Crimson Sky, Broken Chains
"Po– why were you buried?" was the first thing Daphne asked when she saw where Harry had come from. For her, that seemed more important than anything else.
"Aah… when I fought the president, I used too much power and didn't have the strength for another fight. I knew the elf would attack me, so I let myself fall to the ground and threw the recovery potion into a hole. Luckily, it fell right with me," Harry explained calmly, as if it hadn't been a big deal.
"And if the potion hadn't gone into the hole?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well… I would've used my hand to climb out. Which would've been pretty funny," Harry replied, keeping his composure.
"Could you focus on the seriousness of the moment?" Hermione cut in quickly, her gaze sharp on them.
Harry immediately changed his tone, his voice firm. "Daphne, Neville, take the students. Draco, give me a hand. Hermione, help President Luciel and Katerina."
The elf, upon hearing this, grew visibly nervous. "I… I cannot allow the wizard masters to interfere. I must save my little daughter!" Kre exclaimed desperately. He raised both hands and snapped his fingers.
In that instant, all the floating wands around them turned and aimed directly at the group.
Spells began to rain from every direction.
Draco reacted at once: he moved his wand, and the golems advanced with precision. Those with shields raised them high, blocking the first assault.
They were upgraded golems, improved from the ancient golden ones. Now they could be controlled in larger numbers, but the cost was high: magic drained much faster, and the mental exhaustion grew with each unit controlled. That's why they had to end the battle as quickly as possible.
"Go!" Draco shouted, his eyes darting everywhere, calculating each command. After intense training, each of them could control at least six golems at once.
Hermione, without a wand, barely managed to move one, which stayed close by her side as a shield while she dodged the incoming spells.
Daphne, on the other hand, controlled all six she could, using them to gather the students while enemy wands tried to stop her with volleys of curses.
Another eight golems had been left in the rear, set on automatic mode as a protective barrier. However, they couldn't leave everything to automation—there was the risk they might harm the students—so manual control was necessary.
Meanwhile, Harry lifted a hand. With a swift motion, he hurled a paving stone directly at the elf.
But Kre snapped his fingers and vanished instantly, reappearing right behind Harry.
The boy dropped low and dodged the point-blank spell the elf fired. He turned, aimed at the ground, and conjured stone hands that clamped around Kre's feet.
The elf snapped his fingers again.
The hands exploded into fragments, and immediately he launched a fresh attack straight at Harry's chest.
Harry blocked it with one hand, but the spell detonated. With lightning-fast reflexes, he flung his arms wide, using his magic to shove the unconscious students nearby out of the blast radius. The fire engulfed him completely, as he abandoned his own protection to save them.
A flash lit up his clothing: one of the enchanted buttons shielded him from harm at the last second.
It was the first time that defensive spell had ever triggered. Even in the battle against Luciel, it had never responded. That made one thing clear: Luciel had never truly tried to hurt him.
But Kre had. At first he seemed to be holding back, but now… that was changing.
Harry turned his hands toward the flames, drawing them into his palms, and hurled a blazing torrent at the elf.
Kre snapped his fingers and disappeared, but the fire entered his portal and erupted right behind Harry, once again colliding with the automatic defense. The elf rolled across the ground, reappeared, and vanished again with another snap.
Harry narrowed his eyes. Elves were truly powerful when they broke free from the mentality of slaves and servants. Once they stopped restraining themselves from harming wizards or witches, their magic seemed limitless. And Kre, at that moment, was becoming a true war machine.
Suddenly, Harry looked up and saw him appear in the air, descending slowly. Kre snapped his fingers, and a massive column from the school materialized above his head, ready to crush him.
Harry glanced at the students huddled near him.
"Tsk…" he growled, raising both hands. His chaos magic caught the weight of the column.
Kre snapped again, and all the wands that had been attacking the rest of the group swung at once toward Harry.
"Hey, a little help here!" Harry shouted, sweat beading on his forehead as he held the column suspended.
Draco's golems rushed to surround him, shields raised just in time. The spells struck with brutal force, shattering one of them.
"Neville!" Draco cried out.
Neville, who had been helping to move students, reacted instantly: he sprinted behind a wall and released a small golem. Draco hit it with a shrinking spell, returning it to combat size, and folded it back into the formation.
Meanwhile, Hermione had reached Luciel. With the president's own sword, she cut through the roots binding him.
"Thank you," Luciel murmured, now free. He gripped his blades and with a single slash deflected an attack flying their way.
Kre lifted his gaze. His eyes locked on Harry, still holding the column, then shifted to Luciel and Hermione, already together near Katerina.
His expression was different now. The nervousness from before was gone. With each passing second, his psyche twisted further, shattering piece by piece. He snapped his fingers.
A section of the castle exploded, and the debris hurtled straight toward them.
Harry saw it all. In truth, he was far more exhausted than he admitted. Holding back to avoid harming Luciel, then using reality alteration to create real objects to trap him, had drained him deeply. Yes, he was connected to chaos magic, but that didn't stop his body and spirit from being worn down.
Even so, he would never allow his friends to be in danger.
"Aaah!" Harry shouted, clenching his fists. The column he held aloft shattered, turning into dust that fell in a thick cloud, covering the entire place.
Harry redirected the debris toward where Hermione and Luciel were, aiming it straight at the elf.
Kre snapped his fingers. All the fragments froze in front of him. He snapped again, and the pieces began to sharpen like blades.
"Kre, stop!" cried Katerina, realizing the elf had completely lost his reason. His magic was no longer restrained: he was ready to kill.
Kre looked at her for an instant, and for the first time there was no nervousness in his eyes. "Kre is a free elf. He doesn't need to obey you," he declared arrogantly before snapping his fingers again.
The sharpened debris split apart and fell in a deadly rain over the group. They all raised their wands, protecting themselves behind the golems as the stone blades struck violently. The earth rose up again, momentarily concealing the battlefield.
When the dust began to clear, Kre was no longer the same. Something inside him had finally broken. His invisible bonds were gone, releasing what he truly was: an elf without chains, pure and dangerous.
Harry sat on the ground, gasping, surrounded by shards of stone embedded in the earth. His face showed extreme exhaustion.
"I give up," he murmured with weary irony, glancing at his friends. They were in similar condition: collapsed, some golems destroyed, but none of them injured. "You arrived just in time," he added, fixing his eyes on the figures who had appeared to save them at the last moment.
They weren't people.
In front of Harry, Gris displayed an unusual fury, one rarely seen on his normally serious face. Liz positioned herself in front of Hermione, nervously checking that she wasn't hurt. Dobby suddenly appeared on top of Draco's head, trying to undress him to check for injuries while the boy shouted at him to stop. Laki stood firm beside Daphne, her scrutinizing gaze scanning every inch of her body until, relieved, she sighed upon seeing she was unharmed.
"How can an elf dare raise his hand against Master Harry? Gris is furious," Gris growled, his tone charged with genuine anger. Normally he was strict and serious, even scolding other elves, but he had never shown such wrath.
"Hooh… Liz was worried. She arrived just in time so the master's friend would not be hurt," Liz murmured softly, stepping ahead to shield Hermione.
"Master Draco… Dobby regrets not arriving sooner," Dobby wailed between sobs, clinging to the blond while covering him in snot.
"It's fine, Dobby, let go already," Draco replied, trying to pry him off with a look of exasperation.
"Mm. Laki was sent by the masters to ensure Lady Daphne was not harmed. As always, the masters show great wisdom," Laki declared solemnly, nodding with confidence.
Wanda had said she would put them in slight trouble, but apparently the adults had taken extra precautions. That was why the house-elves had been sent as hidden guardians, and now they stood there, firm as magical protectors.
Kre looked at them with disdain. "Elves who still serve wizards are no concern for Kre," he said arrogantly. He had broken his chains and felt superior.
In a way, it made sense: no elf would use magic meant to harm others… if he were a normal elf.
Gris snapped his fingers and appeared in front of Kre in the blink of an eye. He delivered a direct punch to his face.
Kre staggered back, lifting his hand to snap again, but Gris reappeared behind him and landed a perfect kick to his head, sending him flying.
Before he could hit the ground, Gris was already there, slamming both clasped hands down to smash Kre into the floor with brutal force.
Everyone stood with their mouths agape.
Their gazes turned to Harry, especially Luciel's.
"Je… I told you I have a great master. In my family we have two elves, and they take turns in service. When Gris has free time, he enjoys watching Muggle martial arts movies. I even gave him several books," Harry explained with a proud smile toward his elf.
Kre reappeared a few meters away, snapping to launch attacks, but Gris never stopped anticipating him. He always emerged at his side, returning a full combo of blows, until the elf began to stagger, his body covered in injuries.
Meanwhile, the other elves transported themselves across the battlefield, carrying unconscious students to safety. In the end, only the guardians remained, standing with Harry and the others against Kre.
The elf, panting with rage, fixed his eyes on Gris.
"You cannot stop Kre. The spell is already complete. Even if there are no people to finish it… Kre will complete it," he declared firmly. His gaze shifted toward Katerina, then toward Harry's wand.
Harry's eyes widened in alarm.
"Gris, stop him!" he shouted, leaping to his feet.
Gris appeared in front of Kre to kick him, but the elf vanished just in time. He reappeared beside the fallen wand and seized it before hitting the ground.
"Oh, damn…" Harry muttered.
The floating wands began to glow with intensity. One by one they rotted away, dissolving into black shimmering motes that hovered in the air. Then, as if drawn by a magnet, they all shot toward Kre.
Kre held the chaos wand in his hands, staring at it wide-eyed… until a twisted smile spread across his face.
The dark motes began to seep into his chest. A shadow engulfed his body, expanding and contracting as if it breathed, until it sealed around him like a black chrysalis. A tense silence filled the air… and then, the chrysalis shattered.
First emerged a bare foot, smooth and flawless. Then a hand pushed aside the dark fragments, and Kre stepped out of his prison. But he no longer resembled a house-elf at all. Yes, he still had the long ears, but his eyes were a piercing blue, and his blond hair flowed in a shining cascade down to his shoulders. He stood nearly one meter eighty, and his face was so handsome it seemed sculpted.
"That… is no house-elf," Daphne whispered, her mouth hanging open.
Gris and the other elves widened their eyes. Liz was the first to name him: "A High Elf…"
Chaos's red aura suddenly wrapped around him. His hair turned blood red, as did his eyes. The entire atmosphere shifted in an instant: the sky itself turned crimson over France.
Harry's eyes widened in shock. Only one person had been capable of altering the sky like that until now: his mother. But now there was another.
His gaze fell to the elf's hand. There was the red wand, burning with dark energy. The skin of Kre's hand, where he gripped it, was blackening under the corruption.
Then the air shook with multiple explosions of apparition.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Dozens… hundreds… thousands of house-elves began to appear around them. They filled windows, corridors, walls, and gardens, all with their wide eyes fixed on Kre, who no longer looked like one of them.
Harry watched the scene, bewildered. "Gris, what's happening?"
The elf looked at him with absolute seriousness.
"An elf has broken the rules. A taboo. For the protection of the house-elves… and of the magical world… the elves must eliminate the threat."