"Huh, that's weird. Why do you have a face growing out of the back of your head?"
Goku's expression was one of pure bewilderment as he looked at the entity possessing Quirrell. This was the first time he had ever seen a person with a face on their skull.
"Voldemort!"
Dumbledore finally understood. The turban, the thick stench of garlic, the way Quirrell had maintained a constant distance since the start of term—it wasn't just that the man had become a Death Eater. He had allowed the mangled remnant of Voldemort's soul to hitch a ride on his own body.
"What? Voldemort!"
The professors' faces paled instantly. Even for them, the name carried a weight of primal dread. Below them, the students erupted into a chorus of terrified screams. Their parents wouldn't even dare whisper his name, referring to him only as "You-Know-Who." To the average wizard, Voldemort was a living nightmare.
"Use Fiendfyre! Quickly!"
A shrill, rasping voice commanded from the twisted face on the back of Quirrell's head. Quirrell, jolted out of his shock, reacted instinctively. He knew he was exposed in front of Dumbledore and the entire faculty. He couldn't Apparate away inside the castle; his only choice was to cause enough carnage to make an opening.
He whipped out his wand and unleashed the Fiendfyre curse. Cobalt flames erupted, twisting into the shapes of flaming chimaeras and serpents that roared toward the students, threatening to turn everything into ash.
"Protego Totalum!"
McGonagall and the other professors suppressed their terror, raising a collective shield to protect the students. Fiendfyre was a high-level Dark Art, a cursed flame that consumed everything and couldn't be extinguished by normal water. The more it burned, the more sentient and powerful it became. Even killing the caster wouldn't stop the fire.
"Finite Incantatem!"
Dumbledore roared, his wand weaving a complex pattern to unleash a top-tier Counter-Spell. Under his mastery, the blue flames began to shrink and wither.
While the staff was occupied with the fire, Quirrell bolted for the exit. Voldemort's plan was classic: use the safety of the children to stall Dumbledore. Once they cleared the castle grounds, they could Apparate to safety. As for the Stone, they would have to find another way later.
Unfortunately for them, Quirrell had only taken one step before he felt a catastrophic threat descending upon his head.
"Ava—ACK!"
He tried to cast the Killing Curse to clear his path, but the incantation was cut short as he was slammed into the stone floor like a cannonball.
Goku had moved. The moment he saw the blue fire, he knew Quirrell was an enemy. He had leaped into the air and delivered a lightning-fast kick directly to the back of Quirrell's head.
Quirrell was a first-rate wizard, and with Voldemort's mental acuity backing him, he *sensed* the attack coming. But sensing it didn't mean his physical body could react in time.
Two months ago, there might have been a slim chance. But over the last sixty days, aided by Dumbledore's magic and Snape's physical-reinforcement potions, Goku's speed had reached a terrifying new level. Even Dumbledore suspected he might no longer be able to cast a spell before Goku could bridge the gap between them. Quirrell stood no chance.
"Agh! My face! You wretched brat, I will remember you!"
Voldemort let out a piercing shriek of agony as Goku's foot connected with the face on the skull. Quirrell's body went limp, his skull fractured by the impact, and the dark, misty remnant of the Dark Lord's soul was forced out of the corpse.
Voldemort didn't stay to fight. He was in a pathetic state, having only just regained a sliver of strength through Quirrell. Even at his peak, he wouldn't take on Dumbledore, the faculty, and the monstrous "Professor Son" all at once. He surged toward the exit.
"I can't hit him?"
Goku flickered toward the mist and threw a punch, but his fist passed harmlessly through the dark vapor.
"I will return! And when I do, you will all suffer!" Voldemort's voice echoed through the hall, sending a chill down the spine of every student. As a wraith, physical attacks couldn't touch him. Because of his Horcruxes, he couldn't truly die, and ninety percent of magic was useless against a soul-remnant.
"Goku! Use your ki! Full power!" Dumbledore shouted.
Goku landed, blurred across the floor to get directly beneath the fleeing wraith, and dropped into his stance. Voldemort was fast, but Goku's ground speed was faster.
"KA-ME-HA-ME... HAAAA!!!"
Concentrating nearly all his internal ki into his palms, Goku unleashed the most powerful blast he had ever fired in this world. The pillar of blue energy struck the dark mist dead-on.
"NO!!! THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!!!"
Under the relentless impact of the pure energy, the remnant of Voldemort's soul began to dissipate into the air. Along with the Dark Lord, a significant portion of the Great Hall's enchanted ceiling was also vaporized.
"It worked," Dumbledore whispered, finally extinguishing the last of the Fiendfyre. A small smile touched his lips as he watched the dark energy vanish.
Voldemort's soul was difficult to kill because most magic cannot deal lethal damage to a spirit. This was why Dumbledore had never hunted him down in the forests of Albania; he knew he couldn't truly destroy him.
But Goku's ki was different. It was a form of pure, high-density energy. Even a spiritual entity, when subjected to an energy output of that magnitude, faced a high probability of being violently unraveled.
Voldemort's soul wasn't like a normal ghost; due to his dark rituals, he was caught in a state between life and death. While Dumbledore knew this wouldn't be the end of Voldemort—not while the Horcruxes remained—it was certainly the end of his current form.
At the very least, they wouldn't have to worry about him for a long, long time.
***
Read 20 Chapters early on P-atreon.com/Redestro666