The sudden turn of events shocked everyone present.
This was Fiendfyre, a cursed flame that made no distinction between friend and foe, one that could even destroy soul-bound magical objects.
Anyone touched by this fire would almost certainly have both body and soul burned to ashes.
Many Hogwarts students standing behind the attacking formation instinctively cast the Water-Making Charm on themselves, trying to put out the flames.
Of course, it was completely useless.
Fiendfyre was made entirely from cursed magic. Ordinary water couldn't put it out.
The water had barely burst from their wand tips before it was instantly turned into steam.
That only made everyone even more frightened and anxious.
But they quickly realized something unexpected.
The blazing white Fiendfyre wrapped around them wasn't hurting them at all.
As the flames rose around them, it felt more like sitting in a sauna.
Heat surrounded their whole bodies, yet there wasn't any discomfort.
Newland, Skefen, and the others who knew what they were looking at all instinctively turned toward Link, their eyes filled with shock and excitement.
To tame Fiendfyre, make it tell friend from foe, and even distinguish them with such precision...
That was almost impossible for a human to achieve.
Yet Link had done exactly that.
And he even looked completely relaxed, as though he still had plenty of strength left.
What kind of terrifying power was this?
The British Ministry of Magic's side immediately received a huge boost in morale.
The Matagot cats on the other side, however, weren't having such an easy time.
The blazing white Fiendfyre that was gentle, even tender, toward the British wizards became a white god of death before them.
As the flames spread, countless Matagot cats screamed as they died.
Of course, they didn't die completely.
The instant Fiendfyre touched them, they began splitting at incredible speed.
As a result, the "cat tide" before Link and the others suddenly swelled several times over.
Millions of Matagot cats rolled and struggled in the flames.
Countless miserable screams mixed together, nearly tearing everyone's eardrums apart.
"Awoo, "
A strange roar suddenly pierced through the sea of screams.
Covering their ears, everyone looked toward the sound and saw the cat-bodied old woman raising her head and howling into the sky within the flames.
Her four clawed arms and steel tail swung nonstop, leaving behind so many afterimages that they almost merged into one. Sonic booms echoed continuously as she forced the Fiendfyre around her back several meters.
The surrounding Matagot cats also seemed to receive an order from her.
They began gathering around the cat-bodied old woman and copied her, wildly swinging their claws.
For a moment, the surging white Fiendfyre was actually driven back.
By all logic, this should have been impossible.
Yet the Matagot cats and the cat-bodied old woman had managed it through their powerful anti-magic abilities and overwhelming numbers.
But this was only Link's first round of attacks.
"Everyone! Kill authorization is now unrestricted! Attack using curse-type spells! You understand? Use curse-type magic! Even the Unforgivable Curses are allowed!"
Krell said coldly.
His voice wasn't loud, but the special badge pinned to his chest transmitted it into the ears of every Hit Wizard and Auror present.
The Aurors reacted first, followed immediately by the Hit Wizards.
The two core forces of the British Ministry of Magic began firing one curse spell after another at the Matagot cats.
Many of them were using the Killing Curse.
Terrifying green light wove together, and the ominous aura it gave off nearly overshadowed the blazing white Fiendfyre.
The Hogwarts students turned pale with fright.
The members of the Order of the Phoenix protecting them wore extremely complicated expressions.
Moody in particular almost instinctively cursed,
"These useless fools! They're getting worse and worse! Anyone who uses the Unforgivable Curses has no right to call themselves an Auror!"
But as he spoke, his voice grew quieter and quieter.
In the end, he fell silent along with the rest of the Order of the Phoenix.
Nearly every member of the Order was a white wizard who firmly believed in lawful good ideals.
Their beliefs sounded noble, but they weren't accepted by the mainstream thinking of the Aurors and Hit Wizards.
In fact, they were often looked down on because of them.
Moody was a perfect example.
As one of the strongest Aurors during the height of the Death Eaters' reign, he had never used the Ministry's forbidden Unforgivable Curses, no matter how vicious the Death Eater he faced.
That decision left his body covered in scars and permanently disabled, but it also made him famous.
Many people praised him as kind and noble.
Many others thought his actions were completely meaningless and simply foolish.
So it was perfectly normal that people called him Mad-Eye after he retired.
In the public's eyes, he had gone mad long ago.
Tonks and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix also held the same belief.
That was why they hated seeing Aurors and Hit Wizards use the Unforgivable Curses.
To them, it was an insult to their identity.
But now, facing the nearly endless sea of green light, every member of the Order remained silent.
Because they also knew that, in war, using the Unforgivable Curses was often necessary.
Just like now.
The Killing Curses and other curse-type spells weren't mainly being used to directly kill the Matagot cats.
Instead, they were being fed into the Fiendfyre as fuel.
This magical "fuel," which shared the same origin as Fiendfyre, strengthened it to a terrifying degree.
As the Fiendfyre devoured huge numbers of Killing Curses and other curse-type spells, the blazing white flames, which had gradually been forced back by the Matagot cats, suddenly pushed forward again, further squeezing the space available to the Matagot cats and the cat-bodied old woman.
"Awooo, "
Another strange wail came from the cat-bodied old woman.
Link frowned.
Unlike the earlier howl that had gathered the cats, this cry seemed filled with grief and anger.
It was as if the cat-bodied old woman was mourning the Matagot cats dying around her.
But she was clearly just an alchemical puppet.
Link had personally confirmed that with the Super-Sensory Charm.
How could a mechanical construct like this have emotions of its own?
The moment that question appeared in Link's mind, the cat-bodied old woman stopped howling.
Watching the last few Matagot cats around her slowly disappear into the Fiendfyre, tears seemed to glimmer in her blue gemstone eyes.
She raised her head and glared at Link through the raging flames with hatred.
The next moment, she completely gave up defending against the Fiendfyre.
After a brief charge, she instantly teleported to the very back of the British Ministry's formation.
"Not good! She's going after the Hogwarts students!"
Newland shouted.
The members of the Order of the Phoenix guarding the students were horrified.
They instinctively stepped in front of the students.
Soon after, many Aurors and Hit Wizards rushed over as well, some even leaving their own formations.
Clang,
The cat-bodied old woman's blades came down without mercy.
The enchanted blades, which possessed anti-magic properties and traces of spatial power, easily pierced the hastily raised wall of magical shields created by the Order and the others before cutting into Moody's group.
Blood flew through the air as Moody and Lupin dragged everyone backward.
At the same time, the Aurors and students behind them finally finished charging their spells.
A dense barrage of magic shot out.
The cat-bodied old woman casually shredded it with a few swings of her claws.
She threw back her head and howled again while drawing herself into another charging stance, preparing for another teleport attack.
But the next moment, under Link's control, the towering white Fiendfyre turned into a giant serpent and swallowed her whole.
The Fiendfyre serpent's belly immediately bulged and convulsed as the cat-bodied old woman struggled inside, trying to escape.
But the serpent's attack had already interrupted her teleportation.
Although she only needed another brief charge to break free, that was already enough time for Link.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A storm of invisible blades poured into the sea of flames.
Immediately afterward, a massive Vanishing Spell beam struck, reducing both the cat-bodied old woman and the Fiendfyre serpent into atoms.
The white Fiendfyre gradually faded away.
All that remained were Matagot cat corpses scattered across the ground, not yet completely burned away.
The Hogwarts students stood there blankly, unsure what to do.
Only Ron and a few others hurried over to Moody and Lupin, asking anxiously about their injuries.
Everyone had seen how terrifying the cat-bodied old woman's attacks were.
Being slashed by five enchanted blades over half a meter long...
The result was almost unimaginable.
Fortunately, Moody's long experience with injuries had paid off.
The instant the blades came down, he and Lupin had pulled everyone backward.
That was the only reason they hadn't been cut to pieces on the spot.
The wounds across their chests and stomachs looked horrifying, but fortunately they hadn't seriously damaged their internal organs.
With potions and healing magic, they weren't in any danger, though their combat ability had been somewhat reduced.
After briefly confirming the Order of the Phoenix's condition, Link looked away.
To be honest, he was a little disappointed in both the temporary Hogwarts Hit Wizard unit and the Order of the Phoenix.
The Hogwarts unit wasn't weak after all their long D.A.-style training.
Their real problem was their lack of actual combat experience.
As for the Order of the Phoenix, their ideals were simply too unrealistic and overly idealistic.
Those two problems together were why they had looked so flustered when facing the cat-bodied old woman's attack.
If it had been any of the other units currently in the reception hall, including the Aurors, Hit Wizards, or even the temporary Durmstrang Hit Wizard unit, the cat-bodied old woman would probably have been blasted to pieces before she even got close enough to attack.
Fortunately, Link had never expected much combat ability from them in the first place.
To put it bluntly, bringing them here was far more important politically than practically.
As long as they could provide some supporting fire once the battle started, that was already good enough.
The Hunter Corps, the British Ministry's Aurors and Hit Wizards, and even the temporary Durmstrang Hit Wizard unit were Link's real main fighting forces.
Shaking his head, Link looked toward the three dark passages ahead and called out loudly,
"Keep moving! Take the middle passage! We can't keep 'Minister' waiting!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Hunter Corps, led by Krell, took the lead.
Behind them came the Aurors, Hit Wizards, and the temporary Durmstrang Hit Wizard unit led by Krum.
Hogwarts followed at the rear after reorganizing their formation.
The young Durmstrang students seemed to have guessed what Link was thinking.
From time to time, they looked back at the Hogwarts students with open mockery in their eyes.
During the battle just now, they had stood on the very front line against the Matagot cats alongside the British Ministry's Hit Wizards.
Their bravery had already earned the approval of many Aurors and Hit Wizards.
At the same time, they believed that Lord Link Flamel had certainly noticed their performance.
After seeing the sharp contrast between the pampered Hogwarts students' poor showing and the courage displayed by the Durmstrang "barbarians," perhaps the respected Lord Link Flamel would consider shifting the focus of training the next generation of outstanding wizards from Hogwarts to Durmstrang.
This wasn't just meaningless fantasy.
It was a conclusion reached after discussions between several of Durmstrang's main subject professors and Headmaster Beckman, and they believed it was highly likely.
Everyone at Durmstrang firmly believed it.
After all, Headmaster Beckman was Lord Link Flamel's grandfather!
With such a close relationship, Headmaster Beckman naturally understood Link Flamel's thoughts very well.
Just imagining Durmstrang receiving Link Flamel's full support, growing stronger, and eventually replacing Hogwarts as the greatest magical school in Europe made every Durmstrang student tremble with excitement.
At that moment, they wished they could push their way to the very front and replace the veteran Hunters in clearing the way for Lord Link Flamel.
Then they hoped several more waves of enemies would appear so they could prove their loyalty and ability.
Unfortunately, their hopes never came true.
Even after they passed through the entire passage and searched over half of the French Ministry of Magic, they still hadn't found a single enemy.
The crowded office desks in many departments still held half-finished cups of coffee and documents that had only been partly written.
Some even had wands left behind.
It looked as though people had been working there not long ago.
But now, the place was as silent as a city of the dead.
Did they escape?
Many people couldn't help thinking that.
But they quickly rejected the idea.
After all, what wizard would leave their wand behind while escaping?
So if they hadn't fled...
Where had all those French wizards gone?