"Good. The greatest threat has been dealt with—though he doesn't seem to have been all that dangerous."
As he casually pulled out a Shield Charm from behind him, easily blocking all the soft, silent spells that had been cast at him, Avada turned and swept a casual glance over the battle behind him.
Krum was not far from him. At this moment, he had already taken advantage of the chaos to bring down his first target with a Stunning Spell. Fleur, meanwhile, had completely transformed into her Veela form. Flames powerful enough to suppress a dragon blazed from her hands once more, and the wings on her back had also carried her body high into the air...
Judging by the strength of that silent Dark spell just now, Barty Jr.'s strength is still quite good. He just suffered from the disadvantage of being unable to chant. Otherwise, he probably could have caused me some trouble...
"Stupefy, Stupefy, Stupefy!"
Several more Stunning Spells sprayed from the tip of Avada's wand, cleanly sending off several Dark wizards who had just fired magic at him.
By this point, even the slowest among them could more or less realize the fact that they had become targets for the champions' attacks. So even though they still could not communicate with one another, they tacitly aimed their wands at the three faces that were clearly much younger than theirs and launched their attacks.
In any case, they had already fallen into Dumbledore's hands. There would absolutely be no good end waiting for them. And since he looked down on them so much, intending to hand them over to a few hotheaded students who had not even graduated yet for practice, then letting those arrogant fellows taste the pain of losing students at the very end might not be such a bad thing!
For some reason, such seemingly irrational thoughts now filled the mind of every Dark wizard, driving them to pull out their wands without hesitation and silently cast the strongest Dark Magic they could use at the three young champions. They had completely forgotten that participating in a murder without being the mastermind would only earn them a limited sentence, and that evading guilt had always been what these people, who had escaped punishment after the First Wizarding War, were most skilled at...
As for the reason, Avada guessed that it was probably related to those gases from earlier.
When it came to scheming against people, those two old foxes, Dumbledore and Grindelwald, were simply far too skilled.
Stupefy—Fleur's side is about to finish charging. Krum is also preparing a powerful Dark spell... I need to move faster. I can't let them steal too much of the spotlight.
As he flickered to the other side of the shield with an Apparition, temporarily removing himself from the encirclement, Avada quickly glanced at Fleur and Krum's situation.
Besides, the two of them don't know how to hold back. Those Dark wizards who can't chant can't produce any defenses that are too strong either... I'm still counting on this group to make a public appearance at the trial. They can't have any accidents here.
"In that case..."
Feeling the faint exhaustion slowly growing beneath his seemingly surging and boiling mental power, as well as the powerful magic condensing on Krum's and Fleur's wands in the distance, Avada swiftly made his decision as well.
"Then let's do something a little more advanced."
"I originally only planned to broaden the students' horizons, but now it seems the strength of soul magic has also exceeded my original expectations... Perhaps I can try giving Dumbledore and the others a little soul-magic shock?"
Along with this thought, Avada first released another Shield Charm to give himself a bit of protection. Then he turned around directly, no longer looking at the Dark wizards behind him who were frantically attacking him. Instead, he aimed the wand in his hand at the enormous shield that firmly trapped everyone inside...
"What is he trying to do?"
In the distance, Dumbledore looked at Avada's actions and raised his eyebrows slightly, not quite understanding what this student of his was doing now.
He had indeed passed Grindelwald's instructions on to Avada, telling him to perform a little more impressively in the final task so that the things Grindelwald had secretly tinkered with could gain a little reflected glory. And that act of instantly defeating Barty Jr. just now had indeed given him a small surprise.
But why was he aiming at his shield?
Could it be that he actually thought he could swiftly unravel this shield, which had been built with technology provided by Grindelwald and his school, then personally constructed using Dumbledore's own magic amplified by the Elder Wand?
Moreover, in order to fully ensure the students' safety, when Dumbledore built this shield, he had specially consumed quite a few magical materials beyond the original standard. He had also spent several full days before finally completing it.
A product carefully crafted by a top-tier wizard using the latest technology was absolutely not something that could be shaken casually. Otherwise, he, Dumbledore, would never have dared to throw dozens of Dark wizards inside!
And so, in the very next moment after these thoughts had just flashed through Dumbledore's mind—
Bzzzz—
At the point where Avada's wand came into contact with the shield, a dazzling halo suddenly surfaced slowly on the surface of the barrier. Then it rapidly spread outward, dyeing the originally transparent shield with a layer of pale blue while continuing to emit a faint humming sound...
"?!"
Dumbledore nearly fell straight out of his chair.
How is that possible—did Gellert secretly show him the blueprints?
No, he was already suspected to have a talent for peering into magical structures. That part isn't surprising—but where did he get enough mental power to shake the foundation of the entire shield structure?! Even I wasn't lightly exhausted when I built it back then!!
Could it be a gain he obtained while studying souls? Like what Gellert mentioned before—the secret behind the power of the Deathly Hallows...
Avada still had no idea that Dumbledore had already guessed most of his secrets with near-perfect accuracy. He remained immersed in the shock brought to him by the amplification of soul magic.
His magical perception had allowed him, from the very beginning, to clearly see exactly what kind of powerful force and exquisite structure had been injected into this shield. If this were him before mastering soul magic, never mind directly controlling it like he was now—even opening a tiny hole in it would have been extremely difficult!
But now...
"Fleur and Krum just so happen to be at the edge of the shield right now. That saves quite a bit of trouble... Off you go!"
The shield that had originally covered an area the size of a football field suddenly shrank by a large circle, pushing Krum, who still had his back against the shield to avoid being attacked from behind, as well as Fleur, who was floating in the sky and firing flames toward the ground, inward before they could react.
And just as they were startled and about to change positions, temporarily moving away from the edge of the shield, the barrier behind them suddenly opened a doorway. Then, as the shield contracted once more, it directly expelled both of them from the shield's range!
(End of Chapter)