Thud!
Bellatrix fell heavily onto her back.
The Killing Curse shot by Neville truly could not be called strong.
Even breaking the shield still required Link to do it.
But it still killed Bellatrix's soul instantly.
There was no trace of blood left on Bellatrix's face, and even her body rapidly turned cold, as if she had already been dead for a long time.
This was the miserable state of someone killed by the Killing Curse.
Even so, Bellatrix's face still showed a smile mixed with joy and devotion.
"Ah! No! No!"
Lucius, beside Bellatrix, lay on the ground screaming in terror.
While shouting, he kept scrambling desperately, trying to get farther away.
Unfortunately, although the gray protective barrier had been broken, it had not disappeared.
It protected Lucius, but it also trapped him.
Helpless, Lucius could only press himself against the curved surface of the barrier like a snake, trying to stay as far from Bellatrix's corpse as possible.
On the other side, seeing Bellatrix's body fall from afar, Neville collapsed onto the ground.
His wand, still flickering with faint green light and even giving off a burnt smell, slipped from his hand.
At the same time, the tears Neville had held back for more than ten years also slipped down.
"Dad, Mom! I… I avenged you! Gran… Grandma, I didn't let you down, I… I did it!" Neville cried out loudly.
While crying, the corners of his mouth were lifting crazily.
At this moment, the bitterness and hardship of the past decade finally blended with the joy of revenge.
Like concentrated bitter black coffee poured with milk, forming a rich mocha.
"Alright, I know you're very excited right now, but this place is about to turn into a battlefield. So… you'd better leave as soon as possible."
Link's gentle voice suddenly sounded, pulling Neville out of his chaotic emotions.
Neville looked up, and Link's bright smiling face entered his sight.
That scene made Neville stare in a daze.
But he quickly seemed to remember something, struggled up from the ground, and shouted, "I also want… want to fight! Link, although I'm very weak, I can help you! Let me join the battle!"
Hearing this, Link looked deeply at Neville.
Then he turned around, facing away from Neville, and said, "Then… I'll leave it to you."
As soon as Link finished speaking, the high ceiling of the Hall of Prophecy suddenly exploded open.
A drifting black figure, wrapped in black smoke and blood lightning, dropped sharply and landed straight on the other side of the crater.
With the arrival of that figure, the broken gray shield immediately disappeared.
Lucius cried loudly and rushed forward to hug the newcomer's leg, but was kicked away, curling up in a corner and coughing out blood.
"Bella…"
The black figure murmured, pulling Bellatrix's body into his arms. Feeling her cold temperature, a terrifying red light suddenly flashed in his eyes.
"I will kill all of you!"
A horrifying sound wave mixed with powerful magical pressure filled the entire Hall of Prophecy.
The previously proud Aurors all looked horrified, some even stepping back several paces.
The D.A. side looked worse.
Quite a few girls could not help crying.
At this moment, no one needed reminding. Everyone knew the identity of that terrifying black figure.
Voldemort...
"Oh! Isn't this convenient?" Link said with a smile, holding his wand.
His casual tone instantly broke the tense atmosphere, making many people freeze for a moment.
But immediately after, his expression turned cold, full of killing intent, as he said, "The reason we set up today's scene was also to kill you!"
After speaking, Link pressed the brooch on the left side of his chest.
The lighting inside the Hall of Prophecy flickered once, just like when the Aurors arrived earlier.
Then dozens of hunters, fully armed and carrying heavy dragon-hunting crossbows, suddenly appeared on the other side, perfectly surrounding Voldemort together with the Auror forces and the D.A. army.
"Young master! Salute to you!"
Led by old Kreacher, the hunters waved toward Link from afar.
Link nodded to them. Then large clusters of pale gray mist mixed with curse power wrapped around his whole body, carrying him like a cannonball as he rushed first toward Voldemort.
"Kill me? Keep dreaming!"
Voldemort shouted sharply and threw out a Killing Curse.
But unlike Neville's earlier spell, Voldemort's Killing Curse could no longer be described as just light.
It was a beam.
This huge beam nearly one meter thick slammed straight toward the flying Link amid people's terrified cries.
Hermione could not help closing her eyes.
The Killing Curse was not classified as Unforgivable just because it caused instant death and was easy to learn.
What truly made it famous was its destructive power.
Even ignoring the instant death effect, its destructive strength as a single spell ranked among the strongest known spells.
Especially in spell clashes and shield breaking, it had natural advantages.
That was why Voldemort abandoned the mysterious blood lightning and switched to the Killing Curse against Link.
So in many people's eyes, Link in midair, unable to change direction, was basically certain to die.
However, things in this world are never absolute.
Under everyone's gaze, Link suddenly collided with the green beam.
But the expected death did not come.
The pale gray mist around Link seemed like a sharp and solid magical blade, forcibly splitting the Killing Curse beam into two halves.
Link followed the beam upward against its flow, flying straight to a point not far in front of Voldemort.
"Burn everything!"
Semi-transparent cursed flames burst out, growing rapidly in the wind, instantly expanding into a flame beast over ten meters tall in midair. Roaring, it opened its huge mouth and lunged toward Voldemort.
Even Voldemort could not ignore such terrifying flames.
He suddenly slid sideways a great distance, but the flame beast seemed alive, swiftly adjusting direction in midair and continuing to bite at him.
"Hah!"
Voldemort gritted his teeth and suddenly shouted.
Blood-colored flames spewed from his mouth, turning into two large hands that firmly grabbed the upper and lower jaws of the flame beast.
When the two met, they formed a strange stalemate.
Terrifying heat swept through the entire Hall of Prophecy.
The remaining wooden shelves quickly turned to charcoal under the heat, and the distant D.A. members had already raised defensive spells for protection.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of explosions suddenly sounded from the hunters' position.
Several blazing dragon-hunting crossbow bolts arced through the air like shells, landing precisely beside Voldemort.
The alloy ground around him had already turned red and softened from the heat.
Even Voldemort's legs had sunk into the half-melted hot alloy.
Now, struck again by the crossbows, the entire ground collapsed instantly.
Amid violent shaking, Voldemort finally lost his balance.
The flame beast locked in stalemate seized the chance and swallowed both the blood flame arms and Voldemort himself in one bite.
Seeing this, the watching students in the D.A. camp could not help cheering.
But Link and the hunters who caused all this showed no relaxation.
The atmosphere at the hunters' position actually grew more tense.
Dozens of hunters in the front row took out the "Mental Power Stimulation Potion" and "War God Roar Elixir" that Link had distributed earlier, popped the caps, drank them in one gulp, then rushed toward Voldemort under old Kreacher's lead.
Facts proved their actions extremely correct.
Because the next moment, the already huge flame beast suddenly began expanding again.
Through its semi-transparent body, everyone clearly saw the blood-red magical flames wrapped inside the cursed fire rapidly expanding.
Soon, the entire flame beast exploded into fragments, and Voldemort rose from the vast sea of blood-red flames.
"You are seeking your own death!"
With Voldemort's furious roar, the blood flames around him began expanding wildly with him at the center.
Link showed no weakness. He quickly controlled the scattered cursed fire fragments, forming a new wall of flames that confined Voldemort and the blood flames within a limited area.
The hunters also took their positions, continuously casting spells toward Voldemort under the cover of dragon-hunting crossbows and cursed fire.
The scene once again formed a strange balance.
But compared to before, Voldemort clearly held the advantage.
Link and the hunters' encirclement kept retreating under Voldemort's fierce counterattacks.
Watching this, Scrimgeour nearly ground his teeth to pieces.
Because he recognized those dragon-hunting crossbows.
Back at Gringotts, those heavy crossbows caused them huge casualties.
Clearly, Link Flamel had decided he would not dare protest, so he did not even bother pretending anymore.
Taking a deep breath, Scrimgeour forced down his anger and turned to his subordinates.
"All personnel disperse. Attack Voldemort freely in squads! Also… lethal authorization granted!"
"Yes, Commander!"
The Aurors scattered, beginning attacks from another direction as well.
Surprisingly, they were no longer using control spells like when fighting Death Eaters earlier, but various brightly colored high-power attack spells.
Among them were even quite a few green Killing Curses.
This made many people in the D.A. camp stare in shock.
"How is that possible? Why are they using the Killing Curse?" Harry said in disbelief, frowning. "That's an Unforgivable Curse!"
"Who told you Aurors can't use Unforgivable Curses?"
A hoarse, familiar voice like it had been cut by a knife sounded beside Harry.
Harry instinctively argued, "But they're Aurors! Guardians of order! Law enforcers! This is breaking the law knowingly! Uh…"
Halfway through speaking, Harry realized something and turned his head in surprise.
Moody, leaning on a cane, was already standing beside him, his protruding magical eye fixed on the battlefield ahead.
Hearing Harry's protest, Moody looked at him with his normal eye.
"That's why Scrimgeour had to issue the lethal authorization order. Lethal authorization means they can use any spell or any means in combat. Even Unforgivable Curses are allowed once that authorization is given!"
At this point Moody suddenly sneered. "Still, the Auror corps really is getting more shameless. Openly issuing that nonsense lethal authorization!"
"When I was still serving, commanders wouldn't give such bottomless orders. Back then we used them quietly!"
Moody's sarcasm left Harry speechless.
In fact, Harry was more concerned about why Moody was here.
And if Moody had come, then would the others from the Order of the Phoenix…
Just as Harry thought this, the back of his head got smacked.
An arm hooked tightly around his neck, and the newcomer laughed loudly.
"Hahaha! Harry, nicely done! Didn't expect you all to quietly pull off something this big. Just like your father back then!"
"Sirius!" Harry shouted happily.
Ron, Hermione, and others nearby were drawn by the noise.
They happily discovered not only Moody and Sirius, but Lupin, Tonks, and several other Order members had all arrived.
But no matter how Ron searched, he could not find his parents in the crowd.
"Professor Lupin, where are our dad and mom?"
George and Fred spoke together with Ron. "They're safe now, right?"
Lupin and the others clearly already knew the full story before coming.
Hearing this, Lupin smiled a little helplessly.
"Don't worry, your parents are very safe. No problem at all."
Sirius also picked up the conversation jokingly.
"In fact, the reason we got in so easily was because Arthur guided us. They also wanted to fight, but considering a few anxious little hearts beating for them, and honestly their strength not quite enough, we let them stay somewhere safe waiting for us."
Ron, George, and Fred all let out a breath.
They had come mainly to rescue their parents. Now that their safety was confirmed, their tension finally eased.
"Alright! Chat time is over. Now let's contribute our share too!"
Moody shouted loudly, raised his wand, and walked toward the fierce battlefield in the distance.
Sirius and the others responded and quickly followed.
Watching their backs heading into battle, Harry suddenly remembered something and shouted, "Sirius! Since you're all here, does that mean Professor Dumbledore is here too?"
Harry's words woke Ron and the others around him.
They all looked at Sirius with hopeful eyes.
After all, Dumbledore had always seemed all-powerful to them.
If Dumbledore joined this fight, capturing Voldemort would be easy.
Hearing this, Sirius stopped.
He slowly turned to look at them.
Harry keenly noticed the smile that had been on Sirius's face disappear.
In its place was something complicated and serious.
"Dumbledore… he did come," Sirius glanced toward the corner where they entered. "But I'm not sure whether he will interfere in this matter."
[🎉 Shoutout to TheGod and Reign for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]