Battle in the Atrium

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"Ah! The classic Ministry, doing all types of messy experiments that go way beyond human moral standards." Ryan sighed with mock sadness as he shook his head disapprovingly. "Now that everyone saw the real face of the Ministry, decide before exiting this place. What are you gonna do with those things you all picked up when no one was looking? Expose the truth, or hide it?"

Everyone fell silent as they pondered Ryan's question. The Ministry has always been known as an organization dedicated to protecting the wizarding world from dark forces, but now they know the truth. Could they continue supporting such an organization after learning about its true nature?

Alice spoke first, breaking the silence, "I think we should expose the truth." Her voice was steady and clear as she made her decision. "The Ministry has been corrupted for far too long. First working with Voldemort, and now these inhumane experiments. It's time for change."

Ryan nodded approvingly at her response before turning to Lupin, "How about you Remus? I found some dead werewolf skeletons in the corner. It's not like they chose to become one, right?"

Lupin gritted his teeth as anger flashed across his face, "Yes. We should expose the truth." He clenched his fists tightly as memories of painful transformations filled his mind. It's not like he wanted to become a werewolf but due to Fenrir Greyback's attack on his parents when he was young, he became a cursed person. Now, when he saw what the ministry did to his kind, he couldn't control himself anymore. He wanted revenge!! But his moral code won't allow him to succumb to the wrong path. So, all he could do was expose the truth and hope that justice would be served.

Ryan then looked at Edgar. He was conflicted about what to do. On one hand, he wanted to expose the truth because it was the right thing to do, but on the other hand, he was worried about what would happen if people found out about these experiments. Riots and chaos will surely break out causing many casualties. People's trust in the Ministry will plummet resulting in economic and political instability. It may even lead to war between different factions.

"What do you say, Edgar? You seem conflicted," Ryan asked calmly as he observed Edgar's face closely.

Edgar took a deep breath before responding slowly, "If we expose the truth then another war will break out which we don't need right now. Moreover, innocent lives will be affected. So I suggest we hide the truth and reform the ministry internally from the inside. We'll root out the traitors and everyone related to these things and reform it completely. Only then can we expose the truth safely without any risk of riots or war breaking out because by then we'll be able to shift most of the heat to those traitors instead of ourselves. Besides, exposing this truth will cause chaos anyway so why not wait till the right timing comes?"

"Ah! Always so thoughtful, huh? Edgar? No wonder you survived till now. Well, do whatever you want to do, but if you ask me, I prefer exposing the truth right now and pushing all the blame on Voldemort and the houses supporting him. That way all the heat will fall on them. And I'm pretty sure some might leave his little merry band and run away to hide themselves from the wraths of these werewolves and mythical creatures even though they didn't do anything. We'll put fear in their hearts that way. Then your side will gain more allies who would want to bring down Voldemort. Isn't that beneficial?"

Ryan explained cunningly as he tapped his chin thoughtfully. Everyone present was stunned by Ryan's logic. It was indeed brilliant. By exposing the truth right now they would gain more allies who would want to bring down Voldemort while simultaneously shifting all the blame onto him thus lessening their own problems immensely.

Edgar nodded slowly as he realized the benefits of Ryan's suggestion, "True. If we expose the truth right now then Voldemort will become the main target of hatred and we'll gain more allies, but the Ministry will fall. If the Ministry falls, outer factions might get in and try to take over which will result in civil war. The Ministry needs to remain intact for our plans to succeed so I say we hide the truth first before exposing it later."

Ryan shrugged indifferently as he replied casually, "Suit yourself. You do what you think is right."

"What about you?" Alice asked curiously. "What are you going to do with this information?"

"Me? Good question, but I doubt you people are in any position to question me," Ryan smirked arrogantly making everyone present gulp nervously. They knew very well that Ryan was powerful enough to wipe them all out if he wanted to so questioning him right now was really stupid. "Anyway, let's see where the exit leads us. We gotta job to do, dark wizards to kill... Save the innocents!!"

Everyone silently followed Ryan as he headed towards the exit. They knew that Ryan was right so arguing further would be pointless. Besides, they needed to focus on stopping the dark wizards first before they killed all the innocent people in the Ministry.

When they exited through the portal, they found themselves in the atrium. The battle was still raging fiercely below them.

Ryan looked down below and saw the chaos going around.

Death eaters and Aurors were fighting each other while some ran around screaming trying to escape. Some tried to apparate out only to fail miserably as they crashed down on the floor after hitting the ceiling. Some tried to fix the floo network, but it was a long and tedious process that required expertise so they failed miserably there too. Some tried portkeying out, but again they failed miserably as the defensive wards placed within the building prevented anyone from portkeying out or in. Basically, they were trapped within the ministry.

"Bellatrix, you ready to kill some scums?" Ryan asked Bellatrix playfully. Bellatrix nodded excitedly as bloodlust shone in her eyes. "Alright then. Let's begin!"

They joined the battle below without hesitation. Ryan charged straight into the battlefield, killing the enemies leaving behind only lifeless corpses. Bellatrix was also wreaking havoc among the enemy lines as she sliced open their necks and slashed open their chests. The dark wizards were confused to see one of their own turning against them, but they quickly regained their composure and attacked Bellatrix viciously. However, Bellatrix easily dodged their attacks before...

"Confringo!"

....blasting them to oblivion.

"Vacuum Crepitus!" Ryan shouted as he waved his wand.

A blinding beam of light shot out of Ryan's wand, vaporizing anyone unlucky enough to get hit by it. The vacuum left behind by this spell caused many enemy wizards to explode instantly, showering the surroundings with blood and guts everywhere.

Alice and the others joined the Aurors, assisting them.

Magic flew everywhere as spells collided with each other creating deafening explosions all around. Death eaters and Aurors fought desperately as they tried to kill each other. Blood splattered everywhere as people died left and right. It was a messy battlefield within a confined space. But slowly the number of dark wizards began to decrease.

"Expulso!" Lupin roared as he swept his wand.

A barrage of blue bolts shot out of Lupin's wand, blasting away an entire group of death eaters causing them to tumble away with a thunderous crash.

Edgar joined the battle alongside their friends, eliminating the remaining enemy forces one by one.

"Protego!" He deflected a dark bolt of lightning cast by a masked death eater, sending it back in his direction before quickly counterattacking, "Sectumsempra!"

A crimson blade shot towards the death eater, shredding his cloak apart and revealing his pale face underneath before penetrating straight through his chest, killing him instantly.

Lupin leaped to the left as a jet of purple flames engulfed the spot he was at a while ago while he retaliated with a strong shield charm, "Protego!"

Another flame rebounded off of Lupin's shield and shot towards the death eater responsible. "Bombarda!"

A wave of raw power exploded out of the tip of Lupin's wand as it instantly pierced through the purple flames and then through the chest of the enemy wizard before incinerating everything nearby into oblivion.

"This is getting annoying," Ryan was having a hard time controlling his power to avoid killing any allies. He even had to hide his necromancy power because now isn't the time to expose his trump cards. So, to end this fight, he decided to take another gamble. "Tempestum Violentia!" He decided to cast the Tempestum Hex, to summon a powerful storm with gale-force winds, lightning, and torrential rain.

When he waved his wand, the weather drastically changed within the Ministry's perimeter. A violent storm emerged within seconds with dark clouds rapidly covering the ceiling, rumbling thunder reverberating in the distance while the wind picked up causing gusts to blast all across the Ministry, shaking its foundations and throwing everyone off balance. Rain started pouring heavily as droplets slammed against the ground, creating mini puddles on the marble tiles below while the force of the storm gradually intensified.

Wind blasted its way past Ryan and his friends, nearly causing them to lose their footing and fly off into the air.

"Elementum Scutum!" Ryan used the protective elemental barrier charm to shield the survivors as he slammed his palm on the ground, summoning invisible ethereal chains to bind the remaining enemies.

[Crackle!] [Baang!] Thunderstrikes rained down all around, hitting anything unfortunate enough to stand in its path and leaving behind smoldering craters with burning flesh and melted bone, while lightning crackled above their heads with the occasional flash, illuminating the gloomy interior. The protective charm was protecting the Aurors and the Order members from the ravaging storm.

"Ahahahahaha! KILL THEM ALL!" Bellatrix roared hysterically. She enjoyed this chaotic scenario as the heavy storm brought a surge of euphoric emotions within her.

The thunderstorm lasted five minutes or so and that's all it took to end the war.

"Hufff! Hufff!" Ryan huffed in exhaustion as it wasn't that easy to control the spell. He was exhausted. He took out a potion from his pocket and chugged it down in a single go. His exhaustion disappeared almost instantly as he regained his stamina, "Nice."

"Avada Kedavra!" A voice boomed from Ryan's back. A green bolt of energy flew straight in his direction.

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[17 advance chapters] 

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Next Ch: 29: Either way, death awaits

Ch: 30: Cost of power

Ch: 31: Trials, choices & consequences

Ch: 32: Villains aren't born, but made