Harry Potter and the Artificer Legacy Chapter 76 (Patreon)

Hey friends and fans! Kairomaru is bringing you another chapter of Harry Potter and the Artificer Legacy! The Rebellion continues on as the Goblins, led by Ragnok, march into full-on battle against the Dwarves of Erdunn! Ragnok brings a force of two-thousand Goblins to meet the army of Erdunn…but is that all? The Goblins are outnumbered, outgunned, and outmatched at the moment, what can they do to even up the fight? Can the forces of the Aurors, Hit Wizards, Harry and Family, the Order of the Phoenix, and the Erdunn Dwarves force the horde of Goblins back into Gringotts and finally retake the tunnels that were stolen from the Dwarves so long ago?

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So, without further delay, please enjoy.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Chapter 76 – Reckless Greed and the Power of Artifacts

“Get out of my way.” Harry swung Aethereum casually to send a small force of Goblins flying through the air. They slammed down into the ground hard a couple of seconds later and didn’t move again. “This’ll be tunnel number one-hundred-seventeen.” He murmured to himself as he headed down into the Underground station and quickly found the large hole in the wall. Flames alighted along Aethereum’s blade and quickly turned blue as the heat skyrocketed. With a thrust of his Artifact Sword, a hell storm was unleashed down the tunnel. Harry held it about thirty seconds before stopping, leaving the Goblin tunnel nothing more than molten rock that glowed a bright yellow-orange color.

This strategy of closing off as many of the Goblin tunnels into the Underground as possible wouldn’t have been feasible for even a fairly powerful Wizard like Harry if he was using his own Magic to do it. But the power of Artifacts, especially those of Greater Grade and higher, with their own innate power, meant that Harry barely had to expend any of his own strength to get the results that he wanted. That was how he’d already closed off just over forty percent of all the Underground tunnels made by the Goblins, so far.

Between fighting and killing every force of Goblins he came across between Underground stations, Harry had spent over an hour of the Goblin Rebellion just sealing off the tunnels one after another, preventing more Goblins from coming into London, and cutting off retreat for the Goblins already here. Without Aethereum, he’d have been exhausted long before now.

“Maybe I should contact the others and get a quick update on the situation?” Harry flew up out of the Underground station and then went high into the air to get a look at London from above. “Bloody hell…” There was smoke rising from all over the city and the sounds of gunfire and spellfire could be heard with frequency.

No one in Magical Britain, not even the Ministry’s Goblin Liaison Office, knew just how many Goblins resided in Gringotts. The Goblins had never been forthcoming with their population, after all. But for how long they’d been quiet since the last rebellion, it seemed that they’d been spending much of that time to vastly increase their numbers.

Harry pulled out one of the Communication Mirrors that he’d made specifically for his family and close friends. “Penelope Clearwater.” He spoke to it and hoped that she would be able to pick up.

-Dumbledore-

A sharp flick of his oddly knotted wand and a large group of Goblins died as the very air around them was transfigured into stone. The entombed Goblins would suffocate within their rocky prisons in short order, unable to move, unable to see, unable to hear; it was a terrible fate, but Dumbledore’s Occlumency shielded him from feeling the emotional weight of ending so many lives.

Two small loops of the tip of his wand and Dumbledore pulled an immense amount of water from the nearby Thames River and deluged part of the battlefield with it. The water rushed in, swirled about under Dumbledore’s control, and then visibly compressed until it turned darker as it filled with the blood of the crushed Goblins. The water was then vanished with a simple point and flick of Dumbledore’s wand, only the armor and shields of the Goblins hitting the ground, most of it warped, bent, or broken from the incredible pressure that had been exerted by the water.

Many Wizards and Witches often wonder about the limits of Dumbledore’s power. The old Headmaster had been hailed as a prodigy since his First Year at Hogwarts and never seemed to stop acquiring one accolade or another throughout his life. Many had noticed that in the years following his defeat of Gellert Grindelwald in 1945, that Dumbledore’s strength had seemingly become unquestionable. At least, until Voldemort had come along and began his reign of terror in the Seventies. But even the Dark Lord never bested Dumbledore in any confrontation they’d ever had. The old Wizard seemed to be without equal, his Magic seemingly never running dry and the force of his spells allowed him to do what the majority of Witches and Wizards could only dream of.

No one seemed to notice that Dumbledore had been using a different wand since his defeat of Grindelwald.

Only one person suspected anything of the oddly knotted wand that Dumbledore held, and that was Harry Potter. The prodigious, some would say genius, Artificer had wondered about the odd wand the few times he’d seen it. It wasn’t that the wand looked particularly special or anything, several Wizards and Witches had their wands decorated with fancy handles or had them modified in one way or another as they got older. No, what had attracted Harry’s attention had been the sense of power that he could feel from the wand. Having created Artifacts with their own innate power, Harry was familiar with the sensation. But as he’d never had any reason, nor much time, to ask Dumbledore about the wand, the mystery had fallen to the wayside.

If Harry had the chance to examine the wand, even without knowing about wandlore, he’d have definitely noticed that the wand and his Invisibility Cloak had a similar feeling to their Magic. Such an obvious connection would mean only one thing to the Master Artificer: the wand and the cloak had the same maker.

Alas, such an opportunity had never come and so the connection was completely unknown to Harry.

“KRAGRK ORCUL UNDUR!!!” Ragnok’s voice boomed over the battlefield that this part of London had become. Hundreds of fully armed and armored Goblins emerged from every Underground station, alleyway, and even dozens of buildings that had been attacked and ransacked already. The Goblins had the Dwarven formation nearly surrounded in only a few moments. “GULHDAK!!!” Ragnok raised his jagged black sword into the air.

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Hundreds of the metal bolts from the Goblins rushed towards the Dwarven formation all at once, a veritable wall of deadly rushing towards them all.

Drasurd didn’t need to say a word. His army instantly assumed a fully defensive formation, shields covering the sides and over the top of his soldiers.

Clang

Bam

Bang

Crack

Wham

The impact of the bolts against the iron shields of the Erdunn Dwarves was loud and continuous for a long moment, but the bolts fell to the ground, not having penetrated the strong shields made by Dwarven blacksmiths.

With a strong step forward, Drasurd readied the Sword of Erdunn and the blade glowed with a reddish hue for a second. A swing of the Artifact Sword and flames erupted into the air.

FWOOOOOOOSSSSHHHH

It was as if hell itself had opened up and spilled into the world. The massive conflagration swallowed up all of the Goblins in front of the Dwarves. If there were any screams, they couldn’t be heard over the roaring fire that turned the Goblins into charred husks, despite their armor. The road was scorched black, thick smoke wafted high into the air. Drasurd, however, had his eyes focused on something other than the devastation he’d unleashed upon his people’s age-old enemy.

Ragnok held the jagged black sword aloft still. Calling it a sword was a bit of a stretch, honestly. It had the general shape and the length was too big to be called a dagger or shortsword, but it was a very rough design. The black metal blade was jagged and uneven, as if the one that had forged it was either not skilled enough to work with whatever material it was made from, or had given up before even getting halfway through making the material into an actual ingot or billet for proper forging. The strange way it glowed with Ragnok’s putrid green Magic was what Drasurd was focused on.

From the various Goblin corpses, an odd green mist-like substance arose, the green mist was quickly drawn to Ragnok’s sword and the greenish Magic around it grew larger and darker the more it took in. Ragnok gave a vicious fanged smile as he grasped the handle with both hands and swung the blade horizontally at the formation of Dwarves.

Drasurd’s eyes widened and he quickly stepped back into the formation, the strong iron shields closing around the Dwarves. There was nothing to be seen, but suddenly the front line of shield bearers was knocked backwards and into the Dwarves behind them with a great crash. The heavy iron shields that had been struck were split cleanly in two. The armor of the frontline was all scored with a deep cut that had barely stopped before it penetrated the metal.

“My King…is that…?” Drad asked his father as they looked at the rough, jagged sword in Ragnok’s hands with a more critical eye.

“Aye.” Drasurd glared at the Goblin King with deep anger and resentment. “Gostite… The bastard probably got it from the tombs they’ve raided in Egypt and other lands.”

Drad nearly spit in anger at Ragnok’s disgusting greed. “I didn’t think even Goblins could stoop so low.”

Gostite was a magical ore found in only one specific type of place in the world. Places where the dead were laid to rest for many, many years; generation after generation. It could also be found in tombs that held only a small number of people, if those people were all Magical especially. Given that Gostite had some similarities to iron, and many Magical metallurgists did believe that it was regular iron ore steeped in the lingering Magic of the dead for centuries, it also had the nickname of Grave Iron.

To most people, it would be seen as an affront or an insult to rob and vandalize tombs and graves to gather enough of the ore to do anything with. However, it had been documented for centuries, and there were some that had done experiments on the material. The one that Drasurd, in his long life, had heard of was a ‘recipe’ for making Gostite ore into a composite steel. It was supposedly almost as hard as Adamantite, and had a strange ability to absorb the lingering Magic in the recently dead and store it for a short time. The fact that the one that had done these experiments was a necromancer that had combined Gostite ore with the bones of dead Witches and Wizards in a forge powered by magical fire to create the composite steel would also explain why they were executed so very long ago.

“Never doubt the greed of a Goblin, my son.” Drasurd said as he readied the Sword of Erdunn and took up his own shield in his opposite hand. “Mahamrukh!” The Dwarf King called out his order loudly, his voice almost like thunder.

The staggered Dwarves quickly righted themselves and the formation shifted. Drad led a small group of Dwarves forward and all of them raised their arms in unison. The Earth Shapers on their forearms glowed just slightly as the road shifted and rose up into thick stone walls, making lines of barricades that The Dwarves could shelter behind.

The barricades formed just in time.

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

Wsh

The barricades were hit with another barrage of the metal bolts from the Goblins. Behind the walls of stone, the Erdunn Dwarves hunkered down, preparing a counter attack. The instant the bolts stopped, a majority of the Dwarves peeked out from behind the stone barricades with strange black metal rods in hand, each topped with what looked like a white quartz.

Krakboom

Krakboom

Krakboom

Krakboom

Krakboom

Krakboom

From each of the black rods a bolt of lightning was fired off towards the surrounding Goblins. The shields of the Goblins took some of the damage, and their armor took an additional portion, but they were all still knocked to the ground from the force of the concentrated spell. No fatalities, but the Goblin encirclement was now broken up and thrown into disarray.

“KUHL DROCAUL!!!” Ragnok bellowed loudly

From within the area that the Gringotts Goblins had made into their fortified base of operations, a loud clanking of chains could be heard. A heavy ‘thump’ sound followed. The thump repeated again, and then again, before the front wall of the hastily thrown together fortification nearly exploded outwards.

“ROOOAAARRRR!!!” A massive metallic silver-colored Dragon emerged from the base with a roar so loud that it nearly deafened those on the battlefield. It had a row of spikes down the length of its spine, its scales were rather pale (likely from a lack of sun exposure for a significant portion of its life) it’s eyes were pink in color, looking partially milky, meaning it was probably half-blind too. The dragon’s four legs stomped onto the road, its huge claws tearing up the stone easily. The long tail lashed behind it, shattering part of a building as if it was made of sand. It unfurled its immense wings and flapped them twice, kicking up a strong gust of wind. It was clear to several people on the battlefield what Ragnok had just unleashed.

“A Ukrainian Ironbelly?!” Minerva exclaimed in shock at seeing the largest species of dragon in the world appear so suddenly.

Clank Clank Clank

The Goblins closest to the dragon rattled strange devices that the Ukrainian Ironbelly moved away from, heading straight towards the stone barricades that the Dwarves’ formation was behind. The thick chain around its neck rattled unnaturally and loosened a bit.

“RAAAWWWRRRHHH!!!” The dragon roared again before powerful flames erupted from its jaws and washed over the stone barricades.

“Fuck!”

“AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!”

“Water! Water!”

“Hold the line!”

The Dwarves hadn’t been expecting a dragon to be unleashed upon them like this. Intense flames passed through the gaps between the stone barricades and spread throughout part of the formation that was closest to the dragon.

“Thunder Lances!” Drasurd’s voice was heard over the din.

Several Dwarves aimed the black rods again and unleashed the concentrated bolts of lightning at the Ukrainian Ironbelly in a barrage.

Krakboom

Krakboom

Krakboom

Krakboom

The dragon staggered back a half-step. “ROOAAWWRRR!!!” It roared in aggravation more than pain. It’s scales were some of the strongest and most magically resistant among all dragon species. The Ukrainian Ironbelly threw its head forward and unleashed it fire breath again.

“Aguamenti Tria Maxima!” Dumbledore had moved forward between the first blast of fire and this one. Having seen the dragon unleashed and how much its fire breath had done to the Erdunn Dwarves, he moved to protect them from a second blast.

The massive deluge of water that erupted from Dumbledore’s wand crashed forward down the street in a wave. The dragon’s flames met the tide of water and a massive amount of steam erupted into the air creating a thick white cloud.

“Albus, what do we do about the dragon?” Minerva asked while putting the few healing spells that she knew of to use to ease the burns on several Dwarves.

Moody threw a barrage of spells at the Goblins around the dragon, aiming to take out the ones that were directing the Ironbelly to attack them. “The thing’s nearly impervious to spells! If it takes to the air most of London will be on fire before we can do much about it!”

Ragnok’s loud, cackling laughter made several people flinch as he held his jagged sword aloft again and the strange green mist was pulled from the newly killed Goblins on the battlefield. A few of them had fallen to Moody’s barrage, but others had been stomped to death by the Ukrainian Ironbelly as it was urged forward by the clankers. The magical glow around the jagged black blade grew thicker and darker again as the Goblin King stole the lingering Magic from the corpses of his own people.

“Bastard!” Drad cursed at Ragnok’s despicable act. He also knew another attack like the one that had staggered and broken their shield wall was going to come soon.

“Mahamrukh!” Drasurd issued the order again.

The shield wall was quickly formed and Drad led his team with the Earth Shapers to raise more and more stone barricades between the Dwarves and the dragon. Hopefully, they could limit the dragon’s movement a bit and the increased number of objects to cut through would weaken Ragnok’s expected attack.

Shing

The sound of a blade cutting through air was heard, but not from Ragnok’s sword.

A line was cut through the road between the Ukrainian Ironbelly and the Dwarves. It wasn’t very large, only a handful of centimeters wide, but it was perfectly smooth if one were to touch the edges. That was a feat that no normal blade could hope to produce.

Harry landed on the ground right next to Drasurd, and close to where Dumbledore, Minevra, and Alastor were. “King Drasurd, good to see you again.” Harry smiled at the Dwarf King, Aethereum held low to show that Harry wasn’t approaching Drasurd as a threat.

“Brother Potter.” Drasurd returned the smile as best as he could right now. “Glad to have you with us.”

“My brothers of Erdunn answered my call, how could I not join them?” Harry asked rhetorically as he gave a nod of his head to Drasurd. “Leave the dragon to me.”

Dumbledore chose that moment to speak up. “Mr. Potter, are you certain? The Ukrainian Ironbelly is the largest and one of the most magically resistant species of dragons in the world.” He showed his concern for his former student.

Harry looked over at Dumbledore with a small grin. “Dragons aren’t that difficult to slay if you think in terms of biology instead of magic.” He rested Aethereum on his shoulder as his grin became a confident smile. “Besides, I need to live up to that ‘Dragon Slayer’ Title I got back in the Triwizard Tournament, right?”

Without another word, Harry flew away again. He hovered above the Ukrainian Ironbelly and raised Aethereum above his head. At the tip of the Artifact Sword a sphere of water gathered together. The swirling water rapidly multiplied the volume of water growing so fast that the sphere was expanding roughly a meter in the time it took a person to blink, over and over again until a truly colossal ball of water hung above the dragon and the Goblins below.

“POTTER!!!” Ragnok roared out as he swung his wicked black sword at the hovering Artificer. The cutting force nearly split the air in two from the power and speed it was moving at.

Harry just let the titanic sphere of water fall.

The slash split the water in two, but missed Harry completely. The Artificer wasn’t stupid enough to stay in place with such a potent attack coming at him. Ragnok’s screech of rage was drowned out by the loud sound of the water slamming into the ground, the dragon, and all of the Goblins around the dragon.

While a dragon’s scales and hide protected it from spells and physical damage to a very impressive degree, it did little to deal with pressure…like the kind one would experience by being crushed under an immense amount of water. The Ukrainian Ironbelly was nearly crushed into the damaged road and all of the Goblins around it were practically turned to bloody pulp from the insane amount of weight. Harry pointed Aethereum down at the water and brought it under his control. With focus and intent, the water stopped spreading and rapidly surrounded the Ukrainian Ironbelly.

Crkkkllleee

The water froze over instantly from Harry’s next spell, cast wandlessly from his free hand. The dragon was now entombed in ice. Not only was it cut off from air, but because of its reptilian physiology, its blood was rapidly cooling to a lethal degree. While dragons could maintain their body temperature to a livable degree for an extended period between meals if necessary, and many nesting mothers did so as they nested in large burrows they dug into the earth or in large caves where the sunlight didn’t reach them to warm their bodies. There was no dragon species known to be able to survive extreme cold like what Harry had just forced on Gringotts’s Ukrainian Ironbelly.

“Cube!” Tonks flew in and cast her original spell on most of the remaining Goblins. There were a lot less of them after Harry had dropped the massive ball of water onto them all.

“GARHAK!”

“DROUNOK!”

The Goblin leaders that remained alive gave orders and the Goblins slammed their shields into the edges of the Cube spell. The shield walls almost sparked against the protective equipment as the multitude of Goblins tried to force their way out.

“None of that from you.” Penny spoke coldly as she placed her palm against the outside of the Cube and cast a spell. A thick grey-black dust began to pour into the Cube as Penny took advantage of how Tonks had created the spell to let things in, but not out.

Fleur landed on the opposite side of the Cube and when Penny stopped filling the Cube with the powder, the Goblins all hacking and coughing from how thick and heavy it was in the Cube. It even started to cover their feet as it piled up like snow at the bottom of the Cube. “Vanish.” She placed her palm on the edge of the Cube and let a small spark of flame into the enclosed space.

BOOOOOOOOOOM

The blast was heard outside of the Cube as Tonks struggled to contain the explosion within her spell. Thick black smoke obscured everything inside the Cube and Tonks held the spell for a bit longer before releasing it, the black smoke rising into the air. All that was left of the trapped Goblins were some of their shields and armor and some charred pieces of remains here and there.

“GOUHALAK!!!” Ragnok roared in rage as a storm of the green mist rushed towards his wicked sword, infusing it with all of the Magic of his slain underlings. “DIE!!!” Ragnok switched to English, seeing that the targets of his anger didn’t know his language after what he’d just called the three women. He swung his jagged blade at them, his dark eyes filled with hate.

Clang

With a loud sound of metal striking metal, the wicked blade was knocked upwards by the Sword of Erdunn.

The insanely powerful slashing force went off into the sky, barely missing hitting one of the buildings nearby.

Ragnok snarled at Drasurd, the Dwarf King having closed the distance while everyone had been distracted by the massive contained explosion that Tonks, Penny, and Fleur had created. “YOU DARE?!”

“I DARE!!!” Drasurd bellowed out as he forced the Goblin King backwards with his greater strength. “Filthy thief! Today I reclaim what your kin STOLE FROM US!!!”

Ragnok blocked the blade of the Sword of Erdunn with his Gostite sword. “Today I take your sword and your head to decorate my hoard!” The putrid green aura of Magic around the black sword flared again.

Drasurd proved his skill with a sword as he angled the Sword of Erdunn and matched the edge of his blade against the edge of Ragnok’s.

Shiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnggggggg

The sharp ringing sound that filled the air would make most people wince, but the Dwarf King and the Goblin King were far too focused on killing each other to let it bother them. The slashing force dissipated on the edge of the Sword of Erdunn, the unbreakable blade flaring with Drasurd’s Magic as the rubies within the guard looked to have blazing flames within them.

“KERAK AUL!!!” Ragnok snarled at Drasurd for blocking his attack. The Goblin King backstepping to break the deadlock and then swinging the sword from below, an upward slash looking to cut Drasurd in two.

Drasurd stepped to the side, his eyes widened as the Gostite sword clearly didn’t hit him, but he felt a cold ache appear on his left side. “Cursed weapon?!”

Ragnok thrust the jagged black blade at Drasurd, but the Dwarf King blocked with his sturdy shield. “Die!” The Goblin King snarled at Drasurd swinging at him in a flurry of strikes, none of them hitting the Dwarf King, but any that weren’t blocked by Drasurd’s shield or the Sword of Erdunn left more and more cold, aching spots on his body.

“You first!” Drasurd charged forward, breaking Ragnok’s flurry of swings as the Dwarf shield bashed the Goblin.

“Guack!” Ragnok hacked out as he hit the ground and rolled, getting back on his feet just in time to swing his cursed sword wildly at Drasurd.

Clang

Sword hit shield and unleashed more of the Magic that it had stolen from the large number of dead Goblins.

But Drasurd had been prepared for it this time and revealed the hidden aspect of his shield. The force it was hit with dispersed to the side in every direction, reducing the overall impact to almost nothing. It was the magical effect of the Dwarf King’s shield, but it had to be timed perfectly to disperse an attack of that magnitude. Ragnok’s eyes widened at his strike doing nothing and barely dodged the swing of the Sword of Erdunn that was aimed at his head.

“I will plunder your home, kill your people, and devour their corpses!” Ragnok threatened as he funneled more of his putrid green Magic into the cursed sword.

“No, because you die today, right here and now.” Drasurd promised the Goblin King as he watched Ragnok’s every move, his shield between himself and his enemy, the Sword of Erdunn at the ready.

Ragnok lunged forward, but Drasurd readied his shield to disperse the blow. Only for the Goblin King to give a vicious smirk as his swing fell short of the shield and hit the ground right in front of Drasurd.

BOOOOOM

The ground exploded into a blast of the stolen Magic of the dead Goblins. Drasurd barely suppressed a bellow of pain by clenching his jaw so hard that his teeth nearly cracked. The Dwarf King did his best to roll with the force of the blast to minimize the damage, but he still felt the injuries he’d taken from the unexpected blast.

“Just like…a fucking Goblin…” Drasurd growled lowly at the tactic.

Ragnok lunged from the cloud of dust that covered the battlefield, having used the cover to take the Dwarf King’s back. “RAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Drasurd spun, his shield up, only for it to be hit directly on top, forcing it down. He thrust the Sword of Erdunn at Ragnok, aiming to impale the vile Goblin King through the gut.

“Die!” Ragnok used his free hand to grabbed the blade of Drasurd’s sword and force it to the side. He went for a stab at Drasurd’s face with the cursed Gostite sword.

Clang

Drasurd jerked his head to the side, his helmet taking the blow for him.

“GRAAAHHH!!!” Ragnok screeched at Drasurd and flared the disgusting Magic of his sword pointblank into the Dwarf King’s face.

“GUARRGGHH!!!” Drasurd couldn’t hold back the bellow of pain this time. It was like someone had just poured salt and ice into an open wound. His skin hurt, his muscles hurt, his bones hurt! With a painful grunt he used his great strength to shove Ragnok off of him and rolled onto his side, pushing himself onto his knees and then standing up straight again. He readied the Sword of Erdunn again and noticed that it had blood on it.

Ragnok snarled as he retook his feet, holding he cursed Gostite sword again. “I will kill you, Dwarf King!”

Drasurd chuckled and Ragnok growled in rage. “It’s too late for that now, Goblin.” He held up the blade of his sword for Ragnok to see. “You’ve been cut by my sword.”

“I forced your sword aside; a mere cut is nothing compared to the pain and injury that I’ve caused you!” Ragnok sneered right back, relishing in the clear pain that Drasurd was in, even though the Dwarf King had a small smile on his face.

“The reason you and your ancestors always coveted this sword was because of its ability to take in that which made it stronger.” Drasurd said with a pained grunt. “But you don’t know everything that it’s taken in over the centuries, do you?”

Ragnok looked confused and his left hand stung from the pain of the cut on his palm, but he pushed it out of his mind. “I’ll learn everything that I need to know in time after I take it from your corpse! All the valuable things in this world belong to me!”

Drasurd saw the way that Ragnok’s left hand was starting to hang limply. The greenish skin tone was starting to have blackened veins show through it as well. “Would you like me to tell you why you’re too late?”

“Enough with your nonsense! Just die and give me MY sword!” Ragnok lunged forward but only made it two steps before he staggered and fell to the ground. With a hissing snarl he forced himself up only to nearly drop his cursed sword as his left arm flared in pain. Looking at the limb, Ragnok’s eyes widened at the blacken veins that he saw slowly spreading their way up his limp arm. “AAARRRGGGHHH!!!” The Goblin King howled in agony as the pain continued to intensify as the black lines of his veins continued crawling up his left arm and towards his shoulder.

“You foolish Goblin… Your reckless greed has doomed you.” Drasurd spoke strongly, despite his own pain.

Ragnok used his jagged black sword to hold himself up as his vision started to get hazy. “You… What did you do…?”

Once more, Drasurd showed Ragnok the blood on the blade of the Sword of Erdunn. “The newest thing that the Sword of Erdunn has strengthened itself with was Basilisk venom.” He saw Ragnok’s eyes widened in shock and panic. “You have no hope of survival now.”

“I’ll still…kill you…first…” Ragnok’s rage and pettiness wouldn’t let him die without dragging Drasurd down with him. He tried to raise his Gostite sword again, but the weight was too much as the burning pain spread through out his body. Ragnok hit his knees and hacked out some thick, foamy blood.

The Basilisk venom was destroying his insides as it spread further and further.

“You should let go of that cursed thing.” Drasurd said to Ragnok as he took a step forward, prepared to behead the nearly dead Goblin King.

Ragnok refused instantly. “Never! I can still…” His words trailed off as a powerful and sharp pain felt like it had speared him through the heart. A coldness started to spread through him, as if to counteract the burning agony that the Basilisk venom was causing as it tore its way through his body. With blurry vision, he looked at his Gostite sword and saw his own Magic starting to flow into it as his body died, little by little.

The jagged and rough blade had no loyalty to anyone, it was a tool for killing and nothing more. It consumed the lingering Magic in the nearby dead and then released it at its wielder’s command. A powerful weapon, but one that was just as much a danger to its wielder as it was to anyone else. The true epitome of a Cursed Sword.

Drasurd kicked the Gostite sword out of Ragnok’s limp hand, the black blade clattering to the ground a few meters away. With a quick swing, he decapitated the Goblin King and watched as Ragnok’s head hit the ground.

Breathing heavily, the Dwarf King felt some vindication for his ancestors and his people. Centuries of being pushed to the fringes of Magical Society by the lies of Goblins and the shortsightedness of Wizards and Witches that couldn’t return the trust that they’d been shown by the Dwarves. “My ancestors… I have avenged your grievances. Today we will retake the tunnels that were stolen from us.” He promised the spirits of his parents, his grandparents, and the long line of Erdunn Kings before him.

“Father!” Drad was rushing over to his father, dropping all formality in the moment as his concern for his dad was far greater than manners. “I’ve got you! I’ve got you.” He helped support his father, seeing Drasurd clearly having a hard time keeping his feet under him as he slightly swayed.

Drasurd smiled at his son as he accepted the help. His body still felt sore and stiff, like he’d spent far too long outside in the bitter winter cold. Ragnok’s putrid Magic compounded with the stolen Magic of the dead had done a number on him, both externally and internally. “We’ve taken the first step in reclaiming the birthright of our forefathers. We need to press on, before the remaining Goblins have a chance to dig in.”

Drad sighed, knowing that if his father was talking like that, then his life wasn’t in danger. “We will, father… But you need to see a Healer first. You’re barely able to stand up right now.”

“I’m fine.” Drasurd denied with a barely repressed grunt of pain. “I’m not so old that my son has to start worrying about me.”

“My King!”

“My King!”

More and more of the Erdunn Dwarves were starting to gather around their King. Many of them let out gasps at seeing the decapitated form of Ragnok Gringott lying on the ground. But the shock quickly started to build up into excitement.

“Brothers of Erdunn!” Drasurd spoked powerfully, pushing through his pain. “I’ve taken the head of the Goblin King!” He raised the Sword of Erdunn high into the air. “Now, we march on to Gringotts and take back what was stolen from us!”

“OOOOUUUUAAAHHHH!!!” The cheer of the Dwarves was loud and they all raised their weapons high.

A distance away, Harry smiled as he heard Drasurd’s proclamation. “Looks like we’re not done just yet.”

Tonks snorted out a little laugh. “I guess not.”

“Don’t you have to stay to help the Aurors?” Penny asked Tonks since their Metamorphmagus girlfriend was called in for the emergency defense of London.

“I’ll ask to be the liaison between the Ministry and the Erdunn Dwarves for settling this Goblin Rebellion.” Tonks said after a moment to think about it. “After what they did here, there’s no way that anything but extermination awaits the last of the Goblins that’re holed up in Gringotts.”

Fleur shook her head once at the talk of continuing the ‘campaign’ against the Goblins. “Before any of that… All of us should probably get checked up ourselves. A Pepper-up Potion wouldn’t hurt at the very least.”

Harry nodded in agreement, always wanting to ensure that his loves were unharmed. “I agree. Let’s get checked up and see what needs to be done next. I’m sure Drasurd will want my help with disabling the Magic that Goblins have set up over the last few centuries. Aethereum will be the fastest way to clear all of it and let the Dwarves retake their tunnels.”

“One thig at a time, please.” Penny said as she refocused them all. “Check ups first, then planning to raid Gringotts.”

“I can’t imagine it’ll be quite as hard as fighting the majority of the horde like we just did.” Tonks exhaled a long slow breath.

Fleur looked at Tonks with a raised eyebrow. “We hope that this was the majority of the horde. No one knows what truly goes on in the depths of Gringotts, after all.”

Harry, Penny, and Tonks all considered that and, almost in unison, let out beleaguered sighs. Without another word, the four of them headed over to where they’d started to hear the telltale crack of Apparation. With the fighting done (or mostly done) in London, the Healers of St. Mungos were being brought in to save lives and treat the injured. The sirens of ambulances filled the air in the distance as well. Now that the active attack was over, London’s emergency services could return to full operation (minus the damage to the city that might impeded their way) and start putting out fires, rescuing trapped people, treating the injured, and looking for those that were missing.

“Mr. Potter,” Dumbledore said as he approached Harry and his three girlfriends as they were being checked over by a Healer. “I was hoping that I might speak with you once you’re given a clean bill of health?”

Harry looked at his former Headmaster and considered what the man could possibly want to talk to him about. “I’ll consider it. But not before I know that my loved ones are okay.”

Dumbledore nodded in acceptance, happy that Harry had such strong love in his life. Thanks to his Occlumency, he was prevented from once more going through a LONG list of ‘what ifs’ about many of the things in his past. ‘At the very least, I feel that I don’t have to worry about Harry ever falling onto the wrong path like Tom did…like Gellert did…’ Albus thought to himself before tightening his Occlumency to prevent the mistakes of the past from trying to overwhelm him.

-End Chapter-

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The Goblin Rebellion is put down with overwhelming force!

The temporary wards are keeping Goblins out of most of London and Harry’s destroyed another 43% of the tunnels that were dug into the Underground on top of that. The remaining Goblins are basically trapped in Gringotts now.

Seems like a mop up job is all that’s left.

Drasurd took Ragnok’s head! OOOUUUAAAHHH!!!

Harry frozen the Ukrainian Ironbelly and put the poor thing out of its misery. A life shackled underground and tortured into obedience is not a good life.

Unfortunately, given the situation, there was no Rite of Conquest, so Harry can’t turn any parts he may get into Artifacts, only Enchanted Items. Still, new dragon parts should make Harry happy. Kek!

Tonks, Penny, and Fleur had one hell of a combo attack, right! Trap them, fill Cube with explosive powder, ignite contained explosive powder, big boom… Profit? Heh.

Now that Gringotts soon won’t be a problem ever again, what’s next for Harry and Family?

Keep reading to find out!

Current Mana Levels

Harry – 41,004

Tonks – 31,198

Penelope – 25,062

Fleur – 25,306

Dumbledore – 41,310

Minerva – 10,784

Alastor – 13, 246

Drasurd – 63,972

Until I get your reviews, later!