"Look out!"
Blaise Zabini yelled, retreating several steps and shielding everyone behind him.
"Boom!!!"
The red light slammed down, instantly shattering their already crumbling magical barrier.
It turned Hogwarts' flat lawn into a cratered mess, like pockmarked cheese.
Headmaster Dumbledore, watching from afar:
Hehe, Ethan's club members are truly lively.
Hehehe.
Screams erupted one after another.
As the smoke and dust cleared, the several Slytherins, who had originally been impeccably dressed, now looked like they'd been dragged through the dirt.
Their faces were charred black, their hair stood on end, and their school uniforms were reduced to rags.
Zabini felt a burning pain all over his body and quickly cast a healing spell on himself.
"Don't be afraid!" he shouted. "This magic only looks powerful, but it actually has no lethal force!"
This was true.
After being bombarded like bird droppings falling from the sky,
they were only charred and had some broken skin.
No broken limbs.
No immediate death.
Hmph, Ethan's club members are indeed not on the same level as Ethan himself!
Just as Zabini was thinking this,
he saw the two figures on the stone steps beside the main door once again waving their wands.
"Great Explosion..."
Clusters of red light shot out continuously from their wands.
They waved their wands mechanically, their incantations devoid of any emotional fluctuation.
...As if their consciousness had been eliminated, turning them into puppets that could only cast spells.
Don't they have a cooldown?!
Zabini and the others stared blankly at the Weasley twins on either side of the door.
They hadn't put on makeup or dressed up much.
Yet, the more Zabini looked, the more a chilling sensation crept over him—no smiles, no expressions.
It was as if standing before them were not the familiar Weasley twins from before,
but rather identical, different entities.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Zabini's forehead.
Ethan, what exactly have you done to your club members...
"Boom!!"
In that moment of distraction, another bomb exploded.
"Cough, cough cough!"
Smoke and dust rose everywhere.
However, this time, the Weasley twins did not continue chanting.
Instead, they put away their wands and, with perfectly synchronized movements, turned their backs to them.
They were facing away.
What are those two doing?
In the silence,
the Slytherins picked themselves up from the ground, gripping their wands, watching the two backs with vigilance and confusion.
The next second,
With a whoosh,
both of their upper bodies bent backward in unison.
They revealed upside-down, brilliant smiles that stretched to their ears.
Their arms propped on the steps.
Like two human spiders.
So flexible, as if they had no bones inside, only a fleshy, skin-colored exterior.
Holy cow! Skin suit people!
Immediately following,
Pat-a-pat!
The two "spider-men" used their hands and feet, scuttling down the steps and swiftly pouncing towards them!
Zabini and the others: ?!!
Their hearts stopped instantly.
Outside the water screen.
The students watched the Slytherins scream and scramble towards the castle gate, bursting into laughter:
"Look at them, so lame~"
"Just arrived, excuse me, are this year's challengers black people?"
"It doesn't feel that scary, probably just some Softening Charm or something."
"However, that opening barrage was truly spectacular. I didn't expect the Weasley twins to have a talent for making firecrackers."
However, just then,
the students, who were excitedly discussing, watched with wide eyes as the Weasley twins brushed past the Slytherins.
Their momentum undiminished.
With brilliant smiles,
they crawled towards them!
The students: ?!!
Don't come over here!!
I've never heard that the courage trial even persecutes the audience!!!
"Eek—!"
"Don't be afraid! My princess! I will protect you—"
"Damn it! Who the hell just touched my chest? I'm a man~~"
One spider enters, all things go mad.
Watching the students in chaotic revelry, Dumbledore chuckled:
"Young people are so energetic..."
His kind smile ended with a fist that came from who knows where.
Professor McGonagall: Pfft.
Halloween isn't so bad after all.
Professor McGonagall thought in a good mood.
She waved her wand and hung the two "spider-men" who were having a blast onto a tree.
Inside Hogwarts Castle.
The five Slytherins leaned against the main door, panting.
Zabini wiped the sweat from his forehead and grinned:
"That's all there is to it."
Didn't all five of them make it in completely unharmed?
It was just for show.
"Hmph! I just didn't react in time earlier!"
Marcus Flint was blasted like a blooming potato, his large white teeth particularly noticeable against his charred skin.
"This time, no matter what monsters come, I'll beat them to a pulp!"
Zabini: "Excellent. Let's clear this in one go—"
—
Before he finished speaking,
there was a hum, and a silver light flashed.
Zabini felt a sharp pain on his cheek.
A bloodstain appeared.
"Crack!"
Wood splinters flew.
In an instant,
Zabini's blood froze, and he stood rigid in place.
He slowly shifted his gaze and saw the circular saw deeply embedded in the wooden door beside his face.
Moonlight poured in from the window, forming a dust-filled pillar of light in the dim castle.
It gently fell upon the figure standing before them at this moment.
He was over two meters tall, with a massive build.
His entire body was covered in heavy, tattered armor, its hollows filled with moonlight, reflecting large areas of dried brown grime. A ragged cloak hung from his neck, swaying with the slight breeze.
And above the neck,
there was nothing.
"—Stupefy."
A hoarse voice emanated from within the armor.
Zabini, who was almost cut down: ???
You motherf***er!!
In the stunned gaze of the Slytherins,
one by one, headless armors, rigid and clanking, rose to their feet in the moonlight.
They emitted an odor mixed with earth and decay.
"Clank."
In front, the tall Headless Horseman gripped the thick wooden handle of the circular saw, and with a forceful pull, he extracted the saw blade embedded in the door!
It hung in mid-air, imbued with faint magic.
"Hum, hum hum—"
The rusty circular saw slowly began to spin, gradually picking up speed.
Parts rubbed, sending out sparks.
In the iron-gloved hand of the Headless Horseman, it pulsed restlessly.
As if impatient to drink fresh blood.
"Whoosh!"
The Headless Horseman raised his arm, lifting the humming circular saw high, and swung it down fiercely towards the Slytherins!
—
"Run!"
With a loud bang!
The circular saw heavily struck the door, almost splitting them in half from top to bottom!
"Bang!"
Wood splinters flew.
Hogwarts' heavy door shattered like paper!
Zabini and the others: ???
Is this a courage trial, or a gall-extraction trial!!!
Looking at the retreating Dumbledore:
Are you here for demolition, is that it?
"So cool... This is way cooler than a wand." The students were mesmerized, watching the tall and mighty Headless Horseman.
Meanwhile, they bought bags of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, popcorn, and melon seeds from the Weasley twins, who had transformed into lightning-fast vendors.
And at this moment,
Zabini and the others, who were frantically fleeing down the corridor, were not so leisurely.
"You, didn't you say that no matter what came, you could beat them to a pulp?!"
Zabini turned and roared at Marcus Flint.
"I wish I could!"
Marcus Flint roared back, throwing a "Bombarda" behind him.
However,
the Headless Horseman merely flicked his circular saw, and with a bang, he caught the red spell.
Stepping out through the explosively rising smoke, he emerged completely unharmed.
"What, what kind of monster is this?!"
What exactly happened in just two months?!
Are these still Ethan's club members?!
What have you done to your club members!!!
Headmaster, I report that someone is conducting human experiments at Hogwarts!!
The corridor seemed endless, with no end in sight.
The circular saw hummed, drawing closer behind them.
Occasionally, armor would pop out from around a corner, delivering a fatal blow.
The paintings on the walls would also suddenly gape open, extending arm after arm.
Tearing at their clothes, grabbing their cheeks.
Blocking their progress.
Fortunately, the stairs leading to the second floor finally appeared before their eyes.
"We're here!"
The group was almost overjoyed.
This long corridor was like swimming the butterfly stroke in an old woman's foot-binding cloth; every second was torture!
They grabbed the token symbolizing the completion of the first floor and rushed up the stairs.
Thinking:
"Ha! It's not that hard after all!"
It's impossible to make them give up midway!
On the other side,
the Headless Horseman—Cedric—put down his circular saw.
From within the armor, his eyes deeply observed the five figures ascending to the second floor.
: ...All gifts of fate come with a price.
"As you command, Lord Vincent."
Cedric pressed his hand to his chest, speaking to the void like a loyal knight:
"They have all reached the upper level, not one of the five missing."
Third floor.
In a quiet, empty room.
Ethan sat leisurely on a desk with one leg bent, reading "Biological Alchemy" in his hand.
Behind him, a diamond-patterned window reflected the beautiful night sky, and the bright moonlight spilled onto his back.
His long shadow stretched out in front of him.
"Snap."
Ethan slowly closed the book in his hand. In the dimness, his cobalt-blue eyes lifted, gazing at the deep darkness outside.
He curved his lips and murmured,
"The show is about to begin."
In the shadow,
a colossal mass slowly writhed across the four walls.
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