"ah!"
When the sudden feeling of weightlessness suddenly disappeared, Harry stumbled and sat down on the floor.
Then, he realized that the surrounding scene had changed dramatically!
The originally smooth and flat ground was gone, replaced by upturned floor tiles and debris and dust;
The long academic dining table and neat armchairs also disappeared, turning into a broken and collapsed mess with wood stubble everywhere;
The magic scene on the ceiling was gone as well, and was covered in gray. All that could still be seen were a few irregular deep cracks;
There is also the huge floor-to-ceiling back window in the deepest part of the auditorium. It seems to have been so damaged that even the scene in the atrium can be seen at a glance.
The worst thing is the huge hole on the left side of the auditorium, towards the foyer.
It can be seen from the state of the broken wall bricks at the edge of the hole that it seems to have been caused by something being knocked out of the auditorium - the thing was carried by a huge force, smashed through the wall and passed through the foyer. Then he broke through the thick wall in the foyer again, and used his remaining strength to rush all the way to the vestibule outside the castle.
The light falling in from outside was like a thread, illuminating the ruins in the auditorium and also illuminating bits of flying dust.
"Harry!"
Harry, who couldn't help but be stunned for a moment as he looked around, suddenly came to his senses when he heard Hermione's shout. He then got up and looked around, and saw Hermione not far away, who seemed to have just gotten up, looking at him with a worried look on her face.
"Hermione!"
Harry didn't care to think about what was going on with the drastic change in front of him, and quickly ran towards the other party.
"...Hermione, are you okay? Do you know what happened just now?"
"I-"
"Of course it's magic, the kind that's more advanced than Halbo's mirror world. As for the principle... to a certain extent, it's actually not much different from Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve."
Hermione was about to respond, but as soon as she spoke, she was interrupted by a voice from deep in the auditorium.
Hermione and Harry subconsciously turned their heads to look...
"M-Maka...?"
The environment in the auditorium has completely changed, but the position of everyone in the auditorium has not changed much - it is the mutilated demon that just fell from above not long ago, the strange, but finally gone A figure that has become very familiar.
"Are you really Maka?" Hermione couldn't help but asked loudly, "We have already... I have... I don't want to guess endlessly anymore!"
"Hermione."
Harry, who had rushed to Hermione's side, heard her words and immediately glanced at her, then looked up again. He didn't say anything else, he just stared there steadily, his brows furrowed tightly.
"Ah... Well," the figure lying under the pillar seemed a little troubled, but he quickly said, "Although it has been said so far... well, I am indeed Maka! How should I say... long time no see?"
"You...you bastard!"
Hermione was probably offended by his lazy "Long time no see", and after holding it in for a few seconds, she finally couldn't help but curse.
I don't know how much anger, distress and worry were accumulated in her words "you bastard".
In response, Maka over there sighed.
"I can't say 'sorry' or 'please forgive me' to my best friends, can I?"
Maka no longer lay there, and he was seen using his remaining limbs to borrow strength from the ground and leaning on the pillar to get up with difficulty, while using his low and hoarse voice that was not human-like, he spoke intermittently, but He said this very calmly.
"Nowadays, any apology coming out of my mouth will definitely seem perfunctory and weak. What's more, what is our relationship? If I still say 'I'm sorry' to you now, wouldn't it really mean that I'm sorry?" Have you blasphemed the trust you had in me along the way, but you finally persisted to the end?"
"Maka..."
Seeing how laborious every move he made, Hermione ran forward without realizing it, as if she wanted to go over and help him.
But Maka raised her hand and stopped her in time.
"Don't come here," Maka said. "To be precise, be careful of the hole in the middle. It's best not to even get close... 'She' is 'over there'."
"Hollow?"
Perhaps it was because the lobby was cluttered, with the bright areas being bright enough and the dark areas being too dark. Just now, Hermione and Hermione didn't notice at all that the central location that should have been the most conspicuous was now filled with unknown places on the ground. A hole in the ground. The hole seemed very deep, and from the angle where Hermione was now, she couldn't see what was going on inside.
But judging from Maka’s words and deeds, the situation under the cave is definitely unusual!
"What's down there?" Hermione paused and stopped as she was told.
"It's a 'passage'," Maka glanced sideways at the cave and replied, "It leads to where Kern is now... However, this 'passage' is only for souls. If you go down, , which is basically equivalent to death.”
When Hermione heard this, she couldn't help but be startled, and a thought flashed in her mind.
"Maka, did the black fog that enveloped the entire castle come from down there?"
"As expected of Miss Granger, you are indeed smart." Maka seemed to smile, "This is the passage through which Kern came to this world - the black mist is the overflow, or extension, of her power, and of course it is the same as the one through which Kern came to this world. She came along."
"Then we have to get over it after all?" Hermione frowned, a little anxious, "'She' must be doing something again that we absolutely don't want to see happen. Now that things have happened, no matter what, we We must stop her!"
"Ah! Of course, of course! I must go." Maka waved her hand, "But not from here... Come with me!"
Having said that, he may have been seriously injured and could no longer use any magic. It was already extremely difficult to move around with his broken body.
Just remembering Maka's words before, Hermione waited until Maka walked around the pothole and came here, then opened her legs again and walked over to really support him.
Beside Hermione, Harry had only followed silently from now on, not even saying a word, nor even looking at Maka again.
"Maka, Ron and Neville, should they be okay?"
Hermione supported his incomplete but still strong demon body and looked left and right at the figures of his friends who were still lying on the ground. Except for Luna, who had also climbed up from the ground and was standing not far away, the others seemed to be still unconscious.
"It's okay," Maka said. "Except for Neville, who was injured on a spiritual level, that is, his soul, and may need to recuperate afterwards, no one else was actually injured. Don't worry..."