He was Inge Griffiths!?
Barty Crouch Sr. could hardly believe it.
In all their assumptions, Inge had long since been dealt with by Grindelwald.
Because the Inge they knew had never been this capable.
Everyone had fallen into the same misconception.
Even the officials from the German Ministry of Magic had stopped shouting for someone to pay with their life.
They simply stared blankly at Inge.
"Yes, I am not a wise leader."
Inge stepped forward, with the Qilin following behind him.
"Under my leadership, Poland declined. I wanted to change things, but I had no way to do so."
He raised his voice to address the entire wizarding world.
"I knew about Schmidt's death, and I knew the Ministry of Magic had been infiltrated."
Inge asked, "And yet someone like me was still chosen to become the future President of the wizarding world."
He turned to Odom. "There is nothing wrong with my identity. Do you still object?"
For some reason, Odom felt a chill and could only answer, "No."
Inge then looked at Jing Zhang. "The Qilin chose me. That makes this legitimate, doesn't it?"
Jing Zhang replied solemnly, "It is indeed legitimate."
If Inge had not been impersonated, then he had been properly elected.
By all rights, everything was perfectly lawful.
Inge smiled faintly and looked at Barty Crouch Sr. "I have become President. That cannot be changed?"
"Yes." Barty Crouch Sr. had already lowered his wand.
For the first time in his life, he felt so thoroughly defeated.
He had held every advantage, yet in the end, he had lost because of the Qilin's choice.
Inge turned his gaze to Spences. "Do you think I am qualified to be President?"
"Griffiths..." Spences pondered for a moment before answering honestly, "In my heart, I do not think you are qualified. But the Qilin chose you."
"That means you are pure-hearted, someone willing to dedicate yourself and make sacrifices for magic."
Finally, Inge turned toward everyone gathered below the steps and shouted, "What do all of you think?"
What did the wizards think?
Naturally, they believed the Qilin could not have chosen wrongly. Perhaps Inge really could become a qualified President.
They voiced their support, respecting the result of the election.
But Inge was clearly dissatisfied.
"Wizarding society!" He picked up the Qilin and stroked its head. "This concerns the survival of every witch and wizard."
"And you place all your hopes in a magical creature?"
Inge shook his head. "You truly are hopelessly foolish, a bunch of idiots no better than dung beetles!"
Everyone thought he had gone mad.
He had just become President, yet he had already started insulting them.
"The future of magic has become a game to you." Inge held the Qilin in his arms. "You know the crimes I have committed. You know how incompetent I have been, yet you still choose to trust the Qilin."
His hands gradually tightened.
The Qilin seemed to sense that something was wrong and began struggling.
"To trust a... beast."
Inge's hands clamped around the Qilin like iron pincers, tightening more and more.
"I want to tell all of you that it was wrong."
As soon as the words left his mouth, a clear sound came from Inge's arms.
Crack.
Spences's eyes widened.
Everyone stared at the horrifying scene.
Inge loosened his grip, and the Qilin's body, its neck broken, slowly fell from his arms.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. A single tear slid from the corner of his eye as he said with a complicated expression, "A wizarding society this foolish will be destroyed by the times."
"What are you doing?!"
Spences rushed forward like a madman and picked up the Qilin's corpse.
"I'm making everyone understand that we need to change."
Inge wore an expression of sorrow and compassion, as though he had not been the one to kill the Qilin.
"This world is too foolish, controlled and deceived, burying its head like an ostrich when faced with the crisis before it."
"We need to change. The weak are devoured by the strong. Power comes first."
"If we do not change, we will be eliminated. Everyone must wake from the dream of magic and face the crisis it is in now."
"This is the only thing I can teach you after becoming President."
He spoke sincerely, forcing people to think about the meaning behind his words.
Inge looked toward Starr in the crowd and smiled.
"Make magic great again."
He raised both hands and calmly looked toward the sky.
"Let this awaken the world."
Following his gaze upward, the wizards saw streaks of light falling like meteors.
Barty Crouch Sr.'s expression changed drastically, and he immediately looked toward Barty Crouch Jr.
"Son!"
Barty Crouch Sr. roared and rushed toward him.
What fell from the sky was the power of Muggles that Inge wanted the wizarding world to witness.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The people beneath the castle in the sky heard a deafening roar.
Flames exploded in front of Inge.
He calmly accepted the blast rushing toward him.
There was no resistance.
No struggle.
This was a sacrifice.
A sacrifice meant to awaken the wizarding world.
A sacrifice to make magic great again.
The flames swallowed him, along with countless wizards who had no time to escape.
Their screams never came. Their bodies were already dead.
Even Apparition could not carry them beyond the range of destruction.
...
Nurmengard.
Grindelwald quietly watched the attack on the projected image, an attack that was overturning the wizarding world.
"Make magic great again? No...." He raised the glass in his hand and said calmly, "Make magic even greater... than it... ever was."
The wine swirled in the glass as Grindelwald's thoughts churned.
He had failed before, but that failure had not broken him.
Or rather, it was precisely that failure that had made him realise the flaws in his path.
Magic was declining.
This was not a problem with individuals, but with society itself.
Comfort had made them forget the threat they faced.
Most wizards did not even understand the danger Muggles represented.
The Muggle sympathisers.
The upper classes who continued to enjoy their comfortable lives.
These were the true ailments of the wizarding world.
Death was necessary.
Only by paying a sufficient price could wizards finally see the threat before them.
Only then would those people awaken from their self-righteous dreams.
Only then would they understand that the leaders of the wizarding world did not need to be pure-hearted.
Inge Griffiths.
The Qilin had not chosen wrongly.
He possessed purity in his devotion to magic, as well as the resolve to sacrifice himself for it.
He was also a kind man.
But rather than allow the wizarding world to be destroyed, he had chosen to awaken it.
He was a martyr.
His sacrifice would usher in a new golden age for the wizarding world.
"For the greater good. Make magic great again, Al."
Grindelwald had never changed.
He wanted wizards to live openly beneath the light, rather than hiding everywhere like rats in the sewers.
Muggle development was steadily swallowing the territory that once belonged to wizards.
Grindelwald had once told Credence that the seeds had already begun to sprout.
Those seeds were the ideals he had scattered, awakening more people to the need for change.
Inge was one of those seeds.
Starr was another.
"Only a great enough crisis can unite people." He took a sip of wine. "Then let me show everyone."
"A crisis that could cause wizards to disappear."
...
After the deafening chaos came the silence of death.
The castle in the sky had nearly collapsed.
The birthplace of magic had suffered the strike of technology.
Devastating weapons had torn through the lives of wizards.
"Barty!"
Barty Crouch Sr. heard someone calling him and struggled to open his eyes.
The deafening explosion had left his ears ringing, and he could only make out the faintest traces of the voice.
He raised his head.
All he could see was the devastation left behind by the blast. The road leading toward the fortress had been blown apart.
Then he looked at Odom beside him.
Only half of Odom's beard remained.
More importantly, half of one of his arms was gone.
The explosion had come too suddenly. Many wizards had not even had time to react.
Shield Charms had been shattered before such overwhelming force.
More than two hundred wizards were dead.
"Those were Muggle missiles. Why are they here?" Odom asked in horror.
As a wizard from America, he knew something about those weapons.
With nothing more than the press of a button, they could destroy an entire city.
"Where is Griffiths?" Barty Crouch Sr. finally came to his senses and looked toward where Griffiths had been standing.
Odom spat angrily. "That bastard is dead."
Barty Crouch Sr. struggled to his feet and saw Lippi.
Lippi had been closest to Inge. The missile had been aimed directly at him, which made her one of the first to die.
Sorrow appeared on Barty Crouch Sr.'s face.
Spences was dead as well. The old man who had once invited John to join the Researchers' Association had been killed by technology.
The Aurors had also been almost completely wiped out by the explosion.
"Help me."
Jing Zhang's weak voice came from nearby.
She was trapped beneath the rubble, and the two hurried over to help.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Odom used the Levitation Charm to lift the stones, while Barty Crouch Sr. pulled her free.
Both of Jing Zhang's legs had been crushed, leaving her unable to walk.
"Son! My Son!"
Barty Crouch Sr. hurried away and looked across the broken bridge.
He waved his wand and Apparated to the other side.
Most of the corpses were barely recognisable.
Barty Crouch Sr. frantically searched through them.
"No. No, no, no!"
He lost his usual composure and began clearing away the collapsed stones.
Odom came over to help.
Finally, beneath a pile of rubble, they found Barty Crouch Jr.
He was still conscious. The protective amulet he carried had saved his life.
"Father."
Barty Crouch Jr. had barely crawled out of the rubble when a pair of strong arms pulled him tightly into an embrace.
"My son!" Barty Crouch Sr. said, his voice trembling.
The fear on his face, something he had almost never shown, made Barty Crouch Jr. vaguely remember the father who had once worried over him when he fell as a child.
Barty Crouch Jr. did not know where to put his hand.
In the end, he gently placed it on Barty Crouch Sr.'s now-stooped back.
At that moment, it seemed that father and son had finally let everything go.
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