HP: Talented, Powerful, Yet in Debt Chapter 247 247: 247: You have come, Heir of Slytherin

"I was wrong... wrong. Hurry, go tell... tell the Headmaster..."

When Tom had previously hidden within the Diary, he had shown little interest in Lucien. He had only asked a few additional questions about Harry and had never inquired closely about Lucien's appearance.

But Lockhart no longer cared about Tom's embarrassing mistake. Anyone would do, as long as they could bring the information out and inform the Headmaster and Professors quickly enough.

Glancing at Lockhart, Lucien roughly guessed why Tom had mistaken his identity.

Without replying to Lockhart, Lucien simply looked at Tom and spoke calmly:

"Why aren't you continuing to brew the Potion?"

Lucien had previously seen this Potion recipe in Lockhart's office. After so experintation, he had also discovered the Potion's secret.

By adding just one more ingredient, it could transform into a Potion with a completely different effect.

It had to be said that Tom truly was a genius.

It seed he had learned quite a lot from Professor Slughorn back in his school days.

Tom smiled faintly.

"There's no need to rush, Lucien. eting an outstanding talent like you is truly a pleasant surprise."

At this mont, Tom's expression and tone showed none of the embarrassnt from mistaking Lucien's identity earlier.

"I am particularly curious how you managed to find this place while simultaneously evading the Basilisk's attacks."

As he spoke, Tom attempted to sense his connection with the Basilisk.

However, he sensed nothing at all.

Tom could not help suspecting that the Basilisk had gone too far away and that the connection had been blocked by the castle.

Dong!!!

The sound of a heavy object smashing against the ground echoed through the Chamber of Secrets.

An object rolled all the way to Tom's feet: scorched green scales, bright yellow eyes, scarlet crest feathers... the Basilisk's head.

Lucien shook his left hand lightly.

"Looking for the Basilisk?"

At that instant, shock and fury surged through Tom's eyes as he stared at Lucien, mixed with a trace of fear and suspicion.

Lucien had thrown out the Basilisk's head.

A young wizard who looked even younger than him had killed the Basilisk?

How was that possible?!

The Basilisk's instantly fatal gaze, its powerful body, its corrosive venom... which of those could a young wizard easily withstand?

Yet Lucien had actually severed the Basilisk's head.

How long had the Basilisk even been active before it was killed?

Even the Professors might not have been able to deal with the Basilisk in such a short ti. Only Dumbledore... but Tom had specifically acted while Dumbledore was away from Hogwarts, hadn't he?

Could Dumbledore still be at the school?

One question after another bombarded Tom's soul like cannon fire.

Wisps of black smoke continuously drifted in and out of Tom's body, revealing the turbulence and chaos in his emotions.

Lucien took a few steps forward and spoke indifferently:

"Still looking for the Basilisk? Or are you worried that I'm an Animagus who infiltrated Lockhart's office in animal form and tampered with the dragon blood or the other Potion ingredients?"

The mont those words were spoken, the atmosphere beca awkward once again.

Tom thought Lucien's suggestion sounded absurd, but... an Animagus at this age?

No, if Lucien had really killed the Basilisk, then becoming an Animagus was not impossible.

Even if he was not an Animagus, he might still have infiltrated Lockhart's office through other ans...

Tom carefully glanced at the vial of dragon blood in his hand before looking back at the cauldron.

"Hmph. Stop trying to deceive . I can tell these ingredients are fine."

Lucien nodded and took several more steps toward Tom.

"Fine. Then continue."

That only made Tom even more unwilling to act recklessly.

In truth, after his brief agitation, he had already cald down. Regardless of whether the ingredients had been tampered with, the process of reforming a body was highly unstable and could not tolerate interference.

No matter what, Tom could never brew and drink the Potion in front of Lucien.

Forget that. Kill Lucien first!

With that thought, Tom channeled Magic into Lockhart's wand in his hand.

The Eye of Peering Magic remained locked onto Tom the entire ti. Lucien sensed the magical disturbance within Tom's soul entity, tightened his grip on the wand in his right hand, and simultaneously took out an object with his left.

"Ahhh!!!"

A shrill, agonized scream rang out from Tom, though strangely, his mouth had never opened. Large amounts of black smoke billowed from his body as waves of different sizes surged within the smoke.

Lucien had already walked over to the Diary. The Sword of Gryffindor in his left hand hung diagonally downward as drops of Basilisk venom slid along the blade and dripped onto the Diary.

This brought Tom bone-gnawing pain. Black smoke swirled around his body, and he could feel the life force stored within his soul rapidly dissipating.

The intense agony nearly made Tom drop the wand as his figure staggered unsteadily.

"Wait... wait a mont. We... we can cooperate..."

"You are so exceptional. I... ahhh!!!"

Lucien rely flicked the Sword of Gryffindor lightly, causing more venom to drip onto the surface of the Diary as white smoke continuously rose from it.

"So your current soul entity can't touch the Diary itself?"

Tom clutched one dim eye, his handso features twisted in pain.

Lucien's consecutive actions and words had completely thrown him off balance, making him montarily ignore the fact that Lucien had approached the Diary on the ground.

Before obtaining a complete physical body, Tom was unable to use his soul to directly touch the Diary, which was the physical form of the Horcrux core.

Although Tom looked weak and miserable at this mont, Lucien did not lower his guard in the slightest.

He had never intended to confront Tom head-on from the beginning. Tom had absorbed too much life force and was currently in excellent condition. A direct battle would likely be ti-consuming and exhausting.

Lun was temporarily blocking the situation above. Once he finished handling matters here, he still needed to return.

So the faster this ended, the better.

As long as the Tom before him had not obtained a physical body, the Horcrux core housing the soul fragnt would always remain a fatal weakness. Controlling the Diary ant controlling Tom.

"I have... I have Slytherin's inheritance. I can share... share the knowledge with you..."

A hoarse voice squeezed out through Tom's clenched teeth as he attempted to slow Lucien's actions.

"The knowledge of Slytherin's inheritance, huh..."

Lucien revealed an expression of temptation.

Seeing this, Tom was overjoyed and imdiately prepared to continue speaking to stabilize Lucien.

"AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

An even more miserable scream rang out. Tom half-knelt on the ground as massive amounts of black smoke poured from his body, only to rapidly dissipate after drifting away from him.

"You damned Mudblood!"

Tom raised his head and glared viciously at Lucien with venomous eyes as a streak of light passed across his face.

Lucien slowly carved a slit into the cover of the Diary with the silver longsword. At the sa ti, the streak of light on Tom's face extended further, tearing apart the soul entity shrouded in black smoke.

Doing this would not truly destroy the Horcrux. What Lucien wanted was to weaken Tom to his limit, leaving him temporarily unable to cause trouble again.

If he ever needed to search for Voldemort's other Horcruxes, having one intact Horcrux as a guide would save a great deal of trouble.

Lucien had not yet figured out how to make use of the connection between the soul fragnts, but that did not matter. He still had Dumbledore and Nicolas Flal to consult.

Tsk—!

Cold Magic suddenly erupted from Tom's soul entity.

Temporarily enduring the pain of his damaged soul, Tom frantically burned the life force he had preserved until now, converting it into temporary Magic.

Reforming a body could wait. The imdiate priority was dealing with Lucien.

Buzz—!!

Vast Magic surged around Lucien.

The Lightning Sigil flashed, and a faint pressure accompanied the eruption of magical power, instantly filling the Chamber of Secrets.

The killing moves of both sides were about to collide in the next second.

"You have co, Heir of Slytherin..."

A distant, ancient voice echoed through the Chamber of Secrets, as though it had crossed through ti itself.

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