HP: The Arcane Thief

Chapter 142: Who is the Monster?

Chapter 142: Who is the Monster?

A while back—

It had been a few days since Theron and Nerio had changed their plans. Their target had now become Axel, the prince of Atlantis. But, there were problems. First of all, the castle was huge, with thousands of students.

And no matter how hard they tried, they had been unable to find Axel Hunt alone during this time.

"It's taking too long. Let's just pick him up from his class the next time," said Theron.

Nerio sighed. "Seems like that is our only option."

If a student, especially Axel disappearing right out of the class, it's bound to cause a big stir. Their involvement might be revealed in such a scenario.

But since it has already come to this, then fuck secrecy. They were high level executives of Kraken. They couldn't stay here for long, especially for a job as trivial as kidnapping a child. A force as powerful as the two of them was for Gorski. If they weren't already in the area, they would have just sent some low level members to fetch the kid.

*beep* *beep*

At this moment, they were alerted by a sound, causing them both to frown. "He's there again?" Asked Theron.

"It would seem so," said Nerio, checking the device. For the past few days, a professor from Hogwarts had been sneaking into the forest. To check his movements, they had planted a monitoring device in the area.

A screen appeared in front of Nerio, showing the situation.

"Huh?"

Nerio's relaxed features tightened into a serious expression as his eyes met the screen.

"What's the matter?" Theron asked in puzzlement as he checked out the footage as well. He raised his eyebrows. "What is he doing?!"

On the screen, they could see that Lockhart had brought a student with him this time, and he had put her in the middle of the ritual circle.

"What is he doing?"

"How would I know?! Just keep watching."

As they watched, their shock only grew. "Who the hell is Voldemort?" Asked Theron.

Nerio was already searching for information. He scoffed upon reading through the results.

"Just a local darklord who disappeared a decade ago. The girl in the ritual circle, Rose Potter, was supposedly his subjugator "he informed.

"Got done in by a little girl?" Theron laughed. "Guess he's still alive, through that book. So this was about revenge," he muttered, already losing interest.

Though, soon, his mouth fell open as the ritual circle activated and the huge monstrosity called the Demogorgon came out,

"What,,, What in Poseidon's name is that?!"

Nerio had a look of horror etched upon his face. "That can't be…" he murmured, quickly searching the confidential archives of the Organisation.

"What IS it?" Theron demanded.

Nerio was no longer relaxed now. He had already stood and started suiting up. "It's called the Demogorgon. It's actually a creature from the Netherworld."

"What?!" Theron couldn't wrap his head around what was going on here. "But… no one should be able to access that world! Not without the key!"

"That's what I can't understand! But if their words are to be believed, that Voldemort somehow reached into the Netherworld. And now he's sending in an army here."

"Damn it," Theron also got up. "Shouldn't we go stop the guy?"

Nerio shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the screen. "Let him be. We can get the boy during the chaos. Might also pick up that girl while at it."

Atlantis was far, far away from this place. They wouldn't be affected if they didn't interfere. But, that wasn't the problem here.

"We need to report this situation to the HQ. We underestimated the scale of this." Nerio muttered.

That was the problem. Things had suddenly gotten out of bounds. The Netherworld. They had been trying to get to the place for so long. That place had so much untapped potential, just waiting for them to access it. And just when they had succeeded, that Tristan stole the key, along with a lot of vital research data.

Now, a decade later, they are discovering that someone else has managed to travel to the Netherworld. And not only that, the said person has also managed to gather an army of creatures as fearsome as Demogorgons there.

Not to mention the fact that Voldemort has also found a way to establish connection between the worlds without the key.

It feels almost similar to the girl you were trying to woo getting stolen by someone else.

They had been regarding everything here with disdain, sitting on their high horses. They had never thought this was possible, but this Voldemort... he might actually be a threat.

Nerio was just about to contact the HQ, but a new development occurred at the scene, causing him to pause. A person had suddenly appeared in front of Voldemort.

"An eel?" Muttered Theron, looking at Akiko in her ninja attire. Eel was the derogatory term used upper echelons of the Organisation for Ninjas. Atlantis has been recruiting them for security and counter attack with a high amount of resources. They're slippery and shrewd, and can really sting if you're not careful, just like the case with an eel.

"Is she trying to stop him alone?"

Nerio had a calculating look on his face. "Those ninjas aren't that simple minded. She is up to something."

Sure enough, something happened soon after. The screen was suddenly filled with an extremely bright light, making them unable to spectate the situation.

???

By the time the light settled down, they could see a clocked corporeal figure made out of pure energy.

"What is that?!"

Both the Atlantians were dumbfounded to see the DemogorgonsDemogorgons actually retreating due to the presence of the magical construct.

Though, at this moment, something else happened that completely took their attention off astonishing sight.

Another person became visible, trying to rescue the girl from the ritual circle. But what drew their attention was the fact the object glowing at the chest of the person.

"Oi, Seventh! Isn't that—?!" Exclaimed Theron.

Nerio nodded. "The key… that mask guy, it must be Hunt."

Theron began walking out. "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go get it!"

Nerio smacked Theron on the head, "Don't be in a hurry. Don't you see that spell single handedly fighting all the Demogorgons?! Both the parties have extraordinary strength right now. Us going in would not bring good results."

"Then what do we do?! Don't you know how important that key is?!" Demanded Theron, rubbing his head.

"Calm down, eight. We are at the advantage here.. Just observe the situation. Let them fight it out. We would be the fishermen who will reap the benefits," said Nerio with a sly grin.

They both calmed down and watched the events with a cool head. " The boy is quite good," remarked Nerio idly.

"Just look at his family. Of course he is good. And those snide remarks, they remind me an awful lot of someone," said Theron through gritted teeth. "By the way, what does the 'First' say about this?"

Nerio shrugged. "You know how that old man is. He just said to bring the boy. Maybe he'll kill him personally."

They both shivered remembering the man. But soon, the event happening in the screen became too mindblowing to think about anything else.

"How is he doing that?!" Asked Theron as he saw Voldemort taking over Lockhart's body. But their surprises were only beginning.

"He is… actually powerful," said Nerio, putting on his glasses.

They saw Voldemort weilding huge amounts of magical power to crush Axel.

"Oi Seventh, he'll die at this rate," said Theron. With Voldemort having such power, Axel was going to die at this rate."

Nerio's glasses were glowing. "Look carefully."

Sure enough, something unbelievable was happening at the scene. Axel was…. He was somehow evading all of Voldemort's numerous, unavoidable attacks with hair's breath!

"Wh….. what kind of monster is he?"

Nerio could see much more than that. "He's not only fighting him. He's also distracting while his partners rescue the girl."

Nerio adjusted his glasses. "Complete mastery over Stealth, Evasion, Endurance and Combat. An incredible situational awareness and battle sense. And a calm and fearless mindset…. It's good that he didn't approach this monster recklessly. Right now, his only weakness is—"

He about to say 'attack power', but then it happened. Voldemort glanced back for a moment. And then…

There was a flash of light, and they saw him falling to the ground, cut into pieces. It was that quick.

*Jaws dropping*

"I…. am not fighting him," declared Nerio, looking scared for the first time. He was thanking his lucky stars that they hadn't just walked up to the guy to kidnap him.

"Coward! I want to fight him more now," said Theron. "Let's go now! He must have exhausted all of his means by now."

Nerio rolled his eyes. "Of course you would say that. You have that armour after all. And no, we're not going there yet."

"Why?"

*BOOOM*

Before Theron even completed his question, he got his answer. They felt the impact even while sitting far away in their circle.

"What…. What happened?"

Theron took off his glasses. "Voldemort. He is our number one threat from now on."

Now he was quite thankful that he didn't thoughtlessly approach earlier, thinking Voldemort to be someone beneath them. "That power…"

Nerio wiped off cold sweat from his brows.

Theron looked even more scared. "My armour. It would have crumbled into nothing before that."

Nerio nodded. "That power is beyond relics "

Currently, the main weapons in Atlantis are relics. Being the oldest civilization, it once used to have magical technique far beyond what anyone can reach today. Too bad, that exact technology also led to it's downfall. After everything was almost destroyed, only a few things of the past have remained. They are called relics, unique items with unexplainable powers.

That is also one of the reasons why Atlantians consider themselves superior to other humans. But those relics… they are useless in front of Voldemort. That is how powerful he currently is.

"Which is why we must retrieve the key. Let's go," said Nerio, finally getting up. If Voldemort can gain such power from the Netherworld, then they can too.

They quickly arrived teleported to the disasterous location. Everything in the surroundings was completely decimated, but…

"They survived!" Exclaimed Theron. He couldn't imagine how someone could survive something that even his armour couldn't.

"Barely," said Theron, looking at the situation through his glasses. They are severely exhausted.

But really, he didn't know who the real monster was. Voldemort who was able to instantaneously generate all that power, or Hunt, who was able to survive that.

The boy seriously reminded him of Tristan even in his cockroach like tenacity. Nerio still sometimes doubts if that Hunt is really dead.

But oh well, that doesn't matter.

He smirked. "We have the perfect opportunity."

…

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