63 Chapter 63 - Apocalypse
Ten minutes until the beginning of the end.
"We've arrived."
"Where? To a bookstore?"
"Lady, I believe your daughter will tell you that we've arrived at our destination."
"What nonsense..."
"Mum, over there. The Leaky Cauldron," Amelia said, taking Mia's hand.
"This... This is absurd. There was nothing there just a minute ago."
"Welcome to the magical world, milady. And you, little witch. Follow me; I'll guide you. I had to come here today anyway. I agreed to meet a friend for a drink, a bit early, but I can wait. By the way, if you need to do some shopping, I recommend using the teleportation hall right away. The selection on Omnis Trading Street is much better."
"Mister, what are you talking about? What shopping, what teleportation hall?"
"Did you come here without an invitation from Hogwarts? Although it's strange they're sending letters so early..."
"What is Hogwarts???"
"Lady, wait a moment. First, please tell me why you came to this address?"
"The Elder gave me this address with a note!"
"Ah, you little girl. Do you mean you received this address not from an owl but from a person?"
"Yes!"
"May I see the note?"
"Here, please."
"Thank you, dear." The driver took the note and read it.
"If the world goes mad, take your mother to this address."
"Hmm..."
"What did the person who gave you this note look like?"
"European face with subtle Slavic features, well-defined lines, expressive cheekbones, and a slightly aggressive gaze. Dark as the night hair, brown eyes with a hint of red now and then. Dressed in a dark burgundy English suit with a white handkerchief in the pocket."
"Like this?" The driver pulled out a newspaper from his pocket, but it was different from what Muggles usually see.
Pictures and photographs in the newspaper were moving. But most importantly, the teenager they met an hour and a half ago was in the photo.
In the photo, Asmodeus stands in a Tony Stark pose, arms wide, embracing the whole world. And behind him, a beautiful picture unfolds: a green forest with strange walking trees.
Above the photo, there was a caption.
"Asmodeus Morningstar is changing the world again! Druids return to the magical community! Go to the Druid village Cymru and see if you have what it takes to become a guardian of nature!"
"Oh my god, it's him!"
"You're a very lucky little witch. Most Squibs owe their lives to this man."
"Who are Squibs?"
"Well, that's not important right now. I don't know why Mr. Morningstar gave you this note, but it means he thinks you can get acquainted with the magical world a little earlier. Follow me."
"Mr. Driver, what about the car? You parked on the sidewalk..."
"Firstly, my name is James. Secondly, this place is invisible to Muggles. Honestly, even if I park the car in the middle of the alley, no one will see why it can't pass. So don't worry; let's go."
Amelia took Mia's hand and followed the driver. As they were about to open the door, they suddenly heard screams.
"Plane!!! The plane is falling!!!"
"Run!!!"
"Call an ambulance and the police!!"
"Phones aren't working!!!"
"Damn, the car won't start!!!"
The trio saw how the thriving city changed in a second. They didn't even notice the countless accidents on the road; all they saw was a plane falling towards them.
"To the bar! Quickly!" James forcefully pulled Amelia and Mia into the bar.
Ten seconds later, an explosion rang out, and a few streets in London were engulfed in flames.
Fortunately, the plane didn't crash directly into the bar but flew over another street or two and crashed. In the bar, thanks to magic, they didn't hear the explosion, and no one felt the shockwave.
"Tom! Report to the Ministry of Magic. Something is going on in London. Cars are crashing, and planes are falling!"
"James, calm down. Explain in order. What do you mean planes are falling?"
"Tom, look out the window! London is on fire!"
James led the old Tom to the window and pulled back the curtain that separated the magical world from the outside.
Old Tom saw the city in flames. Every other car that used to drive through the city was now ablaze. Buildings on the street across were already burning. Some people were on fire as they ran away from the flames.
"Merlin! What's happening?!"
"Tom, do you understand now?! Call the Ministry of Magic urgently! Have them send someone for help. I doubt that only our street, where wizards live, is affected by this. We need to report this to the relevant authorities!"
"Yes, yes, you're right. I'll call the Ministry of Magic right away."
Tom turned around and went into the room behind the bar.
The bar was quiet. The wizards also witnessed the hellish scene outside when James pulled back the curtain.
"Um, excuse me, could you please tell us what this place is?" Mia, somewhat recovered from the shock, decided to ask.
"Oh, sorry, I completely forgot about you. We're currently at The Leaky Cauldron. This is the entrance to Diagon Alley, as well as one of the four major teleportation gates in England. This place used to be considered the entrance for young wizards to the magical world. Although nowadays people prefer taking their children to Omnis Trading Street, but thanks to its convenient location, Diagon Alley and The Leaky Cauldron remain very popular."
"Mister, please stop for a moment. I understand that we are in The Leaky Cauldron, but what do you mean by 'entrance to the magical world'?"
"Miss Mia, your daughter is a witch. And I don't know why, but Mr. Morningstar decided to bring her into the magical world earlier. Although... there are rumors that Mr. Morningstar possesses the gift of prophecy, like Grindelwald. The only difference is that he doesn't admit it. Perhaps he predicted that something was about to happen in London... but why didn't he inform anyone..."
James's speech was interrupted by Tom.
"They said they already know. Asmodeus Morningstar and Dumbledore notified them about it five minutes before it started. They are investigating and will try to help."
Upon hearing Tom's words, everyone in the bar calmed down. Whether it's Dumbledore or Asmodeus, both are considered extremely reliable individuals. Wizards believe that once they take charge, success is assured.
"Lady, little Amelia. Come with me. I'll guide you through Diagon Alley. You should distract yourselves from what's happening outside."
"Okay... And this so-called magical world? Will it be affected?"
"Hahaha, don't worry. All trading streets and magical structures are protected by magic. Don't worry, let's take a stroll through Diagon Alley. I'll explain everything I know."
James approached a brick wall, and before him, an archway opened.
"All right..."
However not everyone was as fortunate as Mia and Amelia.
Asmodeus is now flying over London, no longer concerned that people below might notice him. In any case, their mobile phones are currently offline, and cameras aren't working. He can do whatever he wants. Asmodeus's gaze is directed towards the sky. At Heathrow Airport in London in 1992, around 1000 planes land daily, and the same number takes off. Fortunately, the last plane that took off crashed near The Leaky Cauldron but not onto it. Now, Asmodeus is getting rid of planes falling onto London.
"Another one..." Asmodeus sighed and raised his hand towards the falling plane. "I'm sorry... I can't save you..." he whispered, and maroon-black flames instantly engulfed the plane.
You might think Asmodeus could have levitated it with a spell. But no. Even with his mana reserves, lifting 190 tons is an overwhelming task. All he can do is get rid of the plane before it crashes.
What is happening in London is happening worldwide. The world as people knew it is changing. The more developed the countries, the more they suffer. For the entire world, tonight will be a sleepless night.
Planes stopped falling over London after about 15 minutes. Witches and wizards appeared on the streets, trying to help extinguish fires and assist in treating people under the cover of magic.
The next morning, the world fell silent. Most of the consequences of the global power outage were more or less resolved. At least, planes no longer fell from the sky, and trucks didn't crash into people's homes.
The world rolled back 200 years. Except for mechanical weapons like rifles, nothing works. Cars don't drive, planes don't fly, factories don't operate, farms stand idle, and cows have to be milked by hand.
The most significant impact is that every person in the world has lost basic access to information. Everyone is eager to find out if their relatives survived this apocalypse and if the same is happening in other countries.
In the magical world, everything is calm. Most wizards didn't even know that the world had reverted to the era of steam engines until the Ministry of Magic announced it. Only wizarding families with Muggle roots are shaken. But they were quickly provided housing in the village of Adastra.
Dumbledore and Nicolas are now traveling the world, engaging with the Muggle elite to explain the reasons for what happened and gather precise data on the damage caused by the "magical surge," as wizards called yesterday's events.
Asmodeus was sitting in his room, gazing at the system interface.
"System, display my current statistics."
"Ding, as per the host's request.
Host's statistics:
Bloodline: Fire Nation bloodline
Lineage: "???????" (Unknown lineage, unable to display) - 0.001% of lineage is activated. unknown....system.....cannot.....display..... The system determines that the unknown lineage requires the infusion of other lineages for its unlocking…
Combat Power: 53, the maximum available indicator in the host's world at this stage is 100.
Health: 200/200
Mana: 2200/2200
Strength: 28
Agility: 23
Intelligence: 36
Charisma: 20"
Skills:
**Fire Elementalization**: Allows the user to take the form of a fire elemental. In this state, physical attacks do not affect the user. Fire magic damage is increased by 20% in the elementalized state. Fire magic consumes 17% less mana after unlocking the bloodline potential in the elemental state.
Fire Magic: Level 100/100. Mastering the fire magic of the avatar world.
Fire Nation Martial Arts: 95/100.
Magic of the wizarding world: 45/100.
Basic knowledge of runes: 95/100
The alchemy of the magical world of Harry Potter: 50/100
New skills:
Frozen Heart: a passive skill formed as a result of the host's actions. In actions that people might call immoral and cruel, the host gets a boost. 20% boost to all stats
Necessity: a passive skill that strengthens the host's will."
Upon seeing the last two skills, Asmodeus smirked bitterly. Just yesterday, when he burned the third plane, he felt that something in him had changed. Well, perhaps for the better.
You know, it was difficult for him to adapt. He is ruthless in killing his enemies. But yesterday, he had to kill many innocent people who were not against him or posed a threat to him. Yesterday was his own choice, which he made to reduce future losses in the case of a slow transition and accelerate the strengthening of the world...
"Open the system storage."
"Ding, the system storage is available for viewing."
"Open the gift set."
"Ding, the first world improvement gift set is open. Received:
"Bloodline Fusion Potion - allows merging two lineages of rare level and below into one epic-level lineage."
"Voucher for visiting a random world for 90 days. The world level may be higher than the host's world. The system provides protection for the host, hiding the host's existence from beings with combat power exceeding 500. But be cautious when using!"
"5000 system points."
Seeing the items he received, Asmodeus rejoiced. Firstly, the Bloodline Fusion Potion. Asmodeus had long been contemplating acquiring a second bloodline. However, a rare-level bloodline alone costs at least 15,000, and the fusion potion is another 5000. Until he opened the gift set, he didn't have enough funds. Now he not only has the means but also a certain reserve remaining.
In addition, the ticket for a journey to another world made Asmodeus wary. The restriction of 500 points means that creatures in other worlds he may encounter could be stronger than 500 points.
Asmodeus now has a rough understanding of how powerful a being with combat power exceeding 500 points is. After the magical surge, wizards, on average, became twice as powerful as they were. Asmodeus is no exception. However, the system evaluated this enhancement as only 3 points, which is very low.
"Open the trading center."
"Ding, the trading center is open."
"Buy the Airbender bloodline."
"Ding, 15,000 points deducted. Bloodline infusion will begin in 3, 2, 1. Please take the bloodline fusion potion as soon as possible!"
Asmodeus immediately drank the potion. Within a second, he felt as if a new type of mana flowed through his veins. Initially, the mana of the air element conflicted with the mana of the fire element, causing Asmodeus to scream in pain. However, he then felt the emergence of a third energy that merged with the two types of mana, unifying them. If before, he had red fire element mana and white air element mana flowing within him, now the streams merged into a single flow. The color of the mana now shimmered from silver to red.
But the changes in Asmodeus didn't stop there. His right eye turned red, while his left eye became brilliantly gray. His hair also ceased to be dark black, gradually shifting between red and gray until settling on dark red with gray tips. After an hour, the transformation was complete, and all external changes vanished. He returned to his usual appearance.
Having drunk a glass of water and changed his attire, Asmodeus opened the system once again.
"Bloodline: Unnamed Epic-grade Lineage - combines the blood of the Fire Nation and Airbender monks. Currently, the bloodline is activated at 15%
Lineage: "???????" (Unknown lineage, unable to display) - 0.001% of lineage is activated. unknown....system.....cannot.....display..... The system determines that the unknown lineage requires the infusion of other lineages for its unlocking…
Combat Power: 58, the maximum available indicator in the host's world at this stage 100.
Health: 230/230
Mana: 2500/2500
Strength: 30
Agility: 30
Intelligence: 38
Charisma: 20"
Skills:
**Elementalization**: Allows the user to take the form of an elemental. The elemental form now combines two elements, fire and air. The user can adjust the percentage of a specific element. For example, the lower part of the elemental's body can be made of the air element, and the upper part of the fire element, to increase mobility and maintain combat power. In this state, physical attacks do not affect the user. Fire magic and air magic damage are increased by 20% in the elementalized state. Fire magic and air magic consume 17% less mana after unlocking the bloodline potential in the elemental state.
Fire Magic: Level 100/100. Mastering the fire magic of the Avatar world.
Air magic: level 25/100
Fire Nation Martial Arts: 95/100.
Magic of the wizarding world: 45/100.
Basic knowledge of runes: 95/100
The alchemy of the magical world of Harry Potter: 50/100
New skills:
Flight: Air magic is more suitable for flying than fire magic. Mana costs when flying using air magic are half of those when using fire magic. However, the speed during flight using air magic is reduced by 15%"
"System, name the bloodline - Firestorm's lineage."
"Ding, changes have been made to the system."
"58 combat power... Should be sufficient for now. Besides, I feel much stronger than before!"
Asmodeus decided not to create his own bloodline right now. According to the system's explanation, the higher his combat power and the stronger his original bloodline, the easier it would be to create his bloodline with a rapid increase in combat power.
Just as he wanted to test his new elementalization state, a knock on the door interrupted him.
"Knock, knock, knock!"
"Asmodeus, Headmaster Dumbledore and Nicolas Flamel have returned. They're calling you to the headmaster's office."
"Alright, Josh, I'll go to them now!"
In a couple of minutes, Asmodeus was in Dumbledore's office.
"So, what's the estimated damage?"
"They are still calculating, but no less than 10 million people perished just in Europe..."
"..."
"How about the situation with electricity?"
"Zero. There's no electricity worldwide. As soon as you try to generate electrical energy, it's as if something suppresses it. Muggle scientists say it feels like they are trying to set fire to wood deep underwater."
"How's the Muggle elite handling it?"
"Frightened. Those without access to magic and the magical world are on the edge. Even ordinary Muggles. People are scared and want answers from their governments. And the governments can't say it's because of magic, as it might spark a new witch hunt."
"Ha, let them try. We are stronger now than ever in my memory, and except for rifles, for which they can't even make bullets now, they can't use any of their weapons," smirked Grindelwald.
"War is unnecessary. Tell the Muggles that in a month, they can announce the existence of the magical world. Just make sure they come up with some nonsense about solar flares causing the electricity outage."
"A month? Are you sure?"
"Yes, in a month, the academy will be fully prepared, and we can admit the first students. Besides, with the increase in mana in the world, many new natural-born wizards will emerge this year. Elysium and Hogwarts will share them, but other countries will have to step up."
"Do we need to start preparing the magical world?"
"Yes, just announce it in two weeks."
"What about selecting students? You can't admit all the Muggles in the world to one academy."
"That's not necessary right now. I recently created a sensor. It checks a person's mana conductivity. The more talented the person, the higher the score. Look."
Asmodeus pulled out something like a prophecy ball, but it was black with a white ruby inside.
When Asmodeus touched the ball, something like a hologram appeared on top. This "screen" was created with illusion magic. On the screen, it said:
"9 stars. Maximum mana conductivity."
"See? It measures from 1 to 9. It even works on people who don't have magic, with minimal margin of error."
"Alright, let me try."
Nicolas took the ball in his hand, and it displayed:
"9 stars."
"Oh, we're equally compatible with mana."
"Give it here!"
Grindelwald also wanted to check his rating.
"9 stars."
"Ha-ha, Albus, maybe it turns out you're the weakest among us?!"
Dumbledore took the ball and it showed:
"9 stars."
Seeing this, Grindelwald asked, "Asmodeus, is your ball broken? Does it show 9 stars to everyone?"
Dumbledore: "I believe you're insulting me, aren't you?"
"Calm down. Do you think everyone can earn 9 stars? Only the strongest wizards can achieve that! The average score at Hogwarts is 3.5 stars. Moreover, each subsequent star represents potential twice that of the previous one. We're simply at the peak of this ball's measurement capabilities because we're all powerful wizards."
"But Asmodeus, do you want to select people solely based on the ball's rating? Won't we lose people with talents in other areas?"
"Not solely based on the ball. First, all natural-born wizards can enroll in the academy if they wish; that's non-negotiable. Second, we will check the number of stars. It will have a prioritized value. Third, we will conduct a willpower test for all applicants using illusion magic. The fourth aspect of the selection process includes a general exam with questions about basic understanding of the magical world. There will be time allocated for preparation—two weeks. This means that upon receiving a letter from my academy, if a person decides to enroll, they will be provided with study materials, and they will have two weeks to prepare. Talent is not everything; in reality, Professor McGonagall has a talent level of 6.5 stars, but she is very determined and has managed to reach a level close to ours. Just so you know, Snape has a talent level of 7.5 stars, and he could easily reach our level if he focused on magic itself rather than potions. Although who knows, maybe he can create his own combat style based on potions?"
"So, you want to admit people with the highest average score to the academy?"
"Yes, at least for the first few years until new magic schools emerge."
"What's the weighting of the scores in the three assessments?"
"If we divide the average score into 100%, talent assessment takes up 40%, and the tests and willpower each contribute 30%."
"So, a third of those with the best talent will have an advantage?"
"A slight one, but yes."
"Hmm..." Dumbledore nodded. He wasn't keen on segmenting people this way, but he understood it was necessary in this situation.
"Stop. What about age?"
"We accept students from 11 up to 30. I don't care how old someone is if they have potential. But for now, I'll focus on people in this range. The academy will have courses in magic for the elderly regardless. We need to quickly train many people to use magic in everyday life, farming, production, etc. And that's not an easy task."
At that moment, Grindelwald intervened, "Alright, it's settled! Nurmengard will also become a magic academy! I also want to be a headmaster. Both you and Albus have your own schools, and Nico built most of the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, even though he's not the headmaster, but still, the fountain in the academy is named after him. I want my academy too!"
"Uh, I don't mind."
"Me neither."
"I'm indifferent."
"Since we have access to four magic schools, I propose creating a student exchange program between the schools. Students who are interested can go on exchange to one of our schools."
"Agreed, but we don't necessarily have just four academies."
"What do you mean?"
"Druids, they want to build something like a druidic academy of magic, although it will only be designed for 100 people."
"Alright, let's call Valchar to get his opinion on this."
Asmodeus took out a beetle phone from his pocket and said, "Call Valchar, the Ent."
*Ring, ring...*
"Oh, Asmodeus, is that you? Hello, how have you been? I heard you've been very busy lately. It's been a while since we last saw each other. Come to us; our cherry tree has brought very tasty berries..."
"Hello, Valchar. I'll definitely come to you next week. But right now, I have a question for you."
"What is it?"
"I heard that you also want to open a magic academy for druids."
"Yes, that's correct. Thanks to your advertising in these newspapers of yours, many people came to us, and we decided it's better to build a full-fledged educational institution than sit on the grass in a circle..."
"That's wonderful, and I fully support you. Also, would you like to introduce a student exchange program with our academies?"
"What's a student exchange?"
"It's..."
After two minutes of explanation:
"Yes, of course, I agree. I think broadening horizons will be very beneficial for any students."
"Great, when I come to have berries with you, we'll sign an agreement on behalf of our academies. By the way, I suggest starting construction as soon as possible; from next month, there will be many more visitors!"
"Alright, alright... See you then."
"Yes, see you."
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