HP: The Arcane Thief-Novel

Axel looked at the lady who was supposed to be his mother.

She was a woman of graceful and elegant bearing, dressed in a luxurious gown that swept the floor. There was a necklace of blue pearls around her neck, and small conical earrings hanging by her ears.

Her shimmering blue hairs seemed to be floating in the air and her sapphire blue eyes were looking in his direction with warmth and happiness.

'So, that's her, huh?'

To torture Theron, he had randomly searched for the memory which was associated with most pain in his mind. He didn't think he would find her in it.

Axel had always wondered what she would look like. And now looking at her, Axel felt... nothing. He didn't know this woman, and she didn't know him. All he could see was that she was strong, and kind.

Theron's memory continued.

The princess waved, and Theron waved back. But this moment, another man overtook him, walking towards the princess, and Theron realized that he wasn't the one being the Princess was smiling at.

Instead, the one she had her eyes on was his companion.

Axel recognised the other person as well. It was Tristan Hunt, his father. He looked the same as in his portrait, meaning a lot like Axel's adult version.

"Tristan, wasn't it?" said The Princess as she gracefully walked towards them. "You saved me yesterday. I can't thank you enough."

Even though the language was different, Axel could somehow understand it.

"You don't need to thank me." Tristan shook his head. "I was just rebelling," he said casually. "Besides, you didn't need much help to begin with."

The princess smiled. "It didn't seem that way when you got injured protecting me." She leaned forward and kissed Tristan on the cheek. "That's for saving my life."

"That reminds me, are you alright now?" She asked in concern.

"It was a minor injury."

The princess narrowed her eyes playfully. "Will you stop with the modesty? Kraken is going to try killing you as well now. I hear they don't tolerate betrayal."

Tristan shrugged. "I'll manage."

The princess seemed deep in thought. But then she looked up. "Come to the castle with me? You'll be safe there. And I need someone to protect me."

Tristan nodded, "I'll think about it."

The princess finally turned her attention to Theron. She did a royal courtesy. "Mr. Theron, I am deeply grateful to you as well. Here is a small token of appreciation for your trouble."

Theron accepted what was given to him. It was a royal emblem with the Princess's name on it. If he ever needed a favor, he can use this. But Theron's heart was burning with flames.

The way the Princess looked at Tristan, and the way she looked at him were clearly different. And he knew the reason. Because when the time of attack had come, things had gotten out of hand. The kraken was far more powerful than they had imagined.

He still hadn't obtained his relic armour back then. Thinking it to be the end, he had decided to flee. That's why, his involvement was not known by the Kraken, and neither had he done anything to save the Princess.

He was the coward who ran away.

Axel's laughter echoed in his mind. "Ooof. So that's how it was. Man, you are a bigger loser than I thought. You practically set my parents together!"

Theron felt the hurt. He really really did. It was like an all consuming pain in his heart, much worse than any other torture.

He wanted this memory to end. To never remember it again, but at the same time, he couldn't. This was the only time the Princess had ever talked directly to him.

While Theron the loser was consumed in the torture, Axel began searching his mind for information on the organisation. But to his bewilderment, he couldn't find it anywhere.

While searching, he encountered a wall that obstructed him.

'This must be it,' he thought, moving forward.

!!!

But suddenly, Axel received a huge backlash which forced him to retract his conciousness back into his mind.

'What in the world...?!'

That barrier, and that defence... It's comparable to his Occlumency shields! That was not something Theron could have done on his own. And, it's not something he can easily breach with his current Legilimency skills.

"Huh?!" Theron suddenly found himself back in the hideout room, standing right in front of Axel, who was still stunned from the backlash.

Theron grinned. "You tried to access the wall, didn't you?" He quickly advanced, not towards Axel, but towards Nerio, who was still lying unconscious on the floor.

He took Nerio's glasses and put them on.

"Haha, you can't do anything to me now."

Theron's only weakness was his mental defence. Now that he had it too, Axel couldn't do anything to him.

"I might be a loser. But I was the one who is still alive, while your powerful and reckless parents are dead. And now, this loser is going to kill you, and then you're girlfriend. I might even have some fun with her before I kil—"

"Shut up, will you?"

Suddenly, Theron's throat was filled with something fluid, causing him to choke.

Axel raised his head, gripping his head that was still throbbing. "Losers like you can never beat me."

*cough COUGH* "Wh.." *cough* "What... ar you doin—g?!"

Theron spat out the fluid, only to realize there was a lot of blood in it.

Theron couldn't understand what was happening right now. His armour was supposed to be invincible! Then how the hell can it hurt so much?!"

Axel chuckled. "You know, your relic does do a great job at giving you protection," he acknowledged.

"—For your outer body, that is..."

Yes. Axel was controlling the water inside Theron's body. Something even his relic couldn't protect.

"Aaaaarrgghhh!" Theron kneeled on the ground, clutching his stomach, which felt like being run through with a barbed wire from inside.

"Stop! Please!"

Axel moved his fingers, controlling the water present inside Theron. "You know, 70% of our bodies are made up of water. Your armour is in fact making it easier for me to control it."

Theron's armour was strong. But all of his magic was being used by it, leaving none to protect his body.

Usually, a wizard's body is naturally protected by his or her magic. But that was not the case with Theron. It made it easier for Axel to take control of the water inside his body.

Axel raised his hand and clenched it, causing Theron to scream his guts out.

*snap*

He then twisted his hand, and Theron writhed in agony.

Axel didn't even need a Cruciatus. He could inflict worse pain through this.

"STOP! PLEASE STOP! I BEG YOU! PLEASE STOOOPPPP!!"

Axel shook his head. "Can't, sorry," he said regretfully. "You two shouldn't have made this personal."

This was just the beginning of what he was going to do to the two of these fools.

Theron's screams echoed in the room, and Nerio joined him soon, whose body was covered with water needles. Theron was being tortured from inside, and Nerio from outside. But the pain both were receiving was equally excruciating.

"You had problems with me? You should have taken it out on me like real men do. I really would have given you an easier death. Then why..."

!!!!

The pain Theron and Nerio were feeling intensified, causing them to scream louder.

"Why did you have to bring her into this?"

"I'm.... Argh! I'msorry! PLEASE STOP! I'LL DO ANYTHING!"

But Axel didn't listen to their pleas. He was more concentrated on the barriers placed on their memories related to the Organisation. Every time he tried to access it, not only would he get a backlash, but their memories would start self destructing on their own.

"Fuck is this thing?!" Axel was beginning to realize something. It was that this Organisation... is much worse news than he had imagined.

Axel just copied the memories he could still access and stored it in his mind. The rest, he has to get from their mouths.

Axel stopped the torture when their bodies were already broken and minds were on the verge of being broken.

"Tell me clearly. What does the key do?"

Theron couldn't care less about anything else right now. He began to 'sing like a siren'.

"It... it opens a portal to the Netherworld!" He panted. "Just like... the second key opens the portal to Aetherworld! Those worlds... they have an extremely high magical concentration compared to Earth, and much more powerful entities!"

Axel nodded. He had thought as much. That's why Voldemort wanted it so desperately. That monster wants to come back to this world. Axel decided to make sure it never falls into that monster's hands.

"Where's the second key?" He couldn't feel safe if that key is still in the hands of psychopaths like these.

"It's... it's destroyed... by your parents.... They died destroying it," said Theron, spitting out some blood.

Axel's eyes narrowed. "By my parents? What happened exactly?!" He asked, his voice wavering a bit.

"Just when we had figured out how to use it...your parents infiltrated the Organisation... *cough cough* They stole the key and tried to leave with it, but... they were discovered. In the end, they couldn't leave, so they destroyed the key. It caused a huge explosion... and they died."

Axel clenched his remaining fist. So, that's what happened. He was already pretty sure they were dead. He just wanted to know why, and how. He wanted to know if what they were doing was important enough to leave him in an orphanage. He wanted to know if all the things he went through growing up, it wasn't because of nothing.

"What's Kraken's goal? Why are they so desperate for the keys? And why were my parents so desperate to stop them?"

"It's... It's Destruction!" Theron groaned out. "And the merging of three worlds!"

Axel knitted his brows in bewilderment. Destruction? And the merging of three worlds? What kind of idiotic goal is that? His assumption was right. These guys are lunatic!

"Is that why you were going to give the bomb to the Mikhailov family?"

Axel had discovered that the Mikhailov family was going to get a bomb from the Kraken. And if he hadn't stopped them, they were going to use it on the Valentino family.

"No... that was a test, to see if the bomb was working properly. The real one...is going to be used on the Royal castle."

Axel rubbed his forehead. This organisation... It's really headache inducing. "Look, I know that you two are crazy, but even you two don't seem crazy enough to want to blow everything up. I mean, Destruction? Seriously? Why are you supporting this cause?"

Theron shook his head. "You won't understand!"

Axel lessened Nerio's torture. "You tell me."

"You won't understand unless you've been enlightened."

"Enlightened? What is that now? Who enlightened you fuckers?"

Nerio shook his head. "Can't tell you that..." he suddenly clutched his head in pain. "Damn it! We've already said too much! 'He' has found out!"

"Who? Tell who is this 'he'?!" Axel couldn't understand why, but Nerio and Theron suddenly began to convulse in pain, even though Axel wasn't doing anything to them right now.

Nerio began shaking his head.

"No! We didn't do anything! We didn't! We were just trying to survive!"

"What the hell? Hey! What is happening to you guys?!"

Axel examined their condition, trying to stop their seizures. But when their movements ceased, it had ceased forever. Axel found that the two of them were already dead.

…

On the other side—

"HOW MUCH MORE TIME!" Bellatrix demanded.

Gorski clutched his head. "Someone stop that lady. Please."

"But you ARE taking longer than you said, Mr. Gorski," said Martina. She was no less patient than Bellatrix.

"It's not my fault. I've been absent for a decade, and they've improved their portal since then."

"Every second more you take, Axel could be getting closer to death on the other side!" Exclaimed Bellatrix.

Martina closed her eyes. They were full of unshed tears.

Akiko put a hand on her shoulder. "Have faith in him."

Martina nodded. At times like these, she hopes she had less imagination, or if her brain could be less accurate at predicting the odds.

Taking everything into account, Axel's situation was not looking good.

First of all, his magical reserves were critically exhausted, and so is his physical body. Martina didn't know just how he had managed to bring out so much power, but it was clear that his exhaustion was a result of that.

Also, his hand has been cut. If he is not given medical treatment soon, he might bleed out and die.

Then those Overseers of Kraken. They are so powerful! One has insane defence, another has insane attack speed. Martina wouldn't want Axel fighting them in his peak state, let alone when he is in such dire condition.

From what they had said, he might already be—

Martina didn't have to think further since a portal opened at this moment, like a beacon hope. Martina raised her staff, quickly advancing forward.

'Please be alive! We're coming to save you!'