At point-blank range, the Serpent King's Gaze was devastating—even Voldemort's Horcrux stood no chance.
Golden light blazed forth, and everything it touched turned to stone.
The black smoke surrounding Voldemort dissipated, replaced by a stone statue frozen in his likeness. The Hands of Decay—whether the ones grasping Sean, those holding the chains, or the massive one looming above—all turned to stone, falling from the void and crashing to the ground with a thunderous impact.
Sean returned to the ground, reverting to his human form. He collapsed, gasping heavily as he pulled out numerous potions from his Undetectable Extension Bag and gulped them down desperately.
A considerable time passed before Sean finally regained some energy.
The Serpent King's Gaze was truly devastating, but its consumption matched its power. Each use completely drained him. Hopefully after the fourth Magic Awakening, it would improve somewhat.
Standing up, Sean looked at Voldemort's shattered stone statue and walked straight to Ravenclaw's Diadem. Looking at the now-dim artefact, Sean drew his wand and flicked it upward. The diadem flew into the air as a thread of Fiendfyre extended from his wand tip like a whip, lashing at it. The Horcrux split in half under the Fiendfyre thread and clattered to the ground.
Immediately, black smoke mixed with piercing shrieks erupted from the broken diadem, rushing to the top of the chamber and forming rolling black clouds that churned violently.
Sean watched Voldemort's face appearing and disappearing within the roiling darkness, then waved his wand again, dispersing the black clouds into nothingness, annihilating this fragment of Voldemort's soul.
Having eliminated the Voldemort soul fragment from Ravenclaw's Diadem Horcrux, Sean finally opened his status panel to check the background notifications and receive the extracted abilities.
[Duel Won!]
[Conditions Met: Victory Against Horcrux Soul Fragment.]
[System Commencing Random Ability Extraction from Defeated Target: Tom Riddle (Ravenclaw's Diadem Fragment).]
[Opponent Strength Assessment: Legendary. Drawing Four Abilities.]
[Extracting...]
Sean felt an overwhelming invasion of knowledge pierce through his mental barriers—the ability to peer into minds, the art of marking and tracking, enhanced casting speed that felt like time itself had slowed, and a surge of raw magical awakening that resonated deep within his core.
[Extraction Complete!]
[New Skill Acquired: Legilimency LV5]
[New Curse Acquired: Magic Mark LV4]
[New Talent Acquired: Swift Casting LV4]
[Talent Enhanced: Magic Awakening (4/7)]
With Level 5 Legilimency, as long as the target hadn't used Occlumency and wasn't guarded against him, he could roughly sense some of their thoughts even without deliberate effort—detecting whether they were lying or harbouring hostility.
As for Level 4 Magic Mark, this was ancient magic. The Dark Mark that Voldemort branded on his Death Eaters was created using this spell. The marks allowed those branded to feel his summons, and through them he could sense their location and general condition, even punishing the marked or performing other interventions through the mark's connection.
Quite useful.
As for the final two talents—setting aside Magic Awakening, which Sean had long anticipated (though it seemed to be brewing and hadn't fully activated yet)—Swift Casting was a pleasant surprise. Previously raised to Level 2 from Moody, it had now jumped straight to Level 4, a massive improvement to Sean's casting speed.
"Oh, this feeling... here it comes..."
Quickly finding an abandoned sofa, Sean lay down, expecting to lose consciousness. But as the Magic Awakening sensation grew stronger, Sean realised he showed no signs of passing out this time.
What was happening? An upgraded version?
Before Sean could figure it out, intense pain spread from deep within his body, making him grunt and clutch the worn sofa.
He'd thought he would lose consciousness or endure this wave of pain, but unexpectedly, this pain—like every cell in his body was being torn apart—intensified in waves, washing over Sean's body and sanity like relentless ocean waves.
"Ahh..."
Sean, who had been trying to endure it, finally cried out.
The strain made the cry sound somewhat melodious, which struck Sean as absurd even through the pain.
What ridiculous thoughts, he told himself.
The intense pain continued washing over him. Sean took a deep breath, dismissed these random thoughts, closed his eyes, and focused on the changes in his body.
An age seemed to pass before the changes in Sean's body reached their peak. He suddenly opened his eyes as his spiritual sight activated on its own. A scene Sean had never witnessed before appeared in his vision.
From the void extended countless faint threads of various colours—crimson, azure, emerald, gold, silver. Like shy tentacles, they continuously touched Sean's body before immediately retracting. Meanwhile, Sean's body also had numerous multi-coloured threads extending outward, constantly waving and seeking. Occasionally when threads from Sean's body caught those from the void, they immediately tightened, pulling those ethereal strands from the void and drawing them into Sean's body.
What were these threads? Could they be the source of magical power itself?
Then what were the threads from his body—his own internal magic reaching out?
Could these threads be controlled?
Feeling the pain within subside, Sean focussed his mind and tried controlling the threads from his body. But there were too many—hundreds, perhaps thousands, all moving independently. He couldn't fully control them all at once. Seeing this lack of progress, Sean exhaled and concentrated again, attempting to control a single thread extending from his right arm.
At first, Sean couldn't figure it out, but gradually he gained some sense of it and successfully made that thread twitch slightly. Though just once, it proved these threads were controllable!
They could be controlled! Then...
His eyes narrowed as the glow in his pupils brightened further. Under full concentration, that thread gradually came completely under Sean's control, moving with increasing flexibility like an extension of his will.
Just then, a white thread extended from the void, drifting lazily towards him. Sean immediately manipulated his own thread to wrap around the white one and pulled it into his body.
Pop...
A faint sound like a bubble bursting.
That thread from the void was pulled into Sean's body by his own thread. As this single strand entered, immense magical power exploded from within, instantly destroying everything around Sean in a shockwave of raw energy. He involuntarily floated above the ground, his body moving awkwardly as magical power surged through every fibre of his being, like someone who'd been overwhelmed by far too much.