Chapter 122
Winning the War
"Many of our non-magical cousins didn't believe a non-nuclear war couldn't last a single day. They were proven wrong, in the most devastating way imaginable. Of course, they didn't exactly have a good idea of what Champions were capable of." Words attributed to Gilderoy Lockhart, December 1995.
22 April 1995, the Demilitarised Zone, the land where War never ended, Korean Peninsula
Fleur Delacour was afraid of Alexandra Potter.
She didn't know why the whole world wasn't afraid of her.
The girl was so dangerous that not being afraid of her meant you were either stupid, or insane.
And now, there was that.
Meteors.
Her reaction when they were trapped and surrounded was about creating artificial meteors and bringing it all down in a single, apocalyptic strike.
"You are very lucky I had my Phoenix form to absorb the fire," the French Champion coughed as the smoke assailed her senses.
Then it dissipated.
The Champion of Death was further away than she thought.
She had definitely not been within the area that was protected by her Fire 'umbrella'.
But her black clothes weren't in flames or suffering from spontaneous combustion.
In fact, there wasn't a single scratch tear or hole in them.
"How?" she asked bewildered.
"Did you really think I would cast something extremely destructive and not have a contingency plan to not be pulverised by my own attack? Please, Delacour, give me some credit."
Fleur heard a Succubus giggling, and somehow, this made this entire night worse.
"Well," Sforza commented once her hilarity was under control. "I admit the tactic was a bit explosive, but the solution proposed by Alexandra did indeed solve our little Inferi problem."
"At the cost of eradicating pretty much everything on the battlefield," she grouchily replied. Praise Innocence, they were in an area where there were no civilians that could be hurt. Fleur didn't want to imagine what kind of carnage this would have created if the 'meteor combination' was to be cast in an urban area.
"Did someone have a better solution to propose?" Those green eyes stared at her, judging her like it was Death itself holding the reins. "There were only three of us, against a multitude of Inferi, and we couldn't Apparate where we wanted to in order to take more advantageous positions. We would have been extremely lucky to not suffer a fatality. The Inferi only had to be lucky once, you know."
Fleur kept her mouth shut. Because no, honestly, she didn't have a plan to deal with ten thousand Inferi or more.
Honestly, who woke up in the morning and imagined facing a nightmare like that?
"Was it necessary to provoke the treacherous Necromancer like this, though?" Lucrezia wondered aloud.
"Absolutely necessary? No. It was a gamble," the younger Champion admitted with a significant grimace. "I thought that if I provoked her enough, I may be able to make her mad and force her to draw power from her phylactery. In turn, this might give us an opportunity to trace back the origin of this magical transfer and have proper coordinates for a proper counterattack. But she didn't make a mistake."
Fleur didn't like the sound of that at all.
"The Necromancer lost her body."
"For now," Sforza and her words were definitely not reassuring. "And as we saw a few hours ago, clearly Arianna Dumbledore does not have a shortage of ambitious lackeys that are willing to accomplish her will."
"There may be fewer of them than there were a week ago," Alexandra Potter smirked, and if anything, this made Fleur even more afraid. "Whatever she promises them, there are limits in everything, and-"
There was thunder which echoed in the distance.
Or at least it felt like that to her ears.
Unfortunately, the relief was very short-lived.
Fleur wasn't a specialist in thunder, but alas she was sure it didn't come in hundreds of red flashes illuminating the horizon.
And the more the thunderous sounds assaulted her ears, the more likely they could be assumed to be explosions and other unpleasant things.
"What is that?"
"I could be wrong," the architect of the 'meteor rain' mused as she faced the new phenomenon, "but I think it's the North Korean's answer to the attack I used to deal with the Inferi."
"Their answer?"
The Champion of Death shrugged.
"One of my cousin's friends loves mentioning statistics about artillery, and I remember him saying Pyongyang had a superlative artillery park. He may have been incredibly right."
This...this was just madness.
What new madness had these Muggles been building?
The horizon was now just looking like it was devoured by flames, and behind them, there were colossal explosions ravaging the earth.
"If they continue like this, the Seal of Metal is not going to remain intact for long."
"It would be way simpler," Fleur did know it was going to be extremely rude, but at the time, she didn't really care, "if someone could call for reinforcements. Unlike the Army of Light, who is no more, the Exchequer is mostly intact, and it is a problem caused by one of your traitors."
"Don't you think I didn't do exactly that the moment this trap was sprung?" the Champion of Water retorted, revealing a furious expression more akin to an angry feline than a human. "I'm still trying to contact one of the Knights, with all the codes for a major emergency. But there's no one answering. That leaves two outcomes: either my allegiance is very much in question, or the treacherous bitch known as Arianna Dumbledore has arranged a distraction to keep all the loyal Knights busy."
"But what sort of distraction could lead to all your Dark Lords-in-being focused on something else rather than that?"
"At a guess?" Alexandra Potter pointed her wand at the craters the closest meteor strike had created. "Inferi. Lots and lots of Inferi..."
22 April 1995, Scuola Regina, Lands of the Magical Republic of Venice
The Exchequer had had many contingency plans to prevent a total victory of the Light.
Unfortunately, in order for said plans to work in the first place, all Knights had to have a large amount of freedom to implement them.
Some of them were known to the King and the Queen, but not all.
It was only good sense.
During the last millennium, Ra had never been timid and restrained when it came to killing the high-ranked members of the Exchequer.
Yet thanks to its flexible strategy, the Dark had always survived.
But now, Lilian almost wished additional thoughts had been turned to the problem of internally safeguarding the organisation.
"Because Arianna Dumbledore certainly didn't build up this army of Inferi in a few minutes..."
There was a horde of undead creatures at the entrance of the valley, and it didn't take a Mastery to know who had made them rise from their graves.
"They are immune to Fire." her Mistress' magically amplified voice resonated across the hastily erected fortifications. "We will have to use the wards and the earth itself to channel them into the kill zones."
It was not what every defending mage wanted to hear – fire was in general the prime, secondary, and tertiary choice to get rid of Inferi.
Lilian didn't think they were totally immune to it, though. But since they hadn't a Champion of Fire to cast the most powerful fire spells in existence, this distinction didn't matter.
"We are counting five thousand of them," she told the wizards and witches that had been placed under her command. "And we have three Giants that have been transformed into Inferi."
"Shouldn't we make a complete evacuation?" one of the Professors of the Venetian school asked nervously. "We already did it for the villages and towns around-"
"No," Lilian promptly crushed the idea before it could gain any traction. "Headmistress Sforza is going to take the field in a few minutes. The lines will hold...and we have spells to put the Giants down."
The undead living towers may be impressive, and most Curses, Dark or not, would not be able to pierce their skins.
That was why every Giant-Slayer worth the name knew the spells had to be indirectly targeting the huge Inferi.
Boxes opened.
"Bludgers? Your solution is to kill them with Bludgers?"
Lilian muttered a word of command, and the Thaumaturgy engulfed the objects. It took two seconds for them to grow spikes and generate an aura of sheer bloodthirst.
"The idea came directly from the Fifth Task," she informed her troops. "It isn't perfect, for we are dealing Inferi and they definitely don't feel pain like living beings do," she knew exactly some of the problems that created, being a Vampiri Romani herself, "but the sheer damage they can inflict will thoroughly maim them...and be a splendid distraction."
"If you say-"
Two hundred-plus modified Bludgers were hurled at the Inferi horde, and the vanguard was literally pulverised. Yes, it seemed that the traitor had made them resistant to a few things, but not that resistant.
"Where is Knight Herald?" Lilian tensely asked a messenger which had just Apparated in. "He should already be here!"
"I'm sorry, my Lady, but Knight Herald has decided to rush to Japan in order to help Knight Executor! It seems there are monstrous Inferi rising from the depths there!"
And with the Queen trying to protect Rome with Knight Informer, that didn't leave many options.
"Knight Priest?"
"He's still fighting that bloody Cockatrice Inferi near Milan."
If pressed, Lilian would deny gritting her fangs in frustration.
Some of these troops must have been approved by the King of the Exchequer as contingency plans, but others certainly hadn't been.
Arianna Dumbledore was a necromancer, and yes, creating Inferi was indeed what Necromancers of the Dark assuredly did. But there was no way the King had approved of every secret army that was now unleashed.
"And the worst part is that it is not even her primary objective..."
There was no ritualistic magic in the air.
There was no pressure, and no imminent sign the skies were going to be rent asunder.
No, there was just an undead horde of Inferi, sent here precisely because the traitor knew the Exchequer would defend this bastion of magic with as much of its strength as it could muster on short notice.
"When this night is over, I think there are going to be plenty of people who will push for the extermination of the Dumbledore line. I wasn't a believer like some Bishops that some laws of 'collective responsibility' had to be enforced, but with the amount of damage the descendants of the Dumbledore line have done, I'm willing to make an exception."
Less than five hundred metres away, the Bludgers pulverised the leg of one Giant, and created trails of destruction into the enemy undead army.
But since these were Inferi, and they cared nothing for their losses, they continued to advance.
And while the wards had been reinforced and multiple traps had been added, there was no way they could step them all.
"We are going to have to use some Bone-remover incantations, and probably more Thaumaturgy. And we won't be able to go to support other detachments."
"Sadly, this horde takes priority," the young Vampire bared her fangs. "So let's go kill it."
22 April 1995, Pyongyang, North Korea
"This was a clear and unprovoked attack on the sovereignty of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea!"
Kang Sung-chul was loyal to the Party and the Eternal General Secretary.
But today, he wasn't sure he agreed.
"Didn't the ally against the imperialists warn us a great offensive was coming? Weren't we told we would soon face a campaign that would invoke unnatural and demonic forces like ones we'd never seen before?"
All the Generals present saluted and approved, of course.
To do anything else was to risk demotion by several ranks if the Eternal General Secretary was in a good mood, and a fast arrest with your entire family sent to the camps for re-education if he wasn't.
"But our ally proved the confidence and the assets weren't wasted. The attack failed."
Thankfully, Sung-chul had good practise hiding his real emotions behind a mask of obedience.
General or not, it felt like sheer nonsense.
The 'meteor rain' which had taken all the operators of the Army and the Air Force by surprise had come out of nowhere, but there had been no indication it targeted anything beyond the demilitarised zone.
And yes, his men had assured him before he rushed to this emergency meeting that the zone which had been razed by the meteors was indeed the one that the Eternal General Secretary had allowed their mysterious 'ally' to prepare its 'assets' in.
"Now is the time for us to strike before the imperialists can launch a second attack. Now is the time to liberate the historical lands of Joseon!"
Kang Sung-chul wished he could say the Eternal General Secretary had changed since the 'ally' revealed itself over thirty days ago.
But he had not.
The Eternal General Secretary was himself, in full control, and the Corps Commanders had all enthusiastically obeyed his commands before going to their troops.
"The imperialists suspect nothing, and most of the tunnels have not been detected. General Yoon!"
Sung-chul was anything but surprised to have this name be called up. Yoon commanded one of the Corps of the second echelon, and had not been assigned to be part of the initial attack.
"You will exploit the opening that the imperialists have offered us! The fortifications and defences of this part of the demilitarised zone are no more! It is clear a rapid mechanised assault will allow you to rout the divisions of the imperialists in mere hours!"
They were really going to do it.
The realisation almost caused a twist of the lips. Long experience and absolute self-control saved him.
His mask remained in place.
But deep inside, all he felt was panic.
There was little known about the 'demonic capabilities' which were known to spread across the world outside the country. The 'ally' was the first the Eternal General Secretary and all the loyal officers had met. Some searching had been done to investigate, but no one had expressed surprise that there were no 'witches' living under the illuminated rule of the Party.
There were a lot of things they didn't know. But what was certain was that the armies south of the demilitarised zone were still there, ready to face their artillery and the offensively-prepared Corps.
"Begin Operation Typhoon."
"By your will, Supreme Grand Marshal and Eternal General Secretary of the People!"
Everyone cheered, clapped his hands in approval, and went on to relay the orders of their leader.
Yet Kang Sung-chul felt the meteor rain had been just the first omen of something much, much more terrible, and their offensive was only accelerating whatever horrible outcome was ready to pounce from the devastation of the demilitarised zone...
22 April 1995, London, England
Sometimes, Dudley remembered he was a tiny, insignificant rat before the terrifying power of magic.
This was one of those days, unfortunately.
Okay, it was currently one hour before dawn, but his point stood.
"A meteor rain," Piers scowled. "I mean, who could have predicted the Hydra Queen was capable of that? It's on an entirely new level compared to what she did before, and I include the Dreadnought! Nobody could have predicted this!"
"I did." Dudley sighed.
"What? Don't joke about things like that!"
"I don't think he's joking," James was always the best at card games for a reason. "She used some funds to find some part of England where she could do a test-trial of it, right?"
"Right," Dudley confirmed.
"It's not the first time she's launched meteors? By God-"
"Relax, Malcolm," he didn't roll his eyes, because yeah, the prospect of someone able to command a meteor rain and deliver it upon someone's head was freaking terrifying. How did you block something like that? Oh right, you couldn't. "I think she used the same stones, but she didn't enlarge them so much, and she also didn't set them on fire or do other stuff with them. Oh yeah, and most of them were thrown into the sea during training. Plenty also shattered and did cause tiny splashes when they collided with the waves. But apparently, that problem has been solved."
"Oh yeah, this has been solved." Yeah, the black humour had to be heard across all England.
"Who could have thought a few magic Runes and some rocks could do so much damage?" James barked a short laugh. "Well, I understand better why some Japanese video games' companies wanted to speak with your cousin recently."
"Yeah," Piers remarked acidly, "she would make an excellent Final Boss. You know, I don't think the market for 'I will bring down a meteor from the heavens to destroy the planet' has ever been cornered..."
Dudley Dursley licked his lips, and tried hard not to think very much about the tiny issue of them not being in a video game.
"I'm sure she had her reasons," the young wererat said weakly, all the while watching the TV. "But it appears that whatever her goals were by going to Korea, it has triggered a war."
It was not yet dawn in Britain, but it was obvious the world had gone horribly wrong in the last night.
There were reports of undead assaults all across the world, and not of the 'slow, clumsy, stupid zombie kind'.
The Necromancer had opened her vaults of horror, and there were multiple reports of battles in many cities, with mages trying to put down the monsters as fast as they could.
It was bad.
It was going to leave scars.
It was terrifying.
But none of it approached the magnitude of the armed forces of North Korea suddenly launching a giant offensive straight against their southern neighbour.
"Seen like that, the meteor rain wasn't a very good idea."
According to the terrified Korean witnesses, there were so many guns on the peninsula firing at once that they were creating miniature earthquakes.
The ground was trembling, and the land was cracking under the thousands upon thousands of explosions.
Night had faded in the Far East, but only a false dawn had taken its place. There was so much smoke and ash that it was partially obscuring the sun.
"Not a good idea? The 'demilitarised zone' is the antechamber of hell itself right now!"
"And I seriously doubt the Hydra Queen is responsible." James told them.
"What? Jimmy, the meteor rain was apocalyptic! They must have panicked-"
"Panicked? With what looks like a million men and ten thousand artillery pieces? Try better, Piers." The roguish-looking boy slowly shook his head. "You don't gather all those forces in ten minutes, or even in ten hours. Someone clearly wanted a big, massive, ugly war. And that someone clearly told the North Koreans, and possibly gave them an advance warning of what was to come."
Dudley frowned, remembering some of the words that had been said during their last conversation.
"Cousin was worried about the Seal of War."
"I'd say she was right to be." James chuckled. "It is rather twisted, but it fits. The two Koreas were never at peace, so resuming the hostilities can be done, if you're sufficiently ruthless. And if you want to empower a Champion of War, what better way than to start a massive conflict with millions of men killing each other?"
Yeah, it was...it was disgusting and evil, but it made sense.
The rat in him wanted to dig a hole and disappear, however. There were murderous plans, and then there was this insanity. Yeah, there were proverbs that you couldn't have an omelette without breaking a few eggs, but there were millions of lives at stake!
Millions.
"Okay, this was some madman's plan-"
"A madwoman, since the 'Knight Necromancer' is female," James corrected. "I think the plan is screwed up beyond belief now. My guess? The zombies that have been seen everywhere are the distractions, and there was one bigger army of them hiding in the demilitarised zone, right where the meteors rained down. It is gone now, but no one told the North Koreans they should wait instead of throwing their columns of tanks and artillery at the problem."
"This is still a war." Dudley wanted to hide and wait until the danger had passed, but unfortunately his eyes kept returning to the images on the TV. The destruction and the chaos were just mesmerising, in a way which gave him a bellyache.
"Yeah, a lot of people are going to die before the guns fall silent."
22 April 1995, the Demilitarised Zone, the land where War never ended, Korean Peninsula
Lucrezia hadn't truly acknowledged it before today, but Alexandra Potter could honestly be terrifying in several other aspects beyond the obvious.
Spectators, including magical, most often remembered the 'Empress of Lightning', a burst of green-bright elemental force that annihilated everything in its path.
It was quick, merciless, and unless you were Lord-level, the chances of survival were incredibly slim.
"Wingardium Leviosa! Diffindo! Accio guns!"
The battle which had raged for several hours was nothing like that.
It was a long and slow butchery, fought only with basic spells taught in every school of Europe.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
Another vehicle went flying, immediately intercepting several hundred bullets.
At the same time, projectiles were returned to their senders.
Metal was transfigured into burning wax, and the trenches the enemy had hastily dug were transformed into fiery graves.
And when the weapons of the deceased soldiers went flying in their direction, they rapidly stopped before becoming a rain of death.
It lasted three seconds.
The infantry had been annihilated.
And then the bombardment resumed.
"It is getting a bit out of control," the Champion of Death remarked calmly.
Lucrezia admired the self-control. One might think it was a simple Tournament Task by the tone, but it definitely was not.
While her fellow Champion had not suffered any serious wound, her robes and every piece of cloth upon her was soaked in human blood.
"I think we can say it has gone completely out of control," Lucrezia smiled before giving the favourite of the Morrigan a very serious expression. "It is way too big to be a single incident; I don't believe for a single second that it was a lone commander who panicked watching the meteors and opened fire in fear of losing his guns."
"Of course," Alexandra nodded. "This had to be the second dagger of Knight Necromancer's plan. You know, the one where she had a Champion of War at her beck and call."
Lucrezia grimaced deep behind her serene expression, and it wasn't because the thunderous explosions hurt her sensitive ears.
"I suppose it makes sense. It would have been optimal for her if she had already defeated us and her Inferi horde was busy munching our corpses, but as it is, she can make sure that whatever Champion of War emerges from the Seal will have felt the hundreds of thousands of deaths provoked by this conflict."
"Precisely," unlike her, Alexandra didn't bother hiding her scowl. "I hoped that fighting all along the frontline plus the giant explosions would have convinced your superiors to rush here."
"The situation must be dire elsewhere," the Champion of Water reluctantly said. "And as much as I don't want to say it, our presence here must play against us. Three Champions is a lot of firepower for a single battlefield."
"Except the battlefield is hundreds of kilometres long, and it feels like the enemy is crawling out of countless tunnels," the young witch that was to formally become the Queen's Apprentice spoke grimly, casting a few spells to remove some blood from her skin while levitating two more tanks to serve as improvised shields. "Forget the Exchequer, then. Can we call more Champions?"
"Which Champions?" Delacour announced her presence in a flash of fire and her usual haughtiness. "This battlefield is one of the reasons why we don't have a Champion of War...excuse me, Strife. And you tried to contact the Chaos psychopath at the beginning of the battle. Realistically, she's the only Champion that could truly fight all these soldiers and laugh while doing it."
"I don't know if I would go that far, Delacour," Alexandra Potter killed ten more men with an overpowered Diffindo before turning her head again. "That said, I wonder what the hell Knight Necromancer did that could be a diversion in her case. Unlike the Knights of the Exchequer, I'm pretty sure a Champion of Loki doesn't have hundreds of bases dispersed all over the world."
"And she doesn't really care about the civilian casualties that the Inferi hordes could inflict upon various cities, yes."
Lucrezia breathed out.
She sent an Ecclesial. It failed again.
"I don't know what the enemy did, but it's clear we can't count upon the Dark Queen today."
"I am really beginning to develop a deep hatred for Arianna Dumbledore." The green eyes promised untold pain and an eternal torment beyond the Veil. "She will pay for this."
22 April 1995, Saint Petersburg, Russia
To be honest, Lyudmila Romanov didn't really care about Saint Petersburg.
Yes, allegedly, it was the city where she was born. Allegedly.
Given how little attraction she had ever felt for it, to say she had some doubts about that would be one of those things the British called 'charming understatements'.
But home city or not, the Champion of Chaos didn't care about Saint Petersburg.
In fact, she didn't really care about any city in the world.
Whether Madrid or Berlin burned was unimportant in her eyes. If the wizards and witches were unable to defend their capitals from magical perils, then why the hell did they bother to name them as their seats of government in the first place?
Yes, that was a hint that Chaos always was the best solution, far better than all the promises of Order.
"And yet here I am, defending Saint Petersburg..."
The highest-ranked Champion of Durmstrang had honestly not expected a battle when she entered the city last night. No, she had intended to read some of the secret archives. There were some interesting documents about past Tri-Wizard Tournaments within them.
Unfortunately, before she had even been able to read a single page, the Champion of Loki had been rudely interrupted by what felt like the biggest Inferi offensive of the last few centuries.
For this rudeness, Lyudmila had slaughtered them, and began to search for the architect of this disturbance.
Unfortunately, that was when the real problem had appeared.
"Stay still, ugly beast!" Her chief foe didn't listen to her.
And as overwhelming destruction collided with her, Lyudmila had to take her Fenrir Animagus form to survive.
She clawed and bit the beast, and all she obtained was some disgusting taste in her maw.
Worse, she almost drowned and had to expel herself from the water with all urgency.
"I know every wizard and witch worth the name was watching the First Task of the Tournament, but seriously, I didn't expect anyone to want a repeat!"
Her eyes stared at the gigantic serpentine enemy.
For yes, this was exactly what Knight Necromancer had sent against Saint Petersburg.
An undead Sea Snake.
And unlike the one they had been told to 'play with' during the First Task, this one was not a small and young specimen.
It was an adult one...or at least it had been adult when it had been killed.
"I wonder if it's the mystery beast that Alexandra Potter was so worried about when she discovered the empty Ossuary in China?" the Dark Queen mused, casting a few more flesh-dissolving Curses that achieved nothing of note.
Yes, the thing was undead, but somehow, the bitch who had reanimated it had somehow managed to enchant it with some water regeneration ability similar to the one it had alive.
And it was a problem. The canals of Saint Petersburg were big enough that every time the snake plunged in them, all the injuries she inflicted were erased in a few seconds.
"No," she reluctantly acknowledged as a giant tail pulverised a couple of buildings. "It can't be that. Sea Snakes were rarely hunted by Chinese wizards. That's more something the Japanese did when they were the favourites of the Chrysanthemum Throne."
The Sea Snake, of course, didn't wait to continue the carnage.
Several wizards did the stupid thing and tried to cast multiple versions of Death Curses at the beast, and rapidly discovered that no, the Necromancer had not left such a glaring weakness. In all likelihood, there was a pseudo-phylactery somewhere inside the body, and if your spell didn't hit right on target, the assault did exactly nothing.
Which was exactly what happened to the wizards.
At the cost of most of their magical cores, they absolutely achieved a splendid but useless firework.
And then they died when the Sea Snake smashed them.
It was a pure physical attack, there was really nothing magical about it.
It killed hundreds of people, besides the wizards who had failed to acknowledge that Apparating out of the city when the war wards were active was an impossible feat.
"I wish I could leave this city and go outside; I don't find this battle very amusing." No lightning spell had a chance to do a one-shot kill on the Sea Snake, and as much as she hated to acknowledge it, Arianna Dumbledore had really poured some incredible resistance against Chaos Magic into this leviathan.
Was it one of the contingencies the Exchequer had prepared to deal with her? It was not impossible.
If that was the case, though, and this was indeed the Necromancer's contingency, Lyudmila wasn't exactly very curious about what the rest of the Dark had prepared in case she annoyed them too much.
"But this is impossible. There are plenty of dangerous artefacts that must not fall into the Necromancer's hands. And I have no doubt that it's exactly what will happen if the city falls to her."
That was the real reason Lyudmila had not gone elsewhere to find a more interesting battle. As a daughter of the Imperial House, she was one of the few magical beings who had a real clue of what sort of heirlooms House Romanov had placed in their vaults decades and centuries ago.
For the moment, the vaults were safe; the average Inferi horde had been dealt with, and for some reason, the lackeys of the Necromancer had barely fought for a few minutes before retreating in all haste.
But if the Sea Snake truly managed to destroy the entire city and finish the Wizarding resistance, Lyudmila was sure other Inferi would be here to lead the counterattack. And what she knew of the heirlooms was enough to understand she didn't want a single one of them to fall into the hands of someone like Arianna Dumbledore.
The Exchequer traitor had made it clear she wanted all the Champions prostrating themselves in front of her.
Lyudmila was the Champion of Loki and Chaos; she refused to let that happen.
"Fine," the Dark Queen let a smile without joy appear on her face. "I tried all the Chaotic conventional assaults I could think of. Now it's time to use the unconventional spells."
And yes, by 'unconventional', she meant 'ICW-banned, absolutely proscribed' incantations.
She muttered a few words, and the blood of the dying became a river answering her commands, before crystallising into six thousand spears, all strengthened by sharp bones.
"Two can play this game, Necromancer. I don't know where you are, but I hope you're watching. By sunset, you will know you have made an enemy out of someone who will you put you down."
The Sea Snake, needless to say, didn't exactly realise the danger.
Not until she severed a good part of the tail.
And then the gory hacking and slashing began.
22 April 1995, the Demilitarised Zone, the land where War never ended, Korean Peninsula
There were days where it was easy to be a Champion of Death.
This wasn't one of those days.
Alexandra could feel it.
Or rather, she could feel them.
The thousands of lives snuffed one by one, so fast you couldn't honestly count them properly.
The worst part?
She couldn't even say she was responsible for most of this senseless waste of lives.
The part of the battlefield that had been theirs had mercifully fallen silent for the last thirty minutes.
But it was as if everyone had believed that to compensate for this, there must be a vigorous demand to increase the carnage on the other parts of the Korean Peninsula.
There was enough destruction and explosions to satisfy the most warmongering analyst.
The thunder was omnipresent, and the sun wouldn't rise today over this part of the world. Or if it did, it would be a red sun, born of the ashes of every battalion and the smoke of the burning vehicles.
"Alexandra?"
"Yes, Lucrezia?"
"I'm afraid it is too late to stop this war," the Succubus said delicately, as if afraid to hurt her sensibility.
"I know. The North Koreans aren't going to stop. And the South Koreans, obviously, are shooting back with everything they have."
Which appeared to be a lot. The Hydra Animagus had seen hundreds of planes launching missiles and bombs in the last hour.
"And to be clear, the South is absolutely right to do so."
"Because they're a genuine democracy and they're fighting a tyrannical regime?"
"My first view was that the bastards allied themselves with Arianna Dumbledore and were murderous enough to go ahead with this bloody plan even when she was temporarily defeated." Alexandra paused. "But I guess that your point is right too."
"We can't stop this war," oh, Fleur Delacour, what would we do these days without your titanic haughtiness and pride? "We have failed."
Alexandra really hated the words which came out of her mouth in the next heartbeats.
"Not exactly."
The Champion of Fire and Life looked at her like she had suddenly grown a second head.
"I thought we had just agreed that no one is going to listen to our pleas of stopping this war. The North Korean leaders certainly are Imperiused, and the South Koreans have to fight back, otherwise their enemies are going to destroy them."
"The North Koreans aren't Imperiused, unfortunately." So far, none of the Colonels and other officers Alexandra had managed to track to diverse bunkers had been suffering from Compulsions or something that could be described as 'mind-altering magics'. "They are brainwashed by their totalitarian regime, and trained in a society where life has almost no value. Yes, there might a tiny possibility that one or several Generals higher in the hierarchy are Imperiused, but what does it matter? The war has begun, and hundreds of thousands of men and women have been thrown into the inferno. There is no turning back."
Alexandra shrugged after these words. She really felt tired mentally of this...this idiocy.
She was the Champion of Death, yes, but it looked like some people were completely eager to spread the ending of lives on a continental scale.
At least there was one certainty after today.
Alexandra was going to hunt and kill Arianna Dumbledore.
"I fail to understand how the 'not exactly' can be a reasonable answer, then."
Delacour's retort forced her to return to a darker set of thoughts.
"I admitted out loud that I couldn't convince anyone on both sides to stop this war, Fleur Delacour," the Champion of the Morrigan said tensely. "I can't even go to Seoul and Pyongyang, and Imperius a few hundred people. For one, I have never practised the spell, and for two, people are now aware of magic, meaning they will realise what I have done, and they will remove everyone that will be affected before continuing this mutual exercise of annihilation."
The explosions grew louder and came closer again. Entire columns burned, and landmines re-shaped the earth. Animals were fleeing, and the flora of the demilitarised zone perished under the relentless bombardments.
"But that leaves another alternative to end the war. If you kill enough people, then the war will cease, one way or another."
Fleur Delacour barked in something that couldn't be described as laughter.
"Ha! We're speaking of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands!"
"Over a million men, as far as the armed forces of North Korea are concerned," Lucrezia corrected drily.
"Yes, that," the Veela glared at her. "I don't care how good you are, you can't kill enough of them to make a difference; the Seal of Metal will be activated in a few hours-"
Alexandra ignored the rest of the tirade.
Instead she stared at the Succubus of Water.
"I need someone to go to Seoul and explain the fighting has to stop once the slaughter will be done."
The older witch looked at her with pity.
"I assume it has to do with the site of power where several Ley Lines intersect a few kilometres north of our current position?"
"Yes."
Lucrezia nodded, with a sympathetic expression on her face. If anything, this made Alexandra feel worse, both in her head and in her heart.
And this time, the Hydra inside her was of no help to assure her that it was justified.
It was a chance to shatter the plans of Arianna Dumbledore.
But the price and the consequences were going to be too high.
The only reason why it was something that she was considering was that all the alternatives were going to be worse.
By now, Fleur Delacour had stopped speaking, and she had become livid.
"No...what are you going to do?"
"I am going to win this war, oh Champion of Fire. Guard the Seal of Metal, and protect it with your Life."
Alexandra conjured a blade of lightning in her hand.
"I suppose that I must be blamed for some of it. I fought like a Lady of Magic, not like a Champion of the Dark." Yet for every opponent she killed, there were always some imbeciles who dared challenge the Dark. If they still did it past today, clearly there was something wrong about the human species, and especially some wizards and witches.
"I think it's time to remind the world that as long as the Morrigan approves, I am the Champion of Death."
22 April 1995, north of the Demilitarised Line, close to the Ley Line, North Korea
One couldn't exactly say the sensation was pleasant.
And no, this time, Knight Necromancer couldn't exactly be blamed.
The Ley Line Nexus was used by the soldiers as an artillery position.
Any experienced witch or wizard could have told them it was a very, very bad idea.
But then, the Korean Peninsula was very short on mages or any sort of magical practitioner.
According to Lucrezia, who was kind of the expert of the Champions on the subject, the quasi-totality of wizards and witches had fled the country when the Japanese conquered the lands at the beginning of the twentieth century, and as war engulfed it during the Korean War, more people had fled.
There were a few magical beings living in Korea these days, but they were living in the South, and they were mostly descendants of exiles who had decided to come back.
The outcome? The soldiers were sitting on a well of magical energy, and they had poured all their bloodthirst and their urge to kill into it.
When Alexandra cast a simple Fulgur, it was the beginning of the end.
In mere seconds, it was as if ten or twenty Fulmen Imperator had come out of her wand.
And then it was temporarily over.
There was only the dying screams of the soldiers, and the awful smell.
There was the fire, and there was Death.
There was the Veil.
Alexandra could see it, of course, but this time, she was certain that anyone with the slightest bit of magical power would be able to perceive it.
It was waiting.
It was patient.
It was implacable.
Each footstep made forwards didn't improve the situation.
Alexandra began to hear the whispers and the pleas of men long dead.
She was listening to the whispers, the apologies of those who had come before.
Many Koreans had in the past called for mercy, and found none here.
This easily brought a grimace to her face.
That one or two people wanted to die when war engulfed everything was not good, but it was hardly uncommon.
But for thousands upon thousands to beseech Death, to mark the very fabric of magic with their torment...what kind of monsters had plagued this land?
"I suppose it is anything but a coincidence your plans chose this location in particular, Necromancer."
There might be something called coincidences in this world, but not of that magnitude.
Everything had been calculated, premeditated, and the Inferi had been ready to open the way for an ocean of war.
Alexandra had never been more thankful that the 'meteor contingency' had been ready.
"I don't like this, you know," she told the angry soul shards and the ghosts that began to materialise by the hundreds. "I didn't want to cause this carnage, and I didn't want another war."
The Hydra Animagus removed all her clothes, beginning to change, and let her black-gold scales replace the human skin.
The robes would get in the way, and they were so soiled with blood that it might interfere.
Soon, she was surrounded by an army of ghosts, all shining in a pale green light. It wasn't just soldiers who had left a part of themselves behind. There were many, many civilians, up to pregnant women and children.
It was an entire realm of the dead.
And now they waited in silence.
Alexandra's feet touched the very earth where all the Ley Lines converged.
It was akin to touching a very large beast.
A large beast that had been-
Oh.
Yes, it had been sleeping.
"Who dares?" Obviously, it was no English. It was something primal, dangerous. It was a tongue that had been forgotten centuries ago, but magic translated it for her ears.
"I am the Sword of Death."
The ranks of the ghosts fled in haste, as an animal came forwards, conjured like it was a Patronus or an Ecclesial.
It was a great white tiger, and yet it was more than that.
"You are very far from your home, Sword of Death."
Was it an aspect of a Power that had been forgotten, or simply a manifestation of raw magic once worshipped by the inhabitants of the region? The Ravenclaw witch didn't know.
"You have slept for a very long time," she replied.
The tiger growled, but not angrily.
"True enough." The being which was definitely not a normal tiger approved. "They sealed me here, until it was time. They named me Guardian of the Western Tomb."
There was no question, for none were necessary.
Had her presence here been predicted by long-dead wizards? Had prophecies or Seer visions been granted glimpses of what would come?
"It is time. I want to end this war."
The White Tiger didn't move.
"I want to end War as Magic remembers it."
"Better," the divine animal growled.
A knife of bone materialised in her right hand.
The ravens began to arrive all around the ritual site, and they, unlike the ghosts, were very real.
Reddish light began to illuminate the corpse-covered terrain too.
The Veil began to burn in green lightning, Death being empowered by the Ley Line.
Who said that long and complex incantations were necessary to achieve an outcome?
You only needed will, power, and direction.
"By the will of the Ghost Queen, by the Blood which has been shed, and by the Legacy of Magic I have pledged myself to," Alexandra slowly spoke the words, and power that was not hers, grew within her chest, as the Morrigan watched and spoke through her, "I command you to end War."
The ghosts merged with the ravens.
The reddish light became a rain of blood.
The dead warriors and civilians who had been buried in this very location emerged to fight what would be for them their first and last battle.
"May our claws strike deep," the White Tiger roared, and it began to run in direction of the enemy.
Thousands of skeletons and ravens followed it.
It was time for Death to answer the long-ignored pleas of the vengeful souls.
22 April 1995, a bunker somewhere beneath Pyongyang, North Korea
The beginning of the offensive had gone worse than all predictions had accounted for.
The enemy had clearly failed to discover the majority of the strategic tunnels, but it had struck plenty of exits with its aerial-launched bombs to compensate for that.
There had been advances, yes, but they had been won at a crippling cost of men. Many Divisions had been hammered so badly there were only regiments left of them, and there were battalions whose duty-ready men were on the orders of companies.
Harbours and ships were engulfed in explosions, with decades of infrastructure pulverised.
The airfields were according to the local reports inoperable, having large craters in the middle of them; the surviving pilots had to use the roads to land and refuel. The infrastructure had been built for this possibility, but no one had really anticipated the thousands of civilians fleeing their homes.
Kang Sung-chul would love to say it was because the imperialists were demolishing the houses for pure vengeance, but it seemed plenty of hits were the result of their own air defence missing its targets and doing some collateral damage.
Nonetheless, they had been advancing.
In plenty of locations the first elite forces had crossed the demilitarised zone and killed thousands of enemies.
But they were gaining ground, and pushing southwards.
The imperialists had not fully mobilised and-
Sung-chul felt himself shivering in fear when he heard the first screams.
"First Corps isn't answering anymore! The First Corps isn't answering anymore!"
"Birds! Keep the damn birds away!"
"Ancestor Gods! Ancestor Gods! It is raining blood!"
"Our Ancestors have returned to punish us!"
"DEATH! DEATH IS COMING!"
A few junior officers had simply turned mad; this was the only explanation in his mind.
Obviously, there has to be a price to pay; many political officers dragged the offenders away from the command bunker.
But the screams coming out from the various communication devices didn't stop.
In fact, they seemed to come from everywhere now.
And one by one, the icons representing the loyal forces of the Democratic Republic of Korea were fading.
Triumphant reports transformed into sounds of panic and fear.
Men that Kang Sung-chul had respected for their determination of steel were pleading for reinforcements, screaming the ghosts of the dead were rising and coming to kill them.
For one instant, it could have been thought as a nightmare.
But it wasn't one isolated case.
It was coming from the entire frontline, and many, many officers reporting the disaster were falling silent immediately after.
No one was spared. Tank battalions, and hundreds of artillery towed guns had stopped firing.
The victory reports had abruptly ended.
There were still plenty of screams, however.
And when the screams ceased, there was silence.
Kang Sung-chul felt himself getting more and more nervous.
It was one thing to hear of 'demons' and 'sorcery', but no one had ever suggested something like this was possible.
And then they heard it.
The sounds of firearms being fired.
There were soldiers shouting battle-cries and warnings.
There was an animal roar, except no animal could roar and shake the walls of a bunker built by the best architects working under the Eternal General Secretary's guidance.
"Eternal General Secretary, we have to leave! Now!"
There was a colossal explosion which rocked the bunkers.
One thousand voices screamed in agony at once.
And then everything fell silent.
But not for long.
"Close the damn door! Close-"
Four soldiers were reduced to gory fragments as the heavy steel door was torn apart and collided with them.
There was a geyser of blood.
General Kang Sung-chul began to hear them.
The dead were whispering.
A green fog was rising, and the ghosts of their ancestors had risen within it.
It was impossible, and yet it was exactly what had happened.
Some officers drew their guns and fired.
It had no effect whatsoever.
The same couldn't be said of the ghosts.
The moment they went through the officers, they collapsed. Looking at their faces, it was if they had simply decided to stop breathing.
Evidently, no one decided to use his personal sidearm after that...not that they had many in the first place. The Eternal General Secretary was very careful about who was allowed a gun in his presence, and-
The army of ghosts parted, and a tall figure shrouded in shadows was there.
Just its presence gave him the urge to kneel and ask for mercy.
The General knew instinctively that it wasn't merely a representative of Death; it was Death itself.
And it had come for them all.
"So you are the ones who were used by Knight Necromancer. I am not impressed."
"The descendants of the indomitable warriors of Joseon will not kowtow to a malignant spirit which...AARRRRRGGHHHHHH!"
It took a second for Kang Sung-chul to acknowledge that yes, it was the Eternal General Secretary who had spoken. And that the Supreme Leader of his country had just imploded like a grenade had been inside his body, spreading bones, blood, and viscera everywhere.
The Generals were showered in blood and fluids of death.
For several seconds, there was silence.
"What...do you realise what you have done?"
There was a flash of light, and suddenly, they saw a soul being dragged by four horses to a green-lit portal swirling with malevolent energy.
"In the end, Death judges all."
There was another flash, and suddenly, the tall and dark figure of shadows was not alone anymore.
It was standing next to a giant white tiger...was it...could it be the White Tiger?
"Which one?"
The White Tiger stared at him, and Kang Sung-chul screamed as it seemed like blood turned into ice in his body.
It didn't last long, but it was assuredly incredibly painful.
"This one is not completely incompetent, and will make a good lieutenant for my Champion," the Tiger growled. "The rest are yours."
Lightning erupted, and the ghosts charged.
In less than a minute, there were only seven survivors in the bunker, and the six others were 'auxiliaries' which had been...requested by the Eternal General Secretary.
He was the only General left here.
He was the only soldier left to stare at the green eyes burning with the deaths of entire armies.
"I want your surrender."
"You..." Kang Sung-chul was not certain of many things, but in that instant, he was confident he was meeting one of the most dangerous beings that had ever been born to kill and slay other beings. It was a Queen of Ghosts, and a Destroyer of Armies. It was Death. "You have it. I...I surrender."
22 April 1995, somewhere in South Korea
At last, it was over.
The Power of Death receded, and for three good seconds it felt strange.
Then weakness came.
For over an hour, she had channelled so much of Death that being fully alive once more was thoroughly unpleasant.
And then it got completely and unambiguously worse.
Alexandra blinked; for a heartbeat she didn't understand what was happening.
With the next breath, understanding came.
Every life she had claimed in the name of the Morrigan and Death, every single life...she mentally remembered them all.
Hydra Animagus or not, veteran of multiple battles or not, nothing could prepare you for that.
Alexandra emptied her stomach on the blood-tainted grass.
But the sights of the carnage, the thousands of memories of violent demises, and the croaking of the birds announcing the rain of blood...it didn't end.
This was like it was a nightmare that would never end.
The souls, the choirs of the dying, and the horror her victims had felt when she had magically dragged their souls to Pandemonium; all of this was an ocean she had no choice but to drown upon.
It was torment and madness.
It was what she had asked for when she threw the gauntlet and asked to end War.
"No more...not again...never again..."
Rain began to fall upon her head.
"Never again..."
The Lady Protector didn't know if it was a prayer or an attempt to convince herself of that.
She couldn't pretend she had not known what she was asking for.
She couldn't-
No, it was over.
The rain began to wash her hands of the blood covering them.
"It is over. The war is over."
No wonder the Power of Death boasted of some of the shortest-serving Champions in recorded history.
Sane or not, when you experienced something like that, you lost some part of yourself.
"Damn it." The last witch of the Potter line shivered, and it had nothing to do with the fact the rain was hellishly cold.
Alexandra tried not to think about what she had done, but it was impossible. Over one hundred thousand human souls. That was what Death had taken to break the enemy army and stop the fighting.
"Now I truly have become the Champion of Death."
And she wouldn't hold the title of Champion for long.
Suddenly, it was anything but a surprise to know that the Queen had not stayed for too long upon this throne of dread and ending.
Nobody really could endure for long, no matter how much you hardened your heart.
"Gods, if this was the opening stage, what await us on the day of Ragnarok?"
The Powers didn't answer.
Alexandra was half-relieved they didn't.
"I have a feeling I will need Dreamless Potions to sleep for the rest of the year." Forget Brise-Roc, Venice, and other experiences when she had faced old and new horrors. This deathly ritual she had created was far, far worse than everything else.
And as much as she didn't want to analyse the situation, this was not the worst outcome possible.
On this day, on this battlefield, Alexandra had won.
What would have happened if she had lost?
"Arianna Dumbledore has to be stopped." That, at least, was a truth that couldn't be argued against. "Now let's return to the Seal of Metal, I guess. It's time to welcome the new Champion of Strife."
22 April 1995, Seal of Metal, the soon-to-be ex-Demilitarised Zone, Korean Peninsula
As Gandalf had said once upon a time, a wizard was never late, nor were they early, they arrived precisely when they meant to.
Thus Alexandra had arrived right on time.
She had to admit that at first, it was difficult to judge whether this was the case or not.
The small rain that had been giving a shower to her clothes was now becoming a proper deluge.
There were huge puddles being created before her eyes.
It was like the elements were crying now that the slaughter was over.
It was like the Power of Water had decided the downpour would flood the battlefield and hide the tragedy.
And for a time, it was enough.
Then the wind blew the rain in the other direction, and the young Champion couldn't stop a gasp of shock.
The Seal of Metal had changed.
It was not a tower anymore.
It was now a giant statue of a tiger.
An impossibly giant statue of a tiger; the head was assuredly over six or seven metres above the ground.
It was incredibly realistic, but the dimensions were so huge you knew the moment you glanced at it that no artist could have created it in a few hours, even helped by advanced technology and magic.
It was just too huge.
And when the sparkles of lightning illuminated the sky above their heads, it really emphasized two things: first, this new form of the Seal was indeed looking like it was entirely made of white metal.
Second, the symbolism had been respected. Her first spells of lightning had begun the ritual. Now the weather itself was announcing the closure of it.
"They are coming."
The Hydra Animagus felt them arriving.
They were not white, and she had not really expected their presence.
Yet with hindsight, their existence was not extraordinary: hadn't plenty of species been allowed to coexist in the demilitarised zone as nature claimed back everything after the humans agreed to a truce?
The tigers came, and there were several hundred of them.
The Korean Tiger population was assembled around the Seal-statue, males, females, and cubs. The latter did seem to be really scared, which was understandable; with the explosions and the war, even adult humans were no doubt terrified by the bombardments of the war by now.
But they had in common one thing with the three Champions: they waited.
They waited, and then a sort of gelatinous mass was expelled from the Seal, directly into one of the largest puddles.
Alexandra tried hard not to giggle.
It was good she did, because in a fraction of a second, all the tigers roared.
And the Seal-statue roared two seconds later, a sound that felt like it shook the world and was heard thousands of kilometres away.
It was magical.
It was a signal.
And Romeo Malatesti rose from the ruin of the improvised gelatinous 'cocoon'.
The Venetian Champion had clearly changed.
In fact, if one had to be honest, the changes were more impressive than the previous transformations of Lucrezia and Fleur Delacour.
The rain suddenly stopped.
It made sure, if anything, that her Hydra eyes were sure that there was no illusion or glamour active.
The new body of the former Champion of War looked like it had been transfigured into metal.
That was her first assessment.
But it was not the entire story.
Romeo Malatesti had not exactly been thin or small, but he seemed to have gained ten more centimetres in height, and in terms of musculature...
Well, magic or not, Alexandra was not going to challenge him in a contest of arm wrestling.
The former 'Doge', if one had to give a sum-up in a few words, seemed to have been transformed into something that could be described as 'noble, heavily muscled barbarian'.
That he wore absolutely nothing on him did help sell the barbarian theme, admittedly.
Last but not least, there were the eyes. These were not the avian eyes of a Stymphalian Bird.
These were not even avian eyes at all.
These were feline eyes.
"Okay," she breathed out, "unless I am greatly mistaken, I finished the war fast enough. Do-"
The question would never be properly asked, for before she had the time to say more than the first word, Fleur Delacour was in the arms of Malatesti, and-
Okay, to keep it simple, they kissed so hard it felt they were trying to suck the life of each other.
"Good," Lucrezia chuckled loudly. "They danced and waited for too long, and-"
"I am not going to have this discussion here with a Succubus." Alexandra interrupted, shaking her head very fast. "Hey, I had-"
She had questions, yes, but Malatesti had just transfigured his hands into paws, and all the clothes Fleur Delacour had upon her were shredded and fell into the puddle.
And then the two Champions began to change.
Alexandra was not exactly surprised to see the brilliant Phoenix of flames. She had seen it several times already. It was a transformation that began and ended like you were lighting a volcano-hot inferno.
The other transformation, however, she had never seen before.
It was of a giant white tiger. Of metal.
And it had wings.
It felt like rivers of molten metal flowed, dissolving and assembling again, in order to give Romeo Malatesti his Animagus form.
And no, no better description could be given, because there was so much magic there her eyes had to turn away.
"You are likely better informed than I when it comes to the mythology of this part of the world, Lucrezia. What kind of Power has been awakened?"
"In Japan, they call him Byakko, the White Tiger, the Guardian of the West. In China, I think they worshipped him as Bai Hu. I admit I don't know his proper name in the different Korean dialects. But he is Lord of Bravery, Loyalty, Justice, and the Incarnation of Military Power and Metal."
"And he seems to have accepted to become One with Strife."
"Yes. Born in the dying ashes of War, killed by Death, and warmed back to Life by Fire."
"Is that what we are calling it these days?"
The Phoenix and the White Tiger screeched and roared, and then they soared in the sky faster than a Firebolt would be able to.
It was definitely two styles, two different mythical animals...and they were definitely doing an aerial dance before the 'mating' part.
"Well, I suppose you're going to be very happy, Lucrezia. Love triumphed at the end."
Alexandra didn't really expect an answer, but she got laughter instead.
The Champion of Death sighed, took notice of her surroundings, and...ah.
Just behind her, a group of tigers had approached, taking advantage of the fact her attention had been entirely focused on Malatesti and his lover.
It was a very large group of tigers, fourteen or fifteen animals. As far as Alexandra knew, the tiger species was ferociously individualistic as long as it was not a period of mating.
And then a large mother tiger took two of her cubs by the scruffs of their necks, and went on to present them to her.
"Lucrezia, please tell me that it isn't what I think it is."
The Succubus, of course, was of no help at all. And Water Panther Animagus or something she may be, but right now, she was laughing like a hyena.
"I blame Loki and other Powers for this."
Obviously, as Malatesti had become a White Tiger Animagus, many tigers would follow him. But for several minutes, Death had reigned supreme, and plenty of tigers had felt her power, been attracted to it...and eventually decided that she, not the Power of Metal, represented their best security guarantee.
"Morag was right," the green-eyed Champion acknowledged her defeat, "I am really going to own a large menagerie by the time I am out of school."
23 April 1995, Hogwarts, Scotland
After much forethought on the subject, Albus had become certain of it.
It had been an awful week for this world.
Thankfully, it was Sunday, and the sun had set over the horizon.
As such, the odds of something bad happening in the last three hours of the week were very remote.
Of course, just as he thought that, three wards of Hogwarts shrieked in alarm, and once again, it was for no reason at all.
"Merlin's beard, I am going to have to do a complete re-synchronisation of the Outer and Siege Wards tomorrow morning," the Defeater of Grindelwald murmured.
It had been an awful week, yes, and yesterday had undoubtedly been the worst. It had started with Arianna declaring war to the whole world with armies of Inferi. It had ended with Alexandra Potter unleashing a ritual of Death that had been so powerful the Inferi around the world had collapsed, deprived of all the Necromantic energy animating their soulless corpses.
And since he had increased the sensitivity of Hogwarts' wards in case the Dark-led Ministry attacked, the overwhelming tide of Death magic had scrambled the wards before he could react.
"This was a horrible day, and I can only pray that the next week won't become worse."
To tell the truth, the Headmaster of Hogwarts was not able to convince himself that the situation was going to improve.
Now that she had unleashed Inferi against many cities and bastions owned by wizards and witches, Arianna had ensured the name of Dumbledore would be regarded with the same venom that Grindelwald had once been.
It would have already been bad if the 'altered human Inferi' had been the only aspect of this world-spanning offensive, but it hadn't been. Many undead Cockatrices had somehow been dragged out of their graves. In the United States, it had been an undead Thunderbird that had caused tremendous damage to Chicago. The Russian magical and non-magical governments had stopped their genocidal feud after an undead Sea Snake ravaged Saint Petersburg before Karkaroff's dark pupil annihilated it.
Gellert Grindelwald had done quite some evil and disturbing things when he went on to conquer Europe. But Gellert had not dared to break the Statute so completely, nor gone for a rampage which could have killed millions in a few hours if not stopped.
"I want to believe this was just a diversion for her most important goal, Fawkes. I want to believe she did this because she knew her former allies would defend the civilians, if only to protect their reputation and prove that they had nothing to do with this 'Knight Necromancer'."
Albus fought against the pit of despair that threatened to open deep inside his soul.
He didn't dare to admit out loud that diversion or not, the sister he knew would never have done something like that.
The sister he had loved was gone.
Gellert had had his vengeance, in the end.
There was a being with the face and the identity of Arianna Dumbledore, and she was destroying everything in her path in the name of ushering in Dark Fate.
She was a monster.
She had to be stopped.
Albus didn't know if he could do it.
The former Supreme Mugwump didn't know if he had the mental fortitude for it. And he didn't know if he was powerful enough to duel the Necromancer he had once called sister, not when hordes of Inferi were sure to intervene in the fighting.
And it wasn't like Arianna was the only monster on Albus' mind.
The deathly ritual that had temporarily brought an end to all wars around the world had saved millions, yes, but it had also killed on an unprecedented scale in Eastern Asia.
It had confirmed the current Champion of House Ravenclaw was a monster that could end up being more dangerous than Arianna and Gellert added together.
And the spawn of James Potter was rallying other Champions under her banner. With yesterday, she had returned Romeo Malatesti to the game.
Having watched the scion of War during several Tasks, Albus didn't think anyone sane could say it was good news.
Monsters. There were monsters everywhere.
And the defenders of the Light were unable to deal with them.
When the Inferi had come, there had been some small acts of resistance, but in most cases, it was the Dark who had organised the counter-offensive.
The Dark had acted as a shield against the very monsters it had created.
Albus wished he could have spoken in front of the Wizengamot and convinced his peers that it was the Dark's fault.
But at the moment, the chances of it happening were so slim he wasn't going to waste a couple of seconds on it.
"I feel very old, Fawkes."
The Phoenix trilled, and then flew away through the window Albus had just opened.
The silver-bearded Headmaster shook his head.
These were dark times, yes, but he felt that he was very lucky to still have Fawkes as an old companion. With the majority of Phoenixes having plunged into the fires of the Venetian volcano and reborn into fire, having what was perhaps the last Phoenix of the Light in his office was a balm to his soul.
A horizontal gesture of his wand closed the window.
That done, his eyes returned to the parchments piling up in his office.
The old wizard sighed.
One might think that the volume of parchments would decrease now that he didn't heed any of the stupid Ministry requests and suggestions anymore, but one would be wrong. Between the Order of the Phoenix trying to spy upon the actions of the Lady Protector's faction and the attempts to convince as many students as possible to return to Hogwarts, the owls of the school were not in any danger of being unemployed.
An inkpot was opened, and a quill chosen.
This was when he heard the gargoyle announce a visitor, and someone slamming his feet against the ancient stairs.
The former Chief Warlock frowned.
At this hour, it couldn't be Minerva.
And it couldn't be-
Some alarms shrieked, and Albus suddenly realised the visitor had not given the password to the gargoyle! Curse it! More wards had been compromised internally by the storm of Death magic, and he hadn't even realised!
Merlin's beard, this was bad. He was going to have to spend several days re-synchronising every ward he had ever worked upon these last decades. This was going to be tiring and unpleasant.
The minor consolation was that the visitor was someone he had approved beforehand, otherwise other wards would have shrieked their fury.
Maybe it was Alastor, though Albus didn't like the possibility of his old friend returning at such a late hour, because that promised more bad news.
But maybe it was-
The door opened.
Albus, for all his experience as a politician, stared speechlessly.
It had to be a hallucination.
Yes, the man before him was on the authorised list of visitors, someone the wards would let pass without activating any siege spells or unpleasant Curses.
But to call him a regular visitor was greatly stretching the truth, and he had never-
"Albus."
The voice, unfortunately, told him clearly this was no impostor.
For no impostor would ever be able to pour the frustration, the wrath, the disappointment, and so many other emotions into his name.
"Aberforth," he replied, for yes, it was his brother standing in front of him, in his very office, something that had never happened since he became Headmaster. And the aforementioned nomination had happened in 1945. "I presume you want to speak about-"
The Headmaster of Hogwarts didn't have the time to complete his sentence.
With a celerity that was close to magical for someone so massive, Aberforth moved.
A second later, pain exploded in his nose.
Given the way the punch had been thrown, Albus had zero doubt it had been a completely deliberate gesture.
"Yes, we have many things to speak about!"
Merlin's socks, it had been a while since the Defeater of Grindelwald felt such physical pain.
As his fingers touched his nose, they returned red with blood.
Somehow, the Headmaster of Hogwarts wouldn't be surprised if his brother had broken his nose.
"And here I thought this week couldn't get any worse..."
"You deserved it," his brother told him unsympathetically.
With the benefit of hindsight, there had to be a reason why they had all mutually agreed to not speak to each other for most of their lives.
No, there were thousands of good reasons.
But one dominated the rest by several orders of magnitude.
"Arianna. Speak. And spare me the lies."
Author's note: The war is over for now. But Knight Necromancer is still at large, even if her current plan for the Seal of Metal failed.
Next chapter we will see plenty of aftershocks. And of course, there are preparations for the Seventh Task to talk about (evil grin).
More links for the story:
On P a treon: ww w. p a treon Antony444
On TV Tropes: ww w. tvtropes pmwiki / pmwiki .php/ Fanfic/ TheOddsWereNeverInMyFavour
On Archive of Our Own: archive of ourown works / 51222748 / chapters / 129428554