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0731 The Dance of Destruction
🕑 Added 2025-05-30 10:30:31 +0000 UTCAmid earth-shattering tremors that seemed to herald the apocalypse, the laboratory's ceiling came crashing down. Massive chunks of enchanted stone, each weighing hundreds of pounds and crackling with residual magical energy, plummeted through the air like meteors of destruction.
The chamber's four walls shattered under the tremendous impact and clouds of dust spread through the narrow corridors in both directions rendering everything within sight hazy and indistinct.
Jasna Rosier lay upon the cold stone, Her face had been drained of all color, leaving her pale as snow. Sharp-edged fragments of stone scattered around her had carved bloody streaks across her beautiful face.
'I must escape from here and warn Father!'
This desperate thought had been circling through Jasna's mind ever since she had witnessed Bryan Watson's appearance within their most secure stronghold.
She knew that matters had progressed far beyond any possibility of negotiation or strategic retreat. They had reached a point of no return.
The Anti-Apparition charm that had covered this location, had been completely broken by Bryan's magic. Just as Jasna gathered her remaining strength and prepared to Apparate away from this base—this place that had consumed countless resources, immeasurable effort, and almost half a century to construct and perfect—a spear wreathed in golden flames suddenly emerged from the roiling clouds of dust and debris.
The weapon shot through the air with the precision of a guided missile and the beauty of a falling star carrying a trail of liquid fire and struck the floor at Jasna's feet with a resounding clang.
Before Jasna could even begin to process what was happening, before her mind could think of any kind of response or defensive action, the flaming spear began to undergo a rapid and terrifying transformation.
Threads of fire extended from the weapon's shaft and in the blink of an eye, what had been single separate threads became a cage of flames that imprisoned her within a cell of living fire,
"Stay there. Don't move."
Bryan's ice-cold command echoed through the murky dust.
The dispersed particles of black sand that had once contained Aeschylus's transformed state drifted through the air like the ashes of cremated nightmares, still wriggling with residual malice but lacking the cohesion necessary to reform into their previous dangerous configuration.
The tremendous commotion created by the laboratory's destruction had not gone unnoticed by the people living in this underground complex. Deep within the passages of the base, in chambers that had been carved from rock over the course of decades, the shrill wail of Howling Curses suddenly began to ring out in a symphony of magical alarm.
Throughout the complex, figures began to emerge from chambers, laboratories, living quarters, and meeting rooms. Many people came rushing from all directions through the network of corridors and passages.
Bryan's expression remained calm. After taking a moment to survey his surroundings, his gaze swept through the dust-filled air to take in the general layout and situation of the underground base.
What he saw clearly satisfied him, as he raised his wand high above his head. The moment the tip of his magical focus pointed toward the ceiling, flames began to pour forth from its tip like a golden torrent!
RUMMMBLE!
Under Bryan's masterful control, this pillar of golden fire effortlessly pierced through layer after layer of flooring, penetrating layers of enchanted metal as if they were tissue paper, and through rock strata and damp soil.
The magical flame continued its way up until it reached the surface high above, where it erupted into the night sky like a volcanic geyser of pure light. Once in the open air, the surging flames underwent another transformation, spreading outward and upward as they created a massive, breathtaking web of interconnected fire that covered several acres of ground below.
This aerial display was visible for miles in every direction, its blazing radiance illuminating the night sky with such intensity that it appeared bright as day. The supernatural aurora could be seen even from the distant lights of Berlin, where some startled citizens stopped in the streets to stare at the sight that tinted the northern horizon in shades of gold and amber.
Simultaneously, another stream of flame separated itself from the main torrent. This secondary fire possessed a different quality from its parent—where the fire pillar in sky burned with overwhelming power, these flames showed refinement and subtlety.
These more delicate streams formed what could only be described as 'fire threads'. Rather than wreaking undiscriminating havoc throughout the vast underground complex, these threads displayed intelligence and purpose as they sank silently into the facility's lowest levels.
The fire threads began to coil around the building's surfaces like glowing serpents. They outlined the outline of walls, followed the curves of corridors, and wrapped around support pillars.
Finally, after several minutes of this careful positioning, the fire threads formed a complete cocoon of flames that enclosed the entire underground facility within a cage of supernatural fire. Every exit, every emergency tunnel, every carefully concealed escape route had been sealed with barriers of golden flame.
The base's wizards, many of whom had been attempting to flee through the fireplaces, discovered with shock and horror that their main means of escape had become completely ineffective.
Those unfortunate souls who had already entered the magical network's pathways suddenly discovered that their destination coordinates had been completely severed.
Without a target location to guide their journey, they found themselves abruptly 'ejected' from the void, appearing in random locations throughout the base with disorientation and nausea.
"Come on. Let's find a different location."
The corridor continued its relentless collapse, the terrain here was unsuitable for combat. Bryan grasped Louise's wrist, dispersed the smoke with a flick of his wand, and his body suddenly became ethereal. In an instant, they passed through the corridor and appeared in the great hall.
Wizards were gushing endlessly from various tunnels and openings that dotted the tall stone walls like the entrances to an enormous ant colony.
Only one opening, the tunnel that led back toward the destroyed laboratory, was spewing clouds of dust and debris instead of people.
'What's happening? Was there an experimental accident?'
The questions went through the crowd of base wizards who had gathered in the great hall creating expanding circles of confusion and growing concern. These people, accustomed to the typically solemn and silent atmosphere of their underground faculty were struggling to understand the unprecedented chaos.
They looked up with furrowed brows and expressions of increasing worry at the opening that continued to spew clouds of smoke and dust while echoing with menacing roars.
Small groups formed spontaneously as they sought comfort and information from their colleagues.
The typically solemn and silent base rarely experienced such chaos, to the extent that the wizards failed to notice the danger right beside them—Bryan Watson stood among them.
Louise stood beside Bryan wearing an expression of complete bewilderment. Everything that had occurred over the past hour—from the discovery of the laboratory to the magical combat to their ethereal passage through solid stone—was far too overwhelming for her 'muggle' mind to fully process and accept.
The rapid succession of impossible events had left her feeling as if she were trapped in some kind of fever dream where the laws of physics and reality had been suspended. Her grip on Bryan's arm remained tight, not just for physical support but as an anchor to sanity in a world that had suddenly become incomprehensible.
Bryan, though, showed no immediate signs of taking aggressive action against the gathered crowd of enemy wizards. Instead, he turned his attention to study the massive relief that had been carved into the hall's main wall, depicting a castle.
"Ah! No, this can't be happening!"
"Are you insane, Aeschylus!"
The screams that suddenly echoed from within the dust-filled corridor carried terror and fury that sliced through the ambient noise of the great hall. The voices belonged to base wizards who had rushed into the destroyed corridor to investigate the source of the disturbance.
The mention of Aeschylus's name sent voices of recognition and growing alarm through the crowd of gathered wizards.
"That madman has finally lost complete control of his powers?! We're all going to die!"
A wizard standing beside Bryan muttered these words in a daze of disbelief and rising panic.
If Aeschylus truly had lost control of his Obscurus nature within their underground base, then every person in the facility was potentially in mortal danger. The destructive power of an uncontrolled Obscurus was legendary, capable of flattening entire city blocks and killing hundreds of people in minutes.
"No way, I need to get out of here—"
This wizard, demonstrating more survival instinct than many of his colleagues, began to frantically push through the crowd toward the great hall's fireplace with the desperate urgency of someone who had suddenly realized that he was standing in the path of an avalanche.
His movements were clumsy and panic-driven, elbowing aside anyone who stood between him and what he hoped would be his escape.
Upon reaching the one wall of the great hall with a giant fireplace, he discovered in horror that the Floo network had inexplicably stopped functioning.
He spat cursing in frustration and terror and without pausing to consider other magical transportation methods, he turned and ran toward the hall's main exit.
Whoooosh—
A malicious wind arose from the depths of the devastated corridor, and after the dragon-like roaring that had been echoing from the tunnel reached a crescendo of rage and power, a massive cloud of gray dust began to pour out of the opening like water from a broken dam.
Following closely behind these debris came Aeschylus's transformed sandstorm of black particles.
Compared to his previous manifestation in the laboratory, this version of the Obscurus had grown considerably stronger and more stable. The time spent absorbing additional dark magic from the tortured Muggle woman, combined with the fury generated by his confrontation with Bryan Watson, had fed his supernatural abilities and enhanced his destructive potential to unprecedented levels.
The storm's center was spinning at tremendous velocity, creating a vortex of evil energy. At the heart of this whirlwind, a red glow pulsed representing the concentrated fury and hatred that drove the creature's existence.
"BRYAN WATSON!!!"
Countless black particles vibrated at frequencies producing an incredibly shrill shriek.
The expressions of the base wizards in the hall immediately became a fascinating spectacle. Bryan Watson—he had appeared within the base?!
Only some of the wizards felt pure horror and panic upon hearing the name. Others displayed reactions of cold severity, anger, or eager anticipation.
Aeschylus, now fully transformed and hovering in the air above the great hall like some supernatural storm cloud, had already spotted his primary target within the crowd below.
Like an avalanche given consciousness, the black torrent imbued with accumulated dark magic began to move toward its target.
The attack, when it came, possessed all the force and fury of a natural disaster compressed into a focused assault.
Yet Bryan Watson's response was a simple wave of his wand that seemed to require no more effort than brushing away an annoying insect. The gesture created a barrier of silver-green energy that met the Obscurus's attack head-on, dispersing the supernatural storm.
Roar, roar, roar!
The sandstorm's power seemed truly inexhaustible. Each time Bryan's defensive spells scattered the creature's form, reducing it to individual particles floating in the air, it would immediately begin to reform itself with even greater size and intensity than before.
The Obscurus, fearless of death, attacked Bryan Watson with relentless determination, only to be annihilated again and again in dazzling flashes of silver-green magical energy.
"Kill Watson!"
The cry came from the previously clever wizard who had tried to flee the base only to discover that all escape routes had been sealed by Bryan's magical fire.
"Watson has sealed the entire base with Fiendfyre! The German Ministry of Magic has appeared outside—only by killing him can we escape!"
The great hall erupted in chaos as their situation became clear to everyone present. The crowd, which had been maintained in a state of tense observation while Bryan dueled with the Obscurus, finally abandoned all caution and began scattering in a coordinated rush to surround their enemy.
Faced with the sight of hundreds of wands being pointed at him simultaneously, even Bryan Watson could not afford to treat the situation with his previous casual indifference.
The vortexes in his pupils finally began spinning once more. As his pupils began their hypnotic dance, the purple color in his irises started to fade. Tiny flashes of lightning began to flicker across the surface of his eyes like miniature storms, each spark representing vast reserves of magical energy being called forth.
"Close your eyes—" Bryan said softly.
"What?" Louise asked in confusion.
Louise received no answer, for the war had already begun...
The brilliance that bloomed in front of her eyes made Louise momentarily believe she had fallen into the sun itself. The light that emerged from Bryan's magical focus contained world-shaking power that seemed to compress the energy of nuclear fusion into a space far too small to contain such forces safely.
This supernatural radiance obscured Louise's vision completely, creating a white-out effect that was accompanied by pain that felt as if her retinas were being seared by direct exposure to sun rays.
The scene that had occurred earlier at the lakeside repeated itself with even greater intensity and scope—spell-light from dozens of attacking wizards vanished abruptly upon approaching within a certain critical distance of Bryan's position, as if their magic had been decomposed at the molecular level and returned to nature.
But unlike his previous defensive stance, Bryan did not stand a a passive target waiting for the attacks to exhaust him. This time, he took immediate offensive action.
He moved his wand in a violent upward gesture, and the ground beneath the gathered wizards suddenly began to shake. Sharp spikes began to sprout from the floor in rapid succession. The spikes extended in coordinated waves from near to far.
In the blink of an eye, dozens of wizards found themselves impaled on the razor-sharp spikes, their corpses hanging limply on the spikes.
This highly efficient and brutally effective wave of elimination did not shake the resolve of the survivors in the slightest; instead, the sight of their fallen companions ignited their fury to even greater heights, filling them with the desperate courage of cornered animals.
These wizards, highly skilled in the darkest magical arts and trained from childhood in combat magic, rose one after another with determined expressions, waving their wands in complex patterns to lift themselves from the ground and float safely in the air, avoiding further impalement by the continuing waves of deadly spikes.
Then, with the coordination of a well-trained army and lethal intent burning in their eyes, they struck back with everything they had!
Killing Curses, Cruciatus Curses, Corrosion Curses that could dissolve flesh from bone, and massive Fiendfyre that took the shapes of animals like serpents...
Dangerous yet brilliantly beautiful magical light in every color continuously attacked the invisible barrier that surrounded Bryan, creating thunderous sounds like that of the most violent summer storms!
Under these incredibly powerful and coordinated attacks from some of the most skilled dark wizards in Europe, the mysterious invisible barrier around Bryan began to visibly falter and weaken as the clear space around him was compressed slowly inch by inch.
This wild, desperate assault finally forced Bryan to become completely serious about the life-or-death battle. His wand moved in rapid succession through complex defensive patterns, creating layer upon layer of sophisticated defensive magic.
Surrounding Bryan and the Louise, eight twisted silver-blue vortexes appeared in the outermost layer of space, each one was a spiral of energy slowly rotating as they hungrily devoured incoming spells and grew stronger with each absorbed attack, like magical black holes feeding on the power directed against them.
Behind the protective vortexes, several platinum-colored metal shields appeared and disappeared at constantly shifting positions with perfect timing. These tangible shields, each one inscribed with protective runes and reinforced with magic, met the continuous rain of deadly attacks with heavy clanging sounds.
Bryan released Louise's trembling hand with gentle reassurance and began wielding his wand in broad, sweeping movements.
A magnificent golden fire serpent, massive as the most ancient python from legend and beautiful beyond description, materialized from the flames with earth-shaking roars.
Its enormous tail, thick as an ancient oak tree, coiled protectively around the ground, creating a barrier of living flame that completely enclosed the cold-faced Bryan within its protective embrace, while its enormous mouth, as large as the entrance to a big cave and filled with teeth of pure fire, spewed massive pillars of golden flame in all directions with the fury of a dragon defending its hoard.
The green Fiendfyre beasts summoned by the base's defending wizards crumbled instantly at first contact with the pure golden flames. However, despite its obvious power and majestic presence, the great fire serpent did not display an overwhelmingly dominant position in the battle.
Countless curse-lights of every conceivable variety struck the magnificent fire python continuously, each impact creating violent ripples of disturbed energy that ran along its entire length and causing the serpent to roar continuously in what might have been pain, anger, or simple defiance in the face of overwhelming odds!
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