The longsword Eclipse pierced through Phoenix's chest, nailing her firmly to the stone wall. Blood continuously seeped from her wound and mouth, flowing down her smooth skin, torso, and bare feet, staining the wall behind her and the floor crimson.
At this moment, Phoenix still struggled to stretch out her hands, grasping the longsword that had pinned her, desperately trying to pull it out. However, Alan's throw of the longsword was not light, and Eclipse was still continuously unleashing stinging electric shocks on her, coupled with the Permanent Energy Absorption Spell attached to the sword, which was constantly drawing out the magic from Phoenix's body. This caused all her actions to appear so weak, until finally, she was even about to lose the strength to lift her hands.
The gradual fading of life filled Phoenix's heart with hatred; she hated it so much. She could clearly live for a long time, there was still so much wonderful life she hadn't experienced, and so much interesting magic she hadn't had time to research. Was she really going to end so inexplicably here? It was all these people's fault!
Phoenix glared with bloodshot eyes, fiercely staring at Alan in front of her. She wanted to use her last bit of strength to unleash the most vicious curse she knew upon him. As a witch who had studied Dark Arts for many years, she knew at least ten curses that could be cast at the cost of life or soul. But it was this bastard in front of her who wouldn't even let her speak her dying words!
What made her even more despairing was that as her magic was drained and her life force diminished, her maiden-like skin began to age rapidly, with wrinkles and age spots continuously appearing on her skin. Perhaps this was another side effect of the Elixir of Life, a forbidden medicine. Before long, she had transformed into a withered old person with dry, white hair and a body full of wrinkles, a stark contrast to her previous twenty-year-old maiden appearance.
"No! No…" Looking at her almost skeletal, aged hands in front of her, Phoenix let out her final desperate groan. She could not accept dying in such an ugly and unsightly form. But the consciousness of regret had gradually detached from Phoenix's body, leaving behind only her hideous, wide-eyed face.
At this moment, Andre and the others slowly approached, watching Phoenix transform from a blooming maiden into an old woman, and then take her last breath.
"*Cough, cough!*" Andre gasped weakly, even coughing a few times against his will. "It seems I'm truly old; a little exertion makes me this tired." He then shook his head, looking quite displeased. "But that old hag Phoenix was truly formidable. Both the spell she used and she herself were so strange."
Alan knew Andre was referring to her rapid aging, and it was not surprising for him to think this way without knowing about the Elixir of Life. Seeing Andre somewhat exhausted, Alan took a bottle of tonic from his person and handed it over. "You saw how troublesome the spell she used was. It's not strange for someone who researches Dark Arts to concoct all sorts of bizarre magic to maintain their appearance."
Andre took the potion, gulped down a large mouthful, then nodded and said, "Yes, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I really wouldn't have believed that the young and beautiful woman earlier was Phoenix, one of the club's founders. Otherwise, we might have been deceived by her. By the way, when she emerged from that puddle of mud just now, was she preparing to curse us? It's a good thing you acted decisively enough."
"Indeed, when facing such a dangerous individual, one cannot relax for a moment." Alan then looked around, sighing helplessly. "It's a pity we couldn't capture her alive, and we almost got into trouble. This is the result of acting in haste. Fortunately, we still managed to stop her in the end."
"Thanks to your quick reaction, you entangled her in advance; otherwise, by the time we arrived, she would have probably already escaped far away." Andre jokingly praised Alan, then looked at the mess before them with exasperation. "A perfectly good house, now it's full of holes because we tore it apart, and this place is even becoming a swamp."
After complaining, Andre laboriously pulled his shoes out of the several-inch-deep muddy flesh, then very disdainfully rubbed them against the nearby wall. Alan shook his head, also somewhat speechless at the sight. The Aurors responsible for cleaning up the mess later would have a lot to deal with.
Thinking this, he shifted his gaze back to Phoenix. These leaders, who had lived for hundreds of years, probably had many good things on them, such as the item that helped her escape at a crucial moment earlier. However, she had engaged in battle in haste, so her other belongings should still be in the bedroom on the third floor. It was time to tally the spoils.
With this thought, Alan approached Phoenix's corpse, but to prevent her from playing any tricks before her death, he did not immediately remove the body. Instead, he used several detection spells through wandless magic from a distance, and only after confirming it was safe did he pull Eclipse from her chest.
And after re-gripping Eclipse's hilt, he clearly felt a swollen sensation; apparently, after absorbing Phoenix's life and magic, Eclipse had grown considerably. Thinking this, Alan couldn't help but secretly think how lucky it was. Since the others were relatively far away just now, and their attention was drawn by Phoenix's sudden physical change, no one noticed Eclipse's abnormality. Otherwise, facing such a bloodthirsty weapon, it would surely arouse suspicion from Andre and the others.
After removing Eclipse, Alan then took down Phoenix's corpse. Upon inspection, he found that she carried almost nothing except her wand and the necklace around her neck, not including the nightgown that looked like a tattered rag. As for the pendant that had saved Phoenix at a critical moment, only the chain and clasp remained. The black gem previously embedded in the clasp had shattered and disappeared due to the activation of the charm, and it was unknown whether the remaining fragments could still be used to decipher the charm on it.
After simply tidying up Phoenix's corpse and belongings, Alan put away Eclipse and turned around. At this point, the Schmidt brothers, who had been hiding in the back, also came over, though they both looked pale. Alan felt somewhat bewildered at the sight. These two seemed to have been just bystanders earlier, so why did they look so bad?
However, he still said considerately, "Everyone has worked hard tonight. Although the process was quite convoluted, we finally dealt with Phoenix. The rest will be handled by the Aurors responsible for the aftermath." He then turned his head to Andre. "Mr. Andre, please inform the Aurors on alert outside. I still need to go to the third floor to clean up Phoenix's belongings and see if I can find any clues about the club."
Andre understood that Alan wanted to gain some benefits from Phoenix, and he had no objections to this. After all, his goal tonight was to deal with Phoenix, and the operation against her was initiated by Alan himself, and he contributed the most, so any spoils of war should rightfully belong to him.
Edmund and Allen naturally had even fewer objections; in fact, they found Alan's "Everyone has worked hard" remark quite ironic. They knew that they had basically just stood by and watched from beginning to end. In a battle against a wizard of Phoenix's caliber, they couldn't even intervene; Alan and Andre handled the entire fight, and the only thing they could do was not be a hindrance.
Thinking this, Edmund couldn't help but re-examine Alan and Andre. They had truly had their eyes opened today. These two had shown them what true power was: Alan's awe-inspiring thunder and magic swordsmanship, and Andre's destructive blade storm. Imagining if they were their opponents, Edmund probably wouldn't last ten seconds.
Edmund very honestly said, "Mr. Wilson, you are too kind. We barely helped at all on this trip. On the contrary, it is thanks to the two of you that Phoenix, the murderer of my child, was killed. I can't thank you enough, so how can I talk about hardship? And to repay your kindness, we will seriously consider our family's stance. From now on, you two will be our friends of the Schmidt family. We will provide the maximum support to our friends. Mr. Wilson, Director Andre, please feel free to ask for any help you need in the future!"
Edmund's words were quite direct, completely lacking the previous evasiveness. Even Andre understood that the Schmidt family was prepared to fully support him in subsequent actions.
And Edmund making such a decision on behalf of the Schmidt family was naturally not solely because he was intimidated by their combat prowess, but a resolution made after careful consideration. Firstly, the strength they displayed was indeed the most attractive point; spending resources to forge alliances with powerful individuals for the family was definitely not a loss, especially with wizards of Andre and Alan's strength and status.
At the same time, what impressed him even more was Alan's performance. The maturity beyond his age, his firm and efficient execution, and his powerful intelligence and command abilities were all things Edmund had never seen before. Edmund could easily guess that Alan's future achievements would be limitless. Now, he might still be able to form a relatively equal friendship with him, but if he waited until later, the Schmidt family might not even be willing to deal with them if they came seeking help. Therefore, Edmund naturally wouldn't miss the current opportunity. It was incredibly worthwhile to connect the family with a powerful individual like Alan. For this, he even humbled himself greatly and acted quite modestly.
Alan and Andre were naturally very pleased by this. After all, with the full support of the Schmidt family, it was equivalent to having nearly half of the power within the German Wizengamot Council in their hands, which would truly make Pitt an isolated figure.
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