Spirituality? No Matter How Spiritual, It Was Still Just a Tool!

As if answering a king's summons, or instinctively submitting and displaying obedience beneath a terrifying pressure—

A series of cracking explosions erupted, denser and sharper than any sound before!

Crack! Crack-crack-crack-crack—!

From the floor to the ceiling, from the most ordinary oak wand boxes to exquisite gift cases inlaid with mithril patterns—

Their lids all sprang open wildly at the same instant!

Some old, fragile wooden boxes could not withstand the impact of that force and exploded directly into scattered splinters!

Then, a sight that utterly shattered Ollivander's lifelong beliefs, made Hagrid's soul tremble, and broke Harry and the other two's understanding descended in the most tyrannical and magnificent fashion:

Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh—!!!

Not a few wands, nor dozens, but the countless thousands of wands within the shop!

Like pilgrims rushing toward their one true god, they became streaks of light that tore through the air and shot out from every direction!

The steadfastness of oak, the vitality of holly, the darkness of yew, the flexibility of willow, the spirituality of vine wood...

The blazing heat of phoenix feathers, the coolness of unicorn hair, the violence of dragon heartstring, the nothingness of Thestral tail hair...

And even more rare, strange gleams that even Ollivander himself could not immediately identify!

Countless magical beams of different colors and attributes intertwined into a surging, dazzling tidal wave of magic!

Breaking free of their restraints, they let out shrieks of excitement that nearly pierced the air, converging into a storm of light so dazzling it left one mesmerized and deeply aware of one's own insignificance as it surged toward the figure in the center of the shop—Uchiha Madara!

They did not collide. There was no chaos.

As though they possessed a unified will, they began spinning, circling, and dancing rapidly around Madara!

They formed a towering, magnificent, dazzling vortex of magic that constantly shifted and flowed!

The interwoven light illuminated the dim wand shop like broad daylight, as if the entire Milky Way had been gathered within!

The wind pressure stirred by the rotating currents of light was ten times stronger than before, blowing Harry and the others so hard they could barely remain standing. They had to cling desperately to anything fixed nearby, their hair and robes pulled straight behind them!

Ten thousand wands paid homage, as though before a supreme being!

Ollivander stared blankly as his life's work was "commandeered" in such a humiliating yet shocking manner. His old face was deathly pale, his lips trembling, as though he had aged twenty years in an instant.

He slumped to the floor with his back against the only counter, his eyes unfocused as he could only repeat, "Merlin's golden teeth! Impossible... This is impossible... All of them... all of them are responding... This isn't a choice... This is... this is conquest... domination..."

Hagrid used his massive body to shield the three children. The muscles in the arm he held out in front bulged, both to protect them and as an instinctive response to resist the omnipresent pressure.

His mouth hung half-open, his chest heaving violently. Every breath was as heavy as a bellows, and the sweat rolling down his forehead was clearly visible under the light of the wands.

Harry peered through the gaps between his fingers at the heart of that vortex of light, at the figure standing calmly within it. An overwhelming shock swallowed him whole.

This was magic too? This was real power? It was completely different from what he had imagined, from what the books described!

So domineering... as though he alone reigned supreme!

What chilled Harry even more was that the holly wand in his arms was also emitting a faint yet distinct hum and tremor from inside its box. It was not fear, but a resonance bordering on yearning. It wanted to throw itself into that flood of light!

Ron's mouth was wide enough to fit an egg. He was so astonished that he had forgotten to be afraid, leaving only pure, stunned disbelief.

Hermione's rational understanding was collapsing. This completely violated every principle she had read in A Beginner's Guide to Wands!

Wands chose wizards? Lifelong companions?

Here, before this boy, every reserved, picky, individualistic wand had become a servant frantically competing for favor!

This suffocating vortex of light lasted for about a minute?

But to those witnessing it, it felt as long as a century.

Then, Madara seemed to think it was enough.

Just as abrupt as when it had begun.

Madara's scarlet eyes, their tomoe rotating, casually swept over the galaxy of wands still circling excitedly.

With only the slightest shift of thought, the vast, oceanic, terrifying pressure that had silently enveloped the entire shop vanished without a trace.

It had come violently and departed cleanly, displaying a control so effortless it sent chills down one's spine.

Deprived of the force guiding and attracting them, the dazzling currents of wand-light flying through the air suddenly froze!

All the wands seemed to lose every trace of life—

Clang! Clatter! Crash!

A chaotic and massive "rain of wood" fell from the sky!

Thousands upon thousands of wands, like discarded defective goods, fell onto the floor, the shelves, and the shards of broken counter glass, rolling everywhere with dull or crisp sounds.

In an instant, the once dreamlike and mysterious wand shop became a complete mess. Many wands even broke in their fall—those whose structure or material had not been perfect to begin with—their cores exposed like birds with broken wings, stripped of all spirituality.

Madara did not care in the slightest about the miserable state of these "subjects" scattered across the ground.

He casually lifted one foot and used the tip of his shoe to stir through the fallen wands beside him a few times, as though picking through rubbish for a piece of reasonably usable firewood.

Then he bent slightly and casually picked up one wand from the pile.

The wand did not look particularly eye-catching. It was made of dark wood and was of moderate length.

The wand looked utterly ordinary: dark wood, plain grain, moderate length, and no decoration whatsoever.

In his hand, it looked like an ordinary stick that had accidentally gotten mixed in.

He gave it a casual flick, the movement smooth and natural.

Hiss—

A faint crimson-gold line of fire, nearly invisible yet with exceptionally sharp edges, flashed from the tip of the wand.

It instantly incinerated a nearby falling piece of parchment, leaving behind a few wisps of smoke.

Madara's brow twitched almost imperceptibly. He seemed somewhat satisfied with this tool's initial response, but no more than that.

Only then did he seem to truly notice the people inside the shop, as though they were no more significant than the most common stones by the roadside.

His voice was calm, yet it carried the cold reality of a fairy tale being crushed beneathfoot. It entered clearly into every mind still buzzing from shock:

"Those who cannot even control their own power..."

He paused, and the corner of his mouth curved into an undisguised expression of utter mockery.

His gaze swept over the mess on the floor, over the wands that had lost all spirituality, then seemed to pierce through the shop walls and fall upon that conservative, stubborn magical world.

"Yet allow themselves to be controlled by a piece of wood, begging for some so-called 'resonance'..."

"You trash like that... can call yourselves wizards?"

His final scoff was filled with boundless contempt:

"Heh... utterly ridiculous."

Before the echo faded, he had already turned away.

Holding the wand he had picked up at random, he stepped over the "discarded" wands covering the floor—the sound of breaking beneath his feet like dry leaves—and headed straight for the door.

As the last Shadow Guard passed the counter, he casually tossed down a heavy leather bag enchanted with an Undetectable Extension Charm. It landed beside Ollivander's hand with the dull clink of gold coins colliding.

The Shadow Guard's voice was completely flat, as though reading out a notice. "All damages and wand costs will be compensated at double the amount. If it is insufficient, you may come to the Eastern Uchiha Annex in Diagon Alley at any time to claim more."

As soon as the words fell, he followed Madara out the door and disappeared into Diagon Alley's deepening night and scattered lights.

Leaving behind silence.

Absolute silence.

Only wreckage scattered across the floor, the damaged counter, shattered glass, and four wizards—and one half-giant—whose minds had been ravaged by a hurricane and whose understanding had been completely overturned.

Only wreckage scattered across the floor, the damaged counter, shattered glass, silently falling tears—from Ollivander—and four wizards—and one half-giant—standing frozen in place, their souls ravaged by a hurricane and their worldview utterly shattered.

Ollivander stared vacantly at the mess filling his shop, at those "children" whose spiritual gleam had dimmed or who had even broken. Unconsciously, he murmured over and over, "Tools... He called them tools... Just tools... What we spent our lives pursuing... was only... tools..."

Hagrid let out a heavy, trembling breath, as though he had just struggled ashore from deep water.

He turned to look at the three frightened children, especially Harry.

Harry was looking down at a wand that had rolled to his feet, broken into two pieces with its core exposed.

Then he raised his head and looked toward the door Madara had left through, his green eyes filled with unprecedented confusion and a cold, trembling stir.