Ivan hesitated, deciding that there was no point in fighting any further.
However, Dumbledore did not seem to think so. With a grim expression, he waved his wand again, and the collapsed wall tiles quickly stacked up…
A six-meter-tall stone giant rose from the ground, radiating an indescribable aura. Its feet, which were made of the base of the stone platform, were extremely heavy. When it stepped on the broken tiles, it left visible imprints as it charged towards Ivan.
Ivan did not intend to waste too much energy on a mere shapeshifting creature. With a casual point of his wand, the headless python, half its body blown off the ground, reared up again, its long tail lashing out with such force that the stone giant stumbled.
Even more strangely, the python's head, which had already burst, grew back under the influence of magic. Its four sharp fangs pierced deep into the stone giant's shoulder, and its huge body curled up.
The two behemoths rolled on the ground and tangled together…
Ivan had no idea what was going on, and his eyes were fixed on Dumbledore.
He understood that only one of them would walk out of this church alive today!
"Shattered!"
After a brief confrontation, Ivan was the first to break the silence, as a thin beam of light shot from the tip of his wand and disappeared in mid-air.
Perhaps due to the need to concentrate on suppressing his right hand's injury, Dumbledore did not waste his magic on conjuring a shield, but instead used a fist-sized rock to block the incoming spell beam.
"Crucio! (heart-wrenching)" "Petrificus!"
Ivan's relentless attacks left no room for Dumbledore to breathe, forcing him to defend himself.
Dumbledore was like the most dexterous of trick-masters, easily fending off Ivan's attacks with only a few basic, low-magic-consumption spells.
Ivan took his time, once again increasing the intensity of his attack. Terrifying flames appeared out of thin air and condensed into a fireball, which exploded across the ruined church.
Dumbledore had no choice but to conjure a few more Stone Golems to act as shields against the blast.
Such a large-scale transfer of magic caused Dumbledore's injuries to worsen, and the blackened scars quickly spread to the right side of his face, causing his smooth spell-casting movements to slow for a moment…
"The Shadowless Blade!" cried Ivan, seizing the opportunity to launch a final, incisive attack, sending an invisible blade of magic hurtling toward Dumbledore.
Under the pressure of death, Dumbledore was no longer distracted by suppressing his injuries, and the Stone Guard next to Dumbledore's wand disintegrated into a stone shield.
The Blade of Magic struck the stone shield with a bone-jarring bang, and the two of them exploded after a moment of stalemate.
Dumbledore took a few steps back to avoid the flying debris, and in the dust kicked up by the explosion, a scarlet beam of light suddenly flew towards him without warning.
Disarming Charm?
Not expecting Ivan to try to end his life with such non-lethal magic in a battle like this, Dumbledore tried to Disapparate.
Ivan's voice, however, rang out.
"Out of Body!"
A strange, hazy feeling began to take over his mind, as if it were trying to pull thoughts from his brain.
As a Legilimency Master, Dumbledore was able to break free of the Imperius Curse in less than a second, despite his poor condition.
However, in the heat of battle, every moment counted.
Ivan's Imperius Curse did not work, but it achieved its core purpose, and Dumbledore's Apparition was forced to stop…
The backlash from forcibly interrupting the spell caused Dumbledore to lose all hope of fighting back!
The beam of scarlet light hit its intended target, and Dumbledore, who had been standing solemnly, was sent flying backwards, his emaciated body floating in the air like a dead leaf. He crashed heavily against the rear load-bearing column, and the wand in his hand flew out of his hand, spinning in midair before disappearing into the flames…
"Wand coming!" cried Ivan, startled. He cast a spell, and a blackened wand flew out of the flames.
Ignoring the burning sensation, Ivan reached out and grabbed the wand, realizing that Dumbledore had not been using the wand he had been expecting…
Before Ivan could think better of it, the church began to shake violently, the three supporting pillars having broken and collapsed in the previous battle, and Dumbledore crashing into the last remaining pillar…
The weak balance was broken, and the church was at its limit after being hit repeatedly, the walls cracking and heavy stones falling from the ceiling.
Ivan had no intention of being buried in the rubble, and after a bitter battle, his mind was too weak to cast a spell to slow the church's collapse…
Ivan simply grabbed Fawkes, who had been cowering in the corner after his nirvana, and stuffed him into the pocket of his wizarding robe. He then used magic to lift Dumbledore, whose life and death were unknown, and focused on locating him.
"Disillusionment!"
The moment the church collapsed completely, Ivan waved his wand and was swept into the space crack. The tragic battlefield was buried under heavy rocks a second later…
… .
In an empty room in Knockturn Alley, Ivan appeared out of thin air.
As soon as he regained his balance, Ivan eagerly approached Dumbledore to investigate, only to shake his head in exasperation.
No more breathing, no more heart-stopping, no more magic…
Ivan looked at Dumbledore, who was lying on the floor with his eyes closed, his robes clean and dirt-stained, and sighed. He was unable to prevent Dumbledore's death.
Despite having foretold this would happen before the duel, the outcome was clearly not something he wanted to see…
The phoenix chick struggled out of the pocket of Ivan's wizarding robe, flapped its featherless wings clumsily, and fell head first to the ground, emitting low, mournful cries.
Ivan listened to the lamentations in silence, and when he had recovered some of his magic, he began to clean up the mess, placing his wand against the magical mark on his right hand to deliver a sad message to Acting Minister Piers.
[The Headmaster of Hogwarts, the greatest wizard of Britain, Albus Dumbledore, was ambushed and killed while trying to track Voldemort's whereabouts…]