“Sean, what should I do?” Charlotte asked, her voice panicked as she saw the snakes on the brink of explosion.
Throughout their journey, she regarded Sean as an excellent teammate, instinctively seeking his opinion in times of crisis.
Sean’s face grew heavy. He had only tested the Protego Diabolica spell a few times and had little confidence that it could contain such a massive explosion in all directions.
His spell proficiency was still lacking, and his magical power was far from Grindelwald’s.
“The only way is to establish a connection with the animals,” Sean thought to himself.
However, the person controlling the Ashwinders had Parseltongue, which gave them a significant advantage over the snakes.
“But the other professors should have noticed such a significant disturbance caused by the Ashwinders. They will likely arrive soon, and the mysterious person may have already fled,” Sean reasoned.
With these thoughts in mind, Sean tentatively spoke up, addressing the corner where the voice had come from. “Are they that coward to the point they won’t show themselves at this point?”
There was no response.
“You don’t even dare to reveal your name. Can I call you an idiot?” Sean taunted, trying to provoke a reaction.
Still, there was no response.
“It seems they’re gone,” Sean said, realizing the mysterious individual had disappeared.
Under the bewildered gazes of the others. Sean wrapped his hands with a piece of his robe and then stained a small amount of red liquid on the soles of his feet.
Although he didn’t know what kind of potion it was, he was sure it would attract the attention of the Ashwinders. He held the cloth, and a strange musky scent filled his nostrils.
Simultaneously, the Ashwinders turned their heads in unison, their attention drawn to the corner of Sean’s robe stained with the red liquid.
The Ashwinders seemed captivated, and their red pupils locked onto Sean.
Others watched in horror as the Ashwinders began to relax their attacking posture. Some of the snakes in the distance turned and slithered back into the shadows.
“How did he do that?!” All of them were shocked by the sudden change in the snakes’ behavior.
However, Sean had no time to answer their questions.
His talent for magical beasts played an influential role. Still, Sean had finally realized why merely looking at these magical creatures had such a significant effect.
Because the violent emotions were being channeled into him.
Sean could naturally suppress his emotions, but with most of the castle’s Ashwinders gathered there and each one directing their gazes at him. Which the violent emotions would overwhelm him.
In an instant, Sean’s mind was flooded with aggression and coldness. Looking at him from across the room, Charlotte felt his involuntary urge to do something.
“I want to kill… I want to tear them apart… I want to break their bones… I want… I want to eat them…” Sean’s thoughts turned dark and violent.
“Sean, what’s happening to you?” Charlotte exclaimed, horrified to see the sudden change in his character.
The left eye had a circle of white around the pupil, and his entire demeanor had become cold and violent.
Sean gripped his wand tightly, and the once-steady blue flames that had protected everyone began to flicker erratically.
“Sean! Sean!” His friends called out. They were trying to bring him back to his senses.
“Sean…” Charlotte’s voice trembled with concern.
Sean’s vision started to blur, and the urge to harm everyone grew stronger within him.
“Damn…” Sean knelt down, covering his face with his hands, struggling against the overpowering emotions.
He managed to speak with great effort, his voice becoming sinister and hoarse. “Get out… Get out!”
“Sean?” Cedric approached, trying to help him up.
“Go out, or I’ll kill you,” Sean raised his head slowly, his eyes reflecting a cold and ruthless gaze filled with determination and internal conflict.
Everyone felt their breath catch in their throats, witnessing the disappearance of the student they had known, replaced by a presence that exuded an overwhelming sense of menace.
Charlotte swallowed hard, sensing that they would be killed if they didn’t leave.
“Let’s go, let’s find the professors!” she shouted loudly.
As everyone hurriedly made their way through the flames, they felt a burning sensation, unlike the previous protection offered by the blue flames.
The Ashwinders went away, and Charlotte and the others quickly escaped the infirmary. Outside, they were horrified to see the blue flames in the second-floor window growing increasingly dazzling and unstable.
In the corridor, Sean was gasping for air, his mind barely retaining a fragment of clarity. The blue flames surged uncontrollably due to his agitated magical power.
Any Ashwinder that hadn’t fled was instantly incinerated without even a chance to let out a scream.
Sean, still somewhat disoriented, took steps forward. He felt a strange familiarity coming from the other side. The corridor behind Sean had transformed into a blazing inferno, reaching its peak.
As he reached the end, there was no sign of the mysterious man or Kettleburn. Sean finally saw what had been concealed from his view.
The source of the blue glow was a flame, but it was different from Sean’s spell. It appeared both solid and illusory at the same time.
In Sean’s perception, these two descriptions seemed contradictory, yet that was how it felt to him.
Then, Sean noticed an Ashwinder slowly emerging from the flickering flames. It hissed and lunged towards him.
The newborn Ashwinder turned to ashes instantly.
A moment of realization dawned upon Sean. Ashwinders were created when uncontrolled magic fire, fueled by magical substances such as Floo powder, burned for too long.
The root cause of the castle incident was a mere small flame. The violent emotions surged within Sean’s mind like a raging dragon being imprisoned.
He knelt down involuntarily, the flames around him coming into contact with the blue fire.
A voice echoed in Sean’s mind.
“I can help you suppress it…”
“Come closer to me…”
“You don’t want to become a beast, do you?”
“I only want to assist you…”
The voice was enchanting, ethereal, and carried a bewitching allure.