Chapter 99: Reinforcements
It turned out to be a wizard from Africa.
Several fierce wild buffalo suddenly appeared before him. With a hard slap to their hindquarters, the beasts let out thunderous bellows, steam blasting from their nostrils as they lowered their heads and charged straight at the Aurors.
His Buffalo Conjuration had long since reached mastery. Combined with a Transfiguration technique unique to Africa and tailored specifically to this spell, he was able to command the buffalo with absolute precision.
The so-called Transfiguration was deceptively simple in effect—it merely caused designated targets to appear bright red in the buffalo's vision.
At that moment, the Aurors trying to contain the Fiendfyre were utterly helpless. If they stopped casting Finite Incantatem, they would be devoured by the flames instantly.
Cursing Yuri inwardly, they seethed with resentment. If he hadn't been so greedy—trying to keep all the credit for himself and leaving them with scraps—if he had simply dealt with those criminal wizards earlier, none of this chaos would be happening now.
Nearby, a short, stocky Asian wizard leapt wildly in place, gripping his wand with both hands raised level, hopping like a rabbit as though performing some kind of ritual.
With each jump, a fireball slowly rose above his head.
"Close your eyes!" he shouted in heavily accented English.
The moment the words left his mouth, the fireball burst.
Those who understood him shut their eyes immediately. Most of the Soviet Aurors, however—even those who comprehended the warning—refused to comply.
A blinding flash erupted inside the theater, like a flashbang detonating indoors. The Aurors screamed as they clutched their eyes.
Yuri had prepared for this in advance—his vision remained unharmed.
Enraged, he thrust out his wand. A Blasting Curse slithered through the air like a living serpent, weaving around the Aurors with uncanny precision before striking its target.
"...Long live—"
The wizard barely forced out a few syllables before his body exploded into a cloud of blood mist.
That spell—combined with his final words—sparked a sudden realization in Russell.
Of course.
In this world, every nation had its own wizards—and its own unique magic. The man's movements had felt oddly familiar earlier, and now, hearing those final words, a buried memory surfaced.
The country ruled by the sun.
He hadn't expected its wizards to come scavenging in the ruins of the Soviet Union as well.
Seizing the opportunity, Gomez swept his wand through the air, hurling the Aurors blocking their path aside. Morticia began chanting an incantation Russell couldn't understand, scattering black seeds in all directions.
The fallen Aurors tried to rise—
But thick, sinuous vines erupted from the ground where the seeds had landed, binding them tightly and pinning them in place.
Some Aurors, caught off guard, hadn't managed to cast Protego in time. When their vision finally returned, they found the buffalo already upon them.
Wet, heavy sounds of flesh being pierced rang out.
Before they could even scream, the beasts impaled them through the chest and hurled their bodies into the air.
Even the quicker Aurors who managed to cast Shield Charms were sent flying by the sheer force of the charge, slammed into others, and knocked into chaos. The theater descended into complete disarray.
The French wizard—the very first to surrender earlier—finally showed his hand.
He tossed a pink bottle toward the Aurors.
Naturally, they didn't dare let it come close.
The bottle was intercepted midair.
Yet the corners of his mouth curled into a smile. He struck first, deliberately shattering the bottle.
The pink liquid poured out—and before it even hit the ground, it transformed into a cloud of mist, seeping straight through the Shield Charms as if they weren't there at all.
The Aurors who inhaled it immediately began to sway, their movements unsteady, as though they were dead drunk—staggering, lurching, barely able to stand.
Yuri was both shocked and furious.
Shocked that these foreign wizards truly had some tricks up their sleeves.
Furious that the Aurors under his command were so utterly useless.
In truth, most of them had been hastily assembled. The elite Aurors of the Magical Security Bureau had either grown disillusioned during internal power struggles and withdrawn, or were still out in the field and hadn't returned. A few who remained at headquarters had already gone off on their own paths once the Soviet Union collapsed.
Yuri turned his head just in time to see a red beam streak past his face, smashing into a hapless Auror and knocking him unconscious on the spot.
"Move aside."
Gomez and the others had already reached striking distance. Yuri stood squarely in the only path out, staring at four wands leveled at him in unison. His face flickered between pale and livid—his Shield Charm wasn't guaranteed to hold against all four at once.
He shot Gomez a venomous look and was just about to step aside—
When another group of Aurors suddenly flooded in through the entrance.
It turned out that duty wizards from the Magical Security Department had received reports of a massive fire at the theater and rushed over as reinforcements.
"Hahahaha! Of course—luck is still on my side," Yuri laughed smugly.
He stepped aside, bowed slightly, and gestured grandly toward the exit.
"Go on. If you can defeat all of them."
"Oh?" Gomez replied coolly. "Then we'll just take you hostage."
"You've got that wrong," Yuri sneered. "You think you can use me to threaten them?"
Sure enough—even with wands pointed directly at Yuri, the Aurors didn't retreat an inch.
Just as Gomez found himself in a bind, a violent explosion erupted at the entrance. Caught completely off guard, the tightly packed Aurors were blasted off their feet in all directions.
Russell, with his sharp eyesight, immediately recognized the newcomers. His face lit up with delight.
"Uncle Fester—and the Addams family!"
Lightning tore through the air, crackling wildly as the stunned Aurors were electrocuted into unconsciousness one after another.
With the situation abruptly reversed, Yuri's expression darkened once more. Behind his back, his wand glowed with a sinister crimson light.
He still intended to fight to the bitter end.
At that moment, the African wizard was accidentally caught in Fester's lightning. He convulsed violently and collapsed, his condition unknown. Instantly, the buffalo lost their control and halted in confusion.
A few spotted the red glow of Fiendfyre and charged straight into it, burning to charred husks within seconds.
One buffalo, however, happened to notice the red light at the tip of Yuri's wand.
It was small—but irresistibly conspicuous.
The beast lowered its head, pawed the ground furiously, red light blazing in its eyes as steam blasted from its nostrils. Then it charged straight at Yuri like a runaway battering ram.
Hearing the thunderous approach behind him, Yuri turned—
And found a massive buffalo bearing down on him.
There was no one left nearby to serve as a human shield.
"Protego!"
In sheer panic, he aborted his Blasting Curse and tried to raise a Shield Charm—
But it was already too late.