【Zhou Jia】self-punisher.

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A glimmer of light at the dawn of dawn penetrates through the gaps in the neatly arranged old books.The young man sat on his knees between two rows of bookshelves, his forehead hair was quenched by a layer of mist from the broken gold-like light.From a distance, he seemed to be studying a book, but when he got closer, he found that the ancient dark green sheepskin book had fallen between his knees, and a lizard with a half-broken tail slid past his fingertips. The chest disappeared into the wide sleeves in a flash.

frowning.

Holding a stack full of reference materials, Karna stopped a few steps away, tilted his upper body slightly backwards, and the book in his hand was taken back into his arms by his left hand before it nearly fell to the ground.

"Click."

There were soft footsteps among the old bookshelves, and the feet of the simplest style of round-toed leather shoes stopped in front of the boy.Karna squatted down, raised his fingers and stroked the boy's forehead.

As if unable to restore a piece of crumpled paper to its smoothness, with the sliding of the fingertips, the original frowning brows became more and more tense, and immediately opened his eyes.He stared blankly at Karna who was squatting in front of him—the latter was half-kneeling close to him, and the fingers touching him didn't seem to realize that there was anything wrong at all, and they still stayed on his forehead.

The fiery hot feeling quickly spread from between the eyebrows to the whole face, Arjuna's hesitation only stayed for a short moment, and soon disappeared without a trace.He blinked, and the complete reflection of Karna in his pupils suddenly shattered into meaningless lines.

"Karna—"

The short syllables have been subtly extended and elevated, which has a somewhat unclear meaning.But before he had time to say anything, Karna's expression suddenly became serious - Arjuna, who was not fully awake, was pressed into his arms by those seemingly slender hands.

"what?"

"Shh, someone's here."

With his sensitive hearing, Karna caught the sound of the door opening and closing in advance.If I'm not mistaken, it's the footsteps of Shirama.Before he had time to think about it, he blocked the other party's conversation in the most concise way.Although Ah Zhou, who was held in his arms by him, broke out in an instant as if he wanted to strangle him to death.

Immediately afterwards, the door opened and closed again, this time Karna did not judge the identity of the other party, but soon the stranger spoke first.

"Honorable pure-blood wizard, you can't..." The sharp and tired voice murmured.

"What I want is easy for you. Hand over what you have stashed, it will do you no good to keep it."

"That's what Mr. entrusted to me."

"Don't you understand? It's a dreadfully cursed magic weapon, and it will only bring endless disasters to the holder. Look at your appearance, it's only been so weak for so many years."

"You know, house-elves are proud to serve, and I must never betray my master."

"I clearly remember that he gave you a brooch during his lifetime—you are already free. Don't indulge in unrealistic fantasies anymore."

"Freedom!" The strange voice wailed in pain, Karna had never heard such a mournful tone. "This is a great disgrace to me! The nobles I have served for generations... yes, the real old noble wizard family. It must be that I have not done enough to meet the master's wishes. One day I will be able to go back and serve young My little master, instead of being reduced to one of the savages."

"You've come to realize that you're an outcast house-elf, and you don't have to take any responsibility to them, let alone sacrifice yourself. You..."

"Shut up! I will never make a dirty deal with you mediocre wizards. I know the Mister is not dead yet... He must be planning something bigger. It must be."

"Be sober. I was there when he died, even when he was encoffined. His soul is no longer in this world."

"It's an illusion... I can feel powerful... awe-inspiring magic here. It's the master's breath."

"Impossible—unless my wand tricks me into bringing back to life someone it killed."

"..."

"Need I be more clear. I killed your master myself... who is there?"

----

The sound of the steep turn was stern, Karna supported the shaking bookshelf, and the light and darkness in front of his eyes were sharply intertwined, and it was the sound of the footsteps of Rama in a hurry.

He couldn't help but hold his breath.The footsteps of Shakerama have echoed a few meters ahead.A low and clear incantation sounded in my ears, and a large circular hole appeared on the flat wall in front of my eyes, as if a tunnel that only one person could pass through suddenly emerged.

"Come with me."

Arjuna's figure disappeared in a flash in the tunnel, leaving only the tip of his hair in front of his eyes.When Rama walked up to the bookshelf with the axe, he followed into the passage, and the walls closed silently behind him.

This is a strangely slippery and cold passage. There is a shallow ditch under the stone wall. The cold light from no one knows where it is coming from, and a large piece of green moss can be vaguely seen spreading to the depth of the passage.

Arjuna stopped a few meters ahead, and looked up at the square hollow where the candlesticks should have been placed.Moss did not grow there like other places, but it was extremely dry, even covered with a thin layer of dust.

"Incendio!"

The raging flames bursting out in front of him made Karna instantly understand the situation.There was no candlestick here, but some kind of magic was used to trap the flammable gas in the narrow groove, which could be ignited at any time.The brightened passage warmed his fingertips a lot, and at the same time, he could clearly see Arjuna's rarely seen gloomy expression.

"Stupid servant..." Arjuna's voice echoed in the tunnel like a pendulum, he extinguished a gleam of light at the tip of the wand, and his pupils melted into the night. "Pretend to be clever and loyal, but he doesn't know that he is going further and further in the direction the enemy wants him to go."

"That's the house elf your father expelled." Karna's perceptive eyes reflected the candlelight, "You already knew to teach him..."

"These things are irrelevant." Arjuna waved his hand lightly, and looked away before intertwining his eyes, "Ability that cannot match itself will only cause disaster. He has lingered in Hogwarts for so long I don’t even know that behind the library is the secret passage leading to my father’s cemetery.”

The figure was elongated by the candlelight and reflected on the empty stone wall.It was so silent that only the sound of water droplets could be heard.But the deeper you go, the more you can hear the voices from the forest.

Butterflies fluttered, birds chirped, and the sudden bright moonlight replaced the dim candlelight.

This is the forest behind Hogwarts, the rolling hills stretching to the sky.At this time, it was a full moon, and the grass was covered with a layer of white light, and the crowds of people and horses passing by in the distance flashed past, and the ground returned to calm after shaking for a while.

Without saying a word, the black-haired boy used his magic wand to clear the vast and messy grass, and opened up a path that was rarely visited by people.Going east along the finely oozing stream, a small stele stands among the jagged black rocks, on which the name of the deceased is engraved in elegant and complicated characters.

"Arjuna?"

Sensing that the fingertips of the boy in front of him were trembling, Karna asked aloud.But Arjuna ignored him as if he was fixed in place, and then he discovered the reason.The tomb where the deceased should have been buried was dug open, and there were no bones left in the opened coffin, but there was no trace on the moist soil except for the footprints they had just made.

It cannot be said that there is no trace.

The coffin covered with soft gold silk fabric was opened, and bloodstains stretched from the inside to the stream.The bloodstains shining with a unique silver light obviously came from the body of that rare creature...

"Damn."

Arjun's angry expression only stayed for a moment, he swung his wand violently and fired a brilliant fire light into the void, reflecting the cold and sharp light on the snake-shaped badge pinned to his chest——

"hiss……"

The gigantic boa constrictor that tore through the void flew straight down from above, emitting a cold, wet and disgusting smell like the moss in the tunnel——the moment the dim snake eyes reflected Karna, it suddenly stopped attacking, but Raised the snake's head high and turned sharply in one direction, the snake's tail dragged heavy marks on the ground.

"Naga."

Hearing the master's call, the giant python quietly hid in the stream.Before the tail end disappeared, Arjuna raised his wand and uttered the last incantation - a strong white light suddenly burst out in front of his eyes, and the man in the hood didn't even draw his weapon, just moved his lips lightly, being backlashed The spell that came back made him freeze in place for an instant.

The face illuminated under the hood curled the corner of his mouth soundlessly towards him.

The figure of the man melted into the dust like silt.

In the screeching wind that followed, layers upon layers of Soul-eaters surged forward like a dog smelling blood.Arjuna didn't seem to notice the approaching danger at all, and stood there as if his soul had been sucked out, until the white light that gushed out from behind drove away the indescribable things that were eroding him, and the transformed bird's tail feathers gently caressed him. crossed his forehead dripping with cold sweat, illuminating half of the sky like day.

The Phoenix disappeared in the direction where the Eater of Souls was going.Karna didn't speak, and stood beside Arjuna looking at the place where the hooded man was away.There was no need to confirm him to know that the man's face was exactly the same as Indra's portrait.

And the emerald green snake with its neck crossed on the back of his hand, like a tightened rope, strangled the throat of fate.

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"It's almost dawn."

The young man with a pair of bright green eyes stared at the place where the light disappeared in the distance, and he raised his hand to caress the neck of the restless unicorn. If his figure was not translucent like a thick fog, his soft expression and The living are almost identical.

"Are you afraid, Qilu. He has the same blood flowing in his body as yours. That child is different from that man...he will not hurt you."

"Let's go back before the night is over. Recently, there are very dangerous people wandering around, so you should hide well."

The docile beast rubbed his palm affectionately, and walked towards the downhill forest.The boy brushed back his long hair that was the same color as his eyes, and tied the lock behind his ear that blocked his vision.He softly hummed an ancient song, and the lion riding under him—which was translucent like him—slowly opened its eyes, and carried the young man up the stream.

The earth seemed to tremble with the melody he sang, and countless dormant seeds woke up and broke out of their shells at this moment.The boy gently opened his palms, and released a chick nestled in the air into the air.

-TBC-