Chapter 333: A Sea of Blood in the Eyes, Corpses Everywhere
"Not interested."
Dudley only paused for a heartbeat before answering bluntly.
Grindelwald clearly had not expected such a crisp refusal. For a moment, he fell silent.
"I can give you everything you desire. I could even share this world with you," he said at last.
He had laid out the greatest sincerity he was willing to offer.
Yet Dudley only shook his head.
"I do want to change the wizarding world. But my ideals aren't the same as yours," he said. "Someone once said that when two paths differ, they can't walk together."
"An old proverb," Grindelwald remarked, well‑read enough to recognise it.
Dudley did not comment.
He had first heard the line from Roselle Gustav. The transmigrator had clearly turned many of his homeland's proverbs into his own collection of quotes.
"So there is no room to negotiate?" Grindelwald's smile faded. He fixed his gaze on Dudley.
"Unless you are willing to abandon your own creed and help me realise mine, there will be nothing more between us," Dudley replied.
"You mean I should become your subordinate?" Grindelwald suddenly laughed.
This was the first time anyone had ever tried to make him submit.
He had never taken even the Dark wizard who rose after him, Voldemort, very seriously. And now a thirteen‑year‑old boy stood here and spoke to him like this.
"You are not afraid I will kill you?" Grindelwald's eyes turned vicious.
Cold light flashed in them, sharp enough to make anyone's scalp prickle at a glance. Killing intent rolled off him, almost tangible.
In pure presence, Grindelwald now had the upper hand.
He looked every inch the Dark wizard he once was, overlooking Dudley from on high. His aura pressed down, making others instinctively want to yield, to kneel at his feet.
Dudley's eyes narrowed.
This was the first time he had met someone who tried to beat him by sheer force of will.
"If you are capable of it," he said.
The words had barely left his mouth when a palpable wave of authority erupted from him. He stared straight back at Grindelwald without the slightest hint of fear.
In that instant, the man who had been looking down on him so arrogantly felt a terrifying weight settle over his own shoulders.
If Grindelwald's presence was a single mountain peak, then what he now sensed from Dudley was an entire range stretching beyond the horizon.
In front of Dudley, he was nothing.
Dudley still stood on the ground floor while Grindelwald occupied the gallery above, literally looking down on him. Yet what Grindelwald felt was the opposite: as if the boy before him towered hundreds of metres high, and even lifting his head would not be enough to see his face.
What shocked him even more was the killing intent woven into that aura.
That was not something that appeared out of nowhere. Dudley had killed people.
Not just one or two.
"Now, do you still want to kill me?" Dudley asked.
Grindelwald met his gaze and felt a chill run straight through his soul.
For a brief, dizzy moment, it seemed as though countless corpses were tumbling down within those eyes, plunging into a vast sea where black and red churned together.
That was not the mark of having ended a handful of lives, but hundreds, perhaps thousands.
His breathing turned ragged. He wanted to stop, to pull back, but he could not find a way out.
His own pupils began to glaze, dark whirlpools forming within.
In the shifting lights, it was as if he had glimpsed the future.
"Ah—"
Grindelwald suddenly shrieked. Blood welled from his eyes, trailing down his face in twin crimson lines.
Crack.
With a thunderous report, a surge of silver light exploded where he had been standing. In the same heartbeat, his figure vanished from the spot.
"He ran?" Dudley murmured, eyes narrowing.
He had already used his Confinement ability to lock the area down, yet Grindelwald had still managed to break through by brute strength and escape.
"A very powerful counter‑curse," Dudley muttered after a moment's thought.
As his senses told him the hotel was returning to normal, he let out a small breath.
Grindelwald was strong. Dudley could cross wands with him, but if the man had truly decided to wreak havoc, or turn his spells on Dudley's parents, or on Harry and Hermione, it would have been almost impossible to stop all the damage.
That was why he had not attacked outright, but instead met Grindelwald on the level of pure presence.
For a Beyonder on the Justiciar Pathway, this was not difficult. Gaining the upper hand in such a clash came almost naturally.
What happened next, however, had not been part of his expectations. Grindelwald had apparently tried to peer into Dudley's future and been bitten back.
"Grindelwald is said to be very skilled in prophecy. His eyes can supposedly see what is yet to come," Dudley murmured. "Unfortunately for you, you should not have tried to look at my future."
Clap, clap...
A series of soft cracks sounded as several wizards appeared in the hall.
Dudley recognised them all. They were the Aurors assigned to guard the area around his home. At their head stood Kingsley.
"What happened, Dudley?" Kingsley asked at once.
His wand was already in his hand, eyes scanning the room warily.
The others were just as tense and alert.
"Was it Sirius Black?" Kingsley pressed.
They had just felt a surge of violent magic from this direction and had immediately Apparated over.
"No," Dudley said, shaking his head.
At that, several faces loosened a fraction.
As long as it was not Black, everything was easier to handle.
"Dudley, was it you using magic? That is not ideal. You are still underage. You are not supposed to cast spells outside school," one Auror said.
"Exactly. It is dangerous. You could be breaking the law," another added.
"Tell us properly what happened. If there really was a reason you had to use magic, we can speak for you," a third promised.
Over these past days, they had accepted more than a few small gifts from Dudley and found they were quite fond of him. If he had a legitimate excuse, they were more than willing to turn a blind eye and explain things to the Ministry so he would not be punished.
Meeting their worried, earnest looks, Dudley turned over the events in his mind.
He hesitated over whether to tell them about Grindelwald.
After a brief silence, he decided he had to.
This now threatened his parents. He could not simply ignore it.
"The one who appeared here just now was Gellert Grindelwald," he said, looking straight at Kingsley.
For a heartbeat, the entire hall went dead quiet.
On the Aurors' faces, concern and relief twisted, in an instant, into shock, disbelief, and finally naked fear.