Hungry!
The overwhelming hunger nearly swallowed every shred of Louis's reason in an instant.
He felt like a starving ghost who hadn't eaten in half a month, like he could gulp down a whale whole.
But the problem was—this hunger wasn't physical. With vitality endlessly flowing in him, it was impossible for him to truly feel hunger.
This hunger was spiritual!
"What's happening now?" Louis felt as though his very consciousness was being roasted over fire, his mind nearly melting away under that pure, unbearable craving.
"I have to eat something… if I don't, I'll starve to death."
But eat what?
Louis opened his storage space, pulling out food preserved fresh within. Yet the moment he swallowed it, he gagged and vomited it back up.
"No! Not this." Louis collapsed onto the ground, half-chewed food spilling from his mouth.
"What do I really need?" His eyes widened, and with the last thread of reason he activated the Eye of Fate and Clairvoyance.
Suddenly, he saw something—but the vision was blurry.
He was about to lose his sanity completely!
Then, within that hazy sight, something appeared—something that looked like it was burning.
"What is that? I want to eat it… that burning sensation…"
A spark of inspiration tore through Louis's muddled mind. Burning… something burning…
He pulled out a strange-looking fruit from his storage. Its surface seemed wrapped in flames.
The Flame-Flame Fruit—the fire-elemental Devil Fruit!
The moment he laid eyes on it, Louis could no longer hold back. He opened his mouth and bit into it.
"Ugh! Disgusting!" He nearly spat it out.
Even though he cursed its foul taste, he forced himself to swallow the chunk, then tossed the rest of the fruit aside like garbage.
With Devil Fruits, a single bite was enough. The rest was meaningless.
At once, Louis's body seemed to ignite. Flames blazed across his form—but he didn't panic. The searing fire brought him no pain. Instead, his face reflected boundless satisfaction and pleasure.
But Devil Fruits never came without a price. Every gift carried its hidden cost.
The unseen demon smirked as it slithered toward Louis, cloaked in the ocean's curse—those who fused with it would forever be rejected by the sea.
Yet at the very moment the demon sought to merge with him, Louis snapped his head up. His eyes blazed into golden, star-filled vertical pupils.
"Get lost!"
The roar burst forth with a flood of draconic might. The invisible demon let out an unwilling scream—but in the face of that roar, it disintegrated into ash.
The Devil Fruit's power remained, but the demon itself had been banished—eaten without ever claiming its price.
If the demon had a mind, it might have died of rage already.
But Louis, flames still burning across his body, paid no heed to demons. His hunger was not yet satisfied.
"Hungry!" Louis stood, mouth wide open, inhaling the fire from his own body straight into his belly. His eyes glowed with greed.
"Not enough… I need more fire. Stronger fire!" A flicker of flame flashed across his gaze.
The hunger wasn't gone—but at least his reason was safe now. After thinking it through, Louis finally remembered who his true target was.
He remembered the question the bronze eagle knocker of Ravenclaw had once asked him.
"Which came first—the phoenix or the fire?" Louis covered his face with his hand and chuckled. "I wonder if the phoenix itself knows the answer to that?"
Beneath the shadow of his palm, his eyes gleamed with a frightening brilliance.
His body shifted, transforming into the likeness of Dio Brando. With full mastery of the Monkey Talisman, he could now take the form of anything he wished—living or dead—and even inherit the special powers of whatever he became.
It was akin to Sun Wukong's seventy-two transformations.
He pressed his hand against the wall of the Room of Requirement, and a doorway appeared.
Stepping through, he emerged directly inside the Headmaster's office.
That was the true essence of the Room of Requirement—also called the Come and Go Room. It could connect to anywhere in the castle, even the Headmaster's chambers.
Inside the office, the portraits of past headmasters were all absent, having rushed off to spectate the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort. Such a rare duel was a spectacle they couldn't miss.
Thus, only two beings remained here now: an unconscious Harry Potter, and the phoenix Fawkes.
The moment Fawkes saw the intruder enter, its feathers flared. From Louis's body it sensed an overwhelming danger—the presence of a natural predator.
Its plumage trembled, its tail feathers blazing like fire.
Sensing peril, the phoenix spread its wings and let out a piercing cry that echoed through the skies, then burst into flame and dove straight at Louis.
Strike first!
Louis merely smiled.
"Perfect timing."
He stretched out his hand and caught the phoenix by the throat.
The scorching heat, enough to twist the very air, did not harm him in the slightest. On the contrary, his expression was one of bliss, as though he were bathing in a hot spring.
"I am the master of all flames," Louis declared, opening his mouth as a powerful suction drew the phoenix's fire into his body.
Fawkes struggled in terror, but in his grip it was like a chicken ready for slaughter, unable to break free from those ironclad fingers.
It felt its own source fire being drained away, its very essence devoured. The flames it had once wielded as weapons were now beyond its control, stolen before its eyes.
The phoenix's body began to flicker, its lifeforce vanishing rapidly. A creature born of fire, its life was tied to that very flame—and now it was being consumed.
It wouldn't be long before it was sucked dry.
Just as Fawkes was about to perish, Louis frowned and tossed it aside with disdain, as though discarding refuse.
The phoenix crashed against a bookshelf, rolling weakly to the floor, barely clinging to life.
"No… this flame isn't right."
In Louis's eyes flickered a trace of holy fire—the manifestation of the phoenix flame he had just absorbed.
It tasted fine, but as a source of power, it didn't suit him.
Still, it wasn't without benefit—at least the gnawing hunger no longer plagued him.
"I need something darker. More evil. Stronger fire."
Louis muttered to himself, then suddenly turned—his gaze falling upon the figure of Dumbledore, who had appeared.
At this moment, Dumbledore's eyes blazed with fury, for he saw his beloved companion Fawkes lying feebly on the ground.
Fortunately, the phoenix's body still trembled faintly—otherwise Dumbledore might have already exploded in rage.
"Professor Dumbledore," Louis said with a devilish smile. "What a pleasure to meet you."
---
RedX43's Note:
➤ Want More? Read Extra Chapters on Patreon!
➤ [email protected]/RedX43
➤ Thanks for the support! 🙌