To be honest, using the results of several months of work just to deal with a bird-serpent Raichel, something that looked terrifying but in Leonard's eyes was mostly bluff, was an enormous waste.
If Lupin and Sirius had not been there dragging him down, Leonard could have scattered a handful of seeds and fought the Raichels on equal footing.
But Leonard could not do that. Both Lupin and Sirius had seen him use plants before, and he did not want to blow his cover so easily.
So he had no choice but to waste a little and bring out one of his experimental products.
This was a strategic weapon fitted with special plant seeds and infused with a trace amount of ancient magic.
The grenade shot toward the bird-serpent Raichel trailing fire. Raichel reacted sharply and raised a hand to catch it, this thing that was slower than a bullet and much larger.
"This thing..."
Raichel had only just opened his mouth to sneer when the ancient magic on the grenade's surface activated and detonated the specially made round.
The violent explosion destroyed Raichel's other hand, and the metal casing of the grenade burst into a spray of fragments. Fire and shock raced up Raichel's arm, but quickly dissipated, leaving only a bit of scorching behind.
Raichel's palm had indeed been injured in the blast. Beneath the clouds of smoke, the wounds looked horrifying, but in truth they were so minor as to be almost meaningless. Just a bit scorched, nothing more.
"Is that all?" Raichel mocked, but in the very next second he could no longer laugh.
The scattered metal fragments suddenly reversed as though time had been rewound, collapsing toward the center of the explosion. A terrifying pulling force erupted at the same time, tearing apart and devouring everything around it.
A black hole actually formed in midair.
"What... what is this?!"
The bird-serpent Raichel managed only that one cry before his body was yanked helplessly toward the black hole. His enormous form was shredded into a rain of flesh and blood, then swallowed by the void.
The Dragon Raichel and the Scorpion-Tailed Raichel, who had been steadily closing in, both stopped short. They looked up at the destruction of the bird-serpent Raichel, shock flashing through their eyes.
They had originally thought that as the heir to ancient magic, Leonard could at most have one or two troublesome ancient spells. It was not as though they had never seen ancient magic before. At worst, it could kill a few of them with weaker survival abilities.
To them, that had not been worth fearing.
But now it seemed Leonard possessed more than ancient magic as a trump card. What he had just shown was definitely not ancient magic.
They stared at the tubular launcher in Leonard's hands, now spent and no more useful than a stick for stoking a fire, and a trace of greed mixed with wariness flashed through their eyes.
As a qualified wizard, Raichel truly did not understand Muggle weapons. He simply assumed the power of that rocket-propelled grenade came from the launcher itself.
It was a very wizard-like way of thinking. Most alchemical devices worked that way, after all.
So Raichel developed the idea of taking that tubular launcher away. That thought even outweighed his desire to capture Leonard alive.
One Leonard would do nothing more than give ancient magic an heir. What use was that to Raven?
But if they could seize that "alchemical device" and mass-produce it, then Raven would become the most powerful force on this planet, a colossal existence capable of changing the course of history.
The sky suddenly darkened. The Thunderbird Raichel, who had been stationed outside to prevent anyone from observing what was happening around the Shrieking Shack, let out a shrill cry.
Golden lightning intertwined in the clouds, and the Thunderbird Raichel was one of those living bolts of lightning.
And that bolt was charging straight at Leonard.
Just before the lightning struck, Leonard vanished from where he stood and reappeared outside the Shrieking Shack. This was beyond Hogwarts's borders, so Apparition could be used here.
The first attack missed, but Raichel did not lose heart. The golden lightning curved through the air in a wide arc, sweeping over the heads of Lupin and the others as they tried to rush to Leonard's aid. The concentrated charge made their hair stand on end, turning them into human sea urchins.
The sharp smell of ozone filled the air. Watching the lightning come at him again, Leonard raised a hand, and a silver spear-like bolt of thunder appeared in his grasp.
Ancient magic, Gungnir!
Leonard did not waste time talking. He opened with his strongest card.
Like a spear of divine judgment, Gungnir shot toward the golden lightning. Both were moving so fast that in the blink of an eye they were about to collide.
But the expected collision never happened.
The golden lightning passed straight by Gungnir as though it were something unreal.
No, not merely passed by. Leonard noticed the golden lightning change color for an instant. The two had briefly mingled like differently colored streams of water touching, then separated again at once.
Gungnir had missed, and the golden lightning was already upon him. Behind him, the Dragon Raichel and the Scorpion-Tailed Raichel had already closed in.
Lupin, transformed into a Werewolf, charged over. His eyes were green and ferocious, though the sea-urchin-like fur standing all over his body made him look rather ridiculous.
Lupin rushed the Scorpion-Tailed Raichel. In his eyes, this one was the most dangerous, and he wanted to buy Leonard a little time.
His claws slashed toward the scorpion tail, but Lupin had clearly overestimated himself and underestimated the strength of the Scorpion-Tailed Raichel.
With the bloodline of the deadly magical creature known as the Manticore, Raichel far surpassed the earlier bird-serpent Raichel in magic, strength, and speed.
Lupin's pride, his speed and strength, was still nowhere near enough in front of the Scorpion-Tailed Raichel.
The scorpion tail deftly wrapped around Lupin's claws, flung him away with immense force, and lightly stung his arm in the process.
Immediately, Lupin's fur turned purple, his arm swelled up, and he crashed to the ground.
He was not dead, but from the way he was convulsing, it was obvious he was in bad shape.
Lupin's intervention had bought Leonard no more than a negligible half-second.
On the other side, the unimpeded Dragon Raichel exhaled a breath of fire. The breath was not especially hot, and it did not even strike Leonard. It dispersed rapidly like a gas.
Though it looked as though it had done no damage at all, Leonard could feel a chaotic magical power fill the area and wrap around him.
Under those circumstances, he could no longer use Apparition.
Having dealt with Lupin, the Scorpion-Tailed Raichel raised his tail, and the sharp venomous stinger drove toward Leonard. The tail extended like a whip, coiling at him so fast Leonard had no time to cast another defensive spell.
At a glance, Leonard looked thoroughly trapped.
And yet his face remained calm.
He beckoned with one hand.
Far away, Gungnir, which had flown off into the distance, suddenly changed direction without warning. Trailing a dazzling silver light, it came flying back with a sonic boom.