The Old Ones of Hogwarts

Chapter 501, Section 510: Breaking Through the Dream (Part 3)

The light gradually faded.

All around was a desolate "nothingness".

The original dream structure was almost completely destroyed, leaving only some basic, ever-changing abstract information flows that still flowed slowly, like scorched earth after a war.

"just!"

Under Ian's persistent and dramatic performance, Tiga's massive body swayed slightly, the light from the energy core on his chest dimmed, and the frequency of its flashing slowed down.

Maintaining such a high intensity of combat and ultimate moves does indeed take a toll on his "imaginary creation," but right now it's only three parts real and seven parts fake.

"Ultraman Ian Tiga has saved humanity once again! Yay!"

Ian slowly lowered his head and looked at his still tightly clenched left hand.

In the palm of her hand, Lina was curled up, her face pale, clearly deeply shocked by the earth-shattering battle just now, but her eyes were filled with nothing but fear.

More than anything, it was a sense of bewilderment after surviving a catastrophe and an indescribable mix of emotions towards the giant of light before them.

"Who exactly are you?"

Lina completely failed to understand Ian's situation.

"I'm just a passing Ultraman." Tiga carefully opened his palm and gently placed Lina on the relatively "stable" surface.

On some remnants of dreams.

With his movements.

The enormous body, reaching a height of fifty meters, began to emit a soft light, rapidly shrinking and fading.

A few seconds later, the light completely subsided, transforming back into the handsome, cold-faced boy in black robes—Ian Prince.

His face was paler than before, and his breathing was slightly rapid, but his eyes remained clear and calm.

"Don't be happy yet. Actually, your situation isn't that good. Even I would have to put in some effort." Ian walked up to Lina, squatted down, and carefully examined her condition.

The mutated features on Lina's body—the scales, the gill slits, and the faintly writhing black lines under her skin—did not disappear immediately after the destruction of the Cthulhu Dream avatar.

They still exist, but their color has become paler and their wriggling speed has slowed down considerably, as if they have lost their vitality and become some kind of stubborn "scar".

The girl's soul has cleared, but the damage to her soul and body caused by the pollution remains.

Ian looked at the marks on Lina's body, then at her face, which bore a striking resemblance to a character in his memory who had given light to a child in a moment of crisis and whose name also happened to be "Lina." Suddenly, without any apparent reason, he muttered, "Hmm—Lina—that name, no wonder I became Ultraman Tiga 99."

He lamented the impermanence of life.

The large intestine wraps the small intestine.

Lina stared blankly at the boy in front of her, completely bewildered by his words. What did he mean by "deserves to become Tiga"? Who was Tiga?

Is that the name of the giant of light from earlier?

What does it have to do with my name?

"Don't think."

Seeing her confused expression, Ian waved his hand dismissively.

"You don't need to understand." He stood up, his gaze sharpening again as he looked at the stubborn stains on Lina's body. "You just need to know—"

He paused, a subtle, slightly wicked smile curving his lips.

"I, Ian Prince—or rather, Ian Tiga Ultraman,"

He emphasized the words "Ultraman Tiga," as if to stress a certain ownership, implying that it wasn't just about "borrowing" light from a dying child.

His gaze deepened, as if he were staring at something deeper, something more essential.

"The darkness that settles in the hearts of adults"—I can borrow that too.

As soon as he finished speaking, under Lina's increasingly bewildered and uneasy gaze, Ian raised his right hand again.

But this time, what gathered in his palm was no longer that warm, fiery, hopeful golden light.

Instead, it is a kind of deep, restrained, pure darkness that seems to devour all light!

"Look at me—"

Ian gave a low shout and made a sudden "grabbing" motion with his right hand towards the faint stains on Lina's body!

"Dark Tiga - Transformation!!!"

Imagination is indeed omnipotent.

With Ian's low shout, the pure "darkness" that he had gathered in his palm suddenly seemed to come alive, transforming into countless fine, hair-like, yet incredibly tough black energy threads. Like predators with life and purpose, they shot out instantly, precisely wrapping around every remaining trace of pollution on Lina's soul projection!

Those dull scales, the shrunken gill clefts, the black lines writhing beneath the skin—all the "existences" that represent Cthulhu's corruption and mutation.

They were all tightly bound by these black energy threads!

"Ugh—!"

Lina groaned, feeling a strange, cold sensation from the entangled areas—not pain, but a feeling of being "stripped" and "sucked."

She could see that the black energy threads were faintly glowing, and the contamination marks entangled by them were becoming increasingly dark and "concentrated" at a visible speed, as if some kind of "essence" was being forcibly extracted from them.

Peel it off!

This is neither purification nor dispelling.

This is — "plunder"!

Yes, Ian is using his incredible imagination and profound understanding of the concept of "Tiga" to forcibly redefine, transform, and then—absorb into his own body the negative and insane "polluted energy" originating from Cthulhu in Lina's body!

He wants to transform this "darkness" into his own power! Just like Dark Tiga, who can absorb enemy attacks and negative energy to strengthen himself!

Of course, this process is extremely dangerous. Cthulhu's contamination is rife with madness and uncontrollability; direct absorption is tantamount to setting oneself on fire. But Ian did not absorb it blindly.

The "black energy threads" he used to entangle and extract contained his understanding of the "Raven's" power regarding "transformation," "bearing," and "destiny."

It's more like a sophisticated "filter" and "converter".

He did not absorb the original madness, but rather absorbed the relatively "pure" high concentration of negative energy essence after stripping away its harmful "will" and "information".

"Dark Tiga, help me!"

As the contaminants were removed, Lina felt a sense of relief. The pain in the areas that had been aching, cold, and twisted quickly subsided, and the strange sensations lessened.

The shimmering scales on her skin gradually faded and disappeared, the cracks in her cheeks smoothed out, and the black lines faded and vanished as quickly as ink dissipated.

But at the same time, she also saw that an amazing change was beginning to occur in Ian across from her!

As more and more stripped and transformed "dark" energy flowed into Ian's body through the black threads, his previously pale complexion began to be veiled with a faint, unhealthy gray. Deep within his cold eyes, a dark current seemed to be surging.

Even more noticeable was the thin but undeniable layer of dark energy, like a liquid shadow, that began to slowly flow and outline across his body!

His demeanor was also subtly changing. He had lost some of the passion and radiance of "Tiga's" transformation, and gained a profound, all-consuming silence and—a chilling majesty!

"What's wrong with you?"

Lina quickly asked.

Ian did not answer.

Finally, after the last stubborn trace of pollution was peeled off and absorbed from Lina's body, all the black energy threads suddenly retracted and disappeared into Ian's palm.

"Um?"

Lina staggered, steadied herself, and looked down at herself. Her skin was smooth and without any abnormalities. Except for some weak and cold memories remaining deep in her soul, her "soul" had returned to a completely human form! It even felt "cleaner" than before it was corrupted!

It was as if all the filth had been completely removed.

Ian stood quietly in place, his eyes closed. The thin layer of dark energy on his skin slowly seeped into his body and disappeared.

When he opened his eyes again, they had returned to their usual coldness and calmness, but upon closer inspection, they seemed to be slightly deeper and darker than before.

It seems to draw people's gaze in.

He slowly exhaled a breath carrying a faint chill and flexed his wrists.

"Hmm—the quality is alright, but there are too many impurities, making it difficult to process." He spoke as if evaluating a piece of food, his tone flat.

Lina stared at him in disbelief.

Looking at her hands, now completely healed, her voice trembled with shock and gratitude: "You—you absorbed the pollution from my body? You—you're alright?"

"It's nothing," Ian glanced at her. "This level of darkness" doesn't bother me. It's just—an extra meal."

He paused, looking at Lina's still somewhat weak soul projection, and at the complex emotions in her eyes that were a mixture of gratitude, confusion, and a hint of worry.

"The contamination has been cleared, but your soul is weakened as a result, and the connection to Cthulhu, though severed, leaves traces and blanks."

Ian said.

At the same time, he raised his hand again.

This time, what shone from the fingertips was no longer golden or black light, but a more restrained, stable, dark silver radiance carrying a faint sense of time and foreshadowing—pure raven power.

"As agreed, and also to prevent you from being targeted by similar things again—" Ian's fingertip gently touched Lina's forehead.

"From this day forward, you are the prophet of the 'Raven.'"

The dark silver light flowed gently yet firmly into the core of Lina's soul, beginning to build a new, stable cognitive framework and power foundation for her, bearing the mark of the "Raven".

This time, it's no longer about forcibly waking up and stripping away, but about gently giving and connecting.

Lina felt a cold but orderly, vast but not crazy power surge into her weak soul, like a clear spring welcoming parched earth.

The "blanks" and "scars" left by the cleansing of pollution were quickly filled and smoothed out by this force. A new, clear "vision," as if one could vaguely perceive the flow of time and fragments of the future, slowly unfolded in her consciousness. At the same time, she also felt that a stable and strange connection, like that between an apprentice and a mentor, had been established deep within her soul with the mysterious young man before her.

"Raven—Raven??" she murmured repeatedly, feeling the newfound power within her, her gaze towards Ian filled with awe and an indescribable shock.

Ian withdrew his hand and nodded. "It's basically done. Your soul needs time to adjust and recover. Now, it's time to leave this hellhole for good."

"I'll send you away." He turned and looked at the dream's remnants, which had become extremely unstable due to the successive battles and were now almost entirely reduced to basic information flow. Then, he stretched out his hands, a pure golden spot of light appearing in his left palm, while a wisp of deep darkness lingered in his right palm.

He slowly brought his hands together.

Light and darkness touched and collided in his palm, and then—under the harmonization and control of the power of "Raven," an extremely delicate and dangerous balance was achieved!

A completely new force.

Neither pure light nor pure darkness, but a silvery-gray energy that combined the characteristics of "order," "boundary breaking," and "time guidance" burst forth from his clasped hands!

"Guided by light and darkness, steered by ravens—open the dream corridor for me!"

As Ian finished speaking.

The silver-gray energy transformed into a spiraling beam of light, relentlessly bombarding the weakest point in this remnant of the dream, the point most likely to connect with reality!

A stable, clear "portal," radiating a sense of reality, slowly opened under the impact of the silver-gray light pillar! The silver-gray energy portal stabilized and took shape within the dream's remnants, revealing the scene of the real world outside—the swaying dark silver force field, Kag's anxious face...

And Saruman's solemn and weary face.

now.

Like a beacon of hope, it is clearly visible.

"Walk!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Ian grabbed Lina, who was still immersed in the rebirth of her soul and the perception of power, and leaped towards the portal where light flowed!

The feeling of passing through a portal is completely different from traveling through a dream.

It was a distinct sense of "return," like a diver finally breaking the surface and breathing fresh air again. The chaotic energy flow, the frantic whispers, and the distorted scenes quickly receded, replaced by the familiar, albeit still oppressive and dangerous, yet relatively stable "texture" of the real dimension.

A flash of light.

In Cthulhu's territory, Ian and Lina opened their eyes, their consciousness reappearing in the small and fragile dark silver field that the elderly Saruman was struggling to maintain.

"Lina!!"

Kag was the first to react.

He was very happy to see Lina appear unharmed, with all the terrible signs of mutation on her body gone, and even her complexion looking rosier than before.

The man was so excited he almost jumped up. He rushed forward, but then stopped a few steps away, looking at the girl cautiously.

I fear that this is just a beautiful illusion.

at this time.

"We succeeded! History has changed!"

Saruman was also invigorated, his eyes gleaming with barely suppressed delight.

He could clearly sense that Lina's soul aura was completely different! It was no longer the weak and chaotic one that had been frantically eroded and was on the verge of collapse, but rather a new aura that, though still very faint, was exceptionally pure, stable, and carried a strange rhythm of time and prophecy!

history.

It has been rewritten!

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