Darcie bounced off the earth, a gasp leaving her mouth.
Before she could touch the ground again, though, she punched down, sending stony gravel flying in all directions.
Flipping, Darcie landed on her feet, skidding before coming to a rest.
Then, she fell, one of her knees thumping against a chunk of stone.
From the front, Voldemort came slithering toward her, looking around, his bloody, slitted pupils carrying a rare, curious, and impressed glint. The bloody protrusion on his chest pulsed, sending pulses of redness through the veins going out of it, covering his entire body.
"Marvelous!" the Dark Lord praised. "Just… marvelous!"
He brought his eyes upon the girl again, stopping a few feet away from her.
"I'd thought…" Voldemort said, looking at himself. "… after becoming like this, I would be able to use powers that had remained… elusive to me before. Hmm… Pardon me, Miss Malfoy. I meant… I would be the only one having access to those powers. But you… You already know them, don't you? I had my doubts… Has the Order been trying to recruit you as well?"
Darcie glared back at the Dark Lord, standing back on her feet.
But there was something wrong with her, she could tell. The unnatural strength granted by the Strengthening Potions was seeping away. Despite the Invigorating and Wideye Potion, she felt a distinct… blurriness about her thoughts.
She remembered the Spell that Voldemort had hit her with.
Perhaps, it hadn't been as simple a Knockback Jinx as she had thought it to be.
Voldemort grinned. "A personal touch, yes," he said, caressing his wand, running his fingers down its length. "Can't have an elegant, brilliant witch acting like a common troll now, can we?"
Darcie tasted blood in her mouth.
Gritting her teeth, she tightened her grip on the wand, which replied with a sweet shock.
Voldemort's eyes narrowed, his gaze stuck to the wand in Darcie's hand. "A Thunderbird Core?" he guessed. "That's a strange wand. Powerful, too. It so happens, Miss Malfoy, that I am in need of a… new wand myself. How about this? Join me. Serve me, in your father's stead. Then, perhaps, he will meet a swift death under my hands. I might even leave your mother alive… for all the good she has done by birthing you."
Darcie raised her wand in reply.
"… disappointing," Voldemort said. "You prefer a losing fight over winning servitude? What other nonsense has Dumbledore been teaching you?"
This time, Darcie grinned. "Why don't you ask this to him… yourself?"
Voldemort was about to frown at that when, suddenly, the night darkened, gaining a fiery touch.
A blackness came crawling from the horizon and overwhelmed everything.
In the sky, a humongous bird stretched its wings, eclipsing the full moon.
Then, wearing dark robes and carrying nothing but Despair and Death in his eyes, Lord Black Phoenix walked out from the darkness, standing next to Darcie.
The two parties stood in their places for a moment in silence.
Voldemort appraised the new Dumbledore, looking him up and down, his eyes landing on the black phoenix shadowing the moon in the sky now and then.
Meanwhile, Dumbeldore did the same with Voldemort, his black eyes glaring right at the bloody protrusion embedded in the enemy's chest.
No one said anything.
And when they moved, it was to kill each other.
A jet of green light, as thick as a hand, left Voldemort's wand, a black jet of fiery lightning coming out of Dumbledore's wand to meet it in between.
Where the two magics met, the surroundings imploded.
A vacuum made the ears lose all sense of hearing, sucking in all the debris and a few unlucky Death Eaters.
Then, it exploded.
BOOM!
It was an explosion seen never before.
Waves of green and black magical lights pulsed out, sending everything and everyone flying. The flashes of light were so bright that they blinded the eyes, making one feel as if needles were stabbing into them.
By the time the first display of might ended, both Voldemort and Dumbledore had skidded a few steps back.
"Haha…" the Dark Lord let out a raspy laugh. "… Shocked, aren't you? I…"
Voldemort couldn't finish his words.
A rumble echoed in his ears, making him snap his head up.
At some point, under the fiery blackness, clouds had gathered, green lightning snaking through them.
Then, from those clouds, something came flying down.
Darcie's six-winged Thunderbird transformation brought a cloud of lightning with it, stray bolts landing here and there, annihilating everything.
Voldemort couldn't keep looking at her, though.
Sensing something amiss, he snapped his head down and found Dumbledore levitating midair, his black eyes fuming… literally.
In the very next moment, Lord Black Phoenix's entire body caught black flames.
When the flames subsided, a huge, black Phoenix appeared in his face, its wings spanning dozens of feet.
Then, with one flap, burning everything around him, the transfigured Phoenix hissed toward Voldemort as well.
CRYYYYYYYYYY!
The Thunderbird and Phoenix let out a cry, sending bolts of lightning and pillars of fire toward the enemy.
For the first time, Voldemort's face gained a touch of graveness. "Nagini!"
The serpent once again came out of nowhere and lunged toward the Dark Lord.
Voldemort waved his hands as if he had grabbed Nagini's head midair and spun, his entire figure becoming a blur.
The lightning-fire attack landed, creating a green-black explosion.
Even before the explosion's dual-colored destruction could settle down, though, a figure came lunging out of it… hissing.
It was a massive serpent, nearly fifty meters long, carrying a touch of redness on its scaly, patterned body.
Baring its fangs, dripping with poison, the serpent hissed, its bloody pupils narrowing at the enemies.
From the other side, the six-winged Thunderbird and black Phoenix let out a cry.
Then, as green lightning, black fire, and bloody halo overwhelmed the surroundings…
… the three shot toward each other, their mere presence flattening everything!
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AN: Cinematic Image of the scene of Thunderbird (Darcie), Black Phoenix (Dumbledore), and Serpent (Voldemort) fighting each other is available