Chapter 152: The Complete Obscurial

The phoenix's tears gushed like a spring onto Aurelius, their crystalline brilliance casting a halo of misty radiance all around.

Aurelius stared blankly at the phoenix, which had suddenly begun to weep, as if sensing something. Slowly, he reached out his hand and looked down at his own fingertips.

On Aurelius's pale fingertips, black mist rippled like smoke waves, and his fingers gradually dissolved into the air along with the dark vapor.

And far more than just his fingertips were falling into a state of dissolution—Aurelius's entire body seemed on the verge of turning into dispersing smoke, and even the healing, misty glow of the phoenix's tears could not halt the vaporization of his form. Anyone could see that he had very little time left!

Under such circumstances, Aurelius looked at his disintegrating body and instead smiled with a sense of release.

"I can feel that my bloodline has already merged completely with the Obscurial, the two inseparable," he said softly. "I made many mistakes under Grindelwald, and if I can now contribute to the magical world's research on Obscurials, it can be considered making amends for my past misdeeds."

"No, we still have a final insurance policy." Dumbledore shook his head, whipping his head around to look at the specter of Xiven.

"Strange, I leave him to you!"

The ghost of Xiven nodded, drifted toward Aurelius, and struck his dissolving body with a spell he had long since prepared.

A translucent soul was pushed out of Aurelius's body by Xiven—with a pale, expressionless face and a dazed gaze—it was none other than Aurelius's soul!

As the soul detached from the physical vessel, Aurelius's body completely dissolved into wisps of azure smoke in the air, as if it had never existed at all...

"What kind of state... am I in now?" Aurelius watched his body dissipate into black mist, then looked down at his own current semi-translucent form, asking with some bewilderment.

"You are currently in a state of out-of-body projection." Xiven floated before Aurelius and explained, "It can be considered similar to the state of a ghost. However, the difference from a ghost is that a ghost is merely a fragment of a soul existing purely on obsession, whereas you are a complete soul."

"Mr. Strange, how long can Aurelius maintain this state?" Dumbledore stepped closer, asking in a low voice.

"I'm afraid it won't last very long," Xiven shook his head, speaking with a heavy tone. "It is inherently difficult for a person's soul to leave the body. Even if the soul truly exits through an accident, stripped of the protection of its physical shell, the soul's power will gradually weaken under the erosion of various external forces, making it hard to endure."

"My situation is rather special; I have spent my entire life honing the power of my soul, rendering my spiritual form exceptionally dense and immune to the erosion of external forces. But Aurelius's soul was long ago tortured to extreme frailty by the Obscurial. Even if he stays in a safe space now, shielded from direct sunlight, he probably has only about three days left."

"So, in the end, we still failed." Hearing Xiven's explanation, Dumbledore's eyes gradually dimmed as he sighed. "The Obscurial had long since merged with its host, becoming indistinguishable from one another. And to completely strip it away results in the utter demise of the wizard's bloodline."

"Yet, if it is not stripped from the wizard's body, the dark power within will likewise slowly erode the wizard's bloodline. There is no difference between the two other than the inevitability of time."

Dumbledore gazed into Aurelius's translucent soul with deep, unfathomable eyes, letting out a profound sigh that seemed to age him by a decade in a single instant.

His gaze drifted, as though piercing through nearly half a century of time to catch sight of another young girl's soul...

"Strange, take everyone away." Dumbledore slowly sat down on the wooden bed, speaking in a gentle voice. "You have all done your utmost; there is no need to go out and face Aberforth's wrath. I will explain things to him alone."

In the year and a half since Xiven had known Dumbledore, the wrinkles on his face had never appeared as pronounced as they did today.

This made Xiven realize in a daze that Dumbledore was now approaching sixty years of age, which could hardly be considered young even in the wizarding world...

For so long, because of his formidable power and supreme wisdom, everyone had always regarded him as the pillar of the magical world. They believed that as long as he was there, there was no need to fear even if the sky were to fall.

Yet, perhaps only Dumbledore himself knew how much cruel tempest and how many heavy, biting blizzards one had to endure while standing entirely alone upon the cloud-piercing mountain peak.

At these thoughts, Xiven fell into a silent speechlessness.

Glancing at the people around him, he quietly drew a circle in the air before him, summoning a dimensional gateway leading straight to Hogwarts.

Yet whether it was Newt, Theseus, Tina, or Kama, not a single person chose to leave. They all silently walked to Dumbledore's side, quietly accompanying this rarely dejected and heartbroken powerful wizard.

...

Just as everyone was immersed in sorrow, Aurelius, now in his spiritual form, suddenly spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Uhm... everyone doesn't need to be so pessimistic, do you?" he asked the people present with a trace of perplexity. "Actually, I feel like I might still be salvageable..."

Dumbledore abruptly raised his head to look at Aurelius, the hope in his eyes reigniting in a fraction of a second.

"Aurelius, have you found a solution?" he asked, staring intently at Aurelius.

Aurelius nodded gently, saying with some uncertainty, "I think I probably know what to do."

With that, he reached out toward the crystal ball resting beside Dumbledore's hand, which contained the black fluid. The Obscurial within, previously completely subdued, instantly surged to life and began battering against the transparent membrane of the sphere.

Dumbledore cast an astonished look at Aurelius and silently unfastened the bonds on the sphere.

As the restraints were lifted, a patch of black, flocculent fluid instantly surged toward Aurelius's translucent body, completely enveloping him.

"Aurelius, if anything feels wrong, speak up at once! Do not force yourself!" Dumbledore called out with concern as he watched Aurelius engulfed by the dark power of the Obscurial.

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" Aurelius's voice echoed from within the black mist, carrying a tone of astonishment and a hint of joy.

After Aurelius's words fell, the black fluid gradually condensed toward the center, its shape elongating and rising, its texture growing increasingly dense.

At last, the Obscurial completely coalesced into the shape of a person, gradually acquiring colors other than black—first dim, dark bones, followed by the generation of vibrant flesh and blood and exquisite clothing.

A flesh-and-blood Aurelius Dumbledore reappeared before everyone's eyes!

Those present stared in dumbfounded amazement as Aurelius materialized once more, utterly at a loss as to what manner of situation this was.

"How was this accomplished?" Newt asked, the most astonished of them all, blurting the question out on the spot. "I mean, I've studied the properties of Obscurials, but I never knew this kind of power could forge a wizard's physical body!"

Aurelius gently landed on the ground, stamping his foot to feel the sensation of contacting a solid surface.

"I suppose this is the power of a complete Obscurial," he said with a smile, his mood light and cheerful.