HP: The Arcane Thief

Chapter 2: The Awakening

{Right before Axel's eyes started to glow}

After the latest Cruciatus, the man was now fairly unsettled. He was panting heavily from the use of the full-powered Cruciatus curse and his eyes seemed to question reality.

The scene in front of him was... unbelievable. He had expected the child to die, or atleast have his mind completely broken. But instead, the boy somehow seemed to be fully conscious. And, the most disturbing factor—

'He hasn't shown any sign of submission.' he thought, looking into the boy's rage-filled eyes that seemed to have no sign of submission, begging or pleading.

This was the weirdest of all things. When a person is hit by the Cruciatus, their first instinct is to submit. An unbearable longing for the pain to stop. And in such conditions, 99.9% of people would give up and beg pathetically for the caster to grant them mercy which is why it's the favourite spell of people like him.

Considering that this boy was a bottom dreg of the society—the lowest of the low, and his age should be around 10, then the boy can not possibly possess such pride and mental fortitude to be able to hold on till now.

By now, it was quite clear that the boy was not a muggle. He refused to believe that a muggle child could be this exceptional. He decided it was better to just kill this monster and be done with it since he for beginning to have a bad feeling seeing those eyes.

But at this moment, he noticed that the boy's reddish-orange eyes suddenly started to glow, making it look like flames were dancing in those amber eyes.

The man's eyes widened. Goosebumps rose on his skin and a chill went down his spine. He hastened his casting—

"AVADA— *VROOM* *SNAP*

But before the spell could be finished, Alex screamed at the top of his lungs... and a magical shockwave spread out of his body. The man's wand was blown right out of his hand, interrupting the chant.

Axel had decided to put up one final struggle, giving it his all to break out of whatever was holding him back. He was hoping for one of those freaky incidents which had gotten him kicked out of the orphanage to happen. It only used to happen when he used to be extremely angry or panicked. And right now, there was no shortage of any of those.

And sure enough, with a snap, he was somehow able to break free!

The first thing he did was to kick that weird-ass stick out of the man's hand. In his opinion, it was some kind of new gun that the rich people had the access to.

Right now, after four Cruciatus-es, Axel wasn't in the right state of mind. He had never felt such hatred towards anyone else up untill now. His whole body was throbbing with acute pain, his jaw and left shoulder were dislocated, blood was coming out of his nose and his eyes were completely bloodshot.

Axel had never committed murder in his whole life. But right now, in his half-broken mind, he had only one thought.

'KILL!!!'

"H-How...?"

The man was completely stunned right now.

And before he could even bring himself out of the state of shock to think about bringing out the spare wand from his pouch—

*SHIN* "AAAAAHHHH!"

He found a knife was stabbed right through his crotch. The grown-ass man shrieked like a woman and fell to his knees in pain.

What had happened was: as soon as Alex had broken free, the first thing he did was to take out his knife with the hand he was able to move and stab it right into the man's crotch and bring it out, causing blood to start spraying out on the street.

While the man screamed, Alex also grunted from the pain he felt upon moving his body. He was having difficulty breathing and his heart was throbbing in pain with every beat. He really would have died if he had to suffer from another Cruciatus. Thus, without further ado, he slit the man's throat and started stabbing the knife repeatedly into the man's chest.

From his previous experiences, he knows not to let his opponent fight back, at all. Because his opponents are always physically superior, he can't have the luxury to play around.

Axel watched almost regretfully as the life slowly drained out of the man's eyes. He would have liked to return at least a bit of the torture that he'd received. But he had to admit, he wasn't in the condition to even struggle if the man somehow fights back.

Thus, he could only stab the man's eye to somewhat satiate his mad fury. It didn't help much. Heck, he couldn't even deliver any last taunting words since his jaw was dislocated and his throat sore from screaming his lungs out earlier.

After he was done, he felt his head spinning and his vision darkening as he fell back down. It seems he was not going to be able to move for quite some time.

Just as Axel was pondering what to do next, he saw a bright light descending on him, and the next thing he knew, he was hearing a voice inside his head.

[Congratulations! You have proven yourself worthy. You have been chosen by the entity A.R.]

*Ding*

[System Activated]

Axel blinked his eyes several times upon listening to the robot female voice and seeing the text floating in front of him.

'What... the f*ck is that?' he thought in bewilderment.

'Have I really lost it after that torture?'

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He was in a bad enough situation as it is. He'd rather quickly find a solution to his current predicament than focus on these hallucinations.

Right now, if anyone saw him with a dead body, his life in London along with his dreams was over. So, he has to leave this place QUICK. But... the problem is...

'I... I can't move! Damn! Even lifting my hand hurts like hell! What did that guy do to my body?!'

*Ding*

[Host, your body is in poor condition and your adrenaline rush is over. Thus you are unable to move.

Your jaw and right shoulder have been dislocated.

You have been under a prolonged duration of Cruciatus Curse which has caused severe damage to your nervous system.

Immediate treatment is recommended.

Delay in the treatment can result in long-lasting or permanent damage to your nervous system and affect your magic casting.

And you are currently unable to move because your body's physical and magical strength has been severely depleted]

"...."

'... This ain't no hallucination.' Axel concluded after a moment of silence. There's no way it is. Since he couldn't understand even half of it, so his imagination couldn't have made this up. He used to like studying but his circumstances haven't allowed him to have enough education to know all this medical shit.

But, he knew enough to understand that he needed medical attention real quick.

But, no matter if there was some robotic voice in his head that could tell his body's state. It seems quite useless if it can't take him out of here.

'What else can you do except telling me things? Can you cure me? Can you give me some energy to move?' Asked Axel to this "System" in his mind. He couldn't speak because his jaw hurt bad every time he tried so he could only try to project his thoughts with his mind.

Thankfully, the system responded.

[No. Not at the moment. You need to increase your status first. As the percentage increases, so will the perks you enjoy.]

Right now, in this situation, Axel couldn't care less about the future.

'... Then, aren't you quite useless right now? Aren't you quite weak? What can I do with just information?'

[Host, if you have the right information, information can be much more powerful and useful than superficial powers.

If you follow the system's instructions, you will be cured. You can also eventually become the strongest.]

That got Axel's attention. He was quite excited to hear that he could be the strongest. But... after living in the streets for so long, he had learned one thing: Nothing's free in this world.

'Why are you helping me? What do you want in return?'

[This world has diverged drastically from the original course. As it is, there would be many wars in different communities. AR is unable to directly affect this world. Thus, they need a proxy, an agent who can execute their will.

Do understand that the laws of the world do not allow master to force their will upon you. Thus, you are free to choose whether to execute it or not.]

Axel had to take a pause at that. Damn, this system is like one of those ultra-smooth salesmen. And at this moment, with his debilitating injuries, he has no other choice.

"Sigh..."

'Alright, what do I have to do?'

*Ding*

[Quest Activated: Go to the Saint Mungos Hospital.

Time: 2 hours

Reward:

1)Basic knowledge of the Wizarding World.

2)5% Approval from AR.

Failure/Delay:

-> Lasting physical and magical Damages to the body.]

[Instructions: Firstly, take out the dead man's pouch, and open it.]

Axel immediately disagreed, 'I'm not touching that thing. My hand's still burning from the last time I touched it!'

[Your hand, is covered in the man's blood. The enchantments would not reject you this time. The host is recommended to take action quickly. The privacy spells placed by the man are going to run out soon.]

Axel was having difficulty understanding what this system was spouting and he currently had hundreds of questions to ask this system. But... he knew that he neither had the time nor choice to dally.

With much difficulty, he took out the pouch from the man's coat, and surprisingly, it didn't react this time. Opening it, he found himself looking into a space that was atleast 50 cubic centimeters filled with coins, which means a lot considering that pouch was quite small and weightless.

"...."

Alex was now getting numb to the weird things that have been happening in his life. He's been having weird episodes of power release which have saved him more than once in difficult situations.

And just a while back he even received a letter addressed to his name delivered by a freaking owl! He had refused to believe in its contents but after today? Not so much.

[Quickly search for a blue coloured potion and drink it.]

Axel quickly found what he was looking for. And at this moment, there was a loud sound of a bubble popping and suddenly, he could hear the noise from the street again. Axel knew that he had run out of time.

'If this kills me, I'm going to kill you,' he muttered unintelligibly before uncorking the vial with trembling hands and downing the contents in one go.

Immediately, he started feeling light-headed. Then slowly, the constant unbearable pain he was feeling started to abate, making him almost cry tears out of relief. Then, his mind began to buzz with a pleasant sensation and he began to sway on the spot.

'Whazaaheck waz that?' he asked, trying to keep himself sober.

At that moment, a ding sounded in his head. And his mind got clear once again. But his body was still feeling pleasant.

[It was called Exquisite Ecstasy, an addictive potion that only the rich wizards can enjoy. It was the only potion available at the moment which could help you move. It numbed the pain in your body, thus enabling you to move. And your mind has been cleared by the system.]

Axel tried to move his body. It still hurt to move, and the tremors still hadn't stopped, and he was quite slow, but it was still much better than before.

'Manageable,' he thought before he picked up the man's fancy stick which was definitely a very dangerous weapon, and put it inside the pouch.

Clearing all the traces and wiping the blood off himself, he left the man's dead body and limped out of the alley while covering his face.

[Host is recommended to visit the St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. And make haste, the host doesn't have much time left.]

...

A while later, an 11-year-old boy entered the St. Mungos through the unique entrance and crawled his way to the counter. Unfortunately, the pouch contain only one vial of the potion and the effect had mostly run out by now.

If that wasn't enough, there was terrible traffic along the road so he was delayed a lot.

At the system's urging, he even had to hide the pouch outside as well. He only brought in a few Galleons with him.

Looking at the hospital-like environment around him, Axel sighed in relief. He was doubtful at first, and why wouldn't he be? What kind of hospital can one find if it is said to be hidden under a shabby department store calledPurge and Dowse, Ltd?

*Ding*

[Quest Completed]

[Congratulations! You have successfully reached the Hospital.]

[Delayed by: 83 minutes.

Penalty: Due to the delay, your condition has gotten out of St Mungo's healing capacity. You will suffer some side effects of the long-term exposure to the Cruciatus.]

[Reward: Basic knowledge about the Wizarding World.

6% approval from AR(You were expected to fall unconscious halfway through the journey)]

Suddenly, his mind was filled with the knowledge of the Wizarding World. But Axel focused more on the penalty part.

'What the f*ck?! You said I'll be cured if I followed your instructions!'

[But you failed reach in the given time. You'll still be cured, but then it will take time. Saint Mungo's doesn't have the necessary knowledge to cure you.]

'What?! But how was I supposed to do better than that?!'

[The Traffic Jam wasn't taken into account. There were other ways, but you had 0% approval rate at the time, so your status wasn't enough to allow AR's intervention.]

Now that he had the knowledge of the Wizarding World in his head, Axel could understand exactly what the system meant.

'Approval Rate? I don't understand! Since AR has chosen me given me a system, and you had a way to help, then why the fuck did you not?!'

[The System is nothing but a tool with the purpose is provide the utmost help for the host, but it is currently bound by the World Law and can only provide limited help/intervention. The approval rate, in actuality is not AR's indicator of approval towards you since it already fully approves of you. It is the indicator of the World's approval of intervention. Only with high Approval Rate can the you be someone who AR can help without breaking the world laws. It raises your status and makes you an exception to certain world laws.]

[That being said, you now have 6% approval. That means the help system can provide you has increased. Once you cross 10%, a new system feature will be unlocked.]

Axel was left speechless at the system's reply. But right now, he was thoroughly spent. He fell completely flat on the floor. His last action was to toss out a small purse full of Galleons at the reception before he passed out.

A healer quickly came to check Axel's condition. The healer gasped as she finished diagnosing the patient.

"Cruciatus! 5th-degree exposure suspected! Immediate treatment required!" She called out in shock. 5th degree is the highest order of exposure. It means that the exposure is more than enough to be fatal and it's mostly given to dead bodies.

The people in the lobby gasped when they heard the healer's words. Mind you, the hospital has lots of serious cases daily due to various accidents and attacks, but torturing a child with a Cruciatus, and to such an extent... death would have been a mercy.

***

A.N.: In simple words, system will be just a maid or a butler. Won't take actions for master, but try to help within power if asked.

We'll meet a canon character in the next chapter. She's a master Healer at Saint Mungo's in this Alternate world which is different from canon. Any guesses on she is?

From the next chapter, you'll begin to see what has changed from the original and the reasons for each and every change will also be eventually made clear.

Add to library so that you'll be notified as soon as I update the next chapter.

Can't wait? Check out my Pátreon. I plan to keep at least 10 advanced chapters there. I posted a new chapter there today as well. /Snollygoster