Hogwarts: This Dark Lord is so evil.

Chapter 548 Tom: Everyone has people they need to protect... Oh no! Wade, save me!

"Hahaha……"

In the distance, Li Weide's laughter made the veins on Tom's forehead bulge.

What are you laughing at?! Hurry up and think of a solution!

Tom is completely at a loss now.

The reason Dumbledore is here must be because Harry informed him after he escaped.

Given the trophy that was made into a door key, it would be incredibly easy for Dumbledore to reach this place.

According to the original plan, after Harry escaped, Voldemort would also leave with his servants, and Dumbledore would naturally not meet with Voldemort.

but now……

Because Tom and Voldemort fought for so long, and Voldemort just happened to run away a few seconds earlier.

Therefore, in Dumbledore's eyes, Tom naturally became the resurrected Voldemort that Harry spoke of...

Dumbledore practically watched Voldemort grow up, so of course he recognized what Tom looked like when he was young.

In other words, this mess has been firmly pinned on Tom's head!
The Dumbledore of today is not the Dumbledore of thirty years ago.

Dumbledore's attention to Tom can no longer be described simply as wariness and vigilance.

In his eyes, Voldemort was the absolute enemy!
Even Tom's Patronus Charm was useless...

At most, it would surprise Dumbledore, who would then admire Voldemort's talent for learning the Patronus Charm while studying Dark Magic. Finally, he would lament that this student had gone astray and reflect on his own educational failures...

Tom felt extremely frustrated; he couldn't hit him, he couldn't scold him, and he couldn't explain himself clearly...

He wasn't really Voldemort; in fact, at least half of his skills were taught to him by Dumbledore.

Unlike Voldemort, he only felt respect for Dumbledore.

How do you expect him to fight Dumbledore?
If that bastard Li Weide hadn't come to his aid, he wouldn't have been able to explain himself at all!
But... based on his understanding of Li Weide, that bastard would never come out so early!

Given the chance, Li Weide would always sabotage himself.

Therefore, given the current situation, it seems that taking action is the only option...

Tom's strange expression didn't catch Dumbledore's eye, but he thought it was Tom's normal reaction after suddenly seeing him.

“It seems that all your ‘friends’ have abandoned you.” Dumbledore looked around.

How could he not notice when so many Death Eaters Apparated away at the same time?

However, with the main culprits all here, he didn't have the energy to pursue those people.

In fact, Dumbledore also focused all his attention on Tom in front of him.

The spell he cast just now was enough to tell that Voldemort in front of us had indeed fully recovered!

"I told you, I'm really not Voldemort." Tom's explanation was very weak.

"Oh...so, you're planning to change your name now that you've returned?" Dumbledore said calmly, staring at Tom.

In the distance, Li Weide was laughing so hard he was rolling on the ground, his arrogant laughter irritating Tom.

“I am Tom Marvolo Riddle. I come from 39 years ago… Before I became Voldemort, I felt so ashamed to see that I would become Voldemort, so I just fought Voldemort right here. He lost and fled, and I was about to give chase when you came along and thought I was the resurrected Voldemort…” Tom patiently tried his best to explain in concise language.

"Sigh... Now that things have come to this, why do you still need to make up lies to deceive me?" Dumbledore simply did not believe Tom's words.

On the one hand, his statement was full of loopholes!
He knew Tom Riddle all too well what kind of person he was!

Even if he really was Tom from the past who came to this future, after seeing Voldemort's achievements, he would only be happy and then go back to urgently change his strategy to avoid being killed by Harry's counter-spell more than ten years ago. How could he possibly think Voldemort was shameful?
On the other hand, Tom is an extremely cautious person, so how could he possibly undertake such a dangerous time travel?

Moreover... Tom 39 years ago, although he was already very outstanding, he was definitely not as powerful as he is now!
Even if he really came from the past to the present, he couldn't possibly accept his own curse so easily.

Therefore, there is only one truth!
"You're stalling for time, aren't you, Tom? You've just been resurrected, your condition hasn't stabilized yet, so... that's why you're making up lies like this. You know me, you know I'll hesitate after hearing these words. But Tom... this time I won't hesitate. People should always pay the price for their mistakes... for James, for Lily, for all those who have been hurt because of you!"

As Dumbledore spoke, the Elder Wand appeared in his long, slender right hand...

Tom's face turned pale.

What the hell is this "delaying time" nonsense?! How did you even come up with that?!

He looked at Li Weide in the distance with pleading eyes.

Then I saw that guy sitting on a chair he'd found somewhere, eating sunflower seeds and watching the commotion from this side!

James and Lily stood to the side, shaking their heads helplessly at Tom.

Damn, where did you get these sunflower seeds?!

Tom closed his eyes sadly.

Okay, okay, so this is how you play it...

"Surrender, Tom..." Dumbledore raised his wand.

"I am not Voldemort, I will not surrender! I will not let the real Voldemort go unpunished!" Tom's eyes hardened.

Since things have come to this, let's have a fight...

This will also be a good opportunity to verify the difference between my understanding of love magic and Dumbledore's!

"Sigh..." Dumbledore sighed and waved his wand, launching an attack!

"Stab!"

The fiery red curse has reappeared!
Only Dumbledore could use the Disarming Charm with such overwhelming force...

"bump!"

A similarly intense spell shot out from Tom's wand and collided with Dumbledore's Disarming Charm!
Li Weide, standing some distance away, silently pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on his nose.

Welding competitions and the like can be a bit hard on the eyes...

Dumbledore looked at Tom's disarming spell with some surprise.

When did Voldemort start using such trivial spells that he used to look down on to fight enemies?

Moreover, this power... seems a bit off...

However, Dumbledore spent many more years immersed in the magic of love than Tom.

Moreover, his talent is in no way inferior to Tom's.

When magic power and talent are equal, the outcome depends on each wizard's understanding of magic.

In addition, he had just fought Voldemort for so long, and his physical strength was severely depleted.

Therefore, even though the Hogyoku narrowed the gap in magical power, Tom still quickly fell into a disadvantageous position...

The point of light between the two spells was moving steadily and rapidly toward Tom's wand!

Holy crap! We're done for! We can't beat them!

Tom was greatly alarmed!

In fact, he was able to defeat Voldemort by using a wide variety of unconventional combat skills.

Voldemort mistakenly believed him to be his Horcrux, and by assuming that his fighting style was the same as his own, he was caught off guard and suffered a great loss.

If we really consider overall strength, Tom still can't beat Voldemort.

Now, he's going head-to-head with Dumbledore, practically abandoning all other skills and relying solely on his understanding of love magic, so of course he can't win.

Tom was furious when he saw that he was in imminent danger while Levi was still watching the show.

In his anger, Tom was also provoked to fight back.

Tom stared wide-eyed at the light spot in the center, his eyes bloodshot!

"Damn it! Who doesn't have people they need to protect?!" Strangely enough, when Tom went all out and became furious, the point of light actually stopped!
Moreover, there are signs that it is slowly moving backward!

This scene left even Dumbledore completely bewildered.

Voldemort even has someone he protects? And... this does seem to be the power of love magic?

For a moment, Dumbledore felt it was all rather absurd.

Dumbledore had a sudden thought and proactively disconnected the link.

Then, with a slight flick of the wand, a second spell was cast!

The curse is swift and ruthless!

Although Tom was exhausted and covered in sweat, he still retaliated quickly!
For a time, the two were evenly matched!

The battle was still ongoing, but this time the fighting was much less intense than the previous battle where sand and stones flew everywhere.

Because neither side really used much powerful dark magic...

They were constantly throwing spells like Stun and Disarm, fighting like they were having a friendly sparring match.

However, these minor spells, when used by the two of them, are still incredibly powerful!
Even a slight mistake could still be life-threatening.

The more Dumbledore fought, the greater his doubts became.

Voldemort wasn't someone I hadn't faced head-on before; he was the kind of player who treated the Killing Curse like a basic attack.

But the Voldemort on the other side hasn't used a killing curse, let alone any spells that could even be considered dark magic!
You must understand, this is a life-or-death struggle!

Logically speaking, even if Voldemort's condition was abnormal, he shouldn't have stopped using those powerful spells!

Moreover... the source of the opponent's power and fighting style are very familiar.

Dumbledore even had the illusion that he was fighting against himself...

"Oh my, as expected of Dumbledore... He seems to sense something's not right." Li Wade spat out a sunflower seed shell and exclaimed in admiration.

"Dumbledore figured it out?" James asked, puzzled.

They were both fighting; how could you tell?

“If Dumbledore hadn’t deliberately held back, Tom would have been defeated. The battle just now had exhausted him. For a wizard like Dumbledore, defeating an exhausted person would be a piece of cake. How could they be evenly matched?” Li Wade took out a bottle of beverage and took a big gulp to moisten his throat, which was a little dry from eating sunflower seeds.

"If he saw through it, why did he continue fighting?" Lily asked.

"It's not that easy. We need to do a lot of verification. After all, the other party is the cunning Voldemort. How can we not be careful? Don't worry, the old headmaster has his own verification methods," Li Weide said with a smile.

Sure enough, in order to verify that absurd conjecture in his mind, Dumbledore gradually increased the intensity!
When a powerful wizard faces a life-or-death crisis, he will definitely use all his trump cards!

So, he's forcing Voldemort to use dark magic!
Tom's stress level increased dramatically, and his clothes were soaked with sweat!
At this point, Dumbledore even used Transfiguration...

Tom had no choice but to use his Transfiguration ability to fight back.

However, Tom's Transfiguration skills were still lacking, so how could he possibly be a match for Dumbledore, the master of Transfiguration?
The earth golems he conjured not only failed to break through Dumbledore's defenses, but Dumbledore even seized control of them...

"Fuck!"

Tom was completely stunned by the dozens of agile and swift earth golems pressing in from the opposite side.

"Iron armor protection!"

This was the first time Tom had ever shouted out a spell!
The moment the Iron Armor Spell covered his entire body, the fists of those earth golems came crashing down!
"Bump bump bump!"

The loud noise echoed throughout the cemetery.

Even the ground felt the shaking...

Tom huddled inside the Ironclad Curse, staring in despair at the dense cracks covering it.

"Wade, save me! Otherwise, your good brother will be turned into a meat pie!"

Just as Li Weide dropped the sunflower seeds, preparing to save the person...

The earth golems that had been ganging up on Tom suddenly stopped attacking and slowly retreated to the side.

Dumbledore slowly walked up to Tom and stared intently into Tom's eyes for a long time.

“You are not Voldemort,” Dumbledore said with a strange look in his eyes.

“I’ve said it before, I’m not!” Tom almost burst into tears when he heard this.

Family members, does anyone understand...? I said I wasn't, but he insisted I was, and he even tried to hit me...

“But you are still Tom. Tom Riddle.” Dumbledore looked at him quietly. “Perhaps you can give me a more reasonable explanation.”

Although the conclusion that Tom was not Voldemort was somewhat absurd, Dumbledore had to admit that this Tom was indeed not Voldemort.

Otherwise, given Voldemort's personality, he would have inevitably resorted to his prized dark magic in such a desperate situation.

At the very least, he could have run away! But this guy, even when he can't win, doesn't run away; you could say he doesn't even have the thought of running away.

Just like that, foolishly confronting oneself head-on...

Most importantly... during the battle just now, Dumbledore didn't sense the slightest bit of killing intent from Tom.

So much so that the battle didn't feel like a life-or-death struggle, but rather like a friendly sparring match that ended without a fight.

Moreover, he didn't see the same madness in Voldemort's eyes as in Tom's...

In fact, what Dumbledore didn't know was that if it weren't for Rivendare watching, Tom would have run away long ago...

"Explanations...didn't I just tell you?" Tom carefully removed the armor charm.

“That’s not exactly a reasonable explanation, is it?” Dumbledore said.

"I..." Tom looked helplessly in the direction of Levi.

Dumbledore looked in that direction with a puzzled expression, only to find that there was no one there...

Li Weide stood up. In the current situation, if he didn't step in, Tom wouldn't be able to explain himself clearly.

With the shielding function turned off, Li Wade and his two companions appeared out of thin air in front of Dumbledore!

"James! Lily! You... are still alive?" Dumbledore was genuinely startled.

At this moment, Tom had already run over, grabbed Li Weide's leg, and burst into tears.

"Waaaaah! Big brother, why are you just standing by and watching? Are you really going to abandon me? You almost killed me! You almost had to shovel my corpse back to my hometown with a shovel!"

He had been fighting Voldemort and Dumbledore for a long time and was already exhausted. He had almost died just now!

This was the closest Tom ever came to death in his life!
This caused Tom, who always valued his life, to have a complete emotional breakdown...

"Tom... can you... can you straighten up? Don't be so embarrassing!" Li Weide tried to pull his leg back, but Tom was holding on too tightly.

"I don't care! If you don't give me an explanation this time, I'll... I'll..."

"Damn it! Don't wipe your snot on my pants! If you don't get up, I'm recording you like this and playing it on a loop for everyone at Hogwarts! I'll let them see how their most respected club president makes such a fool of himself!"

Tom straightened up abruptly and casually took out a handkerchief to wipe his tears and snot.

"Huh? What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? What just happened?"

Dumbledore stared in disbelief at Tom's sudden change of expression.

Even though he had lived for over a hundred years and had extensive knowledge, he still couldn't quite understand what was happening in front of him.

but……

This guy is definitely not Voldemort!

Don't you even look at how this has been adjusted...?

(End of this chapter)