The Death Eaters present here fell into a stupor, recognizing the familiar parseltongue and the Fiendfyre that escaped from Max's wand, which began to take the shape and size of a giant basilisk, only intensified this feeling. A snake of flame began to coil around Max, and he pointed his wand in the direction of the wizards, hissing something in Parseltongue again.
"Get back!" shouted one of the Death Eaters, and it served as a kind of trigger. Everyone immediately rushed away, putting up defenses.
The Basilisk of Fiendfyre rushed at the Dark Lord with incredible speed, who responded with some sort of volumetric spell, creating a cloud of darkness.
Moving a safe distance away, the Death Eaters formed a defense and watched the scene unfold. An incomprehensible, completely black smoke structure was struggling with a frantically moving basilisk of fire. They were really huge, and the light from the flames illuminated everything around them and created incredible waves of heat. In all this wild dance, dazzling flashes of spells and shields flashed every now and then, the power of the magic invested in which pressed even at a great distance. Sometimes the spells ricocheted away, destroying half the manor, then flying into the woods, exploding deafeningly. From this completely incomprehensible, rolling on the ground mess of a dark cloud and a fiery basilisk, lightning flew every now and then, exploding the earth. Sometimes you could see two powerful smoke trails from a short apparation, and these two clouds mercilessly and with great speed threw at each other a variety of different spells, including dark ones.
A very quick beam from one of these spells ricocheted into the Death Eater's defenses but ignored them completely, vaporizing the upper half of Rodolphus Lestrange's body. So the family was completely destroyed because the second brother died in the Ministry, trying to get to Max from behind.
"Stronger shields!" yelled one of the Death Eaters.
Bellatrix noticed out of the corner of her eye how the remaining ones ran out of the remnants of the manor and rushed away towards the forest. Draco was among them.
"It's good that Narcissa went to France for a month and doesn't see this shame," flashed through Bella's head, and then another thought appeared: "What would Severus say if he saw his student in such a role? Both students."
However, outside thoughts didn't prevent the woman from closely watching the battle of the two wizards, whose powers, apparently, are equal.
The destructive and subtly fast scuffling of the dark cloud and the basilisk from the fire gradually shifted towards the forest, in the opposite direction from the Death Eaters, but no one expressed a desire to come closer.
By the time Bella had lost count of the spells Voldemort and Max had cast, and the outlines of the wizards were already indistinguishable in this dance of fire, flares, and darkness, it was suddenly over. No, no one died, no one won, but the cloud of darkness and the basilisk had used up the power they had invested in them, self-destructing.
Under the light of the stars and half the moon, on a huge scorched patch of earth, a dozen meters apart, stood terribly battered, bloody in places, but still alive Voldemort and Max. The Dark Lord's robe was streaked with gaps, burnt holes, and his left sleeve was gone. Max didn't look any better. From the guy's coat, there was only a memory, as well as from the jacket. The vest and shirt were held together by a pair of threads. Max threw off the remnants of the interfering fabric in one motion, exposing a trained body with old and newly received scars.
The two wizards stood silently and looked at each other. Some Death Eaters, including Bella, noticed a fact that at another time would have seemed funny to them — Voldemort's eyes were burning red, and Max's were blue. One was painfully thin, the other sporty. One looked at the enemy with hatred, and the other just looked.
" You can't win, Max Knight," Voldemort's voice rang out over the hushed clearing. "There is no magic that I don't know. And I have something that you don't have."
Max only tilted his head slightly, looking at the Dark Lord as if he were a bug in an entomologist's collection.
"I've learned the secret of immortality!" proclaimed Voldemort.
Max didn't say anything, just shifted the wand to his left hand.
"Is that supposed to mean something?" The Dark Lord grinned. "It doesn't matter. Bow to your death, Max Knight."
They both waved their wands at the same time.
"Avada Kedavra!" shouted Voldemort, and an unbearably bright green flash blinded those present for a moment.
Only a few who really knew their Lord could have predicted such a powerful spell in his execution, so they were ready and didn't lose their sight for a moment. To their surprise, Max didn't fall dead, but a dull green shield appeared around him. Max at great speed, holding this shield, began to approach Voldemort, and the Avada beam broke on the shield like a jet of water on glass. A brief moment and Max cut the Dark Lord's body in two with the black sword that suddenly appeared in his hands.
The Death Eaters stared in disbelief as their Lord's body slowly sank to the ground, falling apart in half. At that moment, black, black smoke began to escape from Voldemort's body, filling everything around and instantly surrounding Max. A wild cry of anger echoed around from this smoke, and in the smoke itself, the Dark Lord's face distorted with anger flashed every now and then. This smoke tried to attack the guy who was completely hidden inside. Flashes of light appeared one by one in the black smoke, and the characteristic whistle of the air repeatedly cut by the sword reached the ears of the wizards standing in a stupor. The black smoke gradually faded, and now Voldemort's face was trying not to attack, plunging into the smoke, but on the contrary, to escape, to fly away, and anger was replaced by despair. But something kept him from leaving this place. Perhaps the reason for this was the thinnest red threads flickering around as if pulling the smoke to the center.
The smoke took up less and less space, melting pieces fell away from it, and now almost nothing was left of it, only a tiny ghost of the Dark Lord's head. Max looked at him for a split second, then pierced him with a sword, and the ghost burst like a watermelon and the remnants of black smoke melted into the air, as did Voldemort's body.
Only a tiny light dot hovered over the blade of the sword. It blinked a couple of times and seemed to disappear into space.
Each Death Eater felt the marks on their hands disappear. They immediately began to examine their hands with disbelief, missing the moment when the blond man, battered in a hard battle, staggered, his sword literally soaked into his hand. Making an awkward step to the side, the guy disappeared into the funnel of the apparation.
Perhaps only Bella saw her nephew disappear after defeating the Dark Lord. Her nephew... her Lord... the conflict of values has just begun its dance in the thoughts of a woman, but even so… Not believing, but deep down clearly understanding that this time Voldemort definitely died.
***
A vague understanding of the situation came to me at the moment when I was standing in front of the remnants of Voldemort's soul, raising my sword to pierce it.
«Everything went relatively well,» Rowena immediately reported.
With great difficulty and with the remnants of my strength, I formulated the message for the sword: «Destroy». Only then did I pierce the Dark Lord's soul, which had the appearance of his head. It burst, melted, leaving behind only a tiny dot of light, which was carried away through space, most likely - for rebirth.
My whole body ached. I had no strength mentally or physically. I felt a few near-zero weakened curses and bleeding wounds on my body. Gathering my will into a fist, I found the strength to apparate away.
Almost falling out like a sack onto the apparation platform near Delphine's house, I staggered to the door. The world was floating around me, and I was nauseous. Halfway there, I heard the door opening sound, but it was problematic to see something — my gaze didn't want to focus and constantly jumped to the side.
Feeling the familiar magic nearby and the hands that immediately wrapped around me, trying to support me, I regained my composure for a moment.
"I won..." I said quietly, spitting blood. "Reduced him to atoms..."
Struggling to move my legs and leaning on Delphine, who helped me walk, I reached the house and stepped inside. As soon as I touched the sofa, darkness enveloped my consciousness.