The place Mord had in mind was naturally the Room of Requirement.
Life at Hogwarts had been surprisingly comfortable.
His single-person dormitory gave him plenty of privacy, and the busy school schedule had kept him occupied enough that many of his secret projects had yet to begin.
Now that he needed a completely secure place to perform the Dark Ember Ritual, the Room of Requirement was the obvious choice.
Mord carefully searched his memory.
The Room of Requirement was supposed to be on the eighth floor, opposite a tapestry depicting trolls.
There were only a few places in Hogwarts with an eighth floor—the Main Tower, the Astronomy Tower, the Gryffindor Tower, and the Ravenclaw Tower.
The Owlery was also high enough, but Mord dismissed the idea immediately.
If it were hidden there, Neville wouldn’t have found a troll tapestry in the original story.
It would’ve been a bird-dropping tapestry instead.
With his destination narrowed down, Mord began searching.
He first checked the Ravenclaw Tower and the nearby Astronomy Tower.
After carefully searching both eighth floors, he found nothing.
Left with no other choice, he headed toward Gryffindor Tower.
As luck would have it, he ran into Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Neville on the way back from class.
“Mord!” Hermione greeted him with a bright smile.
“I was just about to look for you. Want to go to the library together?”
Harry and Neville also greeted him warmly.
Ron, however, merely folded his arms and muttered,
“Another pair of bookworms…”
Mord raised an eyebrow.
Why does Ron suddenly seem to have a problem with me?
The answer wasn’t difficult to guess.
Originally, Ron had a fairly good impression of Mord.
But after hearing that Mord had also become Ravenclaw’s Seeker, he couldn’t help feeling annoyed.
Harry was his best friend, and now someone else was sharing the spotlight.
On top of that, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw would eventually become rivals on the Quidditch pitch.
Harry himself didn’t care.
Ron, however, was a die-hard Quidditch fanatic.
In his eyes, Mord was probably here to scout out Gryffindor’s newest Seeker.
Hermione rolled her eyes.
“Maybe someone only has room in his head for Wizard’s Chess. The library is clearly too advanced for him.”
Ron snorted.
“Oh, really?”
“A Gryffindor spending every day with a Ravenclaw.”
“If that’s not being a pair of bookworms, then what is?”
He smirked.
“Or… do you like him?”
Hermione’s face instantly turned scarlet.
“W-What?!”
“No! That’s not what—”
She was so embarrassed that she couldn’t even finish her sentence.
Mord simply smiled.
It seemed the famous Golden Trio still had a long way to go before becoming inseparable friends.
“I’m just taking a walk.”
“I won’t interrupt.”
He didn’t ask Hermione to leave with him.
Doing so would only make her even more embarrassed.
Giving her a reassuring smile, he continued toward the eighth floor alone.
Originally, he had wanted Hermione to help him search for the Room of Requirement.
That plan would have to wait.
As for Ron…
Mord wasn’t bothered in the slightest.
In his eyes, Ron was simply another reliable source of Darkness Points.
Besides…
Hermione was already becoming much closer to him.
If anything, Mord was looking forward to defeating Gryffindor in Quidditch and seeing Ron’s devastated expression.
That should earn quite a few Darkness Points.
After wandering around the eighth floor for quite some time, Mord still couldn’t find the troll tapestry.
Had he remembered incorrectly?
With no other options left, he headed toward the Main Tower.
Although the trip had wasted plenty of time, at least he had eliminated every other possibility.
By the time he reached the eighth floor of the Main Tower, he was slightly out of breath.
He searched every wall carefully.
Still nothing.
Just as he was beginning to doubt himself, he turned a corner.
There it was.
A large tapestry hung on the wall, depicting a group of trolls dancing with clubs.
One particularly excited troll had accidentally smashed its club onto the head of a wizard.
Mord slapped his forehead.
“So it wasn’t a rug…”
“It was a tapestry.”
His memory had been slightly off, but fortunately, the location itself was correct.
Standing before the blank wall opposite the tapestry, Mord began pacing back and forth.
“I need a hidden room to perform a magical ritual.”
“I need a hidden room for a magical ritual.”
He repeated the thought over and over.
After the third pass, the stone wall began to ripple.
A beautifully carved door slowly emerged from the solid rock.
Mord’s eyes lit up.
He pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The room was completely sealed, with no windows at all.
Several oil lamps illuminated the stone chamber with a warm glow.
Taking a deep breath, Mord reviewed the ritual in his mind.
The Dark Ember Ritual consisted of two stages.
First, draw the ritual circle, recite the summoning incantation, and call forth the Dark Ember.
Second, step into the circle and merge the flame with his body.
Drawing the magic circle wasn’t difficult.
He had already practiced countless times in his dormitory using water instead of blood.
He removed the two bottles of blood he’d collected earlier.
One contained Fire Salamander blood.
The other contained the blood of a dark-attribute magical creature.
To avoid mistakes, he had intentionally purchased extra.
If his first attempt failed, he could simply draw the circle again.
Pouring both bottles into a larger flask, he gently mixed them together.
The bright crimson and dark-red blood blended into a deep crimson liquid.
Using the tip of his yew wand as a brush, Mord carefully dipped it into the mixture.
Then he began drawing.
Every line required absolute precision.
He concentrated completely, hardly daring to breathe.
An hour passed.
Finally, the intricate crimson magic circle was complete.
Its outer ring enclosed several elaborate flame-shaped runes.
Mord stepped back and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
“So far…”
“So good.”
He had actually succeeded on his first attempt.
Pointing his bloodstained wand toward the circle, Mord began chanting in a slow, rhythmic voice.
«”Primordial darkness…”»
«”The first flame born before all light…”»
«”Life celebrates the fire that gives warmth…”»
«”Yet forgets the flame that came before.”»
«”In the name of the Goddess of Night, Nyx…”»
«”Dark Ember…”»
«”Reveal yourself.”»
As the final words left his mouth, the oil lamps throughout the chamber dimmed.
Within moments, the room was swallowed by darkness.
Only the blood-red ritual circle remained visible.
Then—
The blood ignited.
Black flames erupted from the magic circle as if the blood itself had become fuel.
Mord stared excitedly.
The Dark Ember had appeared.
Without hesitation, he removed his outer robe and stepped toward the circle.
As he entered, he continued chanting.
“Dark Ember…”
“I acknowledge your power.”
“I offer myself as your vessel.”
The black flames did not burn him.
Instead, they slowly climbed up his legs like living shadows.
Soon, the entire ritual circle disappeared.
Only Mord remained, his entire body wrapped in black fire.
He took one final breath.
Then shouted,
“Dark Ember…”
“Become one with me!”
Instantly, every black flame surged into his body.
“AAAAAAAH!”
Mord collapsed onto the floor, screaming.
It felt as though countless burning needles were piercing every inch of his body.
Pain.
Heat.
Agony.
Every nerve screamed at once.
The veins on his neck bulged as he struggled to remain conscious.
Grinding his teeth, he growled,
“System…”
“You could’ve warned me it would hurt this much!”
The system responded calmly.
[Lord Demon King, please endure it. The Dark Ember will not cause permanent harm.]
Mord laughed bitterly despite the unbearable pain.
“I think…”
“You just want to torture me to death…”
“So you can inherit all my Darkness Points.”
Even while suffering, he couldn’t resist complaining.
There was no turning back now.
If he wanted greater power…
He had to endure.
Taking a shaky breath, Mord forced himself into a seated position and quietly endured the endless pain.
Around him, the black flames continued to burn.
And deep within his body…
A miraculous transformation had begun.