The South Downs, as the name suggests, are a wide countryside region in southern England, known for their rolling green hills, scattered forests, and open fields stretching endlessly into the distance, much of it remaining largely untouched by modernization, with only a handful of small settlements scattered here and there. Because of that, the region possesses a peaceful beauty that looks almost straight out of a postcard, causing tourists to flock in large numbers. During the daytime, visitors can even outnumber the locals, but once night falls, most of them return to London, only a little over an hour away by train, leaving the region quiet once more. Ordinarily, that is. Much like the neighboring regions around London, they too had become witnesses to the earth-shaking events unfolding over the distant capital. The villagers were first awakened by the echoing thunderclaps, and after stepping out of their homes, they saw strange flashes of light streaking across the sky, sometimes even in their direction, like divine shooting stars lighting up the night for brief moments at a time. Such a sight caused no small amount of panic, with people wondering what was happening and coming up with all sorts of strange, even outrageous speculations, a few families even choosing to evacuate without a second thought. Those who stayed behind continued watching, continued their endless speculation, with a few daring even climbing toward the hills for a better view, their fear slowly giving way to fascination, perhaps because it was happening far enough away. Nearly an hour passed in that manner, and just when they thought it was finally going to end, they saw the chaos suddenly intensify, countless times more violent than before. And worst... it appeared to be heading directly toward them. Panic spread once again, every single one of them sharing the same thought this time: they wanted to get away, as fast and as far as possible. Too bad though, the approaching calamity seemed even faster, before many could even make it past their village gates, it had already come knocking... WoooOOOSHH — BOOOOOOOM! Their heads instinctively raised upon hearing a shrieking sound at first, like a missile tearing through the sky, the pitch rising rapidly until finally a deafening explosion rang out, accompanied by the ground trembling beneath their feet. --- “Are you... fine, Headmaster?” asked Maverick, giving Dumbledore a sideways glance as the old wizard appeared to need a brief moment to catch his breath. They were currently above the White Cliffs of Dover, hovering directly over the pale hills, the battle seeming to have pushed them even farther south, beyond which lay only the dark waters of the English Channel. The white cliffs were enormous walls of pale stone, certainly a breathtaking sight under the half-crescent, though now was hardly the time to appreciate that. Instead, their attention was focused on the crater directly below, carved into one of the hills. It was not particularly wide, but certainly deep, the result of their “coordination,” which honestly had worked even better than either of them anticipated. “Perfectly fine, my boy...” said Dumbledore after a moment, his attention still fixed on the crater in the ground. Maverick raised an inquisitive brow at the old man, obviously not believing him. Dumbledore was a Warlock-ranked wizard just like him, and he knew better just how absurdly deep their stamina should be, so for Dumbledore to show signs of fatigue this quickly could only mean one of two things. Either something was seriously wrong, or... Sigh... Dumbledore let out a quiet sigh, without even looking, he seems to have already understood what Maverick was thinking. “Gellert... is...”Ah... so that’s it... Maverick thought inwardly. Actually, he didn’t fully understand, just didn’t want to hear whatever the old man was about to say next. “Headmaster...” So before he could finish, Maverick instead cut in. “Why don’t you leave him to me from this point onward?” He paused briefly, giving the surrounding area a quick glance before turning back toward him again. “I can’t sense a single soul nearby, which means the Supreme Mage has already taken action...” “You intend to face him alone?” Dumbledore’s brow slowly rose, “are you perhaps underestimating him...” “Not even slightly...” Maverick smiled confidently in response. “But since you asked, Headmaster... are you perhaps underestimating me instead?” Dumbledore remained silent for several seconds, seemingly deep in thought, when suddenly both his and Maverick’s heads turned downward toward the crater again. “AALLLLBBAAAAAAS!” “Heh...” A small chuckle left Maverick as his magical sense burrowed deep into the crater, catching the ugly expression on the old Dark Lord’s face. “I’d say he’s rather unhappy.” Dumbledore saw it as well, his expression remaining thoughtful for another moment before finally saying, “Please exercise caution...” Then without another word, he disappeared. Meanwhile, a dangerous excitement flickered across Maverick’s face, his blood starting to boil. HMMMM— At the same time, the air around him soon began producing a faint charging sound, while his body slowly ascended farther into the night sky. —HUMM—BOOOOOM— Just a split second before the earth-shattering shockwave erupted, Maverick anchored himself even firmer into space. The first thing he felt was a violent surge of dominant spirit attempting to crush him, crush his will, but his resolve remained firm as a mountain, the pressure doing nothing more than whipping his hair and coat violently. At the same time, the ground below him began trembling like a catastrophic earthquake was about to erupt. From the crater beneath, something monstrous emerged. It was certainly not a man, but a gigantic claw made of Fiendfyre so thick it appeared almost solid. Each talon was the size of a truck. It slammed into the earth violently, and moments later another claw erupted nearby like a volcanic blast, likewise gripping the ground. RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE- The rumbling only intensified until at last its head emerged, jaws spread open in a ferocious snarl. Without a moment’s pause, the rest of its colossal body, nearly the size of two combined 747s, was slowly dragged from the crater, the ground around its enormous frame melting into boiling magma. However, Maverick barely paid attention to the gigantic beast, his focus was entirely on the tiny figure standing atop its head, the creator of the very calamity itself. And as though sensing the challenge directed at him, Gellert Grindelwald slowly raised his head as well, his burned and torn clothes fluttering amidst the violent winds. Then, across the vast distance between them, their eyes locked directly. Maverick greeted him with a mocking grin, but Grindelwald did not react at first. He seemed briefly distracted, his eyes scanning through the chaos as though searching for something important, after which the anger on his face twisted into outright ferociousness. His old friend, the very subject of his search moments ago, was nowhere to be found. How dare he… And how dare this- “BOY!” Accompanied by his furious wail, a terrifying pressure engulfed the entire area, the dense dominant spirit of his oceanic magic spreading outward and turning almost tangible, sending forth a tidal wave of mental coercion. Maverick responded in kind, his eyes flashing before an equally tyrannical force erupted from him. The world held its breath in that instant. The sky darkened instantly as colossal storm clouds gathered out of nowhere above them, as though drawn forth by their overwhelming power, before violently splitting apart from the middle, each side trying to overwhelm and consume the other. At the same time, hurricane-force winds began to scream while the sky flashed endlessly with terrifying crimson-purple lightning instead of their natural blue, and like a storm from an apocalypse, bolts of destruction began raining down relentlessly. Before the two tyrants had even clashed directly, the surrounding miles had already become a domain of pure chaos, twisted by both physical destruction and invisible forces beyond comprehension, making survival impossible for any ordinary man, let alone spectating. “HAAA-” Without ceremony, the old Dark Lord lunged his wand forward, crimson light erupting from its tip as a dense sphere of magical energy rapidly formed before it. The sheer force of it caused even nearby space to wobble unnaturally while thin crimson lightning coiled around the sphere in violent arcs. Then he fired. HUMM-BOOM- Like a divine arrow, it blasted forward faster than one could even blink. However, the span of a blink was more than enough time for a warlock to react. On the other side, Maverick was not standing idle either. Mirroring the old Dark Lord, he thrust his hand forward, one hand supporting the other as an equally terrifying amount of energy rapidly condensed before him, while the tangible, tyrannical will born from his arrogance coiled around the magic like a living force. The Blasting Hex. Ordinarily, it was a spell that required chanting, verbally or otherwise, alongside intent to invoke its rules. But for the two of them, a mere thought was enough. The rules of destruction answered their will alone, their overwhelming magic fueling the rest. CRACK! The moment they clashed, no, even before they fully collided, the sound of something breaking echoed, like glass. The two bucket-thick streaks of energy had not even completely met before a catastrophic shockwave erupted outward. ROAAAR! The draconic construct beneath Grindelwald also roared, as though fuelled by its master’s desire to destroy. The catastrophic backlash tore outward with enough force to devastate everything, while beneath the collision point, an enormous crater also rapidly expanded outward, consuming and annihilating everything in sight. Even the storm clouds gathered overhead were blasted apart instantly, revealing the crescent moon once more, however, the crimson lightning raining seemed to have grown even more violent afterward. BOOOM-BOOOM-BOOOM-BOOOM- RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE- It was as though a colossal meteor had struck the region, annihilating everything.