The illusory Nicolas Flamel was unable to give him guidance, just as Dumbledore had not really answered the terms of the agreement, as they were things beyond his knowledge.
If he could easily see through a fabricated excuse…
Ivan also suspected that these magical images were essentially copies of his memories, part of his self-consciousness, and that the greatest evidence of this was the fact that when he asked a question, the other party would give the answer that he subconsciously believed to be the most reasonable and desired.
Perhaps this is why the Resurrection Stone is so terrifying. The magical images it creates are far more memorable than the real dead…
Ivan pondered this for a moment, then placed the Resurrection Stone back into the disc. He understood that the stone could not truly revive the dead, only create false illusions, but his doubts did not go away.
After all, he could not understand why Grindelwald would go to such lengths to obtain the Resurrection Stone.
Could it be that he had not mastered the true use of this thing?
Ivan couldn't help but think of Grindelwald's Invisibility Cloak, the cloak that allowed him to hide his tracks when he was with Harry.
Could there be a second way to use the Resurrection Stone, or did it require the combination of three Sacred Artifacts to unleash its full power?
Ivan stroked the diamond-shaped crystal around his neck for a while, but he had no idea what to expect, so he put the pendant away and left the lounge to go to the canteen.
At that moment, however, a sharp cry broke the silence.
Ivan frowned, but didn't dare to delay. He immediately ran in the direction of the crowd. When he arrived, the corridor ahead was already filled with people. Pierce, who had also received the news, rushed over with his men.
"Did something happen?" Yvonne asked, confused.
"I don't know. I heard there was an attack…" Pierce looked ahead, his expression grim.
Dawlish and the others immediately stepped forward to part the crowd, clearing a path for Ivan and Pierce.
Directly in front of the crowd, a wizard with the body of an iron tower lay on the cold, hard floor. He did not appear to be injured, but Ivan could tell that he was dead.
It was the Death Curse…
Ivan's eyes narrowed, and he was most surprised to see the Russian Minister he had seen earlier that morning.
"Let me go, I didn't do this… let me go!"
Ivan heard a familiar cry and turned to see Percy being pinned to the ground by several Aurors, wailing in panic.
"Percy, what's going on?" Pierce snapped, sensing something was wrong.
"I don't know… nothing, Minister Pearce, please believe me, I had nothing to do with this… I really didn't kill him," Percy cried, seeing Pearce as his savior.
The Russian wizards surrounded him with hostile looks on their faces. The leader of the group was extremely angry. He pulled his wand out and pointed it at Percy, who was lying on the ground, tightly bound. "Is he a British wizard? Minister Pearce?"
Pierce scowled at Percy, but tried to explain. "Yes, he was a British wizard, but I don't think Percy was responsible for your Minister's death. He had no reason to do such a thing, let alone the ability to do it. There may be some misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding? I don't think there's any misunderstanding! We just used the Flashback Charm on his wand to detect traces of the Death Curse. It was clearly you British wizards who killed our Minister!" the leading Russian wizard shouted angrily, trying to rush forward and grab Pierce by the collar.
However, Dawlish and the others did not let him get away with it. They stood in front of Pierce like a wall, but their actions irritated the Russian wizards and they pulled their wands out of their belts.
"Stop it, all of you!" Just as a fight was about to break out, Connor arrived with a large group of Aurors, accompanied by President Wilkinson.
However, the Russian wizards were not impressed, and very forcefully demanded that Wilkinson give them justice, or they would return the favour.
Looking at the body on the ground, Conal instantly understood the gravity of the situation. "My friends from Russia, please calm down. We all know how strong Minister Igor is, so I don't think this Percy is capable of killing him quietly."
"It's impossible to fight him head-on, of course, but it's a different story if he's up to no good!" the leading Russian wizard said coldly, pulling Percy off the ground and throwing him in front of the crowd. "Most importantly, we detected traces of the use of the Killing Curse in his wand!"
Wilkinson signalled to the Auror beside him to re-examine Percy's wand.
The Auror nodded, took the wand from the Russian wizard, pointed it at the sky, and cast a Flashback Charm.
The next moment, a deep green light shot out of the wand.
The wizards present exclaimed, and the leading Russian wizard looked angrily at Pierce and the others and demanded, "What do you have to say for yourselves?"
Ivan, who had been silent all this time, suddenly interrupted the Russian wizard and turned to look at Percy, who had a frightened expression on his face. He asked solemnly, "It's obvious that someone used the Imperius Curse on him!"
Percy, who had been beaten black and blue, understood that this was his last chance to clear his name, and immediately stammered an explanation.
Around six o'clock in the afternoon, he and his new friends went to the dining room for dinner, then returned to the lounge alone. Halfway there, his brain suddenly shut down and he lost consciousness. When he came back to his senses, he saw Minister Igor lying on the ground, dead…
He panicked and rushed to check on Igor, but when he realised that Igor was no longer breathing, he tried to escape. However, before he could do anything, a witch found out where he was and more and more people gathered around him.
(PS: A friend's new book, The Old Ruler, is recommended. The author is a roller-coaster god with no lightning or depression. However, he is still a seedling. Those who like this type can take a look.)