Vivid

"Now, Albus!"

The instant Herpo the Foul froze, Grindelwald's voice rang beside Dumbledore's ear. Dumbledore instinctively raised his hand, letting Grindelwald seize his arm, and they passed through the evil magic Herpo the Foul had fired in every direction like a porcupine after his emotions suddenly collapsed, appearing behind the dark wizard.

"Stone prison."

An icy cage rose from the ground, trapping the stunned Herpo the Foul firmly inside. The next second, magic from those still standing all around shot in from every direction, smashing the stone prison to pieces and striking Herpo the Foul's body at the same time.

Exhaustion was written across every face, and that exhaustion had gone on for far too long.

So long that wizards who were not familiar with one another, who even had old grudges between them, could now cooperate by instinct. Even though the method changed every time, they could still seize the opening and repeat, again and again, attacks Herpo the Foul had broken and even turned back countless times.

But this time, Herpo the Foul did not emerge unscathed as he had countless times before. He clutched the wound on his neck and let the spells pierce him like ten thousand arrows through the heart.

Dumbledore sensed his weakness.

It felt as though someone were hiding beneath the sand, hollowing out the damp, soft foundation of a sandcastle little by little, eroding his strength from an angle they did not understand.

A buzzing rang beside his ear. Grindelwald left Fiendfyre inside the shattered stone prison and retreated far away with Dumbledore. At the edge of the battlefield, a sharply colored boundary separated the two of them from everything outside. Dumbledore saw everything inside suddenly speed up, including the spells that were stabbing, frame by frame, into McGonagall's body.

And my