Chapter 39
Devon, Britain. The castle where Nicolas Flamel lived in seclusion.
The entire castle was filled with marching suits of armor and statues. Countless eyeballs circled in the sky, and cannons lined the castle's upper reaches. The whole place was like a slumbering fortress of war.
Wizards kept emerging from the towering fireplace in the castle hall.
Through the Floo Network connected to the fireplace, elite wizards from the ministries of magic of countries around the world arrived one after another at Nicolas Flamel's castle. By the time the fireplace stopped transporting people, more than a thousand wizards had gathered in the hall.
Nicolas Flamel looked at the throng of wizards, his heart not at all cheered.
Only a small portion had come to avenge elders killed by the Phoenix City Lord. The vast majority claimed they were there to put down the rebellion in the British Magic World, but in truth, they wanted to seize the Philosopher's Stone from him.
For centuries, ever since he had created the Philosopher's Stone, he had lived in seclusion.
Even he could only handle small groups of wizards. Once their numbers reached a certain point, escaping by Apparition was already a stroke of luck—let alone defeating so many at once. That was why he had spent centuries in seclusion.
It was easy to invite so many elite wizards here, but hard to send them away.
It seemed he could only give up the Philosopher's Stone. Fortunately, if he captured the Phoenix City Lord alive, he could obtain that miraculous Spark Energy and create an even more perfect Philosopher's Stone. Comforted by this thought, Nicolas Flamel's mood improved considerably.
Off the coast, something resembling a whale slowly rose from the surface of the sea.
A closer look revealed it to be a submarine.
A closer look still made it clear that it was a Nuclear Submarine carrying nuclear warheads.
Moments later, a missile carrying a nuclear warhead was successfully launched from the Nuclear Submarine, locked onto Nicolas Flamel's castle. The missile was enchanted with a Level 10 Illusionary Body Curse and a Level 8 Silencing Charm. Like a ghost, it silently descended through the night toward Nicolas Flamel's castle.
A huge mushroom cloud lit up the night. After decades, humanity had used nuclear weapons once more.
"It would be a shame to let such a good opportunity go to waste."
Li Mu narrowed his eyes as he watched the mushroom cloud from afar.
He knew Nicolas Flamel would surely gather wizards from various countries again to deal with him, so he had located an old wizard's family in advance and controlled them with the Imperius Curse. Sure enough, it took only a few days for the family to receive an apology letter and invitation from Nicolas Flamel.
He had known then that this was the perfect chance to deal with Nicolas Flamel.
All he had to do was use the Imperius Curse to control a Nuclear Submarine, and the Forgetfulness Curse to make everyone in its country forget it existed. Then he could use the submarine, cloaked by the Illusionary Body Curse, to reach the British coast—and with one strike, wipe out the elite wizards from the ministries of magic of every country.
He wondered how many wizards would manage to Apparate to safety when the nuclear bomb exploded this time.
Early the next morning, newspapers from magical communities around the world reported only one thing.
[Shocking! First Dark Lord Grindelwald Escapes from Nurmengard Prison...!]
[Unbelievable! Muggle Nuclear Weapons Can Destroy the Wizarding World and Kill Every Wizard...!]
[We must be on guard against Muggles. Only by controlling the Muggle ruling class and their armies can we ensure the Wizarding World isn't destroyed by nuclear weapons. We should destroy every nuclear weapon in Muggle hands and restrict the development of Muggle technology...!]
Li Mu set down the newspaper in his hand. He had pinned the blame on First Dark Lord Grindelwald.
There would still be claims that he was the real culprit, but without sufficient evidence, most of the hatred would be shifted onto Grindelwald. As for the avengers who were certain he was guilty, he would naturally send their whole families to meet God.
That was how cruel war was. After all, the victors could write history however they pleased.
The momentum was now on his side. It was time to take complete control of the British Magic World.
Although six or seven out of every ten wizards in the British Magic World now bore the Phoenix Mark and had sided with him, the vast majority had joined for the Wizard Potions and Gold Galleons. They might cheer him on, but asking them to form an army and fight the magical communities of other countries was out of the question.
The only people he truly controlled were a few dozen Werewolf Wizards and more than two hundred dark wizards led by former Death Eaters.
With so few people, he was still short of what he needed to conquer the Wizarding World.
Li Mu Apparated to Snape's side.
Snape was still focused on brewing Potions. A large number of failed attempts sat in the corner of his workbench.
"I've run out of patience..."
Li Mu sighed. "With your abilities, and the information I've provided on the ingredients of various Magic Plants, you shouldn't still be failing after all these days. This isn't what I expected of you. It seems you're very unhappy that I killed Dumbledore and destroyed Hogwarts."
Snape's hand trembled. His instinct was to explain that he hadn't thought that way.
"I want to see what I asked for by tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll send the three of you to join Dumbledore."
With that, Li Mu Apparated to the British Ministry of Magic.
Snape had at least Level 9 Legilimency Defense, which was how he had deceived Voldemort's Legilimency and become a spy back then.
His Legilimency was only Level 9 as well, but he could sense Snape's resistance toward him. Snape could use Legilimency Defense to deceive Legilimency, but he couldn't fool his own wand—or the spells he released while brewing Potions.
His profession was Mind Wizard. That alone explained what made the wizards in this world unusual.
So many spells were tied to the mind. A heart filled with love could greatly strengthen spells like the Patronus Charm. A heart full of darkness and murderous intent could likewise empower spells like the Killing Curse and the Cruciatus Curse. The one thing a person's innermost thoughts could never deceive was their own magic.
He had thought Snape would soon come to terms with it.
But days had passed, and Snape's outward obedience had done nothing to lessen his inner resistance.
This disappointed him, and it also made him see himself clearly.
He simply didn't have the personal magnetism of First Dark Lord Grindelwald. Hyperthymesia had made him a loner, and he lacked both the ability to communicate with people and the eloquence to rally them to follow him unto death. Otherwise, he wouldn't have resorted to bribing wizards from all walks of life with Gold Galleons.
Since he wasn't good at winning people over, he would simply be a tyrant.
He wouldn't kill indiscriminately like Voldemort, but he had no qualms about utterly destroying anything that stood in his way. If he couldn't earn loyalty through personal magnetism, he would rule people through death and fear.
If Snape disappointed him again tomorrow, then no matter how talented he was in Potions, he would die.
He was indeed the youngest Potions Master, but he wasn't the only Potions Master in the Wizarding World.
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