After gaining the power of death, Voldemort did not become blindly arrogant.
On the contrary—he became more cautious.
His next move depended on one key question:
Did Arthur also possess the power of death?
If Arthur could remove the death energy Voldemort had planted inside the Malfoys—
Then Arthur might be far stronger than Voldemort had imagined.
After all, Voldemort's death power had been granted by the God of Death.
And that same god clearly held a grudge against Arthur.
Which meant Arthur's power likely wasn't borrowed—
It had probably been awakened on his own.
That would also explain why Thanatos wanted Arthur dead.
A god would never allow someone outside their control to wield their authority.
Voldemort pushed the thoughts aside and led the Death Eaters away from Malfoy Manor.
Now all he had to do was monitor the death energy inside Lucius and Draco.
The moment it changed—
He would know.
The only unfortunate ones were the Death Eaters.
They had assumed that following Voldemort tonight would lead to a grand battle.
Instead, they had simply taken a short walk and returned.
In truth—
Voldemort had brought them only to create an imposing presence.
Meanwhile…
In the Granger family backyard.
Hermione had transformed into her Animagus form.
She lay lazily in Arthur's arms, enjoying the warm afternoon sunlight.
Suddenly—
A massive shadow descended from the sky.
Hermione jumped in fright.
Looking up, she saw a dragon corpse appear right in front of her.
Dragons were not unfamiliar to Hermione.
Her cousin kept plenty of dragon meat in his ingredient storage.
But this one was different.
She recognized it immediately.
"Isn't that Draco's dragon—Hydra?"
Hermione blinked in confusion.
"How did it suddenly appear here?"
"And… why is it dead?"
"Who killed it?"
Arthur shrugged.
"Why don't we ask them?"
Hermione had been squinting in the sunlight and hadn't noticed.
But Arthur had clearly seen it.
Lucius and Draco had teleported slightly earlier than the dragon corpse.
Which meant—
They were currently pinned underneath it.
Arthur waved his hand.
"Wingardium Leviosa."
Hydra's corpse floated into the air and drifted aside.
Fortunately, Arthur had long ago cast an Extension Charm on the yard.
Otherwise, there would never have been enough space for a dragon.
Once the corpse was moved—
Lucius and Draco were revealed lying beneath it.
Both looked pale.
If not for the faint rise and fall of their chests, Hermione might have assumed they were already dead.
"What happened to them?" Hermione asked.
Arthur frowned.
"They've been corroded by death energy."
Hermione blinked.
The term death energy wasn't unfamiliar.
Her cousin possessed that power.
And just a few days earlier, Melina had suddenly grown up overnight—apparently because she had gained death power as well.
But now another person had appeared with the same ability.
And that person had attacked the Malfoys.
Since when had death power become so common?
Wasn't it supposed to be something only the God of Death could wield?
Hermione's mind began running wild.
Maybe the God of Death had died.
And his power had been split into several pieces.
Arthur got one.
Melina got one.
And the person who attacked the Malfoys got another.
If that was the case—
Were there any pieces left?
Hermione suddenly felt she wouldn't mind having a share herself.
Arthur, of course, had no idea the little witch in his arms was busy constructing an entire fantasy plot.
He walked over to Lucius and Draco.
Then he mobilized the death power inside his body.
After Destined Death fused with Arthur's original death energy, it had transformed into a strange purple-crimson force.
This power possessed both qualities:
The absolute lethality of Destined DeathThe life-corroding properties of his original death power
Arthur didn't bother giving it a new name.
He simply continued calling it death power.
The purple-red energy spread across the Malfoys' bodies.
Slowly—
It began pulling the foreign death energy out of them.
As the energy left their bodies—
Color gradually returned to their faces.
A short while later—
Both father and son woke up.
When they saw Arthur standing before them, they visibly relaxed.
Arthur asked,
"You're awake. Can you explain how you ended up with this kind of power inside you?"
He lifted the extracted death energy slightly.
Lucius answered weakly:
"We encountered Voldemort… actually, he came looking for us."
"I tried to ambush him with the Killing Curse."
"But the curse had no effect."
"Then he attacked us with that strange power."
"We couldn't defeat him. We were hit while escaping."
Arthur raised an eyebrow.
He hadn't expected the death power to come from Voldemort.
That was surprising.
Arthur had assumed Voldemort simply returned because his final Horcrux revived him.
Now it seemed Voldemort had gained something else entirely.
Arthur even began to suspect—
Voldemort might have made a deal with the God of Death.
Maybe that god had resurrected him.
Unknowingly—
Arthur had almost guessed the truth.
The only difference was that the God of Death himself had initiated the deal.
Hermione asked eagerly:
"So what do we do now, Cousin?"
"Should we go find Voldemort?"
The last time she fought Voldemort had been extremely satisfying.
Hearing his name again made her want another round.
Seeing the excitement on Cat Hermione's face, Arthur flicked her lightly on the forehead.
"Do you even know where Voldemort is?"
"And besides…"
Arthur continued,
"He now possesses death power."
"Even if you found him, you might not be able to defeat him."
Hermione wanted to argue.
But she suddenly remembered what Arthur's death power had looked like inside the Zen Garden.
The endless undead army that darkened the sky.
She silently reconsidered.
And gave up.
"So we're just going to ignore Voldemort?" she asked.
"He attacked the Malfoys this time. Who knows who he'll attack next?"
Arthur thought for a moment.
"First, inform the Ministry of Magic."
"If they still refuse to act…"
His voice turned calm.
"Then I'll deal with it personally."
It had already been some time since Arthur gave Harry the tracking disk that could locate Bellatrix.
Yet so far—
There had been no movement at all.
Arthur couldn't help wondering what exactly Dumbledore had been doing all this time.
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