As the testing progressed, the smile at the corners of Snape's lips gradually vanished into thin air.
While the magical energy of the Underworld could be considered boundless for an ordinary wizard, there was an upper limit to the speed at which the Resurrection Stone could siphon magic.
In other words, even if the Resurrection Stone provided Snape with an infinite mana cheat code, the damage output he could unleash within a short time frame could not increase infinitely—it had simply been boosted by a substantial margin.
Snape reckoned that with the aid of the Resurrection Stone, he could at best reach a fifty-fifty split with that ridiculously overpowered Obscurial.
Wanting to challenge either Dumbledore or Grindelwald individually and emerge victorious?
That was still a bit premature.
However, Snape felt no discouragement; after all, a third seal still remained upon the Resurrection Stone.
If that final seal were unlocked, would he be able to assume complete control over all the forces in the Underworld?
Would that include all the souls wandering within the Underworld, placing them under his absolute command as well?
All of this could only be verified once he succeeded in removing the third seal from the Resurrection Stone.
Time quickly marched into August.
Perhaps owing to the Quidditch World Cup taking place on the twenty-second of this month, the wizarding world had been notably peaceful of late.
With the exception of Albania, where things had essentially devolved into a complete, chaotic mess.
Ever since Grindelwald, the Dark Lord of the Wizarding World, took the fall for Kyle's massive, round blame early last month, Akatsuki's operations had become entirely unbridled.
Aside from Black Zetsu and Pain's Six Paths, the Father-Distressers had arrived in Albania as well.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Kyle had dragged Konan into the team as well, marking her official invitation to join Akatsuki.
In truth, Kyle mainly wanted to find someone who could help him handle the administrative affairs of Amegakure (Hidden Rain Village); after all, the previous Akatsuki was composed entirely of brute brawlers, without a single administrative officer in sight.
As for managing Amegakure, Black Zetsu had previously let those ragtag subordinates run wild and do as they pleased.
That was the approach of the past, but it wouldn't fly anymore. If they wished to re-establish a strong and powerful regime within this nation's magical community, proper governance was an absolute necessity.
Konan's entry at this junction was particularly invaluable.
With the addition of these five fierce members, in just a single day, Akatsuki—mobilizing in full force—swept through the local Ministry of Magic and leveled it to the ground.
Following this, Akatsuki immediately led Amegakure into a massive purge of the Albanian magical world.
Because the situation in Albania was exceedingly complex, even Konan, whose administrative skills were fully maxed out, felt a massive headache, ultimately leaving her with no choice but to opt for the simplest, one-size-fits-all approach.
Those willing to honestly submit to management or become members of their Amegakure were permitted to stay.
Regardless of whether they had a criminal record, past offenses were wiped clean from then on; they only needed to refrain from committing further crimes in their future lives.
As for those troublemaking instigators, anyone with blood on their hands was rewarded with an Avada Kedavra, while those without human lives on their record were summarily deported from the country.
With Veritaserum around, interrogations were hardly a difficult task.
Yet even so, unraveling the situation in Albania consumed a considerable portion of Akatsuki's time and energy, because they weren't dealing solely with wizards, but also a vast array of Dark magical creatures.
Vampires, werewolves, harpies, half-elves...
There was a whole mess of these miscellaneous creatures, and they frequently relied on Albania's mountainous terrain to wage guerrilla warfare against Akatsuki.
Unless Kyle could harden his heart to unleash a gas stove, setting fire to the mountains from the southernmost tip of Albania straight to the northernmost border in an indiscriminate, all-encompassing strike—
Otherwise, even as an Obscurial, facing these hiding monsters scattered across tens of thousands of square kilometers of national territory proved to be a rather tricky ordeal.
The Father-Distressers fought with their wands raised all the way from the western coast of Albania straight to the eastern mountain ranges, battling for nearly a month without so much as blinking an eye, until their eyes were dryer than the Sahara Desert.
Ultimately, just a few days before the Quidditch World Cup was set to begin, the Father-Distressers threw down their tools and quit.
These Dark magical creatures in Albania were just like leeks in a field—cut one batch, and another grew back, showing no signs of ever being completely cleared out.
The Father-Distressers were thoroughly numb.
This arduous task of an internal purge in Albania was better left to Black Zetsu, that hardworking and uncomplaining tool, to clean up.
On the twentieth of August, the Father-Distressers flew back to Britain together using a Portkey.
Konan returned with Kyle as well.
Who knew how long it would take for things in Albania to conclude; staying over there right now served no purpose for her anyway.
Standing outside the Leaky Cauldron, Kyle watched the figures of his bad influences twist, swirl, and vanish into thin air.
With the spare wands provided by Cedric, the Father-Distressers couldn't care less about the Trace on their bodies anymore; after all, the Ministry of Magic couldn't track them down anyway.
"Where are we going now?" Konan asked, standing beside Kyle dressed in a high-collared black wizard's robe.
"If we go back to France... it's so much trouble," Kyle let out a helpless sigh.
If it were just him alone, an Apparition would naturally get him there in an instant, but bringing Konan along made things tricky.
It wasn't a matter of whether his magic was sufficient to support it, but rather that long-distance Apparition would place an immense strain on Konan; if she couldn't handle it and ended up Splinting, that would be a major disaster.
As for Portkeys, over such a vast distance, the experience was bound to be utterly dreadful.
The journey back from Albania just now had been exhausting enough; Konan didn't want to experience a Portkey ever again either.
"How about we just stay at the Leaky Cauldron for now?" Kyle gestured toward the battered, dilapidated pub doors.
Regarding the accommodations at the Leaky Cauldron, Konan's tone was filled with utter disdain: "Don't you have your own house? Why stay here?"
Hearing Konan's words, Kyle slapped his forehead.
Oh, right! Grindelwald had bought a house in Dorset before, and had even intentionally bought it right next door to old man Newt.
It had been so long since he stayed over there that Kyle had forgotten he owned a house in that area.
Only... a lonely man and an unmarried woman cohabitating just like that... wasn't that a bit improper?
"Then let's go." Kyle took the initiative to extend his hand to Konan.
Failing to see through the sly motives of the old pervert before her, Konan placed her soft, delicate hand into his.
Relying on the Flying Thunder God Seal left behind from before, Kyle took Konan and Side-Along Apparitioned straight into their home in Dorset.
Although this house hadn't been lived in for a considerable amount of time, the house-elves from Nurmengard Castle would pop over every day to clean it.
As a result, everything in the house remained completely spotless and pristine.
Kyle pleasantly narrowed his eyes. Over the next two days, he was going to spend a wonderful period of cohabitation together with Konan.
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