Chronicles of the Astral Express: First Steps

Non-Administered World #97, Star Rail Universe…

A few minutes earlier, before the attack at Mahora, the atmosphere at Hogwarts had finally begun to settle. Across the battered castle grounds, members of the Alliance were allowing themselves to breathe again after hours of nonstop fighting. Wizards and witches lowered their wands for the first time since the battle began, TSAB mages sat across the damaged courtyard catching their breath, and several Clock Tower Enforcers finally relaxed their guard. Nearby, Chaldea personnel checked their scanners one last time before accepting what every reading was telling them.

There were no Quantum Shadows left around Hogwarts. Voldemort had been defeated, and now Dormammu was gone as well.

Sirius threw one arm around Remus' shoulders with a tired laugh. "Bloody hell… we actually survived that."

Remus stumbled slightly under the sudden weight before giving him a weary look. "Considering how today started, I would call that a remarkable achievement."

James, standing nearby with Lily and the others, released a long breath before dropping onto a broken piece of stone. "I think I'm going to sleep for an entire week after this."

Lily looked down at him. "You say that now, but I give it one day before you start complaining that you're bored."

Sirius immediately pointed toward her. "See? Evans understands him perfectly."

"Oi!"

Mary and Marlene laughed nearby while Alice finally lowered her wand. Even Pandora allowed herself to relax as she looked around the battered castle grounds, and Peter, still pale from everything that had happened, slowly sat down beside James.

"I really thought we were going to die several times today," Peter muttered.

"Only several?" Sirius asked.

Remus sighed. "Please don't turn surviving into a competition."

James grinned despite how exhausted he looked and glanced toward the others gathered around him. "Still… everyone made it."

Lily's expression softened as she looked across the wounded students, teachers, and defenders being treated around Hogwarts. "Yeah. That's what matters."

For a little while, nobody said anything else. They simply stayed together amid the damaged courtyard and allowed themselves to enjoy something that had felt impossible only a few hours earlier.

Nobody was attacking them anymore.

Not far from them, Dumbledore looked across the ruined grounds of Hogwarts. Parts of the castle had been damaged, large sections of the surrounding land remained frozen from March's earlier attack, and signs of the battle could be seen in almost every direction. Even so, the students and civilians were alive, and for the moment, that was enough.

"We should begin accounting for everyone immediately," Dumbledore announced with a relieved smile. "Celebration can come after we make certain all of our wounded are being treated."

"Headmaster!" several students nearby immediately complained.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "I said the celebration can come after. I never said it would be cancelled."

That earned several exhausted laughs from the gathered crowd.

Nearby, the remaining members of the Quick Response Force that March and Caelus had left behind at Hogwarts were finally allowing themselves to rest. Several TSAB mages sat against broken pieces of stone while Chaldean soldiers checked their weapons and equipment one last time. Clock Tower Enforcers spoke quietly with the Hogwarts defenders beside them, all of them looking just as exhausted as the students and civilians they had spent the last several hours protecting.

One of the TSAB mages glanced toward the celebrating students before looking back at the others. "Do you think we're allowed to join them?"

A Chaldean soldier stretched his aching shoulders. "Considering the giant dimensional god is dead, and nothing has tried to kill us for the last few minutes, I think we've earned it."

One of the Clock Tower Enforcers slowly turned toward him. "Careful. Statements like that have a terrible habit of becoming regrettable."

The soldier stared at him for a moment before nodding. "You know what? After today, I'm not even going to argue with that."

Several of the nearby defenders laughed tiredly.

A Hogwarts wizard lowered himself onto a broken section of the courtyard and leaned back with a groan. "Honestly, I don't even care about celebrating yet. I want food, a bath, and somewhere soft enough to sleep until next week."

"That actually sounds better," another mage admitted.

"Add beer, and I'm convinced," a Chaldean soldier said.

The first TSAB mage laughed as he pushed himself back onto his feet. "Fine. Food first, celebration second."

"Not everyone gets to leave yet," another TSAB mage reminded them, gesturing toward the far side of the courtyard. "We still have prisoners to deal with."

Several heads turned toward the heavily guarded section of the battlefield.

"Voldemort and the surviving members of his forces remain our responsibility until command decides where they'll be transferred," a Clock Tower Enforcer explained as he crossed his arms.

The Chaldean soldier looked toward the distant restraints and gave a low whistle. "With that many bindings on them, I doubt any of them are waking up anytime soon."

The Enforcer slowly looked at him again. "You were just warned about saying things like that."

The soldier blinked. "…Right."

That earned another round of tired laughter before several members of the QRF finally began making their way toward the celebration. Those still assigned to guard duty remained behind, returning their attention to the prisoners while the rest of Hogwarts slowly began moving from battle toward recovery.

Voldemort and the surviving followers who had been fortunate enough to avoid being encased in March's Six-Phase Ice and shattered with the rest of his army were still lying across the ruined Hogwarts grounds under an almost ridiculous number of restraints. TSAB binding spells wrapped tightly around Voldemort's arms and torso, reinforced magical chains created by the Hogwarts defenders pinned him against the broken stone beneath him, and several Clock Tower Enforcers had added their own restraints just in case he somehow regained consciousness.

None of the prisoners had moved since their defeat. Voldemort remained completely unconscious, and with Dormammu now confirmed destroyed as well, the tension that had kept everyone on edge for hours had finally begun to disappear. Guards were still stationed around the prisoners, but even they had relaxed slightly as the sounds of celebration spread across Hogwarts.

That was why nobody noticed the faint dark-purple light that suddenly pulsed at Voldemort's skin.

It appeared only once at first, then again, slightly brighter.

A moment later, 'Voldemort' opened his eyes.

There was no anger in them. No confusion. No sign that the man who had fought March and Caelus had awakened.

There was barely anything there at all.

The dark-purple light flashed once more, and without making a sound, 'Voldemort' vanished from within the restraints.

At almost the exact same moment, thousands of kilometers away at Mahora Academy, space distorted several meters from the World Tree. A faint dark-purple light appeared before 'Voldemort' materialized within it, still covered in the same bindings that had restrained him at Hogwarts.

His feet touched the ground.

Another pulse of dark-purple energy spread through his body.

CRACK!

The TSAB bindings shattered first, followed almost immediately by the reinforced chains around his arms and torso. Pieces of broken restraints fell onto the ground, and once he was free, 'Voldemort' simply began walking toward the World Tree.

Most of Mahora never noticed his arrival.

The battle had ended. Dormammu was gone. The Quantum Shadows had disappeared, and after hours of nonstop fighting, everyone had finally allowed themselves to celebrate. Some defenders were embracing one another, others had simply collapsed onto the ground from exhaustion, while medical teams moved among the wounded near the World Tree.

Farther across the grounds, Noah Schweinorg remained together with Olga Marie, Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, Hayate-chan, Arisa, Suzuka, Reines, and Gray. They were still recovering from everything that had happened and paying little attention to one lone man quietly crossing the academy grounds.

So 'Voldemort' continued walking without anyone stopping him.

He was only a few meters from the World Tree when one of the nearby Mahora mages finally noticed him. The mage's smile disappeared as he watched the unfamiliar pale man in black robes approaching the tree alone.

"…Who are you?"

'Voldemort' gave no answer and continued walking.

The mage frowned. "Hey! Where are you going?"

Still nothing.

His suspicion immediately grew. The mage hurried after him and grabbed his shoulder. "Didn't you hear me? I'm asking you a ques—"

'Voldemort,' without even turning fully around, he raised one finger toward the mage. A sickly green light flashed.

The spell hit the mage directly in the chest, and his body dropped to the ground before anyone nearby understood what had happened.

One of the other Mahora mages saw him fall.

"TANAKA-SAAAN!!!"

The scream cut straight through the celebration.

Heads turned across the academy grounds. Conversations stopped, exhausted defenders quickly reached for their weapons again, and within seconds dozens of eyes found Tanaka lying motionless on the ground while the pale man in black robes continued walking toward the World Tree as though nothing had happened.

Another Mahora mage immediately stepped forward and raised his staff.

"Sir, identify yourself!"

'Voldemort' finally stopped and slowly lifted one hand. Dark-purple energy gathered around his fingers.

The mage's eyes widened.

"EVERYONE, MOVE!"

'Voldemort' casually swept his hand forward.

BOOOOOOM!!!

—----

Back in the present, the corrupted World Tree had changed completely. Its once majestic and mystical appearance was gone, replaced by something that looked almost dead. Dark-purple energy spread across its trunk and branches like veins, while the same corruption had already reached the ley lines under Mahora Academy and continued spreading through the ground in every direction. Streets, buildings, and entire sections of the surrounding city began glowing from below as the corruption traveled farther away from the World Tree.

"What the hell is happening?!" Noah Schweinorg shouted as the ground shook around them again.

Olga Marie stared toward the glowing lines spreading beneath Mahora and immediately felt the magical environment around them changing. "It's spreading through the land itself…"

Reines' expression turned grim as Trimmau gathered protectively around her. "Not just the land. Those are the leylines. Whatever that crystal did to the World Tree is using Mahora's leyline network to spread the corruption."

At the same time, alarms rang throughout Chaldea's Command Room as new readings flooded into the observation systems.

"Director! We've identified the energy inside the World Tree!"

Marisbury immediately turned toward the operator. "Report."

The operator stared at the results for another moment before swallowing hard. "It matches Dormammu's life-energy signature."

The Command Room went silent.

"…What did you just say?" Kirschtaria's expression hardened immediately.

"Whatever is corrupting the World Tree matches the readings we recorded from Dormammu." The operator quickly brought up the data collected during the battle and placed it beside the new signal coming from Mahora. "The frequency, composition, and life-energy pattern are almost identical."

Kirschtaria stared at the comparison, his expression growing colder. "But Dormammu was confirmed destroyed only minutes ago. Are you certain this isn't residual energy from the dimensional breaches?"

"We considered that possibility first," the operator answered. "We've already checked the readings several times using three independent systems. Chaldea's own instruments, the Atlas Academy analysis models, and the Nameless' scanners are all returning the same result."

Marisbury narrowed his eyes. "Then the crystal that was inserted into the World Tree…"

"Contained Dormammu's energy," the operator confirmed. "And not a small amount of it."

Before anyone could respond, another operator suddenly called out from the opposite side of the Command Room.

"Director! Lord Kirschtaria! The corruption has entered Mahora's leyline network!"

A map of the surrounding region immediately appeared across Chaldea's main display. Dark-purple lines were already spreading outward from Mahora in several directions, following the magical pathways beneath the surface.

"It's accelerating!" the operator continued. "The farther it spreads, the faster it's moving through the connected leylines!"

Marisbury clenched one hand behind his back. "How far has it reached?"

The operator quickly enlarged the map.

"Beyond Mahora City already. We're detecting corrupted leyline activity several kilometers outside the area, and it's still expanding."

Another warning immediately appeared across the main display.

"Director! We're detecting something else!"

"What now?" Marisbury turned toward the operator.

The color slowly drained from her face as she studied the new readings. "The energy isn't only contaminating the leylines anymore. It's being absorbed deeper into the planet itself."

"Explain." Kirschtaria immediately looked toward her.

"The planet's internal systems are reacting to it. The World Tree was positioned over one of the largest leyline convergence points in the region, and its roots were connected deeply enough to the planet that Dormammu's life energy is now being carried directly into its internal structure."

Another operator quickly pulled up a separate set of readings. "We're detecting assimilation as well!"

Marisbury's eyes widened as he understood what that meant. "The planet's Will?"

"Yes, Director! Something is attempting to merge with it from the inside!"

As if the situation had not already become bad enough, SHEBA suddenly erupted with warnings. Multiple red alerts filled the main screen at once, forcing everyone in the Command Room to turn toward the central display.

"Director! The predicted planetary collapse has changed!"

Marisbury stared at the new projection. "Changed how?"

The operator hesitated, barely able to believe what she was seeing. "Our previous prediction placed the planet's destruction near the end of the year…"

She swallowed.

"…The new prediction gives us minutes."

The entire Command Room went silent.

Kirschtaria stepped closer to the display. "How many?"

"We don't know. SHEBA can't produce a stable number anymore. Every time the system recalculates, the remaining time becomes shorter."

Another operator immediately brought up the planetary leyline map. Dark-purple corruption had already spread far beyond Japan and was beginning to reach the neighboring countries.

"The corruption is accelerating. At its current rate, Dormammu's life energy could spread through the entire planetary leyline network within minutes."

Kirschtaria stared at the expanding dark-purple pattern. "And once it reaches everything connected to the ley lines…"

"The assimilation will spread with it," the operator answered. "If we can't stop this, the entire planet will be absorbed into Dormammu's life structure."

Marisbury slowly sat back in his chair and covered part of his face with one hand.

"We have been had."

Kirschtaria turned toward him.

The conclusion was painfully simple. Dormammu's manifested body had been destroyed. His true body had been found and erased. Yet sometime before his defeat, perhaps even before the operation had begun, he had left something behind through Voldemort. Something carrying enough of his own life energy to infect the World Tree.

And through the World Tree, that energy was now spreading directly into the planet itself.

"Dormammu got us," Marisbury murmured.

Kirschtaria's expression hardened. "He's devouring the world from the inside."

Marisbury slowly shook his head. "No. That's worse than what he's doing."

Kirschtaria frowned.

"Dormammu isn't simply devouring our world." Marisbury looked toward the corrupted planetary map. "He's replacing it."

The Command Room fell silent again.

"If the assimilation finishes," Marisbury continued, "Dormammu will no longer need to invade this planet from the Dimensional Gap. He won't need a manifested body, a dimensional breach, or even another vessel."

His eyes narrowed.

"The planet itself will become his new body."

Before anyone could respond, another alarm rang through the Command Room.

"Director! Something is happening at Mahora!"

At Mahora Academy, the corrupted World Tree suddenly pulsed.

THOOM.

Everyone around the academy stopped and looked toward it.

"…Now what?" Noah Schweinorg slowly raised his eyes.

A second pulse followed.

THOOOOOM.

Dark-purple light spread through every branch before rushing down the trunk and into the glowing leylines beneath the academy.

Olga Marie's eyes widened as she felt the magical energy around them spike. "Noah, we…"

The World Tree pulsed a third time. And this time, the entire trunk flashed. A massive wall of purple light exploded outward from the tree.

BWOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The wave expanded in every direction, carrying dark-purple fire with it. Trees disappeared in the flames in seconds, while the people nearest the World Tree were swallowed before they could escape. The ground cracked and blackened as the corruption advanced, and damaged buildings were consumed completely.

Then something began moving inside the flames.

Shapes crawled out from the burning ground, their bodies formed from twisted dark-purple fire. Some resembled humans, others moved on four limbs, while several were little more than distorted masses of claws, teeth, and burning flesh. Everywhere the expanding wall passed, whatever it touched was either destroyed or changed into another creature.

Fate-chan stared in horror. "No…"

"Those things… they're coming out of the people and buildings the wall touched!" Nanoha-chan's shoulders trembled.

"You mean it's turning everything into those monsters?!" Arisa's face went pale.

Another pulse came from the World Tree, and the purple wall suddenly accelerated.

"EVERYONE, RUN!" Noah shouted.

He immediately pulled Olga Marie into his arms and launched himself away from the approaching corruption. Trimmau expanded around Reines and lifted her from the ground while carrying Gray alongside her. Nanoha-chan, Fate-chan, and Hayate-chan took to the air, while Arisa and Suzuka followed as quickly as they could.

Behind them, the purple wall continued advancing without slowing down. Buildings, trees, streets, and anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in its path disappeared beneath the dark fire, only for more twisted creatures to emerge from the destruction moments later.

Olga Marie looked back over Noah's shoulder as he carried her away.

"It's getting faster!"

"I know!"

Her eyes suddenly widened.

"Noah… the city is behind us!"

His expression changed immediately.

Hundreds of thousands of civilians were still scattered throughout Mahora City, and if that wall reached them…

Noah tightened his hold around Olga Marie, anger replacing the fear on his face.

"Damn it!"

Behind them, the corrupted World Tree pulsed once again. The wall accelerated, and Mahora City was directly in its path.

Noah Schweinorg glanced back at the expanding purple wall before looking toward the others. "What should we do?! If that wall reaches the city with all those civilians still there, then…!"

Olga Marie tightened her grip around his shoulder. "Then they'll end up like the people who couldn't escape in time. They'll be turned into those monsters."

"Then we need two separate responses," Reines said as she watched the glowing wall continue advancing. "First, get everyone away from the affected areas. After that, we find some way to stop whatever Voldemort used to corrupt the World Tree."

Gray bit her lip. "But how are we supposed to stop something that has already entered the leylines?"

"That's the problem," Arisa muttered. "We don't even know how far it's spread yet."

"We can worry about that once everyone is safe!" Nanoha-chan said firmly. "For now, let's protect as many people as we can until Chaldea and Chrono-kun give us instructions!"

"Nanoha-chan is right," Fate-chan agreed. "We help the civilians first while we wait for main command to figure out what to do about the corruption itself."

Hayate-chan looked toward the approaching wall and quickly raised her Device. "Then I'll start putting barriers along its path and try to slow it down. Even if I can only delay it for a little while, every second we buy gives more people time to escape."

Noah Schweinorg adjusted Olga Marie in his arms and nodded. "Alright. We hold it back, protect the civilians, and wait for command to figure out how to stop the corruption."

Before any of them could move, however, a warm presence suddenly descended from above, and the pressure around them changed almost immediately.

"That's…!" Noah looked up, and his eyes widened when he saw who was coming.

Noah Alden descended from the sky and twisted his body in midair before summoning a Force Platform right below him. He landed smoothly on it, gave his younger counterpart a quick nod, then turned toward the expanding purple wall without wasting another second.

He stretched both arms outward and reached into the Force.

An invisible wave slammed into the wall.

The entire mass of purple light trembled as its advance suddenly slowed, the enormous pressure driving it outward meeting Noah's power head-on. He planted both feet against the Force Platform and pushed harder, forcing the wall to a near stop before it could reach the city.

Noah Schweinorg stared at him in disbelief. "He… stopped it…"

"Not completely," Olga Marie said as she watched the wall continue trembling against the invisible pressure. "But he's holding it back."

Behind Noah Alden, Sirin Kaslana Schariac and Hayate Yagami descended as well, with Reinforce Zwei floating above Hayate's shoulder. Farther overhead, Starblazer emerged through the Void Rift Sirin had opened and began descending toward Mahora, with Himeko, Caelus, March, and Dan Heng still aboard.

"Sii! Hachan! Rein!" Noah called while keeping both arms extended toward the wall.

"Got it!" Sirin answered as she immediately moved forward.

"Leave it to us!" Hayate joined her a moment later.

"Hai desu!" Reinforce flew ahead and opened several calculation windows around herself.

"Rein, send me every coordinate for civilians still inside the danger zone!" Sirin ordered. "I'll get them somewhere safe!"

Reinforce's eyes moved rapidly between the incoming data. "Hai! I'll mark every civilian position recorded by the Alliance defense forces and sort them by distance from the wall and evacuation priority!"

Several maps appeared around her and quickly filled with hundreds of highlighted positions.

"Priority one: injured civilians and children! Priority two: anyone trapped near the corrupted leylines! Priority three: everyone else still inside the projected expansion zone!"

"Perfect!"

Sirin brought her hands together, and numerous Void Rifts immediately began opening throughout Mahora City. One appeared beside a group of injured civilians being carried toward an evacuation route, another opened around a damaged shelter filled with people who had been unable to leave, and dozens more followed across streets, buildings, and emergency gathering points throughout the city.

Sirin immediately opened the Alliance channel.

"Everyone still inside the danger zone, listen carefully! Move through the portals as soon as they appear! Don't stop, don't turn around, and don't waste time bringing anything you can leave behind! The portals will take you outside the current expansion zone!"

Her voice spread through every remaining Alliance communication network in Mahora.

"Just get yourselves through. We'll handle the rest."

While Sirin and Reinforce coordinated the evacuations, Hayate summoned the Tome of the Night Sky. Its pages began turning rapidly in front of her as she searched through defensive, sealing, and environmental spells that might help contain the spreading corruption.

"Tome, search for anything that can reinforce Noah-kun and slow the corruption moving through the ley lines."

The pages continued turning while Hayate opened several communication windows around herself. "Chrono-kun, Chaldea Command, Welt-san, Kokonoe-san, Himeko-san. Can everyone hear me?"

[Loud and clear. We're already redirecting every available TSAB observation system toward Mahora.] Chrono appeared first from the Arthra.

Marisbury and Kirschtaria appeared through the Chaldea feed a moment later.

[Chaldea is receiving your data,] Marisbury answered. [The situation is deteriorating quickly.]

[I'm listening.] Welt joined from the Sanctuary.

Another window opened, showing Kokonoe from Mahora's command group. [We're still tracking the leyline contamination from this side. Whatever that shard did, the spread isn't random. It's following the entire leyline network.]

Inside Starblazer, Himeko joined the channel as the giant machine settled into position above the academy. [Then let's start with what we know. Can Noah hold that wall?]

"For now!" Noah shouted from above without taking his attention away from the wall. His arms trembled slightly as the pressure continued pushing against him. "But it keeps fighting back! I can temporarily stop the expansion, but I can't do anything about whatever is feeding it through the leylines!"

[That matches our readings,] Kirschtaria replied. [The wall itself is only the visible result. The actual assimilation is happening below ground.]

Kokonoe immediately brought up another map showing the corruption spreading beneath Mahora. [Exactly. Stopping the wall won't solve the real problem. Even if we somehow destroyed everything on the surface, the corruption would continue spreading through the planetary network underneath us.]

[Then we need to isolate the contaminated leylines,] Chrono said with a frown.

Welt narrowed his eyes. [Would that even be possible without causing further damage to the planet?]

[Not by simply cutting them,] Kokonoe answered. [Leylines aren't cables we can disconnect whenever we want. They're part of the planet's natural circulation of life force. Sever enough of them, and we might create an entirely different disaster.]

Sirin continued opening evacuation portals while listening to the discussion. "So we can't destroy them, and we can't let Dondon's life energy keep spreading through them. Great."

"Can we purify them?" Hayate asked.

Kokonoe shook her head. [Not with conventional purification methods. This has gone beyond ordinary magical contamination. Dormammu's life energy is already assimilating with the planet itself.]

Marisbury's expression darkened. [Which means destroying the World Tree would accomplish very little now. It was only the entry point. If we want to stop this permanently, we have to prevent Dormammu's remaining energy from completing its assimilation with the planet's Will.]

Inside Starblazer, March stared uneasily at the communication screen. "So… how do we even fight something that's already inside the planet?"

Dan Heng studied the readings in front of him before answering. "We find the point where Dormammu's influence is connecting directly to the planet."

Welt gave a slow nod. [And separate them before that connection becomes permanent.]

Kirschtaria looked toward another set of readings appearing beside him. [That may be our only viable option. The problem is reaching the planet's internal spiritual structure directly.]

Hayate glanced toward the Tome of the Night Sky as its pages continued turning.

"Then that's what we need to figure out next."

"Sorry, but…" Noah Alden gritted his teeth as the purple wall pushed harder against the Force. "I need everyone to figure something out fast!"

The wall trembled as another pulse erupted from the corrupted World Tree, shaking the entire region and forcing Noah to push even harder just to keep the corruption from advancing.

Hayate tightened her grip around Schwertkreuz while the Tome of the Night Sky continued searching through countless spells and formulas. "We'll find a way, Noah-kun. Just hold it a little longer."

"I'll do what I can!"

While everyone remained focused on finding a way to stop the planet's assimilation, nobody noticed the body lying near the base of the corrupted World Tree.

Voldemort's fingers twitched, then his eyes slowly opened.

Unlike the empty body that had carried Dormammu's crystal into the World Tree, awareness had returned to him this time. Pain came first, followed by exhaustion and confusion, but those feelings were quickly consumed by an overwhelming amount of anger.

He could barely move. His body felt completely spent after everything it had been forced through, but his mind was clear enough to understand what had happened.

Dormammu had used him.

The realization hurt more than any of his injuries.

"That… accursed creature…" Voldemort murmured through clenched teeth as he remained flat against the ground. "After everything I offered… everything I did… he treated me as nothing more than a disposable tool…"

His fingers dug weakly into the dirt as his thoughts turned toward Hogwarts. He remembered the pink-haired girl and the gray-haired boy who had humiliated him in front of his enemies and brought him down despite everything Dormammu had given him.

"Those two… insolent brats…"

His breathing grew heavier as another name entered his thoughts.

"Peverell…"

His hatred deepened. The name had followed him throughout the entire conflict. The family whose legacy he had coveted and resented in equal measure. The Lord Peverell who had openly chosen to stand against him and everything he intended to build.

"Even you…"

Voldemort slowly moved his eyes across the battlefield. That was when he saw him. High above Mahora stood Noah Alden with both arms stretched toward the advancing purple wall, the Force straining against Dormammu's corruption. The pressure surrounding him was immense, and every bit of his attention was focused on preventing the wall from reaching the civilians behind him.

Voldemort stared at him until recognition finally came.

"…Peverell."

The name escaped his lips almost soundlessly.

The rumored Lord Peverell, the man Voldemort had wanted to see for himself, was finally standing right in front of him.

Something inside Voldemort snapped.

Dormammu had used him. March and Caelus had defeated him. His followers had fallen, Hogwarts remained standing, and everything he had planned had collapsed around him. Yet Lord Peverell was still there, desperately trying to save the same world that had rejected Voldemort.

A twisted smile slowly appeared across his face.

"If I am to fall…" he whispered. "…then you will fall with me."

Using the last strength remaining in his body, Voldemort apparated with a weak crack.

POP!

He reappeared several meters below Noah.

Nobody noticed him immediately. Sirin was still opening Void Rifts throughout Mahora and transporting civilians away from the advancing corruption while Reinforce fed her coordinates as quickly as she could. Starblazer remained above them, connected to the ongoing discussion with Chaldea, Arthra, Welt, and Kokonoe, while Hayate's attention was divided between that conversation and the Tome of the Night Sky.

The Tome's pages continued turning rapidly as she poured mana into its search for any spell capable of slowing the corruption or separating Dormammu's remaining life energy from the planet.

Noah himself could not move.

Both arms remained extended toward the purple wall, nearly all of his concentration and remaining strength committed to holding back the enormous force pressing against him.

Voldemort slowly raised one trembling hand and pointed it toward Noah. That was when Noah finally sensed something through the Force.

His eyes widened, but he was already too late.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

A sickly green light erupted from Voldemort's hand and shot straight toward him.

Noah instinctively tried to move, but the moment his concentration slipped, the purple wall pushed forward. He immediately forced himself back into position and pushed against it again, realizing with horror that he could not dodge without allowing the corruption to advance toward the city.

"Noah-kun!"

Hayate saw the curse first.

There was no time to prepare another spell. Too much of her mana was tied to the Tome's ongoing search, and pulling it away now would interrupt everything they had been working toward. She could not form a strong enough barrier before the curse reached him.

So Hayate did the only thing she could. She jumped in the curse's path.

"HACHAN!!!"

Noah's eyes widened in horror as Hayate threw herself between him and the incoming curse.

The green light hit her directly. Hayate fell from the sky without resistance and crashed onto the ground below, completely unmoving.

At that very moment, everything around Noah went dark.

====== Chapter 236 END ======