Chapter 129: The Recognition of the Sword of Gryffindor (Patreon)

“Ginny.”

Ron suddenly cried out.

“Ginny’s face is even paler, and her body is a little stiffer than before.”

“That’s normal.”

Riddle smiled calmly.

“I haven’t fully resurrected yet, so every spell I cast consumes little Ginny’s magical power.”

“I originally thought only you and Harry would enter the Chamber of Secrets. I never expected there would be so many variables.”

“But it doesn’t matter. I can slowly wear you down.”

Harry and Ron’s hearts sank.

That meant the battle between Enzo and Riddle was actually accelerating Ginny’s death.

“No. This can’t continue.”

Ron pleaded with Vader.

“Ginny can’t die. Please, you have to save her.”

“I want to help you, but I’m not confident I can defeat him in a short amount of time. Besides…”

“Besides, he also has to split his attention to protect the two of you.”

Riddle laughed mockingly before looking at Harry.

“The famous Savior, the one loyal to Dumbledore. Is hiding behind someone else all you can do?”

“Harry, don’t fall for it.”

Ron hurriedly warned him.

“What exactly are you suggesting?”

Vader looked at Riddle meaningfully.

“I have a small proposal.”

“We’re evenly matched. Neither of us can do anything to the other, so why don’t we temporarily call a truce?”

“Let the Basilisk Salazar Slytherin raised in this Chamber fight Harry Potter, the boy Albus Dumbledore has placed so much faith in.”

“Delaying things is meaningless.”

Vader shook his head.

“It still has its uses.”

“It would be a win-win situation.”

“It would postpone Ginny Weasley’s death by a few minutes. You could use that time to think about how to defeat me.”

“And I could use those few minutes to recover a little more of my strength.”

“You really have no shame.”

Vader looked at him disdainfully.

“You get the chance to kill Harry Potter and recover more of your strength, while we can only stand here and watch.”

“Then let’s continue the battle of attrition.”

“When Ginny dies, you’ll understand what despair truly means.”

Hearing that, Vader became somewhat anxious as well.

He only wanted to make a profit. He had no intention of causing anyone’s death.

But he was currently out of options.

At Sequence 6, he could only fight Tom Riddle to a draw. Keeping Riddle occupied while simultaneously protecting several burdensome companions was already extremely difficult.

As for killing him…

The thought shattered the moment it appeared in his mind.

Unless he could kill Riddle in a single decisive strike, no matter how badly Tom Riddle was injured, he could rapidly restore himself using Ginny’s life force.

Who would have thought a diary could actually take physical form?

Voldemort’s Horcruxes really refused to play by the rules.

Wait.

A Horcrux?

Vader suddenly grasped the key point.

He casually glanced at the diary lying beside Ginny.

That was it.

The diary was the true body.

Tom Riddle could only be considered an avatar.

At least until he fully resurrected, his soul had no way to completely separate itself from the diary.

But there was a problem.

The only method Vader knew of for destroying a Horcrux was Fiendfyre.

And he hadn’t completely mastered that spell yet.

One wrong move, and he could burn the Horcrux together with everyone else.

It would also burn the Basilisk.

Then he wouldn’t get its eyes or venom either.

After all this effort, ending up with nothing would be unacceptable.

With that thought, Vader looked toward Harry Potter and gave him a firm nod.

“Leave it to you.”

“Me?”

“I trust Dean Griffin’s judgment.”

Vader spoke with complete seriousness.

“If you really are the Fool, then there’s no way you’ll die here.”

Sorry, Harry.

Tom Riddle was right about one thing.

I really do need some time to think.

And Dumbledore has already sent his phoenix here, so your life should be safe.

“I… I…”

Harry lowered his head and fell silent for a moment.

“If I keep fighting him, Ginny will definitely die.”

“I’ll do it.”

“But can that rooster…”

Before he could finish, an image suddenly flashed through Vader’s mind.

A dazzling green light shot forward and struck the rooster in the neck.

“Avada Kedavra!”

The moment Riddle uttered the Killing Curse, Vader closed his eyes and raised his staff.

But he did not attempt to block the curse.

It was already too late.

Following his instincts, he pointed his staff at the Basilisk, which was barely breathing.

Using the power of his Sequence 6 level, he forcibly extracted the Basilisk’s two golden-yellow eyes.

The previous second, Riddle had still been immersed in the relief of knowing the Basilisk was safe.

The next, he heard the creature unleash a heart-wrenching scream.

The yellow eyeballs were covered in black blood and viscous fluid.

Vader didn’t even flinch.

He carefully placed the two eyes into a clean cloth bag enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm.

One of the main ingredients required for Sequence 4 was now in his possession.

At least all his effort hadn’t been wasted.

“How dare you?”

“You attacked first, didn’t you?”

Vader replied righteously.

“I only wanted things to be a little fairer.”

“Coincidentally, so did I.”

Riddle’s face twitched.

“Then let’s begin.”

“Even without its eyes, the Basilisk can still hear.”

“It can also track Harry Potter by his scent.”

Harry stared at the Basilisk’s blood-soaked empty eye sockets and its exhausted body.

He didn’t feel relieved in the slightest.

Sure, he no longer had to worry about making eye contact with it.

But the Basilisk was enormous.

It could probably swallow him whole just by opening its mouth.

And its mouth contained two rows of long fangs filled with deadly venom.

Me?

Fight the Basilisk?

That wasn’t funny at all.

“Harry…”

Ron looked at him with a miserable expression and managed to force out a single word.

“Run.”

Right.

Run.

He had to run.

And he had to run now.

Move, you useless legs!

The Basilisk caught his scent and slowly began crawling toward him.

Harry was about to run when he suddenly saw its tail sweeping toward him.

He hurriedly dropped to the ground and narrowly avoided it.

Then he noticed something.

Silver light was shining from inside the Sorting Hat.

A sword hilt studded with a ruby.

Harry immediately grabbed the hilt and pulled a silver sword from the Sorting Hat.

“This is…”

“The recognition of the sword?”

Vader pretended to be surprised.

But he really was surprised.

He only remembered that Harry Potter would eventually gain the recognition of the Sword of Gryffindor, but he hadn’t expected it to happen today.

Enzo had just said that the Fool would receive the recognition of a sword.

And Harry had immediately drawn this very sword.

If Harry wasn’t the Fool, then who could be?

Everything fit together perfectly.

Brilliant.

Absolutely brilliant.

And the sword was unquestionably a top-tier magical artifact.

Numerous high-level runes were engraved upon it, granting it many extraordinary abilities.

Perhaps it could even destroy a Horcrux.

“It seems the person Dean Griffin’s prophecy referred to really is Harry Potter.”

“Prophecy?”

Riddle sneered.

“No prophecy can escape Voldemort.”

“Because he is going to die here today.”

“Go. Kill the boy.”

“He’s on your left.”

As Riddle controlled the Basilisk and sent it after Harry, Vader quietly moved forward several steps.

He used a Summoning Charm to pull the diary from the ground and slipped it into his robes.

Whether the Sword of Gryffindor could destroy the Horcrux or not, he needed to perform a divination before he could know for certain.