Link's gaze didn't linger on Old Kugel's body for long before turning again toward Little Hartman.
The Anti-Apparition enchantment around Nurmengard Prison stretched incredibly far, centered on the prison itself, its effective radius reached nearly twenty kilometers.
To Link, this was practically a heaven-sent hunting ground. Within this range, no one could break through the restriction and Apparate away quickly.
But Little Hartman was clearly not an amateur.
In the few seconds it had taken Link to deal with Old Kugel, he had already used some strange magic, something similar to the Death Eaters' black-flame transformation, and escaped almost a kilometer toward the camp.
For an ordinary person, that was already beyond visible range.
Fortunately, Link had his heightened-senses spell, allowing him to clearly see every movement of Little Hartman in the distance, even the terrified expression twisting his face.
Holding his thumb up, Link measured for a moment and murmured, "At this distance, I probably need to raise it by… about three levels?"
He raised his wand. At its tip, deep-blue magic gathered and compressed until it formed into a nearly black-blue ice bullet.
Bang!
With a tremendous crack of air, the ice bullet vanished.
But in Link's magically enhanced vision, he could clearly see it tracing a perfect arc through the air, then, with flawless precision, hitting Little Hartman.
No, strictly speaking, the bullet shattered completely before impact. A torrent of freezing poison burst out from within it, splashing over Little Hartman's head and face.
A shrill, miserable scream tore from his throat, but it was carried off by the wind before it could reach where Link stood.
"What you deserve… you can't escape."
Link said softly, then began walking toward Madam Schwartz.
The spell he had used contained highly concentrated cold poison. Little Hartman was doomed, doomed to die horribly. Link wasn't a sadist; he had no interest in watching it happen.
Compared to the others before her, Madam Schwartz seemed much calmer.
Since they had come to honor Grindelwald formally, she, like the rest, was wearing a dark, solemn dress commonly seen at funerals or memorials.
As Link approached her with a smile, Madam Schwartz simply stood quietly on the lush green grass.
The mountain wind blew gently through her black hair and skirt. For a moment, she even looked… graceful.
"Why do this?"
Her voice was soft, and only now did Link finally hear a hint of tension and fear within it.
"Because I want to inherit the Beckman family," Link replied as he walked, smiling lightly. "And conveniently, I'm quite interested in the industries you people control."
Madam Schwartz was a clever woman. She instantly understood the general reason behind all of this from Link's words.
She sighed deeply, forcing a faint smile. "So that's how it is. Well, that's fine. We should've died a long time ago. Living until now… that's already more than we deserved. Just, can you at least let me die decently?"
She glanced at the disfigured corpses of the Kugel sisters and frowned in disgust. "I don't want to die looking like those two cheap sluts. At least… leave me a whole body, will you?"
Link raised his eyebrows, a little surprised that she would make such a request right before death.
Still, he could be merciful to someone on their last moments.
After a brief moment of thought, he nodded. "How about instant freezing? I'll encase your entire body in high-purity transparent ice. It works instantly, completely painless, and it'll preserve your beauty to the fullest extent. Considering the temperature here year-round, the ice around you won't even show signs of melting for centuries."
"That couldn't be more perfect! Thank you for your mercy, young gentleman."
Madam Schwartz smiled faintly.
She then adjusted her already neat, elegant dress and hair, removed her veil, and struck a graceful pose.
Link didn't keep her waiting long. With a flick of his wand, a dense white mist of frost rose up around her body, and within three seconds, it solidified into a massive, transparent ice coffin, sealing Madam Schwartz completely inside.
Looking at her frozen expression through the clear ice, Link had to admit, these women who'd once worked in "that" kind of business truly were stunning, masters of presentation.
They knew men far too well.
Innocent, seductive, wild, noble, no matter a man's taste, women of her caliber could leave a powerful first impression.
And combined with real magical beautification, even an older woman like Madam Schwartz remained breathtakingly beautiful.
Especially now that her beauty had been preserved forever.
"This is practically art," Link sighed sincerely, then turned to the nearby old witch, the Inspector, and asked, "Don't you think so?"
He received no answer.
The old witch simply stood there, gazing silently into the distance toward the Deplorables' Alliance encampment.
By now, thick black smoke was billowing from that direction, spreading across the sky, with faint explosions echoing in the distance.
That was the work of Krell and Snape.
Even before Link had made his move against the Kugel sisters, they had already led the Flamel family's elite hunters in a surprise attack on the Alliance's camp, which had been left with only logistics staff.
From the way the noise was dying down now, they must have already finished the job and were heading toward Nurmengard.
Just as Link thought that, he saw Snape flying rapidly toward him, with a swarm of black specks following close behind.
"Looks like," said the old witch at last, "we won't be able to use Grindelwald's head as an offering for the great martyrs at today's memorial ceremony after all."
Her voice sounded calm, but somehow, Link, skilled in Legilimency, could sense relief behind her words.
Having lived two lives, he instinctively felt that this old witch might have some complicated history with Grindelwald.
A faintly amused smile tugged at Link's lips. With a trace of mockery, he said, "Not necessarily. Maybe Grindelwald's already just a powerless old man."
"If that's the case, I might just kill him and use his head to trade with your International Confederation of Wizards for something more practical. After all, this is all 'for the greater good,' isn't it?"
The old witch snapped her head toward him, her face darkening. "Dumbledore didn't send you here to kill his ex-lover."
"I agree with the idea that Grindelwald was Dumbledore's ex," Link said, idly spinning his ebony wand, "but I'm not here on Dumbledore's orders."
The witch sneered. "No, of course he didn't tell you to come. You going to Germany, and even here, was your own choice. But how can you be sure that wasn't exactly what Dumbledore wanted you to do?"
"Men like him excel at pushing people into impossible situations, then handing them what looks like a lifeline. But once you take that lifeline, everything moves exactly the way he wanted it to."
"That's how he works, finding one pawn after another, using them to achieve his secret goals."
Link's smile faded.
His face went blank, perfectly calm.
But the hideous serpent head of Arkham peeking from his collar and the restless black flame serpent coiling at his feet betrayed his turmoil.
Just then, Snape and Krell arrived.
Without saying a word, they flanked the old witch on either side.
Moments later, more and more Flamel family hunters, riding modified broomsticks, arrived, surrounding the old witch completely.
The tips of their wands glowed a menacing red.
Fresh from annihilating the enemy camp, their blood was still boiling for battle. The moment Link gave the order, they would blast this unknown witch to dust without hesitation.
Yet the old witch showed no fear even with dozens of wands aimed straight at her.
She smiled coldly at Link and said, "Go do what you came to do, Link. But remember, don't destroy Nurmengard Prison. That's my sincerest advice to you."
With that, she drew a golden pen-shaped Portkey. As she removed the cap, the space around her began to twist.
But before the distortion could envelop her, an invisible high-speed water blade sliced through the air, shearing off both the pen and her hand.
"Ah!"
The witch screamed, clutching her bleeding wrist. Cold sweat poured down her face from the pain.
When she looked up at Link again, however, her expression froze, because that smile had returned.
This time, though, it was an openly mocking smile.
Holding his wand, Link said coldly, "I was actually planning to let you live, out of respect for the Confederation. But I really didn't expect, you'd dare act mysterious in front of me?"
He turned toward Nurmengard and waved his hand.
"Kill her."
The words had barely left his mouth before a storm of crimson light beams crashed down, engulfing the stunned old witch completely.
When the light faded, not even ashes remained.
The excited hunters fell silent again under the direction of Snape and Krell, quietly forming up behind Link.
———
The stone gate of Nurmengard rose and fell again. Darkness returned to the prison hall.
Link's expression twisted slightly. A faint red aura of killing intent spread slowly outward from him, almost tangible.
In that darkness, something unseen seemed to be hissing in his ear, urging him to kill, to hate Dumbledore, to hate the Ministry, to hate the Confederation, to hate all life.
It wasn't Mike, the voice sealed within his mind.
It was that other mysterious presence, the one that had birthed Mike inside him to begin with.
The old witch's words had stirred up unease in him, and that unease had awakened the thing.
Truthfully, this surge of chaos was nothing to someone who had already mastered level six Occlumency. Link could have suppressed it effortlessly.
But he didn't want to.
Surrounded by darkness and whispers, he actually felt… comfortable.
———
'Luminos!'
As the hunters lit their wands, warm light slowly filled the great hall.
They gathered together, scanning their surroundings carefully. Even Snape and Krell looked tense, after all, this was Nurmengard, the stronghold of the first Dark Lord, Grindelwald.
Yet to their disappointment, the place looked… utterly ordinary.
No monsters. No eerie runes.
Only rough stone walls, insects scurrying in corners, the musty smell of dampness, and four symmetrical corridors branching from the hall.
It looked just like any other abandoned prison.
Krell scratched his head and turned to Link. "Master, should we go after Beckman and the others now, or what's the plan?"
His voice seemed to snap Link out of his dark thoughts.
Link's eyes flickered; he summoned a surge of mental power through Occlumency, shattering the whispering darkness and regaining full control of his mind.
When he turned back to face them, his expression was perfectly calm again.
No one noticed anything strange. They just stood, quietly waiting for his command.
Link didn't keep them waiting.
After sweeping his gaze across every face, he pulled a compass from his coat and said evenly, "At the moment, we hold an overwhelming advantage. Naturally, we'll crush them head-on."
"But remember this, Nurmengard may not have guards anymore, yet its layout is complex, and the defenses Grindelwald built long ago are still active. So, without my order, no one is to act alone or take unnecessary action."
"Understood?"
"Yes, sir!"
With the thunderous response echoing through the chamber, Link nodded in satisfaction and led the group toward one of the central corridors of the hall.
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