The Dark Lord's heir! The Acolytes return!

Nurmengard.

Hundreds of Acolytes had gathered in the square, and their numbers were still growing.

Despite the crowd, it was not particularly noisy. Apart from the occasional whisper, most people waited quietly.

They waited for the boy who would decide the Acolytes' future.

"Most of them are here, and quite a few Aurors have come too. Argus, are you sure you don't want to see your adoptive father first?"

Hearing the old man's words behind him, Argus smiled faintly.

"Uncle Abernathy, the test began the moment I set foot in Nurmengard."

"But..."

"Let's go. It's time to meet your old friends!"

With a wave of his wand, the castle doors slowly opened.

Vinda said nothing and followed silently behind Argus.

Abernathy clearly had some misgivings about Argus. He glanced inside the castle, took a deep breath, and chose to follow after all.

As Argus appeared, the Acolytes gradually fell silent.

Compared with the thunderous cheers that had greeted Grindelwald's appearances back then, their expressions were far too cold. A few old men even looked a little impatient.

"Director, should we take him down now?"

A young Auror quietly asked the middle-aged man beside him, who shook his head.

"There's no rush. Let's see what happens first."

"Don't forget, this is Nurmengard! If we provoke the one in the tower into coming out, none of us can bear the consequences."

"He's just an eleven-year-old brat. What could he possibly accomplish?" Another Auror, a blond who looked barely in his twenties, gave a contemptuous sneer.

"I think Grindelwald's gone senile, letting a brat who's only just about to start school inherit the Acolytes!"

"Let's hope so!" The middle-aged man's gaze was grave as he looked toward the center of the square.

Argus strode firmly to the center of the square, swept his wand across his chest, and bowed slightly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming today."

"Over these decades, we have wandered from place to place, we have hidden wherever we could, and we have lost many friends, many companions, and many comrades."

"The Acolytes could never have made it this far without your sacrifices and protection."

"Here and now, I thank you all!"

Argus bowed deeply and swept his gaze over the crowd. Recalling the grand ranks of the Acolytes back then, he could not help feeling a pang of sorrow.

The once-illustrious Wizarding Supremacist Party now had only a few hundred people left.

Among them were many who were old, weak, ill, or disabled.

Yet he was not discouraged. After a brief pause, he continued.

"I know why you have come. I understand your dreams, your convictions, and your desires."

"Many people say we are a mistake, that we are criminals, that we made a complete mess of this Wizarding World."

"Nonsense!"

"They're a bunch of idiots!"

Angry curses rose from the crowd, which seemed deeply displeased by this.

Argus gently waved his hand, and their voices gradually faded.

"Back then, Mr. Gellert Grindelwald warned the Wizarding World, only to receive decades of imprisonment in return. Many people think that, as his adopted son, I should hate them, that I should regard them as my mortal enemies."

"But the truth is precisely the opposite. I don't hate them. Not at all."

"In fact, if they are willing, I hope we can coexist peacefully."

"We are not fighting for hatred, and they merely hold different ideals from ours."

"That is all."

Many of the old people in the square had attended the rally at Père Lachaise Cemetery all those years ago.

Grindelwald's commanding presence remained fresh in their memories!

Looking at the confident, elegant boy before them, they seemed to see that figure from years ago once more.

The figure they would follow to the death, no matter the cost.

"Grindelwald..."

One old man seemed to be seeing things. Mistaking the person on the platform for Gellert Grindelwald himself, he trembled as he walked toward it.

"Wake up, Rowle!" Someone beside him grabbed him and shook him hard before he finally came to his senses.

Argus saw all of this from the platform.

He looked toward Vinda Rosier beside him. She nodded and handed him a skull-shaped pipe.

"I do not possess my father Mr. Gellert Grindelwald's powerful gift of prophecy, but I can still show you things from reality."

Argus raised the pipe, took a deep draw, and exhaled.

A vast cloud of smoke enveloped the entire square, its hazy wisps forming images of torrents of steel.

Tanks, aircraft, missiles!

The explosion of a mushroom bomb sent a chill over everyone's scalp.

They could not imagine how Muggles, who had no magical abilities whatsoever, could obtain such tremendous destructive power through so-called technology.

Dumbledore, the most powerful wizard alive, might be able to rival it to some degree, but what about ordinary wizards like them?

What could they use to withstand it?

Yet Argus was far from finished. The images shifted, and spacecraft, satellites, and all manner of high-tech equipment appeared one after another.

Through a satellite's perspective, a blue planet appeared before everyone's eyes.

The view plunged rapidly toward a spot on the planet from above.

Sky, ocean, islands... until they saw themselves in the images!

The smoke slowly dispersed, and the images abruptly stopped.

"Facts speak louder than words." Argus's voice roused them from their shock.

"Muggles' power has long since ceased to be as feeble as we imagine. My father's prophecy was not wrong, and neither were the choices all of you made back then."

"Truth rests only in the hands of the few."

"It is not we who are wrong, but this world!"

Clap, clap, clap!

Applause rang out and gradually grew more fervent. Many of the old people who had followed Grindelwald back then already had tears in their eyes after hearing Argus's words.

Years of sorrow and grievances erupted in that moment.

They, too, had once been passionate youths full of hopes and dreams, but decades of hardship and setbacks had left them deeply doubtful about whether their decisions back then had been right.

Now, at last, they had their answer! At last, someone had clearly told them that the choice they had made back then was not wrong!

They were the ones who had seen the truth first, the ones who led the way!

Every sacrifice had been for the future of the Wizarding World!

Argus looked around with a smile of unprecedented confidence.

"We don't have much time left. The Muggles' guns will soon be aimed at the Wizarding World!"

"I ask everyone here: are you willing to keep burying your heads in the sand like the Ministry of Magic?"

"No."

"No!"

Scattered replies came from the crowd.

"Are you willing to put your lives in the hands of Muggles?"

"No!"

This time, the response was noticeably louder, and most had already clenched their fists tightly.

"Are you willing to let your friends and your families become slaves beneath the Muggles' feet?"

"No! No!"

Unprecedented shouts rose from the crowd, even including the voice of a certain young Auror.

The middle-aged man leading the team glared fiercely at him upon hearing his voice. The young Auror seemed to realize what he had done and lowered his head dejectedly.

But in the next instant, countless voices rose behind the middle-aged man!

"No! No! No!"

Countless people roared like a raging sea, gazing fervently at Argus in the center of the square!

Tears streamed down many old faces, yet they could not suppress their excitement, laughing and crying at once.

Their hearts, once cold as dead ashes, blazed with passion once more.

The Acolytes' new leader had arrived!

Argus raised his hand, and the noisy square instantly fell silent.

"After today, many people will die. If one day you see my corpse, do not mourn, do not grieve. Take up your wands and keep fighting!"

"We bear the great mission of saving the Wizarding World!"

"Everything, for the greater good!"

"For the greater good!"

The Acolytes present went wild, endlessly shouting the slogan Grindelwald had established all those years ago.

Even old men in their seventies and eighties had faces flushed as red as young men in their twenties.

"Rocas, were we... were we really wrong?"

In the distance, a middle-aged Auror sank into profound self-doubt.

Without realizing it, he quietly lowered the wand in his hand.

"Snap out of it, Nice!" The Auror director gripped Nice's shoulders and shook him repeatedly.

"Rocas... he's right. We share the same identity, the same goal..."

"No, no, no... calm down... calm down!"

"He's worthy of our allegiance..."

"Nice, have you gone mad? Remember who you are! You're an Auror!"

The Auror director stared fixedly at the middle-aged Auror in disbelief!

"I am an Auror, but I am also a member of the Wizarding World!"

With that, the middle-aged Auror turned and walked in a daze toward Argus on the platform.

Like a pilgrim approaching his sacred destination!

"Nice, you forced me to do this!"

The Auror director tightened his grip on his wand.

He gripped it so hard that veins bulged faintly on his hand!

"Avada Kedavra!"