At this moment.
The "whir, whir, whir" sound of helicopter rotors reached his ears.
Harvey looked out the window and saw five AH-64 Apache attack helicopters hovering at a low altitude, their high-power searchlights blazing.
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?"
Putting on such a massive show of force—could his theft of the Mind Scepter have been exposed?
Unable to figure it out for the moment, Harvey frowned and waved his wand, casting another Muggle-Repelling Charm.
However, before the spell's effects could even manifest, he heard a crisp, loud voice shout— "Finite Incantatem!"
"There's a wizard nearby? Who is it? Could it be Hermione?"
The confusion in Harvey's heart grew even deeper. How could Hermione have gotten mixed up with S.H.I.E.L.D. in just a few short hours?
He immediately comforted the highly anxious Wanda, "Protect yourself. I'll go out and take a look."
Afterward, Harvey cast a Levitation Charm on himself and flew straight out the window.
But before he had the chance to look for Hermione's figure.
Dozens of special agents surrounding the villa spotted the suspicious target in the air and, without a word, pulled their triggers.
Creating a blanket of covering fire, countless high-speed, spinning metal bullets flew toward the suspicious target.
"Protego Totalum!"
"Protego!"
Harvey first cast protective charms to block the incoming torrent of metal, then decisively began his counterattack.
"Confringo! Confringo! Con..."
"Boom! Boom! Boom..."
He cast over a dozen Blasting Curses in rapid succession, blowing most of the enemies around the villa to pieces, leaving not even bone fragments behind.
The cobblestone ground was blasted by the powerful spells, leaving smoking, deep craters.
Even the special agents who were lucky enough to survive were missing arms or legs, and every single one of them was wounded and howling in agony.
Seeing Harvey take the lives of so many of her comrades in a single encounter, anger instantly drowned out Natasha's rationality.
"High-threat target spotted at nine o'clock. All units, weapons free..."
While issuing the weapons-free command over the comms channel, she raised her muzzle and fired frantically at Harvey in the air.
"Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang..."
An even denser net of crossfire assaulted Harvey.
His eyes narrowed. Did they really think he would just stand there like an idiot and tank a hail of bullets?
He controlled his Levitation Charm to fly higher, beginning an erratic flight pattern to dodge the incoming bullets.
Simultaneously, Harvey aimed at the enemies below, casting Transfiguration to turn the scattered rubble on the ground into sharp, cone-like spikes, and then—
"Oppugno!"
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of finger-sized stone spikes flew with deadly precision toward each and every enemy.
"Ah... argh... ahhh..."
A series of miserable screams rang out.
Every enemy who dared to attack Harvey was precisely picked off by this massive AoE attack!
Seeing almost no living person left standing below, only a ground littered with blood-soaked corpses.
Harvey was highly satisfied with the bloody scene he had caused. He said with a face full of disdain, "I really don't know who gave you the courage to challenge a wizard."
"Stop it!" Hermione descended from the sky on her Firebolt, pointing her wand at Harvey and sternly questioning:
"How could you cruelly murder so many humans?"
Hermione's heart was filled with regret. Just now, she hadn't dared to get too close, worried Harvey would spot her early.
As a result, arriving just one step too late had caused such severe casualties.
"Cruel?" Harvey said faintly:
"This is a right granted to me by the US Constitution. According to the Castle Doctrine, against any intruders trespassing in my home, I have the right to use lethal force in self-defense!"
"So, I am clearly acting in justifiable self-defense!"
"You should be asking these guys down here why they attacked me with rocket launchers..."
Hermione didn't want to listen to Harvey's sophistry any longer. She bit her lower lip, steeled her heart, and waved her wand.
"Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of green light shot from the tip of her wand, flying rapidly toward Harvey.
"Are you for real!?"
Facing the incoming Killing Curse, Harvey couldn't help but scream in shock.
Even though he relied on his formidable strength and had a hundred ways to dodge it.
If he was unfortunately hit by the Killing Curse, even if he didn't die, he'd probably be left with half a life.
Therefore, Harvey treated the Killing Curse, which could easily take a life, with extreme caution.
He first used the Summoning Charm to pull a half-meter-wide chunk of concrete from the ground below to hover in front of him.
After securely blocking the Killing Curse.
Harvey silently chanted in his mind.
"Expelliarmus!"
A Disarming Charm shot out from a tricky angle, precisely hitting the airborne Hermione.
"No~!"
The wand that had accompanied her for years flew out of her hand.
Hermione's face showed a hint of panic, but she quickly regained her composure.
She made a swiping motion in the air with her left hand, which bore a Sling Ring.
Casting the Mirror Dimension magic to envelop both Harvey and herself inside.
This way, the shockwaves of their battle wouldn't harm the innocent.
Next, Hermione muttered an incantation, casting magic she learned from Kamar-Taj.
"Crimson Bands of Cyttorak!"
When the magic was successfully cast.
Mysterious red chains shot out from the void, heading straight toward Harvey to bind him.
"Enough!"
Losing his patience, Harvey had no desire to continue fighting.
He directly waved his wand and cast "Finite Incantatem."
The chains stopped mid-air and quickly dissolved into nothingness.
"Let's end this meaningless battle!"
"Hermione, why did you try to kill me? Why are you sympathizing with these wicked people?"
Harvey pointed at S.H.I.E.L.D. agents below them, his face full of confusion.
Hermione spoke with an icy tone: "Because I discovered that the Muggle you brought back is not a death row inmate at all, but a through-and-through good man."
"I cannot stand by and watch you use an innocent, good man for a highly dangerous potion testing experiment."
"Furthermore, ever since you started indiscriminately killing innocents, we are forever standing on opposing sides!"
Hearing Hermione utter such bridge-burning words, Harvey felt a deep headache.
"First of all, I haven't indiscriminately killed innocents. 99% of the people in S.H.I.E.L.D. have the blood of innocents on their hands."
"They are not good people at all; they are notorious members of Hydra!"
Hermione scoffed coldly, "Stop making excuses. Do you think I will ever believe your words again?"
Harvey's brain throbbed with a headache now. "If you don't believe me, then you can go find the answers yourself."
"Use Legilimency to read the memories in the heads of those guys down there, and you'll see their true faces!"
Hermione hesitated for a moment, but her gaze quickly grew resolute again.
"I won't believe another word you say!"
Once trust collapses, is it really this difficult to rebuild?
Harvey's face was full of bitterness, somewhat regretting always using lies to fool Hermione in the past.
"How about this? I can make an Unbreakable Vow with you. If I am lying, let me turn back into a Muggle!"
Hearing Harvey dare to make such a severe vow, Hermione finally wavered.
She frowned and thought about it. The Legilimency spell doesn't cause harm to people.
And verifying Harvey's words would be very simple.
Thus, Hermione dispelled the Mirror Dimension and pointed her wand at a wounded man screaming on the ground below.
"Legilimens!"