"Stop right there!"
Isadora shrieked uncontrollably, waving her magic wand frantically, no longer caring about accuracy, unleashing a torrent of Blasting Curses, Reductor Curses, and widespread Dark Arts curses indiscriminately around her like a furious storm. She decided to destroy everything, crushing those annoying "flies" with absolute power.
Dumbledore looked grave, his hand gripping Grindelwald's shoulder as their figures flickered with Fawkes' assistance. Meanwhile, Dumbledore kept transfiguring obstacles to block the scattering remnants, but their moving space was rapidly constricted. Isadora's reckless barrage had a devastating effect on the environment.
"Albus, above us."
Grindelwald suppressed the urge to vomit, indicating the abnormality above Dumbledore's head. The latter looked up; it seemed to be collapsing, with a huge boulder sliding down from above. He wanted to teleport again but found Fawkes perched on his shoulder half-fainted —
Apparently, the successive use of flashes was taking a toll even on the phoenix.
"Confringo!"
Grindelwald made a swift decision, tapping his wand upwards twice, causing the boulder to explode from the middle. He then kicked Dumbledore's waist, separating them to a nearby fall, and at that moment —
"Enough!"
Isadora finally lost her patience completely, having been unable to succeed after so long, as if being toyed with like a monkey by the opponent. The brutality accumulating in her chest from the pain of existence and her extreme desire to obtain the Secret Vault and dominate everything in the world erupted like a volcano.
She stopped deliberately controlling the surging power within, her gray-white body suddenly bursting with dazzling light. The destructive energy spread from her like a nuclear explosion.
"Boom——"
The first to bear the brunt was the walkway beneath them.
The stone structure, which was supposed to be solid and covered with countless protective magic, rapidly collapsed like paper under this force. Following that, the load-bearing columns and walls supporting the upper chamber cracked and toppled, countless rocks falling, dust rising into the sky.
The entire Map Chamber experienced a violent collapse, centered around Isadora's location, the ground began to sink, instantly forming a massive pit over twenty meters in diameter. The silver-gray iron sphere also rolled down from its floating position, stopping in the center of the pit, the white light escaping from the cracks flickered as if disturbed heavily.
The explosion happened too fast, and in haste, Dumbledore could only raise his magic wand before him, rapidly casting protective magic while desperately dodging to the rear side.
"Bang!"
Nonetheless, a shockwave mixed with crimson energy still swept across his right shoulder brutally. Despite the protective buffering, that brute force hit like a heavy blow, pain transmitted through him, and the old man's entire right arm lost feeling instantly. Worse still, the Elder Wand held tightly in his palm was knocked out by that tremendous force.
The magic wand traced an arc through the air and then — was caught steadily by a pale hand glowing faintly.
Isadora hovered at the center of the pit, not far from the Secret Vault. The raging energy around her slowly settled. She looked down at the legendary Elder Wand in her hand, feeling the magical energy within begin to resonate subtly with her internal power. Her pallid face showed a nearly ecstatic expression for the first time.
"Deathly Hallows? Elder Wand..."
She subconsciously muttered, fingers lightly brushing over the wand as if admiring a precious artifact, "Indeed, it lives up to its name. Now, with this, and the Secret Vault... who in this world could stop me?" She raised her head, gazing across the pit.
Dumbledore knelt on one knee, his right hand hanging weakly, supporting his body with his left arm, his face pale, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Grindelwald had just struggled up from the rubble, equally battered, clearly unable to continue fighting.
Both their magic wands, one in Isadora's hand, the other buried somewhere unknown.
A flicker of contempt and pleasure crossed Isadora's eyes.
"See? This is absolute power, your insignificant tricks and schemes are worthless before it."
Slowly, she floated towards the light sphere of the Secret Vault at the pit's center, seemingly sensing something, as white light started to spill. "I'll give you... one last chance, Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, choose to submit to me, as my right and left arms in unifying the world, this might be your last value."
The woman's figure stopped before the Secret Vault, speaking without turning her head.
Grindelwald spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, "Screw you." He raised his middle finger, whether she could see it or not.
His slightly balding head appeared somewhat comical under the Vault's faint light, yet there wasn't the slightest fear in his oddly-colored pupils; rather, he grinned broadly, showing a peculiar smile.
"..."
Isadora frowned, hearing Grindelwald's curses, but at that moment, she couldn't be bothered with the lament of a defeated dog —
Her entire focus was on the near-at-hand Secret Vault, that gentle white glow like the most alluring fruit. She extended the hand holding the Elder Wand, her internal power circulating furiously, attempting to establish the most direct and complete connection with the Vault, ultimately swallowing, merging it entirely...
White energy threads seemed to guide Isadora, sensing the Vault's cooperation, ecstasy surfaced on her face again, closing her eyes.
"Now that you're a teacher, mind your manners,"
Meanwhile, Dumbledore had sat down the other side, turned, speaking gently, correcting.
"...Are you serious?"
Grindelwald stared, eyes wide, looking shocked at the other.
"Let's hope our efforts pay off—"
Dumbledore shook his head, not answering, turning to watch the Secret Vault glowing brightly. Isadora was too close to see clearly, but sitting farther away, he and Grindelwald clearly saw the white light escaping from the Vault slowly coalescing —
"No, it's completely ineffective, even counterproductive."
Next moment, abruptly, just as Isadora opened herself up and began accepting the Vault, a sudden sound echoed right ahead of her. She instinctively widened her eyes, seeing the man in a black overcoat emerge smiling, slowly, firmly from within the Secret Vault...
"Touching someone else's belongings without permission..."
Landing, standing up, William raised his hand, gently touching Isadora's shoulder, then applied a slight pressure. "Such a habit is not very good." "Creak——" accompanied by the sound of slight bone cracking, the woman's shoulder turned to dust.
"Knew it, that damned bastard would definitely step in just on time——" Grindelwald's untimely complaint blared.