Amid the thick smoke of gunpowder, the battlefield that had just been extremely noisy suddenly became deathly silent.
All the D.A. members, as well as the students hiding inside the Hogwarts Express watching the commotion, had their mouths wide open, staring in disbelief at the exaggerated massive crater in front of them.
That was over a hundred Dementors and Death Eaters.
And yet Link had wiped them all out with just a single strike.
At the same time, he had even created terrain damage on the level of a natural disaster?
Was this really something a human could do?
Although they had already heard countless stories about Link, in countless different versions.
Those stories described Link as an all-powerful god.
But everyone knew in their hearts that those stories were unreliable, exaggerated for dramatic effect, probably twisting reality beyond recognition.
But now, looking at the massive crater before them, and Link floating in the air.
They were stunned to realize that those stories were not exaggerated at all. If anything, they had held back quite a bit.
Link's power truly resembled that of a god.
After a brief silence, deafening cheers immediately erupted across the entire Hogwarts Express.
Everyone rushed out of the train, jumping, waving their arms, and screaming toward Link.
"Who told you to come out?", Link said coldly with a stern face.
His voice wasn't loud, but carried by magic, it flowed into the ears of every person present.
In an instant, the noisy crowd fell silent as if someone had pressed a pause button.
"D.A., take the students back to their respective compartments!"
Link landed quietly and issued another command.
This time, quite a few people in the crowd wearing D.A. badges immediately sprang into action.
Like herding sheep, they quickly drove the students back into the Hogwarts Express.
Meanwhile, John and Emily hurried over to Link's side.
"Emily, take care of the people on the train and check for casualties. And John, take people to restart the Hogwarts Express and bring everyone back to Hogwarts. Dumbledore has already prepared to receive them there."
As Link spoke, he waved his wand, preparing to use Apparition to leave.
John didn't say a word, nodded, and quickly returned to the train to start organizing things.
Emily, however, frowned and looked at Link.
"Where are you going now?"
"The Ministry has already sent word. The attack isn't limited to the Hogwarts Express. So I need to get there quickly. Emily, take care of yourself. I'll be fine."
Link kissed Emily on the forehead, then his whole body twisted and vanished in a series of crackling explosion sounds.
Emily felt the lingering touch on her forehead, stomped her foot hard, then gritted her teeth and returned to the train.
———
[Diagon Alley]
At the Y-shaped intersection directly opposite Gringotts, a brutal battle was still ongoing.
Hundreds of Death Eaters were continuously pouring out from Knockturn Alley into Diagon Alley, launching attacks.
Compared to the group that attacked the Hogwarts Express, these Death Eaters were clearly more coordinated and far stronger.
Their appearance threw all of Diagon Alley into chaos.
Shop owners who had been doing business with flushed faces quickly shut their doors and windows.
They hid beneath their counters, trembling, praying that the protective spells they hadn't maintained for years would still work and block those Death Eaters.
As for the customers who had been strolling leisurely through the streets, they were even more panicked.
Those capable had already Apparated away at the first moment.
The rest were at a loss, running around like headless flies, hoping to find a shop that hadn't fully closed yet so they could hide inside.
The wizards of Britain were far too familiar with Death Eaters.
More than ten years ago, when Voldemort was rampant, they had already tasted the bitter consequences brought by Death Eaters.
So everyone knew very clearly that anyone caught by Death Eaters would not meet a good end.
At that point, even death would probably become a luxury.
Those greedy Death Eaters would devour both their souls and flesh completely.
But this time, what surprised the customers and shop owners of Diagon Alley was that the disaster did not fall upon them.
That group of Death Eaters unexpectedly had a clear target.
That target was Gringotts.
Watching the figures wrapped in black mist rush toward Gringotts from all directions, the people still observing the street were all shocked.
This was not how Death Eaters usually operated.
But what surprised them even more came next.
Because as the Death Eaters launched their attack, a large number of Aurors suddenly poured out from inside Gringotts.
They wore uniform outfits, marched in unison, and raised their wands in synchronized motion.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of spell explosions suddenly rang out.
Amid the blinding flashes of magic, the Death Eaters' assault abruptly stalled.
"Damn it! It's an ambush, retreat! It's an ambush! We've been tricked by them..."
One Death Eater shouted in terror, but before his voice could spread, a green Killing Curse struck straight into his open mouth, forcing his unfinished words back down.
Thud!
The Death Eater's corpse fell to the ground.
The Death Eaters around him didn't even notice and continued charging toward Gringotts without fear of death.
In the chaos of footsteps, the corpse was quickly trampled into pulp.
Not far away, a hooded wizard snorted coldly and quickly disappeared into the alley.
His departure had no effect on the situation.
More and more Aurors poured out from Gringotts, forming neat ranks on the steps in front of it.
With a command from Sande, a massive blue magical shield wall was erected.
The Death Eaters were like a black tide, continuously waving their wands and crashing against the shield wall.
However, it was all useless.
No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't shake the translucent blue wall of magic in front of them.
"All units! Push forward!"
Sande, standing at the main entrance of Gringotts, roared again.
The moment he finished speaking, the previously immovable Auror force stepped forward in unison.
"Push!"
BOOM!
The unified roar, combined with the thunderous footsteps, exploded outward. The few Death Eaters at the very front were instantly blasted into minced flesh by the massive magical shock, while the others were forced to step back.
Blood splattered everywhere, and at last, expressions of fear appeared on the Death Eaters' faces.
Those at the back instinctively slowed down, wanting to retreat.
But that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Because behind them, at the entrance of Knockturn Alley where they had come from, more Aurors were continuously pouring out.
Not only that, at some point, Anti-Apparition spells had already been set up all around.
There was no way to escape.
The leading Death Eaters quickly realized this.
Their eyes gradually turned red.
The fear on their faces was replaced once again by endless madness and distortion.
Bang!
A Dark Mark was launched into the sky.
Unlike a normal Dark Mark, this one was blood-red.
As the blood-colored skull slowly spread out in the sky, the trapped Death Eaters in Diagon Alley fell into complete despair.
They no longer tried to escape.
Those on the outer edges began attacking the advancing magical shield wall like madmen.
Meanwhile, the remaining Death Eaters all took out fist-sized blood-red spheres from their robes.
Calling them spheres wasn't quite accurate. They looked more like the heads of some humanoid creature.
The expressions on them were vivid and varied... some groaning in pain, some roaring in anger, and others, just like the Death Eaters now, filled with despair.
But no matter what their original expressions were.
Once magic was poured into the spheres through the Death Eaters' hands, all their expressions turned into smiles.
A kind of bright smile, as if finally freed from suffering.
Buzz!
Terrifying magical fluctuations spread out from each sphere.
The intensity was so great that even the Aurors' advance paused for a moment.
Standing at the entrance of Gringotts, Sande's facial muscles twitched violently.
He stared at those bombs in disbelief, then seemed to realize something. His eyes widened, and he roared, "Those are alchemical bombs! Stop them! We can't let them detonate here!"
As he spoke, he had already rushed forward himself.
The other Aurors also realized the seriousness of the situation.
They immediately dropped the shield wall and charged forward under the Death Eaters' attacks.
However, the Death Eaters had already finished charging the alchemical bombs.
The leading ones grinned viciously at the Aurors, their eyes filled with excitement and cruelty.
Next, according to what those people had said, all they needed to do was squeeze the spheres in their hands, and the magic and special substances inside would explode.
There were over forty bombs here.
That should be enough to blow the entire Gringotts into the sky, right?
If so, they would have completed their mission.
Not to mention, they could take so many Aurors with them.
Thinking this, the Death Eaters were so excited they could barely contain themselves.
They raised their arms high and shouted, "For the Dark Lord!"
After that, they closed their eyes and squeezed the spheres in unison.
However…
One second, two seconds, three seconds…
More than ten seconds passed, but nothing happened.
One Death Eater opened his eyes in disbelief and looked at his raised arm.
What he saw was a slanted line of blood that had appeared on his arm at some unknown time.
Not just him. The other Death Eaters also had identical blood lines on their arms.
Even the angle of the cuts was exactly the same.
Sss!
The blood lines rapidly widened, and blood began to spurt out.
At first it was faint, then it quickly intensified, until accompanied by piercing pain, it burst like a fountain, blasting their arms holding the bombs clean off.
Amid flying limbs and spraying blood, the Death Eaters saw a figure in Hogwarts robes slowly descending from the sky.
With a casual wave of his hand, the terrifying blood-red Dark Mark in the sky was instantly shattered, as if it had been struck by a heavy blow.
Then he lowered his gaze slightly, looking down at them with contempt, his face full of disgust and disdain, as if he were looking at a pile of maggots.
"De… demon…", One Death Eater muttered in terror.
Around him, more people screamed.
Their voices were shrill and piercing, just like the wails of those they had tortured to death.
Link Flamel.
This was a name carved deep into their bone.
It was this man who, together with Dumbledore, defeated their Dark Lord.
Drove him out of Britain.
It was also this man who continuously sent Aurors and hunters to hunt them down.
The most horrifying part was that in the Ministry of Magic controlled by Link Flamel, there seemed to be no judicial system at all.
As Death Eaters, once captured, their only fate was immediate execution, without even the slightest chance to defend themselves.
All the plans they had prepared, pretending to be insane, claiming to have been controlled by the Imperius Curse, were rendered useless.
At a critical moment, it was those people who gave them a way out, and even gave them a plan for revenge.
If the plan had succeeded.
They could have restored the Death Eaters' reputation and taken revenge on the Ministry.
Unfortunately, there was no "if."
Now, they had failed once again.
"Ah!"
Extreme despair gave rise to extreme madness.
Aside from a few Death Eaters who had completely given up, more of them roared and charged at Link.
They wanted to use the last of their lives to hurt that demon, Link Flamel.
Even if it was just to stain the hem of his clothes with their blood.
But that was nothing more than wishful thinking.
Under the fierce assault of the Aurors, the armless Death Eaters collapsed in an instant.
Almost all of them fell under the sweep of crimson light, losing all ability to resist.
Soon after, the Aurors began collecting bodies and checking prisoners.
Sande's face, however, was ashen.
This defensive battle had been thoroughly prepared. It should have been a crushing annihilation.
Yet even so, the Death Eaters had nearly succeeded in detonating those strange alchemical bombs.
Based on the magical fluctuations leaking from them during activation, if Link hadn't arrived in time, once all those bombs detonated, the entire Gringotts and most of Diagon Alley would have been blown into the sky.
That would have essentially destroyed half of Britain's magical commercial sector.
Believing he had failed, Sande walked toward Link with a bitter expression, head lowered.
The surrounding Aurors who saw this didn't look too good either.
They could already imagine their leader being reprimanded and having a large portion of his authority taken away again.
That wouldn't be good news for Sande, nor for the veteran Aurors like them.
But who could they blame?
Objectively speaking, Commissioner Flamel had already given them everything they needed.
It was their own failure in execution.
What they didn't know was that Sande felt this way purely because he believed he had let Link down.
Just as he had said that night in the Department of Mysteries, he was willing to go through fire and water for Link for the rest of his life.
Meanwhile, Link paid no attention to Sande or the Aurors' mental state.
At this moment, he had already picked up one of the smiling bombs from the ground and was examining it carefully with his mental power.
He could clearly sense the pure, familiar, "holy" power coming from within the bomb.
This was the power of Professor Liro.
Although its purity was far inferior to what Liro displayed that night at Beauxbatons when he sacrificed a large number of students, their essence was the same.
"Hoo!"
Link took a deep breath, and a cold smile curled up at the corner of his mouth.
Since they couldn't carry out direct retaliation, they incited the remaining Death Eaters in Britain's magical world to take revenge.
Their methods were limited to this.
"Link!"
A familiar shout pulled Link out of his thoughts.
He looked over and saw Percy running toward him with George and Fred.
Not just them.
Along Diagon Alley, many shop owners had also opened their tightly shut curtains or doors.
They cautiously peeked through the gaps, observing the scene outside.
When they saw the corpses scattered in front of Gringotts, and the Aurors collecting remains and checking prisoners, their expressions first showed fear, then surprise, and finally joy.
It was as if they had never imagined that the Ministry's Aurors could eliminate all the attacking Death Eaters so quickly.
And without causing major damage to Diagon Alley.
It felt a bit unreal.
Was this still the same Auror force they remembered, the one that failed at everything and excelled only at running away?
Even the elite Aurors from the Second Wizarding War twenty years ago might not have been much better.
The small gaps gradually widened.
The shop owners and customers who had been hiding carefully stepped out.
Smelling the thick scent of blood in the air, many couldn't help but gag.
But when they realized that the blood all belonged to Death Eaters, most of them smiled.
Death Eaters who delighted in murder and plunder deserved to die, no matter how many, no matter how horribly.
With rising excitement, people followed behind the three Weasley brothers and surged toward Link and the others.
The Aurors cleaning up the battlefield were startled. They were about to raise their wands in caution, but then realized the approaching crowd had no ill intent.
Smack!
A plump woman suddenly hugged a young Auror whose face still looked boyish.
Ignoring his reddening, burning face, she planted a kiss right on his cheek and said, "Oh! You're so brave! My hero!"
The owner of Patchett's Cauldron Shop also rushed out.
Carrying a large sack, he crazily stuffed cauldrons into the hands of every Auror he saw, saying as he did, "Thanks to you all! You did great, you didn't waste the taxes I paid!"
———
There were far too many scenes like this.
It left the Aurors both amused and helpless.
But as they looked at the various items stuffed into their arms, their heads gradually lowered.
Because they knew very well.
What they had done was still not enough.
If Commissioner Flamel hadn't arrived in time, what they would be receiving now wouldn't be praise, but curses and insults.