Standing on the roof of Gringotts, Black Zetsu kept a constant eye on the battle outside Diagon Alley.
Seeing the Saints stationed to the north gradually fall into disadvantage, Black Zetsu extended his hands and clapped them together heavily.
"Summoning Technique!"
About a dozen Re'em emerged from the magic circle.
These Re'em had all undergone a certain degree of Dark magic modification; compared to normal members of their species, they were twice as large. Furthermore, they were clad in heavy armor, granting them vastly enhanced resistance against spells.
Under Black Zetsu's control, the thick-skinned and immensely powerful Re'em agitatedly pawed their hind hooves at the ground before locking onto the northern direction and charging straight forward.
All obstacles along the way—whether buildings or anything else—were smashed into pieces by the Re'em.
Under Pain's control, the Four Violet Flames Formation opened a doorway, and the Saints stationed on the northern side wisely cleared a path upon hearing the noise behind them.
Under the horrified gazes of numerous Ministry Aurors, the dozen-or-so Re'em burst through the walls, crashing into their formation with thunderous force.
The barriers formed by the Shield Charms were utterly fragile before the sharp, cold-glinting horns atop the Re'em's heads.
In an instant, their formation was trampled into absolute ruin.
Seizing this opportunity, the Saints launched a fierce counterattack.
If Kyle hadn't ordered that the lives of these Aurors were not to be taken, this single round alone would have cost the lives of over thirty Aurors and Hit-keyers.
Every single Auror was an immensely valuable asset; Kyle naturally would not allow the Saints to strike to kill.
As long as Fudge was dragged down and replaced by one of their own as Minister for Magic, these Aurors might very well end up as colleagues with the Saints.
Seeing that the disadvantage on the northern front had been alleviated, Black Zetsu withdrew his gaze from the chaotic battlefield below.
Calculating the time, Lord Father should be about ready to come out of Gringotts, right? Black Zetsu thought to himself.
At this very moment, down in the underground vaults:
The four Father Troubleshooters had already completed their raid on half of the family vaults on the list.
As for the remaining vaults belonging to smaller families, they couldn't be bothered to haul those away anymore.
The commotion of the battle between the Aurors and the Saints could be heard even down in the vaults a thousand meters underground.
Black Zetsu had just sent a message saying the situation outside was far from optimistic. Under the continuous, relentless waves of attacks from the Gringotts guards, Asura Path and Deva Path had no choice but to retreat and hold the rough stone corridor leading to the underground vaults.
In order to keep their identities hidden, Pain did not employ Grindelwald's signature Blue Fiendfyre.
Even without using the dark blue Fiendfyre, there were very few wizards in the Wizarding World who could manipulate Fiendfyre to Kyle's level. Therefore, using Fiendfyre would make it extremely easy for others to guess their true identities.
Without Fiendfyre, relying solely on conventional magic made it difficult for Pain to put on any dazzling performance in a large-scale group battle like this.
If not for Asura Path's Gatling-style spell barrage, they wouldn't have been able to hold even this section of the stone corridor.
On the other side, upon realizing that the number of Saints was small, the Aurors changed their strategy; they chose to concentrate all their manpower into a single direction for a heavy breakthrough.
By now, the Saints stationed in all four directions had retreated inside the Four Violet Flames Formation, relying on the barrier to hold out in a stalemate against the Aurors.
To ensure the element of surprise for the raid, they hadn't cleared out Knockturn Alley or Diagon Alley beforehand.
This led to some desperate outlaws in Knockturn Alley taking advantage of the chaos to slip into Diagon Alley, embarking on a spree of "joyful zero-dollar shopping" raids.
Although they weren't bold enough to raise a hand against the Saints, it had to be said that the chaos they created still caused plenty of trouble for the Saints.
The shopkeepers and employees of the businesses in Diagon Alley were forced to engage in combat with these "zero-dollar shopping" outlaws in order to protect their store property.
For a time, spells flew wildly across Diagon Alley, occasionally slamming into the Four Violet Flames Formation or landing directly on the Saints.
Though unintentional, this group of people inadvertently created a pincer attack from both inside and outside alongside the Aurors on the exterior.
Controlling both Deva Path and Asura Path simultaneously, Black Zetsu was forced to split off part of his focus, releasing a large number of summoned beasts to carry out a slaughter against this rabble attempting to loot amidst the chaos.
With the situation outside being so dire, if the four of them continued to waste precious time down here for petty gains, the loss would far outweigh the reward.
Threads of dark energy billowed out from Kyle's body, and soon, Kyle transformed into a mass of pitch-black energy, soaring straight into the sky.
The other three Father Troubleshooters followed closely behind, flying rapidly toward the exit of the underground vaults as well.
Before leaving, Cedric didn't forget to unlock the chains binding the Ukrainian Ironbelly in the underground vault.
Realizing it was free, the dragon immediately spread its wings. Having not flown for many years, its movements looked somewhat clumsy, yet it still stumbled along and burst out right behind Cedric.
Kyle glanced back at the dragon following behind them. In his Obscurus form, he smashed right through the ceiling of the underground vault, carving out a cavernous passage wide enough for the dragon to pass through.
However, he did not emerge through the passage himself.
He was the only Obscurial in the entire British Wizarding World right now. Although only a select few people at Hogwarts currently knew about his status as an Obscurial, if he were to charge out so openly like this...
Well then, the entire Wizarding World would know that an Obscurial had raided Gringotts.
He wouldn't be able to use the power of the Obscurus in battle ever again—unless he was willing to expose himself as the culprit who raided Gringotts.
After reverting to human form, Kyle and the other three Father Troubleshooters appeared by the tracks at the end of the stone corridor.
Seeing that the accomplices of the two heinous Dark wizards in the underground vaults had appeared, the Gringotts guards spared no effort in unleashing their attacks against them.
Spells as dense as a downpour rained down continuously on the shield formed out of Uru metal by Asura Path.
The immense force generated by the bombardment of spells was difficult to bear even for a human puppet as strength-endowed as Asura Path; he was driven back repeatedly, his stance growing unstable.
With a flick of his wand, Deva Path sent a towering wave of shadow magic crashing toward the Gringotts guards like a black ocean surge.
Yet such a grand and imposing attack achieved meager results against the enemy's Protego Totalum shield, which had gathered the collective power of everyone present.
Under the washing force of the shadow magic, cracks gradually surfaced on the barrier, but under the enemy's continuous output of magic, those cracks were repairing themselves at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Deva Path's wave of attack achieved little effect; instead, it allowed the enemy to seize the brief moment of adjustment following his offensive wave to launch a defensive counterattack.
An overwhelming barrage of spells swept toward Deva Path and Asura Path once again.
"Finite Incantatem!"
Kyle slammed his wand violently into the ground. A golden, glowing barrier rose straight from the earth, instantly blocking the opponent's incoming barrage.
Those seemingly fierce spells struck the barrier, yet failed to produce even the slightest ripple, devoured completely as if sinking into the vast sea.
Seizing the opportunity, the other three Father Troubleshooters joined forces with Deva Path and Asura Path to launch a fresh wave of attacks.
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