52 The End of the Wizarding War
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
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I walk out of the treeline, now out of the Mirror Dimension, and stop, my wand held at my side, and my swords back in the Nowhere. I was wearing my Howling Commandos uniform itself, since I had no other combat uniform for the Wizarding World.
Looking in front of me, I frown, feeling a tiny bit of doubt creep in. Nurmengard stood right there, made of dark black stone and bricks. There was a central tower, over 20 stories tall, surrounded by four other towers just 5 stories tall, all five towers connected by hallways.
The Fortress itself was surrounded by a wall, that by itself was 2 stories tall, while a single wooden gate protected it from intruders. It was also surrounded by mountains, on three sides, which meant the only way through, was through the gates.
And protecting the gate, stood.. a lot of people, at least 3000 in fact, all with their Wands pointed right at me.
Gellert chose one hell of a place to put his Headquarters cum prison.
"Captain Mason Aves! Traitor to Wizardkind! Welcome to Nurmengard, we have been waiting for you!" Someone I don't recognise yells, as he walks a few steps forward.
There was still a distance of at least 100 meters between us, and since none of them was attacking me, I stay my hand.
Looking at him, I try and use Telepathy, finding it impossible. Damn the bloody potion. What's the use of having the most powerful Telepathy on the entire planet, when a single potion can grant my victims immunity.
I glance at the army, my Telepathy failing to get into their minds too, and I say, "Which one of us is trying to break the Statue of Secrecy again? The very statute that protects us Wizards from the muggles?"
Oh? What's this? There were more people inside the Walls, and 5 of them had their Minds completely open to me. I enter one of their minds, and immediately scowl, seeing Grindelwald and Dumbledore talking, their wands already drawn.
Well, I said I'd give him a chance to take Grindelwald down. If he does, good. If he doesn't, I'll be there to save his old arse.
The man in front of me chuckles, bringing my attention back to him, and asks, "And why should we hide from the muggles, Mr Aves? Besides, the Statute doesn't protect us from them, it protects them from our retaliation. How many Wizards have they killed, how many children died because the Aurors didn't get there on time? And what happened then? The muggles just got their memories erased, and were sent to live their lives."
Okay, I admit muggles always draw the bigger stick when it comes to the Statute, and I kinda agree with his words, but no way I'm admitting that.
The Statute has some problems, no doubt there, mainly that it protects Muggles from Wizarding retribution a lot more than it protects young wizards from Muggle attacks. But exposing the entire Wizarding World, and trying to take over the muggle one is not the solution Grindelwald's people think it is.
Grindelwald took an actual, legit problem with the Wizarding World, with the Statute, and used it as a fuel to raise his army. The aim is admirable, but only if it is actually the aim. Grindelwald has his own goals mixed in.
"I don't have time for this." I mumble, and wave my hand, intending on creating a portal to send the entire army to middle of the Pacific ocean.
Unfortunately, the only thing that happens is a few golden sparkles form into the air, and dissipate, with no portal forming. I frown, immediately realising something.
"Your Sorcery won't work here, Mr Aves. Gellert has created a barrier around us all. No apparition, no broom flying, no Portals. The only way to get into Nurmengard, is to walk through the gate. The only way out of here, is to walk backwards. But well, we're not going to let you do that." The Wizard explains, needlessly.
I'd already sensed that as soon as I'd tried opening the portal. This must be one hell of a barrier if it only prevented teleportation and flight, or broom flight I guess. I didn't feel anything that could stop me from flying on my own.
The Wizard then fires a single killing curse at me, that I negligently wave my hand at, to block it with a stone.
Before anyone else can do anything, a cacophony of cracks sound behind me, making me smile as soon as I hear the thoughts of someone familiar, a lot of people in fact. It seems the Barrier doesn't stop anyone from apparating in, either by design, or by a coincidence.
"You're late." I say, turning towards the first person to come towards me.
Alastor Moody grunts, limping towards me from some injury he sustained during this War, and says, "You gave us just one hour, Aves. We needed to get the forces ready. Be glad we're here at all."
And that they were. UK, USA, Japan, China, France, and from all over the world, Aurors had been gathered by the ICW, for the battle that will decide the fate of the Wizarding World.
One by one, hundreds of Aurors, Ministry officials, and volunteers apparate into the forest behind me, and form a line beside me, grouping themselves according to their nations. Seeing Darla's resolute face amongst the British coalition, which were right near me, I smile.
Then there were the Volunteers. I could see Nicholas and Perenell Flamel, together with Madam Lisa Bourgeois, the Headmistress of Beaxbaton's Academy in the French coalition, together with the French Minister.
Headmaster Dippet stood a few people away from me, in the British coalition, while the Durmstrang Headmaster, Viktor Munter, stood with a few of his teachers, a few students, and other Bulgarian volunteers. Damn, even their students came to fight?
Guess Durmstrang feels strongly about this War. Which.. understandable. Grindelwald gives Durmstrang a bad name.
All in all, including the Volunteers, our side numbered a little over 1500 people, while the other side numbered 3000.
"This will do." I mumble, turning my eye over the.. I guess Allied Army. Casting the Sonorous charm on myself, I say, "Gellert Grindelwald is inside Nurmengard, dueling Albus Dumbledore, the only way through is through that gate! There is an Anti-Apparition Ward cast, along with an Anti-Portkey Ward."
What? I'm not giving them a pep-talk, they've probably already had one. This is just so they don't get caught off guard when they try to apparate.
Turning back towards the enemies, I pat Moody on the shoulder, and say, "Don't get killed, Moody."
Snorting, Moody says, "Worry about yourself, kid."
"ATTACK!" the acolyte of Grindelwald yells, pointing his hand towards us.
Immediately, the 3000 people in front of us start running, and we do the same, everyone throwing spells at the opposing army.
I also run, keeping ahead of our army, and wave my hand upwards. Immediately, the Earth underneath the acolyte snaps upwards, throwing him into flying the sky. I throw a piercing hex after him, which hits his heart, digging into it, killing him.
"DON'T FUCKING KILL EVERYONE AVES! TOO MUCH PAPERWORK!" Moody yells, while Dueling 3 people at once.
Scowling, I refrain from pulling my swords out. I didn't want to use up all of my magic, I still had to fight Grindelwald. But it seems I will have to use Magic to fight these morons before I can move on inside.
Leaning back, I let a curse pass by, and glare at the offender. He widens his eyes, and immediately starts running backwards. Lifting a rock from the ground underneath, I throw it at his head, hitting right at the point where his head meets his neck, knocking him out by blunt force.
Time to defeat these weaklings while using only little of my Magic.
"FIENDFYRE!" someone to my extreme right yells, summoning the cursed flames in the middle of a crowd of Asian Aurors.
Fucking idiot!
I immediately run towards the man, not holding my speed back, and swipe my sword, beheading him. Looking up, I see the giant flaming bird, made of Fiendfyre, about to hit the Aurors, who were firing spells at it, to try and snuff it out.
Raising both my arms, I create a Telekinetic shield around the giant flames, stopping them before they can kill the Aurors. And then, suddenly, the flames dissipate, turning into.. water? The sphere of Water, no longer held by my Telekinesis, drops down on the ground, soaking all of the Wizards there save for me and the culprit. My Telekinesis saved me, and I have no idea what saved the culprit.
That was not magical transfiguration, because even my Telekinetic shield was transmuted into water.
I look down, to see a Chinese woman with her hand raised, looking at me in curiosity. I smile, and say, "Thank you, Madam Zhao."
I had it handled, my Telekinesis would have been able to suffocate the flames out within a minute or so. But, whatever she did, the transmutation, it helped immensely.
She nods at me with a smile, and says, "You're welcome Captain Aves."
And then, she turns towards the next enemies, using her hands, with no wand in sight, to send the group flying into the trees, no doubt knocking them out just by hitting them on the trees.
Curious, so she's either not a Witch, or she's preferring not to use her Magic, because I cannot sense a single drop of Magic being used here. A Telekinetic then, pretending to be a Witch?
Madam Ya Zhao, the Chinese Ambassador to the ICW, and a former teacher of Alchemy at Fenghuang, the Chinese school of Wizardry. If she turns out to not actually be a Witch, it'll be the longest con in the history of cons.
Well, whatever. She's on our side, and she actually cares about the Chinese Aurors.
Turning my eye away from the amazingly beautiful woman, who's in her 80s, but still looks 25, I go back into War. I've seen weirder things, to be honest.
It barely takes us 5 minutes to breach the Gate of Nurmengard. We had lesser numbers, for sure, but we also had better people. Nicholas and Perenell stayed at the back, casting shields to help anyone that they thought needed it.
The three Headmasters of the European schools, together with their nation's coalitions had taken on dozens of people at a time, and I had used my Telekinesis to knock people out by hitting their heads.. hard. There were still people fighting outside, but the gate was wide open for us, most of Grindelwald's people now unconscious or dead.
Through the gate, we could now see Albus Dumbledore and Gellert Grindelwald dueling in front of us, a barrier separating them from the outside world. Guess Grindelwald wanted to put on a show.
We walk inside, a few Aurors in front of me, with their wands ready to attack the barrier to kill Grindelwald. The time for his arrest was long gone, and even the ICW had unanimously decided that Grindelwald needed to die.
But, as soon as I walk through the gate, I raise my wand, casting the strongest Protego Maxima I can, while supporting it with my Telekinesis.
An intense beam of white light is emitted from inside the Nurmengard grounds, immediately killing the 6 Wizards that had gone on ahead, overconfident, by way of disintegrating them. The beam hits my shield, and stops, my shield strong enough to protect me and those behind me.
Feeling a hand pat my shoulder, I turn back to see Headmaster Dippet. He says, "Go and save Albus, my boy. We will deal with the nuisances."
I nod, and drop the shield. Waving my hand, I telekinetically throw the 15 Wizards that had attacked us with a single spell cast together, towards the left side, and see the three Headmasters, Alastor Moody, Madam Crickerly, and Darla run towards them, choosing their targets.
'Be careful, Darla. They're Grindelwald's acolytes, he definitely taught them some tricks.' I telepathically tell Darla, and turn towards the barrier, not waiting for an answer.
Perenell Flamel had come in behind us, and was currently busy healing the 5 prisoners, German officials, whose heads I had hijacked to keep an eye on Grindelwald and Dumbledore's battle, and Madam Zhao followed soon after, curiously enough, hanging back.
The Barrier was impressive, definitely one of the strongest I have seen. It was transparent, with a bit of a yellow tint to it, and every spell that hit it was absorbed by the barrier to increase its strength. Even Pure Magic blasts were absorbed, which tells me that attacking the Barrier with conventional Ward breaking spells is bound to be idiotic.
Slowly, I touch my hand to the Barrier, and close my eyes to get a feel for it. Okay, definitely idiotic to attack it with any spell. The barrier also went underground, and created a sphere around Grindelwald and Dumbledore, meaning I can't even dig my way through.
And Portals are still not an option, neither is apparition. I've tried.
Removing my swords from the Nowhere, I stab them both towards the Barrier, hoping the inherently magical properties, or even the Magic absorbing properties of the Swords breaks the Barrier down.
Good news, my Swords do stab through the barrier. Bad news, the Barrier is still intact, with no damage to either the swords, or the barrier. I pull them out, and send them back to Nowhere, scowling when I see the holes in the Barrier get repaired almost immediately.
So my swords can stab through, but they can't break the Barrier completely. I guess I need to weaken the Barrier first.
Taking a Basilisk fang out of the Nowhere, I hold it above my hand, and Telekinetically shoot it forward, stabbing it into the Barrier. Immediately, the Barrier becomes opaque, the Venom within the fang attacking it.
Good, Basilisk Venom works, but this is not nearly enough.
Still looking at the fang buried into the barrier, I wave my hand, throwing a stone in the way of a stray spell, that was about to hit Moody.
"Thanks Aves!" Moody yells, as he defeats one of the Wizards he was fighting, by breaking his leg and stunning him.
I bring a few more fangs out, and use Telekinesis to stab them in 4 other points. One right at the top of the spherical barrier, one behind Grindelwald, one to my right, and one to my left, making it a total of 5 fangs stabbing into the Barrier.
The opaque yellow barrier turns brown at the point where I had stabbed the fangs, and the venom keeps spreading, weakening the Barrier.
Suddenly, the sounds of battle coming from the inside stop, making me frown. I couldn't see inside, but just by the scents and sound, I could tell that Dumbledore had lost the fight, and Grindelwald was now taunting him.
I had expected Grindelwald to win, to be honest. He had too many changes in his life to not win. Sorcery, exposure to mutations, the sheer fact that everything about Marvel exists. I didn't, however, think, that he would win this early.
The Barrier was about 30% brown now, the Venom moving uncharacteristically slowly.
I need to know what kind of Barrier Grindelwald put up, because damn! This shit is impressive. I have to say, Grindelwald might be the current Dark Lord, but this is.. wow!
A Barrier that prevents anyone from teleporting in, or out, by any method, stop any spell from breaching, even the Killing Curse, and absorb the magic of the spells to strengthen it? And another Barrier that prevents teleportation of any kind, but only when it is directed outwards?
At about 80%, Grindelwald's heartbeat increases, as his right hand raises above. I smell the stench of wood burning a little, as Grindelwald prepares to cast a curse.
"Fuck!" I whisper, recognising the Curse just by the stench of death, and point my hand towards where I could smell Dumbledore. Telekinetically, I pull him backwards, not minding about being gentle, saving him from the killing curse.
90%.
Taking my sword out, I stab it once more into the Barrier, only this time, into the brown, corrupted part of it. The barrier starts glowing as it fights off the corruption of the Venom, as well as my Durmagol, and then, with a loud crack, it shatters into a million pieces.
The Basilisk fangs, which had been stabbed into the barrier, start falling from their positions, and I summon them towards myself, before they can even touch the ground. I then send them to Nowhere, since I don't want anyone to find them, and link Tom Riddle's death with me.
As Dumbledore and Grindelwald stare at the shattered pieces of the Barrier dissipating into thin air, I say, "You're not fucking dying yet, Dumbledore. You are not going to leave your mess in someone else's hands, uncleaned."
Albus chuckles, still laying down on the ground a few meters away from me, and says, "I wouldn't dream of it, Captain Aves."
As Dumbledore begins observing the other fights happening behind us, Grindelwald stares at me, a smile on his face, and says, "There he is, the last piece of the Puzzle! Captain Avalon, the Knight of the Realm! I've been waiting for you, Captain Aves."
Holding my wand to my side, I glare at him, and ask, "You didn't have to wait, Grindelwald. Death would have come to you soon enough."
This guy killed my entire family, save for my mother, tried to have Victor and James kidnapped, actually had me captured, caused the death of Tim, gave a dangerous Summoning Ritual to muggles, caused the death of 3 innocent Wizards for the sake of that Ritual, killed thousands of innocent people, including children, and he's still claiming to be the Savior of the Wizarding World.
The amount of anger I have towards him can only be dwarfed by the number of crimes he's committed.
Smirking, Grindelwald waves his hand, as another barrier starts forming around us. I immediately slap my hand towards Dumbledore, sending him Telekinetically flying towards Perenell Flamel, before the barrier completely forms.
I might not like the guy, but Dumbledore is a good teacher, and he doesn't deserve to die. And Grindelwald, evil bastard that he is, will definitely use Dumbledore as an innocent bystander during superhero fights.
As the barrier completely forms, Grindelwald clicks his tongue, and says, "Pity, I wanted to deal with you two together."
That.. wasn't magic either, just like the grass control. Another mutation? I mean, I know he was supposed to have at least 3 mutations, but still.
"Just how many Mutants have you sucked dry, Grindelwald?" I ask, feeling disgusted.
I might have stolen mutations too, but I did it by copying the gifts, not by.. actually stealing them. Victor's mutation I took by Magically merging his X-Gene with mine. James(the Language mutant) and Essex's Telekinesis I took by just being in their heads while they used said mutations.
Grindelwald, however, literally absorbed the life force of Mutants, and probably even other Wizards. I had seen the Ritual before, and there's no way in hell I'd ever do something like that. Completely absorbing someone? Hell no.
"Noticed that, have you?" Waving his hand, he creates another barrier in front of him, which forms in the shape if a circle, very slowly. He says, "This was a surprising find, since I didn't See it coming even after my.. Sight enhancement."
Right, he absorbed either a mutant with Precognition, or he absorbed another Seer Wizard.
"Found him in an orphanage in the US of A, right when I was about to destroy it, about 3 years ago. His barriers were strong, impossible to breach, well, almost impossible as you've proven, and they even stopped me from capturing him. But, as you can see, the barriers are very slow to form, and have almost zero application in combat. He had to get tired soon enough, and he did, 3 days later, amazingly enough. And well, you know the rest, it is your family's Ritual that I used, after all." Grindelwald says, making sure to speak as loud as possible.
The fights were stopping now, and a crowd was gathering outside the barrier, to look at us talk. Some were trying to take the barrier down, but obviously, these barriers are almost impossible to break, and they don't have Basilisk Venom to help them.
Funnily enough, the three people who should be able to break the barrier were staying still, not even trying.
I ask, "The same family you massacred in 1896?"
"They were in my way." Grindelwald simply says, shrugging.
Scowling at him, I ask, "Was my Uncle Samuel's three year old daughter, Rosie in your way? What about my mother's older sister, twelve year old Agatha? Were they in your way?"
Grindelwald waves his hand, and says, "They would have come after me, just like you now did. It would have been.. annoying."
Okay, time for talks is over. I might not have known my family, I might not like them even, by association of my squib hating grandpa, but I doubt my mother's sister, and their brother's daughter deserved to die. And he just said that he killed them just because they might prove an annoyance later, if left alive.
Waving my wand, I start the attack, by sending a Reducto at him. With his own wand, the Elder Wand, Grindelwald shields, and immediately fires the blood boiling curse at me.
I snap my wand, firing the Blood Freezing hex at the approaching curse, the two extreme curses cancelling each other out, and return fire with the Bone crushing curse.
He shields from it, and immediately fires another curse at me, one I didn't know of. Pointing my wand downwards, I transfigure the ground into wood, and raise it in the path of the curse. The curse hits, causing the wood to rot, and release corrosive fumes.
Waving my wand, I send the wooden trunk flying at Grindelwald, who destroys it with a reducto. He fires curse after curse at me, all of which I dispell using their counter curses.
Bone Breaking Curse gets the Bone Mending Charm at it. Blood Boiling gets Blood Freezing, and vice versa. Flesh Rotting curse gets a rock sent at it, to stop it from hitting me.
But then, he starts using other curses, curses which I have no knowledge of. I bring obstacles in all their paths, not wanting to see if my shields will hold.
Dodging the last curse, which hits the ground and causes it to light up with a lightning blast, I send my own Lightning bolt at him.
Grindelwald dodges it, by just walking to the left, and then shoots a focused beam of pure magic towards me. Straightening my posture, I point my wand at him, and copy him, shooting pure magic out of my own wand.
Just like I had seen happen with Dumbledore, the two beams of pure magic meet in the middle, sending a wave from their collision, and form into an orb in between. Winds start blowing wildly, as the orb sends out excess Magic in the form of Lightning, fire, and wind in all directions.
I take a step forward, my magic pushing the orb towards Grindelwald, and he does the same, keeping the orb in the middle. But then, he suddenly breaks the connection, sending both our Magic into the barrier above, as he sends a giant rock flying at me with the wave of his hand.
Taking Durmagol out of the Nowhere, in my left hand, I slash it at the stone, breaking it immediately, sending the two pieces flying backwards. My wand pointed backwards, I transfigure the two pieces of the rock into two tigers, made of actual flesh and bones, and send them running towards Grindelwald.
All that happens within a half second, as I point my wand at Grindelwald once again, and immediately cast a shield spell to defend myself from his dark blue flames. My tigers reach him, and one of them slashes at his face, while the other tries to bite into him.
Grindelwald waves his hand, conjuring his flames once again all around him, and uses them to burn the tigers away. Taking aim, I cast the Flame throwing spell, a higher level incendiary charm, which causes my wand to act like a Flame thrower, shooting red hot flames out of the tip.
The fire shoots out of my wand at speeds higher than my own running speed, and hit Grindelwald while he's busy dealing with the tigers. I don't let my guard down, however, since this is Grindelwald I'm fighting.
"Is it over?" I hear someone ask from behind the barrier, as I keep the spell going.
The fact that the Barrier is still standing should clue you in, you twat.
From the still shooting flames, I see movement, and the flames spread apart, as if Moses himself had brought out his staff. Standing unharmed, between the two beams of flame, was a smirking Grindelwald, completely unharmed.
The flames then start getting sucked towards him, towards his hands, and I cancel the spell. As if his left hand was a black hole, the flames keep getting sucked, spinning around him, until finally, Grindelwald raises his hand, an orb of extremely dense flames floating above it.
He then points the hand at me, immediately shooting the orb of flames towards me at very high speeds.
Even if I didn't have a Masters in Physics, I would have realised by virtue of common sense, that the condensed flames are volatile, and they will want to explode.
Sending my wand to the Nowhere, I clap my hands together, and separate them, causing my hands to glow from the channeling of the Universal Magic. Pointing my right hand towards the speeding orb, which was approaching me, fast, I cover it with my Magic, and then with the other hand, slap the covered orb up into the air.
BOOOOOOM!
The orb of condensed flames explode about 100 meters above us, with the force of a few grenades tied together, sending heat wave after heat wave down. The flash of light was enough to blind most people watching the fight, but Grindelwald and I had taken precautions, and we get right back into the fight.
He twirls his wand over his left palm, and summons the dark blue flames, that dance around his arm. And then, he sends those flames flying at me, using his arm to direct the flames.
Raising my arms, I summon the gateway to the Mirror Dimension in front of my, stopping the flames before they can hit me. But, suddenly, the gateway vanishes, and the flames fly towards me once again.
Shit! The Barrier! It's stopping Mirror Dimension opening too?
I jump to the left, but not unharmed, seeing a burn on my leg that was healing, albeit very slowly. A ring on my left hand glows, as a circular shield, similar to one that Steve used, appears in my left hand. The flames hit the Goblin's Silver shield, and immediately start getting sucked in, the enchantments on it helping a lot.
I had Enchanted this new shield to absorb any, and all forms of pure energy, since I wanted it to be similar to Vibranium. It is a good thing that Goblin's Silver is inherently good at that stuff, the Enchantments just speed the process up.
It won't work against the more volatile curses, like the Unforgivables, but against flames? Yeah, this helps. Doesn't matter what kind of flames, fire is fire.
I had also sensed no Magic from Grindelwald during this feat, save for him conjuring those blue flames, which means this was another Mutation of his. How many has it been now? Chlorokinesis, Barrier Creation, possibly Precognition, and now Pyrokinesis.
I place the shield in the Nowhere, not using its other Enchantment yet, and push both hands towards Grindelwald, who was preparing to cast another spell. From my hands, no wand in sight, two beams of Magic erupt, shooting towards Grindelwald while spinning to wound together as they go.
Grindelwald frowns, and shoots a single beam of Magic at the entwined magic, from his Wand. This time, I use my right hand to push the volatile orb forming in the middle upwards, and using my left hand, throw a Basilisk Venom absorbed Goblin Silver dagger at him, using my Telekinesis to speed it up.
Grindelwald is forced to point his own wand upwards, the orb moving both our hands there, and looks up. But, right before my dagger can hit him, he catches it in his left hand, without even looking.
His hand bursts into blue flames, and my dagger melts, turning into useless sludge that falls down on the ground.
I momentarily stop, wondering how the fuck he saw the invisible, supersonic dagger coming, and how the fuck did he catch it?
"You know, you're better than I had thought you would be. In all the fights that I had seen happen between us, before you went and messed with my Sight, never did you last this long, nor did you ever force me to use so many of my.. Gifts." Grindelwald says, as he dusts his hands together, the Elder Wand floating right there in front of him.
Scowling, I ask, "Your Sight isn't completely useless, even after my precautions, it seems. You still saw the dagger coming."
Grindelwald smirks, and says, "Well, it gives me a.. warning. You might have prevented me from Seeing you, but my death? You cannot stop me from seeing that, from preventing it even."
So I was right, his Precognition gives him a bloody Spider-Sense, or danger sense, to be exact. Magic could help him catch the dagger then, no doubt. But.. can he actually see his death coming, see his moves happening in the future, or does he just get a warning like, 'Watch out!'
One way to find out.
'Ventus,' I think, my hands pointed downwards. Immediately, a harsh wind blows inside the barrier, sending sand and dust flying towards Grindelwald.
He raises his arm to protect his eyes, but gets some sand in them anyway. His eyes closed, I shoot a tickling hex at him, and see it hit his face, immediately causing him to laugh a little before he dispells it.
I smirk, triumphant. Now I have you, Gellert Grindelwald.
Gellert has by now cleared his eyes, and glares at me, not at all amused. Stomping my leg on the ground, I cause a rock as tall and wide as I am tall to fly up and stop in front of me. Slapping it with all my strength, I use Telekinesis to send it flying towards Grindelwald.
Immediately after, I point both my hands at him, and cast 'Fulgur Flumen!' silently, sending multiple bolts of lightning flying out of my hands.
Grindelwald waves his wand, blowing the rock up into tiny dust, but widens his eyes seeing the lightning spell right behind him. He then does something that surprises me, even after everything I've already seen him do today.
Grindelwald apparates, disappearing from his location and immediately appearing a few meters to the right, letting the lightning slam into the ground.
He doesn't just apparate, though, I've seen this type of Apparition many times before, but never by a Wizard.
I seethe, my anger beyond any measure. Glaring at Grindelwald, I hiss out, "An Elf? You absorbed an Elf?"
Even if I had whispered it, my sound is carried all over the fortress, thanks to the absolute silence from the spectators.
"Oh, Gellert." I hear Dumbledore whisper, regret and disgust clouding his words.
Grindelwald dusts his trench coat, and says, "I had foreseen something like this happening, and Wizarding Magic, as superior it is to an Elf's, is very.. limited. There are no Wards that can stop an Elf from getting to its Master, and me.. I am my own Master."
He absorbed an Elf, the little creatures that try very hard to help Wizards, that never try to attack Wizards, ever. The most innocent sentient Magical creatures on the planet, and Grindelwald absorbed one just to gain their Apparition?
"AAAAARGHHH!" I yell, expelling pure destruction out of my hands in the form of a white light.
The white light speeds towards Grindelwald, disintegrating the ground and grass that it touches, and slams into.. something.
"SCREEEEEEE!" A loud, high pitched voice yells, its voice filled with pain. Through my white light, I see a piece of black cloth raising itself in front of the beam of destructive magic, with Gellert safe behind it.
A Lethifold?
My non-spell is too destructive for even the immortal Lethifold to handle, and within a single second of getting hit, it explodes, sending black pieces of itself flying everywhere. Unfortunately, that also causes my spell to stop, as I drop my hands, a bit tired.
Grindelwald smirks at me, and says, "You know, this is the first time I've seen a Lethifold die. Makes me glad I didn't bring them out before."
Them?
And then, Grindelwald waves his hand, a Sling Ring held in his fingers, creating a portal, as he yells, "APERIO BOREAS!"
Fucking Sorcery too? I mean, I expected it, having seen a Sling Ring in his hands during our last encounter, but still. I did not expect that Grindelwald would have made a pact with a Demon.
As the portal opens, no doubt his barrier allowing him to do all the stuff no one is supposed to, I immediately shield my eyes, taking a few steps back, shivering. So cold! The coldness of the other side of the portal was causing my teeth to almost start chattering.
The portal was near Grindelwald, which means it was at least 20 meters away from me, and yet, I could feel the extreme coldness chilling my bones.
"COME TO ME, MY CHILDREN! FROM THE ICY REALM OF IKTHALON, COME!" I hear Grindelwald yell, as something- no, multiple somethings start flying out of the portal.
Lethifolds, and Ikthalon, individually- bad news. Lethifolds powered by the Magic of Ikthalon's dimension? Infinitely worse news.
Taking my sword out, I cut the first approaching Lethifold, my enchanted sword having no troubles with killing the supposedly unkillable demon. But then, it suddenly explodes with cold energy expulsion, sending me flying back with chills.
"Everyone! Keep trying to bring the barrier down! We cannot let Captain Avalon die!" Someone yells, as spells start hitting the shield.
Grindelwald closes his eyes, and I see something that sends a chill down my spine, not related to the Ice Magic enhanced Lethifolds, or the still open portal to the Boreas Dimension. Grindelwald was actually absorbing Magic that hit the spells, to become stronger.
I've tried it before, and I know how difficult it is to absorb someone else's Magic. Each and every attempt of mine had failed, with not a single drop of Magic being absorbed. And Grindelwald's barrier somehow allowed him to do that.
"NOOO! STOP! DON'T TRY AND FORCE THE BARRIER DOWN, YOU'RE JUST MAKING IT WORSE!" I yell, casting a Sonorous charm for a moment.
Immediately, the spells stop being hit, and Grindelwald chuckles, the Lethifold army floating above his head. He says, "You are no fun, Captain."
Scowling, all his crimes still not forgotten, I clap my hands together, and yell, "SHACKLES OF BINDING!"
Just like when I had fought the tentacle demon, my hands glow white, and then two beams of Magic start flying towards Grindelwald and the Lethifolds. The two beams then start splitting up, from two to four to eight to sixteen, and so on, and each beam, each.. shackle, latches on to the Icy Lethifolds, covering them with white Magic of the Universe, freezing them in their place.
Grindelwald, however, has managed to save himself using his Wand. Seeing him try to rescue his Lethifolds, I take a deep breath, and blow the air out. A dark red stream of flames exits my mouth, forming into an Eagle made of flames.
Fiendfyre.
The flaming eagle sees the Lethifolds, and immediately flies towards them, tearing through their magic resistant hide and eats them all. One by one, my Fiendfyre eagle eats all the Lethifolds, becoming larger and larger with each Lethifold eaten. And then, as soon as the last Lethifold dies, it starts flying towards me, to attack me.
I see Grindelwald with his arm raised, and realise that he's taken control over the flames. He obviously couldn't do it before, because Fiendfyre had a mission first, destroy the Lethifolds. Now that it doesn't, it can easily be taken over by any Pyrokinetic.
I point my left palm at the approaching eagle, and cast the Runic spell to absorb My magic. As soon as the Eagle hits my left palm, it starts getting sucked back into me. And then, I take my wand out of the Nowhere once again, and fire a Magic bolt towards Grindelwald, with him doing the same.
My left hand, meanwhile, is pointed towards the Portal, casting Runes around the circular portal to close it.
Our Magic still fighting for dominance, not one of us giving in, the Runic circle forms around the Portal, and I activate it. The portal begins closing, but right before it does, an intense blue beam of cold magic shoots out of the portal, flying towards me.
I widen my eyes, as the Blue beam shoots over the head of Grindelwald, flying towards me, and judging by his smirk, he had planned it. I cannot stop the blue beam without my wand, or without both my hands. It is too dense, too strong, since it's literally the Magic of a Demon's dimension.
And I cannot ignore Grindelwald to focus on the beam, because he will kill me if I move my focus away from him.
Well, I have one option.
Taking my shield from my back with my left hand, I throw it towards the incoming beam. The beam hits the shield, and starts getting absorbed into it. Once more, I shift my hands to force the Orb of battling Magics upwards, towards the Shield.
The Orb explodes right underneath my shield, sending it flying up into the Barrier, as the Icy beam once more flies towards me. I raise my right hand, a shield at the tip of my tongue, but something grabs on to my arm, stopping my wand in front of my stomach.
I look down, to see tall grass strand grabbing my hand, and my wand, pulling it to point it towards the ground.
The shock of it causes me to cast a Shield just wandlessly, which is nowhere near strong enough to protect me completely, and I know that. I focus on my Telekinesis, and create a forcefield right inside the Shield spell.
The Icy beam slams through my wandless shield, and then into my Telekinesis shield, pushing me backwards. This causes me to get loose from the grass binding me, and I raise my wand, a Magic blast at the ready.
Unfortunately, before I can do that, something else hits my shield, breaking it, and both the new attack, and the Icy beam, hit my right hand. The Icy beam causes my entire right hand, wand to elbow, to freeze completely, while the second attack, Grindelwald's spell hits it right after, blowing it up.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" I scream, from pain, after getting my hand blown up, and losing my wand. I bring out Galadmagol in my left hand, using it to get rid of the Dark Magic permeating my arm.
My hand… my wand…
I feel something break inside me, the feeling of my Wand's death causing my Magic itself to weep. So much pain, and most of it was because pf mt Wand's death.
Something drops down in front of me, and I open my tear filled eyes, to see my shield, which had absorbed the Icy magic of Ikthalon's Boreas Dimension, as well as the dark blue flames of Grindelwald's.
Looking up, I see Grindelwald with his wand pointed towards me, the Killing Curse already cast. It seems that he was not going to taunt a defeated me, the way he did Dumbledore. Figures, I'm not an old friend of his.
No.. I am not going to die here, least of all at Grindelwald's hands. His victory here will mean a loss to not just me, but the entire Wizarding World. The Flamel's aren't young enough to battle him, even if their Magic might be more finessed. Dippet is strong, but I have no doubts that Grindelwald will find a way to defeat him too. He's already around 300 years old, he's not going to be able to handle much.
No, I am not losing this fight.
I immediately spin away, picking the shield with Galadmagol, and throw it into the air. Using Telekinesis, I throw the now spinning shield towards Grindelwald, as the Killing Curse harmlessly hits the ground once again, and then immediately throw another Goblin's Silver dagger at him. Again, I used Telekinesis, ignoring my hurting arm, the missing hand, and my destroyed wand.
The spinning shield goes wide, curving away from Grindelwald, and he ignores it. The dagger, meanwhile, flies straight towards Grindelwald, and once again he catches it in his left hand.
"You think this will work this time, when it obviously didn't the last time?!" Grindelwald yells, as he shoots spell after spell at me, the dagger still in his hand.
I run around, my speed, senses, and agility allowing me to dodge all his spells, and then, it happens.
The dagger in Grindelwald's hand explodes without a warning, sending shrapnel flying into his chest, and his face. His chest covered by the Dragon Hide trench coat is saved, but his face, which was open, isn't safe.
Many pieces of Goblin's Silver hit his face, cutting into his skin, and one even stabs into his eye. Grindelwald looks up, glaring at me as his wounds begin to heal, and then the Shield behind him explodes.
Where the Dagger's explosion is small, barely enough to harm Grindelwald's hand even when he literally held the item, the Shield is.. different. It had abdorbed the Dark Magic Fire spell, the Blue flames of Grindelwald's, as well as the Icy Beam from Ikthalon's dimension.
When it explodes, just as suddenly as the dagger, it not only sends shrapnel flying around, but it also sends all the energy it had stored within itself.
The blastwave sends Grindelwald flying forward, towards me, where I was waiting for him.
"Hngk!" He chokes, the lonely intact eye widening, as I catch him, with my sword in his heart.
The explosion then hits me, and I feel some of my skin burn momentarily, before the Healing Magic of Galadmagol, and my own Healing factor heals it up nicely. My arm is a long way from healing, however, at least a few days, I think. The Magic of the Boreas Dimension is stronger than the Healing Magic of my sword.
Lifting the sword with my left hand, I pull Grindelwald's choking form up, and kick his stomach, sending him crashing backwards, finally defeated.
By now, Grindelwald's wounds had stopped healing, the Basilisk Venom now coursing through his blood. I look down at him, seeing him choke, and say, "I told you, you would pay for all you've done."
Grindelwald coughs out blood, and says, "I… st-ill.. cough.. won."
I frown, wondering where his confidence is coming from. He literally has Basilisk Venom in his blood, and it is killing him. Widening my eyes, I look towards the crowd, and see that the Barrier was still intact.
Grindelwald was still dying, but he was still keeping the barrier raised. What for?
Using telepathy, I try and enter his mind, but still hit barriers. No, he wasn't using the Potion. Grindelwald is an Occlumens, one of the best in the World. He doesn't exactly need Occlumency Potion.
I telepathically ask him, "What do you mean you've won? You literally lost, you're dying, I can smell it."
Grindelwald smiles, as he answers, thinking outside his mind, and says, "My goal was always the betterment of the Wizarding World. I have seen the future, Captain Aves. It never mattered if I had won this fight or not, my goal was always going to be met."
"What goal?" I ask, while once again trying and failing to enter his mind.
Chuckling, Grindelwald says, "An entire world, just for Wizardkind."
Scowling, I raise my sword, to behead him, but then..
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Grindelwald explodes, sending all his Magic flying outwards. And before I can even try to shield, I'm consumed by the explosion. Something in my trouser pocket explodes thanks to the flames, and I feel myself flying, falling, and hitting the ground.
My head hits something hard, and I lose consciousness, my eyes still blinded from the explosion, while my other senses were similarly helpless.
And then.. nothing.
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A/N: Sorry for the Cliffhanger! I wanted to go on, actually, despite the chapter already being so big. But I'll do it next chapter, continuing from right after the battle.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
