Chapter 144: Cruciatus Curse, Strength, Kill!

In the depths of the Forbidden Forest at night, Ciel's gaze burned ice-cold as his steps moved with deadly purpose. Under his Platinum-tier night vision, the dark forest lay illuminated like daylight. This wasn't his first venture into these woods with Hagrid... he knew the terrain well enough. Umbridge's panicked escape traces were crystal clear to his enhanced sight. But suddenly, he noticed her footsteps becoming shallower. He frowned. "Hmm?" His gaze shifted toward the forest ahead. A short, fat, toad-like figure came into view. It was Umbridge. He stopped, cautiously scanning the nearby forest to confirm whether any ambushes waited. But in his field of vision, he saw no other figures. This made him look at Umbridge with not only disgust but also some surprise. "You're not running?" The voice reached Umbridge's ears, making her unable to suppress a mocking laugh. "Run? Aren't you overestimating yourself? Do you really think you're so capable? Think that after learning magic for less than a year, you can defeat me?" Scenes of being humiliated by Ciel at the hearing flashed through her mind. Umbridge tightened her grip on her wand. Then she turned around, approaching him step by step. "If you hadn't chased after me, I might not have been able to do anything to you. But since you've pursued me into the Forbidden Forest... if I don't teach you a lesson, even heaven would punish me." She raised her wand, deliberately showing it to him. "Look. To be safe, I didn't bring my own wand. This one I bought randomly in Knockturn Alley. Do you know what this means? It means in a place like the Forbidden Forest, no matter what magic I cast on you with it, there won't be any evidence left." Umbridge's steps were unprecedentedly light, but her expression grew increasingly twisted. "At the hearing, weren't you quite studious? Well today, I'll let you learn to your heart's content." The next moment, her wand moved. A spell wrapped in blazing flames flew toward Ciel, accompanied by her excited words. "This is called Incendio, a third-year spell. I mastered it in my first year of school. I used it on the roommates who bullied me, burning quite a few scars on them. Do you know why? They actually called me a toad... I hate that most of all. Come, let me teach you now." Ciel remained calm, his steps shifting slightly. The Incendio spell brushed past his shoulder. But this didn't affect Umbridge's actions. She looked at him like a lab mouse in a cage, struggling before death. Instead, it brought her more vengeful pleasure. Her wand flicked, and another spell flew out. "This is called the Reductor Curse... it can shatter everything it hits. I was proficient with it in my second year. Then I blasted apart a girl's most beloved jewelry. Piece by piece by piece, never to be repaired again. Who told her to always show off her jewelry in front of me, mocking my hair bows behind my back? After that she finally learned to keep her mouth shut." Ciel had already stepped aside the moment the Reductor Curse was cast. The spell brushed past again, blasting a deep crater in the ground with dirt flying everywhere. Umbridge still hadn't noticed anything wrong. As if venting the fury in her heart, she cast spell after spell in succession. "Do you know how hard it is for a half-blood with no background or family to climb up in the wizarding world? Do you know how many people I've stepped on? You don't understand. You'll never understand. You have your dear aunt... she'll pave the way for everything. Getting you to publish so many papers in your first year... when you graduate, you'll probably directly take over as Hogwarts Herbology professor, won't you? Why? Why?! For people like you, would it kill you to let me step on you once?! To you, isn't it just an insignificant loss! Just obediently let me step on you to climb up, like all those people I've stepped on before... wouldn't that solve everything! You dare resist, dare make me lose face, dare make everything I've worked so hard for over the years nearly turn to nothing overnight." Umbridge was almost hysterical, wearing a sickly smile. She felt this game should end. The little lab mouse dodging in the cage should be crushed to death. Wand raised, aimed at Ciel. "This is the last spell I'm going to teach you. You probably haven't learned about Unforgivable Curses yet, but that's fine... I'll make you clearly understand their power. Just like after I entered the Ministry, that annoying supervisor. Others had backgrounds and connections she couldn't bully, so she just made me copy documents over and over again. Clearly I was the one who did the most work... why wasn't the promotion opportunity mine? No matter. After I secretly broke into her home and cast this curse on her again and again, she became extremely obedient. This curse is called..." Her wand flicked with viscous malice, as if wanting to dig out his very marrow. She also loudly recited the incantation. "Crucio! Cruciatus!" A magical power Ciel had never felt before burst forth instantly. Umbridge's face already showed a twisted smile, eagerly anticipating seeing him suspended in the air, screaming miserably. But what she never expected was that he merely shifted his steps and nimbly avoided the Cruciatus Curse. "So slow." Even without underestimating his opponent, Ciel inevitably felt this way. Having grown accustomed to Snape's combat methods, fought house-elves so many times, and just yesterday endured the storm-like attacks of Devil's Snare and Shadow Thorns for so long, his combat reactions had greatly improved compared to when he first encountered real battle. As for Umbridge, perhaps her talent wasn't bad. In terms of magical mastery, he might not match her. But her so-called combat was either dormitory bullying and intimidation or office politics. In a life-and-death struggle, she was slow, sluggish, unfocused, emotionally extreme... not a single redeeming quality. And she wanted to hit him with this? In her dreams! The next second, he merely moved his finger. A silent, wandless Levicorpus spell shot out. She was still immersed in shock at missing with the Cruciatus Curse. She didn't even have the awareness to detect the now more concealed Levicorpus after its qualitative change. In just an instant, she was suspended upside down in a dizzy spin. Her wand also clattered to the ground. Ciel waved his wand again. "Serpensortia!" A massive black venomous snake whistled down to the ground, easily crushing her fallen wand to pieces. Then it coiled around her body. Crack. Crack. Bones throughout Umbridge's body made successive breaking sounds. Blood constantly flowed from her mouth and nose. She suddenly realized that death was so close to her. This Hufflepuff student hadn't said a single word since the battle began. He kept looking at her with cold eyes. He really wanted to kill her! Fear instantly overwhelmed her. Blood tears squeezed from her bulging eyes. Her face, previously full of mockery and distortion, now showed pleading. "Don't kill me..." Ciel said quietly, "Don't worry. I won't personally kill you." Wild joy immediately surged through her heart. A young wizard... really just a young wizard after all. Going soft! She could survive! As long as she could survive, she still had opportunities. With full preparation, she could still get revenge. Today's pain... she would repay him and everyone around him tenfold, a hundredfold! But the next second, his quiet words plunged her into an icy abyss. "Personally killing someone would stain my magic with some lingering darkness. That's common knowledge. It's late, and Professor Snape has been working hard enough lately... I don't want to bother him to find cleansing potions. Besides, I heard Ministry officials are protected by certain magical protections, right? Killing a Ministry official... even Knockturn Alley dark wizards wouldn't do that. Aurors would trace certain magics. I don't want such trouble, but you must die. Fortunately, this is the Forbidden Forest. I'm sure many hungry things would be willing to solve this problem for me. Coincidentally, I know just the place to give you the best hospitality. You just taught me so many spell names... let me teach you some Care of Magical Creatures." He said softly, "There's a type of gregarious Class 5X magical creature... highly intelligent, can speak human language, huge as carriages. They're particularly fond of human flesh. Guess what this magical creature is called?" Umbridge, already pale, now turned white as paper and let out a terrified scream. "Acromantulas! There are Acromantulas in the Forbidden Forest?! Madman, you're all madmen... you should be locked up in Azkaban!" But as the snake summoned by Serpensortia coiled around her and slithered with him toward a certain area of the Forbidden Forest, she bounced along, blood constantly flowing from her mouth and nose... she no longer had the strength to curse. Especially seeing spider webs beginning to appear between the trees, fear completely enveloped her. Prey caught by Acromantulas would definitely experience a more painful death than the Cruciatus Curse. Internal organs and all body flesh would be slowly digested into liquid, then sucked clean... not even bones would remain. This process would last a very long time! She let out pleas. "Kill me... Kill me quickly..." Ciel remained expressionless. He had the snake carry her up a tree covered in webs, constantly rubbing against it. Then the snake dissolved into smoke. She fell, entangled in sticky spider silk. She used her last strength trying to struggle but couldn't break free from the webs. Soon, the vibrating webs attracted hungry hunters from the darkness. Spiders larger than carriages greedily surrounded her. "A wizard? Human flesh... we can eat human flesh again? The last poacher who trespassed on our territory tasted wonderful, but that was months ago. This witch is nice and plump... definitely tastier than poachers. She looks like a toad too! I like it!" Umbridge screamed in terror. But then, as an Acromantula's venomous pincers pierced her body and injected digestive fluid, her screams abruptly stopped. In their place came the sound of flowing liquid. After witnessing this scene, he was completely certain she was doomed. There wouldn't be any melodramatic scenes where some protagonist miraculously survived with lucky encounters. At this time, he turned to leave the darkness. Just then, feeling her internal organs dissolving and hearing bone-chilling liquid sounds, she let out a final hysterical scream. "Young wizard! There's another young wizard in that direction! Ciel Sprout... I want to die with you!" [Chapter Complete] *** Want more? Check out my Patreon for: ✓ Advanced chapters of all my stories ✓ Exclusive novels & fanfics ✓ Early access content [email protected]/meowthtl ???? Community Goal: 500 Power Stones unlocks a bonus chapter! Thanks for reading and supporting the story! Want more? Check out my other stories!