Asmodeus gazed at the supposed god of ice.
"Um, maybe we should use fire magic? Since it's the god of ice, fire magic should do enough damage..."
Hearing this, both Grindelwald and Dumbledore raised their wands. Asmodeus quickly transformed into his fire elemental state, stretching his arms forward.
"Fierce Maximo Diabolico!!!"
With Asmodeus's shout, immense magical energy began to gather around him—not just from his body, but also drawing in the abundant mana in the air. Before him, a spear of fire gradually took form, growing denser and denser, as if the flames were transforming into magma, yet not fully liquid.
Witnessing Asmodeus's preparation, Dumbledore and Grindelwald also summoned their most powerful fire spells.
"Firestorm!"
"Pestis Incendium Diabolico!"
A ring of red fire formed around Dumbledore, while a ring of blue flames surrounded Grindelwald. Both wizards concentrated their mana, intensifying the fire. With each breath, the flames flared and waned, as they awaited Asmodeus to finish preparing his fiery spear. They didn't have to wait long.
When the ice god and the White Walkers were less than a kilometer from the wall, Asmodeus shouted,
"Now!!!"
With his cry, a massive black-and-red fire arrow shot forward, igniting the air around it. Seeing Asmodeus's attack, Dumbledore and Grindelwald unleashed their own flames. Two dense streams of fire, one red and one blue, surged toward the ice god.
On the ice god's side, sensing Asmodeus's spell, he looked up. As he raised his head, he saw, mere meters away, a five-meter-long fiery arrow aimed at his chest, flanked by two streams of fire targeting his shoulders.
Though not particularly intelligent, the ice god understood that these simultaneous hits could harm him. Quickly mobilizing his mana, he conjured a massive ice shield mere seconds before the arrow struck.
"Boom!!!"
A colossal explosion erupted among the ranks of the White Walkers. The fiery arrow shattered the ice god's shield but could not penetrate further, clearing the way for Dumbledore and Grindelwald's attacks. Enormous pillars of fire struck the ice giant's shoulders, causing him to stagger. The flames rapidly spread from his shoulders across his body.
Sensing the fire's threat, especially the blue flames, the ice god seemed to command the burning parts of his body to fall away. Corpses that had clung to his shoulders detached, plummeting to the ground and shattering. Unfazed, the ice god watched as hundreds of wights climbed up his legs to replace the lost parts. The fallen segments continued to burn, occasionally igniting nearby undead.
Seeing the situation below, the ice god turned his gaze upward to the wall, glaring at the trio before looking back at the burning corpses. A red glint flickered in his eyes as he began to absorb the surrounding mana. When enough mana had gathered at his mouth, he exhaled a blast of icy air towards the still-burning bodies.
At first, the wild flames resisted, but gradually, without additional mana from Grindelwald, they extinguished. Darkness returned below. Asmodeus, Dumbledore, and Grindelwald exchanged glances.
"Such an attack would kill any wizard..."
"Yes, it is quite powerful."
"Hmm, should we try a killing curse?"
"I doubt it would work. Did you see? Its body is made of many corpses. Besides the fact that Avada Kedavra doesn't work on Inferi and similar creatures, I'm also skeptical that we could cast it the necessary number of times without losing our sanity."
In truth, although Asmodeus and Grindelwald taught the Order of the Knights of Flame to use the three Unforgivable Curses without suffering the consequences of soul decay, this was a very conservative assessment. The fact is, every wizard was taught the rule: never use more than three Unforgivable Curses in a row, or more than five times in a day.
This restriction was established by Grindelwald and Asmodeus together, because even with adjustments to the perception of this magic's target, dark magic remains dark magic. Under normal conditions, it still erodes the soul to some degree. Thus, three consecutive spells are the limit at which the soul sustains minimal damage and avoids irreparable harm. With a short period of rehabilitation, one can return to their natural state. But the more times this magic is used without breaks, the deeper the soul's erosion becomes, eventually making it extremely difficult to heal.
From the feel of the blow, Asmodeus realized that the creature before them had extremely high resistance to magic. To break through with Avada Kedavra, it would have to be used many times. Moreover, neither Asmodeus nor the others could be sure that Avada Kedavra would kill a being whose body is composed of many others.
Although Avada Kedavra targets the soul, it isn't entirely straightforward. The death curse aims at the part of the soul that links it to the body. With multiple bodies, the chance of destroying that link is low. The curse may damage the soul, but whether it will sever it from the body... In this case, they aren't sure.
To avoid soul decay and inflict maximum damage, they began with fire magic. But as they saw, while the creature suffered some losses, they were insignificant.
While Asmodeus and the others pondered, the ice god continued moving towards the wall. Seeing this, Asmodeus realized that the three of them would struggle to stop it from destroying the wall, especially given its proximity.
"Guys, we need to get those who haven't turned into icicles off the wall. Even if we manage to kill this creature, preventing the wall's destruction will be incredibly difficult. We should retreat and prepare our defenses together at Winterfell. We have three days to prepare, considering the speed at which it's moving."
"Alright, I'll handle the Black Castle. See you in Winterfell!"
Grindelwald quickly apparated to the Black Castle.
"I'll go to the East Watch. You check if there's anyone left in the remaining buildings on the wall!" Dumbledore said to Asmodeus and apparated after Grindelwald. Asmodeus nodded, watching the two old men head off to rescue any possible survivors.
He scanned the wall from left to right and apparated to the nearest structure, which seemed to be used as shelter from the northern winds.
"Boom"
Asmodeus appeared in a dark room, surrounded by a pile of frozen corpses. To be sure, he approached the nearest man and placed his hand on him. As he checked for a pulse, the man's hand fell off at the wrist.
'They've been frozen for a long time... It seems Dumbledore and Grindelwald will have a hard time finding anyone alive in this weather,' he thought to himself.
Exiting the wooden shack, Asmodeus began apparating into all the small buildings on the wall. He found no one alive. The cold outside was extreme, and these structures, made of a single layer of logs, offered little protection against it. In one hut, he looked at the long-frozen fireplace and stepped out.
'Not a single one...'
In three minutes, he had checked all the buildings on top of the wall, even the small houses used as relay points for the lift. No one was alive; the people had long turned into icicles, crumbling at the slightest touch.
He ascended back to the wall and saw the giant less than thirty meters away, raising its hand to strike. Asmodeus thought to himself, 'Just because I can't kill you quickly doesn't mean I can't ruin your day...'
With this thought, he drew his wand and began bombarding the creature with "Bombarda Maxima" spells.
"Roar!!!"
After taking dozens of hits, the creature nearly fell but didn't stop, only growling at Asmodeus in anger. It ceased its slow march and leapt onto the wall.
"Oh, did I make it angry?"
Seeing the creature's rage, Asmodeus quickly flew away from the wall.
"Boom!!"
A few seconds after Asmodeus flew off, the giant landed on top of the wall.
"Creak, creak... crack!"
As the ice monster landed, the wall creaked like the ice on Lake Baikal before...
"Crack!!!"
The wall began to crumble, unable to bear the weight of such a giant. Seeing this, Asmodeus frowned and, with a wave of his hand, opened a portal behind him.
As Asmodeus left, two familiar figures appeared on the giant's shoulder: a grotesque multi-headed creature and a pale gentleman.
"You know, I thought this wall was supposed to be stronger..."
"Yeah, sure. If I hadn't been undermining its magical structure, it wouldn't have fallen so easily!"
"Ah, so that's the reason. I wondered why I didn't notice the usual effect. The mana didn't destabilize this time, which puzzled me..."
"Yes, we interrupted the mana accumulation circle, turning this wall into just an unsupported ice barrier."
"Alright, they've decided to make their stand at Winterfell... This works in our favor. There will be plenty of ordinary people to turn into walking dead."
"That's not the main thing. Our target is the members of the High Council, remember?"
"Yes, yes, don't worry, I remember. I'll distract the council members while you deal with Asmodeus. Don't worry, we're smart."
'You're just a degenerate... Fine, as long as he distracts those archmages,' thought Death to himself.