Tom asked, "So, how do you plan to throw Hogwarts into a major crisis?"
"And it has to be without being discovered."
Otherwise, he would only be able to continue his grand plan from inside Azkaban.
At that moment, Tom couldn't help but feel a secret surge of annoyance.
...If he hadn't been so unlucky and killed that girl before he was fully prepared.
Dumbledore wouldn't have locked his suspicions onto him so quickly.
Ethan replied, "Do you know why some Muggles are afraid of ghosts that don't even exist?"
Tom responded disdainfully, "I don't need to know the thoughts of those stupid Muggles."
Ethan shook his head, like a master facing an uninitiated apprentice.
He said:
"It's the [Unknown]."
"Humanity's oldest and strongest fear is the unknown."
Ethan caressed the basilisk's cold body.
"Indeed, as Slytherin's pet, the basilisk is powerful and terrifying."
"But once people recognize its true face, the basilisk becomes something even a second-year wizard can kill."
"Hiss..."
The basilisk surged its massive body, as if to prove its strength.
"And if they don't know what kind of entity is attacking them,"
"Then imagination will give wings to fear, allowing them to fill in the blanks themselves."
Unconsciously,
Tom listened intently.
Even more seriously than he would to a lecture.
"But—"
Tom, like a curious student, raised a question:
"The basilisk is just a basilisk. It can't cause much panic, can it?"
Hearing this, Ethan smiled slightly.
He looked at the diary with a gratified gaze, saying word by word:
"So, at this point, my exquisite painting skills are needed."
Ethan flipped his wrist.
The wand transformed into an incredibly beautiful paintbrush with a whoosh.
A smooth, silky wooden handle and pure white bristles.
It drew a rainbow-colored streak in mid-air with magic.
At first glance, it was clearly a paintbrush used by someone kind and pure.
Tom: "..."
Did Ollivander choose this kid's wand based on his face?
This was completely contrary to Ethan's inner self!
What had the current wizarding world become?
At that moment,
Seeing Ethan make a move, Tom quickly focused his attention and observed carefully.
Although this kid was truly strange,
His abilities were indeed unique and invaluable.
What kind of skill and method could be used to draw such an evil painting?
And even make the painting exert a power several times stronger than a spell?
A surge of greed welled up in Tom's heart.
He thirsted to possess this power.
Yet he didn't realize that, inadvertently, he was walking down his own future path.
Ethan naturally noticed Tom's sneaky gaze.
But he didn't care.
Or rather, he very much welcomed others to appreciate his painting process.
Art should be created openly and honestly!
It was just that, for some reason,
People who had seen it once never saw it a second time.
Ethan held the paintbrush and took a deep breath.
Feeling the perfectly smooth touch in his palm and the joyful, free flow of magic.
His mood slowly calmed down.
Everything external gradually disappeared.
In the darkness created by the black cloth, the world seemed to be left with only Ethan.
What kind of painting would be shocking enough to bring a big surprise to Hogwarts?
Ethan fell into contemplation.
First, it must be large.
An ancient lord standing like a mountain would naturally bring supreme oppression.
But if it was only palm-sized...
Then it would only be good for tentacle play.
Secondly,
Fear must be progressive.
Only by pressing people's emotions to the extreme, like a spring,
Will the most violent eruption finally occur.
Suddenly letting the hellhound launch a "massacre" in the school
Would naturally cause exclamations.
But soon, it would be suppressed by old Dumbledore and the other professors working together.
"Hidden fear, enormous size..."
"It has to be bigger than this basilisk," Ethan murmured, stroking the basilisk's cold scales.
Beneath the black cloth, a spark of inspiration lit up in the depths of his cobalt-blue eyes.
"It has to be so big..."
"It can swallow the entire Hogwarts."
There was an ancient legend of a "snake swallowing an elephant."
Then he would replicate this legend into reality and magnify it a hundredfold!
This,
Only then would it be worthy of being called a [Life-and-Death Crisis] for Hogwarts.
Beside him,
Hearing Ethan's murmur, Tom was instantly shocked, his soul fluctuating!
Swallow the entire Hogwarts?
Is he crazy?!
He originally thought Ethan was just going to use the painting to make the basilisk look more terrifying and ferocious.
Then let it roam and kill,
Plunging Hogwarts into panic.
This was also Tom's original idea.
But he never expected
This kid to actually open his mouth and want to destroy the entire Hogwarts!
Indeed!
If Hogwarts disappeared, it could certainly be called an unprecedented major crisis.
Tom couldn't help but speak:
"...Swallowing the entire Hogwarts? That's impossible to achieve."
"No magic can do that. Not to mention, Hogwarts itself has very strict protective magic."
Ethan: "One painting might not be able to... What about several, pieced together?"
Ethan bent down and picked up the shed snake skin from the ground.
It felt cool to the touch, like the finest silk, incredibly tough.
Even through the blindfold,
Ethan could clearly see the dense magic emanating from it.
Like a misty river.
This was—an extraordinary item!
"Obtained Extraordinary Material: Garment of Shedding"
"Usage: Canvas"
"Description: The shed skin of a giant basilisk, as thin as a cicada's wing yet incredibly tough, inherently carrying curses and life force, capable of supporting immense paintings."
"Using foul blood and other substances as pigments, infused with spells."
"Divide the entire giant snake into five parts: head, neck, belly, body, and tail."
"When combined, it can devour giant objects."
Ethan's eyes lit up.
This was it!
Just like drawing Cerberus.
This time, he was going to draw an even larger, more powerful living painting!
Although he couldn't draw the entire giant snake at once,
He could divide it into five parts!
"Perhaps a single piece might just be a painting of unclear meaning, but when five pieces are gathered together... Heh heh."
At that time,
Whoever opposed him would feel immense regret.
Ethan raised the corner of his mouth.
He revealed a sunny smile that sent shivers down Tom's spine.
For some reason,
Tom suddenly had a bad premonition.
And this premonition was not wrong.
Tom watched as Ethan's head slowly turned to face him.
His upturned lips opened and closed:
"I need foul blood for pigment." "Then, then you can go to Knockturn Alley and just draw some."
Tom said, slowly shrinking back into the diary.
Ethan said regretfully:
"No. Their purity is too low."
Since there was a great evil nearby,
Why bother looking elsewhere?
Ethan smiled and pulled out the golden Shedding Scissors from his bosom.
"Wait, wait! Calm down! Isn't there still a basilisk?!"
Tom had never thought in his life that he would one day be advising someone else to calm down.
"Relax, it's just a little blood..."
Ethan said gently, raising the gleaming scissors.
"Dizziness is normal."
"Stop, stop!"
Tom shrieked and whooshed into the diary.
But unfortunately, his true form was just a diary.
He couldn't move; even if thrown into the toilet, he could only obediently endure it, a pathetic little book.
And facing scum like the noseless one, Ethan naturally wouldn't be soft-hearted.
A golden flash passed by.
"Pfft!"
The sound of ripping cloth rang out.
"Ahhhhh—!!"
Accompanied by Tom's piercing scream, a hideous, outwardly-turned gash stretched across the diary.
Just like a real wound.
Trickles of dark red blood continuously flowed from it.
Ethan elegantly wielded his paintbrush, dipping it into this blood imbued with dense curses and filth.
The dark red color stained the pure white brush tip, as if defiling it.
He dabbed it onto the snakeskin canvas.
Leaving a writhing dark shadow in his vision.
Ethan watched with pleasure.
The wound on the diary, cut by the scissors, was slowly healing.
This meant...
He could take as much as he needed now~
"You, you—you lunatic!!"
Tom was both pained and angry, but he didn't dare to truly turn hostile against Ethan.
He could only curse him ineffectively.
In his more than ten years of memories,
He had never seen such an unreasonable freak!
Is your brain structure even human?!
Ethan bowed slightly: "Thank you for the compliment."
Tom: "..."
Curse Merlin! When did Hogwarts become an asylum?!
They really dare to accept any student!
Tom only then realized
His torment might have just begun.
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