"No time, this will have to do!" The leader could feel the entire structure of the house disintegrating. Sharyr was about to break through the access restrictions, and the Aurors outside were eyeing them greedily.
Gary secretly glanced and saw that the magic power in the alchemy array was still continuously overflowing, dissipating like smoke in the air, clearly due to the magic power not being fully sealed.
"But this magic power isn't enough" One of the subordinates hesitated.
"Never mind that." The leader dragged all his companions into the circle.
The next second, the restrictions broke, and dozens of Aurors entered the room and rushed forward. The leader frantically activated the alchemy array. His wand emitted a silver light that shot into the center of the array, and the surrounding runes lit up in a clockwise direction.
The runes burst forth with golden light, shooting straight up into the sky, forming a cage that isolated the hostages and the black-hooded figures.
The Auror's finger melted the instant it touched the golden light. A scream of agony escaped his mouth as he clutched his hand and fell to the ground, his five fingers gone.
Other Aurors stepped over their comrade's body and continued forward. Stupefy, Obstacle Curse, and Exploding Curse spells shot towards the golden cage as if they were free.
The golden cage suddenly erupted with a strong light, blinding the Aurors who couldn't see anything and could only temporarily shield their eyes from the dazzling light with their arms.
When the light dissipated, the cage had vanished, along with the eighty-seven hostages and twelve black-hooded figures.
The French Minister for Magic, Arnaud, was still lying on the ground, clearly dead for some time.
The Aurors turned back to see that the previously subdued "black masks" had also disappeared, and they were so enraged they felt like spitting blood.
French Aurors were already attending to Arnaud's body, gently brushing away the dust from the spell explosion on his face, revealing his handsome and dashing features. His eyes were open, but he could no longer respond to his subordinates' calls.
Apolline landed on the platform with Mr. Sangborg, both their faces filled with sorrow. Mr. Sangborg approached Arnaud, tears streaming down his face.
"…Alas…" Mr. Sangborg reached out and closed Arnaud's eyes. He and Arnaud had been friends for many years, a friendship despite their age difference, and he never expected to see a white-haired man burying a black-haired one.
An Auror from the American Magical Congress tapped and poked at the array with his wand, trying to find some clues.
Apolline stood in the room, feeling lost.
Steve and the rest of the United States Team rode their brooms, taking the reporters who had been in the center of the arena out of the venue.
The black mist at the evacuation exits dissipated with the departure of the black-hooded figures. One hundred thousand spectators immediately left the stadium through the passages and Apparated away from outside the venue without looking back.
"Have you found any trace of them?" The Head of the French Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement arrived late. "I don't know who was behind this, but all one hundred security personnel outside were hit by Stupefy."
"All knocked out?" Mr. Sangborg was currently the highest-ranking official at the scene, so he naturally stepped forward to take charge.
"Yes… one hundred security guards were dispersed at all evacuation exits and were taken down one by one."
"Found it!" The Auror who had been crouching on the ground looking for clues suddenly stood up. A golden thread connected to his wand, swaying in the air but refusing to break.
"They were in such a hurry, they actually left a trace of magic power!" the Auror shouted excitedly. He swung his wand widely in the air, and the wand reacted with the adhering trace of magic power, which dispersed into particles in the air.
The particles floated away into the distance, and the Auror swung his wand again. A faint thread emerged from his wand, its destination being those flying particles.
"Let's follow them!" Mr. Sangborg ordered. The Aurors stood up, leaving ten French Aurors to guard the site in case they returned, while the rest followed the thread and left the venue.
Hearing that Corella had also been abducted, Steve volunteered to follow the Aurors to the rescue.
This thread was not suitable for Apparition tracking. Steve had his teammates give up their brooms and then went to the locker room to find some spare brooms, making twenty people the advance party, communicating their destination at all times with Patronuses.
Apolline stubbornly insisted on going first, saying she absolutely had to be part of the advance party. She felt some guilt and sadness that several children had been taken.
Ten brooms ascended rapidly, carrying twenty people, flying along the trace of the thread.
…
"Where have we landed?" Gary only knew that there was a flash of bright light, and then he was abruptly lifted up and then suddenly dropped, falling to the ground and accidentally hurting himself, touching the wound on the back of his head.
"...…" He gasped, covering his head with his hand.
Opening his eyes, he saw a pale white church in front of him. The same group of people were around him, all squatting on the ground with their hands covering their heads.
"Where are we now?" He heard a little boy say with a sob, his parents embracing him beside him.
Just as Gary helped Alfrina and Howard beside him to their feet, he saw the leading black-hooded figure roll up the sleeve of his left arm and press his right index finger on his forearm.
There was a tattoo there; Gary could only see a skull and a snake on it.
The other eleven black-hooded figures quickly prostrated themselves on the ground, unmoving.
"What's going on?" Alfrina, covering her swollen cheek, didn't understand what they were up to.
Noang and Corella, who were squatting at the front of the hostages, seemed to understand something. Their bodies began to tremble violently, as if they had encountered something extremely terrifying.
Gary was initially very surprised, but soon he understood the reason for their reaction.
A man in black suddenly Apparated in front of the leading black-hooded figure. His features were very handsome, but his complexion was overly pale, his eyes blood-red like rubies, and his body was very frail, making one feel that a gust of wind could blow him away.
"Well done, well done…" the man murmured, and the leading black-hooded figure lowered his head.
"Is this our mole, Andre Salon?" The man's voice was slightly lazy, his speech thin, with a "hissing" sound at the end, like a snake's tongue flicking.
"Yes, Master… It was Salon who told us about the security arrangements for the final, and he personally killed the French Minister for Magic, Arno Dorian" the leader reported to the man in black.
"Oh? He also killed Arnaud? That truly surprises me." The man's slender fingers twirled his wand. He looked at Andre Salon, who was squatting in the first row, distraught.