"You... how are you here?"
Piquely instinctively took several steps back and spoke as if facing a great enemy.
The others reacted in much the same way. Although they had never seen Number One truly make a move, they had never doubted Number One's strength.
It was precisely because they acknowledged Number One's strength that Piquely and August had decided to divide up the interests that originally belonged to the British Ministry of Magic.
Because they were certain that even if Link Flamel had completely recovered from his injuries, he would still gain little advantage against Number One. Their battle would have to last at least half a year before the final victor could be decided.
That amount of time would be enough for them to study Sky City's technology.
But now, Number One had appeared right in front of them.
"Don't be nervous. I came here only to spread great love."
Number One spoke with a smile, looking very amiable.
But Piquely and the others only became more frightened.
Because Number One had not come alone. Behind him followed a huge corpse nearly four meters tall.
The pressure radiating from Number One was actually not very strong.
Just as mentioned earlier, the feeling he gave people was more one of eeriness and coldness, like the skin-crawling sensation an ordinary person would experience when facing a venomous snake.
The huge corpse following behind Number One was completely different.
What radiated from it was the pressure brought by pure strength.
Judging solely from the feeling it gave off, that corpse was even stronger than Number One!
Facing these two and listening to Number One's words, Piquely, August, and the others felt a chill run down their backs.
Only after facing Number One directly did they truly realize how strange and insane Number One was!
Hum!
A humming sound rang out inside the conference hall.
Everyone looked toward the source of the sound and saw Nulan holding a spatial lock.
At this moment, the spatial lock was releasing powerful spatial energy outward. Unlike an ordinary spatial lock, however, the way the spatial lock in Nulan's hand released its energy was not by creating a spatial force field, but by directly tearing space apart.
As the power of the spatial lock continued pouring out, a spatial door slowly opened.
Before Piquely and the others could react, Nulan and the others filed through it and instantly disappeared from the conference hall.
The spatial door then closed, and the conference hall returned to normal, leaving only the dumbfounded Piquely and the others, along with Number One, who wore a smile at the corner of his mouth.
This was the trump card Link had given Nulan and the others, a door key created using a spatial lock.
This kind of door key was absolutely the strongest spatial teleportation tool currently in existence. The power it released was enough to penetrate most spatial blockades in the world, giving Nulan and the others a chance to escape.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk..."
Number One clicked his tongue, his face full of admiration.
From what he sensed, it was not only Nulan and the others. Even the auras of the Auror forces and Hunter Corps members belonging to the British Ministry of Magic outside were rapidly disappearing.
Before long, all the members of the British Ministry of Magic had completely withdrawn.
This was different from his plan.
But it did not matter anymore.
After all, in order to divide up Sky City, Piquely and the others had brought a large number of elite Aurors.
With these people, it should be enough.
Thinking this, Number One turned his gaze back toward Piquely and August.
"What exactly are you trying to do?!"
Perhaps frightened by Number One's gaze, Piquely shouted furiously, though her anger was clearly masking her fear.
"I told you. I'm only here to spread great love."
As Number One spoke, he walked over to the conference table and sat down in the main seat that belonged to Link.
Piquely's face turned cold. She was about to say something, but before the words could leave her mouth, she unexpectedly noticed that the emblem on the left side of her chest was flashing red wildly.
This was an alarm that appeared only when the troops she had sent to Sky City were under attack.
Piquely's expression changed drastically. She hurried to the window and looked down.
She saw that below the former headquarters building of the International Confederation of Wizards, the densely packed allied Auror forces that had already assembled were under attack from a massive number of corpses.
These elite forces that Piquely and August had kept as their trump cards were indeed strong enough.
Faced with the sudden attack, they quickly adjusted their formation and launched defensive counterattacks.
The first wave of corpses was almost instantly wiped out under the Auror army's attacks.
If they had been ordinary corpses, the battle would probably have ended there.
Unfortunately, these were all self-destructing corpses created by Number One, and they were improved versions.
The materials used to create them were the staff and residents of this International Confederation of Wizards headquarters building.
These were all members of the families belonging to the Elder Council of the International Confederation of Wizards. They were among those with the strongest magical aptitude, and there were no fewer of them than the people in the inner city.
"Boom, boom, boom..."
Amid the continuous explosions, the allied Auror positions at the very front were instantly submerged in poisonous gas and acid.
Then, an even more desperate scene appeared.
The Aurors who came into contact with the poisonous gas and acid were transformed into corpses at an astonishing speed.
They were still wearing Auror uniforms, and they still held standard Auror weapons.
But now, they aimed their weapons at their former companions in the positions behind them.
Not only that, even more corpses continued crawling out from various corners of the ruins of Sky City and joined the battle.
As the number of enemies grew larger and larger with every fight, the enormous Auror army of tens of thousands fell into an absolute disadvantage.
Everything happened too quickly.
So quickly that Piquely and August had not even reacted.
And by the time they did, the entire allied Auror army had already been transformed into corpses. They were now gathered below the headquarters building of the International Confederation of Wizards, looking up at them.
"Thump, thump, thump..."
Piquely took several steps back and fell to the ground.
August and the other ministers also stared at Number One with pale faces.
The strange methods Number One had displayed made these politicians, who had spent years in positions of power, feel true despair!
Yet Number One showed not the slightest surprise.
At some point, he had taken out an Invisibility Cloak. He still wore a warm smile as he carefully folded it and placed it inside a delicate wooden box.
After closing the wooden box, Number One seemed to feel that this was still not reliable enough. He took out his wand and added layer after layer of protective spells to it.
A full hour passed just like that.
The conference hall was completely silent.
Under the pressure, the ministers did not dare move at all, even though their entire bodies had already been soaked in sweat.
Fortunately, as time passed, Piquely and August gradually recovered.
They exchanged a glance, and Piquely cleared her throat before speaking first.
"Respected sir, we are willing to follow in your footsteps and believe in 'great love'!"
The movement of Number One's hands stopped. He raised his head and looked at Piquely with interest, as though he had seen a very interesting toy.
"Oh? How do you intend to follow me?"
Number One spoke indifferently.
Hearing this, Piquely, August, and the others were overjoyed.
August hurried forward and said with a charming expression, "You can have us do anything you want! Whatever it is, we're willing to do it for you!"
Piquely was clearly disgusted by August's words.
But given the situation they were in, she had no choice but to repeatedly agree.
"I understand. You want to acknowledge me as your master and become my dogs. Worship me and continue living under the protection of my wings, right?"
Number One spoke softly, the curve at the corners of his mouth growing wider and wider.
Piquely and August did not feel ashamed at being called dogs. Instead, they excitedly nodded again and again.
"But there's still one problem." Number One sighed. "Link Flamel isn't dead yet. And his strength is very powerful. He'll probably come to hunt me down later."
"What does that matter? Link Flamel was just seriously injured by the methods you left behind. You also possess such powerful strength and an army. Even if Link Flamel recovers from his injuries and really comes looking for trouble, how could he possibly be your opponent?"
Piquely spoke excitedly.
This was actually what she and August truly thought.
In their eyes, the era that belonged to Link Flamel was already over.
The strength and bearing displayed by Number One before them were both far beyond Link Flamel's.
And Number One did not seem to be as bloodthirsty and brutal as Link Flamel had been described.
At least he had no intention of killing them right now.
Since that was the case, choosing whom to acknowledge as their master was obvious.
Once they defeated Link Flamel, they could still go and divide up the British Ministry of Magic!
That was a huge piece of meat!
Yet when Number One heard this, he seemed to have heard some great joke and burst into loud laughter.
The laughter was unexpectedly grating, making Piquely and August lower their heads uneasily.
"Not bad. You really are not bad!"
Number One's voice sounded again. "Since that's the case, I'll hand over complete command of the corpses below to you. Whether you want to conquer the British Ministry of Magic or rule the Muggles, you can use them however you like!
"Of course, the first thing you need to deal with is Link Flamel.
"Look, he's already here."
As Number One spoke, he pointed outside the window.
Everyone finally noticed that at some unknown point, Link had appeared above Sky City. He was now floating in the air, looking down at them.
"We won't fail you!"
Piquely and August spoke in unison.
Then they could feel a powerful magical force continuously pouring into their bodies.
After only a few seconds, they broke through the Legendary rank and clearly sensed their control over the corpses below.
The two excitedly licked their lips. Their figures disappeared at the same time, then immediately reappeared above the tide of corpses, controlling countless corpses as they confronted Link.
Only now did they truly taste the wonderful feeling of power.
Possessing such powerful strength while also controlling an army of corpses gave them a feeling that they alone stood above all others.
"Give up, Link Flamel. You are absolutely no match for us, and you have even less right to show off before my lord!"
"That's right. Kneel obediently at my lord's feet. Perhaps my lord will spare your life. Otherwise, the only thing waiting for you will be a miserable death!"
Piquely and August spoke one after another.
Their expressions were solemn, their voices sacred, and even their movements were extremely dignified. They looked just like goddesses from ancient Greece, making people want to worship them.
Clearly, they had already completely taken on the identities of divine envoys.
But what they did not know was that Link, watching them from high in the sky at this moment, was somewhat baffled.
Link genuinely could not understand where Piquely and August had gotten the courage to say such things in front of him.
But that did not matter anymore.
Thinking this, Link slowly raised his hand.
Below, Piquely and August saw that Link still had not responded and had completely run out of patience.
They shouted excitedly, and as their voices rang out, the corpses also went berserk. They began grabbing the companions beside them and, using the force of their self-destruction, sending themselves into the sky to attack Link.
This method of attack looked strange, but it could genuinely hit Link, which made Piquely and August extremely excited.
However, in the very next moment, the hand Link had raised came down.
Hiss!
Blinding white light swallowed the entire world.
There was no explosion, no shockwave, no fire, and even the sound was extremely faint.
A flash of white light made purely of energy passed in an instant, and more than half of Sky City, along with a small section of the Paris district below, was reduced to nothing.
Piquely, August, and their corpse army, who had been shouting just moments ago, naturally disappeared as well.
This was the power possessed by a high-level Legendary wizard.
The "Realm of God" was not called that for nothing. In terms of the level of power alone, a high-level Legendary wizard like Link was already no different from a true god.
Inside the conference hall, Number One sensed that the entire corpse army had disappeared and sighed.
He stopped what he was doing, opened his mouth like a snake to an exaggerated degree, and then swallowed the wooden box, which had been wrapped in hundreds of layers of protective spells, directly into his body.
Burp!
A belch rang out.
But the one who burped was not Number One. It was the huge corpse that Number One had brought into the conference hall.
Just now, it had already eaten all the surviving Ministry of Magic ministers.
Number One helplessly shook his head, his expression rather indulgent, as though looking at his gluttonous child.
The huge corpse happily patted its belly, showing not the slightest sadness over the deaths of its tens of thousands of "comrades."
If one looked closely, one could even find traces of old Harris in its face.
But soon, the twisted and ferocious smile on its face froze.
A wisp of ash rose from its body, and then its entire body began to collapse rapidly.
The huge Corpse frantically waved its hands, trying to grab back all the ash dispersing from its body.
But it was futile.
As time passed, the huge corpse's body became more and more illusory until, in the end, it turned into nothingness.
And at this moment, Link's figure finally appeared inside the conference hall.
The smile on Number One's face became even brighter.
He smiled as he faced Link, and then crimson divine light emerged from both of their bodies.
The two figures suddenly collided.