the original story, had reached the brink of death.
He truly couldn't decide.
But Voldemort and Harry didn't give him much time to think.
Voldemort's soul fragment was ultimately stronger than Harry.
Under his forceful control, the life force spreading through the area became even denser.
It was the same method of burning life that Dumbledore had used before.
As his life force burned away, enormous amounts of vitality transformed into the purest black flames, gathering within the pentagram formation before Voldemort, waiting to be unleashed.
Seeing this, Link finally sighed.
He raised his wand slightly.
The air within a thousand-meter radius was instantly pulled away and compressed onto the tip of his wand, which was less than two centimeters wide.
This was the greatest degree of air compression Link had ever performed.
The extremely compressed air hadn't even been released yet, but it was already rubbing violently against itself at the tip of his wand, producing terrifying light and heat!
"This is the final strike, Harry. I hope you can rest in peace."
Link frowned as he spoke, his expression full of conflict.
The only reply was Voldemort's meaningless roar.
It was obvious that after suffering both the Vanishing Spell and Harry's soul's resistance, this soul fragment of Voldemort had completely fallen into a state of unconscious madness.
Only the instinct to kill remained.
Link shook his head.
The light at his wand tip grew even brighter.
Across from him, the pentagram burning with black flames spun faster and faster.
Just as both sides had finished gathering their power, a familiar figure suddenly appeared between them.
It was the very center where Link's aura and leaking magic collided with Voldemort's.
The place where their powers truly created sparks.
The instant he appeared, countless cuts opened across his body from the clashing magic.
Yet he paid them no attention.
Looking at Link, he smiled.
"Ah, you're back, Link. Sorry. I've caused you trouble again this time."
"Professor Snape! You're still alive!"
Link was so happy he almost jumped.
This was a completely unexpected surprise.
He had thought Snape had already been killed.
After all, according to the information Dumbledore had given him, Snape had been deeply involved in the disaster now unfolding at Hogwarts.
Yet throughout the entire incident, Snape had never shown himself.
So it was only natural to assume he had been silenced.
"Professor Snape, come over here! It's fine! I'm the real Minister of Magic now! No one will ever know what you've done! Even Dumbledore won't tell anyone!"
Link said urgently.
With a thought, curse magic wrapped around Snape, protecting him while trying to pull him back.
But Snape didn't move at all.
He simply smiled and shook his head.
"Thank you, Link. I understand how you feel, and I'm truly grateful to have a student like you. I'm proud of you. I really am. But... I'm sorry, Link. I have something I need to do. This is the last time."
With that, Snape slowly turned around and walked toward Voldemort.
A bad feeling rose in Link's heart.
But Snape moved even faster than Link had expected.
In only an instant, he was standing before Voldemort.
His arrival also seemed to awaken Harry's fading consciousness once more.
Snape's existence had always been something that stirred Harry's soul at its deepest level.
Otherwise, when Voldemort's soul fragment had first revived inside Harry's body, Snape should have been killed instantly.
Forcing himself to suppress Voldemort's desire to attack, Harry twisted his face and said,
"P-Professor Snape... I'm sorry... run..."
"Shh. Look at me."
Snape interrupted him.
With a look full of emotion, he gazed into Harry's eyes.
Seeing that they were still slightly crooked because of the injuries from the Vanishing Spell, he carefully straightened them.
Only after restoring those eyes to exactly how he remembered them did he finally let out a long breath.
"I actually expected a day like this might come a long time ago, and I prepared myself for it. So you don't need to feel guilty, and you don't need to thank me. None of this has anything to do with you. It's simply something I wanted to do."
Snape spoke gently.
At the same time, he stepped back and slowly raised his wand, which was nearly broken.
That expression made Harry's heart ache.
During his struggle with Voldemort's soul fragment, Harry had obtained all of Snape's memories.
As someone who still possessed genuine empathy, he could truly understand Snape's love for his mother.
At the same time, he was overwhelmed with guilt.
Guilt that he had been foolish enough to be manipulated, using Snape and dragging him into this situation.
He desperately wanted to apologize.
But with Voldemort's soul fragment constantly pulling at him, he couldn't say a single word.
Yet Snape seemed to have already accepted his apology.
Looking at Harry, or rather, Lily's pair of eyes, he smiled.
"I've always wanted to save you. For that, I thought of many methods. Unfortunately, every one of them had extremely strict conditions. Thankfully, the Voldemort soul fragment hidden deep within your soul has awakened, and your own soul has separated from it. That finally gives me a chance to make this work."
"Professor! Don't make decisions on your own! Come back!" Link's voice rang out. "We only need to restrain Harry! We can deal with Voldemort's soul fragment afterward!"
Snape replied,
"Thank you, Link. But you and I both know that's impossible. We both know Harry's life force has already been ignited. And with Voldemort's personality, he'd rather die together with Harry than allow himself to be captured and controlled. So... we can only use my method."
As he finished speaking, the tip of Snape's wand began glowing with crimson light.
Unlike the offensive red light Link associated with spells like the Disarming Charm, the light at Snape's wand tip felt gentle...
Warm.
Harry felt it more clearly than anyone.
The crimson light gave him exactly the same feeling as the warmth he had felt in the dream of the day his mother died.
A possibility instantly came to his mind.
"This is... blood magic?"
"That's right, Harry. It's the ancient blood magic your mother cast on you all those years ago. I wasn't as talented as your mother. It took me nearly twenty years to barely master it. With this, your current situation should be solvable."
"But... that's impossible! We're not related by blood. And if you use this spell, you'll..."
Harry stopped speaking.
Because Link had already dispersed the compressed air projectile in his hand, turning all his magic into pure curse magic as he tried to pull Snape back.
But Snape was faster!
Before the tidal wave of curse magic behind him could swallow him, the tip of his wand was already pressed against Harry's forehead.
Buzz!
The crimson light filling the sky transformed into countless blood-red runes, wrapping around Harry layer by layer like ribbons.
At the same time, the blood magic left behind by Lily inside Harry finally awakened.
The two energies, sharing the same nature, instinctively merged together.
Pressed from both inside and outside, they finally dragged Voldemort's ugly soul out.
At this moment, Voldemort's soul had completely become a mindless beast.
He madly tore at Harry's soul, biting and devouring it in one last desperate struggle.
That was why Snape had waited until this very moment to use the ancient blood magic to separate them.
Faced with death, Voldemort's soul fragment would certainly launch a final desperate attack against Harry's soul.
Although this counterattack couldn't kill Harry, it would still damage the integrity of his soul and destroy his mind.
Even in the best case, Harry would end up mildly mentally disabled.
Ordinarily, Snape would never have accepted such an outcome.
But now, there was no other choice.
Compared to death, becoming mentally disabled was much easier to accept.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The final green light shot from Snape's wand.
Like brilliant sunlight, it completely dissolved Voldemort's evil soul.
Harry, who had nearly broken down from the unbearable pain within his soul, finally stopped screaming.
The sudden feeling of relief was so overwhelming that he wanted to sigh with comfort, to fall asleep.
Almost instinctively, he leaned into Snape's arms.
"Look at me."
Snape spoke again.
Harry, who had been ready to drift into sleep, instinctively opened his eyes wide and looked toward the voice.
What met his eyes...
Were Snape's eyes, slowly losing their light.
And the faint smile still left on his face.
A gentle breeze passed by.
It was the warm wind created when the giant hand of curse magic formed by Link forcibly broke apart.
Harry finally closed his eyes peacefully in that breeze.
Only Link remained standing behind them in silence.
In the end...
He had still been one step too late.
Snape's soul had already turned into ribbon-like crimson runes, slowly fading away.
Within the sea of crimson light, Link seemed to see two small figures holding hands as they flew into the sky.
Their cheerful laughter seemed to linger in the air, just like it had on that afternoon decades ago.
That must be Professor Snape and Lily's souls!
Link couldn't help thinking.
He didn't know why he had such a thought.
Because he was certain that even if Lily and Snape's souls met again, it shouldn't have been such a peaceful scene.
Yet he stubbornly believed that the two figures in the sky were Snape and Lily.
There was no special reason.
Link simply felt that if someone like Snape couldn't even have a good ending...
Then this world was simply too cruel.
In the end, the figures in the sky disappeared.
Link slowly closed his eyes in pain.
Today...
His teacher had left him forever.
"Snape... Snape... you really are one hell of a bastard!"