Black kept lying on the bed as Dumbledore moved from one corner of the infirmary to another, checking on all the students.

It had taken a great amount of time and processing power to plan today’s events.

There were three things that Kai needed to accomplish to extract the greatest benefits from today’s episode.

First, it was to make the storyline events progress faster.

Time and time again, Kai had the feeling that his time was running out in this timeline.

The feeling had taken root in his heart especially when he had realized how Dumbledore had consumed all the Time Turners, pushing his strength to the realms of 11th Floor Contestants.

A major Storyline Character like Dumbledore getting so much more powerful was something Timeline would prefer, too, accelerating Her own progress toward becoming a Pillar.

So, Kai couldn’t rely on his Nyarlathotep authority to make a deal with Timeline on this matter.

No matter how strong he had become after his arrival in the Harry Potter timeline, against an 11th-12th-floor-level storyline character, he would still end up losing.

But that wasn’t the entire caveat with Dumbledore getting stronger.

It was the fact that Lord Black Phoenix was becoming another suitable candidate to hold the Supreme Providence. Simply put, he was becoming an... option.

Everyone preferred strong competition in the market to prevent monopolies. The same was true for Timeline when it came to Supreme Providence as well.

Kai couldn’t afford that, though.

Darcie’s Supreme Providence wasn’t just a mark of her potential, but it also enjoyed Timeline’s differential treatment.

More often than not, Kai capitalized on that, planning, scheming, and conspiring months ahead.

If Dumbledore replaced Darcie as the character with Supreme Providence, then Kai would lose a great portion of Timeline’s exclusive benefits, despite being Nyarlathotep.

So, Kai had needed a way to check Dumbledore’s growth, while also ensuring that Darcie became stronger.

And the best way to surpass one’s limit was to indulge oneself in battles of high stakes — with one’s life on the line — with one’s loved ones’ lives on the line — with everything on the line.

Letting Darcie-Echo fight against Death Eaters and Voldemort alone was a good way to accomplish that goal.

Second, related to the first reason, was to let Voldemort regain his body.

However, a simple Homunculus Ritual, like the main storyline events, would do nothing, resulting in a sub-par, useless Voldemort, compared to Lord Black Phoenix, despite the rise in Overall Grade of the timeline.

Not to mention, but Kai liked Voldemort.

The wizard had the greatest potential to become one of the strongest characters in the timeline. Also, unlike Dumbledore, Voldemort could practically become an Immortal, if given a helping hand.

It had taken Ad Infinitum and Lucky Intuitions an entire day to find a viable solution regarding Voldemort’s situation.

The answer was — Kai’s Title: Death Eater, and the Skill associated with it — Dark Mark!

...

[

Skill: Dark Mark

Grade: C+

Specification: Acknowledgment and Blessing of Lord Voldemort

...

Effects:

— Calls forth an Imaginary Lord Voldemort 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

— The Imaginary Lord Voldemort will act autonomously

— Time Limit: 15 minutes

Warning:

— The Imaginary Lord Voldemort cannot be commanded

— The Imaginary Lord Voldemort will be equivalent to his original storyline’s existence just after regaining his body

— If the Contestant unequips the Title before Imaginary Lord Voldemort’s appearance, then the Effects are subjected to failure

]

...

The Skill was one of the most unique in many ways.

First, the summoned Voldemort existed independently. Second, despite the time limit, there was no limit on the range. Third, there was no strict restriction on how powerful the magic Voldemort could use. Fourth, it didn’t specify which original storyline the Warning meant.

The last point was the most crucial.

The AI had concluded that, with no particular mention, the Skill would consider the current timeline as the original storyline. Thus, the summoned Voldemort would keep getting stronger or weaker, depending upon the divergence.

The moment Kai had called out this Imaginary Voldemort, he had confirmed the AI’s conclusion, finding the summon much more powerful than the last time during the Battle of Legends.

Luckily, but planned methodically, it gave Kai the best way to tether Voldemort’s existence to him — a Contestant — by sacrificing the Skill!

Manipulate the events so that Voldemort’s ritual fails...

Then, provide the Timeline an alternative to continue with the storyline events anyway...

As long as the Timeline would have the slightest hope to bring Voldemort back, just like the dark wizard did in infinite timelines, She had no choice but to accept the alternative because...

... in this new Voldemort She was getting another option — another potential candidate to wield the Supreme Providence.

The same trick that Timeline had been using against Kai to keep a check on him, he had masterfully thrown it back on Her face, turning Voldemort into his pawn!

Now, the Skill — Dark Mark — was inaccessible to Kai, but it still existed.

Which meant there were chances of turning this new storyline character into... an imaginary one!

The third reason was, of course, to get another Hidden Mission.

The moment the Lethifold had dropped everyone at Hogwarts, that Hidden Mission had become one of the fastest completed ones in Kai’s stats’ history.

...

[

Congratulations Contestant Kai D. Stormborn

You have completed a Hidden Mission

...

Hidden Mission: The Mournful Ordeal

Hidden Mission Grade: B-

Hidden Mission Objective: By any means, help the future Commanders of the Order of Black Phoenix survive this ordeal with no more casualties

Hidden Mission Status: Success

Hidden Mission Rewards:

— Free and Unconditional increase in the Grade of the next Item Contestant acquires

]

...

The moment Black had seen the reward, the corners of his mouth had lifted because he knew exactly what the next Item he was going to acquire... very soon.

Of course, not everything had gone according to Kai’s plans.

Lupin had died.

If Black had wanted to prevent that from happening, then he could have easily done so.

However, just as he had thought of using Ancient Magical Script to save Lupin, an Intuition had told him that... someone must die tonight, or he would lose his grasp on the series of events somehow.

Still, Lupin’s death wasn’t a big deal.

The poor guy had already served his purpose, helping Black conjure a Patronus.

A sudden death was nothing but a mercy for the character, preventing him from seeing much darker events that lingered in this timeline’s future.

So, presently, as Dumbledore looked at Lupin’s pale, dead face in the infirmary, the Conspirer of Fate couldn’t help but smile victoriously.

Now, only one thing remained.

"Not all Hidden Missions are supposed to be accepted," Black mumbled to himself, grinning. "You forgot how I used sweet wine to hide my poison during our Initiation Mission. Tch-tch... Now...

"... don’t think I will let you go so easily... my dear Golden Mage. Hahaha..."

****************

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