Chapter 68: Right-Hand Man

Bellatrix raised her head to look at the person who called her, a deranged smile appeared in her mouth before saying: "Are you sent by the Dark Lord?"

"No," replied Edward.

"Tsk, in that case, I do not need to care about you." After that, she muttered ever softly to herself: "Only the Dark Lord has the right to be this handsome. When he comes back, I will gladly torture this pretty boy and enjoy making many cuts in his face."

Of course, Edward heard her as she was not as quiet as she believed. However, he did not care about her words. What he cared about was her mind; after taking a tour there through Legilimency, he truly understood what the term "crazy" meant.

Bellatrix's mind was full of thoughts of killing, torture, and an unnatural devotion to Voldemort.

With a frown on his face, he walked inside her cell, point his wand at her before saying: "Resero Codexvita."

Instantly, he started analyzing Bellatrix's Life Code.

After deciphering the Ancient Runes that made up her bloodline and soul, he realized that there was an actual reason for her madness.

"After countless years of inbreeding, the Black family bloodline has become broken beyond repair, even affecting the soul. The mind is the link of the soul to the body. By affecting the soul, the mind is also affected.

"No wonder whether it was Sirius or her aunt Walburga, they all possessed a fierce and dangerous temper. In her case, the madness reached beyond imaginable."

As for Bellatrix, she was looking at him with the look of an animal wanting to pounce on its prey. Unfortunately, she discovered that she was incapable of moving, so her plans of trying to bite off Edward's hand to take his wand proved useless.

After analyzing Bellatrix's Life Code for a while, Edward muttered to himself: "I can deal with her bloodline problem later, the problem now is how to make her loyal to me. Her affection and loyalty for Voldemort have been so deeply imprinted in her mind that it even affected her soul."

After pondering for a brief moment, Edward used a Comma Charm on Bellatrix, then, with a wave of his wand, a transparent figure looking exactly like her appeared from her body: it was her soul.

Then, Edward started to modify her memories, weaving a complex and intriguing tale.

According to Bellatrix's new memory, once she was young, she accidentally received a prophecy. In this prophecy, she saw a vague figure standing in a floating city with countless figures standing behind him. This figure fought countless unimaginable beings, countless Demons, and Gods, and was victorious.

Among the people behind this vague figure was her--who was standing right next to him-- and many other families in the wizarding world.

After receiving that prophecy, she searched and waited for that person--until she met Voldemort. With his unmatched power, Bellatrix believed that he was the hidden figure in the prophecy, so she became loyal to him, she devoted her body, soul, and entire being to him.

Then, when Voldemort died and she went to torture the Longbottoms for information, she "accidentally" learned that Voldemort was a half-blood. She became devastated and outraged because the only thing she knew for sure about the hidden figure was that he was a pure-blood.

Knowing that she served the wrong person, she decided to punish herself by spending years in Azkaban. She was also waiting for that hidden figure to show up. Since she was by his side when he fought the Gods, then they will eventually meet.

Nevertheless, she did not want anyone else to notice the change in her behavior, so she displayed "loyalty" to Voldemort to the outside.

Of course, none of these things happened, and Edward was just using Bellatrix's obsession with both pure-blood ideologies and Voldemort to guide her to be obsessive and undyingly loyal to him.

There was an easier way for him to get her loyalty. He could forcibly rewrite her own will. During his travels, while in the southern part of Haiti, he learned from a Haitian dark wizard how to refine zombies.

This dark magic was similar to Inferius, except for the fact Inferi are created from the body of the dead, while zombies are created from living people.

If Edward wanted, he could modify the zombie transformation and make it into an obedient slave that follows all his orders. The problem with that is the fact that people with no will of their own have no creative ability, just blindly follow orders; that is not what he needed Bellatrix for.

So, to get her loyalty "willingly" without affecting her thinking ability, he went into so much trouble. Of course, this was not enough to reassure him.

After finishing modifying her memories directly through her soul so that these memories would never actually be discovered as false, Edward placed her soul back into her body. Then, he pointed his wand at the Dark Mark on her forearm.

A white light came from his wand and entered the mark. Following this, the Dark Mark changed from its previous design to an ouroboros with a pyramid inside. Inside the pyramid was a lotus with a single eye at the center.

The ouroboros represents infinity, the pyramid stands for rebirth after death, the lotus symbolizes wisdom and the eye stands for truth and knowledge. The whole design is a representation of Edward's limitless pursuit of knowledge through intelligence and wisdom after he was granted a second chance at life.

After the new mark was replaced from Bellatrix's hand, it started to move around in her skin before disappearing. Afterward, it appeared deep in her soul. This is the backhand that Edward left on her in case someone powerful enough to remedy her soul again and erased the memories he so cautiously planted.

Edward was never arrogant, believing that his plans were infallible. As a person who will one day travel across countless universes and dimensions, he can imagine the kind of powerful being he will encounter.

There is no doubt in his mind that many of these people have that ability. So, he placed a backhand on Bellatrix in case such a day arrived. Then, he can still forcefully control her through that method, or instantly kill her in case she betrays him or someone tries to get information about him from her soul.

A few minutes later, Bellatrix opened her eyes with a look of confusion on her face. However, after seeing Edward's face, the hidden figure that she could never see suddenly became very vivid to her.

She instantly got up from the floor, before saying: "Lord, I finally found you, After so many years, you finally came to see me."

After that, she looked at her ragged appearance with a frown, then she knelt on the ground: "I'm sorry that I am not presentable in front of you, my Lord."

Edward looked at her actions, then nodded in satisfaction after reading her mind. "Get up." Bellatrix followed the instruction.

"Open your mouth," said Edward, and she did not hesitate.

With a wave of his wand, her teeth turned white and clean. With another wave, she was cleaned up and wearing proper clothes. Bellatrix could even smell a lavender scent coming from her body.

"You are now more presentable," said Edward. He placed his wand inside a small pouch that was hanging inside his coat. "Accio Daniella."

(AN; The Accio Charm cannot summon people, but this one was modified by Edward to be able to do so.)

A woman that looked exactly like Bellatrix was taken out from the pouch, however, she had a dull look in her eyes--as if unresponsive to any external stimuli.

Edward had used the philosopher's stone to permanently change her appearance for her to take Bellatrix's place in Azkaban.

After placing Daniella in the cell, Edward handed his arm to Bellatrix, then with a burning flame, he disappeared from Azkaban.

In this short visit, he acquired an army of Dementors that only followed his orders and right-hand women that can do all the dirty things or experiment that his fleeting morality will not allow him to do.

Well, I understand that the plot of this chapter is a little too convoluted, but I do not know any better way to do so--without totally changing Bellatrix's personality. I could not just write that she was impressed by Edward's talent, then decided to devote herself to him. Or he just used Imperius Curse. So, bear with it for now.

The second chapter for the Naruto Fanfic is coming tonight, at a very late hour. Maybe.

Title: Devilish Side