As the smoke cleared, people saw Alexander coughing. After a fit of coughing, Alexander said, " Never like the smoke!!! Now, my friends from ICW, do you want to start a war?"
A ICW executive stepped forward and said, " It's dark lords like you who start the war."
Alexander, " Who told you that I was dark lord? I am a law abiding citizen."
ICW executive snorted and said, " A law abiding citizen doesn't capture all the werewolves across Europe or offer all the muggleborns jobs simultaneously. You also according to your own account took over the Egyptian Ministry of Magic. If this are not the actions of a dark lord then tell me what they are?"
Alexander, " What a narrow minded world view you have, ICW henchman? I captured the werewolves because my men had found a cure for them and I don't believe that the local ministries would have let me administer it as a large portion of their votes come from the false assurances they give the general populace about the way they would guard the public from the threat of so called dark creatures. I offered the muggleborns jobs so what's wrong with this. I send contracts to all of them as I did not have the list of marks of them. All of my actions can be justified but what about yours? I came to have a meeting with my acquaintances and some of your people attacked me. Then, events happened and here, we are on the brink of war."
ICW's executive, " You are a eloquent speaker just like Grindlewald and you will join him soon enough. I don't know if you have taken over the Egyptian Ministry of Magic or not but we will investigate that also."
Alexander had directed Alexander 2.0 to make this banter with the ICW executive so that Alexander could capture the possible spies from the east. Alexander along with his most powerful men moved discretely towards the north. They had now reached the base of the small hill where these people have set up camp. Now, Alexander just needed to distract these fellows. Alexander transferred the next dialogue and waited for the fireworks to start.
Alexander 2.0 said, " I knew that this would happen. ICW is a tyrannical body which don't seek the betterment of magical people. Since, you want to start a war then war will you get. Men!!! Prepare for battle." The men under Alexander roared and started gathering magic while the forces of ICW also started gearing up for war. Suddenly, a loud boom was heard and Dumbledore could be heard speaking, " STOP!!! Do you even think the consequences of your actions? You are going to start a war over small disagreements and as a result thousands of lives would be lost."
ICW executive said, " Then, what should we do, Supreme Mugwump? Wait till he becomes nearly unstoppable like Gellert Grindlewald. We should end him before he plunges the whole wizarding world in strife again. He already has a massive army so he can declare war on us at anytime. We don't want to be caught off guard like the previous war."
AT THE NORTHERN HILLTOP:
There was a team of seven wizards and witches wearing battle robes outlined with runes standing on the top of the hill observing the battlefield. One of wizards spoke up, " Squad Leader, we have been observing these fellows for quite some time. I don't think that anyone here can be a danger to our empire or the Chinese clans. But, one good thing happened due to this, the relationship between us and them have become quite close. May be after few decades, we would merge together and form the most powerful magical force on this planet."
A woman snorted, " Number 6, we are the most powerful magical force of this world. Only the Chinese clans can barely resist us collectively. The old emperor is generous and kind so he does not try to subjugate them. But, I think that this Fortis fellow is not the cause of all the tensions that the higher ups are having."
The man standing at the front, " Silence!!! According to our spy in ICW, this man here has quite a large number of werewolves and Magi under him. Even if he cannot do much harm to our empire, he can be used as a suitable probing tool. The amount of efficiency and swiftness, these men have shown in gathering intel and execution does not match the show they are putting on right now. Many of them are more powerful then us, I can sense this by examining the passive aura emitted by their bodies but now, the forces of ICW are giving then equal fight. Ridiculous!!! I think they are waiting for something."
Another female Magi asked, " Squad Leader, What are they waiting for?"
Squad Leader, " I don't know, Number 3."
Number 6, " Look!!! The war is going to start. We can now keenly observe their threat level. What the Hell!!! From where this old man popped up? He is trying to stop the war. Damn Him!!!"
Squad Leader, " Number 6!!! I know you are a battle maniac but think of the consequences of your words. If this war happens thousands of magi will die and it will already decrease our global population as compared to non magicals. You didn't read the reports circulating the department. The non magicals want to use the disappointed muggleborns to inflitrate our societies. They want to know if our resources could be used by them or not. And, if they can be used then there would be war."
Number 6, " I don't fear them. We can easily end them if we are ready to pay the price."
Number 3, " We should focus on our assignment right now. It seems that the war would not start now and both the sides have come to an agreement of some sorts."
Squad Leader, " Replay our recording devices in order to know what has happened?"
Dumbledore, " We should held a duel between the most powerful wizard on our side and their side. If they win, let them rule over Egypt and if we win, Alexander Fortis will surrender and have his magic bound."
ICW executive, " Are you out of your mind? We cannot let him have Egypt. The amount of riches and old magical texts buried in that land are immense. Moreover, who will fight him? You may be the Supreme Mugwump but ICW is not your property."
Dumbledore, " In order to prevent the loss of thousands of lives then yes, it is the right thing to do. I will fight him but if you can find someone more capable than me then, that person will fight him."
ICW executive thought, " This Old Bastard!!! If we were not pressurized by the public, we would have never made him the Supreme Mugwump. He thinks that we don't know about the relationship between him and Grindlewald. The only reason we allowed him to have so much influence was to curtail his dark lord tendencies. He doesn't know but all his proposed changes are going to reversed when this bastard dies. Let's bear with him for few more decades, after which we will start to repair the damages he has caused and will cause to the wizarding world. If he was not acting as a deterrent for any wannabe dark lords, the council of hit wizards would already had him killed."
The ICW executive turned towards Alexander 2.0 and relayed Dumbledore's suggestion. The original Alexander who was hiding near the hilltop ordered the duplicate to agree to this and set the duel to be held a month later. Both the sides agreed to it and orderly started to recall their forces.
Alexander and his men who were standing at a distance of few meters away from the hilltop looked as the assassins also left. One of the men asked, " Why we didn't capture them, your majesty?"
Alexander replied, " I had come here to confirm two things. First was that if these fellows were from east and second, if these fellows were from the east then how much did they knew about us and why had they come here?"
Alexander let out a breath and continued, " Now, we know that the east is powerful enough to send crystal stage assassins. Also, they have a spy in ICW who is high enough in position to read reports about my threat level. Their conversation also revealed that the world's laws are sending continuous warnings to the Magi of the east and they are very alert right now. I let them go because I need to remain under radar as long as I can. What will happen if these guys didn't return on time to their headquarters? Alarms will be raised. These guys were more powerful then Dumbledore so they were never in danger. Their missing will reveal that the enemy was much more powerful than them. This would prompt the Magi of the east to take more proactive approach in tracking me down in order to know if I was behind all this or if I was a pawn in a bigger scheme but one thing would be sure that this would hinder our operations in West."
Another witch spoke up, " But your majesty, you are powerful enough to conquer them easily so why are we waiting?"
Alexander, " I know that. I am taking my time in conquering this world in order to train my mind. If I cannot wait for a few years then how would I be able to wait for a few hundred years in order to conquer a world."
The witch whose name was Grace asked, " What kind of world requires hundreds of years to conquer, your majesty?"
Alexander, " Almost all higher level cultivation worlds will take this much or more time. Hell!!! The cultivation in such realms take hundreds of thousands of years let alone, the time required to conquer them. Some technological worlds are also very vast so they would also require hundereds of years to conquer. The main reason behind this delay are the world laws. In higher level world, the laws are more developed so the king has to be extra careful in masking his actions."
Alexander then ordered his men to swiftly evacuate and also left the hilltop. The international papers deemed this conflict as war because hundreds of Aurors and hit wizards were heavily injured with no winners while the Daily Prophet declared it as a win for the British Ministry and Dumbledore.
Alexander thought, " These tabliods have named this conflict as ' War Of Hogsmeade '. How can this be a war when there was not even a single death on both the sides. It was just a show of power. I have reached the peak of the crystal stage and now it is the time to advance to magus realm. When I have at least a hundred magus under me, I will start the war with east. I should take full advantage of the time ability of the king."
Alexander moved towards the portal as he wanted to do his advancement in his kingdom.
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