Tap, tap, tap.
A black cloak.
A terrifying, noseless face.
Perhaps because he believed victory was already in his hands, Voldemort did not seem especially eager to finish off Snape and the others before him.
He tapped his wand against his palm as he strolled toward them at an unhurried pace, showing no sign at all that he had just been surrounded and attacked by three wizards who each held a place of importance in the wizarding world.
Anyone who did not know better might have thought he had come to the battlefield for a walk.
Opposite him, Snape and Lucius stared at Voldemort, who was completely unharmed and not even breathing hard, and both of them tensed as they looked at the Dark Lord approaching with a cold smile.
As for Minerva McGonagall, who had bought them a little time, she had already withdrawn from the fight.
Voldemort did not seem inclined to stop her.
"Now, let us see... what are the wizards who dared betray me thinking at this moment?"
"....."
"Fear? Or regret? Or perhaps they are preparing to beg the great Dark Lord for mercy?"
Faced with those chilling words, brimming with malice, both Snape and Lucius pressed together lips that had gone pale from the excessive drain on their magic.
It was as if only by doing that could they withstand Voldemort's overwhelming magical pressure.
As for begging for mercy?
They were not that naive.
After all, the one standing before them was the cruel, bloodthirsty Dark Lord.
Mad.
Unpredictable.
No one would dare gamble their life on Voldemort's mercy.
...
At the edge of the battlefield, just as Snape and the others were about to buckle under the pressure, Voldemort's scarlet eyes moved past Snape and fixed directly on Hogwarts Castle.
When Snape noticed the direction of Voldemort's gaze, he seemed to realize something, and his pupils contracted.
"Ah... yes, I understand."
"No. It isn't what you think."
"Don't rush to deny it, Snape. Even if he isn't the new master of the Elder Wand, I still have to kill him, don't I?"
"I won't let you do that, Voldemort!"
As if Voldemort's words had struck a nerve, a sickly flush appeared on Snape's face.
His pitch-black eyes filled with the light of magic.
Clearly, Snape was prepared to risk everything.
Only, at this moment, Snape had still underestimated the recklessness and "courage" of a certain Chosen One.
Not far away, after a ripple passed through the air, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air in the middle of their battlefield.
"Harry?!"
"Potter!"
It was Harry Potter!
Harry Potter's sudden appearance shocked everyone into crying out, except for Voldemort, who had already noticed him.
Snape, especially, who had never expected this to happen, looked utterly furious.
The rage surging up in him nearly made him faint on the spot.
He had known Harry Potter was foolish, but he had never imagined the boy could be foolish to this extent.
Lucius, who had calmed down at the side, glanced at the magical item Harry Potter had thrown aside. "I see. You used the Invisibility Cloak to fool everyone and get here."
"But... why would you do that?"
Surely he had not actually started thinking he was the Chosen One just because everyone kept calling him that.