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The next second, as if to confirm his words.
Three massive Sky Carriers blazed to life with blinding light.
Pale blue beams shot from specific nodes on each carrier, converging with precise accuracy in midair.
BZZZZ,!
An eerie hum tore across the heavens.
The beams locked together, instantly outlining a colossal Magic Circle spanning several kilometers in every direction. Intricate runes flowed and flickered across its surface, radiating an oppressive pressure that made hearts clench.
The Magic Circle snapped fully into shape, an enormous cage, its center aimed directly at Hermione, suspended in midair.
Almost simultaneously, the air above all three carrier decks rippled. SWOOSH. SWOOSH. SWOOSH, figures materialized out of nothing, silent as ghosts.
A full dozen, more than a dozen. All of them in matching dark wizard robes, hoods pulled low to conceal most of their faces. They were spread across the decks in loose formation, but their positions were deliberate, their magical auras interlinking in a way that made one thing obvious: these people had trained together, and trained hard.
"Wh — what is that?!"
Inside the ground command vehicle, a technician jabbed at the screen with one finger, voice cracking completely. Everyone recognized those robes now. The whole world did.
"More than one — there's a dozen of them?!"
"Wizards. Are they all wizards?!"
None of them had ever seen so many in one place. They stood frozen, unable to move.
Fury's face had gone to stone. He stared at the screen, at those hooded figures standing in rigid formation, at Hermione trapped at the Magic Circle's center, and felt his heart drop clean through the floor.
The lead wizard's form dissolved. A churning mass of black mist rose high into the air, slowly condensing, folding in on itself until it resolved into a human shape.
The mist cleared.
A young man.
His robes were visibly different from the others, finer, more elaborate, a clear cut above. His features were handsome. There was even a faint, polite smile at the corner of his mouth.
He hovered above the Magic Circle and looked down at Hermione. His voice rolled out across the sky.
"Long time no see, Hermione Granger."
Casual words. But underneath them, a weight, an absolute, unquestioned sense of control.
Hermione's expression barely shifted. She raised her eyes slowly.
"It has been a long time, Senior Riddle."
The effect on the crowd was immediate.
Senior. That meant he was a Hogwarts graduate too.
A spark of cautious hope moved through the command vehicle. Senior, that didn't sound like an enemy. Maybe they knew each other. Maybe there was even some kind of history there. Maybe his involvement with Hydra was a misunderstanding. Maybe this could still be talked down.
Fury and Natasha exchanged no such hope. Their expressions stayed flat. The two were speaking like acquaintances bumping into each other on the street, polite and easy, and every instinct both of them had said this was the furthest thing from a friendly reunion.
Inside the command vehicle, Fury's face had reached a new low.
Then Tony's voice crackled over the comms, and it wasn't quiet.
"Wait, hold on, Hermione, you have a senior? A male senior? Who looks like that? Are you two close? When did you meet? Why didn't you tell Pepper? Oh my god, is this what teenage girls are like, keeping everything a secret, "
He kept going. He did not stop. He sounded exactly like a farmer who'd just caught a pig heading straight for his prized cabbage patch.
Hermione:...
Fury:...
Steve:...
Natasha:...
They were in the middle of a battle. Could Iron Man please act like it.
The young man's voice cut through again.
"By my count, it's been over a year since our last encounter, Miss Granger."
Hermione tilted her head slightly, studying him, and the forces arranged at his back.
"It has, Senior Riddle."
Her tone was easy. Like she was catching up with an old friend.
"The Ministry of Magic has been remarkably quiet this past year." She paused, letting it land. "Strange that we haven't heard anything about you capturing Dark wizards. Don't tell me you're still recovering from last time?"
The words were light. They landed like needles.
Something crossed Riddle's face, there and gone in an instant. A shadow moving through his eyes.
"I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. I've made a full recovery."
His voice gave nothing away.
"You, on the other hand, won't have the chance to be injured at all." The warmth left his tone entirely. "Because you die here today."
The killing intent was naked. No attempt to hide it.
Everyone felt it.
So there was history between them. A grudge. And Hermione had been the one to hurt him last time. This was revenge, plain and simple.
Hermione heard it all and did not panic. Instead, she let out a quiet laugh.
She held his gaze directly, something almost amused in her expression.
"Senior, are you really that bothered that the title of 'Hogwarts' Most Talented Wizard in a Century'..." She left a beat. "...was taken from you? By me?"
Riddle's composure shattered.
The polite smile was gone. The controlled facade, gone.
"Hermione Granger!"
His voice rang out across the city sky like a blade.
"The Ministry of Magic hereby officially commences the encirclement and elimination of Hermione Granger, Dark Witch, codename: Witch!"
"Any who attempt to interfere, wizard or Muggle, will be killed without exception!"
He raised his wand high above his head, pronouncing the final verdict.
On the Sky Carrier decks, all eighteen of them moved.
In perfect unison. Like a drill they'd run a hundred times. Every wand came up at once. Tips blazing with light, different colors, different effects, all of them aimed directly at the center of the Magic Circle.
At Hermione.
BZZZZ,!
The Magic Circle surged. Pale blue runes churned and roared across its surface. The binding force doubled, then kept climbing, and the air around it felt like it had turned to stone.
Behind Hermione, the massive phoenix made of fire, BOOM. Gone. Scattered into nothing, as if the Magic Circle had simply reached out and smothered it.
At the same moment, across all three Sky Carriers, mystical patterns flared to life across the surface of every gun barrel.
They fired.
Beams of magical energy tore in from every direction, countless streams of color converging on a single point. Some burned. Some froze. Some writhed with dark, twisting shadow.
Hermione felt her summoned flames collapse. Her expression changed, just slightly. Her gaze sharpened.
A transparent shield snapped into existence around her body.
The beams hit.
A wall of magical rays hammered into the shield all at once, dense as a monsoon, from every angle simultaneously.
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM,!
Explosions rolled without stopping, shaking the air around her. Ripples crashed outward across the shield's surface in continuous waves.
At first it held. The shield absorbed the impacts, shuddered, held.
But the magical cannons on the Sky Carriers did not stop. The output was relentless, unending. And slowly, the light across the shield's surface began to stutter.
A sound. Faint. Sharp.
A single crack, thin as thread, appeared on the shield's surface, spreading in every direction like a spiderweb.
Then a second.
A third.
The fractures spread fast, widening as the barrage continued to pour in.
On the tower rooftop, Tony had just finished sealing the last piece of his new suit. He looked up at the screen. His stomach dropped.
"Goddamn it—!"
➤ Next: The Magic-Sealing Array
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