"The Legal Enforcement Department's support will arrive in five minutes." Arnaud stood with Mr. Bonaparte, "Everyone, rest assured, those black mists are just a small accident."
He began to comfort the ladies next to him, but the trace of worry on his face lingered.
"But you don't have time." A green light accompanied the voice, striking the French Minister of Magic precisely in the back.
A smile remained on his face, but his body uncontrollably fell downwards.
With a thud, his body landed on the carpet, unable to speak again.
The room immediately descended into chaos, screams ringing out incessantly. Gary and the others were stunned, not expecting such a thing to happen.
"Andre, what are you doing!" Mr. Bonaparte pulled out his wand, pointing it at Mr. Salon, veins bulging on his neck, his eyes filled with fury.
The French Minister of Magic was dead, without a doubt.
Mr. Salon smiled again, but now his smile was no longer amiable; it had become fierce and cruel. "What am I doing… why don't you go to hell with this dead guy and ask him!"
Just as Mr. Bonaparte was about to speak, another green light flashed from the side, heading straight for him.
At the critical moment, he agilely leaned backward, performing a Quidditch maneuver, his entire upper body parallel to the ground, narrowly dodging the Avada Kedavra.
Two people in black hooded robes and black masks held their wands pointed at Bonaparte.
"Who are you?" Bonaparte was both shocked and angry; if he hadn't reacted in time, he would have joined his superior.
The four Aurors who had been outside the room were now gone. Noang and Korella were grabbed before they could react, five people wearing hoods and masks pointing their wands at them.
Before Gary could say anything more, five more black hoods in similar attire sprang out from the dark corners, all pulling out their wands in unison.
Gary and Lily were quick to draw their wands first, casting two Stupefy spells. In the emergency, Gary had no choice but to use the magic stored in his dragonhide wand.
Lily's spell was effortlessly blocked by a Shield Charm from the opponent, but Gary's Stupefy, enhanced by the dragonhide wand, followed immediately, hitting the Shield Charm. It shattered the Shield Charm like a hot knife through butter, and the spell struck the black hood's shoulder directly. He collapsed to the ground without a sound.
But that was all. His four companions disarmed Gary and the others with a series of Expelliarmus spells, confiscating all their wands.
"This brat has some moves, trying to show off, eh?" A nearby hood rushed up and punched Gary in the face. His head slammed directly into the ground with a dull thud, a wave of pain washing over him, followed by a wet sensation on his scalp. Gary knew he was bleeding.
"Don't hit him!" Gary heard Alfrina's scream, then another dull thud. Alfrina fell beside him, her cheek swollen.
"Go that way, brat." A hooded man pulled Gary up, pushing him towards the corner by the glass curtain wall. Another person helped their fallen companion up, who only regained consciousness after several "Revive" spells.
"You too, hurry up and follow." Their voices were clearly distorted, rough and hoarse, making it impossible to discern their original tones.
There were a total of twelve black hoods at the scene; they had controlled everyone in the first-class lounge.
Mr. Bonaparte was no exception; he fought one against three but was ultimately disarmed by an Expelliarmus.
"What do you want?" Korella crouched on the ground, hands over her head. "We have plenty of money…"
Before she could finish speaking, she was punched to the ground.
"So noisy…" The leading black hood wiped his hands. "What happened to you? Didn't we say no killing?" He asked his companion.
"…A slight mistake. That old man hated him so much; I only gave the attack command, and he used Avada Kedavra." The subordinate next to him was a bit flustered.
The leading black hood stuffed the eighty-eight confiscated wands into his bag. The small bag seemed like a bottomless pit, swallowing all the wands.
Gary unwillingly glanced at his dragonhide wand. He had a peculiar connection with it; he could accurately identify his own among the pile of wands.
"Center on me, form a circle, quickly, don't dawdle!" The leader kicked Noang, who was trying to stall for time, to the ground.
A total of eighty-seven people, including Mr. Salon, who was no longer under the Imperius, formed a circle as arranged by the black hoods, with the leading black hood standing in the center.
The twelve black hoods drew a circle with their wands around the outer ring of the hostages, then pulled out a bucket of dragon blood ink from somewhere and poured it onto the ground.
"Alchemy array?" Gary squatted with his head in his hands, his eyes narrowing.
Alfrina and Howard were on his left and right, both secretly observing the black hoods' actions.
Many people at the scene were already sobbing softly, feeling that their end was near.
The black hoods were busy drawing the alchemy array on the ground, complex runes appearing on the floor one by one. As the dragon blood ink dried, magic was sealed in little by little. Each time a rune on the ground glowed golden, it meant that the magic within it had been stored.
The Aurors had already broken through one of the black mists and were orderly evacuating the audience from the scene.
They had not yet discovered the situation in the first-class lounge.
"Those four Aurors…" Gary's back of the head felt like it was splitting open, the wet sensation spreading from his scalp to his neck. He could guarantee his wound was gushing blood.
"Don't worry, it's been taken care of. My Imperius…"
"Apolline, Apolline!" Howard, squatting beside him, mumbled.
Gary felt that this guy was obsessed with his unrequited love.
Then he heard a sharp whistle, a sound Gary was very familiar with, emitted by the referee's whistle used during previous matches.
"What's going on?" Gary slowly lifted his head.
Through the glass curtain wall, he saw Apolline just outside the first-class lounge. She was riding a nimbus 1005, which she had gotten from who knows where, blowing her whistle to attract the attention of the entire audience.
Sitting behind her was Charrell Mr. Sangborg.
Charrell held his wand, muttering incantations, the tip of his wand pointing directly at the first-class lounge. The Aurors noticed something amiss in the first-class lounge; protecting these dignitaries was their most important task. They released the "black masks" they had just subdued and rushed towards the first-class lounge.
"Hurry up!" The leading black hood was anxious. Once Charrell lifted the access restrictions for the first-class lounge, they wouldn't be able to escape unscathed.
The black hoods worked diligently, pouring an entire bucket of dragon blood ink onto the ground and quickly writing incantations.