Behind the magic mannequin stood a pitch-black wooden door.
Only by defeating the mannequin could Sean enter the next stage.
"Harry clears dungeons with a party… and I'm soloing the raid?"
Sean stood about twenty meters away. Holding his wand, he cautiously approached the mannequin.
When he reached about five meters away, the tall wooden figure began making clicking sounds.
The mannequin mechanically raised the wand in its hand and held it across its chest, taking a combat stance.
Sean knew he had triggered its defense mechanism.
Now there was only one option left.
Fight.
"Expelliarmus!"
Sean attacked first, casting a Disarming Charm at the mannequin.
But the mannequin simply waved its wand and neutralized the spell.
Although it hadn't spoken any incantation, Sean's Magic vision clearly saw the spell it used.
"Coincidence… or is it copying me?" Sean wondered.
The mannequin had countered Sean's Disarming Charm with its own.
Sean immediately cast another spell.
"Petrificus charm!"
The mannequin's wand instantly constructed the same Full Body-Bind framework.
Its casting speed was nearly identical to Sean's.
Both spells shot out at the same time, colliding in midair with a burst of white light before canceling each other out.
Sean kept casting.
"Petrificus charm!"
"Lumos!"
"Alohomora!"
The last two were harmless utility spells with no offensive power at all, yet the mannequin still copied them perfectly.
"So that's how it works…"
Sean lowered his wand slightly.
"It's like dueling another version of myself."
"Anything I cast, it copies instantly."
"Or… it's reading my thoughts."
He began analyzing the situation.
The mannequin was likely enchanted by Merlin with an extremely advanced Copying Charm or perhaps Legilimency.
Either it instantly duplicated the spells Sean cast—
Or it read Sean's intentions and knew what spell he was about to perform.
Sean lowered his wand completely.
Continuing to attack would only waste magic.
He calmed his mind and began constructing a spell framework inside his thoughts.
This was the Occlumency technique he had copied from the Restricted Section a month ago.
After more than a month of practice, he had only mastered the basics.
He was nowhere near Snape's level.
Snape could even fabricate false memories convincing enough to fool Voldemort.
Sean, however, could only build a crude mental barrier to block external mind intrusion.
That might sound impressive—
But for someone truly studying Occlumency, this step was actually quite inelegant.
For spies like Snape—or later Draco—the goal was to deceive others, not reveal their defenses.
If Sean simply erected a rigid barrier, it might block weak mental probes, but it would also loudly announce:
There are secrets in my mind.
If Sean tried undercover work like that, he'd probably be exposed on day one.
But inside this chamber, his half-baked Occlumency might actually prove useful.
Mind reading was different from Legilimency.
At Sean's current level, he might be able to block it.
After completing the mental barrier, Sean raised his wand again.
"Expelliarmus!"
The mannequin responded instantly.
Once again, both sides cast the same spell.
"Looks like it isn't mind-reading after all," Sean murmured.
"That makes things trickier…"
Then suddenly he slapped his forehead.
"Wait."
"If I use a spell it can't copy, I should win."
Since entering the chamber, Sean had kept his Magic vision activated.
That placed a heavy burden on his magic reserves.
He pulled a small ampoule from his robe, removed the stopper, and drank the pale blue liquid in one gulp.
It was a Magic Power Restoration Potion.
He had brewed eight bottles last month.
One had been used for testing.
Since then he always carried one for emergencies.
"Should've brought more," Sean muttered.
After about five minutes, his magic returned to peak condition.
He activated the Magic vision again and raised his wand.
"Expelliarmus!"
At the same moment—
A phantom shape appeared and lunged toward the mannequin.
It was Little Fawkes.
And this time—
It had feathers.
The mannequin's spell canceled Sean's spell.
But Little Fawkes swooped down onto the mannequin's wand.
With a sharp kick—
The wand flew out of the mannequin's hand.
"Got it!"
Sean's eyes lit up.
A wizard who lost their wand was essentially defeated.
The wheels beneath the mannequin rolled as it slowly moved aside from the wooden door.
Earlier, Sean had used one-third of his magic to summon a featherless tiny phoenix.
This time, using half his magic, he summoned a miniature feathered Fawkes capable of flight.
The phoenix flew from the mannequin's hand to Sean's shoulder.
Sean gently stroked its tiny head.
Then he walked toward the door leading to the next stage.
Sean had successfully defeated the mannequin.
But if he knew how Tom Riddle had passed this stage, he might have died of frustration.
At first, Tom had also tried fighting the mannequin with spells.
But he quickly discovered its true mechanism.
And his deduction was even more accurate than Sean's.
The mannequin was enchanted with an incredibly advanced Copying Charm—
But it wasn't placed on the mannequin.
It was placed on the wand.
Tom simply lowered his wand and cast a wandless Transfiguration spell.
Because the mannequin's wand couldn't detect a magical framework from Tom's wand—
It failed to copy the spell.
And just like that, Tom turned the mannequin into a stool.
In truth, Sean could have defeated the mannequin with something as simple as his favorite Levitation Charm.
But he never realized that the copying enchantment was located on the wand itself.
Sean took a deep breath.
Peeves had said Tom Riddle failed at the third stage.
If even Voldemort couldn't pass it—
Sean couldn't help feeling nervous.
"Fawkes," he said softly.
"If it gets dangerous later… you should leave first."
The phoenix chirped as if answering him.
Sean chuckled.
"Right. I forgot."
"You're made from my magic. You can't really die."
Sean looked at the lock on the wooden door.
It was a perfectly round hole.
It didn't even look like a normal keyhole.
"Alohomora."
Nothing happened.
"As expected."
Sean thought for a moment.
When Harry searched for the Philosopher's Stone, he had obtained the Flying Key from the previous chamber to unlock the next door.
"There's no flying key here," Sean murmured.
"But there is this."
He walked over to the mannequin and picked up the wand that Fawkes had kicked away.
Then he inserted the wand into the round keyhole.
Click.
The lock opened.
"The door's open, Fawkes," Sean said happily.
But at that moment, the phoenix faded away as his magic ran out.
"Well… looks like I'm going in alone."
Sean muttered to himself like a nervous student before an exam.
Then he slowly pushed open the heavy wooden door.
To Read 80+ advanced Chapters, head over to P@treon
patreon.com/DarkVerse146