The leading wizard's expression changed. Although the mask concealed his face, the fear in his eyes was unmistakable.
Wade's methods were simply too bizarre.
For wizards like them, Apparition was as effortless as eating or drinking.
Unless their senses or even their thoughts had been disrupted, they could never have Apparated back to the same spot.
In other words, Wade's words were highly credible.
Faced with an enemy who could freely manipulate their five senses and even their thoughts, they had no chance of winning.
More awkwardly, it seemed they could not even escape.
"No! That's not right! If your strange magic were truly that powerful, there's no way we'd still be alive!"
The leader of so many formidable wizards was no fool.
Only three of the twenty-odd remaining wizards had fallen.
That was hardly good news, but Wade had still expended considerable effort to kill them.
If Wade could truly confuse all their senses as completely as he claimed, he would not have needed to work so hard just to eliminate three people.
Take the wizard Wade had relentlessly pursued earlier.
Wade could simply have made him hallucinate and disrupted his Apparition.
If so, killing him would never have taken so long.
Merely interfering with his senses might have caused him to Splinch himself badly during Apparition.
That meant Wade's magic definitely had limitations that prevented him from using it freely.
Which meant they still had a chance to escape.
"Tch. What a shame. You almost believed me," Wade said regretfully.
"Spread out! Leave on broomsticks!"
At the leader's roar, the wizards pulled broomsticks from pockets enchanted with Extension Charms and shot into the sky.
At present, Wade was the only person there capable of fighting them.
The students on the other side were protected behind a strange barrier, and the leader could sense how powerful it was.
It seemed another formidable wizard was hiding nearby.
That made taking a hostage difficult.
And since Apparition was apparently unreliable, escaping by broomstick was the safest option.
"I never said you could leave," Wade said with a smile.
Before he had even finished speaking, two wizards abandoned their escape and turned back to attack him.
No one had expected enemies already fleeing to suddenly launch a surprise assault.
"Hm?" Wade looked at the pair in surprise.
The two attacked together with all their strength.
For a moment, they truly seemed to have pinned Wade down.
Seizing that brief opportunity, the remaining wizards fled on their broomsticks until they were nothing more than tiny black specks in the distance.
Once they escaped Wade's line of sight, they could attempt Apparition again and flee successfully.
However, their spells passed through Wade's phantom as before.
While the two wizards stood frozen in confusion, a Stunning Spell split into two and struck them both in the back.
Only after they collapsed did Wade's figure appear behind them.
The people watching from behind the barrier could no longer understand what they were seeing.
"Another fake? Which one is the real Wade?" Anne asked with a frown.
Andre stared at the battlefield with a complicated expression and remained silent.
This was exactly how he had lost to Wade in the past.
"The one behind them should be real, right?"
"Not necessarily. Maybe the one in front was real at first and was secretly replaced by an illusion at some point."
Everyone began discussing it at once.
"Stop guessing. There isn't a real one anywhere on the battlefield," Tom said coldly.
"No real one? How is that possible?" Anne asked in surprise.
"Knowing Wade, do you really think he'd let anyone see his actual body during a battle?" Tom sneered. "For all we know, his real body is standing beside us right now, watching the show."
Everyone immediately looked around.
"That can't be true. The fight was so intense. Could an illusion really battle them for that long?" Anne clearly did not believe it.
"And how do you know the battle you just watched was real?" Tom asked calmly.
Everyone drew a sharp breath and began looking around suspiciously.
"Tom... don't you think you're becoming a little too paranoid?" Anne frowned.
Suddenly, Grace asked hesitantly, "Then could the Wade who attended classes with us before... also have been fake?"
Tom's expression changed instantly.
Damn it!
That was entirely possible.
How else did Wade have so much time to conduct all those ridiculous experiments?
He could send an illusory double to class while his real body hid somewhere and worked himself to the bone.
So that was it!
He had been secretly working harder all this time!
No wonder Tom could never catch up with him!
Tom's thinking had become somewhat obsessive.
Of course, he could hardly be blamed. He was naturally suspicious, and Wade was always blurring the line between truth and illusion. It would have been stranger if Tom hadn't overthought things.
At that moment, Wade ignored the two fallen wizards and looked into the distance.
Capturing two alive was not enough.
Since they had been left behind to cover the retreat, they probably did not know much.
So Wade absolutely could not allow the leader to escape.
...
At that moment, the leading wizard was racing away on his broomstick.
He glanced back towards Wade in the distance.
The two wizards left behind had already collapsed at Wade's feet.
Meanwhile, Wade remained standing in place, staring in the direction the others had fled.
The leader drew a sharp breath and immediately accelerated.
As expected! The moment that fellow stopped playing around, he defeated the others almost instantly!
At the same time, the wizard raised his wand and released vast amounts of white mist in an attempt to block Wade's view.
The distance might have seemed considerable, but with Wade's strength, as long as he could still see their backs, he could Apparate behind them in an instant.
The white fog would at least prevent Wade from identifying which one was the leader.
Even if Wade found him, the mist would make it harder for him to Apparate directly behind him.
Seeing this, the other wizards followed suit. Soon, white fog filled the sky.
The leading wizard breathed a sigh of relief.
The tactic seemed to be working. Wade had not appeared behind him.
In fact, Wade still had not moved at all. He had not Apparated after any of the fleeing wizards.
"Strange. Why isn't he pursuing us? Does he think capturing only two people will be enough to uncover our identities?"
The leader felt vaguely uneasy, as though something was wrong.
But now that he had finally escaped Wade's sight, he had no time to think deeply. He only wanted to get as far away as possible.
Once they reached a completely safe distance, they could Apparate away.
...
Meanwhile, Wade remained standing motionless, looking as though he were in a daze to Tom and the others.
They wanted to approach and ask what he was doing, but the protective barrier was still in place.
"Excuse me, ma'am. The enemies have retreated. You can remove the barrier now," Tom said anxiously.
The elderly witch stood nearby with a warm smile.
"Don't be impatient, child. There's still a little left."
"A little left? Do you mean the battle isn't over yet?" Anne asked in surprise.
"There's no hurry. It will be over soon," the elderly witch said cheerfully. "Look, he's moving."
Tom and the others immediately looked towards the battlefield.
Sure enough, Wade had raised the Elder Wand, and an intense red light was glowing at its tip.
That was the sign of a spell about to be cast.
But there were no enemies left in front of him.
Before Tom could ask what was happening...
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The sharp sounds of Apparition echoed repeatedly.
Tom raised an eyebrow.
Someone had arrived by Apparition.
Had Dumbledore and the others finally come?
However, in the next instant, Tom and the others froze.
Every single one of the wizards who had just fled reappeared directly in front of Wade.
"Aha! We meet again!" Wade said with a smile.
At the same moment, a burst of blazing red light erupted from the tip of the Elder Wand.
The wizards were filled with despair, especially their leader.
He had known Wade would not abandon the pursuit so easily.
But he could never have imagined that after flying far enough away and Apparating to safety, he would reappear not in the safe house, but directly in front of Wade.
During that brief moment of stunned disbelief, the blazing red light spread through their ranks.
The leader felt his chest go numb.
Then the world spun, and he knew nothing more.
...
Only then did Tom and the others understand why the elderly witch had said that things were not over yet.
Wade had been waiting for them to walk straight into his trap.
The elderly witch lightly waved her wand, and the protective barrier disappeared.
"Now it's over," she said with a smile. "Honestly, that child is so mischievous. He could clearly have ended the fight quickly, but instead he insisted on putting on such a performance."
Tom wanted to ask who she really was.
Someone capable of casting such a powerful shield and seeing through Wade's methods could not possibly be an ordinary witch.
But at that moment, the members of the Mutual Aid Society surged towards Wade.
Tom was jostled twice and lost sight of her. By the time he steadied himself, the elderly witch had disappeared.
He searched for quite a while but could not find her, so he eventually gave up.
By the time he reached Wade, the members of the Mutual Aid Society had already tied up all the masked wizards.
Before binding them, they had hit each one with several additional Stunning Spells.
Even the unconscious giant had been wrapped tightly in a mass of thick vines Wade had conjured.
Once they had nearly finished, the sounds of Apparition echoed across the scene once more.
Dumbledore and Headmaster Dippet appeared first, both looking grim.
They were followed by a large group of Ministry Aurors and Healers from St Mungo's.
Grindelwald arrived last, accompanied by a large group of fierce-looking Alliance members.
Wade surveyed the impressive gathering and shrugged.
"See, Tom? Aurors always arrive after everything is over."
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[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69