Night was thick, and the figure of a man abruptly emerged from the void.
Before long, the man passed through a magnificent wrought-iron gate and arrived in front of a very luxurious mansion.
Stepping onto the marble stairs at the entrance, he walked into the dimly lit foyer. The man strode across the stone floor covered with a rich carpet, his footsteps muffled to near silence by its thick pile.
He stopped in front of a heavy wooden door, turned the bronze knob, and pushed it open.
In the living room stood an exquisitely decorated long table, around which sat four silent figures.
A roaring fire burned in the ornate marble fireplace, illuminating the room; above the mantelpiece hung a gilded mirror.
"Yaxley," Lucius's voice echoed from the head of the table, "what news is there?"
Hearing Lucius's question, the man named Yaxley wore a somber face, his gaze slowly scanning the faces of the four people around the table.
"All personnel sent to Albania have lost contact with us," Yaxley said as he pulled out a chair beside the table and sat down.
Hearing this answer from Yaxley's mouth, a woman whose skin presented a sickly pale complexion struck the table before her furiously with her fist, producing a dull thud.
"Damn it! That is already the third group!" Bellatrix cursed venomously, then began to mutter under her breath.
Her voice was not loud; Narcissa, sitting beside her, could barely make out that she seemed to be saying the group Yaxley sent out were all useless trash.
The other three around the table paid no mind to Bellatrix.
"Did any message come back before they vanished?" Snape asked with a cold face.
"None," Yaxley shook his head. "The only piece of somewhat valuable information is that Albania currently seems to be in the middle of a coup d'état."
Lucius seemed to harbor some interest; he leaned forward slightly. "A coup d'état?"
"A short while ago, a mysterious organization called Akatsuki appeared over there," Yaxley explained. "They have only seven members, but every single one possesses immense strength."
He held up a single finger. "In just one week's time, they conquered a local lawless land."
A lawless land referred to a gathering place of dark wizards similar to Knockturn Alley, but far worse in nature.
If the British Ministry of Magic wished to intervene, it could still carry out a certain degree of crackdowns on Knockturn Alley, and the group of dark wizards in Knockturn Alley wouldn't dare openly oppose the Ministry either.
However, over in Albania, because the power of its Ministry of Magic was exceedingly feeble, let alone controlling the gathering places of dark wizards, it was already a blessing that those dark wizards didn't launch an offensive against the Albanian Ministry of Magic instead.
Under such fierce local customs, what came with it was extremely formidable personal combat capability.
Without formidable strength, living in a lawless land was simply impossible; if one stepped foot into it, they likely wouldn't even live to see tomorrow's sun before being turned into magical ingredients by someone else.
And that Akatsuki organization, whose origin they had never heard of before, had conquered a lawless land relying merely on seven people...
One had to know that in Albania, not every gathering place of dark wizards could be called a lawless land; only when the scale of dark wizards gathered reached a certain threshold was it worthy of that title.
Even if the British Ministry of Magic were deployed, taking down a lawless land without fifty Aurors coordinating with each other would be out of the question.
"What does this have to do with our people vanishing?!" Bellatrix interrupted impatiently.
Of course it had a connection.
According to reports from the third group of Death Eaters sent to search for traces of the Dark Lord in the forests of Albania, the people from Akatsuki were likewise searching for something inside those same forests.
If they weren't mistaken, those people were likely searching for traces of Voldemort, just like themselves.
However, Yaxley was too bothered to tell Bellatrix this; he didn't want to pay any mind to this madwoman who was only capable of helpless, wild rages.
A few months ago, upon hearing that the Lestrange family vault in Gringotts had been thoroughly ransacked, Bellatrix had lost her mind, flying into rages at everyone everywhere.
Had the Malfoy couple not restrained her, she might even have done something like charging straight into Gringotts, grabbing those goblins, and demanding compensation.
One had to remember that she carried the identity of an Azkaban fugitive on her head.
That day, after the Dark Mark representing Voldemort floated above Diagon Alley, the Ministry of Magic immediately dispatched personnel to Azkaban to investigate the situation.
This had also led to their original, stealthy jailbreak operation being discovered by the Ministry.
With a First-Generation Dark Lord already rampaging on the outside, in order to avoid causing panic among the public, the Ministry of Magic...
Er, actually, that was merely an excuse; at its core, it was simply Cornelius Fudge wanting to keep a lid on things.
After all, their British Ministry of Magic had prepared for this year's Quidditch World Cup for so long; if these pieces of news were released right now, the World Cup might be canceled or postponed—how could that be allowed?
These were all political achievements for him as the Minister for Magic.
Therefore, under the circumstances where the Death Eaters didn't actively jump out to cause trouble, Fudge simply allowed them to roam unchecked.
As for the Dark Mark that had appeared in Diagon Alley a short while ago, since no one had clearly seen the faces of that group, Fudge classified them as lucky fish that had escaped the net when the Death Eaters were purged back in the day and had been wandering abroad ever since.
For their group of jailbroken Death Eaters who could not see the light of day, this was already the best possible way to handle it.
But if Bellatrix were mad enough to reveal herself inside Gringotts, the Ministry of Magic would absolutely blow its top.
Having listened to Yaxley's account, Lucius bent his fingers and tapped lightly on the table.
"They are searching for traces of the Dark Lord as well?"
Around the table, silence reigned for a long while; in the end, it was Snape who broke this quiet.
Speaking deliberately in a tone devoid of any emotion, he said, "If nothing unexpected occurs, that should be the case."
"Is there any possibility of cooperation?" Narcissa, who had remained silent from the very beginning, couldn't help but speak up and ask.
Yaxley let out a sigh; if Akatsuki were willing to cooperate with them, their people wouldn't have vanished so inexplicably.
He didn't even need to guess to judge that the ones who had acted against their men were absolutely the people from Akatsuki.
Snape narrowed his eyes slightly, a guess surfacing in his heart——could this mysterious Akatsuki organization be the personnel under Kyle's command?
Ever since he had brought this group of Death Eaters out of Azkaban, they had been clamoring non-stop about going to Albania to search for traces of Voldemort and welcome back their Dark Lord.
Voldemort's return was something that neither Snape nor Lucius wished to see.
Unless they could find all of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Although Dumbledore and Kyle had already uncovered three of Voldemort's Horcruxes, including the Resurrection Stone ring in his own hands and Harry, the living Horcrux...
Counting them up, a total of five Horcruxes had been found so far.
However, to their knowledge, there was currently at least one remaining heirloom of Slytherin that had likewise been made into a Horcrux and was wandering outside.
Yet, were six Horcruxes the entirety of Voldemort's Horcrux count?
Who could guarantee that Voldemort didn't possess a seventh, an eighth, or a ninth?
Before finding every single one of Voldemort's Horcruxes and destroying them all, neither Snape nor Lucius was willing to see Voldemort make a forceful return.
Yet, facing the proposal of numerous Death Eaters headed by Bellatrix, they had no way to refuse either.
Therefore, after they sent people to Albania, Snape turned right around and informed Kyle of this matter.
Over in Albania, it was likely Kyle's handiwork.
Only... a coup d'état?
Snape could only say: as expected of a child of the Grindelwald family.
He pondered whether Albus Dumbledore actually knew that his fine son had pulled off such an "earth-shattering" major event as overthrowing a nation's Ministry of Magic.
If he knew and still did not put a stop to it, that would truly be terrifying.
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