Hogwarts, i am Dementor

[Soul Strength: 21] 

[Soul Strength: 17] 

Honestly, Cohen didn't even need a wand to take down these two. At this distance, he could devour their souls in an instant—it'd be over in a heartbeat. 

But he opted for a more entertaining brawl instead. 

Come on, a move like "Mommy's Charge" is way too cool. Who else could pull that off? 

The two Aurors were completely thrown off by Cohen suddenly yelling "Mom!" out of nowhere. 

But neither Cohen nor the pitch-black unicorn "Mommy" standing behind him showed the slightest bit of mercy just because the Aurors froze up for a second. 

The unicorn, Alexia, wasn't exactly thrilled about this—subjectively speaking, she hated it—but she had no choice. This was part of the "Unbreakable Vow" she'd just made with Cohen. 

When Cohen needed her, she had to help him deal with his problems, and these two Aurors were clearly problems. 

She could feel the power of the spell binding her; breaking the vow would genuinely kill her. 

So, she aimed her spiraled horn at the tall Auror standing in front, and a black binding curse surged from the tip, piercing straight through the Iron Armor Charm he'd cast. 

The tall Auror struggled, trying to roll to the side to dodge the unicorn's charge, but his legs were frozen in place by the strange magic of this bizarre creature. 

Most arrogant wizards tend to look down on the magic of non-human beings—house-elves, goblins, or, say, an evil version of a unicorn. 

But when they actually end up fighting these creatures, they freak out, realizing they either don't remember or never bothered to study the spells to counter them. 

"Expelliarmus!" 

Just as the two Aurors were about to Apparate away, the Earl, who'd been casually watching from the sidelines, made his move. As his spell hit them, Cohen pulled back his "Avada Kedavra" to see how strong his "Mommy's" attack really was. 

Three wands shot into the air in an instant. The Earl, with pinpoint accuracy midair— 

"Damn it, in my next life, I'm begging God for a hundred hands!" 

Since both his claws were busy holding his own wand, the Earl couldn't catch the wands yanked by his spell and could only watch them clatter to the ground by Cohen's feet. 

"Then you'd be a centipede," Cohen pointed out, picking up his own wand from the floor. 

"How could an owl—" The tall Auror chose this as his last word. Unfortunately for them, they'd arrived right after the Earl had finished setting up the Unbreakable Vow, so they had no idea this bird could talk. 

If they'd known, they might've put up a bit more of a fight—at least enough to avoid being ambushed by the Earl. 

"Help!" The short Auror, who'd been a background prop this whole time, screamed his first and final word in terror. 

*Splurch—* 

Alexia's horn pierced through both their bodies in one go, skewering them like meatballs on a stick. 

The two were hoisted high, but the basement's low ceiling stopped them from flying any further. Instead, they crashed into the solid stone roof before slamming back down to the ground. 

A dark death curse exploded over their bodies. The holes where they'd been pierced began to rot and wither visibly, the decay spreading at an alarming rate. 

Mommy's attack power was no joke. 

Cohen quickly slurped up their souls—her charge had killed them so fast he'd almost missed his chance. 

But after his soul strength had spiked to 27% thanks to the "Cohen fragments" in the ruins, boosting it further was getting tougher. 

These two only bumped it up by about 0.2%. At this rate, he'd need to devour all seven years' worth of Hogwarts graduates to max it out—and that's not even counting the slackers or less talented wizards, since a good chunk of average ones only had soul strengths in the teens. 

Maybe tracking down the Ministry folks who'd gone after him ten years ago would be a better idea—Cohen figured they probably shared the same mindset as the dead Auror in front of him. 

Hmph. They've already earned their death sentences. 

As for the rest of his missing soul integrity, he'd either have to buy it with sin points or hunt down the scattered Cohen fragments… 

"Neigh—!" 

Alexia let out a horse-like snort at Cohen, her hooves scraping the floor impatiently. 

["I helped you kill them, so hurry up and end that stupid spell already!"] 

"I never said you'd only have to help me with one thing," Cohen said innocently, blinking at Alexia. "You're the one who said you'd stick with me for life, Mommy Number Two." 

["Mommy Number Two? What the hell is that?!"] 

"Rose is my actual mom in the real sense. You guys are more like… uh—" Cohen raised an eyebrow, "ingredients?" 

"Blending oil," the Earl chimed in. 

"You wanna say that again?" Cohen shot the Earl a dead-fish stare. 

["You've definitely turned into what they wanted to make you."] 

Alexia said coldly. 

"Who's 'they'? The dark wizards who died here before?" Cohen asked curiously. "Did they know I'd master 'Mommy's Charge' today?" 

[…] 

It's hard to describe how a unicorn manages to look so exasperated. 

"Let's not argue about this. I wasn't planning to treat you like some dark slave anyway. I mean, I'm just a weak, pitiful, helpless eleven-year-old student. I can't do anything…" 

["You're still full of crap."] 

Alexia calmly pointed out. 

"You can live in this bag of mine from now on. There aren't any black unicorns out there in the world—you'd definitely get caught and studied if you went outside," Cohen said bluntly, holding up the sack in his hand. "I can give you safety and a relatively free space." 

["Gee, thanks, you little %&."] 

Alexia said dryly. 

"Can I join your private chat?" 

The Earl, perched on the railing above the cage, called down to Cohen, sounding bored. 

"I can only hear you going 'blah blah blah' by yourself—" 

"Chit-chat's over. I need to loot this place quick—I'm starving," Cohen said, using the light from his wand tip to scan the room. 

On a table cluttered with alchemical liquids, there was a row of bookshelves embedded in the wall. They'd been covered by Devil's Snare earlier, so Cohen hadn't noticed them at first glance. 

"Incendio!" Cohen sparked a fire in the center of the room. The sudden burst of light and heat made the Devil's Snare shrink back into the wall crevices. 

Now he could properly dig into the materials here— 

"Oh, right—what's your name again?" Cohen suddenly turned to Alexia. "Alexia, yeah?" 

["Weren't you going to call me Mommy?"] 

Alexia flicked her pitch-black tail. 

"Only when I need a 'Mommy's Charge,'" Cohen said matter-of-factly. "I'll call you Liz instead. You know, it's shorter." 

["Alexia."] 

"Got it, Liz." 

Ignoring her stubborn insistence, Cohen went on with the question he'd meant to ask: 

"You've been a lab rat here for so long—how much do you know about the experiments they were running?" 

(End of Chapter)