[A Few Minutes Earlier]
[On Beauxbatons' Magic Bridge]
Link and Dumbledore were standing on the huge gate tower at the center of the magic bridge, their bodies hidden in the darkness as they quietly observed the bridge surface.
Although they weren't wearing invisibility cloaks like the Hunters and Aurors from earlier, with the strength of their Disillusionment Charms, even ordinary legendary wizards wouldn't be able to easily detect them.
"Committee Member Flamel, the target has appeared! But…"
In the silence, the brooch on Link's chest suddenly transmitted Sander's voice.
Hearing the hesitation in Sander's tone, Link frowned and said coldly, "But what? Say everything clearly in one go!"
"Yes! Committee Member Flamel!" Sander jolted and continued, "There are three other people around the target. They're of different ages, but they're all wearing Beauxbatons student uniforms!"
Hearing this, Link raised an eyebrow.
Dumbledore, standing beside him, sighed and said, "Then we can only give up. Otherwise, the battle that follows will definitely affect those three children. We still need to have a bottom line as people. Link, don't you think so?"
From inside Link's brooch, Sander, who was still connected to the call, gave no response.
He was the director of the Auror Office and only took orders from Link, the committee member.
As for Dumbledore.
He didn't have the authority to command him.
Hearing this, Link sneered and glanced at Dumbledore.
He was certain this was nothing but an excuse.
Dumbledore simply didn't want to fight the Shadow Man right now.
'As for compassion.. Heh.'
When he raised Harry Potter, that special Horcrux of Voldemort, like livestock waiting to be slaughtered, why didn't he mention anything about that?
"Give it up. We have to make a move tonight!", Link said coldly.
Dumbledore said nothing. He simply stared quietly at the bridge below.
There, the three children Sander mentioned, along with Liro himself, had already appeared.
The group was chatting and laughing as they walked this way.
Through magic, Dumbledore and Link could even clearly hear what they were talking about.
Listening to the children talk about their past, Dumbledore's expression became extremely conflicted.
He had conducted countless investigations into Beauxbatons and even the entire French Ministry of Magic.
During that process, almost everything he saw was condemnation of Maxim and the French Ministry's obsessive reforms.
The heads of small magic schools that had lost teaching resources and students cried to him.
Saying Beauxbatons had destroyed their dreams and livelihoods.
People who had once studied and lived at Beauxbatons also complained to him.
Saying Beauxbatons was now carrying out cruel jungle-style competition, making children fight each other like beasts.
———
Too many.
There were simply too many such claims.
So many that Dumbledore had almost already sentenced Beauxbatons to death in his heart.
But now, listening to the stories of those three children, Beauxbatons didn't seem quite so unbearable?
Those small magic schools that had been forced to close.
Did they really want to properly educate students?
Or like the girl's experience earlier, were the principals and professors just looking for free test subjects, or slaves?
And even if they truly wanted to educate students and realize their ideals.
With their knowledge, were they really qualified to teach properly?
Wouldn't they just be misleading students instead?
Those who denounced Beauxbatons' vicious competition.
Could it be that they simply couldn't compete, were knocked down from their former high positions, and therefore became resentful?
No matter what, Beauxbatons still gave students decent food, a good learning environment, and a chance to rise.
From the perspective of the current students of Beauxbatons, it really was a beautiful paradise.
Dumbledore's mouth twitched slightly.
At this moment, he regretted agreeing to help Link hunt the Shadow Man at Beauxbatons.
Beauxbatons still had value.
And the students inside were innocent.
He slightly turned his head and looked at Link.
Link was also watching Liro and the others below.
He didn't have as many associations and feelings as Dumbledore, but he was still slightly moved by the stories of those three children.
He also turned his head, and their eyes met.
As they looked at each other, Link said calmly, "In a moment I'll move first and hold Liro down. You take those three children away. For now, I'll treat that as our top priority in this operation."
This was already the biggest concession Link could make.
Dumbledore understood that clearly.
Because Link's purpose was fundamentally different from his.
Link only wanted to hunt the Shadow Man. As for those children, whether they lived or died didn't really matter to him.
Dumbledore's lips lifted slightly, showing some relief as he said, "I thank you on behalf of those three children."
"Heh!"
Link let out a cold laugh.
Given how loyal those three children were to Beauxbatons and Maxim, Link thought it was more likely they would try to fight Hogwarts afterward.
He quickly refocused his mind and put all his attention on the four people below, looking for the best opportunity to strike.
This wasn't difficult.
The four below were chatting and laughing without the slightest bit of vigilance.
Link even saw the Shadow Man called Liro reach out and stroke the girl Harry's head.
"This really is… disgusting.", Link muttered, a mocking smile on his face.
He didn't believe Liro had any real affection for those students.
Such emotions shouldn't exist in Voldemort or these Shadow Men.
So all of this was just fake and revolting acting.
To end this disgusting scene, Link slowly took out his wand.
But at that moment, a look of pain appeared on the girl Harry's face below.
Then her head, like a watermelon with a firecracker hidden inside, suddenly exploded.
Some of the bright red liquid was even blasted more than ten meters into the air by the extreme force and splattered onto Link.
Both Link and Dumbledore couldn't believe their eyes.
The atmosphere among the four below had been so good just moments ago.
No one could have expected something like this to suddenly happen.
Liro… had actually crushed that girl's head.
"Beast!"
While Dumbledore was still stunned, Link had already roared in fury.
Vast and surging magic power poured out wildly, condensing at the tip of his wand into a hiltless blade that slashed viciously down at Liro below.
Because he struck in anger.
Link's intense emotions also affected his magic.
Making it more violent, more terrifying.
The edge of the blade even flickered with serrated patterns, raising its destructive power far beyond normal.
However...
Facing such a terrifying blade, Liro simply smiled and didn't move at all.
Bang!
The blade chopped down, but suddenly stopped less than ten centimeters above Liro's head.
A crisp sound also rang out in the air.
It felt as if the blade had struck some kind of hard metal.
"Link, keep going!", Dumbledore's voice suddenly rang out.
Immediately, brilliance erupted behind Link as countless dazzling golden lights were poured into the blade in his hand.
With this golden reinforcement, the original single-hand sword shape began to compress, eventually turning into a golden spike.
Clearly, this kind of blade was more suitable for armor-piercing, and its power was even greater.
But even with Dumbledore's help, Link's blade still couldn't advance even an inch.
The only change brought by the golden spike was revealing the true form of the energy blocking Link's attack.
It was a large mass of dark red blood mist, dim and dull, almost unnoticeable in the darkness, like ordinary mortal blood.
But now it was constantly gathering in the air, forming a giant hand that tightly gripped Link's blade.
And the source of that blood mist was the girl's corpse whose head Liro had crushed.
Seeing this, both Link and Dumbledore showed shock in their eyes.
This was a magical phenomenon they had never seen before.
Meanwhile, Liro's lips slowly curled upward into a gentle smile.
"This is the power of love. Or you could say, the power of wishes."
Liro spread his hands and said, "The girl's love was so intense that her power could block a joint strike from two legendary wizards and protect the one she loved!"
As he spoke, Liro turned to look at the boy beside him.
At this moment, the boy's entire body was already dyed red with the blood that had sprayed from the girl's neck. He stood there blankly, his vision filled with red.
Liro's gaze seemed to wake him from his daze.
He looked at Liro in disbelief. His body began trembling, but a look of realization slowly rose in his eyes.
"Jili! Run!"
He roared at the little boy who hadn't fully recovered from the Obscurus influence, then gritted his teeth and lunged at Professor Liro.
However, all this effort was useless.
Another brief sound of slicing rang out, and the boy's broken body fell to the ground. Blood quickly spread across the white marble bridge beneath him.
Liro reached out, and the blood that had been flowing freely on the ground rose into the air like the previous blood mist.
But unlike before, most of this blood mist was grasped in Liro's hand and turned into a blood-red spear nearly three meters long, while a smaller portion enveloped the youngest boy, seeming both to protect him and to call him to wake.
Liro paid little attention to that side. The blood spear in his hand seemed weightless, yet also unimaginably heavy.
With a casual swing, a terrifying tearing sound exploded through the air.
The golden blade in Link's hand, completely formed from magic, was instantly shattered into powder by that strike.
Even Link and Dumbledore themselves.
Though they dodged in time and weren't directly hit by the spear, were still blown back by the shockwaves.
"This is another completely different kind of love."
Liro stroked the blood spear admiringly and said, "The boy's wish was to protect Beauxbatons and cut down injustice! Thus, he became the sharpest weapon in the guardian's hand!"
"What kind of guardian do you think you are?!"
Amid Link's furious shout, a dense barrage of spells poured out.
The blood mist hand immediately changed shape, forming an umbrella-like shield above Liro's head.
Those terrifying spells struck the umbrella surface, yet not only did they fail to explode, they didn't even create a ripple.
It felt as if all the spells had been absorbed.
But would Link really do something pointless?
A dark green spell, nearly blending into the darkness, had already quietly bypassed the umbrella shield's range and shot toward Liro on the bridge from the side.
This was a spell variant derived from Link's LV6 Killing Curse.
Only such powerful and flexible magic could easily bypass the blood mist shield and directly target Liro's life.
Unfortunately, Liro had more than just this one blood mist power.
Whoosh!
That terrifying tearing sound rang out again.
With a sweep of the blood spear, the Killing Curse was instantly annihilated.
At the moment they collided, a strange glow unique to spell deflection even appeared in the air.
This made Link and Dumbledore frown again.
Because they realized Liro seemed to be using that exaggerated blood spear as a wand.
And he was pretty good at it.
"I indeed cannot be considered a true guardian."
Holding the spear, Liro lowered his eyes and looked at the little boy beside him.
"This child is the guardian of Beauxbatons recognized by the boy. He has a pure soul, yet also possesses the early form of an Obscurus representing extreme chaos and violence. A rare dual soul in one body. Incredibly complex."
Liro suddenly chuckled, "So, Link, don't you think he's a bit like you?"
Link remained silent, his face completely expressionless.
Ever since his first angry strike, he had already activated Occlumency, entering a state of absolute rationality.
He wouldn't be stirred by such simple words.
And this was exactly the quality a good wizard should have in battle.
Intense emotions might boost magic power in some ways, but they also caused people to make irrational decisions.
Liro didn't seem discouraged.
He walked slowly to the little boy and placed his blood-stained hand on the boy's head.
The blood mist around the boy's body twisted continuously, as if trying to protect him.
Unfortunately, compared to Liro, it was far too weak.
"Why… why? Professor Liro, why?"
The boy seemed to have regained some awareness and spoke in pain.
Hearing this, a smile appeared on Liro's cold face.
"Because I love you. It is love that brought us together, and love that makes us strong, that lets us give ourselves for each other."
Liro said gently, "Child, your name is Jili, right? I see the light of love in you. You would be willing to become my sword, wouldn't you?"
"For me, for Headmistress Maxim, and for Beauxbatons!"
"For… Headmistress Maxim? For… Beauxbatons?"
The little boy murmured, and the pain in his eyes slowly began to fade.
"Yes. This is all for everyone." Liro stroked the boy's hair. "Go become a phoenix. Use your fire of protection to burn those invaders. This is your responsibility as the guardian of Beauxbatons."
"But… but…"
A look of confusion appeared on the boy's face. "But I've never seen a phoenix. I don't even know… what a phoenix looks like."
Liro froze for a moment, then laughed.
"Phoenix is just a title, not a specific creature. It represents courage and rebirth from ashes. The most beautiful thing in the world. And also, you."
"Child, there's no need to worry about what a phoenix is supposed to look like. As the guardian of Beauxbatons, you are the phoenix. No matter what you become, you are still a phoenix."
The boy's eyes gradually lit up.
He nodded excitedly at Liro.
"Mm! I understand, Professor Liro!"
His clear childish voice rang out, and his originally small body suddenly began to transform.
Countless pitch-black particles began pouring from his body, merging with the blood mist around him to form an even more terrifying power that wrapped around him.
This massive and horrifying cluster of magic twisted and tangled, eventually forming a bird-shaped creature over twenty meters long, carrying Liro as it slowly rose into the air.
'No!'
This thing could no longer be described as a creature.
It looked more like a bird monster drawn casually by a child.
Its body lines were strange and twisted, and the proportions of its limbs were extremely exaggerated.
Its body was thin like a pterosaur, almost skeletal.
Yet it also had colorful feathers like a parrot. It didn't look terrifying, but it was incredibly bizarre.
Most importantly, the black-red mist around it had condensed into layers of flame-like energy bodies, and this bird monster didn't even have claws or legs on its lower body.
With such a structure, it was destined to fly forever, never able to land.
This undoubtedly sent a message to its enemies.
This battle meant death without survival. Fight to the end.
"Screee!"
The 'phoenix' bird monster opened its crooked beak and let out a piercing cry.
Unlike the phoenix's song that could give courage to the timid, this cry contained endless resentment.
Link and Dumbledore floated in the night sky, quietly watching.
Neither showed any change in expression, but there was a trace of seriousness in their eyes.
"Looks like ending this quickly while minimizing damage to Beauxbatons isn't possible anymore."
Link shook his head and said with some regret, "Sander, you and your team don't need to participate in the next battle. Go meet up with the Hunters, then find Emily and the others and take them back to England."
After saying that, Link crushed the brooch before Sander could respond.
"Professor Dumbledore, stop holding back. Let's get serious."
Link said calmly. As he spoke, a mist armor engraved with complex magic patterns had already formed around his body.
Hearing this, Dumbledore also nodded indifferently. As his magic surged, golden light erupted around him.
This light was so dazzling, like the noon sun, that even the bright moon in the sky lost its brilliance and became mere background.
Seeing this, Link laughed softly.
This was the Dumbledore he knew.
Dumbledore was indeed kind, even toward enemies.
He always sought the best solution to preserve as much as possible and minimize losses for everyone.
But he also had a bottom line.
There was a scale hanging in his heart.
No one knew its exact standard, not even Dumbledore himself.
But clearly, Liro's slaughter of his own students and use of their lives and souls for battle had already crossed that line.
And that would naturally bring Dumbledore's full-force retaliation.
"Screee!"
Another sharp bird cry rang out.
The bird monster rushed toward Link and Dumbledore.
Liro, riding on its back, slowly raised his blood spear, taking the posture of a charging cavalryman.
Dumbledore, glowing like a god, now had a hint of killing intent on his face.
With a light point of the Elder Wand in his hand, the golden light surrounding him turned into a torrent and poured downward.
BOOM!
The bird monster and the golden torrent collided violently.
The explosion shook the entire Beauxbatons island, and chaotic magical currents burst across the night sky.
Even more shocking was that the bird monster actually withstood Dumbledore's attack.
Not only did it withstand it.
It even kept crying and flapping its flesh wings, pushing upward against the golden beam with the help of the thick magical flames around it.
"Heh!"
Liro, riding the bird, sneered and swung his blood spear, preparing a charged strike.
Dumbledore's attack was indeed powerful.
But not unbeatable.
The bird monster alone could already contend with it.
And if he added one spear thrust, breaking through with a single point.
Then the one who would lose would definitely be Dumbledore.
However, just as Liro finished charging and was about to thrust his spear.
Link, fully armored and tightly protected by mist armor, suddenly flashed and appeared beside him.
That alone wouldn't have been strange.
But most importantly, Link's wand and his free left hand had formed a strange gesture together.
Seeing this, Liro's expression froze, and a bad feeling rose in his heart.
He immediately tried to mobilize the surrounding blood energy for defense.
Unfortunately, it was too late.
"Burst!"
A highly compressed air bomb suddenly exploded.
An indescribable terrifying pressure slammed directly into Liro and the bird monster from the side.
Sending them crashing straight down into the mudflats below.
For a moment, the echo of the air explosion still lingered in the sky, unwilling to fade.
Meanwhile, the bird monster and Liro were deeply embedded in the mud.
Around them, countless bright red spider lily petals fluttered through the air, forming a strangely beautiful sight.