When Voldemort sensed the bizarre situation around him, he began to take things seriously.
The true state of affairs chilled his heart, which had been filled with fear and rage, as if doused with a bucket of cold water.
Although the battle between the Ministry of Magic and the Death Eaters appeared fierce in his view, causing him to instinctively overlook specific details, once he regained his composure and concentrated on observing closely, he discovered that this so-called "fierce" battle was merely a facade.
In reality, behind this facade was a strange cycle—like a video playing on repeat.
All the scenes of battle he witnessed and the movements of everyone were merely a routine that kept repeating itself.
This routine was so seamlessly connected that he hadn't noticed anything amiss.
Thus, after being drawn in by Alaric's remarks, even someone as cunning and treacherous as the Dark Lord found himself momentarily deceived.
Of course, part of this was due to Alaric's piercing words.
His statements, which struck at Voldemort's hidden insecurities and painful past, had a significant effect, pulling a wave of hatred while also causing Voldemort to lose vigilance towards everything around him.
It wasn't until Alaric proactively pointed it out that he started to see the clues.
"...When did you..."
Finally, Voldemort's grim voice broke through.
"Just when did you set up such an illusion?" Voldemort struggled to suppress his shock as he questioned, "How did I not notice? This isn't a spell that can be easily cast."
"Of course not," Alaric replied with a gentle smile. "If I could easily conjure an illusion that could fool a wizard of your caliber, I wouldn't have been playing this game with you until now."
"Playing... a game?"
At this moment, a bitter realization crept into Voldemort's heart.
He suddenly understood that despite his self-proclaimed title as the Dark Lord, he hadn't gained any actual advantage in his confrontation with Alaric thus far.
On the contrary, it seemed that every step he took had been meticulously calculated by the opponent, even his perceived "advantage" was seemingly part of Alaric's plan.
If not, then this illusion that had deceived him and prevented him from focusing on another battlefield had no reason to exist.
It could be that the opponent was merely trying to intimidate him, undermining his confidence, but the probability of that was almost zero.
Just as Alaric himself said, this level of illusion could not possibly be simply conjured. Yet, even Voldemort himself had failed to detect any signs of the illusion, and so he had been deceived.
In other words, the casting process of the illusion was almost nonexistent.
If the illusion appeared without a complex casting process, it must have been pre-prepared.
Although due to the lack of magical storage technology in the Harry Potter world, there are few magical artifacts like magic scrolls that can store spells, it isn't completely impossible to prepare magic in advance.
So, how did Alaric accomplish it?
As if sensing Voldemort's confusion, Alaric added softly, "Did you think I was just circling around you for no reason?"
This was after Voldemort had been weakened by the destruction of his Horcruxes caused by Nagini's death.
At that time, Voldemort was indeed in an unprecedented state of weakness due to the destruction of his soul fragments.
However, the young man opposite him seemed unaware of the nature of Horcruxes or doubted that Voldemort was merely feigning weakness to set a trap.
Hence, out of caution, he didn't take advantage of the situation to strike but instead circled around Voldemort, standing in confrontation.
In fact, such behavior is typically seen as a normal strategy in one-on-one confrontations.
When two sides are at a standoff, the one in a favorable position will often move constantly while using verbal taunts to apply psychological pressure on the disadvantaged opponent, attempting to distract them and find a flaw to deliver a decisive blow.
Thus, Voldemort was not surprised by this behavior. He internally mocked the youth for being inexperienced despite his powerful abilities at a young age.
—If Alaric had seized the opportunity to attack decisively, even if Voldemort himself was powerful, he would have had to abandon all his followers and flee in panic, resulting in a true victory for the Ministry of Magic.
It would take him decades to rebuild a Death Eater army of similar scale in Britain.
That was his natural thought process.
However, looking back now, it was clear that it was not the case at all.
The opponent must have been aware of the nature of Horcruxes and recognized his genuine state of weakness, rather than merely feigning it; otherwise, it would have been impossible for the opponent to secretly lay down a magic circle under the watchful eye of a fully powered top wizard.
Even if the magic circle's nodes had been prepared beforehand, it would still be a futile effort since Voldemort could easily destroy the magic circle before it took effect if discovered.
The opponent seemed to have used this opportunity, through the "circling" and "confrontation" behaviors, to stealthily lay down a magic circle that produced illusions.
With Voldemort's level of magic, while he couldn't have done it himself, he could still deduce that as long as Alaric prepared props as magic circle nodes in advance, he could take advantage of Voldemort's weakened state and decreased sensitivity to everything around him to secretly lay down a magic circle that produced illusions.
—What a terrifying opponent, setting a trap without him realizing it.
Voldemort thought.
"Your next question is, 'But why are you doing this?'"
"But why are you doing this...? What?"
Voldemort was startled again when Alaric accurately predicted his next question.
However, what Alaric revealed next was truly shocking.
"You're wondering why I could end this conflict immediately but chose to engage in this tiresome endeavor instead."
Alaric spoke with a smile, but Voldemort sensed a full measure of malice behind that smile.
Such malice made him, the Dark Lord and the most evil dark wizard, feel a chill run down his spine.
Before he could express agreement, Alaric casually waved his hand.
"Alright, let me show you the true facts hidden beneath the illusion magic."
As Alaric gestured, the fully automated, looping "video" instantly dissipated.
Voldemort finally saw the true battlefield behind the illusion... and the things that were truly concealed by the illusion.
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