"You... you... thief..."
She squeezed the last sounds from her throat.
"You stole... the Master's... army..."
"Not stole, ma'am."
Douglas looked at her, his gaze terrifyingly calm.
"Requisitioned."
"For the greater good of the wizarding world, and for the advancement of academic research."
"In you go. Don't keep your classmates waiting."
Douglas pressed his palm downward.
The suction instantly doubled.
Crack!
Bellatrix actually snapped the rusted iron pillar she was clutching through sheer force, but she still failed to escape.
She was swept into the cyan vortex along with the broken iron pillar.
"Whoosh-"
As the last dark figure vanished.
The pagoda gave a satisfied hum, and its cyan light receded.
It slowly shrank back to the size of a palm and landed in Douglas's hand.
The top-floor cells were completely empty.
Only the wide-open iron doors remained, swaying in the sea breeze with desolate creaks.
"Done."
Douglas hefted the heavy pagoda in his hand and turned to Valerius, who was staring dumbfounded.
"That's what you call efficient moving."
Valerius swallowed.
He suddenly felt rather grateful that this Demon-Suppression Tower hadn't been used when he was being hunted down.
Otherwise, he would have been reduced to a puddle of blood long ago.
"All right, our high-end talent recruitment drive has concluded successfully."
Douglas spoke into the Communication Earring by his ear.
"The top floor's done. All the senior researchers have been inducted. How are things on your end?"
"Merlin's underpants, Old Dao..."
Bill's breathless voice came through the earring, accompanied by a clamor of crying and shouting in the background.
"I'm still packing them up! These guys think we're going to execute them en masse. Every last one is crying his eyes out... Say, could you lend me that tower of yours? I'm running out of rope!"
"Hang in there,