Chapter 447

After entering the Extreme form, the seam that had originally joined the center of Double's body opened, and a large, silver-bright strip running from top to bottom appeared in the middle. The W-shaped decoration, which had previously resembled arched eyebrows, also separated and adorned both sides of the helmet, adding a sense of sharpness to the emotionless compound eyes.

But what was truly wondrous was that at this moment, Double was not transformed by Cui Ge or Lu Na individually; they had become one. Harry truly could not imagine how the two of them managed to control this body.

Perhaps this was the beauty of magic; when you do not understand science, it means your imagination has no limits, and you only need sincere emotion to create indescribable miracles.

When the Extreme form of Double battled Moon again, he was no longer at a disadvantage; his strength and speed were even superior to Moon's. If not for the occasional lack of coordination in his movements, Moon would likely have had an even harder time.

"Let's go, your plan probably won't work," Moon said with some helplessness after blocking another attack.

Decade launched a Final Attack Ride against Magma Dragon once more. The Ride Booker, trailing a blur, swung rapidly toward his opponent's shoulder, while Magma Dragon gripped his gauntlet tightly with his right hand and used his left forearm to brace against the blade, successfully—if clumsily—withstanding the attack through a clever rolling maneuver.

"The force has weakened."

Draco straightened up with some delight, calculating whether he could launch a counterattack. However, this strike from Decade was merely a cover before his escape; at this moment, he had already activated his invisibility ability again, disappearing from everyone's sight.

On the other side, Moon also took advantage of the cover provided by the light bullets fired by Decade, released a cloud of red mist, and vanished.

Double's Extreme form slowly dissipated. Golden moonlight and blue metallic fragments shattered and drifted around him. As the last of the special effects vanished, Lu Na's figure reappeared before everyone. She wore a dreamlike smile, her eyes revealing an unconcealable pride, her left hand gently holding the belt and that large bottle which had created the miracle.

With a thud, Cui Ge, who appeared behind her, collapsed onto the ground, panting as he said, "I still feel like this isn't scientific."

As soon as he finished speaking, he started laughing first, and Lu Na followed. The two sat together, laughing until they were doubled over.

Draco also ended his transformation. A faint, lingering trace of jealousy appeared on his face, and he didn't quite know where to put his hands. Finally, he just rubbed his nose and sat down on the crate next to Harry with Pan Xi.

"Today's fight was too stifling," he complained, "This hateful Decade, he seems to be targeting me."

"But don't you find it strange?" Before Harry could speak, Pan Xi spoke up, "Why did he happen to choose a time when Ron and Zhang Qiu were away to come, and he didn't attack Harry at all, as if this trip was specifically to target you? But what do you have that's worth him targeting? If you suspect it's because he has a grudge against you, haven't you noticed that every one of Decade's attacks wasn't fatal?"

"Who knows." Draco waved his hand impatiently, "I only know I want to defeat him. Magma Dragon's base strength is higher than his; I just need another chance to deal with this guy without distractions. Another time will definitely work!"

"Draco, why have you become like this?!" Pan Xi grabbed Harry's shoulder anxiously, "Harry, don't you feel like something is wrong?"

Harry felt quite annoyed by Pan Xi's little actions of deliberately pressuring Hermione, but what she said did have some merit. So he followed this line of thought and analyzed, "Yeah, Draco, I feel like your personality has become belligerent and impulsive, and your thinking isn't as... comprehensive as it used to be."

He was practically saying that Draco had become stupid.

"Seems like a little, but I don't think it matters," Draco said dismissively.

Harry recalled carefully; it seemed his changes started after he obtained the Jelly Dragon. He looked at Pan Xi uncertainly and whispered, "Could it be a problem with the jelly bottle?"

"Please call it a gel bottle," Draco corrected him, pouting.

"Perhaps this is a side effect of using other people's Rider systems," Cui Ge interjected, "We still don't know what these energy bottles of yours use as extracts, or even where they come from; it seems like that mysterious person just mailed them to you directly."

"So the base extract of the energy bottle affected your personality," Lu Na added.

"But aren't your extracts also from other people?" Pan Xi asked, "Why hasn't your mental state been affected?"

"To be precise, although the other four bottles were made using alchemical methods, the Moon and Trigger bottles actually come from ourselves. If not for that, we wouldn't be able to enter the Extreme form," Lu Na answered first, "And I feel this still has a bit of an effect on our mental state, which is—"

"We are becoming more and more in sync," Cui Ge finished the second half of the sentence.

"That's too bold, using individual wizards as extracts directly?" Harry was shocked by this statement. He finally understood why the two of them hadn't been willing to reveal the source of Double's power earlier.

"Such bottles may not be the strongest, but they are definitely the most suitable for us." "And, perhaps it's an unexpected gain, but I feel my own body has also improved."

"If you put it that way, since the Bubble bottle already has the ability to strengthen the connection to basic elements," Harry concluded, "the fusion isn't completely unscientific; it still has a theoretical basis."

"You call this metaphysics a theoretical basis?" Hermione interjected, her tone carrying extreme disapproval, "Who controls the body after the two fuse? If one person takes one side, how do they coordinate? How do they communicate? How does the magic flow? No matter how you think about it, this is a fantasy!"

"We, our hearts are connected," Lu Na gestured, "It's just that we can easily read and understand each other's thoughts; this feeling is very wonderful."

"A resident type of Legilimency, I think it's probably like that, and then our subconsciouses seem to have opened up and merged? I don't know, perhaps you can try what it feels like for two people to use Legilimency on each other at the same time," Cui Ge tried to explain in a scientific way, "As for the body, we can clearly feel there is still some lack of coordination, and as for the magic, it's all pumped into the armor, so there's no need to worry about it."

"Sounds quite reasonable. I haven't tried Legilimency; that's too hard," Harry accepted this explanation magnanimously, while Hermione rolled her eyes, "The good news is that the Extreme Double's abilities should still have room for improvement."

Draco stood up. He patted his wizard robes to show his presence, then said with a bit of pride: "Well, since the danger has been resolved, let's go back first."

"Can't we wait for Ron and Zhang Qiu to come back together?" Lu Na tilted her head and asked.

"I don't really want to keep sitting in this room, because..." Pan Xi took a moment to weigh her words, "This might affect Harry's secret plan. Yes, he needs to do that thing without interference. Anyway, Decade's target is Cross-Z, and Harry won't be in any danger."

"Are you sure it's not because—" Lu Na was about to ask again, but Cui Ge covered her mouth, smiled apologetically, and took her out.

The moment the door closed again, Harry was still feeling embarrassed for Hermione, but Hermione clearly no longer cared about the identity issue. She had been biting her nails in thought, and suddenly she slapped her thigh, realizing with a start: "Tailgating! Decade must have tailgated us in, so he didn't need to guess what room we opened. He just had to keep hiding at the door of the Room of Requirement and wait for us to open the door! Because the door of the Room of Requirement takes a while to close, he could easily do this by using his invisibility ability!"

"And he knew we were coming here through Legilimency. We had decided on the plan to come to the Room of Requirement to cast spells a long time ago, so he had many opportunities this week to confirm the location of the 'Room of Requirement'!"

Harry nodded along, and then he quickly realized what Hermione wanted to say.

"And casting Legilimency requires eye contact, so unless the four of us—no, Zhang Qiu and I both have Occlumency, and Ron and you haven't left the school, right?"

"Yes, although advanced Legilimency masters don't need eye contact, they must be near the target of the spell. And, spells cannot be used in Rider form, which means Decade must have appeared around us in his true form. Since we didn't discover any strange people, we can conclude from this... the person who transforms into Decade is in the school!"

Harry and Hermione were incredibly shocked by this conclusion they had just reached, because almost everyone who appeared in their minds could not possibly be Decade. Mr. Shouichi, who originally had the biggest suspicion, had the identity of Agito, so the only suspicious person left was Professor Haipu, after all, he was the only one who slipped through the net of Snape's "Unite the Professors" movement, and the other professors were all on their side.

"If we exclude the students, then it's only Haipu," Harry always felt this conclusion was unbelievable, "But if Haipu could transform into a Rider as powerful as Decade, why would the Magical Congress need to go and engage in the thankless 'Rider Project'? But if it's a student, how could he practice Legilimency to the point where he doesn't need eye contact? Unless it's those students who have made eye contact with you or Ron, who can we think to suspect?"

Hermione also looked at Harry with an expression of being unable to figure it out even if she broke her head. After a long time, she slowly said, "Then it can only be said that it is also possible that it is an adult who is proficient in the Disillusionment Charm and can sneak into the school silently, or it is also possible... Decade has another student or professor accomplice."

"Sneak into the school? A wizard who can break through Hogwarts' spells doesn't exist. The only possibility is that he is an alumnus who went to school here... but all of Britain is full of such people, at most it helps us rule out foreign wizards." Harry frowned, the clue he had finally grasped slipped away, "As for an accomplice, he could even send an elf. Hogwarts' protective magic cannot stop house-elves."