The piercing scream was like a steel knife scraping against the mind, and for a moment, Lupin's brain was shaken into a daze.
Then they saw a giant humanoid shadow, covered in flames, rush out. It twisted and screamed, and then shockingly it saw both Vid and Lupin.
"You... how dare you..."
It howled madly, furiously charging at the two. Startled, Lupin quickly came to his senses. He forcefully shoved his magic wand into the ground, and a huge transparent shield suddenly formed in front of him.
The flaming figure slammed into the shield, the fierce flames splattering everywhere like shattered glass. Immediately, the Firebird soared up, directly pouncing onto the flaming figure, and they wrestled fiercely.
The roars and screams alternated clearly. The figure tried several times to break free from the Firebird's entanglement in attempts to attack the two, yet was consistently blocked by Lupin's shield.
The most dangerous time, the shield was nearly shattered by it, but the Firebird abruptly enlarged several times, overpowering the shadow from above, its sharp claws almost tearing the shadow apart.
The fierce flames spread out but quickly extinguished without any fuel. The old mansion of the Gaunt family and the nearby tall tree were almost burned into barren land.
Suddenly, the shadow emitted a howl like it came from the depths of the soul and disappeared abruptly.
All that remained was the Firebird, losing its enemy, it fluttered to the ground, looking around bewilderedly.
Under Vid's control, the Firebird gathered all the scattered fierce flames, crouching over the ruins of the Gaunt family's mansion, until it burned the last root of grass, cracked the last brick.
Lupin lowered his magic wand, his face pale as paper, his fingertips seemed to tremble slightly.
The diadem burned in the cave last time, this time at the Gaunt family's mansion... similar shadows appeared both times, screaming... seeming to have thoughts, attacking those who destroyed them...
This can't be a coincidence.
Some terrifying guesses emerged in Lupin's mind.
He recalled the magic books he had read, contemplating exactly what kind of magic could achieve such an effect.
The Firebird's body grew smaller and smaller.
Eventually, it lay among the dust, its body as small as an egg. It looked up at Vid, opened its mouth, seemingly making a silent yet weak chirp.
Vid pondered, approaching it. He crouched down, never relaxing his control over the fierce flames.
Then, at the tip of his magic wand, a thin silver mist emerged, enveloping the Firebird. Surprisingly, this mist wasn't burnt away by the fierce flames, but gradually seeped into the Firebird's body.
Of course.
For pure thoughts have no form, nor can they burn.
As the mist slowly decreased, the Firebird's eyes grew more lively. It no longer eagerly wanted to ignite Vid too, but gently lowered itself, bowing its head.
Vid softly chanted the spell, streaks of magical pattern light continuously flickered on the Firebird, layers of profound magic circles overlapped, complex magic texts moved along specific trajectories, embedding into the Firebird's body.
The dispersing fierce flames absorbed the stray magic power from nature, gradually stabilizing its body. The illusory figure gradually formed feather patterns.
Lupin held his breath beside, daring not to disturb.
It's the first time he saw Biological Alchemy. Though Lupin is also a Wizard, he found this process exceptionally profound and amazing, almost making one forget to breathe.
Faintly, he thought he heard the sound of a heartbeat, yet it seemed to be an illusion.
After a long while, Vid lowered his magic wand.
The Firebird jumped around a few times on the ground, suddenly spread its wings, soaring into the sky. At times, it flapped its wings flying rapidly, at times tucked its wings swooping downwards, sometimes darting back and forth with lightning speed, sometimes perched on tree branches elegantly dancing.
When it landed, Lupin felt a twinge of anxiety, fearing it might ignite the nearby forest. Unexpectedly, the dry twigs weren't ignited, only a few blackened marks remained when the Firebird flew away.
After flying a bit, the Firebird landed in front of Vid, opening its mouth, stretching its neck, and after a few seconds of effort, finally made its first chirp—
"Chirp chirp!"
A small flame splattered onto the dry leaves before the Firebird, the leaves suddenly burst into flame.
The Firebird was startled, quickly jumping away. After watching for a while, it opened its mouth to swallow the fierce flame back into its belly, then bounced back to Vid's side.
Vid reached out his hand.
"Careful!" Lupin was shocked, hurriedly stopping him.
But the Firebird had already jumped onto Vid's palm, cautiously controlling its flames, yet wisps of white steam still rose from under its feet.
Looking closely, Lupin saw a thin layer of water film on Vid's palm. Although the boy was unharmed, Lupin still shook his head disagreeingly, saying, "Too risky."
"It's alright." Vid said, "I created it with the faith of protection and loyalty, it definitely won't harm me. It's now a being with thoughts instead of indiscriminate fierce flames."
"Then you must manage it well. If this little guy flies out, it would likely cause a huge disaster."
"Of course, it will always stay beside me." Vid thought for a moment and said, "Shall we call it Mikhail? Flame Sword... light born from darkness."
Lupin looked at the little guy tilting its head at him and said, "A wonderful name."
Whether due to coincidence or not, the little bird nodded just in time, seemingly agreeing with his view.
Lupin couldn't help but smile.
He had seen Vid create magical pets before and personally went to the Aslan Magic Workshop to participate in the design and manufacturing process representing Vid, hence he was not surprised.
Yet Lupin hadn't fully realized that Mikhail was actually different from the previous magical pets.
Their difference was not merely the difference in carrier, more importantly, it was the different nature of life.
Conventional Biological Alchemy imbues dead objects with thoughts, even though Vid's version of magical pets is more flexible and growth-oriented than Wizard's Chess, they don't truly possess life, merely an AI version of magic.
But Mikhail is different.
Vid realized that traditional Biological Alchemy did not apply to such fierce flame creatures, he had a moment of creativity, recalling what Professor Morry mentioned about true Life Alchemy.
Though Professor Morry said that creating life forms is a forbidden area of magic, during teaching, bits and pieces were taught to Vid.
Now Vid stared into Mikhail's golden eyes, couldn't help but think:
Are you a true life?
Or do you just appear to be?
In his mind, Life Alchemy should be a long and arduous process, not finished in just a dozen minutes.
Vid gazed earnestly, magical weave of golden patterns appearing in his eyes.
Even though all the magic on the Firebird was bestowed by Vid, at this moment, looking at those patterns, he still felt them complex and profound.
As if this Firebird was not created by him, but a miracle of life naturally generated by heaven and earth.