"Heh, trying to run the moment you realize you can't win—and you still claim to be a pure duelist." Alan didn't step forward to stop him. Instead, he sneered, "Thunderbird, oh Thunderbird, it turns out you're just a coward afraid of death."
Thunderbird looked at the Portkey in his hand with a bewildered expression. He had clearly activated the item, so why didn't it work? Was it broken? Impossible.
"You constantly boast of your strength, treat others as trash, and despise wizards who use alchemy equipment in battle, but look at what's in your hand. You're clearly using an alchemy item yourself. You're truly nauseatingly hypocritical."
Alan watched Thunderbird, who was bleeding from his nose and ears and trembling all over, and slowly walked toward him, holding Eclipse in a relaxed grip while uttering taunting words.
"Did you do this?" Thunderbird's expression was a complex mix of hatred for Alan and terror at the Portkey's failure.
"After seeing you use a Portkey to escape last time, did you think I would appear here unprepared?" Alan sneered again. "Today, I'm going to make you understand the consequences of provoking an alchemist. Not only is the Portkey useless, but within a radius of several kilometers, neither Apparition, nor sound, nor distress signals will work. Even that mask of yours, which can transmit messages over long distances, has had its connection severed by me."
Thunderbird was shocked and immediately tried the mask's communication function, finding no response at all. His face grew even more pale. "You even know about the mask. It seems Aseria has completely sided with you?"
"Aseria? So she's the mole in the Ministry of Magic." Alan immediately put on an expression of sudden realization.
"What? So it wasn't Aseria who betrayed me?" Thunderbird looked at Alan with surprise.
"Of course not her." Alan shook his head mockingly. "As an alchemist, my network of connections is very wide. Besides her, didn't you think of anyone else?"
"Anyone else? An alchemist? There were only two people who knew I would be here today. Could it be…?" Thunderbird mumbled to himself, then looked at Alan in disbelief.
"That's right, it's Sebastian, your fellow Club Spear, Lord Sphinx, the leader of the Egypt branch." Alan chuckled teasingly.
Alan's words were the final blade to shatter his opponent's mind. Thunderbird first shook his head in disbelief, but the fact that Alan could accurately state the other party's codename and real name caused him to fall into a daze. Then he shouted with a blank stare, "Impossible, why would he betray me?"
"You'll have to ask him about that. By the way, he personally contacted me, and to get your whereabouts, I paid for the agency rights of my company in Egypt. Speaking of which, your life is worth at least tens of thousands of Galleons. He really knows how to do business…"
Alan spun lies without blinking. He wasn't sure if this guy still had any trump cards or other means of transmitting messages, so he wanted to deceive him as much as defeat him. Thunderbird wouldn't hear a single truth from him tonight.
"Sphinx! Sebastian! Could it be because…?" Thunderbird seemed to have thought of something, and his expression suddenly became even more ferocious. "I knew why this guy wanted to stop me from killing Martin Grenville, that traitor. Turns out he's still dreaming of revitalizing the Acolytes. Conservatives really aren't trustworthy!"
*Martin Grenville?* Wasn't that the owner of the tavern he was staying at? What did the Acolytes have to do with it? Alan didn't expect his random fabrication to yield such a gain. But now was not the time to think about those things. He had recovered his energy, and it was time to end this. Alan gripped Eclipse tightly with both hands, approaching Thunderbird with sharp eyes.
"Wait!" Thunderbird, seeing Alan's intent, threw down the Portkey and raised his hand to stop him. "I can make a deal with you. As long as you let me go, I'm willing to drop our grudges. And what Sebastian can give you, I can give you too. I control resources and wealth, and I'm willing to exchange them. I'll even sign an Unbreakable Vow, just let me go!"
Watching Alan continue to approach, Thunderbird panicked. He shouted incoherent offers, drooling from the corners of his mouth without realizing it.
"How ironic…" Alan shook his head with a cold smile. "Where's your arrogant demeanor? Where's that intensity in battle? I didn't expect you to be such a coward. You're a disgrace to duelists."
"I can't die yet!" Thunderbird shouted, looking like a man facing a total breakdown. "Our ideals haven't been realized, and my mission cannot end here. Please, Alan, I admit you're stronger than me, alright!"
The admission seemed to drain him of his soul. He hunched over, looking defeated.
"You said that too late." Alan's eyes remained calm. He didn't hesitate for a moment, walking firmly toward him.
"Th-this… this is you forcing me!" Thunderbird's eyes were already red with blood, but they blazed even brighter now. He suddenly activated all his magic for a final struggle, overloading his Fire Blade curse until the blue Fiendfyre turned a dark, solid blue.
"Heh, who wants to fight you to the death?" Alan smiled coldly, stopped his advance, and quickly retreated a safe distance while snapping his fingers.
"Boom!"
Another explosion erupted beneath Thunderbird's feet. While not as powerful as the first, the man was in no condition to survive it. Alan had been talking merely to buy time for the deployment of his explosive spiders. Why bother with a duel when a few well-placed mines could deal with an opponent he knew was technically superior in magic?
"Ah!!!!"
Thunderbird, who had overloaded his magic into his attack and had no energy left for a shield, took the full brunt of the blast. He had stepped on three landmines in his life, and each had been worse than the last. He was thrown back, a mangled mess.
Alan didn't just watch. He darted forward, arriving at the landing spot before Thunderbird hit the ground, and delivered a fierce, dexterous slash with Eclipse.
"Ah!!!!"
Thunderbird watched helplessly as his right arm, clutching his wand, flew into the air. The Silver Spear, steaming with the Fire Blade curse, flickered out as it lost its magical supply.
*Bang!*
A thud followed as he hit the ground. The man's physique was remarkable; even after being blown up and losing an arm, he remained conscious. His feet were shredded, the flesh below his knees a mass of bone and muscle. His right arm was gone, though Alan's lightning-infused blade had cauterized the wound, preventing him from bleeding out immediately.
Thunderbird clutched the stump of his arm with his left hand, wailing. The "Wild Lightning" left behind by the blade caused him more agony than the loss of the limb.
"Hog!"
Alan pulled out two Soul-Binding Serpents and coiled them around Thunderbird. He would not relax; only an enemy completely incapacitated was a safe one.
"Yes, Master! Coming right away!" Hog's shout came from the distance, and the husky ran toward them in a zigzagging path. He had to navigate around the thousands of landmines Alan had buried for miles—some alchemical, others standard Muggle explosives.
"Master, what do we do next?" Hog finally reached them, having avoided the minefields.
"Proceed as planned," Alan ordered calmly. "And remember to stock up more."