met free Chapter 478's fabricated story was quite good, but who knew it would be exposed as soon as he o
Chapter 478's fabricated story was quite good, but who knew it would be exposed as soon as he o
Just over half a year ago, when he was still in a spirit state, he was ambushed by Dumbledore and Dudley Dursley. With no other choice, he had to enter the body of Ecclesiastes Hunter, the former Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts professor.
Afterwards, he destroyed the original owner's soul and modified the original owner's body. He made the greatest effort to restore the original owner's appearance, but the body still had flaws, like a woman.
Not long ago, he faked his death and forcibly cast a powerful dark spell, which caused the effects of his previous body modifications to completely collapse and dissipate, thus reverting his appearance back to that of the witch Erkris.
Moreover, it cannot be modified again.
Forcibly modifying him would damage his magical cultivation and reduce his strength.
This is the truth. As Voldemort, the high and mighty Dark Lord, he would normally disdain explaining these things. However, seeing everyone making wild guesses and disrupting morale, he humbled himself and offered an explanation.
Once this fabricated story is made public to his subordinates, he will add another wave of misleading and malicious intent.
Erklis's old crew—the decadent, pure-blooded Death Eaters from England—will probably be able to stabilize again and slowly accept her new image.
As for the problem of her prestige being damaged and her subordinates wanting to defect to Grindelwald, Ecclesia has no way to completely solve it unless she can defeat Grindelwald, or even subdue him and make him take her lead.
This is too difficult; her magical cultivation has already reached the upper limit of her bloodline, and there is no way to improve it further.
Using underhanded tactics... Not only might she not be able to outmaneuver Grindelwald, but even if she succeeded in assassinating him, it would be a thankless and futile endeavor.
Ecclesia still needs Grindelwald's help to barely have the confidence to contend with Dumbledore and Dudley.
Grindelwald is gone, but a bunch of mediocre dark wizards have won his loyalty – it's like throwing away the watermelon to pick up a sesame seed.
Therefore, this problem can only be suppressed for now by resorting to the threat of curses.
Anyway, the Death Eaters' lives are in her hands, so no matter how many wicked thoughts they have, they have to obey her.
Ecclesia no longer expected to have any spontaneously loyal followers; at most, she would use a variant of the Imperius Curse to control two more trusted confidants like Amicus.
This is her limit.
Even though Eckeris had come up with these solutions to the predicament, she still didn't feel much relieved.
Her predicament goes far beyond the disloyalty of her subordinates; her relationship with Grindelwald is now extremely complicated.
She was asking Grindelwald for help, but she also had to guard against him plotting against her, as she wasn't very good at scheming against him.
If Grindelwald had forced her to sign a servant contract before, she might not have been so conflicted. But now that her bottom line has been crossed, she might have even put aside her ambition to fight against the White Wizards and used every trick in the book to trick Grindelwald first.
But Grindelwald's sense of proportion was spot on.
He signed a lenient alliance agreement with her, and even when he schemed against her, it was a matter of intellectual superiority, without forcing her too much.
It's worth noting that although it was Grindelwald's suggestion to revert to Ecclesia's original form after faking her death, Ecclesia agreed to it on the spot.
The only one to blame is Ecclesia for not thinking things through properly, failing to see the hidden trouble, and believing Grindelwald's lies.
In this situation, even if Ecclesia wanted to confront Grindelwald, Grindelwald could simply say that he hadn't expected such trouble.
In addition, Eckeris's efforts to recruit more people and expand her power are also progressing with difficulty.
These events, one after another, truly exhausted Eckeris.
He remained hidden in the shadows, monitoring Erkris's doppelganger and seeing right through her thoughts.
Logically, at this point, Dudley should have used the mental imprint to reignite Eckeris's fighting spirit once more.
But Dudley didn't do that for the time being because he had to cooperate with Grindelwald's plan.
Dudley knew the scheming and ideas behind Grindelwald's decision to have Ecclesia restore her physical appearance from the moment it was conceived.
He approved of it and decided to secretly cooperate.
After all, a whetstone with internal disharmony and numerous mounds will shatter with the slightest force, so how can it be used for sharpening knives?
The whetstone itself also needs to be sharpened.
As for how and when to refine it, Grindelwald had already foreseen it.
It was because of the foresight he saw glimpses of the future that he suggested Ecclesia revert to the original state.
……
More than ten days later, at dusk.
That is, Christmas Eve in 1992.
An abandoned castle on the outskirts of a town in a Western European country has unexpectedly attracted a large number of visitors.
Following the instructions that Ecclesia had sent to each Death Eater a few days ago via the Dark Mark, the Death Eater team, currently numbering approximately 450, arrived at the designated meeting place before the appointed time, with not a single member late.
There was no other way; despite their differing thoughts, the deadly curse on their bodies would force the Death Eaters to face reality.
This ancient castle has been cursed with Muggle expulsion spells and numerous hidden magic spells by Ecclesiass.
Without the Black Magic Mark, and without the strength and magical abilities of a legendary wizard, it would be impossible to discover and enter this place.
At this moment, candlelight flickers, colorful ribbons are everywhere, and a Christmas tree stands in the center, creating a festive atmosphere in the castle's main hall.
The atmosphere, however, was quite somber and oppressive.
Eckeris, dressed in an exquisite but plain-looking wizard's robe, leaned lazily against the high throne at the innermost part of the hall.
He stared silently at the Death Eater subordinates below the stage, who stood in neat rows, heads bowed, each with a different expression.
This placed a heavy psychological burden on these black wizards who had been recruited from all over the country through a combination of deception and trickery.
The decadent, pure-blooded Death Eaters from England, as Ecclesia's old guard, stood in the front rows of the line.
They were now being stared at by such a languid and beautiful version of Voldemort, which felt like a thorn in their side, a fishbone stuck in their throat, or a pressure point on their toes.
I feel terrible!
Is this stunning beauty in front of me the real Voldemort?
This problem has been churning in their minds for so long, and they can only ponder it, not bring it up in public, which is driving them crazy.
"You all really can't stand how I look now?"
Finally, Eckeris on the stage stood up and spoke.
It broke the silence in the castle's main hall.
Although the silence was broken, the Death Eaters, especially the corrupt, pure-blooded British Death Eaters standing in the front rows, felt even more suppressed and terrified.
Eckeris's words sent chills down their spines, soaking their wizard robes.
Just as they were debating whether to hold out a little longer or kneel down and admit their mistake, Eckeris continued in an unfriendly tone:
"Do you think I like being like this? Do you think that just because I laugh in this body, I like it? Haven't I laughed enough before? A bunch of idiots!"
You have disappointed me greatly! I wholeheartedly wanted to lead you all to become superior people and trample those hypocritical white wizards underfoot, but you doubt my identity.
How could you do this to me?
Eckeris's accusatory opening remarks caused the Death Eaters in the first few rows to widen their eyes and look up in astonishment.
Does this mean they were overthinking things?
Is their Voldemort here to interrogate them, or to explain things to them?
Ecclesia was certainly trying to explain, but whether according to her own preferences or Voldemort's character, explaining to her subordinates could not be a gentle and kind one.
This kind of accusatory explanation is more forceful and persuasive.
Seeing signs of repentance among the corrupt, pure-blooded Death Eaters of Britain, Ecclesia was secretly delighted. She secretly activated the bewitching dark energy, adding more ingredients, and began to use her previously prepared rhetoric to deceive them:
"Didn't you all wonder why I would mutate into such a beautiful woman who already existed?"
That's because, from the very beginning..."
"You were a witch from the start—Ercris Black Hunter!"