Arthur's use of death power gave Voldemort sudden inspiration.
Of course, there was no way Voldemort would be willing to cut off his own hand like Arthur's summoned "Voldemort" had done.
That would weaken his combat ability too severely.
So instead—
Voldemort chose another part of his body.
The death-power longsword in his hand rapidly shrank, most of its energy dispersing until only a dagger remained.
Then, without hesitation—
Voldemort stabbed the dagger into his own abdomen.
With ruthless precision, he sliced out two of his own ribs.
Using those ribs together with death power, he quickly created a wand of his own.
Watching from behind, Arthur clicked his tongue in admiration.
As expected of the Dark Lord.
To be willing to act this ruthlessly even toward himself—
that took genuine resolve.
Now armed with a wand, Voldemort's confidence instantly returned.
He wore an expression as though victory was already within his grasp.
Although the opposing "Voldemort" also possessed a wand—
Voldemort wasn't worried in the slightest.
He refused to believe that the genuine article could lose against a crippled imitation.
Unfortunately for him—
Arthur immediately used reality to prove otherwise.
Under Arthur's control, the two Voldemorts began the second round of battle.
This time—
it became a direct clash of magic.
And the battle rapidly turned one-sided.
The summoned "Voldemort" merely used ordinary spells such as Severing Charm, Blasting Curse, and Fire-Making Charm—
yet Voldemort himself was forced steadily backward, barely able to defend himself.
Because every single spell cast by "Voldemort" carried death power within it.
More accurately—
those spells were entirely constructed around death power itself.
This was possible mainly because of two reasons.
First—
Arthur possessed extremely profound mastery over death power.
So profound that he could use death power itself to perform spells normally requiring magical energy.
Second—
Arthur's modifications to "Voldemort."
Similar to what Death had done to the real Voldemort, Arthur had also transformed "Voldemort" using death power.
The difference was that Arthur's modifications were vastly more direct and thorough.
So thorough—
that he had completely replaced "Voldemort's" magical core with death power itself.
Meanwhile, Death had merely strengthened Voldemort's soul and created a pathway allowing him to borrow death power externally.
Thus, Arthur's "Voldemort" could directly manipulate death power and construct spell circuits internally using death power itself.
The real Voldemort, however, couldn't do that.
Because his mastery over death power hadn't reached such a level.
If Voldemort tried directly using death power to cast spells, the violent energy would simply disrupt the spell structure entirely and cause the magic to collapse.
Once again, Voldemort internally cursed Death.
Why hadn't Death at least taught him a few proper death-power spells?!
Naturally, Voldemort also understood that now wasn't the time to complain.
If he failed to reverse the disadvantage soon—
he might actually lose to another version of himself.
Fortunately—
Voldemort was unquestionably a genius.
If Hermione had never met Arthur, then in terms of magical talent and achievements, she might not even have surpassed the young Voldemort.
That alone demonstrated how monstrous Voldemort's talent truly was.
And in this dangerous moment—
an idea suddenly flashed through his mind.
Voldemort immediately unleashed Fiendfyre.
Then—
he threw death power directly into the cursed flames.
If he couldn't integrate death power while casting magic—
then he would simply inject it after the spell had already formed.
Although this method only worked for certain types of magic—
that was already enough.
For example—
right now, the Fiendfyre combined with death power transformed into an enormous black-and-green serpent before surging toward "Voldemort."
Seeing this, Arthur silently praised Voldemort.
The man truly did possess genuine skill.
In response, Arthur controlled "Voldemort" to cast Fiendfyre as well.
A gigantic crimson-purple serpent erupted upward to meet the black-green serpent head-on.
The two massive serpents collided violently and wrapped around each other in combat.
For a time—
neither could overwhelm the other.
During the clash between the serpents, both Voldemorts continuously attempted attacking each other with additional spells.
Unfortunately, every spell was intercepted by the Fiendfyre surrounding each combatant.
Just like the two giant serpents themselves—
the battle fell into complete stalemate.
At that moment, Arthur was calmly watching the battle between the Fiendfyre serpents when he suddenly felt additional weight in his arms.
Looking down—
he discovered Hermione, still in cat form, had jumped into his lap.
Naturally, Arthur only lowered his guard around people close to him like Hermione and the others.
If a Death Eater tried approaching him instead—
Arthur would probably pull out the Dark Moon Greatsword and cut them into pieces before they got close.
Hermione looked up at him and asked,
"Cousin, why are you still playing around?"
"We already finished on our side."
Arthur turned his head.
Only then did he realize the battlefield had indeed ended exactly as Hermione said.
Thinking about it carefully—
that outcome was completely normal.
From the beginning, their side had held the advantage.
Although the undead and Those Who Live in Death Arthur summoned weren't individually powerful—
they possessed immortality.
Even if shattered apart, they could reconstruct themselves again through death power.
Meanwhile, the Death Eaters—
despite being modified by death power and gaining resistance to instant-death magic—
were still ultimately flesh-and-blood humans.
There were countless ways to kill them.
Especially considering their opponents included Arthur's elite spirit summons alongside magical monsters like Hermione and Dumbledore.
From the very beginning—
the battle had been entirely one-sided.
As for the Dementors assisting the Death Eaters—
they had been practically useless throughout the entire battle.
At most, they only managed to slightly slow the advance of the undead.
After all, these undead creatures were either skeletons or corpses.
They possessed neither joy nor fear.
Thus, the Dementors' abilities to feed on emotions and spread terror became almost completely ineffective.
Even the Dementor's Kiss—
their soul-draining technique—
was useless.
Because the souls of the undead and Those Who Live in Death were essentially flames formed from death power itself.
If Dementors consumed them—
it was equivalent to committing suicide.
Voldemort sending Dementors against the undead had been an utterly terrible decision.
If he had instead used them against Arthur's spirit summons, he might have at least slightly reduced the disadvantage on his side.
Of course—
only slightly.
Because aside from Lucius, everyone on Arthur's side knew how to cast the Patronus Charm.
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