Above French territory.
Perhaps the flames of war below had caused the air currents to rise, or perhaps heaven could not bear to see so many lives perish like this.
Saying that it was raining everywhere would have been an exaggeration, but it was perfectly normal for every place to be shrouded beneath thick white clouds.
A full moon hung high in the sky.
The gleaming sea of clouds rose and fell beneath the moonlight's pull, serene and tranquil.
But then, two uninvited guests shattered the shimmering scene.
Pop—pop—
It was as though something enormous had spat out two tiny objects, accompanied by two strange sounds.
This was the result of Grindelwald and Cypher passing through the clouds one after the other.
Above the clouds, there were already biting winds found only at high altitudes.
What was more, Cypher and Grindelwald had pushed their brooms' performance to the limit.
Long white trails stretched behind both of them.
If they were merely competing in speed, that would have been far too dull...
Grindelwald's facial skin was pressed by the freezing wind until it was not only pale, but rippling continuously, making him look both pitiful and ridiculous.
It was not that Grindelwald had neglected to cast magic to protect his exposed body.
To fend off Cypher's harassment while conserving as much magic as possible for traveling, he had only wrapped his eyes in a thin layer of Iron Armor Charm.
"Transfiguration!"
Cypher was about to catch up again.
Realizing this, Grindelwald expressionlessly raised his wand and pointed forcefully at the white clouds below.
The gaseous vapor swiftly transformed into longswords under the effects of magic.
They were both flying at high speed, so Grindelwald did not need to waste effort firing the swords at Cypher.
Cypher had lost track of how