Although the Death Eaters had completely fallen into a disadvantage, what concerned Voldemort the most after the illusion magic was dispelled was not these losses.
In comparison to what he truly cared about and feared, the magic that Alaric had completely concealed with illusion was far more significant to Voldemort.
The suppression of the Dementors, the heavy casualties among the dark creatures, or his subordinates being defeated by a few girls were nothing in his eyes.
"What… have you done to the space?"
When he posed this question, Voldemort's tone was filled with anger, yet there was also a hint of panic.
It had been a long time since he had experienced such an emotion. Even when he had died from his own killing curse rebounding, he had felt no fear, only disbelief.
Thanks to the existence of Horcruxes, Voldemort was confident he would not die.
All human fears ultimately stem from the fear of death.
For Voldemort, who could not die, it was as if he possessed endless time and opportunities.
To him, everything in the world seemed like a game; he had countless chances to try, and a temporary failure was inconsequential.
For a "player" of a video game, how could anything in the game bring real fear?
But today, everything changed.
Facing the boy before him, Voldemort did not know how many times he had been shocked, nor did he realize when this fear had emerged.
He had completely overturned Voldemort's inner expectations.
This was not merely due to his opponent's foresight—although that foresight had repeatedly dismantled Voldemort's schemes and plans—but rather because his opponent understood him completely.
His opponent not only knew his true past but also laid bare the side of him that was unknown and unwilling to be known by others, dissecting it thoroughly.
Moreover, it seemed he was very aware of Voldemort's greatest secret, the very thing that enabled his immortality, his contempt for death, and his manipulation of the world—the Horcruxes.
The death of Nagini was a testament to this, and now he perceived another fact, which had originally been concealed by the illusion magic.
This fact was that the entire battlefield seemed to be sealed off by a certain magic.
His opponent went to great lengths, even willing to miss the rare opportunity to exploit his moment of weakness, to seal the space, and even spent energy to hide this space blockade, fearing that he might flee the moment he sensed danger.
In this light, his opponent indeed understood him quite well.
For someone like Voldemort, who could resurrect endlessly, a temporary victory was utterly meaningless.
Unless he could be dealt with once and for all, any explosion of power or temporary advantage would fade like smoke.
In the face of time, all fame, fortune, love, hatred, and emotions are merely dust. Thus, to defeat Voldemort, who had the advantage of time, Alaric had indeed prepared extensively.
"Ah, it's an honor to introduce you to my original magic." As he looked at Voldemort, who had already fallen into despair, Alaric gave a slight bow.
At this moment, the battle between the Ministry of Magic's wizards and the Death Eaters had unknowingly come to a halt. All the wizards had gathered behind their respective leaders.
On the Ministry's side, morale was understandably high.
Although they had briefly fallen into a tough fight against the initial onslaught of the Death Eaters' dark creature combination, resulting in significant casualties, the reinforcements from the Forbidden Forest.
The centaur tribe and the unicorn Lurue—had arrived to assist.
Additionally, girls had performed exceptionally, unexpectedly defeating the veteran dark wizards under Voldemort with their youth, which was comparable to Alaric himself.
The Ministry quickly turned the tide, inflicting heavy losses on the Death Eaters.
Now that the fog shrouding the boss battle had dissipated, they were pleasantly surprised to discover that not only had they triumphed in the battle of soldiers, but they seemed to have the upper hand in the king-versus-king confrontation as well.
However, everyone understood that the key to defeating the Death Eaters lay in defeating the Dark Lord himself.
If the Dark Lord was not defeated, or even if he emerged victorious in the king-versus-king duel, then even if all the Death Eaters were defeated, Voldemort could still potentially reverse the situation single-handedly.
Indeed, in a world like Harry Potter, the capabilities of the strong are exaggerated.
Thus, as the Death Eaters voluntarily gathered behind Voldemort, they also began to place their hopes around him—Alaric.
In contrast to the perilous situation they found themselves in, the moment Voldemort appeared, they regarded him as their backbone.
Though Voldemort seemed to be in a precarious state as well, they had nothing else to rely on but him.
Compared to their near-total annihilation, their boss Voldemort was their best chance of turning the tide… or at least leading them to retreat.
It wasn't that no one thought about fleeing. In fact, after being defeated by Penelope, the infamous traitor Peter Pettigrew had attempted to sneak away using a Portkey.
However, he failed; the Portkey bizarrely ceased to function, unable to transport him away, as if the exit had been sealed off.
Other Death Eaters tried various means to escape, including but not limited to Apparition and summoning house-elves to use Apparition, but none proved effective.
The attempts at Apparition nearly crushed the wizards trying to use it in the spatial passage, and house-elves couldn't Apparate to Azkaban.
Even the counter-Apparition spells from Hogwarts and the Ministry of Magic couldn't stop the fairies and house-elves from Apparating; after all, their casting methods differed from those of wizards.
In their despair, it was only natural for the Death Eaters to pin their hopes on Voldemort.
As both sides gradually returned to a standoff, Alaric and Voldemort's dialogue became the only sound on the battlefield.
However, Alaric was indifferent to the surrounding changes, continuing to stand from the perspective of a victor, introducing his magic to Voldemort—or rather, adding the final straw to Voldemort's already despairing heart.
"As we all know, to prevent wizards from freely entering certain forbidden places using Apparition, our ancestors invented the Anti-Apparition spell.
By targeting the spatial channels created by Apparition magic, this spell interferes with the formation of those channels, rendering Apparition ineffective."
Most of the wizards present were not well-versed in the principles of Apparition and Anti-Apparition magic, but this did not include Voldemort, who, as a knowledgeable Dark Lord, revealed his impatience as Alaric explained.
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