Bang!
The cloaked figure crashed heavily to the ground, momentarily dazed. He couldn't comprehend what had just happened. His magic hadn't failed, yet an invisible force had seized control of his body, forcing him to plummet from the air. It was as if flying had been forbidden in this space.
Strangely, he detected no magical fluctuations—no spell, no incantation.
Struggling to lift his head, he peered toward the source of the commanding voice. A black phantom hovered in midair, radiating an overwhelming, majestic aura. One glance filled him with dread, as if he'd offended a deity, and he averted his eyes.
What is that? he wondered. It wasn't human—more like a specter imbued with supreme authority. If he had to describe it, the phantom felt like a god descended to the mortal plane. Faceless and formless, it shimmered like condensed wind or dissolving mist, both tangible and ethereal.
Its right hand extended forward in a prohibitive gesture, and recalling the authoritative voice, the cloaked figure realized this entity had caused the sudden restriction. The realization shook him to his core.
No wand. No spell. Just words in a mysterious language—Hermes, perhaps?—that banned flight in this area. Does such magic exist?
The phantom was Dudley. He had activated Trensorst's Brass Book with his blood, enveloping it with his spiritual body to temporarily elevate his power to near-demigod levels. This state was unstable; his own strength was too weak to sustain it for long, and his spiritual reserves couldn't support true demigod abilities. The feat relied entirely on the Brass Book, a potent Sealed Artifact.
"Avada So—"
Whoosh! The cloaked figure, still sprawled on the ground, twitched his wand, attempting to cast a spell.
"Mental Piercing!" Dudley reacted instantly, unleashing a Sequence Seven Judge ability. Unlike mind-altering powers, this attacked the spiritual body directly, exerting crushing pressure on the target's essence.
Buzz! Dudley focused his spirit, striking the cloaked figure's spiritual body.
"Agh!" The figure's spell faltered as he screamed, clutching his head. The pain was excruciating, as if his mind had been struck by a hammer, rendering him unable to focus or counterattack.
Dudley's phantom eyes narrowed. During the Mental Piercing, he sensed something odd about the figure's spiritual body—impure, as if tainted by an alien presence.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! Urgent sounds echoed from above as pillars of white light, shrouded in mist, descended into the vault.
Gringotts' wizards had arrived.
The cloaked figure, sensing the danger, forced himself to his feet, desperate to flee.
"Imprisonment!" Dudley thrust his right hand forward, his voice intoning the Hermes Language. The Sequence Six Judge ability activated, his final power before his spiritual reserves depleted.
Trying to escape after forcing me to use the Brass Book? Dudley thought, sneering inwardly. He didn't need to kill the figure; delaying him would let Gringotts' wizards apprehend him.
A viscous, translucent liquid enveloped the cloaked figure, hardening into amber-like layers that bound him tightly. Even a spiritual body couldn't escape this law's grasp.
"Who dares invade Gringotts!"
"Intruder, die!"
Furious shouts rang out as the Gringotts wizards drew closer.
Boom! The area around the imprisoned figure erupted in flames, a terrifying inferno that shattered the amber cage, sending fragments flying.
Whoosh! The cloaked figure transformed into black smoke, vanishing into the tunnels in an instant.
"He escaped," Dudley muttered, his expression grim. The Imprisonment Law had failed to hold him.
The power he unleashed at the end was far stronger than before. What's going on? Dudley frowned. Was he hiding his strength? Why not use his full power from the start?
A faint sense of discord nagged at him, too vague to pinpoint. As a Judge Sequence extraordinary, he could detect subtle clues and mystical connections, but his brief encounter with the figure yielded too little to analyze.
"Who are you?"
Several white light pillars landed nearby, coalescing into wizards. They stared at the black phantom in awe and fear, its majestic aura overwhelming. Duty compelled them to investigate, but they couldn't meet its gaze.
The phantom seemed human yet unreal, a projection rather than a physical being. Its blurred face and commanding presence made them want to bow in reverence.
"Who are you, Your Excellency?" the lead wizard asked, summoning his courage despite the oppressive aura.
Dudley's phantom fixed him with a cold stare, causing the wizard to lower his head instinctively.
"Night Emperor," Dudley said in English, his voice resonating with authority. Then, he dispelled his spiritual body, and the black phantom vanished without a trace.
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