"Who are you?! Where are the Aurors? Where's the Ministry of Magic?!"
The furious wizard pointed his wand at Kai Adler, who still floated high in the air like a silent wraith. His shout echoed across the clearing. But before he could cast a spell, a companion yanked him back.
"Don't be a fool!"
His voice was low, urgent, eyes darting about.
"Stay alert! There might be a Ministry ambush nearby!"
In the wizarding world, the number of people who could hover mid-air unaided was countable on a single hand. The last wizard known to do this had left a legacy soaked in blood and terror—Voldemort.
And yet the one before them—a mere boy, not much older than the children they'd been trafficking—seemed to defy that same law of magic.
No, they thought, he must be bait. A distraction. A trap to draw our attention while the real Aurors are closing in.
"Ministry of Magic?"
Kai tilted his head slightly in mild surprise, then gave a small, amused smile. "Rest assured—there are no Aurors. There's no Ministry ambush. I'm alone."
The gathered dark wizards cursed under their breath.
Liar.
No one believed him.
Just the Anti-Apparition Charm alone, cast over the entire manor, would require a team of fully-grown wizards—not to mention the surging Fiendfyre still roaring behind him like a caged beast.
"Don't take me for an idiot," the man growled. "Where are they hiding? Tell me, or I'll kill you!"
His wand glowed a poisonous green—the telltale light of the Killing Curse.
Kai sighed softly.
Why are they always so dramatic?
"I'd prefer to speak to your family head," he said coolly. "I have something to say to him."
The man sneered. "Then I'll kill you and see if your Ministry friends crawl out of the shadows to save you—Avada Kedavra!"
The spell exploded from his wand like a bolt of death.
Ciel gasped from the treetops. Even Sebastian's crimson eyes narrowed in anticipation.
But above them, Kai merely lifted one hand, palm open.
A curling black mist, tinged faintly with red, poured from his fingers like smoke.
The green light collided with the mist—and stopped.
Entangled in the twisting red threads, the Avada Kedavra pulsed, then flickered, and finally… disappeared.
Kai's smile deepened slightly as he curled his fingers. With a soft pop, a puff of gray ash drifted from his palm.
Silence.
Absolute, deafening silence.
The dark wizards below stared in horror.
That was the Killing Curse. The Unforgivable Curse. It had no shield, no counter-spell, no way to block it. It tore straight through the soul.
The only defense was dodging.
But this boy hadn't dodged.
He had caught it.
With his bare hand.
Was this even possible?
Sebastian's eyes glowed faintly. Not even Merlin did such things so casually…
Kai's calm voice echoed again.
"The Killing Curse works by tearing through the soul," he said gently, almost as if explaining it to a classroom. "It ignores barriers made of magic. Even Black Magic."
"But," he continued, "that's assuming the caster is dealing with a soul that's… alive."
His soul—the one powering the Obscurus inside him—wasn't.
It belonged to someone else. A different soul. A dead soul, still tethered to this world by force and darkness.
You couldn't kill what was already dead.
Of course, no one else knew this. The crowd only saw a teenage boy snuff out a Killing Curse with one hand and smile while doing it.
"What the hell are you?" someone whispered.
Kai gave an innocuous shrug. "Just a student. I'd still like to speak with the head of the Ivo Family, if that's possible."
He wore a harmless expression—what Harry might've called "pleasant."
But behind him, the blue Fiendfyre roared like a silent tempest, casting long shadows over his face. Half of it was bathed in firelight, the other half hidden in shifting shadow.
That "pleasant" smile now seemed… inhuman.
"You think dressing like a ghost and playing tricks will scare us?" someone shouted, trying to shake off the growing fear.
But fear was already in the air.
Some wizards were slowly backing away. Others exchanged nervous glances, unsure whether to flee or fight. Some clutched their wands tightly but didn't move.
But the reckless man who had cast the first Killing Curse had lost all reason.
Bloodlust and madness glimmered in his eyes.
"Avada Kedavra! Avada Kedavra!"
He screamed the words over and over, flinging green bolts like a madman into the sky.
No one else joined him.
No one moved.
The others just watched, waiting to see what would happen.
Once again, Kai raised his hand. Each flash of green vanished into black smoke and ash, one after the other.
The boy barely even blinked.
On the third curse, blood began trickling from the reckless wizard's nose.
Kai's eyes lingered on the sight, then swept over the rest of the gathering and into the darkness beyond the main gate.
"Ivo Family Head," he called out. "If you keep hiding like a rat, your people are going to lose their minds."
Indeed, he meant it literally.
Casting the Killing Curse over and over could destroy a wizard's sanity. The spell required pure, focused hatred. Using it too often twisted a wizard's mind permanently.
"Or…"
Kai raised his wand—and behind him, the wall of Fiendfyre howled.
The flames rose higher, swirling like a tsunami, threatening to crash over them all. The blue fire sucked all warmth from the air, turning breath into mist and courage into ash.
"Must I burn them all before you come out?"
Panic set in. A few wizards collapsed to the ground in despair. Others turned to flee, only to find the fire looming on all sides.
He controlled it.
This entire sea of Fiendfyre—was his.
They had no escape.
Then—desperation.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE US!"
A barrage of spells flew from the gathered dark wizards—shards of cursed ice, black lightning, fireballs, and multiple green flashes of death.
Kai's lips twisted in annoyance.
He let his wand fall loosely in his grip, then flicked it sideways with a casual motion.
The ground shook.
A split second later, a massive earthen wall exploded upward between him and the barrage of spells. The magic struck the wall, scattering debris and dust, but none pierced through.
The wall held firm.
He tilted his head.
I learned that one from Snape…
Back at the Dueling Club, the Potions Master had transfigured the dueling stage into a wall to block one of Kai's own Black Magic spells. Turnabout was fair play.
As curses fizzled out against stone, Kai raised his wand again.
"Expulso."
Under the weight of his Black Magic, the earth wall crumbled—shattered into dozens of flying stones the size of fists.
They shot downward like meteors.
Cries of pain rang out as stone smashed through wand arms and skulls alike.
This wasn't "flying sand and stones."
It was a hailstorm.
Dark wizards screamed, retreated, bled.
Amid the chaos, a cold voice finally echoed from the manor gates.
"Pathetic. A pack of good-for-nothings."
All eyes turned.
Kai's narrowed.
Finally.
The head of the Ivo Family had arrived.