After a splendid dinner and gift-giving ceremony at the Black family manor.
Leaving Kreacher's heartfelt farewells behind us, we left the mansion.
All the while, I was tossing two objects up into the air and catching them.
An ornately decorated, shining golden cup.
A locket engraved with a vivid green, S-shaped snake.
The objects I was playfully tossing were the heirlooms of the Hogwarts founders, and also Horcruxes, which would have sent the wizarding world into a state of horror.
Horcruxes, dark artifacts said to contain a split piece of a soul.
I still couldn't believe that a soul could be torn by a mere murder, but in any case, they were said to be extremely evil artifacts.
It had been over three years since I had obtained Hufflepuff's Cup, but I had not destroyed it.
There were two main reasons for this. First, I didn't want to destroy Hufflepuff's Cup.
On a large scale, it was a founder's legacy, and on a small scale, it was a memento of an acquaintance of mine.
I couldn't help but feel it was a shame that I had to damage this relic just to destroy a mere Horcrux.
And, the second and most crucial reason.
Why on earth should I have to destroy the Horcrux?
No matter what they say about Horcruxes being evil dark artifacts, in the end, isn't the function of this object simply to tie one soft-hearted dark wizard to the mortal plane?
No, on the contrary, if this thing exists, it means that a rather skilled dark wizard might keep reviving and coming at me, right?
In the process, he would surely gather all the potential dark wizards and attack, and if I wipe them all out then, wouldn't that create a clean society with no dark wizards?
If so, isn't this actually a high-performance trap for social purification?
Why in the world should I destroy a Horcrux that has such a good function?
It's not like I'm in a position to be intimidated by that Voldemort fellow.
Rather, shouldn't that Dark Lord, Voldemort, be the one to despair at his own endless death?
In any case, those were the reasons I had kept Hufflepuff's Cup safe.
Of course, I did feel the desire to try and break a Horcrux, which was said to boast absolute protection, but if the cup broke in the process, I would be the only one with a broken heart.
But, as I was pondering this, another Horcrux happened to fall into my hands.
And it was even an object whose original owner was begging me to destroy it!
Of course, this Slytherin's locket was also a legacy of a Hogwarts founder, but unfortunately, unlike Hufflepuff, I don't really like Slytherin.
My friend, Ominis Gaunt, was also a descendant of Slytherin, but I had never seen him once like his own family.
Besides, didn't my other friend, Sebastian, end up in Azkaban after being bewitched by a Slytherin relic?
In any case, it meant that I had absolutely no reason to show this locket any affection and preserve it without destroying it.
Seeing me playing with the two Horcruxes, Harry asked me.
"Master. So, you're saying that Slytherin's locket... was a very precious object to Voldemort?"
Harry, who didn't know much about Horcruxes, only perceived the object as something important.
Harry narrowed his eyes and glared at Slytherin's locket.
"Well, something like that."
"...Is that why?"
"What is?"
Harry frowned, touching the lightning-bolt scar on his forehead as he answered.
"Strangely, whenever I look at that locket, my scar feels like it's burning."
The scar is burning, he says. What kind of phenomenon is this?
Though I was an expert on ancient magic, it wasn't as if I knew everything.
The ancient magic of 'Love' itself was extremely rare, of course.
And for the target of the 'Love' sacrifice spell to reflect a Killing Curse and receive a scar was an even rarer event.
I can guarantee that in the long history of magic, a case as peculiar as Harry's could be counted on one hand.
Just in case, I used my 'Eyes' to check, but I couldn't find anything other than a very small sense of foreignness.
I had a faint idea, but it was highly unrealistic, and there was nothing I could do about it now.
After thinking for a moment with my arms crossed, I smiled at Harry and said.
"Well, anyway, we can just destroy this locket, right?"
"That's right. Please destroy it quickly!"
After hearing the story about Regulus, Harry's animosity towards Voldemort seemed to have grown even stronger.
I smirked inwardly and looked at Harry. At this rate, it might have a good effect to let Harry kill Voldemort himself, at least once.
"Alright. Before that, let's go get Hedwig first."
The atomic bomb, humanity's ultimate weapon, was developed in top secret by the United States during World War II.
To develop the atomic bomb at the time, renowned scientists from all over the free world gathered. It was commonly known as the Manhattan Project.
And the worst weapon they finally created raised a mushroom cloud in a part of New Mexico under the name of the Trinity test.
The words that the director of the Manhattan Project, Oppenheimer, was said to have left at that time.
—Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.
[T/N: Oppenheimer Quote: The author is referencing J. Robert Oppenheimer's famous recollection of the Trinity Test, where he quoted a line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita: "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." Aisen reflects on this from a wizard's perspective.]
For wizards, who often personify 'Death,' it was a very meaningful statement.
Had humanity, both Muggles and wizards, always dreamed of becoming the master of death?
In any case. To get to the point, Oppenheimer did not become Death, so there was no need to worry.
A large rocket, launched from the sea, collided with a small locket.
In the skies above the Atlantic Ocean, far from the Mediterranean, an explosion with roughly two thousand times the power of the one that had bloomed in New Mexico.
Converted into Muggle figures, an explosion with a force of about 50 megatons occurred.
Rumble...
It was an explosion of such power that I felt an enormous strain even while suppressing it with all my might using the Elder Wand. The power was so immense that even the wand itself was trembling.
"Kgh!"
The hand holding the wand was shaking so much that I had to grab the wand with my other hand as well to control the recoil.
And then, all the nuclear fusion ended, and the explosion subsided.
Muggles may have created 'death,' but wizards had created the 'Deathly Hallows,' which controlled death.
Of course, I only had one of the Hallows, but since that thing wasn't complete 'death' either, wasn't it a fair trade?
As proof, when I released the defensive barrier that had been surrounding the bomb, a single, blackened locket was falling. If it had been true death, the Horcrux would not have survived.
I waved my wand and brought the locket to my hand.
FWOOSH!
The moment the barrier surrounding the bomb disappeared, a massive amount of thermal energy was released outwards.
The seawater instantly evaporated and turned into steam, creating a thick fog that made me feel as if I had entered a sauna.
"Ouch, that's hot."
I tried to pick up the locket in front of me with my hand, but was surprised by the heat and pulled my hand back.
This Horcrux, which had taken the full force of the Tsar Bomba, was burning hotter than the flames of hell.
Honestly, I was a little impressed.
I had never imagined that a Horcrux would be able to withstand an attack of this magnitude.
With this level of defense, perhaps the risk of tearing one's soul was worth it.
No, perhaps the greatest utility of a Horcrux is not that it keeps the soul in the mortal plane, but this overwhelming defensive power?
Doesn't that mean that if you turn the walls of Hogwarts into a Horcrux, it would become a fortress safe even from a Tsar Bomba!
In order to examine its state in more detail, I used my 'Eyes' and looked closely at the Horcrux.
If anyone had been nearby, they would have seen my eyes glowing golden, but there was no one around.
The state of the Horcrux, observed with my 'Eyes,' made me retract my thought—the Horcrux fortress.
This was because the state of the Horcrux was much more惨혹한 than I had thought.
The physical composition of the locket was already in a state where it could crumble at any moment, but a strange magical connection was barely holding it together.
To put it more simply, it seemed that it had barely managed not to break because there were no magical elements in the Tsar Bomba.
And even that was barely holding on.
No, should I say that it was amazing that it hadn't broken even after being thrown into a small sun?
In any case, if this was the situation, what I had to do was simple.
I threw the locket from my hand and, using the ancient magic I had lightly conjured, I took aim at the flying locket and struck it with a lightning bolt.
CRACK!
—KRAAAAAAAAK!!!
And then, the Horcrux instantly crumbled into black ash.
At the same time, something like black smoke shot out from the remains and scattered with a scream.
I wonder if that was the fragment of Voldemort's soul that had been tied to the Horcrux.
In any case, though it was impressive that it had withstood the Tsar Bomba, it seemed to be quite weak against magical elements.
At this rate, it would have broken with just Fiendfyre.
Honestly, it would have been nice if it had been durable enough to exceed my expectations, so I could have played with it for a few weeks.
Feeling a little let down by the less exciting result than I had hoped for, I used Apparition to move to where the others were waiting.
Ah, I should send a letter to Kreacher soon to let him know I broke it.
The locket has been completely destroyed, so I guess I can just send him a piece of the chain that was attached to it.
Meanwhile.
The Muggle seismic wave detection research centers were shocked by the unexplained large-scale seaquake in the Atlantic Ocean, but that is another story.
And, time continued to flow.
After destroying the Horcrux, I enjoyed our last vacation on the Mediterranean coast with Harry and the others.
Calculating from my age from the 19th century, I'm now over thirty. I never imagined that I would be attending Hogwarts again at this age.
But is there even anything for me to learn at Hogwarts?
To be blunt, I'm probably better than the professors there in most areas.
It was a topic worth considering.
Even if I was swayed by Albus's sweet talk, now that I was entering Hogwarts again, shouldn't I be able to gain something from it?
Just spending a year at Hogwarts without any goal would be too boring.
"Pfft, keck!"
As I was pondering this, I unfolded the newspaper and, while drinking water, I ended up choking on it.
[Gringotts Intrusion Incident, Latest News]
[The intrusion incident that occurred at Gringotts Vault 713 on July 31st...]
Behind me, the expressions of Deek and Harry, who were reading the newspaper, became strange.
Deek asked me in a trembling voice.
"Master... surely not again?"
Harry also looked at me with trembling pupils and asked.
"Master. The day you said at Gringotts that money is something that comes and goes, could it be...?"
No. This really wasn't me. This is unfair!
Come to think of it, I did go to Gringotts on July 31st, Harry's birthday!
I protested to Harry.
"Harry, you were with me that day! So how could I have robbed Gringotts!"
"But, Master, if it wasn't you, who else could break into Gringotts and not get caught?"
I was momentarily at a loss for words at Harry's logical rebuttal. He wasn't exactly wrong.
With no rebuttal coming to mind, I lamented.
"Those goblins at Gringotts, they don't fix things even after I gave them a consultation."
I had thought that they would have to get robbed soon to come to their senses, but who would have thought that they would get robbed on that very day?
Fortunately, the back of the article stated the time of the intrusion, which was when we were at the Black family manor.
The misunderstanding was cleared up, but Deek's suspicious gaze was quite painful.
Grumble.
Kee-roo-rook!
Seeing me like this, Hedwig and Ardeura cried out as if laughing at me.
Unable to punish the animals, I quietly reined in my anger.
I don't know who this person who has brought this disgrace upon me is, but if I catch them, I won't let them go.
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This is a bonus chapter, as there was only this chapter left in the current volume.