“GET BACK!! GET BACK NOW!!” Sol screamed his lungs out as the chess pieces left their positions and advanced towards the four with their weapons drawn.

“W-What's happening?” Harry asked with a fearful look.

“STOP ASKING QUESTIONS AND HEAD TO THE DOOR!!” Sol screamed again. Two of the black pawns advanced towards Ron and Hermione. Seeing this, Sol aimed his wand at the broken pieces of the white King piece he previously blasted and cast, “Oppugno!”

The pieces started floating and shot at the black pawns. They hit their legs and heads, slowing the chess pieces down. In that gap, Sol grabbed Harry and ran towards the other two. Just as they ran, a blade chopped where they just were a second again. Sol didn’t look at it and had already activated Mana Search. So he already knew the positions of all the pieces. But that didn’t mean that the pieces didn’t pose any less of a threat. The bigger headache that Sol had was the Knight that was currently galloping across the board on its stone horse. Sol turned around and cast Frigidus Ignus at the horse's legs. The pale-blue flames flew out of the tip of his wand and latched onto its feet. The flames attached themselves to the horse's feet and attached themselves to each other, binding the horse's legs and becoming shackles. At once, the horse tripped and the rider fell down as well, his lance leaving his hands. Sol cast Frigidus Ignus again and did a rising motion with his wand. Pale-blue flames flew out of his wand and rose from the ground, solidifying into a wall. This stopped the white pieces from advancing for a moment. Using this time, Sol arrived next to Ron and Hermione who were about to be surrounded by a black bishop, three pawns, and a black castle. And that was just the pieces close to them, there were even more pieces about to surround them.

“EEEEKK!!” screamed Hermione in fear.

Seeing no way out, Sol waves his wand at them and cast Wingardium Leviosa. Instantly they rose in the air, out of the pieces' reach. He did the same for Harry and flew him up while he remained on the ground. The pieces chasing the three looked up at them before redirecting their gaze to Sol and targeting him. Seeing their behavior, Sol knew he made the right choice. He made a gamble in thinking that the pieces would prioritize the targets within their reach first and it paid off. However, keeping himself afloat as well might not be a wise idea. They might start throwing their weapons and Sol couldn’t control four people well with Wingardium Leviosa. Neither could he afford to keep those three afloat either. He needed to get them somewhere safe. Or else his mana was going to deplete really fast. Thinking this in a split second, Sol used Total Body Reinforcement to dodge the pieces' attacks.

Smash! Crack!

Sol turned around to see that the white castle had smashed through the ice wall with his morning star. At that moment, Sol really wanted to curse Professor McGonagall. The pieces were made of stone yet their weapons were real? What kind of fuckery is this?

Sol spun around and drew a circle around his feet with his wand then did a raising motion and cast Frigidus Ignus again. A circle of pale-blue flames surrounded his feet before shooting towards the pieces, becoming a chest-high barricade. This stopped the pieces in their tracks again. However, the pieces started smashing the ice, trying to break it. Using this time, Sol looked at the door, they had come before and waved his wand at it. The door swiftly swung open. He then looked up at the other three who were floating above him from inside his ice barricade. This entire sequence of actions took only a dozen seconds, so the three could only look blankly at Sol who was about to be besieged from all sides with fear and worry running rampant inside their mind.

“DON'T OPEN THE DOOR UNLESS I TELL YOU TO!!”

“W-What?” Ron asked, confused. However, Sol didn’t reply back. He waved his wand at them and used the Knockback jinx. However, instead of quickly flying back to the door, they slowly descended towards the door. The black pieces near the door looked at the descending trio heading towards the door and started to charge at them. But they couldn’t catch up to them because as soon as they got close, Sol would quicken their speed towards the door. Sol basically used them as bait to lessen the pressure on himself. Of course, he wouldn’t let them get hurt. The three quickly went through the door with the black pieces charging at them but as soon as they went through, Sol closed the door behind them. Seeing them safe, Sol sighed in relief.

Puchi!

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back. He looked back to see that the fallen white knight had reached over the barricade to stab him with its lance, the lance was an inch and a half deep in Sol's back and was unable to advance any further.

“Motherfucker...” Sol groaned and pushed the lance out of its body. The knight had decided to attack the exact moment Sol had let his guard down.

“It seems I’ve been too lax,” Sol used Bombarda on a white castle- making its shoulder explode. The morning star in its hands fell to the ground. He pointed his wand at the weapon and cast Oppugno. The blunt weapon shot out towards the who had previously stabbed him, shattering his head. The headless knight let go of his lance and fell to the ground with a thud.

Smash! Crackle!

The ice barricade finally broke and the pieces started rushing towards Sol. He controlled the morning star and smashed the remaining castles. He then took control of their morning stars as well. The three morning stars rotated around Sol and would attack any piece that would get close. Sol kept on moving as it was very inefficient to only rely on the morning stars. He waved his wand at the bishops in front of him who were about to swing their halberds.

“Frigidus Ignus!” the pale-blue flames shot out once again and froze the arms of the bishops to their bodies. Now, unable to swing their halberds, they could only awkwardly charge at Sol. However, the morning stars took care of them. Sol raised his hands in front of him and alongside his wand cast Frigidus Ignus again. The output of the flames from his hands was bit smaller than his wand. The ground was covered with flames and after modifying, stuck the remaining pieces in their place. The pieces struggled to get out and Sol exhaled, calming himself. He looked at the enemies in front of him.

“One king, two queens, two knights, fourteen pawns and...huh? The king and queens aren’t moving... Are they waiting for the others to die?” as Sol muttered on, he made the three morning stars around him attack the remaining knights. He destroyed both their heads and the horses' heads. The pawns broke free and charged him again. Looking at this, Sol shook his head.

“If only I had Bloom My Roses...” He ducked as two of the pawns swiped at him, their swords missing him. Without missing a beat, he took a step back and attacked the two pawns. It was relieving that they stopped moving when they lost their heads. If they needed to be thoroughly destroyed to stop them from moving then Sol would be in a much worse state than now. He took a few steps to stop three more pawns from swiping at him and sent his morning stars to attack them. His morning stars looked absolutely battered right now. Almost all the spikes on it were broken. Even if it was made of steel, how long could it endure when it was constantly colliding with stone? But as long as the weapons still had their bluntness, Sol wouldn’t care even if the spikes were gone. Against these chess pieces which operated like golems, stabbing wouldn’t do a thing. It was exactly why Sol didn’t use a sword. Sharp weapons were absolutely useless against golems made of earth.

With the three pawns gone only, nine more remained. The nine pawns charged together, brandishing their swords. Sol made a rising motion with his wand again and cast a wall of Frigidus Ignus to hold them back. However, in the midst of his casting, he felt the two queens flanking him from both sides with Mana Search.

Shit...why now?

He had no way to block them as his wand was in use. So, he raised his left hand at the queens and cast Frigidus Ignus again. But due to the pitiful output of the flames from his hand, he could only block the queens coming from the right while the other stabbed at his heart. He raised his left hand at the queen to stop her whilst tilting his body. His right hand which held his wand was still creating the ice wall to stop the pawns. The pale-blue flames could not stop the queen in time as her saber sliced Sol's sides.

“Mmph!” Sol bit his lips from the pain. Total Body Reinforcement stopped the blade from causing too much damage. Sol lamented how weak he was. In reality, this was not his fault. The world's limitation caused him to be weaker than his previous self. His body was still stronger than most adults yet Total Body Reinforcement couldn’t stop the blade from slicing him. The spell was just what it sounded like, a reinforcement spell. A weak object after being reinforced would still be weaker than a strong object being reinforced. No amount of spells could help you out if your foundations were weak.

He put his leg against the queen's body and pushed her away. He didn’t dare kick her lest his legs get damaged. After being sliced, he didn’t believe himself to be strong enough to break a golem with a kick. After pushing the Queen away, he used Frigidus Ignus again to bind her feet. He then turned around to pawns who had just broken the wall and used Oppugno again. The morning stars floating around him shot out towards him and smashed the head of three pawns before wobbling a bit. The wobbling weapons straightened themselves out and took out another three pawns. However, with that two of the morning stars had caved in, rendering them useless. Sol waved his wand at the smashed bits of the pawns' head and cast Oppugno. The remains shot out towards the queens, smashing one's head and riddling the other's with holes. The queen with the holes in her head was still functional and charged at him. This entire set of exchanges took place within half a minute. However, with the fall of a queen, the king finally started taking action. The King wielded his longsword which was taller than Sol and sauntered over to him, his steps unhurried. Sol could feel him coming but didn’t panic. He used Oppugno again and dealt with the injured queen and the remaining pawns. Now with the fall of another queen, the king stopped walking and started charging at him. He snapped his head around to the king and used Oppugno again. The bits of rock and the remaining morning star went shooting towards him. However, the king blocked all of the incoming attacks with his longsword. The morning star made a dent in the long sword before caving in. Sol sighed and used Frigidus Ignus again. This time successfully binding the king's feet. Sol smirked.

Can't block that now, can you?

Seeing himself stuck in place, the king threw his sword to which Sol sidestepped. The sword missed and made a Clank as it collided with the wall behind. Sol waved his wand at the sword and used Oppugno. The sword shot towards the king this time and hit his head with the hilt. It instantly went through the king's head and smashed it. The sword kept on flying and fell on the floor behind him with a series of clinks and clanks. The King fell onto his knees before falling over with a large thud. The sight of his massive frame falling marked the end of Sol's battle. Sol sighed in relief and sat down on the ground, leaning his back against a wall.

His heart had been beating madly throughout that entire fight. Now that it was all over, he calmed down but he soon felt numerous sharp pains all over his body. He looked over to see flesh wounds littering his body. He shook his head. It seems that during the fight he had received a lot of negligible wounds but because of the adrenaline rush he had yet to feel them. He thought back to the fight and nodded. He did remember dodging a lot of those attacks by a hairsbreadth. However, it seems he wasn’t that lucky after all. The flesh wound bled, dying his blue shirt. Despite receiving many injuries, right now Sol had a huge smile on his face.

“Ahh~ finally a real battle...” he licked his lips. At that moment, the entrance of the previous door opened up and Harry, Ron, and Hermione popped out.

“Sol!” seeing Sol's slightly blood-drenched appearance surrounded by many headless statues and ice, they cried out in unison. Rushing over, they surrounded Sol.

“H-How did this happen?” Ron asked worriedly.

“Are you alright? How hurt are you?” Hermione started fussing around.

“We really shouldn’t have tried to come here alone,” Harry guiltily said. Hearing this, the other two nodded.

Seeing their guilty expressions, Sol kept quiet. The other three thought that he was tired but in reality, Sol felt a bit guilty as well.

Now that I think about it...there's no way in hell could these three fight these golems. They might've passed through by playing the damn game like McGonagall intended in the first place. However, because of my impatience... Though, it did save us some time. I won’t ever tell them that we could have just passed through without fighting. I’m taking this to my grave.

“Relax, I'm fine. These are just flesh wounds. See?” to calm them down, Sol used Episkey to heal the wounds on his body. But the wounds on his back and side couldn’t be treated with Episkey. So, he let them be.

Having seen his wounds close, the three calmed down. As for the ones that didn’t close, Sol didn’t show it to them. He stood up and exhaled. He then turned around to the three. He clapped his hands, “Okay! Seems we're all okay!”

The three were dumbfounded, Okay?? Have you taken a look at yourself?

Sol continued, “Ron and Hermione, you go back to the castle. Inform Professor McGonagall and the Headmaster.”

“And you?” Hermione asked.

“Me and Harry will keep on going.”

“...Okay I understand,” Hermione nodded.

“Go!” Sol shooed them off and the two started leaving through the door.

“Oh! Another thing,” Sol called out again.

The two turned around with intrigued expressions. “I only caught up with you once you were already in the dungeons. Got it?” Sol said.

Hermione tilted her head, “What?”

Ron nodded, “Got it.” He then turned to Hermione, “Don't worry, I’ll explain it to you as we go.”

“Okay...” with that the two left. Sol then turned to Harry, “Let's go.”

Harry nodded and the two headed for the door to the next room. However, as soon as Harry grabbed the handle, he felt a burning pain in his scar. He clutched his head as he stumbled back, “Argh!”

Sol looked at him with shock on his face but soon his expression turned grim. Harry slowly stopped recoiling and stood upright again.

“Okay, change of plans,” saying this Sol cast the Disillusionment charm on himself and turned invisible.

“Huh?” Harry was confused at the sudden turn of events.

Sol explained, “I'll stay hidden. The next room might be where the thief is. If he sees me and you together, he might start attacking. However, if he only sees you, a defenseless first year, he might let his guard down. Then I could get a chance at attacking him.”

Harry felt that Sol's explanation was quite plausible so he nodded in agreement. Though he did feel that something was wrong, he couldn’t put his finger on it.

“Right, then let's go,” Sol and Harry walked forwards.

They opened the door and headed in.