In the corridor of the computer room, a pool of blood and flesh lay on the floor.
The human known as Jackson had been sliced into pieces by a laser grid created by Murphy, reminiscent of something out of Resident Evil.
Yet, a small pendant still floated in the air.
A layer of dense pale blue light formed a sphere about five centimeters in diameter around the pendant.
Despite the laser, potent enough to melt steel, focusing on the sphere, it remained undamaged.
"Remarkably impressive," a female voice from the speaker said, "It's somewhat similar to the protective spells of a Horcrux, yet undoubtedly much stronger. Especially after being condensed to such a small size, these lasers could easily destroy any of my Horcruxes, yet they cannot breach your defense."
"Tom Riddle." A voice emanated from the pendant.
"I no longer use that name," Lucas said, "Say something, Holy Mother, who exactly are you? And what are your objectives? Perhaps if you provide a satisfactory answer, we might let you go."
"Why did you guess I would come here?" the pendant inquired.
"Ah, so you're curious too? However, I can answer that for you. Professor Murphy had previously discovered that you could locate his position, even suspecting you might be able to detect his thoughts to some extent. To prevent all his plans from being exposed to you, he had me create a set of backup plans."
"This Plan B is known only to me," Lucas stated.
"Although we don't fully understand your motives, we could guess that you intended to stop the construction of our antenna. There are two critical steps to building the antenna: one is the antenna's main body, which you left to Professor Dumbledore, and the other is the computing department of the antenna, namely 'Athena.' Destroying either would significantly delay our project."
"Professor Murphy is responsible for defending the antenna section, while I was tasked with stopping any other destructive actions you might take here."
"I had prepared many schemes to counter your possible methods. However, unexpectedly, you chose the most primitive approach. You probably thought that by controlling Jackson with your abilities, you could bypass the magical contracts of the research institute and easily destroy Athena's computer room."
"But you probably didn't anticipate that the Magic Research Institute is equipped with many magic detection devices, and your unique magic level was almost immediately identified upon your arrival."
The Holy Mother couldn't have foreseen these measures, unaware of such things as magic detection devices or that something capable of detecting her existed in this institute of mere wizards and Muggles. Nor could she have imagined being trapped by something called "magical shielding."
"With these attacks, you cannot kill me," the pendant stated.
"No, you misunderstand; this was merely a small experiment to test your various resistances."
"There are still... let me see, about sixty more tests to conduct. Good luck."
...
Leaving the control console, Lucas approached a Thunderbird, "Physical means are unlikely to kill it; in fact, I suspect its existence is entirely magical. For now, we can only control it. To eliminate it, we might have to wait until the antenna is completed."
"Caw, before that, let's deal with the Order of the Phoenix," the Thunderbird said, "Aim for a clean sweep. As long as they're around, the antenna is in danger."
"Understood."
...
"Don't get entangled with them, Sirius, reinforcements will keep coming. Destroy that thing!" Moody used his walking stick to send an Auror flying several meters away, "Aurors these days are getting worse, but that's good for us. I'll hold them off; you go and blow it up."
Sirius glanced at the huge structure behind the Aurors.
It was built on a magically flattened rock surface, a giant metal contraption standing on a several meters high concrete base, looking like a huge cauldron, though currently, it was just a skeleton with only a few silver metal pieces attached.
How could he destroy such a huge thing?
"Use this," Kingsley emerged from the side, handing Sirius a cloth bag from which he pulled out a jar, "What's this?"
"Dumbledore gave it to me; it contains a spell, a powerful Fiendfyre curse. I don't know how he turned the spell into this. Just throw it from above towards the antenna, but you better run far before it breaks. There are two inside; you only have two chances."
Tasks like these were usually done by James, who had the best flying skills and always undertook the most dangerous assault missions. As long as he was on his broom, no one could catch him.
But now, it was up to Sirius.
Too bad he didn't bring the flying motorbike.
No matter, his skills on a flying broom weren't bad either.
Taking a broom handed by an Auror, Sirius took off, zigzagging in the air to avoid snipers far away — they hadn't fired much during the ground battle, likely fearing friendly fire, but now he was a prime target in the sky.
As expected, a gunshot sounded, but since the bullet came before the sound and hit the air, he had no idea where it went. Anyway, he didn't feel pain, wasn't hit, but he still Apparated to a high altitude to escape their vision.
Then he Apparated again, appearing beside the antenna, instantly drawing wands aimed at him from below. Sirius Apparated once more, this time behind the antenna.
After several Apparations, he was confident he had lost everyone's sight, then he dived down.
Covering a hundred meters in an instant, he took both Fiendfyre jars from the bag and threw them with a casting spell towards the antenna.
"Finite Incantatem..." someone with sharp eyes saw his action and started to cast a spell to stop the jars, but Sirius hit them in the forehead with a Petrification Spell mid-flight.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The two Fiendfyre jars, one hitting the center of the antenna's cauldron and the other its base, exploded instantly, sending a unrivaled blaze into the sky. The blast almost made him lose grip on his broom, but he Apparated back to the Order's side, propelled forward by inertia, then caught by someone.
"Well done, Sirius!"
It was Lupin, who glanced at the antenna now a giant torch behind Sirius and sighed in relief, "Mission accomplished, beautifully done!"
"We should get moving..." Sirius laughed excitedly, "James would have been impressed by that move."
However, at that moment, a green light shot from the sky, striking Sirius squarely in the back.
Sirius paused, then chuckled self-deprecatingly as his body went limp and fell backwards.
"Sirius! Sirius!" Lupin caught Sirius's body, looking up to see a brown-haired girl surrounded by a dark aura, floating unsupported in the air.
Then he saw the girl pointing her wand towards the ground, "Anchor of Space!"
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