Aberforth's current condition could no longer be simply described as miserable.
The Patronus Charm, as a defensive spell meant to fight Dementors and Voldemort bats, is actually very difficult to use purely with its positive magical energy to break illusions built by dark magic.
Even though Aberforth himself was very strong, achieving this still consumed a great deal of magic power and time.
The consequence was that after casting that Patronus Charm, he could not cast other defensive spells again for a short time.
Without defensive means, he was targeted by the Death Eaters once they reacted, and was almost turned into a sieve by the dense barrage of spells.
Various control type spells may not be known for lethality, but that also depends on quantity and the caster's magical strength.
After all, who says a spear without a tip cannot kill?
Aberforth was nearly stabbed to death by a wave of wooden spears without tips.
Looking at Aberforth not far away, soaked in blood, even missing half an ear, and almost dying, Link nodded.
Newland and Sigefin immediately understood.
The two rushed left and right straight into the Death Eaters' fire net. With a wave of their wands, one gray and one white layer of shields instantly wrapped Aberforth together with the two of them.
Not only them, Cedric and the others quickly dropped low as well, carefully placing several layers of Armor Charms on themselves.
This consideration.
Originally, the Death Eaters who had been frightened by Link regained confidence.
They thought Link and the others were scared by their large group, so they raised their wands again and prepared to attack.
Unfortunately, they were wrong.
"Severing Charm… Invisible!"
Along with the chant, Link held his wand in a charging stance, then suddenly swung it flat.
Buzz!
A sharp sound of air tearing exploded.
A huge ring shaped blade spread outward centered on Link. Cedric, Newland and the others closest to him bore the first impact.
Although Link had deliberately weakened the blade facing them and had them cast shields beforehand.
Facing such a terrifying blade, their full strength shields were as fragile as paper and were cut apart almost instantly.
The blade that passed through the shields carved several wounds on them before finally disappearing.
Such injuries were already considered serious for the D.A. members.
But at this moment, they only took out potions to heal themselves, without even a word of complaint.
Because the Death Eaters' situation was far worse than theirs by countless times.
Those Death Eaters standing in front only saw the air twist, and then were directly chopped into clouds of blood mist by the violent blade.
At this point, among the dozens of Death Eaters appearing in the Hall of Prophecy, nearly half had already died by Link's hand.
The remaining Death Eaters were completely terrified.
One by one they turned into black smoke and desperately flew toward the hidden passage they came from, ignoring Lucius and Bellatrix's shouts.
Link did not care about this.
He simply pointed casually, and the D.A. members behind him roared as they charged toward the already scattered Death Eaters.
Link himself, expressionless, reached out toward Aberforth and said, "Give me the prophecy sphere about Harry Potter and Voldemort."
Hearing this, Aberforth, who was almost losing consciousness from blood loss, suddenly sharpened his gaze.
"Looks like you know what this is. So you're here to grab it too?" Aberforth sneered at Link while breathing heavily. "Give up. I won't let you succeed!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Aberforth struggled to raise the prophecy sphere, ready to smash it onto the ground.
Destroying the prophecy sphere before death had long been his plan.
He would not let such an important prophecy fall into unknown hands.
Rather than letting Voldemort succeed, he would rather destroy it.
After all, this concerned the survival of the entire British wizarding world.
Buzz!
Another invisible blade swept past. Aberforth's arm, along with the prophecy sphere in his hand, fell entirely.
Aberforth stared in disbelief at his bleeding severed arm.
Meanwhile, Newland and Sigefin had already caught the prophecy sphere, respectfully presenting it with both hands to Link, and casually cast a Stunning Spell on Aberforth.
Link nodded and said, "Help him reattach the arm."
Hearing this, Newland raised his head in confusion.
To him, this man who tried to destroy the prophecy sphere was no longer on their side.
He was an enemy.
Helping an enemy reattach an arm?
That sounded absurd.
But since Link, the boss, had spoken, Newland did not dare object.
He turned, picked up the severed arm from the ground, and walked toward Aberforth.
Reattaching the arm was not difficult for him.
Because he had long learned the counter curse to the Severing Charm.
At this moment, Link, already holding the prophecy sphere, turned his gaze toward the battlefield where the D.A. members were.
Calling it a battlefield was not quite accurate. It looked more like a joke.
Link originally thought leaving a group of defeated soldiers who had lost their will to fight for the D.A. members to practice on would be enough.
But reality proved he had overestimated the D.A. members' combat ability.
At present, the only Death Eaters truly fighting them were a few people including Bellatrix and Lucius.
The rest were mostly still running away.
Even so, those few still managed to block dozens of D.A. members' attacks.
From time to time, Bellatrix's Killing Curses even pierced through the entire D.A. defensive fire net.
If not for Cedric, John and Emily, Bellatrix and the others might have killed several people in just one exchange.
And for a student army like the D.A., once casualties appear, collapse is only a matter of time.
"What a bunch of useless people."
Link shook his head and said with clear disappointment.
Hearing this, Sigefin beside him clenched his teeth, turned, pulled out the long sword from his back and prepared to join the fight, wanting to win some honor for the D.A. before Link.
But at that moment, the lights in the Hall of Prophecy suddenly flickered.
Immediately after, more than a hundred Aurors led by Scrimgeour appeared strangely on the only escape route of the fleeing Death Eaters.
"Form ranks. Volley fire!"
Standing at the front, Scrimgeour said coldly.
As soon as he finished speaking, the Aurors behind him raised their wands in perfect unison.
Compared with the Death Eaters' earlier attacks, the Aurors' attack looked like art.
Over a hundred dazzling white lights lit up at the wand tips first, then almost at the same time shot toward the Death Eaters ahead.
Such coordination meant their attack was no longer a scattered fire net like the Death Eaters or earlier D.A. forces, but more like a complete curtain of light.
Facing such an attack, the Death Eaters inside the range had no room to dodge.
Even copying the Aurors' tactic and casting combined defensive spells in squads did not help.
Because the defensive spells had barely formed before being shattered by the highly overlapping barrage of spells.
BOOM!
The massive curtain of light swept across the entire Death Eater position.
Where it passed, everything was a mess.
Broken wooden shelves and shattered glass spheres were everywhere.
Strangely though, very few Death Eaters actually died from the attack.
Most only had their wands destroyed or their bodies pierced and lay in the ruins howling.
"Well done! Everyone advance! Capture all Death Eaters who have lost combat ability!"
An aide beside Scrimgeour shouted excitedly.
Hearing this, the Aurors marched forward in neat steps, steadily pushing ahead.
The howling Death Eaters along the way were stunned again and bound. Those who slipped through were forced to retreat toward where they came from.
But that direction was exactly the D.A. battlefield.
Although the D.A.'s actual combat strength was hard to watch, they represented Link.
That demon's brutal slaughter at the start had already terrified all the Death Eaters.
So some desperate Death Eaters stopped.
They threw down their wands, raised both hands, and walked toward the Aurors.
They surrendered.
This move was quickly followed by the rest.
Before long, except for die hard loyalists like Bellatrix, nearly all Death Eaters knelt before Scrimgeour and accepted Auror control.
On the D.A. side, however, they had not captured a single prisoner.
That was easy to understand.
From the start it was clear.
As a regular force, the Aurors mainly focused on control and capture.
But Link was different.
The severed limbs and blood on the ground told the remaining Death Eaters clearly that falling into the D.A. or Link Flamel's hands meant certain death.
Soon, the last batch of surrendered Death Eaters were secured.
The D.A. withdrew from fighting Bellatrix and the others, leaving it to the Aurors.
The students, nervously stepping off the battlefield, looked at the devastated Hall of Prophecy and the tied up Death Eaters, and began cheering excitedly.
They all believed they had won this battle.
Aurors from the outer area joined the D.A. celebrations.
They patted students on the shoulders, praised their bravery, and encouraged them to become Aurors after graduation.
"The Auror force needs talents like you."
These repeated polite words made the inexperienced students blush with excitement, wishing they could graduate from Hogwarts immediately.
However, unlike the joyful ordinary Aurors and D.A. members, Scrimgeour, Cedric, and the other commanders all looked gloomy.
Because their true goal was to eliminate Voldemort.
The early stage of the operation went smoothly, yet Voldemort never appeared.
That was awkward.
"Stop looking so serious," John forced a smile and tried to comfort them. "Even if we didn't complete the final goal, at least we captured all the Death Eaters. Now Voldemort is basically alone!"
Hearing this, Cedric glanced at John without speaking, but his expression grew more troubled.
They did eliminate almost all known Death Eaters under Voldemort.
But the meaning was limited.
Because the wizarding world never lacked dark wizards.
As long as Voldemort existed, a simple wave of his hand would bring countless dark wizards willing to follow him.
These new recruits would be a mob, far worse than his original elite Death Eater force from pure blood families.
Still, they were usable.
Given enough time, they could rise again.
"Who said our operation failed?"
Link's sudden words stunned Cedric and the others.
Link stepped forward, tossing the prophecy sphere in his hand, surrounded by Newland and Sigefin.
"Voldemort will appear. He cannot escape."
"Oh? You think so?" Scrimgeour stepped out from the Aurors, staring expressionlessly at Link. "So what gives you the right to say that, Link Flamel, current head of the Flamel family?"
Scrimgeour's gaze carried deep killing intent, cold to the bone.
He had long concluded the previous generation of Aurors was destroyed by Link.
Those comrades and subordinates he once worked with day and night all died because of this man's schemes.
This made Scrimgeour want to order Link's arrest immediately and throw him into Azkaban.
"Scrimgeour! Watch your tone!"
At this moment, old Barty suddenly stepped forward, face dark, speaking coldly to Scrimgeour.
Not only him, Percy stepped out from behind Link with a sneer.
"Yes, Scrimgeour, you'd better show Lord Flamel some respect. Remember, your Auror budget for this year hasn't been approved yet."
Hearing this, Scrimgeour and the Aurors all looked grim.
Just like ancient emperors used food supplies to restrain generals, the Ministry of Magic had similar control over the Auror force.
The only difference was food became funding.
Aurors did not join mainly to save the wizarding world or pursue noble ideals.
Though some thought that way, most joined simply for the very high salary.
If funding was cut, the Auror force would fall apart instantly.
Of course, Scrimgeour could flip the table and rebel.
But with old Barty and Percy clearly prepared, could he succeed?
These politicians might not excel at other things, but dividing people and stirring conflict was their specialty.
And besides, old Barty and Percy seemed far too close to Link Flamel.