The huge explosion, carrying the power of space, swept outward. In an instant, the furniture and everything else in the spacious headmaster's office were blown into fragments, and Dumbledore himself was sent flying.
Fortunately, Dumbledore had long been prepared.
Protected by layers of golden magical shields, Dumbledore quickly regained his balance.
At the same time, the area where the "spatial anchor" had originally been located had been blasted into a multidimensional distortion nearly three meters wide.
Dozens of figures flashed out from it and quickly occupied another corner of the headmaster's office.
These people wore identical black robes. Their wrists were fitted with wand holsters, and alchemical charms used for automatic warnings hung from their chests. They stared at Dumbledore with savage grins.
Leading the group was none other than Gerard, the one who had handed the "spatial anchor" to Harry.
He was smiling too.
But compared to his men behind him, his smile was much gentler and more polite.
He slowly removed his hood and bowed to Dumbledore.
"Good evening, Professor Dumbledore. We..."
BOOM!
Dumbledore had no intention of wasting words with him. Before the other side could finish speaking, a terrifying torrent of golden magic had already crashed over under Dumbledore's control.
Though it was only a hurried attack launched casually, the power of the strike, coming from Dumbledore, had still reached the legendary level.
In terms of destructive force alone, it might not have been much weaker than the Vanishing Curse scroll Dumbledore had given Link before.
Yet in the face of this attack, Gerard merely raised his wand calmly.
The next moment, crimson light burst from the tip of his wand and mixed with the incoming golden light.
Explosions and erosion continuously occurred where they collided, and Dumbledore's attack was actually blocked.
Dumbledore's eyes moved slightly at the sight.
Blocking that attack was enough to prove that the opponent's strength had also reached the legendary rank.
And the dozens of wizards behind him, according to Dumbledore's magical senses, were all at the level of top-tier Aurors on average.
As for how these people got in.
By now, it was already obvious.
It had to be Snape.
In the last two days, besides Dumbledore himself, only Snape had entered this office.
So the "spatial anchor" had definitely been placed by him.
As for his motive.
Was it because of Harry?
Dumbledore shook his head.
Snape's motive was no longer important.
The fact was that these people had invaded Hogwarts with Snape's help.
And with the strength of the people in front of him, even Dumbledore couldn't deal with them easily.
Not to mention that Hogwarts still contained countless innocent students and professors.
If fighting broke out, how terrible would the casualties be?
Thinking of that, pain appeared on Dumbledore's face.
He had to admit that he somewhat regretted not listening to old Headmaster Black's advice.
If he had killed or controlled Snape right from the beginning, would this scene never have happened?
While Dumbledore was deep in thought, the clash between the crimson energy and the golden light finally reached its end.
Accompanied by Gerard's roar, the crimson light suddenly surged, instantly overwhelming the golden light and completely wiping it out.
Gerard panted heavily and smiled mockingly.
"You're still the same. You never listen to anyone. Stubborn to the end!"
Dumbledore said nothing and merely stared at Gerard.
Seeing this, the dozens of wizards behind Gerard spread out and silently surrounded Dumbledore in groups.
With a legendary-level fighter on their side, they had the courage to point their wands at Dumbledore.
Dumbledore looked over them and said coldly,
"What do you want by coming to Hogwarts?"
"Dumbledore, you're really straightforward," Gerard said in an excellent mood.
"We're from France. That should be enough for you to understand, right? After all, you and Link Flamel created such a horrifying massacre at Beauxbatons. You should have been mentally prepared for today's outcome!"
"We didn't kill those innocent students and professors."
"But you can't deny that they died in that battle, can you? And that's enough!"
Spreading his arms, Gerard roared madly.
The French wizards in the office also roared in agreement.
Pairs of bloodshot eyes filled with hatred stared at Dumbledore, as if they wished they could pounce on him and tear him apart.
Only when Gerard's raised arms suddenly swung down did their roars stop.
"It's regrettable that Link Flamel isn't at Hogwarts. It makes our revenge incomplete. It's all that damned Severus Snape's fault. He failed my expectations."
"Faced with such a heaven-sent chance for revenge, he tampered with the spatial anchor, and the magical layer he wrapped around it on his own was discovered by you. Truly foolish!"
"But that's fine. Consider this revenge as interest."
"Link Flamel will pay his debt sooner or later."
Gerard bowed again.
"So finally, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Gerard..."
"Enough. The stench coming from your soul is something I'd recognize even if you turned to ashes," Dumbledore frowned. "So stop these meaningless tricks, Tom Riddle."
"Don't call me by that filthy name!"
Gerard, who had been acting rather refined before, suddenly roared like a beast.
But he quickly realized he had lost control.
Suppressing the savage look on his face, he said in a low voice, "All right. Now, carry out the original plan."
As soon as Gerard finished speaking, the French wizards surrounding Dumbledore rushed toward the exit of the headmaster's office.
Dumbledore's heart sank when he saw this. Knowing they were heading for the students and professors, he immediately raised his wand to stop them.
But before he could act, Gerard had already closed the distance.
Crimson light surged from his wand. Using the wand as a hilt, he formed a blood-red magic sword and slashed at Dumbledore.
Instinctively, Dumbledore gathered magic and met the attack with his wand.
The magic at the tip of his wand exploded, producing a standard spell-reflection effect and knocking the blood-red blade away.
But that was all.
The blood-red magic sword in Gerard's hand did not dissipate like ordinary spells or injure its user.
Instead, with a twist of Gerard's wrist, it slashed again from an incredibly strange angle.
Fortunately, Dumbledore had recovered from the initial surprise attack. Golden light erupted as his magic exploded, and using the shockwave from the collision of their powers, he drifted backward and landed safely.
Though uninjured, Dumbledore's expression turned ugly.
He had recognized the technique used by Gerard, or rather by Voldemort's soul fragment, the Shadow Man.
It was a sword technique used by medieval wizards to exterminate and hunt dark magical creatures.
Because it required constant physical training and was too difficult, and because magical studies had advanced over time, very few people still used it. It could even be said to have become a lost art.
But in Britain, this technique was known by almost everyone.
The reason was simple.
One of Hogwarts' famous founders, Godric Gryffindor, excelled at this very swordsmanship.
Gryffindor House still preserved Godric Gryffindor's sword.
Though the technique itself wasn't particularly destructive, its high mobility made it especially suitable for dealing with humanoid and small to medium-sized creatures.
Gerard already possessed legendary-level strength, and now with this technique, even though Dumbledore's raw power surpassed his by a wide margin, shaking him off in a short time would be extremely difficult.
Sure enough, just as Dumbledore expected.
Less than two seconds after he landed, Gerard charged again with his sword at an unbelievable speed.
Dumbledore wasn't even given enough time for basic spellcasting and could only rely on bursts of pure magical power to knock Gerard away again and again.
Taking advantage of Dumbledore being occupied, the dozens of French wizards had already rushed out of the headmaster's office.
The French wizards who followed Gerard, or rather Number Three, into Hogwarts had complicated backgrounds.
Among them were veteran Aurors from the French Ministry of Magic.
Fathers who had lost children during the night of chaos at Beauxbatons.
Violent criminals who had brought death and disorder to the French magical world.
And peace lovers who opposed war.
But no matter where they came from or how complicated their identities were, they all shared one wish.
To make the British Ministry of Magic, Link Flamel, and Dumbledore pay a terrible price.
To make them experience what it felt like to lose loved ones and watch their country descend into chaos.
To achieve that goal, they were even willing to give up their lives.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Figures raced through the dark corridors of Hogwarts Castle while shouting.
Dim moonlight shone through the mist, revealing twisted and crazed faces.
The killing... Was about to begin.
———
"Ron! Ron! Wake up! We have to go..."
A blurry voice reached Ron's ears, and at the same time, he felt someone constantly shaking him.
Ron sat up groggily. As his mind cleared, the voice gradually became clearer.
He could tell it was his roommate Neville.
"Mmm... Is it morning already?"
"Morning my ass!" Neville shouted while tugging his ear. "Something's happened, something big! Apparently someone broke into Hogwarts! Hermione told me to get you outside right away!"
"Someone broke into Hogwarts? So what? It's not like nobody's ever broken in before. Sirius came a few years ago, didn't he?", Ron yawned and spoke.
Instinctively, he wanted to resist any orders coming from Hermione.
After all, he and Harry had lived under Hermione's management and pressure for years. And now she was even interfering with his sleep. That was too much.
The more Ron thought about it, the angrier he became. He immediately prepared to lie back down and continue sleeping.
Just then, a deafening alarm suddenly rang throughout the castle.
Neville, who had been trying to persuade Ron, was so startled that he fell onto the floor.
Ron, who had been ready to keep slacking off, instantly jumped out of bed.
He grabbed Neville's arm and dragged him toward the dormitory exit with movements so quick that no one would believe he had just gotten out of bed.
"W-Wait, Ron. You should at least put on some pants..."
Neville was startled by Ron's sudden actions and was about to say more, but before he could finish, Ron shouted, "Shut up! Didn't you hear the disaster alarm? You're talking about pants at a time like this! Do you want to die?"
Hearing that, Neville immediately stopped talking.
After all, he wasn't the one without pants.
Ron dragged Dean all the way into the Gryffindor common room.
Only then did he realize that the place was already packed.
Nearly all the Gryffindor students had gathered there, and even more people were continuously pouring in from the surrounding passages.
Everyone had obviously been frightened by the alarm.
Many boys stood there in confusion, staring at the ceiling, while the girls huddled together and cried.
At the center of the crowd, Hermione was directing the younger prefects to maintain order and comfort the crying girls. The prefect badge on her chest sparkled brightly in the firelight from the fireplace.
Unfortunately, neither the Gryffindor students nor even the prefects seemed very willing to listen to her.
Despite shouting until her face turned red and her voice became hoarse, it was useless.
Some people were even arguing fiercely with her.
Seeing this, Ron instinctively reached for the prefect badge he always kept in his waistband so he could put it on and help Hermione.
Though his reputation in Gryffindor wasn't great, it was still better than leaving Hermione to handle things alone.
However, as soon as he spread his hands, he realized that not only was his prefect badge gone, he wasn't even wearing pants.
Ron instantly turned pale.
He was certain that with Hermione's personality, she would still make him help maintain order even without pants.
And then he'd have to stand in front of everyone wearing only his underwear, with his hairy legs exposed...
'Ugh!'
Just imagining that scene made Ron want to die.
While he was hesitating, Neville suddenly stepped forward.
He charged into the crowd and punched a senior boy who had been shouting at Hermione right in the face.
Blood and teeth flew through the air as he grabbed another senior student and dragged him down.
Then he pulled out his wand and raised it high.
A huge fireball suddenly exploded, making the entire Gryffindor Tower tremble.