"Reducto!"
Tina's sharp cry rang through the chamber. Her curse, laden with fury, struck the stone hand and blasted it to pieces. But hidden behind it were several even deadlier spells. Grindelwald was fending off the Aurors' attacks from every direction, yet he still had the leisure to play tricks in the middle of battle. Tina could not help feeling that his time in Nurmengard had not been imprisonment at all, but some sort of advanced training.
The three curses flew too quickly. She had already put her full strength into that Reductor Curse, and there was no way she could stop them in time. Tina had just been about to pull Newt aside and dodge when two black Kneazles leapt out of the suitcase in Newt's hand and hurled themselves fearlessly toward the incoming red light.
When the curses struck them, the black cats let out shrill cries and split into two.
Grindelwald's face darkened.
Those were split-headed spirit cats. When they suffered a fatal attack, they divided. They could do so two or three times at most. Even the Killing Curse would need to hit them several times in succession to truly finish them off. They were the perfect shields.
Again, these bizarre creatures.
It had been like this back then, and it was still like this now.
Grindelwald stepped directly down from the statue. Powerful magic swelled around him, his wand cutting through the air again and again. Every curse fired from every direction was knocked aside, yet not one of them could halt his advance. He walked forward one step at a time toward Newt and Tina, and he still had energy to spare to interfere with the two of them, making escape impossible.
Only now did the witches and wizards who had believed numbers alone meant victory finally understand why Grindelwald's return had caused such an uproar, why the entire magical world trembled at his name.
Their magic could not harm him in the slightest.
Newt's expression turned grave. At this point, he no longer cared about the consequences. He stopped holding back completely. His suitcase flew open wide, and one magical creature after another burst out of it.
A Horned Serpent, an Erumpent, a Graphorn, a Swooping Evil, even a Chinese Fireball and a Ukrainian Ironbelly, along with countless other magical creatures.
...
In an instant, the conference hall turned into a zoo.
The moment the dragons appeared, they smashed straight through the ceiling overhead. Then, from high above, they poured fire down upon Grindelwald. The Erumpent's horn lit up with mottled crimson like molten lava as it launched a charge, and every step it took made the floor shake.
Grindelwald reached out and absorbed the dragonfire. The Erumpent was already charging toward him, forcing him to switch hands and send the flames back out, making the beast veer off course. At that moment, the gem atop the Horned Serpent's head gave off a faint glow, and his mind wavered for a brief instant. When he came back to himself, the Swooping Evil was already diving at him.
"Get lost!"
With a low roar, a tremendous shockwave burst out from Grindelwald's body, hurling many magical creatures and several wizards away. But the heavier beasts were not affected.
These uniquely gifted magical creatures were causing more trouble than all the wizards present put together. At last, Grindelwald's advance was forced to slow.
"Retreat first! There isn't enough room here. The Aurors can't properly fight in such a narrow space!" Babajide knew they could not continue the battle here. If even one of the senior Ministry officials present died, it would become an enormous problem.
At his warning, the Ministers for Magic and the heads of the international departments woke as though from a dream. In a panic, they scrambled toward the doors. Even if Grindelwald could be caught today, the cost would certainly be terrible, and none of them had any desire to become part of that cost.
Grindelwald did not even spare them a glance.
His eyes held only Newt.
But then a cold voice in his mind brought him back to himself.
"Stop playing. They're all about to get away."
They?
Right. He was here for Picquery, not for Newt.
Grindelwald's steps halted. He looked toward the doorway, where Sam Picquery, dressed in an elegant suit, was desperately shoving through the crowd and trying to flee with everyone else.
"All curses end!"
He drove his wand into the floor in reverse grip, and a golden curtain of light spread outward at astonishing speed. The spells flying through the air, the dragons' fire, all of it was silenced beneath that light. Even the Anti-Apparition barrier the Aurors had just erected ceased functioning at once.
Crack!
With a sharp explosive sound, Grindelwald appeared within the fleeing crowd. He seized Sam Picquery by the throat with one hand and slammed him directly against the wall.
"Picquery?" he asked, confirming it.
Sam Picquery's face turned red from lack of air. He could only choke and cough, unable to speak a single word, and could do nothing but nod frantically.
As for the witches and wizards trying to escape, none of them showed the slightest intention of rescuing him. Instead, they pushed even more desperately toward the exits.
"Let him go!"
"Grindelwald, stop!"
The Aurors hesitated, afraid to act recklessly. Grindelwald was holding Sam Picquery in front of himself like a human shield. They could only threaten him with words, but Grindelwald paid them no attention at all.
"So it is you."
A smile appeared on Grindelwald's face.
"A descendant of Seraphina Picquery... I remember her. A shrewd and capable witch. It was she who led MACUSA in capturing me for the first time, and from that day forward won immense prestige. Am I wrong?"
"Today, I have come for revenge."
As a descendant of the Picquery family, Sam Picquery knew perfectly well what had happened back then.
Was that not Newt Scamander's doing?
The man was standing right there!
Sam Picquery's eyes darted frantically toward Newt, trying to remind Grindelwald who his real enemy ought to be. But Grindelwald had fixed on him and him alone. Green light began to gather in his hand as he said softly, "You are the first, but you will certainly not be the last."
For a single instant, the blinding green light seemed to fill the whole world.
When it faded, Sam Picquery was dead.
Grindelwald dropped the corpse to the floor as casually as if he were discarding a piece of rubbish.
After doing all that, he turned toward the device broadcasting the live image of the conference hall. It seemed he had guessed who was on the other side. He smiled faintly at it, blasted open the wall, and drifted away into the air.