"…We can begin."
The long-awaited signal finally came from afar.
The man once known as the "The Devil" decades ago, along with the core forces of the Alliance, would be held up at that manor. There was no way they could suddenly return using teleportation magic.
Oh… right… It should be called Apparition.
The man with high-cheekbones corrected himself mentally, and a proud smile appeared at the corners of his mouth.
He hung up the phone and nodded to the person beside him. The young man slammed down a red button with a bang.
A mechanical female voice rang out: "Launch sequence initiated. 3, 2, 1, 0!"
A black missile, trailing blazing flames, pierced the air as it soared, leaving a white trail of smoke behind.
As it climbed higher, its previously unstoppable speed suddenly slowed, as if meeting an invisible barrier.
The next second, the warhead exploded with a thunderous roar, sending out a powerful, unseen shockwave!
The instrument in the young man's hand reacted first — the display screen once flashing with light and then suddenly went dark. All the indicator lights turned off as well. He tapped the keyboard twice, but nothing happened.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance, tossed the now-useless device aside, and looked off into the distance.
A howling wind, filled with snowflakes, slammed into them, forcing their eyes nearly shut. The man with high-cheekbones shielded his face with one hand and squinted through his fingers — revealing a strange and wondrous sight.
The air itself looked like shattered glass, cracks spread like spiderwebs from top to bottom, refracting light that radiated outward like a tree growing in reverse.
Then suddenly, the web of cracks shattered completely, dissolving into scattered glimmers of light — like a snowy morning, where ice crystals in the air catch the rising sun.
Within the glowing fragments, a massive castle seemed to appear out of thin air, as if it had grown out of the mountain rock like some great beast.
The deep gray outer walls glinted with a metallic sheen. The central tower's spire rose at least a hundred feet high. The surrounding moat was thirty to forty feet wide and the surface was frozen thick. The oak drawbridge was held by chains as thick as a man's arm.
Everyone held their breath.
Such a colossal, majestic structure could inspire awe even in the modern world, let alone in ancient times — it seemed like an unstoppable giant.
And just ten seconds ago, that distant land had been nothing but ruins, without even a single intact wall.
"Magic…" the young man murmured with a mixture of longing and reverence.
Then, the man with high-cheekbones waved his hand and shouted loudly, "Attack!"
The tailgate of the truck dropped with a sharp clack, and long cannon barrels extended outward. Fully armed soldiers stood nearby and manually operated the weapons.
In the next moment, a deafening roar erupted as countless shells, like a dark swarm, flew toward the castle!
For Wovilette, today was a day of distraction and unease.
The child he had taken a liking to had been taken away by Grindelwald—he didn't know if the kid would return safely. The obedient apprentices had also been taken. A bunch of alchemists who barely lifted a finger in daily life surely couldn't run faster than others; he could only hope they'd manage to hide well on the battlefield.
Ever since everyone left, Wovilette had been pacing back and forth in his room for what felt like dozens of laps. Eventually, he opened his vault and took out his collection of rare potions, and then he carefully counted each bottle and lined them up on the table.
Once they all return, there'll surely be someone injured who'll need them…
While doing this, Wovilette was trying to calm himself, though anxiety gnawed at him—what if this turned out like before, with heavy casualties?
Suddenly, his arm twitched. A sharp, indescribable sting shot through his entire body—like being stung by a venomous scorpion—though it was gone in a blink, almost like an illusion.
Crash!
A bottle of healing potion floating in midair fell to the ground. Luckily, the crystal vial was sturdy and didn't break—just rolled a few times before stopping.
Wovilette raised his fingers, levitated the bottle back onto the table, and stared at his arm in confusion.
—Why did my magic suddenly go out of control? Am I suffering from some terminal illness?
He snapped his fingers again. The fire in the hearth flared up with a whoosh, as if everything had returned to normal..
No… it still doesn't feel quite right…
The flames in the fireplace were somehow brighter than usual, and they carried an odd whistling sound, like wind being torn apart.
Then Wovilette noticed his own shadow flickering strangely on the floor. He slowly realized—the light wasn't coming from the fire.
It was coming from behind him, from outside the window.
He turned his head—and saw the sky glowing with an eerie green light. Countless shells, trailing fire, were hurtling toward the castle!
"Enemy attack—!"
Someone screamed in a voice filled with panic and desperation.
The next instant, the shells struck. Glass shattered instantly, and the massive shockwave sent Wovilette crashing to the ground. He slammed into a cabinet with a heavy thudand blood flowed from his temple.
His vision blurred, his ears rang. Struggling to prop himself up, he saw only dust and rubble swirling in the air. His wand had flown from his hand and rolled under the experiment table.
Thankfully, the castle's stone walls were thick and had been reinforced by generations of wizards. After the first wave of shelling, it still stood tall and strong, with only a few areas blasted apart.
Wovilette could barely hear a thing. Crawling over, he grabbed his wand and swept all the potions into a box. Just then, the door burst open.
A witch with a terrified expression rushed in. She yanked Wovilette up and frantically tried to say something, but he couldn't hear a word.
"I can't hear you!" the old man shouted. "What are you saying? I can't hear! What's happening outside?"
The witch, whose hair was tied in a bun, said something again, then pulled Wovilette and dashed out.
Most of Grindelwald's core forces had left with him. Now, the only ones left in the castle were the old, the weak, the sick—and the recently returned wounded and dead from the battlefield.
The entire castle had descended into chaos.
Wizards were screaming and running in every direction. Some were wounded and covered in blood, they were being dragged away by their companions in a desperate bid to escape.
"Wait! Wait!"
Wovilette yanked his arm free from the witch's grasp and trembled as he pulled potions from his box. With a wave of his wand, he sent the bottles flying toward the injured, distributing them one by one.
He downed a vial himself. The effects of the potion were immediate—soon, the cacophony of noise returned to his ears in full.
"Muggles! It's the Muggle army!"
"How did they find us? The castle's protected by concealment charms and Muggle-repelling spells!"
"All the protective spells have failed! Where is Mr. Grindelwald? When will they be back?"
"He's dying! Somebody help me!"
"Stay calm! Stay calm! Everyone to the basement! Head for the basement!"
A strange shrieking sound rang out again, like a herd of Erklings howling in unison. Faces turned pale—they all knew another round of bombing had begun.
"Protego Maxima!"
"Protego!"
"Impedimenta!"
Spells flew wildly in every direction with flashes of magic lighting up the room, but fear and despair were clearly etched into everyone's eyes.
A sudden flash lit up the window—
In the next instant, a thunderous explosion erupted. Every pane of glass in the castle shattered, and a scorching shockwave howled through the corridors with an eerie sound.
The once-gloomy halls were now lit like day. Shadows stretched long behind the panicked figures. The stone walls trembled with a grinding sound, and a small chunk of rubble rolled down from a high window ledge.
But…
No one was injured this time. And the walls hadn't collapsed any further.
Outside, it was still blindingly bright and unbearably hot, but something was different—the shells were now exploding before reaching the castle.
"W-What just happened?"
Someone whispered.
Wovilette swallowed hard, pushed aside the young man shielding him, and stepped to the window. Peering through the narrow slit, he saw—
The blazing light in the sky was rapidly contracting.
A gold-and-scarlet bird soared through the air, its body was made entirely of flame. It was two or three times larger than a Hippogriff.
"What is that?"
A young witch cried out in wonder: "Is… is that a Phoenix?"
When one thought of a Phoenix, it was only natural to think of Dumbledore—the only known wizard with a Phoenix as a pet, and a figure so powerful and noble even his enemies admired him.
Wovilette froze for a moment, then shook his head.
"No… Dumbledore's Phoenix is… much smaller than that…"
Wovilette hadn't even finished speaking when his entire body froze.
In the distance, where the Muggle army had gathered, dark mist surged violently,flipping over several trucks and flinging screaming soldiers into the air.
It was a force that was pure, destructive—the very kind of power Grindelwald had spent the first half of his life pursuing.
—An Obscurus.
Wovilette silently mouthed the word, too stunned to speak. He couldn't comprehend what was unfolding before him.
Why is an Obscurus appearing outside the castle?
What is that strange firebird?
They seemed to be protecting the people inside the castle…
But why?
If this is part of a defense plan Grindelwald had arranged in advance… Why hadn't he told anyone?
Wovilette was utterly confused—and what followed next was even more bizarre than anything he could've imagined in a dream.
The firebird, which had detonated the incoming shells in midair, now flew through the flames as if absorbing some kind of energy. Its body grew larger and larger, like a living version of Fiendfyre, constantly expanding.
From the Muggle side, behind one of the overturned vehicles, a bulky launcher was suddenly wheeled out. It fired at the swirling dark mist in the air.
A flash of blue light burst out— The black mist shattered and vanished, and a frail girl fell from the sky.
The black-clad soldiers opened fire at her, but a cloak swooped in to block the bullets, and then— Out of nowhere, a broomstick shot past, caught the girl, and whisked her away with a whoosh.
The firebird, which had seemed almost to be basking in the flames, let out a furious screech and— Now the size of a small building—plunged directly toward the Muggles!
Its long, whip-like tail swept across the ground, igniting a burning trail in its wake.
Its massive body made it an obvious target, even in flight.
Sure enough, the launcher struck it with another invisible "bomb," knocking its flight off-course. The bird slammed into a distant hillside, setting off a fresh inferno.
As everyone was distracted by the firebird, that broomstick snuck back again— This time dropping a bizarre-looking cube from high in the air.
"Bomb!" A soldier screamed as those nearby dove behind cover.
But instead of exploding, the cube landed on the launcher, and— Metal claws extended from its sides and worked at blinding speed to dismantle the weapon.
It even pulled out a hatchet and hacked at it repeatedly!
"Open fire!" The Muggle commander roared, and a hail of bullets rained down.
The cube instantly deployed a shield, blocking every single bullet.
But it wasn't invincible—soon, the shield showed dents and cracks from the constant barrage. The cube rolled aside suddenly, dropping the shield just as a bullet struck a fuel tank on a nearby truck.
"BOOM—!"
A fresh explosion turned the area into a sea of flames.
Through the firelight, the cube leapt up and its sides unfolded to reveal an assortment of bizarre tools— Metal claws, pliers, wrenches, bottle openers, shovels, and more.
Like a rampaging war machine, it cut through the soldiers, sending them fleeing in terror.
Then, a masked brute leapt into the fray— With monstrous strength like a raging bull, he smashed into the trucks, crushing several of them into mangled metal.
Both of these strange figures seemed to have bodies of steel. They weren't afraid of Muggle bullets. They didn't even seem afraid of death.
They grabbed Muggle weapons and turned them against their owners—shooting at fuel tanks and weapon crates without hesitation.
Several bursts of fire exploded in succession, and the hot wind singed people's hair.
The wizards inside the castle crowded around the windows and stared in stunned disbelief, as if they were watching some kind of absurd comedy.
Just when they thought the Muggle army was helpless against those bizarre figures, a new type of weapon was fired— With a "thump!", some Muggles launched guns equipped with grappling hooks and taser-like devices!
"Zzzzzzt—"
Powerful arcs of electricity flashed across the air. The previously unstoppable cube and masked man both suddenly froze, as if their joints had rusted and they could no longer move.
The man with high-cheekbonesneered and said,
"I knew it. Anything related to magic can't withstand this kind of attack. Now let's see what you two really are!"
He stepped toward the masked man, reaching out to pull off the cloth covering his face.
"Confringo!" (Blasting Curse)
Someone shouted.
The officer was instantly blasted backward like a sandbag, thrown violently through the air.
At that moment, two or three dozen wizards—who had apparently been hiding nearby—dispelled their invisibility and all raised their wands in unison.
"Petrificus Totalus!"
Spells flew across the battlefield like a storm.
Next to Wovilette, someone murmured in disbelief:
"Merlin's beard… that looks like… the Order of the Phoenix?"
Wovilette turned to him and saw it was a young British wizard. Curious, he asked:
"The Order of the Phoenix?"
The young wizard explained with a trembling voice:
"It was a secret organization founded over twenty years ago by Dumbledore to resist the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters. I heard they took heavy losses during the Wizarding War and disbanded about ten years ago… I recognize two of them."
He muttered, like he had uncovered a huge secret:
"Looks like they've regrouped… If the Order is here, then Dumbledore might be coming too… Maybe we should take this chance to run?"
He looked around nervously, as if the headmaster himself might appear at any moment, completely panicked.
But Wovilette wasn't listening to the last part. His expression turned strange, and he asked:
"Dumbledore founded a secret organization to fight Voldemort?"
Suddenly, anger surged in his chest.
"Why didn't he found one when the Alliance was taking over Europe?!"
The young wizard was on the verge of a breakdown:
"...Is that really the point right now?!"
"Thud!"
A heavy impact suddenly struck the outer wall.
Everyone turned to see a familiar flying broom hovering just outside the now-shattered window.
On it were the cube, the masked man, the girl who could turn into an Obscurus, and a phoenix-like firebird, all staring straight at them—each one exuding an intense sense of danger.
"Excuse me," the cube asked politely, "but could you tell us where our master, Wade Grey, is?"
Beside it, the firebird spread its wings slightly, golden-red light flickering in its mouth. Dark mist was rising from the girl's body, and her pupils had begun to glow faintly white.
"Good question. I'd like to know that too."
Suddenly, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin appeared outside as well, wands aimed directly at the Wizards of the Alliance.
"Let the child go," Sirius said coldly. "Or you can go join those Muggles in the afterlife."
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⭐Harry Potter: Becoming a Study God (HP:BSG)- +235 Chapters
⭐MCU: Druid's Adventures (MCUDA)(⭐COMPLETE⭐) - Total Chapter 460
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