Fiendfyre, in terms of casting, actually isn't all that difficult.
Because Fiendfyre itself has the ability to devour all combustible matter to endlessly expand itself.
So a wizard only needs to drive their magic to produce just a spark of Fiendfyre, and that alone counts as having successfully cast the Fiendfyre Curse.
But that cannot be considered "mastering" the Fiendfyre Curse.
To truly learn this spell, one must know how to control and extinguish Fiendfyre, pushing mastery over it to the absolute limit.
And what Link needed to do now was exactly that extremely difficult task, putting out the fire.
He raised his wand high and stepped toward the very center of the blaze.
And with his movement, all the Fiendfyre around him extinguished at astonishing speed, drawn back into cursed energy, revealing beneath the scorched, hardened ground.
The scene was nearly like Moses parting the Red Sea.
But the Fiendfyre, which had already grown stronger after devouring and merging with the living dead, would not be quelled so easily.
This was a demonic flame with a degree of intelligence.
Sure enough, as Link's extinguishing progressed and he reached the core of the blaze, he was met with powerful resistance.
It was a giant serpent made entirely of Fiendfyre, its size comparable to Arkam in full form.
The condensed intensity of its flames was so great it even radiated a pitch-black sheen.
"Hissss!~ (Imposter! Kill this imposter!)"
Arkam had slipped out from Link's collar at some point, shrieking furiously at the Fiendfyre serpent.
And as if provoked, the fiery serpent coiled into a posture ready to strike, prepared to attack in the very next instant.
But knowing he could no longer safely extinguish the Fiendfyre, Link didn't give it that chance.
With a swing of his wand, the massive cursed energy gathered from the extinguished flames condensed into a spiraled giant spear nearly four meters long, which he drove straight into the serpent's head.
Chiii!
A strange sound ripped through the night sky.
That ferocious, grotesque serpent was instantly torn apart by an unstoppable force, scattering back into endless flames.
Then dark light flashed from Link's wand as he quickly extinguished all the remaining Fiendfyre.
[Fiendfyre Curse Lv.2 Acquired!]
After a long absence, the golden text floated across Link's vision again.
Panting, Link let out a faint smile.
Though it had drained him heavily this time, directly obtaining the Fiendfyre Curse at Level 2 was well worth it.
Fiendfyre, unlike other spells, was different.
Given its terrifying destructive power, the wizarding world recognized it as a strategic-level killing curse.
And that meant Link now possessed such a strategic-level force himself.
Link, however, was very clear-eyed.
The only reason he had succeeded in both casting and suppressing Fiendfyre was his ability to freely control cursed power.
Otherwise, he might have been able to ignite Fiendfyre, but never with such force, and certainly not extinguish it.
Of course, Dumbledore had played a role as well.
If not for his words, like awakening a dreamer, Link would never have thought of controlling Fiendfyre in this way.
Meanwhile, some distance away, Dumbledore watched Link with a flicker of surprise across his face.
In truth, he had already tried to overestimate Link as much as possible.
The reason he hadn't treated Link the way he did Harry, like coaxing a child, but instead adopted a more equal stance, half-mentor, half-friend,
was because he was certain Link would inevitably grow into a towering tree, one comparable to Dumbledore himself.
Yet judging by Link's performance now, Dumbledore felt he might still have underestimated him.
For truth be told, neither Voldemort nor even he and Grindelwald in their youth could ever command Fiendfyre so freely as Link had just done.
Link, in the future, would not only become a great tree to uphold the wizarding world, but might even become an iron fist to open a brighter future for wizards.
So thinking, Dumbledore's mood surged, and light flickered in his eyes as he gazed at Link.
Far away, Link seemed to sense Dumbledore's burning stare. Puzzled, he turned his head, met Dumbledore's gaze briefly, then lowered his eyes and said, "Thank you for your guidance, Headmaster Dumbledore!"
"Hahaha!"
Dumbledore strode forward, laughing, and clapped Link heavily on the shoulder.
"Your performance was truly outstanding! If we were still at Hogwarts, I'd have awarded you fifty points on the spot!"
"Of course, forgive my nagging, Dark Magic, if you can avoid using it, you'd better not. It does your body no good, and you understand that."
"In the future, I may often invite you to join me in some extracurricular activities and teach you a few things. I hope you'll be ready."
Hearing this, Link froze for a moment.
He felt Dumbledore was being a little too warm toward him.
But having just experienced the teaching ability of the greatest wizard of the century, Link naturally wasn't foolish enough to refuse.
Forcing his muscles into motion, he squeezed out a smile on his face, one made cold and stiff by Occlumency.
Dumbledore nodded in satisfaction, then led Link across the semi-crystallized ground, baked hard by Fiendfyre, into the innermost part of the little graveyard.
Here had become nothing but a patch of wild grass, with no sign of gravestones at all.
Yet Dumbledore pointed at a clump of weeds and said to Link, "This is Tom's grave."
"To be precise, it's a cenotaph he prepared for himself."
"He wanted to use this to declare the death of Tom Riddle. From that point on, only Voldemort would walk the earth."
"If I'm not mistaken, his Horcrux should be buried inside, as his 'corpse.'"
Dumbledore motioned for Link to step back a little.
With a flick of his wand, the ground in front of him rolled like waves of earth, and in moments, a plain black wooden coffin with no markings was unearthed.
Crack! Crack!
After a series of splintering noises, the coffin lid finally opened.
Covering his mouth and nose, Link leaned forward to take a look. Inside the thin wooden coffin lay a set of old Muggle children's clothes and a heap of broken Muggle toys.
Most importantly, in the very center lay a ring inlaid with a massive black polyhedral gem. In the moonlight, Link could clearly make out lines of ancient runes etched inside the ring, runes most would not understand.
At this moment, through his heightened senses, Link could clearly see the immense sinister magic condensed in the ring, along with the many wailing spirits entwined around it.
'Found it!'
Link felt his scalp about to split open.
There was no doubt, the ring before him was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, the Resurrection Stone Ring, also called the Gaunt Ring.
As long as Link destroyed this Horcrux with his own hands, he would gain another golden skill point.
Almost instinctively, Link raised his wand, ready to smash the ring to pieces.
But then, a surge of killing intent so sharp it was nearly irresistible swept over from his side, freezing him in place.
After a long, icy moment, Link stiffly turned his head toward the source of that killing intent.
"H-Headmaster Dumbledore?"
Dumbledore's state was strange.
On his face was a look of desire Link had never once seen there before, his eyes glazed, as if he hadn't even noticed Link, his hand slowly reaching toward the ring in the coffin.
At the same time, a flood of overwhelming magic was surging from his body, forming an almost tangible stream of power that repelled everything around.
Pushed by the torrent of magic, Link staggered back several steps.
Gulp!
Link swallowed hard.
This was the first time he had seen Dumbledore's true power laid bare.
Even in this uncontrolled state, the magic spilling from him was dozens, even hundreds of times greater than Link's, in both quality and quantity.
At such a gap, killing Link would be no harder than crushing an ant.
And only now did Link recall another fact.
Besides being a Horcrux, the stone set in this ring was also one of the three Deathly Hallows, the Resurrection Stone, said to "summon" the dead to meet with the living.
For someone like Dumbledore, whose family tragedies left him yearning desperately for his loved ones and burdened with guilt, this was temptation beyond resistance.
Voldemort knew this weakness well.
So to protect his Horcrux, or perhaps simply to curse Dumbledore and any grave robbers, Voldemort placed a vicious curse on the ring, triggered the moment someone wore it.
In the original story, it was precisely this curse that caused Dumbledore's magic to wither, leading to his death under Snape's wand, sacrificing himself for his greatest cause.
And now, Dumbledore was about to repeat the same mistake.
Watching Dumbledore's hand nearly grasp the ring, Link's feelings grew complicated.
Truthfully, Link wanted Dumbledore dead.
After all, Dumbledore was far too dangerous.
Link had no wish to end up like Harry, treated as a "sacrifice" against Voldemort.
But the problem was, the Resurrection Stone ring incident had come too early under his interference.
If Dumbledore were cursed now, even with Snape and Madam Pomfrey's skills, he could last at most a year.
And by then, his magic would wither to near Squib-like weakness.
That meant if Voldemort wasn't fully defeated within a year, Link would have to face him alone.
That was something Link did not want.
After all, when the sky falls, it's the tallest ones who are hit first, and Dumbledore fit that role perfectly.
Besides, that ring still held a golden skill point.
———
By now, Dumbledore had seized the Resurrection Stone Ring.
He held it high to the moonlight. The spirits bound to it seemed to sense his presence and began howling at him.
The largest among them bore a face eerily similar to Voldemort's younger self, smiling as it whispered to Dumbledore.
Enthralled, Dumbledore slowly slid the ring toward his other hand.
"No more hesitation!"
As if to steel himself, Link roared.
By now, the torrent of magic around Dumbledore had grown violent to the extreme, forming what was almost a wall of power.
By Link's estimation, none of his spells could break through, it was simply the raw difference in magical strength.
But that didn't mean he was helpless against the ring.
"It's up to you two! Yoyo! Arkam!"
He hurled the carapace orb from his neck.
In midair it rapidly transformed, becoming a huge, dazzling Thunderbird.
And clutched in the Thunderbird's talons was still the shrunken Arkam.
"Chaa!"
The Thunderbird shrieked and dove straight into the torrent of magic.
Now its powerful anti-magic scales came into play.
Even Dumbledore's immense magic, uncontrolled as it was, couldn't fully block the Thunderbird's charge.
With a screech of friction, the Thunderbird forced its way before Dumbledore, then flung Arkam forward.
The force of the throw turned Arkam into a dark green arrow that struck the Resurrection Stone Ring in Dumbledore's hand and sank its fangs into it.
Crunch!
A crisp snap rang out.
Under Dumbledore's furious, bewildered gaze, the golden band of the ring shattered instantly. The oppressive magic and bound spirits within it dissolved away under Arkam's venom.
"No!!"
A piercing scream burst from Dumbledore's throat.
The torrent of magic around him sensed his rage and instantly grew berserk.
Even Arkam and the Thunderbird flashed human-like expressions of fear.
For under such violent magic, their only fate would have been to be crushed into pulp.
"Severing… Shadowless!"
Blades of force slashed into the torrent. Though far weaker than Dumbledore's magic, their sheer volume tore open a channel.
"Back!" Link roared, yanking his wand.
The blades turned into two giant hands that snatched Arkam and the Thunderbird back.
[Horcrux: Gaunt Ring destroyed! Golden Skill Point ×1 obtained!]
Golden text flashed again, but Link didn't notice, he was too busy frantically checking over Arkam and the Thunderbird in his arms.
Though the whole process had lasted only two seconds, the danger was staggering.
Either the curse on the ring or Dumbledore's torrent of magic could have killed them instantly.
And while Link tended his beasts, Dumbledore finally fell into complete madness.
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