Chapter 288 King vs. King (2 in 1)

The time when Jon dived into the ice crater, to be precise, was already 9 p.m. according to the time zone of London.

It was just that because the pole was being blanketed by the polar day, there was no difference between day and night for him at all.

But for the wizards who were in France, the situation was very different.

For the employees of the French Ministry of Magic, it was definitely an extremely difficult night.

After the "rebels" had occupied all the territories except Paris, the French Ministry of Magic began to implement the highest state of alert, and not a single pureblood member dared to leave the underground square.

Not only that, the Pureblood wizards who actively responded to the Pureblood Supremacy Policy as soon as it was promulgated were also gathered here.

Most of them had fled in fear before the Witching Horizons took over the cities they were in, avoiding the fate of being liquidated, but they could only hide in the French Ministry of Magic in fear now.

All the French Aurors were required to be on standby at the Ministry of Magic 24 hours a day, together with the unidentified support Aurors, who never spoke English but also never in French, were also guarding the French Ministry of Magic.

This is the final bottom line Voldemort drew for them, all other places in France can be lost, but only Paris can not fall into the hands of Dumbledore.

Whether it is Voldemort or Dumbledore, both clearly understand, what exactly it means if all of France is occupied by the Witching Horizons.

If the Hogwarts wagon which was formerly in exile from society for nearly a decade is a strategic defence of Dumbledore, then after the victory in the re-educational camp, the organization led by Dumbledore has entered a strategic stand-off situation with Voldemort.

And once the entire territory of France is lost, it means that Voldemort's momentum has been lost, and even his prestige in the British territory will be greatly shaken, thus leading to Dumbledore's strategic attack.

So whether or not it is possible to secure Paris, for Voldemort it is highly significant, it is his bridgehead to try to rule the whole of Europe and is also the start of his opening up the fangs of ambition.

Likewise, Dumbledore needs to liberate Paris.

It would not only deal a complete blow to Voldemort's personal reputation, but would also allow this defeat to shake the Bloodline Supremacy Theory, which is the basis of bloodline rule, and directly shake the foundation of his rule, thus providing a good foundation for his subsequent attack on British territory.

Therefore, this group of pureblood wizards in France was still insisting on defending the Ministry of Magic, and the wizards of the Witching Horizons also would not stop their attack.

On the night of March 29, at nine o'clock, an explosion at the only entrance to the Ministry of Magic caused all the people stationed there to become alarmed.

The violent vibration made the whole ground tremble, and every floor in the French Ministry of Magic was shaking, and broken stones and dust were scattered everywhere.

The sound of this commotion made many French wizards think of that one night six months ago.

It was just a few days after Voldemort had proclaimed himself as the Minister of Magic, a midnight that was even darker than tonight when seven muggle-born wizards in white robes blew up half of the Ministry of Magic with their own lives.

That night, too, the earth shook, that night it let the purebloods be shaken by the determination of these "mudbloods" who resisted them to their death, but it was also the beginning when Voldemort established his absolute authority.

The enormous power that made people not even dare to gaze at him, allowed every pureblood who decided to be on his side at that time not to worry that the implementation of the bloodline policy in France would have a slight hindrance.

This was indeed the situation at the beginning when everything was going in a good direction.

But why now, they who should be on top, are hiding like rats in a "hole in the ground"?

Such a huge difference before and after changes left every pureblood who escaped to this place unable to accept.

But no matter what kind of emotions they have at this time. after the alarm sounded, everyone hastily concentrated towards the location of the Wizard's Court, which was designated as a wartime refuge.

The vast majority of the French Ministry of Magic's Aurors were already guarding the entrance.

Each of them held their wands in their hands, swallowed nervously and looked at the entrance that was occupied by the dense dust, in fact, they had already expected the situation today way early in the past.

The wizards of the Witching Horizons after obtaining that victory in the re-educational camp, haven't stopped invading France for a day under the leadership of Dumbledore, the French Ministry of Magic has been shrinking its defences, and now only the Ministry of Magic is left as their sole territory.

So in fact, everyone expected to face today's situation, but when Dumbledore with his men truly appear in front of them, the psychological pressure it brought, dissipated the thought of advancing and striking first.

When the dust gradually dispersed, countless wizards in white robes stood at the entrance that had been blown up.

And in front of all of them, it was Dumbledore himself.

He was holding an ordinary cherry wood wand in his hand and just looked at the French Aurors who were in front of them with a calm smile on his face.

"I think, if you can be magnanimous enough, willing to put down the wand in your hands, then perhaps this war should not necessarily happen. What do you think?"

His words made Aurors' palm sweat as they held their wands, but none of them wavered.

The Aurors, the last defence of the Ministry of Magic, are inevitably pureblood theory diehards, who themselves have already done some "pureblood" things during the reign of Voldemort.

And such things are impossible to be forgiven by the wizards of the Witching Horizons, so even if they have a great possibility of dying if they resist, if they surrender, it is 100% certain death!

And so, the first incantation was recited by some incredibly nervous Auror, and a ghastly green light suddenly shone at the tip of his wand!

"Avada Ke ..."

"Boom!"

But behind Dumbledore, the wizards of Witching Horizons reacted even faster than he did!

No one even recited the spell, and although the power of the blasting curse under the silent spell casting has been diminished, the effect of converging countless spells together has far exceeded the normal human imagination!

A violent confrontation arose between the blazing fiery light and the shield charms lit up on Aurors' body!

Numerous teeth-grinding sounds rang out, and the terrifying explosion effect forced the vast majority of Aurors who could not brace the pressure to start retreating backwards.

Even if they didn't have the idea of surrendering, they still couldn't able to fight, and defend with their lives on the line, and all of them had little hope of defending the Ministry of Magic with just them.

Just like Voldemort could rely on personal strength to suppress the resistance of all, in the case where he did not appear, Dumbledore alone is enough to suppress the entire remaining French Ministry of Magic men in both mentality and strength.

Once when there are signs of complete defeat here, then these Aurors will not hesitate to take their families to flee France, going to any other part of the world is all right too, even if it is going to those off-the-beaten-path mountain ranges to live together with giants and trolls, they would never return to France in this life.

Of course, the reason why they did not immediately flee, is because they still have a ray of hope in their hearts, a ray of hope that Voldemort will not easily give up France, and will certainly come forward!

With this hope, they fought and retreated, relying on the complex terrain of the Ministry of Magic to fight with the wizards of the Witching Horizons.

The wizards of the Witching Horizons wouldn't exactly blow up the entire Ministry of Magic.

They are not a terrorist organization, once the Ministry of Magic located underground is truly completely blown up, it will certainly directly affect Paris on the ground, then it is not a matter that can be solved by a few rounds of memory charm.

And they also have to prepare for the occupation of the whole of France, the French Ministry of Magic is certainly bound to be reorganized, so while they can kill the current Ministry of Magic men, everything else should be preserved as much as possible.

Because the takeover of France is not the final point of their plan, they also need to rely on the land of France to feed, to liberate the British Isles.

Even as the battle between the wizards of both sides became incredibly fierce, yet due to the presence of Dumbledore, the Witching Horizons side consistently had the absolute upper hand.

The Aurors, who were guarding the Ministry of Magic, kept retreating and eventually withdrew to the Wizards' Court in which all the non-combatants had gathered.

Until now, there was no sign of Voldemort appearing, and those with sharp eyes could see that only a few of the British Auror support still remained here, and the vast majority of them had disappeared.

As if Voldemort had completely given up on them after that defeat, not daring to appear in front of Dumbledore again.

Thus, the Aurors retreated into the Wizards' Court, and the wizards of the Witching Horizons raised their wands and aimed at everyone in the court.

Dumbledore's face remained calm, he did not actually make more than a few shots in the battle, most of it was just to save a few wizards from the killing curse, but even so, he gave a great deterrent to the Aurors.

Aurors and the wizards of the Witching Horizons confronted each other in this courtroom full of sin and retribution.

Those pureblood wizards with pale faces, stuck close to each other, like a group of prisoners in shackles about to be convicted for their crimes, looked fearfully at the wizards of the Witching Horizons whose faces were resolute and who kept moving forward step by step.

Only, all of a sudden Dumbledore stopped in his tracks.

Behind him, those who followed him also stopped in their tracks.

The atmosphere suddenly fell silent, with only small sobs, nervous breathing, and the sound of swallowing down the throat mingling together.

"Riddle, since you're already here, why didn't you come out and meet me earlier?"

Dumbledore's voice echoed within the wizard courtroom.

And after hearing the last name he called, most of the wizards of the Witching Horizons' faces turned cloudy, while the French pureblood wizards' faces were blank as if they had no idea who among them was that person with an ordinary, uncommon last name.

"Because I'm enjoying this show of them huddling together, Dumbledore."

A faint voice came from behind those French purebloods, who looked back, while giving a way, allowing everyone behind Dumbledore to also see the young man sitting in a chair, with one hand on his cheek.

His face seems to have been permanently fixed in that handsome features, even if the years can wear away all things, it still could not leave a half mark on him.

Voldemort still looked the same as usual, his cold gaze and face mixed with indifference, staring straight at Dumbledore who is more than ten meters away from him.

"Soldier to soldier, king to king. Just like wizard chess, everyone has been positioned, the person with the same status should compete with the person who is equal to him."

At the sight of him, all the purebloods' hearts that were originally fearful now all turned into ecstasy.

They did not want to give up everything they had in France, whether it is their status or authority, and now the only thing that ensured that they could have that is the man in front of them.

Even if this man failed once not long ago, his reputation has spread for decades, and as long as he stood in front of Dumbledore again, there will still be people who have great hopes for him.

Just as there are people who continued to believe in Dumbledore after his failure at the Astronomy Tower.

People watched these two men looking at each other, their physical appearance showed a great age difference, yet they carried the beliefs of different groups.

Dumbledore looked at Voldemort, his blue eyes seemed to be scrutinizing something, but also seemed to be in some kind of consideration.

And Voldemort did not avoid Dumbledore's gaze, compared with his previous fall from the sky like a black meteor, and wretched return to the French Ministry of Magic to suppress those who showed two hearts back then, his current self is like two different people.

"It seems like I'm back to my old self, isn't it?"

Voldemort's face revealed an intriguing smile, he used his index and middle fingers to casually hold the wand with Fawkes' phoenix tail feather as the wand core as if this is not a smoke-filled battlefield, but some kind of celebration banquet.

Dumbledore frowned slightly, he could see that this is not some kind of tough look that Voldemort showed to make them believe he actually got rid of the previous state and returned to his prime.

This is very strange, about the soul problem of Voldemort, Jon naturally informed Dumbledore, that kind of impact on the soul is obviously not easy to get rid of.

But Voldemort's current state is not likely to be faked, and with Dumbledore's understanding of him, if he did not recover back to his normal state, it is unlikely that he will have the courage to reappear here.

It is likely that there are some unknown factors that have allowed Voldemort to recover this quickly.

It's just whether this state of his is a complete recovery or a temporary tough patch, it is unclear based on his current appearance.

But whether it is permanent or temporary, Voldemort's recovery of strength is real, which brought the situation at hand to a standstill.

Dumbledore first raised his wand in his hand, his face remained calm as water.

"Since there is no way to go into the details of the process, let's look at the results."

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