When Dana returned to the Fort, Godric Gryffindor and Helga Hufflepuff had already gathered the young Wizards.
"Is everyone here?"
Dana asked.
Madam Hufflepuff nodded, "Everyone is here except William and Norris."
"Where did they go?"
"They went to the granary to load provisions. Don't worry, they'll be back soon."
Dana frowned: "The Church's people will be here in three minutes; there's no time to waste!"
Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were both greatly alarmed.
"How do you know?"
Dana had no time to explain. As he spoke, he lifted the spatial blockade on the Fort.
"I can see the future! Quickly, find those two, and get everyone here transferred first!"
Seeing the future, in the Wizarding World, was not a rare ability; Wizards with prophetic talent were not countless, but at least not rare.
Coupled with Dana's aura as a descendant of Merlin, the two founders quickly reacted—
Gryffindor summoned the Spandim Gate, allowing the young Wizards to enter in an orderly fashion. The other end of the Gate led to a coast. Brown Weasley, however, kept asking "Where did Teryl go?", and was promptly knocked out by Gryffindor with a club and dragged through;
Hufflepuff, meanwhile, mounted a gigantic steed made of plants and galloped towards the granary.
Two minutes later, Madam Hufflepuff returned with the two young Wizards and unhesitatingly entered the Spandim Gate.
Dana slightly exhaled. In the future he had seen, he and Gryffindor would stay behind at the Fort. After killing a group of Church lackeys, they would safely retreat—it seemed the young Wizards should be safe.
Indeed, Gryffindor rushed out of the portal, then closed it.
"Emrys! Let's give those witch hunters a proper welcome!"
Without the young Wizards to hold him back, Gryffindor's rage needed an outlet.
Dana nodded. Although he knew history wouldn't change, seeing the Church's extreme methods against Wizards and their attitude of total annihilation still made him angry.
They were all from the mysterious side, so why should the Church be superior?
A golden light lit up not far outside the Fort gate.
"They're here."
Gryffindor climbed up the watchtower to look down, while Dana directly transformed into a raven and flew into the sky.
Outside the Fort, there were well-equipped witch hunters, over four hundred of them, with about forty to fifty Hunter Knight Order members mixed among them.
Gryffindor launched the first attack. Several thick bolts of lightning struck among the witch hunters, but unfortunately, the Hunter Knight Order reacted quickly and blocked the lightning. Only one bolt struck an open area, exploding and sending two witch hunters sprawling.
The casualties caused by Gryffindor's sneak attack were almost negligible. When a side with an absolute equipment advantage also has a large number of people, even someone as strong as Gryffindor cannot achieve a devastating effect.
But just because Gryffindor couldn't, didn't mean Dana couldn't.
Dana accumulated power in the air. The air began to tremble, and the people on the ground felt a tremendous pressure pressing down on them, almost making it impossible to breathe.
Just as the witch hunters looked up, Gryffindor decisively retreated into the distance:
"Damn Emrys, is he trying to blow up this whole land?"
Crimson lightning burst forth from Dana's hand. Before him, dazzling runes formed three concentric circles, growing from small to large.
Two seconds later, Dana acted.
The crimson lightning passed through the first circle, transforming from thigh-thick to Basilisk-thick.
It passed through the second circle, transforming from Basilisk-thick to Hogwarts Great Hall-thick.
It passed through the third circle, transforming from Great Hall-thick to Quidditch Pitch-thick.
The world-destroying lightning descended, making contact with the ground, and quickly produced an unwatchable blinding light.
All sound seemed to be stripped away; the world was left with only a vast whiteness.
"Boom!"
With a heaven-shaking explosion, a mushroom cloud slowly rose.
Where the witch hunters had been, there was no one left.
Only a crater over a thousand meters in diameter remained. The water from the Black Lake was now rapidly pouring into it—
No wonder Dana had thought the Black Lake seemed smaller and further from the Fort; now it was clear it was because of his own strike!
When he had glimpsed the future before, he had seen himself use this move, but it was blurry, a completely different feeling from experiencing it firsthand.
As expected of War Magic, with the amplification of Merlin's magic, it could cause such immense damage!
Hogwarts Fort had long become a ruin, and the surrounding forest had also been toppled in swathes by this strike—the reason Dana wanted the young Wizards to evacuate was not out of fear that the Church would harm them, but out of fear that his own strike would harm innocent bystanders.
Landing on the ground, Gryffindor cleaved through the void from a great distance.
"Emrys, was that much force necessary? The house collapsed!"
Gryffindor looked terrified. When Ravenclaw had said Dana's magic was dozens of times his own, he had been skeptical, but now seeing Dana unleash his full power, he realized how shallow his understanding had been.
Dana laughed:
"The Fort's defenses are ultimately limited. I think we should build a Castle here. Relying on the Castle, we can set up a large number of magic arrays, and even if Church lackeys attack again, we will have nothing to fear."
Gryffindor shook his head:
"The Church has already discovered this place; they will come again."
Dana also shook his head:
"What's wrong with Godric Gryffindor, known for his courage? Are you scared?"
Gryffindor sighed:
"Although I don't want to admit it, the Church has a vast number of people—the witch hunters and Hunter Knight Order who came today are just a drop in the ocean. If we build a Castle here, it will naturally become a thorn in the Church's side. If they gather all their forces, we still won't be able to stop them—not even you."
—When War Magic was first invented, it was not activated by a single Wizard, but could combine the power of many Wizards and alchemical tools, creating offensive and defensive means that could turn the tide of battle.
In other words, the more people using War Magic, and the more abundant the faction's resources, the greater the power unleashed.
"I told you, we can set up a large number of magic arrays in Hogwarts Castle."
"What about the magic source? Without a magic source, in the face of the Church army's War Magic, a stone Castle and a wooden Fort are no different!"
In reality, Gryffindor overestimated the Church's strength.
The current Church was corrupt. Although the witch hunters and Hunter Knight Order were numerous, less than ten percent were elite, and they were fragmented with complex factions. To get them to gather a large army was utterly impossible.
Otherwise, if the Church possessed such powerful strength, they would have long overthrown the Muggle royalty and become rulers themselves.
So, the witch hunters and Hunter Knight Order who came to Hogwarts today were actually most of the Church's overt strength. For the Britain Church to pose a threat to Hogwarts again, it would probably be impossible without decades of recovery.
Dana couldn't convince Gryffindor on this matter, as he was an outsider after all and didn't know how much power the Britain Church truly possessed.
But he had his own method.
"If I have these, would you say it's enough?"
Gryffindor was still watching the Black Lake water rapidly fill the large pit when he suddenly heard Dana's question. He turned his head, somewhat lost in thought.
Then he was shocked again.
Because in Dana's hands, he held a large pile of gerebato magic crystals. These thumb-sized pieces, which could sell for sky-high prices as magic sources, seemed to be like ordinary stones to Dana—
"Enough... enough."
If War Magic were released using these magic crystals, it might even blow up the entire Britain...
Damn it, are Merlin's descendants that rich?
Suddenly, Gryffindor's expression tightened—
"Oh no, Helga sent a distress signal! Something's happened on her side!"
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