Hogwarts: My name is the Unforgivable Curse...

Chapter 371 The Power of the Soul

For the first time, he felt he was no longer a collection of life force, spirit, and soul, but a truly unified whole from the inside out, a complete and seamless individual, without the slightest discord. Every thought he had originated from the depths of his soul, and every ounce of power he mobilized contained the full strength and potential of his entire being…

"Is this... what it feels like to manipulate the soul?"

The five-second countdown felt incredibly long to Avada at that moment, so long that he even had the leisure to open his palm, carefully examine every line on his palm, feel the unprecedented power generated between his five fingers, and feel the jubilation and excitement emanating from the wand in his right hand.

His mental strength and vitality seemed to be lifted by a deeper force, soaring to a height he had never experienced before. His attention span, observation skills, thinking speed, coordination, and even the clarity of his vision within his magical senses… everything was completely different from the previous moment!

This was the first time Avada Kedavra had used soul magic on himself—after stripping the soul fragments from Harry, his understanding of the soul knowledge he remembered reached a whole new level, allowing him to gradually master the method of directly applying soul magic to himself over those five months. Although he could only use the most rudimentary power at present, having a soul and not having a soul were clearly two completely different realms.

"So this is what all the wielders of the Elder Wand felt... No, it's probably beyond the Elder Wand itself. After all, the Elder Wand was just an external object, while I'm now personally harnessing the power of my own soul..."

"I wonder what level of strength I can achieve in my current state?"

Meanwhile, Dumbledore's countdown continued to echo in the ears of the spectators and warriors outside the arena, constantly stirring everyone's heartstrings...

"three……"

"two……"

"one!"

"Battle begins!"

The protective barrier that had separated the warriors from the dozens of dark wizards vanished abruptly, and Dumbledore's last words reached their ears at the same time. With the dissipation of the shield, they felt themselves suddenly exposed to an incredibly dangerous atmosphere; dozens of fierce eyes were fixed on them, along with an equal number of wands…

The next moment, the other two warriors besides Avada, namely Krum and Fleur, simultaneously made the same choice – the Disillusionment Curse!

Even in Durmstrang, a country most tolerant of dark magic, the Disillusionment Charm, a rule-breaking weapon, definitely falls under the category of controlled magic. However, having known the content of this challenge more than five months in advance, and knowing that there would be no magical restrictions in this competition, the warriors had already spent those five months frantically learning and training their combat skills, and with the support of their headmaster, they had also mastered a large number of spells that originally belonged to controlled magic.

According to Krum in one conversation, Karkaroff once intended to teach him the Unforgivable Charm directly, but Krum, who only wanted to be a Quidditch player, refused without hesitation—which shows how much pressure they were facing.

"Krum is about to cast another stealth spell, probably planning to ambush from the shadows; the Veela bloodline within Fleur is gradually being activated, it seems she intends to unleash a barrage of firepower across the entire area..."

With his magical senses, Avada could clearly see Krum and Fleur's movements, while most of the dark wizards were still unaware of what was happening. Since they had been deprived of their ability to speak and could not communicate, the scene between them was somewhat chaotic—which was undoubtedly an advantage for the warriors.

However, it's estimated that by the time the first warrior launches his attack, they'll have realized the current situation and begun their counterattack...

"We need to take care of the toughest guys first—no, maybe not."

Avada's enhanced mind was enough to allow him to consider numerous thoughts in an instant. And now, in the very first second after the shield disappeared, he didn't even use any spells for stealth or defense. He was exposed to the range of numerous wands without any defense, quietly watching everyone's every move—in slow motion.

"Then let's start with you."

His thoughts shifted, and his gaze fell upon Barty Crouch Jr., who had just cast an extremely difficult Silent Illusionary Charm and was now observing the situation from a corner: 'The combat power to defeat Moody through a sneak attack... I wonder what level that exactly is?'

"Smack."

With a soft pop, Avada's body vanished from its spot without warning and suddenly reappeared less than a meter in front of Barty. If it were before he mastered soul magic, he would probably have carefully infiltrated the spatial interlayer first, and then used the Disillusionment Charm to launch a sneak attack from behind.

And now... there's no need to do these pointless things anymore.

"!!!"

Seeing a figure appear out of nowhere, Barty, already extremely tense, instantly sprang to his senses. His body convulsed as he raised his wand and unleashed a powerful dark spell at the figure. Although he hadn't cast spells or fought in over a decade, his constant resistance to the Imperius Curse had honed his mental strength to a whole new level. He was now confident he wouldn't lose to any of his master's former Death Eaters, and basic silent dark magic was second nature to him!

"It's not bad that you could sense my location from the Disillusionment Charm, but you should have come behind me, you reckless brat..."

As he watched a powerful spell, strong enough to knock down an Auror, gush forth from his wand and instantly gild the warrior's chest, Barty's lips curled into a savage grin.

Then, in the next moment, a phenomenon that he could not comprehend at all came into his view—the young warrior in front of him, who was about to be struck by the spell, suddenly had his arm and wand move as if on their own, rising to his chest at a speed beyond human comprehension, and the tip of the wand firmly "stuck" to the spell he had just released...

Then, with a gentle flick of his wand, the spell reversed direction on the spot, even becoming more dazzling, and struck Barty's chest with greater speed and precision—before Barty's lips had even fully curled up.

"Bang!"

As the dark magic entered his body, a muffled thud sounded from Little Barty's chest, and at the same time, his eyes bulged slightly outward, as if a large amount of blood was about to burst from his mouth and nose...

"That was ruthless... He recovered completely and collapsed unconscious."

Before the first drop of blood could spurt from his mouth and nose, Avada's wand was already pressed against his chest, instantly healing the severely injured Barty with an unprecedented Restore Charm and a Stun Charm that came with "Double Casting," and putting him into a deep coma...

It took one second to deal with Barty.

(End of this chapter)