A beam of magical light shot out from the tip of the wand once more. Boom! Accompanied by a violent explosion, the lower half of Salazar Slytherin's statue's face was blown to pieces by Amanda's Explosion Charm.
The passage hidden within the mouth of the Slytherin statue was revealed.
A large, pitch-black hole, perfectly sized for the Basilisk to move in and out of.
Amanda held her wand with a slightly trembling right hand, blood constantly trickling from her mouth and nose.
Having cast five Cruciatus Curses on herself in a row, her body had reached its absolute limit.
An ordinary person in such a situation would have likely fainted outright or even gone insane.
But that she could still persist in staying conscious and break into the Chamber of Secrets was already incredible.
The rustling sound of scales rubbing together rang out; its home had been blown up.
With that deafening explosion and the intense tremors, it would have been hard for the dormant Basilisk not to wake up.
Hearing the rustling friction grow louder, Amanda immediately closed her eyes.
At the same time, her brain, which felt like it was about to split open from the pain, instinctively began to integrate information and think.
When she encountered the Basilisk before, its attacks were clearly aimed at Ginny—or rather, at the version of Voldemort possessing Ginny.
After all, Ginny didn't know the Basilisk at all, nor had she ever been in contact with it.
Furthermore, at the final moment when she used her own body to protect Ginny, the Basilisk had stopped attacking.
Amanda was basically certain that the one the Basilisk wanted to kill was likely Voldemort.
However, judging from the fact that she was injured and Hermione was petrified by the Basilisk...
The Basilisk probably just wouldn't kill Hogwarts students, but it was a ferocious beast after all and could never be truly domesticated.
Therefore, it was very possible for it to injure students or even Professors.
Thus, the Basilisk still posed an immense threat to Hermione and everyone at Hogwarts.
Especially Hermione... it had already petrified her.
Though her brain was in pain, it was incredibly sharp; based on the sound of the Basilisk's scales rubbing against the ground, a model of the Chamber of Secrets including the Basilisk was rapidly generated in her mind.
Using the Levitation Charm to lift herself high into the air, Amanda, with her eyes closed, faced the Basilisk that had just crawled out of the statue.
The Basilisk raised its head high and looked at Amanda. "Hiss!"
In the next moment, it opened its bloody maw and let out a deafening roar at her.
A single one of its fangs was as large as Amanda's palm, and its massive body coiled on the ground was full of overwhelming pressure.
It was originally the final insurance Salazar Slytherin had left at Hogwarts.
To ensure that no traitors colluding with the outside world would arise at Hogwarts, and to ensure that if Hogwarts were ever conquered, the students would have a final means of counterattack.
But it was a Basilisk after all, and only Slytherin himself could control it; as for anyone else, the Basilisk didn't care and couldn't be bothered.
As long as it didn't kill them, it was fine. As for why it was hunting down the Ginny possessed by Voldemort...
That was simple: because fifty years ago, Voldemort had used it to murder Moaning Myrtle.
It could feel that Salazar Slytherin wasn't dead; he was still at Hogwarts.
Once Slytherin found out about this, it would surely be killed.
That was why it was so desperately trying to kill the Ginny possessed by Voldemort.
As for the safety of Ginny, the possessed person? It was her own fault for being possessed; she might as well be counted as a traitor to Hogwarts.
And that little girl it had petrified—it was just petrification, she could still recover. The Basilisk didn't think much of it.
From its simple perspective, it was already doing well by not intending to kill the Hogwarts students, and that was only because it feared Slytherin.
But now, a little girl had actually delivered herself to its doorstep and even blown up its home; it couldn't be blamed for losing its temper.
At the same time, Amanda made her final decision in her mind.
The Basilisk had already harmed Hermione and seriously threatened everyone at Hogwarts, regardless of whether its purpose for existing was what she had guessed.
It had to die.
Expressionlessly raising her wand, Amanda pointed the tip directly at the Basilisk.
Flicking its tongue fiercely, the Basilisk opened its large mouth and lunged forward, snapping viciously at Amanda.
Its sharp, thin fangs could tear Amanda into pieces in an instant.
A purple beam of magical light flashed, and the Basilisk was slammed back to the ground by the impact of an Impediment Jinx.
"Hiss!"
The Basilisk's hard scales meant it didn't take much damage from the fall, but Amanda's Impediment Jinx had shattered several of its scales.
Watching Amanda warily, the Basilisk prowled as silently as possible beneath her, faintly surrounding the area directly below her with its body.
Once its head reached behind Amanda, it lunged again in a single instant, snapping toward her.
Crack, bang!
Amanda jerked her wand to the right, and a silent Levitation Charm snapped a pillar directly. She then controlled the pillar to smash hard into the Basilisk behind her.
The Basilisk was sent crashing heavily into the left wall by the blow. The force was so great that the wall cracked, and the entire Chamber of Secrets shook.
Turning around, Amanda slowly raised her wand, and the water from the pools on both sides of the Chamber immediately floated up.
Pointing her wand tip directly at the Basilisk, Amanda took the initiative to attack, using the floating water she controlled to completely envelop the creature.
The Basilisk's massive body roared and struggled, each movement kicking up massive splashes of water.
The snake's head also repeatedly tried to break out of the water sphere, but its intentions were always detected in time by Amanda, who controlled more water into the sphere to restrain it and fill the gaps created by its struggling.
With her eyes tightly shut, the trembling in Amanda's right arm gradually increased; the aftereffects of the Cruciatus Curse were tormenting her relentlessly.
The increasing mass of the water sphere and the Basilisk's massive body also placed significant pressure on her right arm.
Her expression remained unchanged, but Amanda had to raise her left hand to support her right arm, and she also had to release the Levitation Charm controlling herself.
She fell from mid-air to the ground, her legs giving way as she slumped down, but her right arm controlling the water sphere remained raised, motionless.
The Basilisk roared incessantly within the water sphere, a string of bubbles rising from its mouth.
It attempted to keep struggling, but no matter how it tried, it couldn't manage to poke its head out of the water sphere even once.
As the Basilisk made its death throes, the pressure Amanda felt grew greater and greater.
According to her calculations, she could defeat the Basilisk after enduring five Cruciatus Curses.
This was her absolute limit, and that was exactly the situation now.
Supporting her right arm with her left hand, Amanda gripped her wand with difficulty and began to rotate it slowly. Following her movements, the water sphere trapping the Basilisk also began to spin.
The constantly rotating current repeatedly interrupted the Basilisk's movements, providing some relief to the pressure on Amanda.
Clenching her teeth, the blood gushing from Amanda's nose and mouth had already stained the hospital gown on her chest red.
Beads of sweat also rolled down her forehead. One more spell—just one more spell and she could kill the Basilisk.
Reduc...io. Amanda struggled to think of this spell in her agonizing mind. The rotation of the water sphere paused slightly, then began to slowly contract.
Accompanying the contraction was the terrifying water pressure within the sphere. Although the Basilisk's scales were incredibly hard, its internal organs had no such protection.
As long as the water pressure reached a certain level, Amanda could compress the Basilisk's flesh and blood through its scales, and further compress its internal organs.
Once its internal organs were destroyed, even a Basilisk would surely die.
Feeling the mounting pressure on its body, the Basilisk's roars grew louder, its body twisting and struggling incessantly.
But soon it could no longer struggle; the immense water pressure had completely locked its body in place, and it couldn't even manage a single twitch.
Amanda's face was flushed, and blood even began to seep from the corners of her eyes, yet she still felt nothing in her heart.
There was no fear for her own condition, nor any excitement at the impending kill of the Basilisk.
There was only indifference and the constant calculation of time in her brain.
Ten more seconds. After ten seconds, the Basilisk's heart would be unable to withstand the immense pressure and would completely shatter.
Seemingly realizing its end was near, the Basilisk actually launched a final struggle.
Exerting all its strength to twist its tail, the massive tail barely broke through the rotating water sphere, inching its way toward Amanda.
Listening to the sounds around her, the model in Amanda's mind constructed the scene of the Basilisk extending its tail.
The massive tail was now right in front of her; with just a little force from the Basilisk, she would be impaled or crushed to death.
Despite this, she had no strength left to move and dodge, or even to cast a Shield Charm on herself.
The plan she had calculated in advance was designed to push her to her absolute limit, leaving no margin for error.
Death, the worst possible outcome, was naturally within the calculated scope of the plan.
Her lack of skill had caused Hermione to be petrified; she deserved to treat herself with a plan that pushed her to the absolute limit.
Just as the tail was about to touch Amanda, bang.
A soft bursting sound rang out. All of the Basilisk's internal organs, including its heart, finally succumbed to the pressure and shattered completely.
The tail that was about to touch Amanda immediately went limp and fell, hitting the ground with a dull thud.
The Basilisk inside the water sphere also went soft, its life force extinguished.
"Pfft..."
Amanda, who had held on until now, finally couldn't take it anymore. She spat out a mouthful of blood, her wand slipping from her hand and clattering to the floor as she fell straight back onto the ground.
Going from sitting to lying down, the water sphere—deprived of Amanda's magical maintenance—burst apart. The compressed water surged out in a violent torrent, washing Amanda into a nearby corner.
The Basilisk's corpse also crashed heavily onto the floor.
The battle was over. The Basilisk was dead, and the body Amanda had been forcibly driving instantly went on strike.
The clarity in her brain instantly turned to chaos, and the splitting pain completely robbed her of her ability to think.
Every bone in her body felt as if it were being crushed one by one; there wasn't a single spot that didn't hurt.
Unable to stop herself from curling up, Amanda struggled to lift two fingers of her right hand. 'Accio wand...' After thinking it silently, her wand automatically returned to her fingers.
Amanda's fingers curled stiffly to 'hold' the wand, and she spent a great deal of effort to point the tip toward herself.
Just completing these actions left her gasping for breath.
"Crucio..."
A faint whisper escaped her; it wouldn't have been audible unless one's ear was pressed to Amanda's lips, but it was enough for her to cast the Cruciatus Curse.
A red beam of magical light hit Amanda. Her expression remained unchanged, but her body trembled even more violently.
Headmaster Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Snape, and Professor Sprout, who had just rushed into the Chamber of Secrets, happened to see the red light shoot from Amanda's wand, hit her, and cause her whole body to shake.
A red magical beam and full-body tremors—the Professors present, who had lived through the period of Voldemort's 'reign', almost immediately guessed what spell it was.
Seeing Amanda's mouth begin to quiver again, Professor McGonagall drew her wand without hesitation. "Expelliarmus!"
Amanda's wand instantly flew from her hand and was caught firmly by Professor McGonagall. Without a wand, she could not cast the Cruciatus Curse, one of the three Unforgivable Curses.
"Severus." Headmaster Dumbledore turned and looked at Professor Snape with a grave expression.
Professor Snape nodded, strode to Amanda's side, and after kneeling down, waved his wand over her to check her condition.
The more he looked, the more his already somber face darkened. "Foolish girl."
Professor Snape reached out and picked her up directly, ignoring social niceties or gender boundaries in the face of the emergency.
He had to preserve this child's soul first.
Professor Snape walked with long strides back to Headmaster Dumbledore, not even glancing at the Basilisk's corpse as he passed.
"This foolish little girl seems to have hit herself with several Cruciatus Curses and used a massive amount of magic. Her soul and magic are both very unstable; she needs to be sent to St Mungos."
"I'll go with you," Professor Flitwick and Professor McGonagall said in unison.
Headmaster Dumbledore nodded decisively in agreement. "Good. You three take her to St Mungos first. Pomona and I will handle things here at the school."
With that, the three Professors wasted no more words. They rushed out of the Chamber of Secrets with Amanda and ascended by grabbing the tail of the flying Fawkes.
The nearest Professor's office to the second-floor girls' washroom with a Floo Network was Lockhart's office.
Arriving outside the door, Professor Flitwick unceremoniously waved his wand to force it open.
Lockhart, who was sleeping like a log, instantly bolted upright in bed, looking dazed at the three colleagues who had 'broken in'.
"What's happened?"
When he saw Amanda in Professor Snape's arms, a flash of surprise and opportunism uncontrollably crossed his eyes.
"Miss Amanda? What is this?"
Professor McGonagall saw the look that had just flashed in his eyes, frowned deeply, and snapped.
"She's injured. I don't believe that concerns you, Lockhart."
With that, she urged Professor Snape to lead the way with Amanda, with Professor Flitwick following close behind, while she herself hit Lockhart with a harsh Stupefy before entering the fireplace.
She would ensure he slept for a full day, only waking once they had finished their business and could keep an eye on him.
Trying to scheme against her student? In his dreams. Green flames flared, and the tall Witch vanished into the fireplace.
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