The resurrected Voldemort

End of July.

Borgin felt the soul tremors emanating from the adjacent house with an expressionless face.

Ever since he sold the house, except for the first few days, there had been at least three tremors like this every day.

Just the sensation of the souls' feedback was enough to make a novice realize something was amiss with these tremors, let alone someone as deeply immersed in Dark Arts research as him.

Moreover, his place was the closest, and sometimes customers would be driven away by this aura.

The Ministry of Magic had been cracking down on Dark Magic items recently, which should have been a time of great profit for him, yet because of this, his income had decreased by thirty percent!

Regretting selling the neighboring house for who knows how many times, Borgin ran his hand through his hair and slumped behind the counter.

...

In the days leading up to moving into this house, Tewell had actually been studying the insights left to him by Neville.

From Neville's case, he realized that the connections within the soul were even tighter than he had imagined.

Neville's memory loss affected his spellcasting will; could willpower be linked to an entire soul?

Especially, he suddenly thought of Voldemort in the Horcrux.

If Neville's memory was like a "cut" in the soul, then what he wanted to do to Voldemort was to put a lock on his soul.

And this lock was made up of Voldemort's will!

Studying Neville gave Tewell a feeling of exploring a treasure trove in every sense...

He was simply his treasure boy...

It was precisely this understanding that prompted Tewell to start his formal Horcrux research.

"Horcrux Research Diary"

Second experiment—

Already able to control fire, it can both burn the soul and prevent too much damage to it.

"Nonsense!"

Voldemort was still being foul-mouthed, with Kronos also on the side, making a fuss.

Cut off.

Tenth experiment—

"Nonsense!"

Voldemort foul-mouthed again.

Successfully borrowed the life force of the Philosopher's Stone, applied it to the soul, but almost burst that wisp of soul.

Okay, it's burst.

Kronos remained silent for the most part, only yelling a few words when destroying fragments, as if he had become accustomed to the pain of severing souls?

Flattened.

Twentieth experiment—

More perfect than ever!

Life force and soul fragments perfectly merged, already able to condense a small Voldemort entity.

But the mouth is getting fouler, Kronos knows to keep silent, and even a strand of lingering soul dares to shout and try to resist!

"When I come back—!"

Extinguished.

Fiftieth experiment—

Beautiful, too beautiful!

Combining an understanding of willpower, the Flame Shield successfully integrated the power of the soul and an unbreakable vow, able to contract with the soul.

But the soul of the Horcrux was too broken, let alone just a fraction, it couldn't withstand the power of the vow at all.

Kronos has been increasingly silent lately. Could he be silently planning a rebellion?

Crushed.

Ninety-ninth experiment—

Finally, the power of the Flame Shield has become completely controllable, and this is the first time he has mastered this magic to such a degree since learning it himself.

He estimated he wasn't much worse than his teacher now.

The lingering soul also fell silent, staring at him strangely. What was going on?

Why did it look so humiliated?

Crushed.

Hundredth experiment—

After ninety-nine previous attempts, Tewell had completely mastered the use of the Flame Shield on the soul.

So he turned his attention to Kronos.

After so many soul extractions, the Voldemort inside the Horcrux could be said to be on its last legs.

Fortunately, with the Philosopher's Stone, he transferred a lot of life force into Kronos, preventing the collapse of this soul.

Now Kronos was almost like the ring, a combination of broken soul and life force.

If the soul was further extracted, the consciousness would become so shattered that it would be impossible to form an oath.

With interest, Tewell picked up Kronos. Blue-purple flames erupted from his hand, casting an eerie glow on Tewell's gentle face.

The flames gradually spread to every inch of Kronos, soon turning the entire Horcrux into something like a ring of fire.

The burning flames continuously stabbed at the soul inside, wisps of black mist seeping out, but before they could spread, they were burned away completely.

Sensing the pain, the previously silent soul began to emit sharp screams, but its voice quickly weakened, and Tewell couldn't hear what it was cursing.

"You bastard, why don't you ask... my... agreement..."

With the extinguishing of the last wisp of black mist, Kronos fell silent, no longer making any sound, and returned to its original brilliant appearance.

"What did Voldemort shout at the end?" Tewell puzzled for a second, "Forget it, he wouldn't agree anyway, so let's just extinguish it~"

"You bastard!" the ring cursed empathetically, "Why don't you tell him what to do? With such a vague contract, no one can agree with you!!!"

During this time, the ring had watched Kronos's plight clearly. Such research was something it had never experienced before.

It made him extremely grateful that he had come to Tewell's side earlier than Kronos.

Of course, he would not mourn Kronos's passing.

Because Tewell's meaning was clear, he only needed Voldemort's soul at the moment.

Now that Kronos's soul was dead, the only one left with value to use was him, the ring.

Tewell pondered Kronos's final struggles for a moment. Maybe, possibly, he had misunderstood?

But it didn't matter. He hadn't planned to leave Kronos's soul intact in the first place.

Compared to the ring that had always been by his side, Kronos didn't even know what he wanted to do. He was more like a pure Voldemort.

The ring, on the other hand, was different. Although it still had Voldemort's soul as its main body, it also integrated his will and life force.

It was much more malleable.

"Since that's the case," Tewell picked up the ring, and blue-purple flames flared up again with his words, "are you willing to pledge your loyalty to me?"

"Willing, willing," the ring hurriedly replied, "I'm more than willing, I've been waiting for you to say this!"

As he finished pledging his loyalty, the blue-purple flames seemed to be absorbed, instantly merging into the ring's interior.

And inside the invisible Horcrux, the flames, like a basin of water, poured onto Voldemort.

But it didn't bring him a sense of pain; instead, it seemed to merge with the flames, leaving a mark on his soul.

A mark representing eternal loyalty.

Voldemort grinned indifferently, "Now that the contract is established, can you create a body for me?"

"Of course!" Tewell exclaimed eagerly, taking out the Philosopher's Stone.

The magic within remained undiminished despite the passage of time, providing vitality like a perpetual motion machine.

However, this time he didn't need to get his hands dirty.

Just placing the Philosopher's Stone next to the ring allowed Voldemort to absorb the life force within.

A feeling as refreshing as a spring breeze instantly enveloped Tewell's body and mind, brightening the entire room.

As vitality took shape, a semi-real body appeared before Tewell.

With features slightly more mature than Tewell's, carrying a sinister charm, yet handsomely chiseled, not greasy at all, but rather giving the impression that such charisma naturally belonged to him.

At that moment, Tewell took out a crystal emitting a green glow and inserted it into the heart area of the body.

"What are you doing?" Voldemort asked in surprise.

"Nothing much, just a little something to destroy you automatically when you misbehave," Tewell smirked triumphantly at Voldemort.

He knew, of course, that after the contract was established, Voldemort would be loyal to him.

But sabotage and loyalty were not mutually exclusive.

As a Dark Lord, Voldemort had hundreds of ways to secretly oppose him, even "accidentally" revealing his plans to those he shouldn't.

Deceiving souls, both he and Voldemort were experts in this field.

So, by inserting a crystal containing lethal magic into Voldemort's body, he could destroy Voldemort's soul with just a thought.

With this double assurance, he dared to truly command this Dark Lord!