The development outside the castle is continuing along the path in Maka's memory. In about ten minutes, the mysterious ancient mirror will recreate the disaster in Hogwarts.
This disaster is inevitable—at least for Maka, it is inevitable. If the ancient mirror does not appear this time, it means that everything Maka has done is in vain. The futility is not terrible. What is terrible is that the meaning of his journey back through time will be lost.
Without that mirror, Tamaka would not be here. This cause and effect is an absolute rule that must be followed. If the rules were exceeded, he didn't know what would happen.
Therefore, he needs to wait and rely on the constant consumption of magic power to wait for the end of this time loop before he can proceed with his next plan.
To be honest, Maka was very happy. He was glad that he was cautious enough and didn't even come to Hogwarts Castle to take a look at the situation, which gave him a chance to redeem himself.
Thinking of this, he lowered his head and looked at the old man and the young man lying on the stone steps. These two people were a pure accident. Although he felt a little sorry for them, he still chose to catch them off guard with the magic potion.
It's just that the medicine was a bit heavy this time. After all, Slughorn was also a master of potions. Even though he had the advantage of surprise, he was still a little worried.
But fortunately, maybe there will be some sequelae when they wake up, but at least he can give them a forgetting spell or something in a while. Compared to saving the fate of Hogwarts, making them suffer is nothing.
However, just when Maka was about to calm down and stabilize the power of the soul rules in preparation for resisting the shock that was coming soon, a series of "quacking" noises made his mind stagnate.
The sound only sounded in the distance at first, but in the blink of an eye, it suddenly reached his ears. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he quickly caught a glimpse of a gray-green shadow flashing past, and then he felt his shoulders sink slightly.
"Quack quack - soul! The breath of soul rules! It is indeed your boy... quack quack! You... Huh? Huh? Why has your boy grown so much taller?"
A burst of noise suddenly sounded in his ears, and Maka's expression suddenly changed, and a lot of information flashed through his mind in an instant.
This voice is so familiar that once you hear it once, it's hard to forget. Obviously, the thing standing on his shoulder at this moment is the long-lost bronze eagle.
In other words, it was the key to the Chamber of Secrets left by Rowena Ravenclaw.
"Why are you here?" Maka suppressed the uneasiness in her heart and asked calmly.
The bronze eagle that suddenly appeared stood on his shoulder. It was only a little bigger than the sparrow in terms of size, but the meaning it represented was unusual.
It is not only the key to the Ravenclaw Chamber of Secrets, but also the so-called "guide of the candidates". As for where exactly it wants to guide Maka...
From the moment Maka got the "Book of Sin", this question seemed to have an answer. It’s just that we don’t know whether this answer is correct or not.
"It's the breath of soul rules! Quack..." The bronze eagle stood on his shoulder, tilted its little head and looked at him carefully, but continued in a chirping voice, "That's right, you just came into contact with me. About the rules of the soul, right? Maybe you can understand that you, Lord Ying, and I are based on the rules of the soul... Huh?"
The little eagle was still chattering non-stop, but suddenly it stopped inexplicably and let out a startled sound again.
"... Time rules? You... What are you going to do?" This time, its words were full of surprise and consternation, "When were you? Ouch... How long have I been asleep?"
Maka didn't speak, he just frowned slightly, his mind full of chaotic thoughts.
He knew that the Bronze Eagle might have felt the hourglass of the time turner, and the gravel in the hourglass must be related to the rules of time. It's just that he doesn't have the heart to think about this kind of thing now.
But Maka can remain silent, but the bronze eagle cannot change its habit of talking. Seeing that he remained silent and seemed to be thinking about something, the little eagle immediately fluttered its wings and patted his neck.
"Boy, what are you thinking about? I see that you can even try to use the soul rules. The last test should have been completed long ago, right? You... Oh, no... After all, when are you now? You? You are not who you are at this time... "
"... not long after, that is, a few hours later," Maka finally spoke, "As for the last test, it has indeed been a while since now."
When he said this, there was no expression on his face, and I didn't know what he was thinking.
"Really? Then why didn't you come to me right away? Well... forget it! Gaga, it's your business when you come to me. Rowena didn't say what time you have to set..." The bronze eagle tilted his head. Head, the voice seemed a little cheerful, "Anyway, are you ready to accept the next test?"
Hearing this, Maka was about to say something, but he just opened his mouth, but as if he realized something, he suddenly tightened his grip on the staff in his hand.
"I think we'd better talk about those things later..." He said in a serious voice.
Before he finished speaking, the mysterious and obscure wave suddenly appeared from outside the castle, passing through the surrounding space in the blink of an eye and spreading into the distance.
He knew that the most critical part of this plan was about to begin!
"Huh?"
The bronze eagle was also stunned, and let out a voice of surprise for the third time today. But then it started to scream for a while, and the sound was accompanied by some kind of panic, as if it was anxious to see the sky falling.
"No, no! Ga? How could it be? That broken mirror..." It just called out a few times and said hurriedly, "What... happened? It's chaos... it's all chaos... Ga... Lord Ying, I'll withdraw first." ! You boy, hold on! Hogwarts depends entirely on you... "
Before he finished speaking, the bronze eagle disappeared on Maka's shoulder in the same instant as when it came.
This little guy came so quickly, but he didn't expect that he would leave even faster. Even Maka was confused. But he doesn't have time to think about it that much now, because he still remembers his plan to go back in time this time. If this plan fails, all his efforts will be in vain!
"coming soon!"
Maka paused, immediately put aside her chaotic thoughts, and concentrated on controlling the rule rune on the top of the staff that represented the soul.
Sure enough, almost at the next second, a violent shock passed by in an instant. It was as if the entire space had shrunk to a certain place, and the force was surprisingly strong. But that kind of power only targets the soul and has no impact on other things.
Maka had experienced this kind of terror personally before, but now, as he was driving the rules of the soul, he obviously had an even more obvious reaction than last time.
With just this first shock, he felt that the soul rule rune was on the verge of collapse. It's not that the rule runes don't work, it's just that his grasp of the soul rules isn't up to par.
Just on the top of his staff, the rune couldn't help but look a little blurry, and it had a tendency to become scattered under the shock just now. It was originally drawn by him using magic power to condense it into silk threads. How effective it can be is entirely related to his understanding of the meaning of the rules.
Like the cooling runes, Maka can outline them to an almost solid state. This is because he already has a fairly in-depth interpretation of the cooling rules of matter. But he still has a vague understanding of the rules of the soul.
However, now that things have happened, he no longer wants to give up, and he can't give up.
In any case, at least he had resisted the first shock. He used the power of the soul rules to stabilize the souls of everyone in the castle, and the results were still there!
Before the next shock hit, Maka did not hesitate anymore, but gritted her teeth and controlled the magic power again, and began to draw the rune on the top of the staff again.
Whether the shock comes faster or whether he strengthens the soul rune faster depends on this move.
"boom!"
That was not the sound of the soul being shaken out of the body, but the sound of Maka's heartbeat. Just before the second wave of shock suddenly passed by, the soul rune was forcibly stabilized by him.
There's still time!
Although it can barely hold up, the runes must be reinforced again and again to prevent them from falling apart in the shock. But he knew that at least he should be able to withstand it until the magic power was exhausted.
As long as we can hold on, the plan will not fail. And as long as he can hold on until the retrospect time has passed, he can take the next step.
So, Maka put her left hand into her pocket, quickly took out a small gadget that looked like a glass ball, and casually smashed it on the steps at her feet.
"Crack!"
The glass ball fell on the stone steps and was smashed into pieces. And in the shattered glass ball, a large number of translucent shadows suddenly appeared, and hurriedly flew towards the south side of the lake.
Maka looked at everything in front of her and pursed her lips in silence.
In his ears, the ticking sound of the time turner was still ringing. This sound has always been with him since he decided to start going back in time, but now it seems to be particularly long.
At this moment, Maka stood on the stone steps, the staff in his hand motionless, just like his body, which although not tall and strong, had always been extremely calm.
And around his body, the circle of magic words like a blue chain still existed, and it continued to circle while rotating slightly.
"Click... click... click..."
The ticking sound sounded leisurely.