[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV
Japan.
...
...
"One of those shadows has just appeared!", said the reporter, shouting in Japanese to the camera, microphone in hand, while pointing at Igris and reporting that the redhead who had taken down the first giant in the West was still on the ground with a severed tendon.
And now, Rosaria was on top of the building, staring at the black knight with the other giant missing a leg below them, on the street that separated both buildings where they were.
Igris merely moved his head in acknowledgment toward Rosário and advanced against the giant by jumping off the building, while the reporters filmed everything. In just a few moments, he vanished with his high speed far beyond what the naked eye could perceive and cut off the creature's head after several strikes circling it, moving at extremely high speed.
"The first giant of the city has been killed!!", exclaimed the reporter.
They saw the knight immediately advance toward the other giant, who was trying to recover, still on his knees, with Igris moving across the rooftops past Rosaria.
That giant looked like a wounded prey while the predator was approaching, as he still struggled to get up with the injured tendon. He barely had time to react when the knight arrived, first removing both eyes with a single slash.
The giant screamed in pain, and blood sprayed everywhere, while the vampires — Dracula among them — stared at the scene, completely stunned.
"This is one of his soldiers… and he is more powerful than me?", murmured Dracula, unable to believe it, swallowing hard.
He was one of the most powerful beings in the world. That was until he met Severus Prince — a young man who had faced him in his own castle as an intruder and had entered the portrait presented by his daughter more than 7 months ago. That same young man was now powerful enough to crush Dracula himself as if he were nothing, with just a single movement, just as his daughter claimed.
Something he did not doubt, since Voldemort had possessed a strength similar to his and had been crushed as if he were nothing by Severus.
Now, before them, the shadow soldier demonstrated monstrous strength as he advanced to bring down the second giant, delivering the final blow. The head was removed, and the creature lost all movement, being completely exterminated. That shadow, just a soldier, was more powerful than Dracula; because of that, he was troubled by this fact.
The others who saw this as well were stunned. Rosário approached her father by apparition, still staring at the scene.
"What was that…?", murmured Milicia, continuing to watch without knowing how to express herself. Still quite weakened, even with the potions used, it would take time for her to recover. She could no longer enter battle there in Japan.
"He is Igris, Sev's royal knight. He was his first great shadow. That's what he told me.", explained Rosário.
"He is incredible… and that over there is just a soldier of your husband", murmured her sister.
"Yes."
"Well… You all seem quite shocked, so I'll write this down here. Do you have anything else to add? Can I portray in the newspaper how the terrible Dracula is surprised by the shadow Igris?", a voice suddenly said.
Everyone immediately turned around, seeing a man jotting things down very close to the high-ranking vampires.
"Who…?", Dracula asked, stunned. That man hadn't been there a second ago.
Immediately, all the vampires surrounded the man, assuming stances ready to attack. He, however, didn't care, continuing to scribble calmly.
"Well, I suppose I can assume that Miss Rosário brought down one of the giants, and that Severus's shadows finished off the two giants of the city...", he said, finishing his writing without caring about anything else, while staring at everyone with a suspicious look.
"You're the one who was at the tribunal…", Rosário said immediately, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Where are my manners… Well, my name is Steve Vujin. I'm a journalist from Pasquim. I'm writing for England, doing exclusive interviews about what's happening in Japan. My first paper should already be arriving at everyone's homes in England at this moment, with our signature on it...", he said with a friendly smile.
"How are you here, on our side, without anyone noticing, while there are dozens of vampires here?", Dracula stepped forward, looking seriously at the man.
But Vujin simply didn't care and kept looking directly at Rosário.
"You will certainly make for a story as well. You and your future husband encountering Igris on the battlefield… I'd like to take a photo of the two of you right now and write a story about two lovers in the middle of a war! So it would be good to find him to give me a great piece. He's been a bit grumpy with me lately, so he won't listen to me, you know. And I need to sell newspapers to survive now!", he said in a dramatic tone, while Rosário made a face at the suggestion.
That was when Dracula, irritated, advanced and grabbed his shirt, squeezing tightly. "I told you to say how you got here!", he said angrily.
That man was a threat. This became clear when Steve Vujin simply stopped writing and stared at Dracula, not liking to see his professional clothes being wrinkled.
In the next moment, his eyes turned yellow before everyone, glowing with something dangerous. Dracula immediately released him and took a step back. Sweat began to run down his face, and even his daughters looked stunned, while the surrounding vampires grew uneasy upon seeing the most powerful among them show fear.
Dracula pointed at Steve. "I remember you…", he murmured.
Memories from centuries ago surfaced. Those glowing yellow eyes. Dracula had only been spared back then by that mysterious man, who did not wear that appearance — but the eyes were the same, by choice.
Dracula had been crushed in a confrontation involving that man, without any difficulty. On that day, Dracula believed he was going to die.
"There is no time for old intrigues, Mr. Dracula. I am now working as a journalist. So please, do not try to interfere with my work, inconvenient as I may be," he said in a playful tone, before disappearing before everyone.
Everyone looked around and saw the yellow-eyed reporter appear before Igris's shadow beside the dead giant, at a distance from the group of vampires, while the wizards began to land on top of the dead giant as well, watching in surprise from their brooms.
But the scene truly began when the knight became visibly cautious of the man's presence and attacked him with his sword, yet he could not hit Steve, as he disappeared and reappeared at various points around the shadow, studying him, continuing to make notes on his paper in a rather peculiar manner.
Suddenly, without changing anything in the space, he was once again beside the vampires.
"Miss Rosário, think about what I said. Romance will certainly sell many newspapers. Now I'll be heading to more battlefields to photograph and write new articles."
With that, he disappeared.
The vampires were confused by that, but they did not know what to do. A chill ran through Rosário's body as she approached her father with some concern.
"Father, what was that?", Rosário asked carefully.
Dracula merely sighed. "That thing, whatever it is, is ancient. Eight hundred years ago, I encountered him. He could have killed me, but spared me merely on a whim. I do not know what that being is, nor why he acts that way, but he is very dangerous. Perhaps there is nothing else in this world that compares to him… not even your fiancé," Dracula said in a serious tone.
Igris himself tried to attack him with his sword when he became unbearable, but Steve merely dodged, disappearing and reappearing behind him and at other blind spots, while continuing to scribble in his notebook as if it were no inconvenience at all to see the knight who had killed two giants attacking him.
At the same time, in England, everyone began to receive the Pasquim newspaper, sent directly to the homes of the entire wizarding world.
No one knew how that was possible, but all subscribers — who until then numbered only a few hundred — received the exclusive edition, and the news spread immediately, even before the Daily Prophet could continue covering the press conference at the Japanese Ministry of Magic, where attention was still focused. The peculiar newspaper was showing the battlefield firsthand, before any other news coming from Japan, and the article was somehow already complete.
Upon hearing reports from other families who had already received the newspaper, new readers began to subscribe rapidly, sending owls and Patronuses requesting the paper as well.
In the next moment, Pasquim subscriptions simply exploded throughout England. Everyone wanted to know what was happening and who he was.
As the newspaper already carried detailed information about the state of the battlefield faster than the radios themselves, with Severus Prince at the center of the events, everyone sought answers, and newspapers began to fall at the doors and chimneys of subscribing wizards.
The front page featured nothing less than the very photo idealized by Steve: Severus in the devastated city, at the exact moment he punched the first giant, bringing it down with a single blow. The headline was clear and eye-catching:
"Severus Prince, the strongest man in the world, brings down the first giant with just one punch."
The cover image showed Severus captured by Steve's camera at the instant of the strike, with buildings exploding in the background. Wizards all over England stared at it in shock, wondering how someone could have become so strong. They had always known that Severus's magic was powerful — he had taken down the Dark Lord... but seeing him do that with nothing but his own fist was something inconceivable.
England went into shock at that moment.
The rest of the article detailed the events in the city, explaining how Severus arrived to protect a family, attacked the giant from a distance with lightning, and was the first to wound the creatures. Another part showed the dead giant, its head severed, bringing even more details of the confrontation.
Even so, everyone was left speechless by the news — and, above all, by Severus's current strength. Discussions broke out everywhere.
Those who knew Severus closely and sympathized with him could not help but look at him with admiration, while those who still considered him an enemy felt fear creep through their minds.
Plans of revenge — whether for some family member killed by Severus or for ideologies tied to pure blood — began to be reconsidered when they saw the monstrous being he had become. Many began to think twice before trying to devise any plan against him.
At Potter Manor, James and Sirius grimaced as they read the newspaper, while James's parents looked quite worried about it, already knowing that their son had tormented Severus Snape at school in the early years, and now that same boy had shown something far beyond what a human being should be capable of.
At Black Manor, Regulus read the newspaper beside Kreacher, his house-elf, observing the images of Severus fighting in Japan.
"I told you he was very dangerous", Kreacher murmured, with a certain fear. He had planned to insult Severus for being a half-blood when he was at the manor, but he had always had the chance to see him, a strange sensation about the kind of dark monster he was, seeing that dark aura like an abyss covering him as if it were part of him — that was even before Severus acquired the strength he now possessed.
"I am going to Japan!", a voice shouted, pulling Regulus out of his thoughts while he was in the living room.
He raised his gaze and saw Bellatrix, the newspaper still in her hands, heading toward the entrance hall where the fireplace was.
"Wait! Bellatrix, you can't just leave like this!", their grandmother said sternly.
"No. I am going. I'll be fine, grandmother", she growled.
"And how do you intend to go? We don't have Portkey keys to get there", Astraea mocked.
Bellatrix stared her straight in the face. It was a rare opportunity to stand up to the matriarch; normally, she lowered her head to everything she was told, but not this time.
"I am Severus Prince's fiancée. That's all. I can go find him there easily, and no one will stop me when I say who I am", Bellatrix replied, moving toward the fireplace.
Astraea remained still, watching as her granddaughter simply grabbed the Floo powder, said "Ministry", and disappeared in green flames.
"Grandmother...?" Regulus murmured uncertainly as he entered the room at that moment, seeing the confusion. His grandmother was still staring at the fireplace with intense eyes, where Bellatrix had disappeared.
"That girl has truly become a rebel! There's nothing to be done. With the title of Severus Prince's fiancée, she will certainly manage to get to Japan. I only hope she doesn't get herself killed", she murmured, and finally looked at her other grandson, forming a faint smile.
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