Готовый перевод Тейлор Поттер и философский виал / Taylor Potter and the Philosophical Vial: Глава 13. Меч Героя

Chapter 13. The Hero's Sword
*

The videos, as expected, showed Lisa and Victoria in some room. Taylor didn't rule out the possibility that it was all fake or edited, but... that face? If Lisa's blow hadn't finished off the sender, then his anger at Granger was understandable. But at the same time, with such resources, he could have retrieved the Hero's sword himself, right?

"What is the Hero's sword?" Taylor asked.

An icon in the corner of the screen indicated no network, and Taylor turned to look at the Wormwarts. How, then, had the message been transmitted? Or had it been pre-posted?

"You're a Herofindor student!" Amy suddenly giggled, then stopped herself. "Sorry, that was inappropriate. It's just... oh yeah, sorry again. Anyway, that's the Hero's thing, one of the Founders. Alexandria fought barehanded, Legend shot lasers, Eidolon summoned powers, and the Hero had a sword. A pistol, a cannon, a jetpack — he was supposedly a universal Tinkerer, the first and only one, the one who could build anything.

"Okay, so where is this sword now?"

Taylor privately thought that their "enemy" was a little crazy to have kidnapped Lisa, who could have been the one to tell her where the sword was. Amy merely spread her arms and shrugged.

"The sword is somewhere in Wormwarts. Otherwise, the enemy wouldn't have made such demands," Taylor began to reason, deciding to approach the whole thing like a Quidditch match, only with an unknown enemy. "He has access to Wormwarts' electronic systems, although it's possible only locally, like Lisa. He doesn't have access to the sword. Otherwise, he wouldn't have asked us. What might be accessible to us, but inaccessible to... whom?"

"Don't you think it was Malfoy?" Amy asked unexpectedly. "He could very well have kidnapped them, especially since Lisa is a first-generation cape, and as an Eidolonian student, he has no access to Herofindor."

"He was able to kidnap two students, but couldn't get into our tower?" Taylor asked thoughtfully. "That doesn't add up. And you think he'd wait six months to get revenge for what happened at the match? What kind of revenge is that?"

"Well, maybe they'll disband Herofindor without the Hero's sword?" Amy scratched her head. "I don't know."

"The sword is a weapon, Hero is Herofindor, so we need Professor McGonagall," Taylor concluded.

"The Hero's Sword?" Hannah McGonagall asked. "Yes, he made it shortly before his death, before the Second World War, together with Headmistress Dumbledore."

“Oh, we really wanted to see the relic of the Founder of our House,” Taylor sighed with almost genuine disappointment.

"Ask Headmistress Dumbledore, Miss Potter," Hannah smiled unexpectedly, "I don't think she'll refuse you."

Taylor looked after Hannah with a puzzled expression, as if trying to count the spots on her camouflage uniform.

"What does this mean? She won't refuse me."

"Well, you, it's..."

"What? Talk!"

She grabbed Amy by the shoulders, shook her, pressed her against the wall, and then immediately let go, taking a step back.

"Sorry," Taylor said dryly. "Let's go."

"W-where?"

"To Headmistress Dumbledore."

"But there... in the letter... don't ask for help," Amy's voice became even weaker, like the quiet rustling of leaves.

"If our ill-wisher thinks that we will get everything ourselves, then he is an even bigger idiot than one can imagine."

"Idiot?"

“Of course,” Taylor replied confidently.

She didn't explain all that moment with faces, or the fact that the enemy, with considerable power at his disposal, had used it for something trivial. A personal vendetta against Taylor? Most likely. The Dimension of Secrets, Headmistress Dumbledore, Taylor herself, supposedly having defeated the Dark One — it all didn't quite fit, but it did fit into a certain pattern. So Taylor had discarded Malfoy as an enemy; everything again hinged on the Dark One, but why and for what purpose, Potter didn't understand. Perhaps Lisa could have completed the pattern, and that may be exactly what she was doing, trying to solve the mystery alone. And she got caught alone, whereas as a team they would have fought back!

"And our enemy is not Malfoy," Taylor added.

They exited the Herofindor wing and crossed the park, dodging sprinklers on the lawns. Taylor added to her "army," collecting several thousand insects under her clothes. It was incredibly disgusting and unpleasant, but for the sake of the team... Taylor decided not to waste effort on the wording, sticking with a simple "for the sake of the team and Lisa." It was unclear why the Dark One needed Victoria, but right now play the first round and retrieving the Hero's sword was more important.

Dumbledore's tower, standing separately, was no less secure than Snape's quarters, and Taylor's attempt to send a strike force of ants and spiders there to retrieve the sword failed immediately. An attempt to short-circuit the wires and pick the locks mechanically from the inside, using beetles, also failed. A fake Dumbledore's face and body, with Amy's help, also failed; passwords, retinal prints, and fingerprints were needed.

"If it were that easy to get into the Headmistress's tower, we wouldn't be the first," Amy sat down next to Taylor, trying to cheer her up.

Taylor leaned back, pressing herself against the trunk of a pine tree, as if seeking strength. The tower, a hundred meters away, remained as impenetrable as it had been three hours ago. Time passed, evening approached, and there was no result, and this depressed Taylor, driving her to despair. The range of her power grew and did not weaken; the insects in the park were in a state of constant agitation, but it was of no help. Something had to be done, but what? They had been preparing for the breach of Snape's premises for two months, and Lisa had done half the work—at least, she had told them what to do and how to do it—and this was only the Head of Eidolon! The Headmistress's Tower was undoubtedly better protected, and it wouldn't be so easy to breach it, would it?

Desperation welled up inside Taylor, and something was crumbling, breaking inside her. Suddenly, she understood how the tower was constructed, how it functioned, what its defenses depended on.

"Tablet," she said, holding out her hand to Amy.

"What?"

“I need your tablet,” Taylor said through gritted teeth.

The urge to hack the tower was akin to the urge to pee, and Taylor was now, figuratively speaking, shifting impatiently from foot to foot outside the door. Taylor knew she needed Amy's tablet to successfully evade detection by Wormwarts' systems. Snatching it from Weasley's hands, she pounded on the screen with both hands, as if trying to break it. Amy watched silently, and Taylor knew Amy was afraid of her, as she clearly saw the Dark One's powers awakening. Fear, anxiety, care, lust — Amy's brain had been warped by the impact, and Taylor now clearly saw cause and effect, knew how everything could be changed if she gained the necessary power.

And Taylor also knew what was happening to her.

"Come on," she said a minute later, when the door to Dumbledore's Tower opened.

"But..."

"The cameras are recording something else, Fortuna is gone, and the Hero's sword is in her office," Taylor said.

"But how..."

"You know the answer, Amy, but do you want to say it out loud?"

Taylor walked quickly and confidently, and she heard Amy following her, raising her hand.

“It’s early,” Potter answered dispassionately.

"And then it will be too late!"

"Maybe, but do you want to save Lisa?"

"Not too much," Amy grumbled from behind, still lowering her hand.

"It's because your mind is distorted and clouded," Taylor felt herself changing, becoming stronger, faster, and smarter, as new, previously unknown knowledge and skills flowed into her. "This can be fixed. Do you want it?"

Amy started, but then stopped herself. Taylor read her like an open book — the desire to rid herself of the imposed aura of adoration for Potter and the fear of the Dark One's power — it was all a little amusing. The memory block faded, and Taylor remembered what had happened in the Great Hall on Christmas Day. No, that's not it, the new power had brought her the memory. Subjugate Amy and create an army of insects? A little later, now she needed to get her sword.

"Here it is," Taylor said, holding out her hand.

There, behind the glass, in an open case, lay a metal cylinder.

"Is this a sword?"

"Of course," Taylor's hand pierced the indestructible glass and pulled out the cylinder. "Or did you think it would be a regular sword? You yourself said Hero was a Tinker."

"And what does it do?"

Taylor pressed a button on the side, and a telescopic baton, about seventy centimeters long, extended from the cylinder. Another press.

"This," Taylor replied, swinging it.

Steel, wood, stone, force fields — everything was cut up like paper. The hole in the wall revealed Dumbledore's bedroom, and Amy was embarrassed to see a robe peeking out from under the bed — someone's, definitely not Fortuna's. Taylor thought her friend looked embarrassed.

"What is a sword like that for?" Amy asked automatically.

"To kill the Endbringers, of course," Taylor answered without a shadow of a doubt.

Now she knew everything, as if the sword was transmitting to her the memory of past events.

"Who?" Amy asked again.

Wormwarts' defenses were resisting, becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, and Taylor knew the Headmistress would return soon. The ideal solution would be to activate the self-destruct system, but she lacked access. Taylor called upon several more of the Thinkers' powers, attempting to breach the defenses, but they held. Time seemed to slow, and Taylor sifted through her available powers like tools, simultaneously sensing that they weren't enough to resist Fortuna. She needed to clear her tracks and flee, gather new powers, new tools, and Amy could help her with that. Her power would be an excellent tool, and she would gain access to Taylor's body and maintain it in perfect condition. A perfect combination; she only needed to rob Amy of her willpower and rewrite her motivations.

"They are a weapon once hidden by Eidolon in the Dimension of Secrets, and they are subservient to the power of whoever opens the way for them. No one can stand against them!"

Taylor reached out to another power, and a storm of matter transforming into energy, and energy destroying even more matter, raged around her. Immediately, the defenses sounded an alarm, and the systems activated, but Taylor had already slipped away, turning to the power of teleportation, taking Amy by the hand. At the same time, Taylor felt herself crossing a threshold, her powers increasing exponentially, yet simultaneously losing control, and a hundred voices arguing in her head. Conflict. Murder. Destruction. Power.

Yes, she will rule over all!

The key to the Dimension of Secrets was somewhere nearby; she could smell the "aroma" of power all around her, and somewhere beyond Wormwarts, a whole bouquet of superpowers was fragrant, like a vast perfume factory. She would seize it, unleash the Endbringers and their fury, and with the Hero's Sword in her possession, no one would be able to stop these engines of destruction! She would absorb the powers around her and ascend, making Wormwarts her residence, and every year, new powers would come to her, young, immature, but twice as delicious!

She turned to Amy and greedily pulled her towards her, intending to drink the power.

"You said it yourself that you're my best friend, Taylor," came a barely audible sigh in response.

The touch struck Taylor like an electric shock, shaking and thrashing, a savage pain pierced her from head to toe, and her powers went wild, completely out of control. A white shroud of pain enveloped Taylor, blinding her, knocking out her memory and spirit, and she collapsed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Amy whispered, shaking violently.

Taylor rolled and twisted among the trees of the Forbidden Forest, lightning and fire blazing from her, water gushing, space bending, and everything around her breaking. A roar, full of pain and anguish, erupted from her clenched jaws, the roar of a tortured animal, not even a human. Amy shook and cried, the Hero's sword lying at her feet, transformed back into a metal cylinder. Amy knew she had done the right thing, and even if she had made a mistake, and Taylor would lose her superpower along with the Dark One's power, it was still better than this... a monster... a beast... horror. Dark Capes was one of the greatest horror stories, and Eric and Crystal sometimes frightened Amy with them. But tales, fairy tales, and fables couldn't convey even a hundredth of the horror Taylor evoked up close. At the same time, Amy knew that Taylor had only turned to the power of the Dark One, had not yet become one, which, in fact, allowed Weasley herself to carry out the operation of cutting off, another operation on the brain, yes.

Truly, it seems like fate is just waiting for you to break the ban!

Amy's shaking and trembling were further intensified by the fact that she knew she had to live with this now. Live and remember. Perhaps Taylor, with the power of the Dark One, could erase her memory, but more likely, she would simply enslave her. Servants of the Dark One — oh yes, Amy was well acquainted with that part of Cape folklore. Taylor's convulsions and twitching ceased, as if all her strength had drained from her, and the forest around her now looked as if there had been a battle. With a trembling hand, Amy touched Taylor and, with indescribable relief, realized she had succeeded.

Amy fell into a daze, leaning her back against the nearest tree.

"Amy! Amy! Amy!" and a slap.

Amy came to her senses with difficulty and immediately remembered what had happened.

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

She looked terrible, with scratches on her face and arms, torn clothes, and hair stuck up with debris stuck in it.

"Why are we here? What happened? Was there a battle here?"

Amy only sighed, rising. She didn't know how to explain what had happened, and she had no intention of explaining it. It was already dark, but the moon was shining brightly, and Amy easily found the top hat in the grass.

"There," she said, "you have obtained the Hero's sword."

"Really?" Taylor asked, genuinely surprised. "Is that a sword? How do you use it?"

Amy smiled confusedly, again not knowing how to explain all this.

"Oh, here's someone to help us!" Taylor exclaimed suddenly. "Hey, hey, hey, Professor! We're here!"

Amy had a panic attack—after all, the letter clearly said "do not seek help!" She told it, but the outcome was somewhat predictable.

"Professor Niceguy doesn't count," Taylor waved off. "He's nice!"
T.N.

Amy only sighed; in her eyes, not a single professor was worth her sister's life. Not even one like Victoria, who irradiated Amy with an aura and all. While Taylor explained the backstory to Professor Lockhart, in a confused and disjointed manner (Potter remembered receiving the letter), Amy tried to come up with a plausible version of what had happened in the interim, which Taylor couldn't recall. Nothing came to mind, and the sudden arrival of midnight and the opening of the portal was a relief to Amy.

True, she immediately realized that she was not ready for anything, and she began to tremble again.

It wasn't even a portal that had opened, no, a crack in space, as if someone had literally cut the fabric of the universe with enormous scissors or a claw, and now the wind was blowing through that gap. Crouching and shielding her eyes, Taylor walked into the wind and stepped into the crack, realizing she was making one of the biggest mistakes of her life, yet knowing she couldn't do otherwise. She'd barely stepped inside when the crack began to close, but Amy and Everywhere managed to follow.

The light flickered, revealing a natural cave, part of which had been refined. Several mannequins were still working on one of the walls, chipping and sanding something. Lisa and Victoria sat bound near the spotlights, which diffused the light throughout the cave. Above and behind them towered another robotic mannequin, now standing with its arms folded.

"Here we meet, Taylor Potter," he said in a shaky voice, glancing at Niceguy Lockhart. "Again."

*

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