"An utterly foolish, outdated way of thinking."
Valerius brushed his bangs.
"Who told you that managing this work of art required wasting the Wizarding World's finest armed resources?"
He slowly turned and walked toward the heavy metal gate, a full sixty feet tall.
"Order doesn't depend entirely on bodies to maintain it."
"Rules and mechanisms will carry out utterly cold-blooded punishment in our place."
Dirk abruptly took two large strides forward.
Though he had lost his magic, his bureaucratic vigilance remained.
"The Department of Magical Law Enforcement must have absolute control over this fortress!"
Dirk raised his voice, trying to recover even a shred of dignity in this utterly oppressive atmosphere.
"Hand over the shutdown password for the core confinement Magic Array. The Ministry of Magic cannot permit any defensive mechanism outside our jurisdiction to exist in the North Sea!"
Valerius stopped.
He turned his head, his profile looking exceedingly sinister in the gloomy light.
"I think you've made another error in understanding, Deputy Director."
"The greatness of these Eastern Mechanisms lies in this: once activated, they become a completely locked, self-contained closed-loop system."
"They reject back doors of any kind. They reject any politician's shutdown password, reeking of compromise."
Valerius's cold laughter echoed against the vast metal outer wall.
"It was precisely the Ministry of Magic's past incompetence and compromises that allowed the previous groups of prisoners to tear through this stretch of sea's defenses so easily."
"But this time."
"No one will ever again be permitted to open this gate with a single pardon spell."
That merciless disparagement stripped away the Ministry of Magic's last shred of dignity.
Dirk's chest heaved violently.
He stared fixedly at Valerius, yet could find no logical rebuttal.
Within this absolute domain that stripped away all magic, a politician's power was worthless.
"Then