Chapter 716: I'm Also a Magic Puppet
The boy tilted his head up, his round, childlike eyes wide with wonder and confusion, like a bewildered little beast. Braun stared at Young Master from close range, his inorganic eyes reflecting the flickering flame light—strangely gentle, almost tender.
“Hahaha…” He suddenly laughed, stretching his long fingers playfully in front of Wade’s face. “It’s a secret, can’t tell you~” His voice rose at the end, teasing like a mischievous child.
Wade: “…!” This homebody was unbearable!
Though he didn’t speak, his cheeks puffed up instinctively, his lips pressed into a stubborn line as he glared at Braun with indignant eyes.
Braun laughed harder, shoulders shaking. Then, with a single fluid motion, he reached out and effortlessly lifted the small Wade into his arms.
Wade instinctively struggled, pushing against the man’s neck with his small hands—then froze, startled.
There was… no pulse.
Beneath the soft skin, only the smooth, mechanical texture of artificial flesh.
His body locked in place. His eyes reflected Braun’s face, so close now, and those eyes—so eerily similar to the Mantis Magic Puppet’s.
Six-year-old Wade had long forgotten the alchemical knowledge he once mastered, didn’t know that every alchemist possessed a unique Wind pattern. But his instincts screamed at the overwhelming resemblance.
Could it be…?
That’s what the Cloak meant by… “one of us”?
He stopped struggling, eyes wide with disbelief, searching Braun’s face. Magic Puppet… Could it really be possible?
So the enemy recognition system hadn’t been compromised. It wasn’t a mistake.
They recognized you—because you were one of them.
Braun sensed the boy’s shock. Oddly, it only made him laugh harder.
For so long, it had always been others—stunned, doubting, coveting the Magic Puppets. As their creator, Wade had watched them come into being, yet remained unimpressed, always focused on how they could be improved. Now, at last, he could experience, from the outside, the sheer brilliance of his own creation.
Braun chuckled softly, ruffling Wade’s tousled hair.
“Was that noseless homebody bullying you?” His voice carried a fond, teasing warmth.
“Watch closely—” Braun turned Wade around, wrapping him protectively against his chest, and took the boy’s small hand, guiding it—along with his wand—toward Voldemort and the Death Eaters.
“I’ll avenge you.”
At that moment, the gray-cloaked wizards at the entrance raised their wands too. Somewhere within the ranks of the Death Eaters, a voice let out a desperate, trembling moan.
Voldemort’s serpent face flickered with panic. His nostrils flared. The green light at the tip of his wand danced like a hungry serpent’s tongue.
“You’ve made a fatal mistake, Braun,” Voldemort whispered, so softly it was like a snake slithering over dry leaves. His wand remained pointed at the two silhouettes entwined. “That child is Dumbledore’s heir. Do you really think he’ll bow to you? Impossible! I know people like them—foolish, rigid, stubborn, utterly unreasonable!”
He spread his arms wide, his black robes billowing like a swarm of bats.
“The Wizard Purity Party and the Death Eaters—we are natural allies. We seek the glory of Purebloods. You crave wizard freedom. And Dumbledore? He is our common enemy. Imagine what we could achieve… if we joined forces…”
As Voldemort spoke, Braun appeared to waver—just slightly—before leaning down, whispering a single spell into Wade’s ear.
“Ignis Divinum Furor.”
The ancient incantation brushed against Wade’s ear like a feather. Though the boy had never learned this language, he understood it perfectly.
“What is that?” Wade asked, glancing up at Braun.
“Use it,” Braun murmured, smiling. “Believe in yourself. You can do it.”
Wade thought: Really? But just half an hour ago, I didn’t even know I was a wizard!
He felt a strange, eerie certainty deep in his chest. Yet, as he gripped the wand, the familiar surge of magic was undeniable.
“After all,” Braun raised his wand, the tip aimed directly at the lone Voldemort, a proud curve forming at the corner of his mouth, “you’re the one who’s always been best at creating miracles.”
Voldemort’s slender nostrils flared. His face twisted with fury—and fear.
“Excellent,” he hissed, grinding his teeth. “So you’ve chosen to stand against me. Chosen to embrace Death.”
“Avada Kedavra!”
He roared without warning. A bolt of green light shot forth.
At the same instant, Wade’s lips moved, and behind him, Braun spoke in perfect sync:
“Ignis Divinum Furor! (Divine Fury of Fire!)”
A surge of unbearable heat exploded from Wade’s chest. Magic surged through his arm, racing down his hand, flooding his fingertips—and erupting from the wand in a torrent of pure flame.
This was no ordinary spell-light.
It was a torrent of fire—gold-red, bright yellow, electric blue-white—its color shifting, its temperature rising with terrifying speed. Where it passed, grass withered, bricks shattered, shadows themselves seemed to dissolve.
The air warped in grotesque heat waves. Before the Killing Curse’s green beam even struck the flame stream, it twisted violently—then detonated with a sharp crack, vaporizing a wasp-like Magic Puppet nearby.
“You!” Voldemort’s serpent face finally revealed raw terror. A searing pain tore through his soul, as if being burned, ripped apart.
That light… that incinerating heat…
He frantically waved his wand, summoning layer after layer of silver shields from thin air—just in time.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The shields crumbled instantly under the flame’s devouring force.
The Death Eaters on the ground couldn’t hold back any longer. They scrambled to their feet, fleeing in every direction—ignoring the approaching Wizard Purity Party, ignoring the endless ranks of Magic Puppets, desperate to escape.
Boom—
The flame stream consumed the space where Voldemort had stood, leaving no obstacle in its path. It surged forward, expanding into a blazing, searing beam in the night sky.
Inside and around the monastery, silence fell so complete you could hear a needle drop.
The Death Eaters trembled, collapsed on the ground. Among the ranks of the Wizard Purity Party, someone trembled with excitement.
“Is it over?” Wade whispered. “Did Voldemort die?”
Braun sighed softly.
“I regret to say… no. He Apparated at the last moment.”
He paused, then added, “But this time, I think he’ll remember me clearly.”
“Will you be in danger?” Wade asked, worry tugging at his voice.
Braun laughed again, brushing his chin against the boy’s shoulder. His chest rumbled with quiet amusement.
“My dearest master,” he said, smiling, “I’m also a Magic Puppet.”
“Just like those sacrificed hornets… there’s no real difference between us. Can you understand?”
(End of Chapter)
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