— — — — — —

Tom hurried the entire way and finally arrived at Durmstrang around midnight.

"So close. Just a little bit more."

He shook his head with a sigh as he looked at Grindelwald’s pale face. "Had I arrived but half an hour later, I daresay your injuries would have healed themselves entirely. But what can I say—you simply had to go and owe Dumbledore a favor."

"But Old G, Dumbledore really does care about you. You don’t even realize it. He barely eats or sleeps now, just worrying himself sick over you."

Grindelwald shot him an annoyed look. "Tom, one of these days your sarcasm is going to piss me to death."

"How could it?" Tom grinned. "You forgot? Your soul’s still in my hands. Even if you die from anger, you can still come back."

"Then can’t you at least let me die once already? Haven’t the second batch of Golden Apples ripened yet?" Instead of any normal expression, Grindelwald looked almost excited.

Dumbledore might be the one who said, ’death is but the next great adventure,’ but Grindelwald was the one who actually took it literally.

"Soon, soon. No rush." Tom twitched at the corner of his mouth. "Half-ripe fruit might be poisonous, you know."

Ever since Andros had been revived, Grindelwald’s jealousy had only gotten worse. Every single day, he kept wishing Tom would let him die once so he could be resurrected too and raise his potential.

But there was no way Tom would agree to that.

From death to resurrection, the body needed time to adapt. During that period, Grindelwald would basically be out of commission. And if he disappeared, who was supposed to keep the Acolytes under control and work like a beast of burden for Tom?

"Forget that for now." Tom waved it off, amusement flickering in his eyes. "There are quite a few wizards watching the castle outside. At least a hundred of them."

This time, Tom had come openly without hiding his movements.

Dumbledore’s identity was too sensitive. If he showed up, people would assume war was about to break out. Tom, however, was different. The Astra Abyssum Guild and the Acolytes were now deeply tied together as partners, so visiting an ally was perfectly normal and wouldn’t be overinterpreted.

Still, some people worried he had come to rescue Grindelwald.

While flying toward the school, Tom had sensed varying levels of hostility from several directions. A few even carried killing intent.

He remembered every single one of them.

Grindelwald’s expression darkened as well.

It had only been one day, and already those people were getting restless. Just how badly did they hate him? Ever since coming out, he hadn’t even done anything terrible.

But Grindelwald seemed to have forgotten one very important detail. The current generation of powerful wizards might not hold grudges against him personally, but their parents and grandparents certainly did. Back in the day, many of them had suffered horribly at his hands.

"Show yourself tomorrow and settle things properly," Tom said lightly, patting Grindelwald on the shoulder. "The ones who can’t be left alive are written on the list. Don’t miss a single one. Those are their true names—I used a special spell from Morgan to uncover them."

With that, Tom got up and left the chamber.

The last time he came here, he had only stayed long enough to sign an agreement before leaving. This time, Tom planned to spend a couple of days at Durmstrang, take photos, and properly check the place out.

...

..

The next morning, Grindelwald began his retaliation.

According to the blood pact, Grindelwald was forbidden from attacking ordinary wizards. If he did, the pact would immediately backfire on him.

But the agreement had been written too vaguely.

If someone provoked him, Grindelwald was allowed to retaliate. And in his eyes, being monitored and having Durmstrang surrounded already counted as provocation. Even if they were hiding and not directly within the school range, it still counted.

After testing the limits and discovering the pact showed no reaction, Grindelwald no longer held back. He moved with thunderous force, ripping out every spy planted around him.

Especially the few Tom had specifically pointed out.

After confirming their names, Grindelwald simply sent each of them off with a flash of green light.

"Go find their family registries," Grindelwald ordered Vogel coldly. "No direct descendants spared. Do it cleanly. I don’t want to see those surnames ever again."

Even with absolute loyalty to Grindelwald, Vogel’s face changed dramatically when he heard the command.

After hesitating for a long moment, he cautiously asked, "My lord... isn’t this method a little too extreme?"

Killing in the wizarding world was already considered cruel enough.

But wiping people out according to their family lines... History had never seen someone this ruthless.

Grindelwald shot him a sidelong glance. The cold indifference in his eyes made Vogel’s whole body tense up, and he immediately lowered his gaze, not daring to meet them.

"Vogel, you’ve really grown up," Grindelwald said calmly. "You’re starting to question my decisions now?"

"N-no."

"Then what was that just now?"

"I..." Cold sweat poured down Vogel’s back. He didn’t dare lie or make excuses, so he could only bow his head and admit fault. "Forgive me, my lord. I spoke out of turn."

"Don’t let it happen again."

Grindelwald withdrew his gaze, his tone unchanged. "Vogel, you and the other Acolytes are my family. I would never harm my own family. There’s a reason I’m asking you to do this—you’ll understand in time."

"And be smart. There’s no need to kill everyone. For the children, simply wipe their memories and send them to orphanages. From there, they’ll eventually come to Durmstrang as blank slates. As for the older ones, you can use potions to permanently alter their appearance after wiping their memories and so on..."

"My only requirement is this: leave no future trouble behind. Make sure the Acolytes eliminate all hidden enemies and secure a stable future—one where all voices are unified, and their thoughts and values align."

Vogel’s eyes lit up as he looked at Grindelwald with awe. ’So that’s the correct way to wipe out entire families... Lord Grindelwald really is Lord Grindelwald. Only he could come up with such methods.’

Truthfully, even Grindelwald himself felt speechless about the whole thing.

He was a Dark Lord, yet even he thought Tom’s methods were too extreme. The man was obsessed with eradicating problems at the root.

He was supposed to kill only the names on the list—but the little boy smiled innocently as he mentioned their entire families.

Grindelwald genuinely couldn’t understand where Tom’s murderous streak came from. Even during the angriest, most ruthless periods of his life, he had never come up with something as insane as slaughtering entire family lines.

The bastard was a damn devil.

...

..

In just a single day, the rumors about Grindelwald being gravely injured and on the verge of death completely collapsed.

For the next few days, the wizarding world drowned in bloodshed.

No one had expected his retaliation to come this fiercely, this viciously.

More than a dozen families were wiped out almost overnight—people either killed or simply disappeared.

Because of the blood pact, Dumbledore was unable to act directly against the Acolytes.

And now many Acolytes had already taken bloodline fusion potions. Their overall combat strength had surpassed that of Aurors. The Ministries of Magic were panicking themselves half to death, but there was nothing they could do. All they could manage was helplessly watch their people get slaughtered while humiliatingly sending envoys to negotiate peace.

’You’ve already taken revenge, so surely you won’t attack us too... right?’

Fortunately, Grindelwald had no intention of starting a world war.

After carrying out Tom’s orders and exterminating the targeted bloodlines, he simply found a live news broadcast and started cursing people out on air.

Officially, he was ranting about the Sun Chasers. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

But Andros, watching the broadcast, knew every insult was actually aimed at him.

So Andros decided to head back to Durmstrang and settle things with Grindelwald personally.

Unfortunately for him, Tom intercepted him halfway there and beat the hell out of both of them.

"That’s enough. If either of you starts trouble again, you’re spending a month as my sparring partner."

Only then did the two finally calm down.

"Hiss..." Andros sucked in a breath through swollen lips. "Tom, I’ve got nothing to do now. You can’t seriously expect me to stay idle forever, right?"

Tom looked at Andros’s horribly swollen face and barely held back his laughter.

"Once this week’s tournament ends, head to America. Don’t hide your movements. Just wait for the Sun Chasers to come looking for you. If you practically deliver yourself to their doorstep, someone will probably make contact."

"After that, you can go mess around wherever you want... You can also join Astra Abyssum and take on the dangerous missions there. Just don’t cause any trouble until the tournament ends, then head to America."

Andros nodded his pig-like, swollen head. "Good. So can you get rid of this pig face now? I’ll leave immediately. Honestly, why use divine power for something like this?"

"Nah. You look better that way~"

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