However, Cappadocia moved with startling speed.
His wand snapped up and pointed at Moen's chest almost instantly, without the slightest hesitation. Magic surged forth.
A spell cast silently and at astonishing speed—there was a flash of red, and a Disarming Charm struck Moen at point-blank range.
Cappadocia had no intention of killing him. He needed Moen alive to find out what had really happened in the forest.
He had never once doubted his confidant's loyalty.
So the moment he saw Moen draw a dagger on him, he immediately understood—Moen had been placed under the Imperius Curse.
That was why he didn't go for a killing blow. Instead, he used a Disarming Charm that carried both knockback and disarming effects.
His reasoning was simple. The Imperius Curse might be known as an Unforgivable Curse, said to have no effective countercurse—but that didn't mean it couldn't be removed. A bit of water from the Anti-Theft Charm in Gringotts would be enough to wash away its lingering magic.
The plan had been to capture Moen alive, lift the curse, and extract information about the enemy.
What he hadn't expected was that the Disarming Charm—despite striking Moen at such close range—
simply vanished.
As though something had swallowed his magic whole.
Impossible.
A sharp sense of danger surged through him. Power erupted from his seemingly frail, aged body. The ground beneath his feet dipped slightly as he shot backward.
But he was still a step too slow.
Unaffected by the Disarming Charm, Moen completely ignored the wand pressed to his chest and charged straight at Cappadocia.
The wand pierced through skin, muscle, and lung. Blood spilled from Moen's mouth and nose, yet without hesitation he drove the dagger in his hand into Cappadocia's abdomen.
Cappadocia's body stiffened as Acromantula venom spread rapidly through his bloodstream.
Even with his physical resilience, there was a split-second of paralysis under the venom's effects.
But was that all?
Rage flared in his eyes. Whoever was controlling Moen actually thought this was enough to assassinate him? Who had given them such nerve?
"A mere toxin…"
With one hand, Cappadocia seized Moen's head and twisted lightly, snapping his neck.
Clearly, he was not as mild-tempered as he claimed.
Yet even with his neck broken, Moen's face showed no hatred—only relief.
He had already accepted that death was inevitable. He truly didn't have what it took to assassinate the Senate President.
Good…
Not far away, Lehende suddenly felt a chill race up his spine.
It was the heightened instinct granted by his Veela bloodline. Every nerve in his body screamed that something terrifying was about to happen.
At that moment, Cappadocia's attention was fixed entirely on Moen. Seizing the opportunity, Lehende retreated, forcing himself away while enduring the pain of the metal-transformed clothing constricting his body. Coarse fur began sprouting all over him.
The Transfiguration Spell had turned his clothes into metal, binding him tightly in human form—but it couldn't restrain him once he shifted into a brown bear.
The metal garments split apart. Scraped and cut by jagged edges, Lehende transformed fully into a brown bear, scooped up his wife, and bolted in the direction Moen had come from.
"Damn it! Stop!"
Seeing his target flee, Cappadocia roared and moved to throw aside Moen's corpse to give chase—
when a sudden chill seized his heart.
Was danger approaching?
No.
It was already here.
He glanced down at the corpse in his hand.
Moen's abdomen had swollen grotesquely, distended like a pregnant belly.
But what it held was not life.
It was violently surging magic.
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, Moen's body burst into a cloud of blood. Bone fragments turned into deadly shrapnel, blasting outward in every direction.
Solid rock shattered under the shockwave. Sturdy trees were stripped and split apart by the flying shards.
Dust and smoke rose into the forest air, stark and glaring.
The shockwave slammed into Lehende as he fled, knocking him off his feet.
He rolled across the ground, shielding his wife as best he could. Bone fragments tore into his back, leaving it bloody and raw.
He ignored the pain, staring in shock at the center of the explosion.
What kind of magic was that? How could it create such a terrifying blast?
And the source—it had been one of Cappadocia's own men. Why would he suddenly attack him? And how had he exploded like that?
Questions flooded Lehende's mind. He squinted into the lingering smoke, unsure whether to approach and look for answers.
An explosion of that magnitude should have killed anyone.
That man called Cappadocia should have—
A violent gust of wind swept through.
The smoke dispersed.
A battered figure emerged.
Cappadocia.
Soaked in blood and in a wretched state, he stepped out from the fading haze. His right arm was gone. Half his body was mangled, flesh torn open enough to reveal pale bone beneath.
Yet his back remained straight.
Like a monster that simply did not break.
His mask had shattered in the explosion, revealing an utterly ordinary face. But even in this condition, that ordinary face showed not the slightest trace of weakness.
Lehende's expression changed instantly.
Without hesitation, he turned and ran.
Is he a monster?
Surviving something like that?
This was not an opponent he could handle. He had to escape—find Fleur and Gabrielle, and leave this place immediately.
In brown bear form, Lehende's strength and speed were immense. Even carrying his wife, he ran with the speed of a human sprinting the hundred meters at full force.
Behind him, Cappadocia watched him disappear into the distance—
then suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.
The straight line of his back collapsed at once, his body bending as exhaustion overtook him.
Even as a Giant-human hybrid, he was still human at his core. He couldn't simply ignore injuries of that magnitude.
"Damn it… ambushed like this…"
He coughed up more blood. Rage burned on his face, but his eyes had already returned to calm.
At the critical moment, he had thrown Moen's corpse away and cast a Shield Charm and Protection spells. With his magical power, even a hastily formed barrier should have been formidable.
Yet under that explosion, his defenses had been as fragile as paper, torn apart in an instant.
He couldn't stay here.
If another attack like that came, he would undoubtedly die.
Without another thought, Cappadocia summoned his ravens.
A swarm of black wings engulfed him.
In the blink of an eye, he vanished from where he stood.