Chapter 160: Tears
Of course, the Basilisk did not understand the prestige of winning Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times.
Bang.
With a flick of the serpent's tail, Lockhart's magnificent purple robes traced a perfect arc through the air, and the heroic professor slammed hard against the cold stone wall of the Chamber of Secrets.
He hung on the wall like a tapestry for a second, then slid down limply, completely unconscious.
Ron, who had been knocked aside, tumbled into a puddle. Although he was soaked through, he was unharmed.
"Professor!" Ron cried out in shock.
Lockhart had saved Ron.
This fraud, who had spent his whole life lying and plagiarising other people's stories, had chosen this one moment, when he had been brainwashed into a fool, to become a true hero.
And the Basilisk, which had not been very bright to begin with, was completely dazed by this purple loudspeaker that had suddenly popped up.
Its massive head, which had originally been snapping at Ron, made a sharp turn in midair, instinctively wanting to chase after the flying Lockhart.
But its massive body, dozens of feet long, was already twisted together due to the interference of multiple commands.
This sudden turn of its head, combined with its enormous inertia, caused its head to meet its tail. It spun out of control on the spot and perfectly tangled itself into a dead knot.
"Hiss!"
The Basilisk, now completely dizzy and confused, instantly flew into a rage.
This thousand year old terrifying beast let out a violent and frustrated screech, its massive body thrashing wildly across the ground as it tried to untie itself.
Its giant tail whipped around aimlessly, kicking up clouds of dust and rubble.
The entire Chamber of Secrets fell into chaos.
"Now's the time!"
A sharp light flashed in Tamara's eyes.
She ignored Lockhart, whose fate was unknown, and paid no attention to Harry and Ron, who were still entangled with the Basilisk.
She abruptly shoved aside Draco, who was blocking her path, and under the cover of the swirling dust, charged like a bolt of black lightning toward the feet of the statue of Salazar Slytherin.
Ginny Weasley was still lying there.
The black mist shrouding her had become violent and unstable due to the Basilisk's injury, churning fiercely.
"It's over, idiot."
Tamara half knelt in the standing water and grabbed Ginny by the chin.
Her movements were rough and direct, without the slightest trace of gentleness.
Her slender fingers squeezed hard, forcing the unconscious girl's mouth open.
Her other hand quickly pulled out the crystal bottle containing the dark green potion.
"Get... out!"
With a ruthless look in her eyes, Tamara mercilessly poured down the potion, which was potent enough to corrode a soul.
"Hiss!"
The moment the liquid entered Ginny's throat, the black mist attached to her let out an extremely shrill scream.
It felt it.
That was poison for the soul.
A toxin specifically designed to tear apart its connection to this physical body.
If it did not resist, it would be completely stripped away and then dissipate into the air.
Survival instinct drove this fragmented Horcrux into a state of total madness.
It instantly severed its connection with the Basilisk, concentrating all its power and all its malice onto this small body.
It was going to kill the threat before it.
Bang!
Just as Tamara was about to stand, Ginny, who had looked like a corpse, suddenly snapped her eyes open.
There were no whites in those eyes, only a desperate, pitch black darkness.
An inhuman strength erupted from that frail body.
"Wha..."
Before Tamara could react, she was pinned to the ground by Ginny.
The back of her head slammed hard against the stone floor, making stars burst across her vision.
Immediately after, a pair of cold little hands tightened around her neck.
"Die... just die..."
The remnant soul controlled Ginny, uttering venomous curses as those hands continued to tighten, her nails digging deep into Tamara's skin.
But this was not merely physical suffocation.
When two souls of the same origin came into such violent conflict at such close range, a Dark Arts backlash instantly erupted.
Tamara felt as if her neck were being burned by Fiendfyre.
Agony.
The pain did not remain on the surface of her skin. It burned straight into the depths of her soul along her veins.
Under Ginny's fingers, her skin rapidly developed eerie charred black marks, as if burned by some invisible flame.
"Ugh..."
Tamara opened her mouth in pain but could not make a sound.
She tried to push Ginny off her, but the aftereffects of the potion she had brewed last night left her limbs weak and powerless.
Ginny was like a block of iron welded onto her, refusing to budge.
The feeling of suffocation grew stronger, and black spots began to appear in Tamara's vision.
The shadow of death once again loomed over the former Dark Lord.
[Warning! Warning!]
[Detected host vital signs dropping rapidly! Near death alert!]
The system's usually energetic voice had finally turned into a cold alarm.
[Emergency protocol initiated... Virtue restrictions lifted... Dark Arts permissions opened...]
[Allowing host to use all means for self preservation! Repeat! Allowing host to use all means for self preservation!]
In that instant, Tamara felt the massive dark magic that had been suppressed within her burst open like a floodgate.
Killing intent.
Pure, violent killing intent instantly filled her mind.
This damned remnant soul.
This reckless vessel.
How dare it push her to this point?
Tamara's fingers twitched slightly. Even without a wand, she could now use this surge of magic at the edge of death to directly crush Ginny's heart, or end everything with a silent Killing Curse.
She did not care about Ginny Weasley's life.
She only cared about whether she could survive.
As long as she recited that incantation, this shell would die, and the remnant soul would dissipate with it.
"Avada..."
Magic condensed at her fingertips, ready to turn into fatal green light in the next second.
However, at this exact moment between life and death.
Plip.
A drop of warm liquid fell from above without warning.
It pierced through the killing intent pervading the air and landed precisely on Tamara's face, sliding from the corner of her eye into her eye.
Stinging.
That was Tamara's first sensation.
It was a clear, hot tear flowing from Ginny's pitch black, terrifying eyes.
It happened to fall into Tamara's eye, bringing a sharp ache.
Tamara froze, the incantation she was about to cast stuck in her throat.
She looked through her blurred vision.
Ginny, who was straddling her, was constantly shedding tears from those eyes still filled with the desire to kill.
Large tears mixed with the dust on her face and pitter pattered onto Tamara's face.
Then, amid the raspy hisses filled with malice, a faint, sobbing girl's voice drifted out in broken fragments, like a candle flickering in the wind.
"I'm sorry..."
This foolish Gryffindor girl, at this moment when her body was being controlled, her soul was being torn apart, and she was carrying out a command to kill, had somehow regained a sliver of control through some unknown power.
She looked in despair at her own hands, which were strangling Tamara's neck, as her tears poured out like a broken dam. Her voice was filled with a shattered plea.
"Please... hit me with a spell..."
"I don't want to become... a monster that even you find disgusting..."
.....
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