chapters 131-135

chapters 131-135

"Welcome home girls. Or at least where I live currently..." I said as I spread my arms wide gesturing all around. This penthouse was still pretty great. Too bad I hadn't gotten to spend a lot of time actually living here yet. I'd been traveling around more than a Xianxia protagonist!

Asia and Akeno looked around my Penthouse curiously. Asia had stars in her eyes and had probably never seen such luxury before. Akeno looked mildly disinterested. She grew up in the Gremory mansion which was probably a lot more ritzy than my multi million dollar penthouse. Maybe I needed to get some servants?

I easily had enough gold to pay for them now. In fact, I think I had more gold than Fort Knox. I wonder if the government would be interested in buying some of it off of me? It's pretty hard to spend gold coins on Earth after all...

"Ok. Asia, your room is on the left and Akeno's is on the right. Well talk about enrolling the both of you in school soon as well. Just because you're in a new world, doesn't mean you can skip your education." I explained to the pair of them.

"I can go to school!?" Asia asked excitedly. "I've always dreamed of being able to go to one!"

"I suppose I wouldn't mind going to school myself. As long as it's anywhere but in Japan..." Akeno said with a far off look. I decided not to ask.

The two girls settled into their rooms and I checked back in on Andrea Stark. She was still unconscious for now. That apple of Idun was talking a long time to fully change her body. I had tried contacting Tony so I could tell him about 'his sister,' but he wasn't answering currently. Jarvis had told me that Tony was back home in his lab and had asked to not be disturbed. He had been hit with some crazy bout of inspiration apparently.

Figuring the two girls would be fine on their own for a while, I decided to pop over to see someone I hadn't visited in a while. I opened up a portal to the Kamar Taj.

...

"Halt, Abomination! You will not step foot on our sacred grounds!" I stepped out of my purple portal and was immediately yelled at. I glanced around and saw over a dozen sorcerers, all armed with glowing orange weapons, glaring at me hatefully. There was some kind of loud alarm blaring all around as well.

"What the hell, guys!? It's me, Layla. I studied here for over a month, not even that long ago!" I said to everyone. Some of the sorcerers in the courtyard finally seemed to recognize me and lowered their weapons. Around half of them did not, though.

"Is that truly you, Layla? You feel...different." The voice of the Supreme echoed out through the courtyard. Everyone's attention shifted towards the Ancient One as she stepped out of a nearby wooden building. I saw Heather Potter trailing after her. Heather's eyes lit up when she saw me! The girl was looking a lot better. Gone were her gaunt eyes and thin frame due to years of abuse and malnutrition. Now, Heather looked like any other teenage girl her age. Just one that was wearing monk's robes...

"Layla! I missed you! You've been gone for so long! I thought you forgot about me?" Heather said as she walked up to me and gave me a big hug.

I hugged her back and apologized. "I'm sorry, Heather. So much crazy stuff happened all at once! I had Voldemort, then the Hand, then Voldemort again, and then Voldemort a third time! Then I had to deal with Asgard, where I got engaged. Then there was the zombie apocalypse in an alternate dimension, and the woman I'm engaged to in this dimension tried to kill me in that one!" I listed off with a huff! I really need to kill this dimension's Voldemort. He should not have made the list three times!

The Ancient One just raised an amused eyebrow at me. Heather was looking completely lost, of course, by my terrible explanation. "You're engaged!?" She exclaimed! "To who!?"

"Hela, the Goddess of Death and new Queen of Asgard." I said.

"The Asgardians are real too!? Are all the gods real?" Heather asked me.

"Yes." the Ancient one answered for me. "That is why we sorcerers are so important. Most of the supernatural world thinks of us humans as lesser beings that deserve to be ruled by them. We, the sorcerers, exist to protect those people from threats like that." She explained to Heather.

"So, can you do anything about all of them?" I asked the Ancient One while gesturing to all the sorcerers still pointing their eldritch weapons at me.

"All of you go back to what you are doing. She feels far different than when she left us, but I can say that this is Layla." All of the sorcerers lowered their glowing weapons at the Ancient once words.

...

I was sitting alone with the Ancient One in her office while she gave me a scrutinizing gaze. "You've certainly changed quite a bit from the last time I saw you, Layla."

"I have, yeah. As mentioned before I've definitely gone through quite a few trials to get stronger." I said.

"Hmmm, and I'm sure that entity fused to your soul has nothing to do with your unprecedented growth..." She trailed off while giving me a knowing grin.

I sighed. "Maybe a little..."

"Although, that's not the only entity fused to your soul anymore. I sense another...something more foreign to our dimension." The Ancient One said again. She was staring at me, and her eyes were almost glowing. She was sensing the eye inside my Orb of Anywhere. That might have also been what triggered the mystic alarm when I arrived here. The arrival of an Eldritch being – even just a small part of one – wouldn't go unnoticed in the heart of the Sanctum, after all.

Two could play in that game. With my higher levels and [Observe] skill, I wondered if I could see her level now?

[The Ancient One - Level ?]

The woman sent me a smirk. "Trying to pry into my secrets so soon, Layla? You might have grown significantly in power, but your knowledge over the mystic arts is still abysmal. You could barely make portals when you left after all." She said as she took a sip of her tea.

"And now I can open up portals all over the universe and to alternate ones even whenever I want!" I bragged.

The Ancient One looked at me with pity. "So can every single other sorcerer who leaves here with their training complete... We simply choose not to open portals to alternate dimensions or universes. Lest we accidentally find one that is filled with the kind of creature now fused to your soul." She said to me with a deadpan.

"Awe...that makes sense. Azazel said that thing was the size of a moon and had millions of tentacles. A single one of those tentacles almost killed him in one hit too."

I saw the ancient one pale at my words. "That moron discovered THAT abomination!? He's lucky our entire universe still exists! And somehow a piece of it is now fused to you and it actually seems to like you!? I have no words..." She trailed off and shook her head.

[Well, that's some encouraging information. That being even terrifies this madwoman!]

I could feel the System's sarcasm flowing through me...

"Other than that, Layla. I can sense the dimensional energies all over you. You recently came from a universe that reeks of death. Was that the Zombie Apocalypse you mentioned earlier?" She asked me.

"Yeah, the world was pretty messed up. There was a terrible virus that popped up in..." I started to explain.

XXX

"So how's Heather been overall since you've taken her in?" I asked the Ancient One.

She took another sip of her tea. "Hmmm. She has been good. I've repaired the damage she had from that leech in her forehead. Some healing rituals have brought her physically back up to where a 15-year-old girl should be. She's also been taking to her magical studies fervently. She's a prodigy, actually."

I smiled at hearing all that. "That's great!"

She continued. "The only issue is that she seems lonely right now. She's the only child we have studying here. We don't take students under 18 usually. Her circumstances were special, of course."

I nodded at that. I told the Ancient One that I'd recently sort of taken in two teenage girls as well and that I was planning to enroll them in a high school.

The Ancient One seemed intrigued. "That's a good idea. Hogwarts as an institution...is terrible. It doesn't prepare its students for anything useful in life at all. I mean, what kind of careers can you make from transforming animals into goblets or levitating feathers?"

I always wondered that as well. Other than potions, none of the magic in Harry Potter ever actually seemed useful in job settings.

"I could get all three of the girls American identities if you would like?" She suggested.

I gave her a deadpan stare. "Your identity for me, last time, didn't work for a minor background check..."

The Ancient one had the gall to look embarrassed at least. "I apologize for that. It seems we sorcerers are behind the times when it comes to technology."

"You guys at least have wifi. That's a start!" I said jokingly. I'd be asking Tony to make them all identities though. Or Andrea I supposed. Both of them had Jarvis's that could easily create a few SSNs.

...

I made sure to properly say goodbye to Heather before I left the sanctum. I told her I was heading back over to magical Britain to see if I could scrounge up any leads on the Death Eaters. Heather wanted me to check in on her friends to see if they were alright. She was worried that the Death Eater's might go after them out of spite. Which was a justifiable worry.

She gave me the general location for The Burrow. When I asked her what Hermione's address was, Heather looked embarrassed and told me she didn't actually know. She always just asked her owl to send her letters directly to Hermione... Although she did tell me that Hermione spent most of her time at the Burrow anyway. Apparently the girl and her parents didn't get along.

I opened up a portal towards Diagon Alley. When I emerged, I drew some attention from people nearby, but they soon lost interest. A woman stepping out of a dark purple portal wasn't that impressive for a Magical society, I suppose.

Although, not quite everyone. I saw a young teenage girl who was clearly muggle-born, judging by the way she was dressed. When she saw me her eyes lit up and she rushed over towards me. She practically begged me for a picture and autograph. The group of friends she was with were looking at the girl strangely. They did not appear to know who I was. They all looked like they had been raised solely in the magical world. It was odd, just how uninformed of world news the people who solely lived in the magical world were.

"Here you go." I said as I handed the girl back her parchment that I had signed. She held it close to her chest and squealed in excitement before she ran back to her friends.

I laughed when I heard them talking about me as I walked away.

"Who was that, Josephine?"

"What? That was the Angel Layla! A real Angel! The one who drove away Voldemort in Monaco!"

"You're weird, Josephine... Angels aren't real. And the Dark Lord was beaten by all these muggles in the Alley. The dumb muggles then made all the Goblins leave and take all of our money with them!"

It seemed that news of my fight with Voldemort at Gringotts had been suppressed or just edited. I didn't particularly mind. It also seemed like SHIELD was being blamed for the Goblin's leaving the British Wizarding World as well. Even though it was the wizard's who pushed them too far. The Wizarding World always had a big fake news problem.Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com

I took a proper look around the Alley. One of the first things I noticed was all the people. The alley was filled with witches and wizards, unlike the last time I was here. All of the graffiti disparaging Muggleborns had also been cleaned up. There were also armed soldiers who could only be SHIELD agents keeping guard scattered around. A few of them noticed me and approached.

"Layla of the Fallen, MAM! I am Agent Ryles! I'm in charge of keeping the Alley secure and out of the terrorists' hands!" The man exclaimed while giving me a salute. The two other agents behind him saluted me as well. They were all clearly ex-military from how professionally they were acting.

"Huh? What are you talking about? You said you were Heather's friend. Heather doesn't have any 'friends' unless Dumbledore assigns them to her. Obviously, he sent you." Ron Weasley said. Everyone else nodded along with him in agreement.

I scoffed at his words. I knew the Dumbledore of this world was probably a piece of work, but this one really was a complete control freak when it came to Heather Potter. I'm actually glad she's not here right now. Hearing those words would probably break her. I decided I would wait a while to tell her the truth about all these people.

"I came here to check on you all because Heather was worried about you all. Clearly, she needn't have been. When I tell her what you all are really like...she'll never be seeing any of you again." I explained as I turned and started walking toward the door.

"Stupefy!" I heard Ron Weasley shout out the stunning spell. The small red beam washed across my back and did absolutely nothing.

"We can't let her tell Heather anything! Stop her!" This time it was Molly Weasley who shouted next. That seemed to be all the incentive everyone else in this 'house' needed. They all pulled their wands on me. Even Bill–who the system thought could be my new best friend too...

[I misjudged the guy...it happens...]

Red stunning spells came at me from all directions and I ignored all of them. They all hit me and did absolutely nothing. All of these wizards and witches were incredibly weak. Even Hermione, who started casting a dozen different stunning spells at me, was magically weak. They all splashed harmlessly against me.

"Dammit! What is she!? An Arch Mage like Dumbledore!?" Bill Weasley yelled out.

[An Archmage? That's not even a real thing in this universe...]

'Who even knows, system...' Dumbledore probably just thought it sounded cool and started calling himself that. All of his blind followers then would as well...

"That's impossible! She got hit by over a hundred stunning spells! Why won't she go down!?" Hermione screamed.

"Screw it! Let's just kill her! Reducto!" Ginny Weasley fired a blasting curse at me. I could have let it hit me, but I didn't want it wrecking my clothes... They were all designer brands.

I casually raised my hand and batted her spell to the side. It went sailing into a nearby wall and caused it to explode. Their home now had a hole in the side. They all stopped casting at me for a moment as they looked at the destruction of their home.

I walked over to the pile of gold coins I'd left on the floor and sucked them all up back into my inventory. These assholes didn't deserve them.

"Hey! Those were mine!" Arthur Weasley spat out angrily.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you didn't want any handouts?"

"Obviously I was just putting on a humble act before I accepted them!" He retorted.

I shook my head at the audacity of the people in this family. I had to hand it to him though, they had me fooled at first. No wonder they were also able to trick Heather all this time. I stepped through the exit Ginny had recently made and prepared to leave.

XXX

POP! POP! POP! POP!

My disappointment with meeting this universe's Weasley family was immeasurable. Just as I was about to open a portal to leave, four people apparated in. Appearing in front of me was a mangy looking Remus Lupin, a haggard Sirius Black, a peg-legged Alastor Moody and the big man himself Albus Dumbledore.

All four of them quickly looked around before locking on to me.

"Hello, my dear girl. Who might you be?" Dumbledore asked me with eyes that were twinkling.

[Fuck off!]

He then flinched backwards and grabbed his head in pain!

[Asshole thought he could read your mind while I was here!? Not happening!]

"Dumbledore are you alright?" Moody asked when he saw the old man stagger. He then turned and glared at me with his giant eyeball. "What the hell did you do to him, Lassie!?" He pointed his staff at me and it started to glow. Remus and Sirius both pointed their wands at me as well.

"I'm alright." Dumbledore said as he recollected himself.

"First of all. I'm not 'your dear girl!'" I spat out. "Second of all, try and read my mind again and I'll rip your eyeballs out of your face." I said to him. I usually don't resort to such graphic measures, but for this guy I would make an exception.

All four of the men flinched at my words. I guess they didn't expect such a pretty face to be capable of saying something like that.

Dumbledore collected himself. "My apologies. I just wanted to know why you were here at the Weasley's home. I received an alert that their ward scheme crashed."

Just then, Molly Weasley came running out of the hole in the side of her house. "Albus! Thank Goodness, you're here! That harlot over there claims to be a friend of Heater's! We thought you sent her. She knows everything and is going to tell Heather! All of our plans will be ruined!" Molly rambled out while frantically pointing at me. I didn't miss the look of panic that went across Dumbledore's face as she spoke. I could see him reaching for his wand. A wand that felt very familiar now that I thought about it.

[Instant Quest Started! Retrieve the Elder Wand for Lady Death]

→Reward: She'll give you a kiss of appreciation for getting it out of mortal hands finally...

'I ACCEPT!' I thought immediately.

"What was that about Heather, Molly? Did we finally find her? Is she safe?" Sirius Black asked before turning towards me. "Please if you know where she is you have to tell us. It's for her own good! She needs to be protected!"

I looked Sirius up and down. "You look like you haven't eaten in years and are about to keel over. You're not protecting anyone." I said bluntly. "Heather could not be safer than where she currently is." Sirius and Remus glared at me for my words.

"And where would that be?" Dumbledore asked me. His wand casually slipped into his hand as he spoke. "I am the girl's magical guardian after all and it is my right to know." Dubledore started to release his magic aura around himself. The air started to vibrate at the power he was flaunting. Molly Werasley paled and backed away.

I scoffed.

[Albus Dumbledore - Level 25]

He was barely stronger than Voldemort was...

"I'm not telling you anything. What I will be doing though is taking that wand from you. You've lost the privilege of using it. Its original creator wants it back." I said.

Dumbledore's eyes widened before he raised the Elder Wand and cast a sickly red spell towards me. He didn't say an incantation, so I had no idea what spell it was. Not that it mattered. Just like I did for Ginny's, I simply swatted his spell to the side with my bare hand.

It flew to the left and ended up striking Alastor Moody before he could properly react in time! His eyes widened in absolute fright when the spell struck his chest. "Oh, God no!" He shouted in desperation!

[So much for constant vigilance...]

And then Alastor Moody...

...Exploded!

He swelled up like a balloon in a near instant before bursting apart in a shower of gore! His staff and magical eye dropped to the grass amount his...remains.

[That was fucked up...]

"Wow... So much for the Leader of the Light. That was a really vile spell you just used there." I said to Dumbledore who was staring in shock at the remains of his dead friend. The system was right again today. That was one seriously fucked up spell he just used. Me mentioning Death must have really scared him.

"Mooooooooodddddyyyyy!" Sirius Black screamed before turning his wrath to me. "You bitch! I'll kill you!" He started casting a barrage of dark spells towards me. I would have easily sent them all flying back towards him, but I chose not to and smacked them all to the side. I wasn't sure if he was also evil or just really stupid to still be following Dumbledore at this point. Remus Lupin joined in and started firing spells at me as well. His spells felt a lot less lethal than Sirius's did, so I did the same with him.

"Protego Diabolica!" I heard Dubledore cast a spell that Voldemort used against me back in Monaco. Of course Dumbledore also knew it. It was Grindelwald's signature spell and he and Grindelwald were lovers. A familiar torrent of blue flames, that burn away everyone who wanted to harm the caster, sped towards me! This spell, cast by the Elder Wand itself, actually felt like it could harm me. Not a lot, but still...

Ever since voldemort had ever used this large AOE spell before, I had wondered how to counter it in case I ever had to face it again. I came up with a relatively simple solution. I was quite proud of it!

I opened a very large purple portal in front of myself facing towards the flames. And then from my portal came a tidal wave of ocean water! Enough ocean water to easily snuff out the Protego Diabolica and then some!

I had opened up the other end of my portal under the ocean... I could basically conjure forth all the water I ever wanted because my portals now cost me nothing to open. The massive tidal wave smashed through Dumbledore's spell before hitting the man himself along with everyone else nearby. And then it crashed into the Weasleys house and I watched the terribly built structure start to collapse. I was sure the people inside were fine...probably.

I didn't really care either way.

I had just violently flooded their entire property after all. As the salt water cleared and seeped into the ground, I could see that the force of the wave had knocked everyone unconscious...

That was convenient.

I walked over to the knocked out 'Arch Wizard'–I snickered at that–and picked up the wand next to him. As soon as I touched it, it disintegrated and turned to ash!

[Quest Completed! You have a 'free pass' to travel to Death's realm and claim your reward anytime. You have also leveled up! The Order of the Phoenix were the ones attacking the SHIELD agents...]

"Of course they were..." I muttered as I kicked the unconscious Dumbledore out of pure spite. Now I had to call in SHIELD as well because I caught their perps. I pulled out my phone to make the call.

XXX