The wheelchair-bound warrior is speedrunning Hogwarts.

After leaving the Gryffindor common room, Vera remained silent the entire way. Following her along the familiar yet unfamiliar path, they soon arrived opposite the tapestry depicting the giant stick beating up Barnabas on the eighth floor.

Sera stopped and turned to look at her: "You have all the privileges of Hogwarts, so you should know what's behind this wall, right?"

“Of course.” Vera smiled, but instead of brute-forcing the issue with her privileges, she obediently followed the procedure, silently reciting something in her mind, and passed through the wall in front of her three times.

Soon, the walls slowly parted to the sides, and the warm light of the Response Room flowed out.

To Sera's surprise, everything in the room seemed a little strange.

There was plenty of space, but in addition, there were some oddly shaped cushions and practice equipment, as well as a bookshelf that looked a bit too low.

"What were you thinking about just now?" she couldn't help but ask.

Vera looked at everything before her with a touch of nostalgia, then smiled, turned her head and winked at her mysteriously: "You'll find out later."

Although somewhat bewildered, Sera quickly accepted the situation.

For them today, what the Room of Requirement looks like is not important; what matters is…

As she was thinking, she suddenly turned her head to look at the air beside her, as if she had noticed something, and only turned back after a while.

Is it just my imagination?

Why did she have that illusion for a moment just now, as if someone was watching her?

“So,” Vera stepped forward, feigning ignorance, “what do you want with me here?”

Sera took a deep breath, then stepped back and even drew her wand.

“I’ll fight you.” She looked intently into Vera’s eyes and said, word by word, “As a fellow user of ancient magic, I challenge you as the guardian of the Vault.”

"If you win, you can succeed me and become the future guardian of the Vault."

Vera stared at her taut jawline for a moment, then quickly understood.

"You planned to do this from the very beginning?" She stepped forward slowly, gently pressed down on Sera's raised wrist, and slowly pressed down the cold wand.

If Vera wins and becomes the guardian of the secret vault, she will be responsible for guarding it and will never be able to leave.

This is indeed a good idea. Sera must have realized that the so-called invisible hand was related to Hogwarts, which is why she wanted to strongly bind herself to the position of the Vault Keeper.

Sera's thoughts were exposed, and the tips of her ears turned slightly red, but she still stubbornly raised her chin slightly: "Yes, do you dare to accept this challenge?"

“But,” Vera looked at her earnestly, “is there a possibility that I could lose to you, or even if I won, I would still have to leave?”

Sera's face instantly darkened, her knuckles gripping her wand turned white, and even her breathing became heavier.

"Do you really have to say it like that?" Her voice was low, tinged with the bitterness of having all her hopes dashed.

She just... wanted to grasp at the last shred of possibility.

If she didn't do it, she would regret it for the rest of her life.

The warm light from the Requirement room fell into her crimson eyes, but it couldn't penetrate the turbulent unease within them.

She had tried her best to calculate everything, even planning to use her status as a guardian to bind her to Hogwarts, and to decide her fate with a duel, but she just couldn't fathom the irresistible force behind Vera.

Vera sighed softly, stepped forward, and reached out to touch her tense cheek.

“If you insist, I’ll fight you this round.” Vera’s fingertips gently brushed against Sera’s reddened eyes, her tone soft. “I won’t lose on purpose, nor will I use the will of Hogwarts.”

She took a step back, drew her wand, and her dark eyes shone brightly in the warm light. "I'll use only my own magic to have a serious contest with you."

Sera's hand holding the wand trembled slightly, and her crimson eyes suddenly lit up, as if she had grasped the last bit of hope.

She didn't speak again, but slowly raised her arm and pointed her wand steadily at Vera, her eyes filled with an almost devout seriousness.

Never before had she so desperately wanted to lose a duel as she did now.

Chapter Twenty-Three: Confession

The warm light in the room flowed quietly, casting long shadows of the two people facing each other.

Vera looked at the girl in front of her, who was half a head taller than her, and saw the rekindled fire in her eyes. She slowly raised her wand.

"bring it on."

The moment the words left her lips, Sera's wand drew a sharp arc, and a crimson light shot straight at Vera's face, more than twice as fast as when she dealt with the purple-horned beast.

Vera's expression hardened, and she immediately dodged to the side. With a light tap of her wand, an invisible barrier unfolded beside her. The two spells collided in the air, bursting into dazzling sparks.

Sera gave her no chance to breathe, splitting her magic into several streams with a chain of lightning spells, blocking her retreat from different directions.

Vera looked at the familiar magical trails, and the corners of her lips unconsciously curved into a smile.

These skills were ones that she learned for a long time in later generations before barely mastering, but sixteen-year-old Sera was already using them so skillfully.

Her Serra is indeed a genius.

However, I'm not bad myself now.

She leaned down slightly, not using Shadow Leap, but relying solely on her body's intuition to navigate through the gaps in the spells.

Her boots touched the ground, she spun around, and bent low. Each spell grazed the hem of her clothes, exploding into tiny cracks on the wall behind her.

Sera's attacks grew increasingly fierce, her magical threads weaving a dense, impenetrable net in the air.

Vera, on the other hand, fought and retreated continuously, occasionally using a precise Ironclad Spell to deflect fatal attacks, but never taking the initiative to strike.

"Why didn't you fight back?" Sera's voice came through the booming spell, tinged with annoyance.

“I was waiting for your opening,” Vera replied calmly, flicking her wand to deflect a petrification spell.

Sera bit her lip, and her offensive intensified.

However, this caused her spell's aim to shift, making it less precise than before.

"Aren't you going all out yet?" Vera asked, raising her voice as she effortlessly parried her spell. "Didn't you want me to stay? If you can beat me, I might consider staying!"

The moment the words left her lips, Sera suddenly stopped her attack, took a step back, and stared intently at her, slightly out of breath.

“Come on,” Vera looked her in the eye seriously, “I will take whatever spell you use, even the Killing Curse.”

Sera's eyelids twitched, and her hand gripping the wand tightened abruptly, her knuckles turning bluish-white.

How dare she... say such a thing?

The Killing Curse is forbidden, it's an abyss. How could I possibly use such a curse on Vera?

Vera said it so casually, as if it were just an ordinary promise.

The warm light from the Requirement Room fell between the two of them, but the air was as cold as if it were frozen.

Sera closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her crimson eyes were filled with an almost desperate stubbornness.

“I will keep you here,” her wand traced that familiar arc in the air, “by whatever means necessary—Avada Kedavra!”

The deadly green light suddenly tore through the air, shooting straight toward Vera with an almost insane determination.

Sera closed her eyes the instant she cast the spell, her fingertips trembling uncontrollably.

She never intended to actually kill her; she just wanted to force her to use all her power, to force her to resist, to force her to... completely suppress herself with the will of Hogwarts, and then stay there naturally.

She was betting that Vera would not die.

He was betting that the ancient castle behind Vera would never let her disappear before his eyes.

Vera stared at the green light rushing towards her, her dark eyes showing no sign of panic.

She did not summon the castle, nor raise a barrier powerful enough to crush everything, nor even take a single step back.

He simply raised his wand slightly, tracing a mysterious arc in mid-air—

Magic Conversion!

In an instant, the tip of the staff suddenly burst into brilliant light, colliding and dissolving with the green light that symbolized death before them…

Under Sera's incredulous gaze, the Killing Curse was transformed into a magical form almost instantly in a way she couldn't understand. It became an ordinary cutting curse, which was bounced against the wall and instantly exploded with a shallow scorch mark, with pebbles falling down.

She stood frozen in place, her hand holding the wand trembling uncontrollably, forgetting even to breathe.

She expected to see the phantom of Hogwarts rise from the ground, to be violently blown away by that unparalleled force, and at least to see Vera block the attack with the strongest barrier.

The only unexpected thing was that the green light, which represented absolute death, was so easily neutralized.

It's not about resisting, not about deflecting, it's about transforming.

Like turning raging fire into an evening breeze, or melting ice into spring water.

How...how did they manage to do that?

In that brief moment, Vera finally took the initiative for the first time, unleashing a disarming spell at a tricky angle from the tip of her staff!

Sera's pupils contracted slightly, and she instinctively dodged to the side, only to fall right into Vera's trap. The second spell followed immediately, striking her wrist!

The wand flew out of his hand, tracing an arc in the air before landing on the floor with a crisp sound.

The room fell silent, with only the two people's slightly rapid breathing remaining.

Sera stood still, her right hand still holding the wand, her fingertips trembling slightly.

She looked at Vera a few steps away, at that face that looked especially soft in the warm light, and felt as if something was stuck in her throat.

“You lost,” Vera said softly, putting her wand back into her sleeve. “But unfortunately, your plan didn’t work out, and we both failed.”

Sera challenged her only to make her a guardian and to try to bind her to the Vault with this responsibility.

But even after the victory, Vera's countdown has not stopped.

In other words, even if she defeats Sera, she still has to go back.

Time will not be kind to her just because she has acquired a so-called identity.

Sera didn't speak, she just stood there panting, her eyes churning with too many emotions: resentment, grievance, and a deeper despair.

She has done her best; she has been doing her best ever since Christmas Eve when she was six years old.

I tried my best to wait, tried my best to catch up, and tried my best to keep this person by my side.

But every time, it ends the same way.

Vera looked at those eyes that were gradually dimming, walked over, bent down to pick up the wand from the ground, and walked back to Sera.

"Your wand." She handed the wand over.

Sera didn't answer; she just lowered her head, her long hair falling down and covering most of her face.

“You’re always like this.” Her voice was soft, as if she were talking to herself. “Every time I think I can keep you, every time I think that just a little more effort will be enough. But no matter how hard I try, you still leave.”

Vera's grip on the wand tightened slightly.

She sighed silently, reached out, and gently brushed aside Sera's stray hairs.

That face, which always carried a calm and stubborn air, was now almost transparently pale, its crimson eyes filled with tears, stubbornly refusing to look at her.

"I'm sorry," Vera said softly, gently wiping away the tears welling up in her eyes with her fingertips. "I've made you wait so long and made you so sad."

Sera abruptly turned her face away, but she cupped her cheeks and gently turned her back.

“I didn’t lie to you.” Vera’s voice was soft, but unusually firm. “I said I would answer your question, and I will.”

Warm light fell between the two of them, and the air was so quiet that they could hear each other's heartbeats.

Vera gazed into those crimson eyes, brimming with grievance and resentment, and slowly began to recount a story spanning a century:

“I come from the very, very distant future, farther than you can imagine. In that era, you were already the most powerful professor at Hogwarts, the guardian of the Vault of Secrets for a hundred years.”

Sera's eyelashes trembled violently as she stared at her blankly.

"I met you, got to know you, and fell in love with you in that era, and then... I returned here and met you as you are now."

Sera's breath hitched, and she froze on the spot, her fingertips trembling slightly.

"You mean..." Her voice was slightly shaky, as if it came from a very far place, "...we will be together in the future?"

Vera nodded, her dark eyes gleaming with gentle light: "Yes."

Sera stood there, stunned, tears welling up in her crimson eyes, softening all her stubbornness and grievances.

She opened her mouth, wanting to ask many questions—what would she be like in the future, how did they get together, and whether Vera's future self was more worthy of her than she was now.

But all the questions stuck in his throat, and in the end he could only squeeze out a bitter question: "But... it will only be a hundred years from now?"

Vera hesitated, pressing her lips together. Although she didn't answer, her eyes said it all.

For a moment, Sera's eyelashes trembled violently, and scalding tears finally broke free and rolled down her cool cheeks, landing on Vera's hand, burning hot.

One hundred years, she actually wants to wait another one hundred years.