St Mark's Square on the Verge of Destruction

St Mark's Campanile.

This place could be said to have changed Martell's life.

That year, he was seventeen, and she was seventeen too.

Two young wizards who had just joined the Ministry of Magic came here for a visit.

The clock tower collapsed without warning.

Muggle reports say that it's a miracle that only one cat died;

The wizarding newspapers reported that a young wizard named Martell had saved countless Muggle and was to be awarded the Governor's Medal.

But it wasn't just one cat that died, and it wasn't just one person who deserved the medal.

And that seventeen-year-old... witch.

The person who should have survived chose to save him, and then... was burned to death.

Time flies, and a hundred years have passed in the blink of an eye. Martell found that he could no longer remember what the witch looked like.

I only vaguely remember that she had a beautiful smile and a name—Eralia Sand.

Therefore, every young wizard he adopted was named Sand.

Martell spent half a century investigating what happened back then.

He sneaked beneath the St Mark's Campanile and found a hidden crevice leading to a lagoon.

He then ventured deep into the lagoon and searched for seven or eight years before finally finding the sleeping monster.

That dragon was huge, completely different from the dragons in the reserve today.

However, it wasn't the one that could breathe fire, but another water dragon.

As a high-ranking official in the Italy Ministry of Magic, Martell naturally had access to top-secret files that ordinary wizards could not.

In the piles of old papers, he found a few words about the Goblet of Fire.

Seven hundred years ago, a dark wizard conducted research on the Goblet of Fire in Sardinia.

Ultimately, this created a monster that broke free of the Goblet of Fire's magical shackles and flooded Sardinia.

Submerging a large island is something ordinary dragons simply cannot do. Even a powerful creature like the Hungarian Horntail could not burn down an island.

This dragon is not something that a few dozen wizards can handle.

However, the powerful contract of the Goblet of Fire can trap it.

What Martell needs to do is slowly awaken this dragon... flood Venice, and then stop it with the Goblet of Fire.

But unexpectedly, the Goblet of Fire was lost.

He never imagined that Trene, who stole the Goblet of Goblet of Fire, would find this place and hide it underneath.

Although Martell didn't know the exact location of the hiding place, he was full of confidence.

Perfectly suited, the Goblet of Fire is hidden where the dragon was awakened, and then the entire St Mark's Square is destroyed.

This is perfect; there's no better place.

Martell isn't someone who enjoys rituals, but at this moment, he felt inexplicably excited.

He knew Trene wouldn't give in so easily, and might even want to kill him. But Trene clearly underestimated his abilities.

Everything you know is taught to you by me, but you have no idea what I'm capable of, he thought to himself.

Martell knew that Trene wanted to save Stark and Granger, but on his advice, Russell should have already killed them both.

For Martell, the ending seemed sudden, but in fact it was all preordained.

A hundred years ago, he survived and inadvertently glimpsed the secret.

After years of meticulous planning, enduring pain, waiting, and searching... this moment has now arrived.

He was so excited he could hardly contain himself. Grindelwald, Voldemort... Once he got the Goblet of Fire and bound the water dragon... he could do whatever he wanted.

Heavy rain was falling.

St Mark's Square still has a considerable number of tourists.

A dark figure pierced through the mist and appeared in everyone's sight.

A handsome young man stood at the bow of a gondola, holding a uniquely styled magic wand.

Behind him, in the cabin, sat a young girl with thick, fluffy curly hair that fell over her shoulders.

She was steering the boat, and even though she was almost at the shore, she showed no sign of slowing down.

It seems the brake button has been pressed!

The girl's driving skills were also skillful and assertive.

They were skilled, yet miraculously avoided an accident while driving so fast; they were also aggressive, cutting in and overtaking other vehicles with the ferocity of an aircraft carrier.

Fortunately, it wasn't an aircraft carrier, otherwise everyone would have thought the ship had been hijacked by terrorists and was rushing to ram St Mark's Basilica.

Seeing such a fierce girl, everyone couldn't help but feel worried for the boy at the bow of the boat.

My child, if she kidnaps you, just blink!

We definitely can't save you, but we can call the police.

Given the speed of Italy police response, your body should be found within a week at most.

If Hermione knew what everyone was thinking, she would definitely cry foul.

She was clearly a gentle, kind, and law-abiding model student, but the treacherous society has forced her into this state.

In fact, she hasn't had a peaceful year since she met William.

Their first meeting ended with the cauldron exploding. A trip to Gringotts led to encounters with a dragon and Voldemort...

However, Hermione discovered that she didn't seem to dislike this adventure of saving the world.

This has nothing to do with whether she is Gryffindor.

Because what Hermione enjoys isn't adventure itself, but rather adventure with someone.

Modifiers are very important; without them, the adventure would lose its meaning.

Therefore, Hermione insists that William was the one who was sorted into the wrong house!

He should be in the same courtyard as her.

William didn't think that way, because his attention was focused on the ship beneath his feet.

The gondola, without slowing down, sped straight down a curved slide from the river, like an arrow, into St Mark's Square.

This is a projectile motion, and William can even mentally calculate the highest point and the landing position.

But if he continues to ignore it, the ground will return an energy of an inelastic collision, forcing him to calculate underground.

William pointed his wand at the gondola, which paused abruptly in mid-air for a few seconds before continuing its descent.

Protected by magic, the small boat sped forward, rushing for more than ten meters before stopping.

William and Hermione, however, were unharmed.

"Are you asking for death?" many people shouted angrily.

"Boats sail on water, not on land! Are you out of your minds?!"

Several security guards rushed over.

The two people were clearly underage drivers and definitely didn't have driver's licenses. The boat might even have been stolen.

Too arrogant!

"A great flood is going to submerge St Mark's Basilica! Run for your lives!" William shouted.

But nobody paid him any attention.

Wait, why did I say "again"?

The old tour guide was still there, still dressed in his imam's robes, diligently explaining the history of the square's architecture to everyone.

His memory has been altered, so he doesn't remember William and Hermione.

The old imam scoffed, "If there really is a great flood, Allah will surely send down Noah's Ark. With devout believers like me here, there's nothing to be afraid of!"

Allah would send down Noah's Ark, William didn't know, but Jesus Christ certainly wanted to strike him dead with lightning.

You damned heretic!

William completely ignored the attention of the tourists around him and put the gondola into the Safety Watch.

This place is almost destroyed; who cares about violating International Statute of Secrecy?

William looked toward the St Mark's Campanile.

In Merlin's story: King Vortigern wanted to build a tower, but no matter how hard the soldiers worked during the day, the tower would suddenly collapse overnight.

Merlin explained that the tower was built on top of a groundwater pool. He also predicted that if the groundwater were drained, two sleeping dragons would be found inside the two hollowed-out boulders.

The St Mark's Campanile collapsed without warning back then. So that dragon is located beneath St Mark's Square!

Martell is a witness!

Moreover, most of the Venice Doges are buried in St Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace.

If the remains of Doge Dandolo were sent to Venice, they would naturally be buried here as well.

The Holy Grail burned at the bottom of the tomb...

The Holy Grail burns beneath St Mark's Square, and the dragon sleeps beneath it.

Death told him this Chuchu.

"How do we get down?" Hermione asked. "There should be a path under St Mark's Campanile."

"But we don't know exactly where it is, and we don't have time to look for it. Martell probably set up magic there as well." William shook his head.

Death has shown us other paths.

He said softly, "In the depths of the phoenix's rebirth, the lagoon will not reflect the stars."

The entrance is right there at... Phoenix Opera House!

William initially thought the phrase referred to the appearance of a phoenix, most likely Fawkes.

But in the end, I realized that Death was referring to a place— the Phoenix Opera House in St Mark's Square, Venice!

The Phoenix Opera House, also known as the Phoenix Grand Theatre, was founded in 1792.

It is named after the phoenix, and coincidentally, its tumultuous fate perfectly illustrates the legend of the "phoenix's rebirth".

Over its 200-year history, it was destroyed by fire three times and rebuilt or repaired three times.

William knew that the final devastation would come in two years.

However, it may now happen sooner than expected. The entire St Mark's Square could even be destroyed.

After destroying Notre-Dame de Paris, William is now targeting this place... It's really a bit baffling to him...

I'm so excited!

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