"Becoming your friend doesn't exactly sound like a stroke of good luck," Victor Wick replied, decisively rejecting Grindelwald's invitation.
"It seems you are determined to capture me today." Grindelwald let out a sigh, disappointment etched across his face. "I suppose it makes sense. You are a young man with a bright future, deeply trusted by Dumbledore, and you rendered distinguished service during the Second Wizarding War. Getting involved with me would certainly bring unnecessary trouble upon you."
"Since you know that, you shouldn't have come today," Victor said, his brow furrowing as he watched him.
"No... of course I should have come! After seeing your abilities, I realize this trip was well worth it." Grindelwald looked at Victor with an expression of pure delight.
"So... you think you've found a suitable new pawn? You plan to use me to achieve some goal?" Victor's voice was cold.
"A pawn? No... that would be an insult to you. Mr. Wick... please believe that I truly mean no harm. The past is like smoke in the wind. Since I made an agreement with Dumbledore back then, I certainly will not violate it."
"Then what are you doing out here now?" Victor scoffed. "Did Dumbledore specifically grant you a few days of parole when he made that agreement?"
"I have reasons for which I must do this... Mr. Wick, I believe that one day you will understand why I have acted this way." Grindelwald spread his hands wide.
"If that's the case, then that is a matter for the future. I have no interest in worrying about what may come, but for now..." A flash of excitement sparkled in Victor's eyes.
Ever since his success with code magic, it had been a long time since he had encountered such a powerful opponent.
"It seems... you still haven't given up on taking me back to Nurmengard. And here I was, planning to be a good man from now on..."
"You want to be a good man? Go tell Dumbledore and see if he believes you..."
The battle resumed.
This time, Victor Wick directly triggered his latent spells!
Of course, under the protection of that powerful defensive magic, these rigid magical traps didn't cause much of an impact on Grindelwald.
Most of his energy was focused on the direct duel with Victor.
This time, Grindelwald's attacks became far more flamboyant! Almost no spell was repeated.
When he finally cast a powerful spell for the second time, Grindelwald suddenly remarked, "One must admit when they are old. My era has truly passed... Now, it's the era of you young people..."
As he spoke, he threw several powerful combination spells at Victor. By the time Victor had unraveled them, he realized Grindelwald had already Disapparated.
Once a wizard reaches a level as powerful as Grindelwald's, even Dumbledore would find it impossible to stop him if he truly wished to leave.
Victor Wick looked at the wreckage before him, his expression sour.
The final part of that battle had felt incredibly awkward.
Grindelwald's defensive strength had been extremely high, but his counterattacks had felt soft and weak.
Rather than fighting, it was more like the old man was showing off his magic.
'After seeing my learning ability, was he intentionally teaching me all the powerful spells he knows?'
"If you keep this up... I really won't be able to explain myself. Since things have come to this... I'll just have to play the victim... distract Dumbledore..."
...
When Dumbledore finally arrived, he saw nothing but ruins.
It looked exactly like the ruins of the Potter house after it had been blown apart!
Dumbledore's face was grim as he strode into the debris, his sharp eyes searching everywhere.
Finally, next to a crumbling wall, he saw Victor Wick leaning there—covered in wounds, face pale, and appearing to be breathless.
However, after seeing the 'corpse', Dumbledore's expression actually softened.
"Wick... stop pretending. When Voldemort was around, your strength was still developing. But now... who could possibly beat you into such a state?"
"Sigh... you really have no sense of humor." The voice came from right behind Dumbledore.
In the blink of an eye, the corpse and the ruins before Dumbledore dissolved into sequences of runes and dissipated into the air.
In their place stood a perfectly intact small wooden cabin; even the flower beds next to it were unscathed.
"You're the only person who says I have no sense of humor, Victor..." Dumbledore blinked.
He turned to look at his surroundings. Everything seemed peaceful, but the turbulent magic lingering in the air was still captured by Dumbledore's senses.
Clearly, a fierce duel had erupted in this seemingly calm place just moments ago.
"What exactly happened?" Dumbledore's expression became serious again. He knew very well that unless Victor had encountered a truly powerful enemy, he wouldn't have sent such a direct distress signal.
Moreover, while he was at the Ministry of Magic and preparing to head over upon receiving the signal, he had been delayed by a sudden, unexpected incident.
Connecting everything now, Dumbledore realized this was no simple matter.
"Has... Voldemort returned?"
Victor Wick sighed. "It wasn't Voldemort, but in terms of caliber, it was about the same..."
Hearing this, Dumbledore suddenly had a very bad premonition. "If it wasn't Voldemort, then who?"
"Please, watch the VCR..." Victor snapped his fingers, and Ancient Runes flashed briefly.
A virtual screen appeared before Dumbledore, playing the events from the moment Gellert Grindelwald had arrived at the door.
Of course, the video cut off just as they were about to start fighting.
The moment Dumbledore saw Grindelwald appear, his face turned grim!
The dangerous aura radiating from him made even the current Victor Wick feel a bit uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Victor had played the victim just enough to divert Dumbledore's focus.
"Professor..." Victor whispered. "What do you think of this?"
Dumbledore took a deep breath and turned to look at Victor. "I'll take you to St. Mungo's for a checkup first. You don't need to worry about this. I'll handle it."
"I'm not injured!" Victor shook his head.
"Grindelwald's mastery of the Dark Arts is supreme, and his intentions are unclear..." Dumbledore didn't finish, but his meaning was obvious.
There was no reason for Grindelwald to come just to give Victor a ring and leave without doing anything. Thus, Dumbledore wanted Victor to have a checkup to see if he had been hit by some curse he hadn't noticed.
"With you here, do I really need to go to St. Mungo's?"
"Never underestimate any curse, Victor... some powerful curses require professional equipment to be detected," Dumbledore said solemnly.