Arlen Black, the oddest one out among the first years, sat on the stool, facing the students.
Before this moment, nobody really paid him any attention. The only thing noteworthy he'd done so far was laughing at a time when everyone else was silent.
He couldn't match the fame of Harry Potter, even if he revealed his noble roots as a son of squibs from House Black. And comparing him to Darcie Malfoy would be outright blasphemy for some.
But as he took his seat and Professor McGonagall approached with the Sorting Hat, something felt off.
Maybe it was the magic. Maybe it was the sudden silence. Maybe it was the grin on his face like he was about to pull off the most entertaining trick.
Then, without warning, the old witch placed the Hat on his head.
…
All Echoes deactivated.
Darcie's Echo, far stronger than all the others combined, also deactivated.
It wasn't just going to hibernation. As, even in hibernation, the Echoes kept extracting visual and audible data, while tracking down all thoughts that escaped the bugged mindscape, surfacing out; like a leak.
This deactivation was a complete shutdown.
The Ad Infinitum, represented by its two parts in Kai and Black, paused the synchronization as well, preparing for the enormous computing power it would need to hack into the Sorting Hat.
Two yellow nebulae, representing Kai's and Black's AIs, surged with light, pushing their capabilities to the limit. They shone with a collective 97% proficiency, with millions of yellow crystals floating within them like stars.
This was their moment—to shine, to fight, to win, and to prove their ultimate worth.
But then, a hand as vast as a galaxy appeared above the yellow nebulae.
Its colossal fingers ignored everything else, reaching in and plucking one yellow crystal out of the millions, as if it knew exactly what it was looking for, despite the yellow crystals reflecting each other perfectly.
"Pardon my intrusion, but…"
The fingers pressed harder and… plucked the crystal right out of the yellow nebula.
"… I will be borrowing this for some time."
Outside, Black was still grinning ear to ear.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat.
…
Professor McGonagall's eyes widened.
She hadn't expected that. Ravenclaw, maybe? Certainly not Hufflepuff. But Gryffindor?
Still, as the Deputy Headmistress, she had to do her part. Any student sorted into her House would be part of the family now.
She removed the Hat. But before she could call the next name, she noticed something odd.
No one was clapping.
Not a single Gryffindor cheered.
There was no noise at all. Now fully alert, she looked left and right, then down, and immediately understood why.
The boy who had been grinning like a silly child a moment ago now wore a blank expression.
A chill ran down Professor McGonagall's spine as she saw the darkness churning within the boy's eyes.
What was this? Why was her magic warning her of a looming disaster? Why was she suddenly missing that silly smile so much?
Why were her knees going weak?
She had faced the Dark Lord before, but she had never felt such despair.
She quickly scanned the room, fearing that the Dark Lord had somehow infiltrated the castle. But all she saw were pale faces and even paler expressions.
Then, the boy slowly lifted his head and locked eyes with her.
"Professor," the boy said with Calm, smiling, "would you be so kind as to put that Hat back on my head?"
Professor McGonagall gulped.
It wouldn't be so bad to… What?! What am I even thinking?!
Fury flooded her, banishing the sudden urge to nod.
"Mr. Black," she said sternly. "You've already been sorted. Please take a seat at your House table and let the ceremony proceed. Any further delays will only reflect poorly on you if they haven't already."
Drawing herself to her full height, she shook off the creepy feeling trying to cling to her like leeches.
She wouldn't be intimidated by a mere boy!
…
Black controlled the Blood Demon within him as his bloodthirsty Haki threatened to wreak havoc in his surroundings.
Without Calm, it would've been impossible.
In the Hogwarts Express, a week ago, Kai had felt similar emotions when he lost contact with Black. But he hadn't had access to Calm then, and the Haki had run wild, knocking several students unconscious.
Surrounded by so many wizards, including Professor Dumbledore, Black couldn't afford a repeat.
No matter what happened or how much anger boiled in his blood, Calm had to persist, for now.
But for the first time, Black wanted to end it all. He wished for it.
Let this world know pain, suffering, and despair, he thought. Let it know blood, war, and calamity.
He just didn't want to control himself anymore.
Not after seeing the dull-gray-colored notification, hovering in front of his dark eyes.
…
[Elementary Ad Infinitum: Proficiency 0% (-97%)]
…
What was the Ad Infinitum's greatest strength?
None could pinpoint which memory to access, and none could even fathom infiltrating Kai's mindscape without becoming hopelessly lost within its intricate structure.
The yellow crystals within his mindscape were perfectly mirrored, creating a labyrinthine architecture so complex and unfathomable that even the greatest minds would lose their sanity trying to decode it.
This mirrored structure was also the source of the Ad Infinitum's immense computational power.
The reflection of the yellow crystals within each other's facets allowed for instantaneous data transfer, functioning at the speed of thought.
This inter-crystal communication created a network that processed information with true AI-like efficiency.
When the Ad Infinitum first came into existence, even Chaos, the System itself, had warned Kai of its potential dangers.
Needless to say, this Ability had the potential to evolve into something truly formidable as it reached its full capabilities.
But here lay the paradox — Ad Infinitum's greatest strength was also its greatest vulnerability.
Kai had never worried about this before, believing the scenario to be virtually impossible.
The AI had calculated the probability of such an event occurring in this Random World to be infinitesimally small—something like 0.000... with the first significant digit appearing only at the hundredth decimal place.
This vulnerability was the loss of a crystal.
Just one missing crystal—only one—and the entire Ad Infinitum system would be crippled.
It was akin to someone pulling the motherboard out of a computer while it was running a critical program.
The yellow crystals within the nebula that represented the AI's core were fundamentally different from the crystals Kai implanted in others' minds.
Those Echoes were like scripted bots, designed to execute predefined tasks.
But the crystals within the nebulae? They were the real processors, the core of the system.
Losing even one of these core crystals would halt all calculations, causing the Ad Infinitum to fail catastrophically across all processes.
Yet, the impossible had happened.
Someone knew exactly what would happen if a core crystal were to be removed.
And now, both Kai and Black were missing a critical memory, without even knowing which one had been lost.
So why shouldn't he just end this timeline right here and now?
Black's gaze fell upon the Sorting Hat.
It had many folds, but the one that formed its mouth seemed to curl into a mocking smile as if it were taunting him. It seemed to say…
Wanna end the world? Yeah? Let's see how that turns out for you. Haha!
**************
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