Chapter 41: The Birth Mother Charges Forth!

[Soul Strength: 21]
[Soul Strength: 17]

In truth, Cohen didn't even need a wand to deal with these two; he could have devoured their souls from this distance—it would have taken only a split second. But he chose the more entertaining form of brawl.

Honestly, a "Mother’s Charge" is such a cool move. Could anyone else pull that off?

Both Aurors were stunned by Cohen’s sudden, booming shout of "Mom!" But Cohen and the pitch-black unicorn "Mother" behind him showed no mercy for their momentary hesitation.

Though Alexia the unicorn was subjectively very reluctant, she had no choice—it was part of the "Unbreakable Vow" she had just made with Cohen. When Cohen needed her, she had to help him resolve his problems, and the two Aurors in front of them were clearly the problem. She could feel the power of that curse very clearly; breaking the vow would truly mean death.

Thus, she aimed her spiraled horn at the tall Auror standing in the front. A black binding curse erupted from the tip of her horn, piercing straight through the Shield Charm the Auror had cast. The tall Auror struggled, trying to roll to the side to dodge the unicorn's charge, but his legs were frozen by the bizarre magic of the creature.

Most arrogant wizards always looked down upon the magic of non-human beings—like house-elves, goblins, or, for instance... an evil version of a unicorn. Yet, when they actually fought these creatures, they would find to their horror that they couldn't remember, or had never even studied, the counter-curses to deal with them.

"Expelliarmus!"

Just as the two Aurors prepared to Apparate, the Count, who had been watching the show from the sidelines, made his move. At the same time the spell struck them, Cohen retracted his "Avada Kedavra" to see how effective his mother's attack was. Three wands flew into the air at once. The Count moved with precision in the air—

"Damn it, in my next life, I must make God give me a hundred hands."

Since his two claws were needed to hold his own wand, the Count couldn't catch the wands being tossed about by the spells, and could only watch them drop to Cohen’s feet.

"That would make you a centipede," Cohen reminded him, picking up his own wand from the ground.

"How can an owl—" The tall Auror chose this as his final sentence. It was a pity they had arrived just after the Count finished the Unbreakable Vow, leaving them completely unaware that this bird could talk. Otherwise, they might have put up a bit of a fight, or at least wouldn't have been caught off guard by the Count.

"Help!" the short Auror, who had been acting as a background prop, screamed out his first and last word in terror.

*Squelch—*

Alexia’s horn pierced through both their bodies at once, like two meatballs on a skewer.

The two were lifted high into the air, but due to the constraints of the basement ceiling, they slammed into the hard stone above before falling heavily to the ground. The pitch-black death curse exploded across their bodies instantly; the holes in the Aurors began to rot and wither before their eyes, the decay spreading with terrifying speed.

His mother’s offensive power was quite strong.

Cohen immediately sucked away their souls—this "Mother's Charge" killed a bit too fast; he nearly missed the meal. However, after his soul strength had surged to 27% thanks to the "Cohen Fragments" in the ruins, it became much harder for him to continue improving. These two only raised his strength by about 0.2%. At this rate, he would have to devour seven graduating classes of Hogwarts to stack it up—and that wasn't even counting the slackers or the untalented wizards, as a large portion of average wizards only had a soul strength of a dozen or so points.

Perhaps settling scores with the Ministry officials who had dealt with him ten years ago would be a good idea. Cohen felt they likely held the same view as the dead Auror before him. Hmph, they were already asking for death. And that cowardly Minister for Magic, Fudge—he certainly had a hand in it, or at least had ordered it to be done.

The remaining soul integrity would likely have to be bought with sin points or found by hunting down the scattered Cohen Fragments...

*Snort—*

Alexia made a horse sound at Cohen, her hooves scraping the floor impatiently.

[I killed them for you. Hurry up and end that spell of yours.]

"I didn't say I only needed you to do one thing for me, did I?" Cohen blinked innocently at Alexia. "You said yourself you'd stay with me for the rest of your life, Mother Number Two."

[What is 'Mother Number Two'?!]

"Rose is my mother in the literal sense; you lot can only be considered... uh—" Cohen arched an eyebrow, "components?"

"Blended oil," the Count added.

"You want another罵?" Cohen glared at the Count with dead-fish eyes.

[You have indeed become exactly what they wanted to create.]

Alexia said coldly.

"Who are they? The dark wizards who died here before?" Cohen asked curiously. "Did they also know I would learn the move 'Mother’s Charge' today?"

[...]

It is hard to describe how a unicorn manages to make such a helpless expression.

"Enough bickering. I wasn't finished—I didn't actually intend to treat you like a slave. After all, I’m just a weak, pitiful, and helpless eleven-year-old student. I can't do anything..."

[You are still spouting nonsense.]

Alexia calmly reminded him.

"You'll live in this bag of mine from now on. There are no black unicorns out there; if you go out, you'll definitely be captured and studied," Cohen said bluntly, waving the pouch in his hand. "I can provide you with a safe and relatively free environment."

[Thank you, you little %&.]

Alexia said dryly.

"Can you include me in your private chat?" The Count landed on the railing above the cage, urging Cohen with boredom. "I can only hear you babbling away—"

"Chat time is over. I need to scavenge this place—I'm hungry."

Cohen used the light from his wand tip to probe the room. On a table piled with alchemical liquids, there was a row of bookshelves embedded in the wall. Because they had been covered in Devil's Snare, Cohen hadn't noticed them at first.

"Incendio!" Cohen ignited a fire in the center of the room, and the surrounding Devil's Snare retreated into the wall cracks from the sudden light and heat.

Now, Cohen could properly examine the information here—

"Oh, right, what was your name again—" Cohen suddenly turned to ask Alexia, "Alexia, right?"

[Weren't you planning to call me Mother?]

Alexia shook her pitch-black mane.

"I only call you that when I need a 'Mother’s Charge,'" Cohen said as if it were obvious. "Then I'll call you Ally. You know, it saves on word count."

[Alexia.]

"Alright, Ally."

Cohen ignored Alexia's stubborn insistence and continued with the question he had wanted to ask:

"You've been an experimental subject here for so long—how much do you know about the experiments that happened here before?"