章 59: Peak of his power

Somewhere in Europe

Hans Flemmenstein was a third generation Auror in the German Ministry of Magic. He wasn't just the third generation to bear the same responsibility in his family, but also the third generation to bear the same name.

He was properly concealed behind a large rock, his body melding into his surroundings thanks to the disillusionment charm.

He wasn't the only one there that night. He was just one of many. He was a part of an unprecedented large-scale operation to capture or kill the worst dark wizard of the century, perhaps only seconded by Gellert Grindewald.

'They're all damn good at hiding. If I didn't know they were there, I wouldn't even know where to look. Let's just hope this goes as planned, because the Ministry won't have enough manpower or resources for another attempt. I doubt there's anything different about our allies.'

There was a lone man standing in the middle of the clearing that they were surrounding. He was Mulcher Rovier, scheduled to receive the Dementor's kiss in two days. However, he had been given a choice: he could just get that kiss, or do one simple task, and if he lived through it, his record would be expunged and he'd be a free man with a new name.

'I don't think he's coming. I've been standing here for at least three hours already. No matter how slow he is at gathering intelligence, he should've already heard about an 'artefact that can kill anyone with just a ray of light'. Hell, I know I'd come running if I heard of something like that.'

Suddenly, however, the sound of thunder could be heard as a flood of black filled the area. It wasn't just the dark lord, but he had come with a large party of his followers, at least five hundred of them.

'That must be him. Good. I'll listen to what he has to say and see what I should do about him later. Hmm, I recently discovered a way to apply the entrail expelling curse in a more creative way, I should try it out.'

"Speak. Where is that artefact?"

'If I tell him that it was fake, I'd be dead faster than a fly hit by Fiendfyre. I should just spin a believable story instead.', Mulcher thought. "It's in a small cave nearby. If you swear an oath to let me leave here alive, I'll take you there."

Hearing this, Voldemort's mouth formed a cruel smile. 'He thinks he has a choice? There is no-one that can resist me!'

"Crucio!"

'Just because you have something I want doesn't mean you'll get to waste my time.'

As the man crumpled onto the stony ground, Voldemort managed to break through his now severely weakened mental defenses effortlessly. While he could've done it even if he didn't soften the man up, doing it this way was so much more satisfying, and took much less mental exertion.

'Hm? What's this?', Voldemort thought as he saw the man's days in Azkaban and the subsequent deal. He sensed a stifling feeling inside him – a sure sign that there was an anti-apparition ward in place. He wasn't even able to give commands to his followers before all hell broke loose.

Suddenly, massive explosions, more powerful than even Voldemort could achieve with the Bombardment hex, erupted around him. Each of those explosions instantly killed around ten of his subordinates and maimed many more, some lost limbs and others had their internals scrambled by the shockwave. He was splattered with the intestines and blood of his subordinates.

Voldemort's first thought was that Dumbledore had decided to sneak-attack him, yet seeing the amount of damage done in a short amount of time and remembering that the 'harmless old goat' would never attack his followers without giving them the choice to surrender first, he realized that it must've been a part of what had been set up. From the man he had just interrogated, he had only learned that the man was supposed to spread some rumors and wait for him in that place, nothing more. Yet, that had alerted him to the fact that it was a trap of some sort.

He pointed his wand towards an area where he had sensed the attacks coming from and cast a revealing charm, causing three large Viking-style ships to seemingly materialize out of thin air.

The ships had five gun ports in their side each, revealing a strange contraption that looked somewhat like a cannon, yet unlike any cannon at the same time.

The weapons were made entirely of wood and covered in what would look like decorative carvings at a first glance. Yet, those carvings were glowing a faint blue, a sign that either someone had invested in a phosphorescent paint job or the carvings were brimming with magic.

The business end of the weapon, or magic cannon, was about as thick as a fingertip while the back end was as wide as a palm, with a Wardstone slotted into it.

There was a wizard operating each of those weapons, aiming them at a certain extremely pale-faced individual and tapped an area in the carvings with their wand, causing yet another explosion to erupt not a moment later.

The wizards manning their posts were quite confident in their imminent victory – even with just two of those ships, their victory would be inevitable.

Not only were the ships given top-grade enchantments, the Wardstone-based weaponry was also a very recent development with each of them having more destructive power than any wizard alive.

Yet, suddenly the wizards' faces paled – they could see the other ships. Now, for Muggles, seeing the other ships of your own fleet would be reassuring, as you'd know that there were others backing you up. However, for wizards, especially the Nordic countries' Auror department, them seeing the other ships of the fleet was a very bad thing – it meant that the invisibility charm that had covered them had been broken.

Not a moment later, the ships resounded with thunderous explosions hitting their hull – not a big problem, as they were designed to withstand a battle with a similar ship.

In the distance, the wizards could see massive beasts flying in with their wings flapping, the Hungarian Dragon Riders, a reinforcement that was considered a complete overkill. The Dragons spat out massive gouts of orange fire, setting nearly a hundred of Voldemort's followers ablaze at once.

From another side, a purple-colored fog could be seen rolling onto the crowd of Death Eaters. Those aboard the ships made sure they were wearing their masks – they didn't want to inhale a single whiff of the stuff, it would be best to kill yourself if it entered your system. The Germans were truly crazy, using something like that.

Everyone had been given a short introduction about the strong suits and special weapons of the other teams, within reason, so that they would know what not to do. They had even been informed that the German Aurors would be using a rapidly vaporizing potion that would cause the lungs of anyone that inhaled it to start rotting, followed by the rest of the internal organs. It was truly vicious, and the reasons they sent just one man from their side, as one would be enough to deploy something like that.

The Baltic states side had informed everyone that they wouldn't need to worry about anything and just buy them enough time – their trump card would need time to activate.

Everyone thought at the time that if their trump card still needs time to activate, the fight would be long over before they can take it out.

Voldemort, having revealed the enemy to be just some floating boats, shouted: "You incompetent fools! Shield me!"

Many around him quickly cast shielding charms. They had been much too flustered about the sudden attack and had fallen into disarray and panic, yet his shouts had cleared their heads. Shielding charms erupted everywhere in the crowd, quickly forming a transparent barrier that melded into a single large construct around and above them.

"Fiendfyre!", Voldemort shouted. A massive basilisk entirely made of flames shot out and rushed at the three ships, swallowing them whole. At first, it didn't seem to be very effective, but Voldemort knew very well of the nature of Fiendfyre – first, it would burn away any magic imbued into the protective enchantments and then it would go for the main course.

Sure enough, just a few seconds later, screams could already be heard erupting from the ships, the fire reaching the wizards inside.

While Voldemort was still controlling the Fiendfyre, the purple mist was completely stopped by the shielding charms, completely unable to penetrate or move further. Yet, suddenly, loud banging sounds could be heard once again and Death Eaters were sent into the air once again, as if another fleet of ship had been waiting for their moment.

However, instead of explosions, it had been the bodies of eight Dragons that had slammed into the ranks of the Death Eaters, relying on their nigh-unbreakable scales to act as battering rams and break their ranks.

As the wall of shields was broken, the purple fog could continue on its path again, infiltrating the previously impenetrable formation.

Groans and screams of agony could be heard emitting from those that had inhaled it, their insides already being corroded by the substance. Not many fell to its effects, however, as those that noticed the commotion had cast the Bubblehead charm on themselves, making it impossible for the potion vapor to infiltrate their body.

Voldemort, seeing the Dragons descending on the protective formation, released his control over the Fiendfyre, that was still burning the ships – they were made of oak from trees that had been absorbing magic for three hundred years, extremely durable even under such a hellish flame. The only downside was that the entire stockpile of that wood had been used to make those three ships, leaving only fresh saplings in the grove it had originated in.

'It seems that instead of the Entrail Expelling curse modification, I'll have to settle for a refinement of the killing curse. Let's see how well it works.'

"Lugsmot, your arm!", Voldemort commanded one of the Death Eaters standing close to him.

Understanding what his lord wanted, the Death Eater exposed the Dark Mark on his arm.

Voldemort grabbed the man's arm and pressed down on the Dark Mark with his arm with his left hand and with his right, brandished his wand, aiming at the closest Dragon.

Normally, Dragon skin was tough enough to need bombardment from multiple powerful wizards to penetrate, and even then, it would be physical injuries at best, the Dragon's flesh and blood still resisting the spell's effects, the same rule applying even to the killing curse.

"Avada Kedavra!", Voldemort chanted. It was one of the few spells that still required him to chant, especially if he wanted to get the maximum effect out of them.

A bolt as thick as a forearm erupted from his wand and struck the first Dragon. It didn't stop there. A green glow formed around the Dragon and another bolt of similar size shot from the Dragon to the next one. This continued until all eight Dragons were caught in the spell.

Suddenly, the young man whose arm Voldemort was holding seemed to start aging rapidly, his skin wrinkling and his hair turning grey.

At the same time, the Dragons begun writhing on the ground and roaring, as if experiencing hellish torture. The Death Eaters near them were crushed to bloody paste, and same could be said about their riders, they were completely ground into mincemeat.

A few moments later, the throes of the Dragons stopped completely, they were already dead. The spell was truly horrible, not only could it jump from target to target, it was even able to kill a creature famous for its resistance to magic, who could defend against something like that?

Once the Dragons were all dead, Voldemort released his grip on the now old man and wiped his hand on his robes.

'It's not such a bad modification. Even the cost isn't that much, as long as I have enough followers. It is truly unfortunate that I have to touch such filth to make use of it.'

Meanwhile, Hans was staring at the destruction with wide eyes. He would've liked to cast a Fiendfyre of his own to just get rid of as many Death Eaters as he could, but their shielding charms would've kept it at bay until it burned through the multi-layered ward surrounding the area, allowing Voldemort to escape.

'It can't be helped; I only have one choice left. I hope the Baltic wizards had enough time to finish their preparations.'

There were ten empy phials in front of Hans, some purple mist still rising from the ground. By that time, nearly half of the remaining Death Eaters were engulfed by the fog. Hans, seeing that Voldemort and his merry men were about to get bored and the fog had made it quite far into their ranks, cast an incendiary charm at the purple vapor.

A blue flame quickly spread along the purple flame, as if it was gasoline. In just a few seconds, it had already reached the Death Eaters, but not even a scream could be heard from them – the moment the entire cloud of vapor was engulfed, the fire had sped up to the extreme, creating a pillar of flame that reached for the sky and burst out to the sides – all along, the corrosive effect on human insides had been just a secondary effect, the intended use was for situations exactly like that, where Fiendfyre couldn't be used to get rid of an enemy.

On the other side of Voldemort's small army, witches in strange robes were whispering strange-sounding words to eggs that looked as if they belonged to an ostrich, except the whole surface of those eggs was covered with runes, patterns and mystical symbols.

Just as Hans ignited the purple fog, they threw the eggs into the ranks of Death Eaters and, keeping close to the ground, they opened a door in the large rock in front of them and went inside. A moment later, it was as if they'd never even been there, the rock was already seamlessly sealed.

The eggs that had been thrown broke apart even before they hit anything and a black goo-like substance erupted, quickly forming large amorphous mounds with long crystalline claws sticking out of them.

The amorphous masses then grew four leg and a dozen eyes that surrounded their bodies, before they went on a rampage, lashing out at anything that had body heat, each other included. Yet, any damage they suffered was quickly recovered, as if they were some sort of water elementals, not caring about physical injuries at all.

It wasn't just physical injuries that those monstrosities shrugged off, however – the Death Eaters cast all imaginable spells at them in and attempt to get rid of them or even just freeze them on the spot, but nothing worked and the Death Eaters were the ones that ended up suffering casualty after casualty instead.

All that had happened in just ten seconds, barely giving anyone involved a moment to think or cast a spell.

As the Death Eaters were slain by the dozens, Voldemort finally had enough time to secure an escape route. Once more, he took control of the Fiendfyre that had yet to burn through the three ships and directed it to form a long spout that reached towards the sky. At one point, the flame seemed to meet an obstacle, spreading out.

A few seconds later, the obstruction seemed to disappear and Voldemort disapparated, followed by the surviving few dozen Death Eaters doing the same.

The monstrosities that were summoned onto the battlefield burst apart one after the other, their short lifespan coming to an end a few seconds after they had no more sacrifices to prolong it.

An Order of the Phoenix safehouse

"Albus, I barely managed to get away with my life! They failed! He's even more powerful now, I'm not sure even you would be his match!", a breathless wizard reported.

He had tagged along with the joint task force to observe and report back on their success, yet it had all gone down the drain. Instead, he could only be the bearer of bad news.

"Then we have only one choice left, James. The two of you have defied him twice and she is due on the seventh month, is she not? The only thing that can stop him is the power of Prophecy, one that would make your child his nemesis and make it impossible for him to lay a hand on your child. You'll have to convince Lily."

"Is there no other way?"

"I'm afraid it is the only way, sacrifices must be made for the greater good. I will provide you with the third and final defiance against him, you will both be protected by a Fidelius charm from the moment the Prophecy is revealed – it must be known to both sides, so that it can take root."

"Yes, Professor Dumbledore. I understand. I will speak to Lily."

James had thought about refusing in the beginning, but he just couldn't – it was the only way they could make sure that even if something happened to them, their child would live.

However, before he went to look for Lily, he had another person to see. A few doors away, he found Sirius Black, his best friend and confidant.

"Sirius, I have a favor to ask."

"Alright, shoot."

"Should something happen to me and Lily, I want you to take good care of our child."

"What do you mean? Are you planning a suicide mission or something?"

"No, it's just that, considering the times and circumstances, there might not be all that much time left for any of us, but if you manage to live through it, I want the assurance that our child will be cared for."

Elsewhere, in the most luxurious room of the Snyde manor

"Dolohov! Find out which cunts tried to ambush me! I want their names and addresses, and I want them today!", a certain snake-face shouted.

He was thoroughly irritated by the attempt and even moreso due to the fact that the Death Eaters that died had been quite generous donators for the cause. Now, he'd have to 'convince' their families to not ask for a compensation or something like that.

"It will be done, lord. I will set all the agents in the world on it, if you so desire."

The number of Voldemort's agents that had managed to infiltrate the various Magical Law Enforcement agencies all over the world weren't few, there were at least three in each branch. Normally, he would've been informed of the ambush weeks before it actually happened, yet somehow, this time, any information about it had completely eluded any of them.

"Why are you still standing there? Do it already!"