Welcome back to another chapter, dear reader. As always, consider joining our discord server, where I'm happy to chat about any questions or comments you have. The code is: Jew89k8Jp8. Otherwise, I'm also happy to address any questions here, though you'll have to wait until the next chapter's author notes.

"Ah Jade," Harry greeted with a warm smile, hugging the older woman. "You grow prettier every time I see you."

"Compliments aren't going to soothe the ridiculous number of favours I had to call to make this possible," the woman responded dryly. "Only you, Harry, only you could possibly make me go through so much effort."

"I do appreciate it," Harry promised sincerely, before his smile turned mischievous. "Anything you want me to recover while I'm on the island?"

"If you can manage it, any artifacts you do recover will constitute a great success," Jade conceded. "Probably the most prized possessions would be the mantle of heaven, a large scepter with strange powers, and the book of divinity, which...well no one actually knows what it looks like."

"Then I'll keep an eye out for them," Harry promised as he grabbed onto the portkey, which had begun to vibrate. "Did you get the portkeys I asked for?"

"Yep," she nodded, placing twenty coins into his hand. "Just say 'Reclamation' and you'll be ported back to my residence outside Xi'an, though it won't puncture the wards, so I'm not sure they'll be of much help."

"You let me worry about that. Where exactly am I going to be landing?"

"Near Nenggao Mountain, in the wilderness. It's one of the few places so magically saturated that they couldn't put up strong defences. Once you arrive, get moving, because they'll have detected a breach in their wards."

"I'll see you in a few days."

The portkey flashed, before tugging at him through a narrow tube. He felt his entire body rattle from the reverberations from puncturing through the wards. After another three seconds, he landed in the middle of the forest, quickly observing his surroundings.

A disillusionment charm, scent masquerading charm and sound dampening charm later, he looked around, trying to sense anything of interest. Noticing a small magical settlement several kilometers up the mountain slope, he transfigured two rocks into a pair of boots and animated them to walk in the opposite direction, clearly leaving footprints. Satisfied this would throw off his pursuers, he began trekking in the direction of the presence he had felt. Not five minutes after he had begun moving, Harry heard the signature pops of apparition behind him back in the small clearing, followed by angry voices yelling in mandarin.

Pausing, he observed their signatures as they debated for several moments, casting detection charms, before hurriedly setting off in the direction where Harry had animated the boots to go, further and further away from him. Taking the time to observe around him, he noticed the magic emitting from several plants, and cursed himself for not at least paying more attention in herbology. He would have loved to take some with him, though he hadn't the faintest clue how to repot them for transport safely.

As he continued moving along the forest, he could feel the magic in the air begin to grow. Slowing his movements, he narrowed his eyes in concentration, beginning to observe around him as he noticed several figures approaching his position. With a moment's contemplation, he decided to levitate himself into the air, observing calmly as several indigenous Taiwanese people appeared, wielding staves and looking around confusedly.

These individuals were not Han Chinese, but rather clearly of Peloponnesian descent, their speech in barks and grunts rather than anything resembling Chinese. After several moments of them scouring around, the leader of the group grunted, and the six warriors regrouped, retrekking towards their encampment, unaware that Harry was following them from above.

As they entered a small clearing, Harry looked up, and only years of training prevented him from displaying shock at the sight. There were roughly two dozen wooden huts tightly packed together, and at least thirty women wandering around the village, shepherding the children around. To the far end of the encampment, there was a cave entrance, inside which several fires were burning, revealing the silhouettes of several more buildings.

Spending several minutes simply observing the villagers going about their business, he quickly deduced they were a hunter gatherer society who hadn't even begun to explore the realm of architecture. Bands of women would return to place their collected fruit into a central pile, though the men seemed to still be out hunting. The children had gathered around several villager elders, undoubtedly listening to tales of the ancients.

Just then, the rustle of the leaves alerted him that several hunters were returning. Seizing the opportunity, he legilimised the leader of the group, pulling out the knowledge of their language and culture, crude as it was.

Slowly making his way through the encampment, Harry entered the cave, noticing that there were several elders within the area meditating. Some herbs were slowly burning at a central fire, spreading incense like spells throughout the air. Taking a cautious breath, he deduced quickly that it was some sort of hallucinogen, likely used to grant 'visions' to those around.

However, what caught his interest were several cave paintings, depicting strange god-like beings, their most poignant feature being elongated craniums that made them appear like muggle aliens of old. Harry wondered to himself whether this was where the tradition of priests in Egypt wearing tall hats came from, in an attempt to mimic the primordials.

Eyeing the artwork, he saw pictures of the gods wielding their magic, in some scenes slaughtering animals to the cheers of the mortal magicals observing, in others raining down fire and lightning onto the homes, to the despair of the fleeing onlookers. Harry allowed a soft smile to his face, knowing that what he sought was within his grasp.

Venturing deeper into the cave, he was treated to the sight of further paintings depicting various scenes, some of the primordials helping the wizards and witches, others of them cursing the lowly magicals. As he went deeper and deeper, his eyes adjusting to the lessened lights, he noted how the paintings seemed older and older, being less intricate and detailed, with their paints beginning to fade and peel.

When he had reached the very end, he saw there was a stone tablet, in a language he had no familiarity with. It was protected crudely by some basic wards, which Harry easily dismantled, before reaching out to touch the tablet. It reeked of magic, a low hum reminiscent of a ritualistic chant growing louder and louder as he neared it. When he reached out to touch the smooth surface, it was as though there was an explosion and implosion all at once, as magic suddenly flooded and saturated its surroundings.

Harry idly heard the panicked cries of the elders outside, but he only spared thought to the strange tablet, which he tried to cast a shrinking charm on to little effect. Casting several more modification charms, each was as useless as the last, and he quickly conceded that its magic made it near impervious to alterations, meaning he was going to have to carry this physically.

Pulling a sachet out of his pocket, he gingerly placed the tablet into it, securing the clasp before disillusioning himself and beginning to walk out, past the villagers rushing inside to try and identify what was happening.

He heard the anguished cries as they realised their precious tablet was missing, but paid little attention, his work here done. Once he made it out of the cave and into the clearing, he quickly ascended high into the air, and began eyeing the surroundings for any more clues as to what could be held. Seeing none, Harry was about to begin to head towards a magical city populated by the Nationalist exiles, when three bolts of lightning struck from the air straight for him.

Lazily, Harry raised a shield, narrowing his eyes as he tried to discord where the magic had come from. His eyes widened when he realised that his attacker was in fact at the peak of the mountain. Even kilometers away, he could feel the warlock's intense, scrutinising gaze lingering on him.

He managed to deflect several other bolts as he flew closer and closer, until the faint figure was now better discernable, revealing an elderly polynesian man surrounded by several young disciples.

"Why have you come here, outsider?" the warlock questioned in a grave tone.

"I seek knowledge," Harry returned. "A man before came here once. He learned of dangerous powers that threaten to destroy the world."

"And you seek this power?" the warlock questioned. At Harry's nod, the wizard shook his head. "I will let no outsider access this knowledge, and guard it much like my ancestors have done for generations before."

Sensing the danger, Harry immediately channeled a shield around him, curious to observe the effects firsthand. Several guttural sounds, clicks and squawks, were made as a visible aura glowed around them, the magic cackling with viscosity as it prepared to lash out. By some invisible signal, they all released their magic, several jets of light melding into one as it accelerated straight towards Harry.

His eyes widened in shock and excitement, for the power on show here seemed to exceed even that of what he had witnessed from Grindelwald in the memories. The magic was...out of this world, raw in its intensity, pure, thriving energy that sang as it soared through the air towards him.

His eyes glowing a dark shade of green, Harry concentrated on his affinity for energy magics, trying hard to wrest control over it from the casters. Fighting such magic was hopeless, yet with his talent for accuracy and precision, wrestling its control to redirect it was far from impossible.

Near the middle ground between him and the natives, the white energy began to circle onto itself, slowly creating a vortex around an invisible centre as the magic shifted from being under Harry's control to under that of the several warlocks.

For several minutes, this battle of control continued, even as they continued their chants, throwing more and more energy with their contorted sounds. Even in the heat of this struggle, Harry committed the sound to memory, knowing it could prove useful later.

His struggle finally having paid off, he sent the energy bolting off harmlessly to a random patch of forest in the distance, much to the horror of the warlocks. Floating forward, he could feel the panic of all the members, even if their leader hid it better than most.

Concentrating hard, for the exertion of controlling such magics was admittedly taxing even on his prodigious body, he punctured through the warlock's mind, seizing all that he needed to know, the knowledge of how to produce such sounds, what little scraps of ancient history the wizard knew...and interestingly enough, the location of several other hideouts for other natives.

Danger radiated from his senses, and he quickly withdrew in time to hear the man let out a guttural cry, producing sounds no human should have been able to create, before his body began to vibrate, phasing in and out of reality, the magic around him slowly being sucked inside. Harry began to back away, yet the warlock's disciples seemed to sense this, and reached out, pointing their staves at him and channeling the magic in an attempt to slow him down.

While they were weaker magically, all three had the benefit of using the powerful ancient language, whilst Harry fought their previous bout using his own reserves. He could feel himself struggling to escape the invisible latches, but as they continued to chant in strange, twisted sounds, he knew that he could not hope to escape through magical combat. Thus, calming himself as he felt the warlock on the verge of cataclysm, he thrust himself into the minds of all the disciples, crushing their minds into void and causing their hold on him to cease just as the warlock had finally reached detonation, the burst of black magic so potent that despite Harry's raised shield, he could still feel the magic slowly peeling away at his body, leeching on his magic. Even his soul seemed to writhe as it was squeezed.

And then it was over, all in a moment, as though nothing had happened. Several wisps of black smoke, originating from where the warlock had once stood, slowly disintegrated into the air. Looking around, Harry morbidly noted how there was not even the faintest trace that the wizard's disciples had ever existed.

Now closing the distance towards a small cave entrance, he entered, to see a bunch of young children huddled around each other frightenedly. Looking around, he saw there were yet more paintings of the primordials on the walls, though these were far better preserved than the ones he saw in the encampment prior. Several ancient artifacts radiated with power, each brushing against his occlumency with the nectary promises of domination and triumph. A lesser occlumens would have succumbed, but the hopeful glances of the children were replaced with horror as he merely smiled indulgently.

Closing his eyes, he conjured several bolts of energy, instantly vaporising all of them, their cries only audible for an instant before they were silenced, yet still echoing hauntingly against the walls, their wails trying to imprint themselves onto him very essence. Yet Harry remained unphased, his face impassive as always when he secured the few artifacts present in the cave. As he was satisfied everything of value had been plundered, he left outside the entrance, and raised his hand resolutely, sending several blasts of energy, obliterating every trace of what had once been here. He resolved he would be the last to walk this path; no other would find the secrets they desired in these lands.

Calling on his occlumency to quickly scan through the memories he acquired from the warlock, he knew of four more sanctums he would need to visit, those of Earth, Fire, Void and Water. The one for Air had long been plundered by the dark lord, and Harry could only be thankful that the man seemed unaware of the existence of the other sanctums. The thought of facing an enemy with the knowledge of all the elemental spells of the ancient primordials...it was frightening.

He levitated himself in the direction of his next target, yet it seemed there was no need, as in front of him, four more warlocks appeared, each with the distinctive essence for their type of magic. The severe look on their faces betrayed hints of anger at the loss of their comrades, and Harry knew that the battle would have to be ended quickly.

Sending a swipe of energy in a pulsating circle that forced the warlocks to dodge, he lashed out with his legilimency, only to find firm shields rebuffing his attempts. His mind was sent reeling, equally from the shock of being resisted so thoroughly as it was by their violent ejection of his probes.

"Your mind tricks will not work on us," one of the warlocks sniffed disdainfully. "Prepare to die!"

Harry allowed them to begin their chants, curious to see how different types of raw magic would appear. Four beams, each distinct in its colour and feel, charged towards him from their casters, causing Harry's eyes to widen. He had expected such concentration in energy magics, yet for others to take on a similarly concentrated form.

Knowing he didn't stand a chance against the attack from the sheer potency of the attacks, he concentrated on the air around him, blasting off as the beams of magic met where he had been moments ago, becoming an epicentre of a large magical epicentre.

It was as though part of reality's fabric was being torn apart, as there were several tense moments before the magic fizzled out. Taking the initiative, Harry knew he had to weaken them to the extent that he could use legilimency to cripple them, and more importantly, drain their knowledge, however limited it may be compared to the eventuality he sought.

Immediately, he lashed out towards the individual with affinity for void, suspecting him as the biggest threat. Throwing several bolts of energy, he frowned when the man uttered several guttural words that formed a crude shield around him, which absorbed the energy with little trouble. Before he could even think to continue his onslaught, he had to dodge a geyser of water that shot up from the ground, warping around and giving chase to him.

Taking advantage of this, the other warlocks launched their own magic at Harry, forcing him to quickly go on the defensive, weaving the air around him to divert the magic around him. To his shock, the magic seemed barely phased, puncturing through his guiding channels and heading straight towards him. Had he not lurched to the side, he would likely have been obliterated by the magic.

Throwing himself to the ground, he let out a sigh of relief as the magic seemed to lessen in strength as they carved through patches of forest in pursuit of him. Being more nimble, when he finally resurfaced, he could tell that the warlocks were exhausted from theri casting.

Narrowing his eyes in concentration, he conjured up hundreds of illusions of himself, moving all about. Throwing bolts of magic at the warlocks, he kept them off guard, and they were clearly getting increasingly frustrated, lashing out. When he neared to being captured, he had his illusions all flee towards back down below the treetops, at which, he watched with glee as the warlocks split off, each diving below the treetops and heading into a separate direction to try and hunt him down, seemingly overconfident after their initially strong showing.

Stalking the void warlock, he didn't give himself away, sneaking up to near point blank range behind the man before thrusting a knife through the man's throat, puncturing the voice box. Quickly, he thrust himself into the warlock's mind, gaining the knowledge of the ancient spell used to create the void magic.

Once he had withdrawn all the knowledge, including that of their sanctum's location, he quickly decapitated the warlock. His senses threw him to the right, just in time to avoid a blast of flames. Turning in shock at being snuck up on, Harry turned to see that the three other warlocks had congregated, looking far more enraged.

"You want our knowledge of the primordials? Take it!" the water warlock snarled, and Harry suddenly found himself bombarded by visions of beings with horrific power, barely human as they roamed the ancient worlds. Knowledge of the spells, impure as they were, forcibly fed to his mind as he reeled, trying in vain to put up barriers.

It was only augmency that allowed him to contain their intrusion to the main parts of his mind, allowing several redundant thought streams to activate. Seeing the magic begin to charge around them, Harry recoiled in horror at the realisation they were planning to take him down in a kamikaze.

While he could not perform anything complicated, he had one recourse left. Years of training had honed into him the reflexes to attack enemies deprived of all senses. Whipping out several daggers, he watched, detached, as his body automated finding its targets with ruthless efficiency, managing to strike all three in the throat even without a conscious mind guiding it.

Instantly, he felt the presence within his mind shift in desire, from ramming in knowledge in an attempt to overwhelm, to now, a simple desire to destroy. Three distinct probes continued to try and break through his mind's defences. He felt them rummage through less important memories, crushing them. Harry paid them little attention, throwing wave after wave of these less important memories towards them in a bid to stall until the three warlocks' bodies gave out.

As this happened, he could feel their strikes get more erratic and desperate, though he continued to shield his most important memories by tossing those of his childhood with the Potters, those of his time at Durmstrang, all to safeguard his collection from his time at Raven. He could lose everything but that; the suffering imparted defined who he was; without that, he was nobody, nothing.

Finally, he felt their probes begin to weaken, and despite being taxed to the extreme, he forced his safeguards aside, committing his mind to lashing out at their minds, ripping the last bits of knowledge from them.

In a minute, the several hour long fight had finally ended, with Harry exhausted yet triumphant. Now he just had to mop up the remaining sanctums, and be on his merry way.

-Break-

"Sarah," Alana looked up to see the younger girl approaching, and immediately dropped the stack of papers on her table, rushing over and wrapping her in a tight embrace. "So good to see you, where's Harry?"

"Of in Taiwan doing merlin knows what," Sarah quipped dryly. Alana frowned at the tone, ushering her into a seat and pouring out two cups of hot cocoa from a pot just freshly brewed on her decanter. Handing one to her, she took a sip.

"I don't suppose you want to talk?" Sarah locked gazes with Alana, the former trying to scrutinise whether the latter could be trusted. After several tense moments, she slumped down. "Harry's not happy with me right now."

"Oh? You two were always close," Sarah pondered, trying to suppress her own resentment at that. It was difficult at times, reminiscing about the hours they once spent late into the night researching together, discussing theories, debating possibilities, deliberating doctrine. Their closeness had been too brief for her liking. "What happened?"

"I mucked it up, and the Ira wannabe took advantage, what else," Sarah snarled, before slumping down. "Bloody hell, I slip up after days with literally no sleep researching, and she displaces me as his go to. Ugh…"

"Oh?" Alana muttered. She tried to find it in herself to be sympathetic, but her look was mostly for appearance's sake. She couldn't help the small voice in her head whispering that if the younger girl was stupid enough to squander a chance with Harry, then she more than deserved to lose the spot. Only her knowledge that the girl was her best shot at getting a shot at returning to Harry's side stowed her snark. Perhaps she once would have been horrified by such thoughts, yet having her eyes opened towards how her former 'friends' had just been using her, Alana had come to accept this more cynical and opportunistic side. "What were you researching?"

"Chaos magic, I think?" Sarah shrugged. "He stopped sharing his progress with me after that outburst, kept me busy with menial administrative tasks. "He's been spooked by Grindelwald's magic, and is trying to learn how to replicate it. Somehow, this equates to travelling to Taiwan. I know the Chinese are old, but surely he can't expect to find anything there."

'Foolish girl, he's not there for the Nationalists. He's there for the uncontacted tribes,' Alana snorted inwardly, though she refrained from voicing this observation. Instead, she adopted a thoughtful face. "Perhaps the Chinese have some sort of artifact there?"

"It's what Jade led me to believe. He's been playing this one close to his chest, I suspect only Katerina knows the truth of the matter, if even her," Sarah shook her head morosely. "Jade thinks he's just investigating ancient Chinese culture, but I know it's something more...ugh, do you have any ideas?"

"Not really," Alana shrugged, quashing the pang of guilt threatening to flare up. That beneath her somber expression Sarah was clearly scrutinising her for any tells assuaged any guilt Alana felt for using occlumency. "The Nationalists probably have some of the best preserved magical artifacts that could shed light on this."

"It just...it doesn't make sense! What could Grindelwald possibly have learnt from that forsaken island?" Sarah grumbled. "But enough about me, how's things been going with you?"

"Reasonably well," Alana shrugged daintily. "I'm making good progress on the magical power sources that Harry wanted. I managed to recruit a rather talented muggle who's creating new materials. They're stronger and more flexible than anything I've seen before; I genuinely think Harry's dream is going to be realised."

"Really?" Sarah piqued up. "Then how is the muggle expansion going?"

"Not as well as I'd like," Alana conceded. "Thanks to the...chaos of the middle east, oil prices are through the roof, and most countries are looking for alternatives. We're pretty much the only corporation on a large enough scale to take advantage of this, and our production capabilities are years ahead of everyone else's. We've released the designs under the veneer of open source, protecting the environment and all that jazz, but the few who were stupid enough to try and replicate these designs failed horribly enough to discourage most others from trying. We currently supply forty percent of the world's energy needs, and have a near monopoly on data cables, satellite communications equipment and dozens of other technologies. Merlin, we're even controlling their damned water supplies now, with our desalination plants in Israel drawing global interest. The biggest attempt to thwart us was by the Yanks, who wanted us to cut off the Russians and the Chinese. We stopped all sales to them, and in six months, extorted them out of huge resource right concessions. No one else's dared to try and challenge Raven Industries since."

"That's...very impressive," Sarah whistled. "Albert must be having the time of his life."

"That he is, that he is," Sarah chuckled. "I have no doubt Megan is going to thrive when she joins us."

"Alana!" a voice called out cheerfully, "I...oh, sorry, was I interrupting?"

"Don't worry about it, might as well introduce you two. Eesha, meet Sarah. Sarah, Eesha." The muggle girl waved cheerfully, her enthusiasm seemingly infectious as Sarah brightened. "Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

"We've done it," Eesha said simply. Alana shot out of her seat, startling Sarah, though her attention was solely focused on the grey box in the girl's hand. Around the size of a toolbox, it looked innocuous enough. "A device fitting the parameters your specified, strange as they were. Now all that's left is to test it. I thought you'd want to be there."

"Definitely," Alana grinned, beckoning for Sarah to follow as the trio quickly made their way through several corridors before arriving at a lab. Alana quickly moved off, instructing two of her muggleborn technicians to bring up a magical hearthstone Harry had supplied them with, brimming with energy. Eesha observed the glowing blue stone with unbridled fascination, clearly feeling the power radiating off it.

"That's...the power source?" the girl questioned, now seemingly much less sure of herself. Alana nodded.

"Don't worry, the specifications go above what is expected. This is just the first phase, in time...well, we'll see."

"There's an even more powerful version of this stuff?" Eesha gaped. Alana nodded distractedly, holding out her tablet and inputting several commands. The technicians lingering around quickly finished their tasks before scrambling behind the thick safety glass.

"Dropping containment wards in 3...2...1…" the red stone glowed an even brighter shade of brilliant blue. Several grey battery packs, of similar design to the one Eesha had presented, began to whir, vibrating with a low hum that slowly raped up in intensity as the wards around the magical stone faded into nothing, allowing the full, albeit limited, strength of magic to flood the area. Many of the muggle technicians seemed to struggle to breathe, though the muggleborns and half bloods were clearly more used to this, and scrambled to help their colleagues.

The packs began to glow, a faint aura on them as they rumbled dangerously loudly. Several technicians around the group looked on nervously, and Eesha was nibbling on her lip, clearly torn between asking for the experiment to stop and wanting to see it to the end.

"And...we've reached peak," Alana confirmed, eyeing the diagnostics of the packs. It was above their baseline, but thanks to the allowances of their specifications, still within normal operating ranges, if barely. "Holding…beginning ramp down."

In truth, she wasn't in control of the magic being outpoured any more than muggle pigs would fly, though for their muggle counterparts' sakes, who had not been introduced to the concept of magic thus far, she spoke as though this were some chemical process, her tone authoritative enough to dissuade any undesirable questions.

"Test complete," Alana smiled, turning to Eesha. "You did it."

Around them, the technicians rose up from their stations, giving the young girl a standing ovation that lasted for several minutes, until Alana waved for them to get back to work. "What...so…"

"We'll need to scale this up, as you deduced, there are more powerful variants of this energy source, but we've made a big first step. You should be proud," Sarah smiled, placing a hand on Eesha's shoulder and squeezing lightly. "Now go get some well deserved rest. I know you've been taking twenty hour shifts."

"Yes boss," the girl agreed, walking out of the lab with pats on the shoulders from various technicians. Smiling fondly at her retreating form, Alana grabbed her tablet and began typing down various instructions.

"Was that…"

"A battery capable of dealing with magical fluctuations? Absolutely. While we still have ways to go in circuit protection...we're on the precipice of a magitech revolution," Alana confirmed. "And not a moment too soon, if Albert's reports are anything to go by. The muggle world seems to be gearing up for war."

-Break-

The national palace museum, constructed in a fashion reminiscent of the Forbidden Palace save for its colouration of green roofs and beige walls, stood imperiously in the Northern section of muggle Taipei, just south of the world renowned Yang Ming Shan, with its natural springs.

For the magical side though, the building was the heart of the Nationalist Magical Exiles, with catacombs beneath the sprawling complex housing various administrative buildings along with rooms filled with material relocated to Taiwan. Artifacts from tens of thousands of years ago, written texts from 3500 BC, the earliest records of such in existence, and much more, all jealously guarded beneath layers of protections.

The ICW had been much quicker to recognise the mainland Chinese magicals as the sole, legitimate representative of China, which in turn meant isolation for the Nationalist wizards in Taiwan. Needless to say, the latter had not taken it well, and formed one of the few truly self-sufficient. Illegally exported China, which despite the mainlanders' attempts remained truly one of a kind, are the ultimate symbol of luxury in many circles. Several species of magical animals and their products were also endemic to the Island, and once again their illegal export was ridiculously lucrative. Harry had no doubt the government was involved in the few exports that happened, using them as a political bargaining tool.

Knowing how difficult managing to puncture Taiwan's island wards was, given that the mainland Chinese had tried and failed for decades to find any sort of exploitable weaknesses in the wards, Harry doubted that the catacombs would be any less zealously guarded. Even walking through the muggle entrance, he could already feel the energy of the wards, no doubt something which caused the muggles to hold some superstitious belief in the area's power.

He took out his phone, placing it to his ear. "Butterfingers, are you in position?"

"Yes sir. Engine's all warmed up. In thirty minutes, we'll be outside range."

"Good, command out."

Continuing past various calligraphy displays, taking a moment to appreciate each piece and read over its history, Harry attuned his senses, mentally making a map of the catacombs in his mind while pretending to be concentrating on studying the muggle artifacts on display.

After half an hour wandering around the museum, using the opportunity to triangulate his estimations for various troves' locations, Harry felt confident enough to attempt his breach. Looking around, he noticed a disused elevator with a muggle repelling charm around it, and looked inside, to see that it indeed led down several kilometers into the Earth, far deeper than any documented muggle construction.

Smiling, he gently pried open the metal doors and entered inside the elevator shaft, latching onto one of the elevator cables. Shutting the doors behind him, he loosened his grip and in a controlled descent, slid down the cable until he landed with a soft thud atop the elevator box.

Cautiously, he reached out with his passive senses, looking for any sign of activity. There were two guards stationed just outside, though they were sitting inside a guard booth. Knowing he needed to cause some sort of distraction, he entered into the elevator, pressed the 'open door' button and quickly climbed back out onto the top of the elevator, latching onto the maintenance ladder on the side with bated breath.

The two guards looked up, clearly confused, with both drawing out their wands and cautiously approaching. Harry turned his attention to the control panel, and nearly laughed at the shoddy construction work. For all their magical prowess, it seemed they had really cheaped out on their muggle defences, too overconfident in themselves.

As the two guards entered, he pressed the override button, causing the elevator to shoot up, whizzing past him. Knowing that he had at best a few minutes, he pried open the elevator shaft doors and entered, quickly shutting them behind him and looked around for anything he could use.

The two guards had closed the security door towards the guard station behind them, meaning he couldn't breach it without significant time and effort. Thus, noting there was little he could use, he began creeping along the catacombs, his steps silent thanks to Raven's training, following the shadows of the magical torches.

As he approached the first room, guarded by a pair of alert looking guards, he paused, hesitating on what to do. After several moments, he grabbed a small pebble and tossed it onto the other side, which had the desired effect of drawing both guards' attention. The guard closer to the disturbance moved to investigate, while the guard closer to Harry turned, her wand in a ready poise to cover her partner. Unfortunately for her, Harry was now positioned behind her, and snuck up to the witch with ease, knocking her unconscious with a jab to her neck. Swiftly lowering her body to the ground, he closed the distance to the wizard, and knocked him unconscious in a similar manner.

Satisfied with his work, Harry quickly searched both their bodies, finding a set of keys on the wizard, and placing them into the slot of the smooth stone door, causing it to rumble before parting open. Entering, he noticed that he had entered an archival area, perfect for his uses. While undoubtedly the more precious works would be far deeper into the tunnel complex, he was perfectly content to scan over the documents within this area.

Most were meaningless diary entries and other similar objects, though several journals of note were present, and he quickly read through them, committing their contents to memory before replacing them in their spots.

Within ten minutes, he had taken all he needed from the room, including, importantly, the information of multiple ledgers documenting where various artifacts were kept. Of course, artifacts such as the mandate of heaven and book of saints, as he learnt the artifact Jade mentioned to him was likely called, along with several other intriguing artifacts that he was determined to take with him given the chance.

Locking the two guards inside a broom closet near the back of the archival room, he stripped the man of his uniform and adored it, before continuing his merry way down the catacombs. He resisted the temptation of lesser thieves, who would be bogged down carrying less important artifacts, instead making his way straight down, through several more security checkpoints, before finally reaching the lowest levels.

Now, he emerged in the most risky part of the operation. Surrounded by nearly a dozen professional killers, he manipulated the air around him, decapitating two of the guards. As the rest rose up, wands drawn, he matched their movements, looking around with calm alertness while playing his part to perfection. The alarms wailed, signalling that foreign magic had been detected.

A man in white and blue robes quickly took charge. "Gather up the artifacts and evacuate!"

Harry nodded solemnly as he followed two senior guards, who inserted their wands into keyholes and unlocked the vault door. Several other guards formed a defensive perimeter, turned towards the entrance. Joining the team that entered the vault as it sealed shut, one of the two senior leaders spoke up.

"Right, we trained for this. Stand by your artifact trove, in five minutes we're porting to the southern branch. Got it?"

"Yes sir," all chanted in fluent mandarin. Eyeing his surroundings, Harry knew now was the time to strike, and lashing out with his magic, legilimenced all of the guards, knocking them unconscious, inserting false memories of an attempt to steal all the artifacts. His work done, he quickly picked up one of the portkeys, casting several diagnostic charms on the portkey.

Quickly, he manipulated the destination, shifting it further south than the intended target, to the port of Kaohsiung. By following the same direction, it would hopefully delay their attempts to follow by several moments. He pulled out several pebbles and tapped them, transforming them into portkeys headed to the closer Taipei Port Terminal. While the portkeys wouldn't puncture the wards, he suspected the guards would believe otherwise, and buy him valuable time to escape outside of the ward range of Taiwan.

As five minutes approached, he held onto one of the portkeys, and disappeared in a flash, clinging on for several minutes before landing with a soft thud on a moderately sized muggle boat, not as large as the massive container ships around it, but certainly larger than any normal luxury yacht or private recreational vessel.

"Ah, mister Ghost, what...holy-" before the man had finished, Harry slashed his throat with a knife, dumping his body into the ocean. Checking around to see that all the thirteen artifact troves had arrived safely with him, he headed to the control panel and pushed the ship to full throttle, sending it skidding on the ocean waves out of the port and off into the horizon.

As he checked the maps, noting that he was nearing the edge of the ward line, he saw several broom riders in the distance quickly closing on him. Sighing, he pulled out a pistol, transfigured it into a rifle, aimed and fired, knocking two of the broom riders off their mounts before they scattered, dodging and weaving in an attempt to avoid his shots.

It was harder, but he picked off another three before they finally decided to retreat for now. Harry knew that they would be back and in greater numbers soon enough.

-Break-

Otaba steeled his occlumency as he was summoned to meet the dark lord once again. Flanked by two of Grindelwald's flunkies, he entered the throne room, walking up to the man. He very nearly lost control at the sight of the man, whose body looked much more youthful and energised.

"Ah, young Otaba, thank you for coming," Grindelwald drawled in his smooth baritone. His voice was far more silky than before, enthralling in its quality. Had he not been somewhat used to Harry's oration, he might well have been entranced, for even now he could feel a faint urge to spill all his secrets out to the man.

"I live to serve, milord," Otaba bowed, despite the disgust at such a motion lurking internally. Idly, he noted the throne room was devoid of the usual lieutenants, with only Serilda being present.

"Rise, and tell me how your relationship with young White is progressing," the man instructed.

"Decently well, milord. He has entrusted me with the task of enhancing some of his followers with rituals. He talks with me on occasion about rituals, though I concede his knowledge surpasses mine."

"Hmm, Serilda here was just telling me about how she managed to spend hours a week discussing spell theory with White." With a flick of his hand, Serilda curtsied before quickly leaving the room. Grindelwald's demeanour hardened, his scrutinising gaze penetrated Otaba. "Tell me, the one supposedly exposed as a spy is somehow able to get much closer than the true spy. What am I supposed to think?"

"That White is trying to use her to get closer to you," Otaba shrugged. "He receives tips and information constantly from those trying to curry favour, it's no surprise I haven't been especially favoured. He humours me by allowing me into his circle, yet I know he hides the key bits of information from me. Serilda on the other hand, I have no doubt that he's trying to feed certain information to you."

"How...presumptuous of you to assume that," Grindelwald chuckled, leaning back on his throne lazily. "Tell me, why do you think so much of White?"

"He's intelligent, more than anything. He always seems two steps ahead of anyone else...it's frustrating, not knowing his end goal. Yet there is an...elegance, watching him speak, cast, just acting in general. It is like watching a master of a craft at work...something just draws you in," Otaba admitted, knowing that injecting some measure of truth would sell his performance. Grindelwald seemed satisfied with his answer, in any case.

"That is very true. Tell me, what is he up to?"

"He's been isolating himself more, presumably training his magics. Given that there are three magical titans present, it seems that he wishes to be prepared."

"Four," Grindelwald corrected lazily.

"Mil-"

"Have no doubt, mister White will be the fourth titan, and perhaps the greatest of us all. At my age, I was but discovering the beginnings of my abilities, yet he...for all his trickery, he managed to best me in our first confrontation," Grindelwald chuckled, almost fond in his reminiscence. "That his name hasn't been plastered across the magical world is a testament to his influence in keeping his presence muted except for certain circles. So have no doubt, there are four magical titans, young Otaba, not three."

"Forgive me, milord." Grindelwald waved a dismissive hand.

"Nonsense, one can't expect those as young as you to understand such," he chuckled, though Otaba knew Grindelwald was scrutinising him for any hint or tell. Restraining himself with occlumency, he kept himself perfectly calm at the patronisation. Whether the dark lord was pleased or disappointed, Otaba couldn't discern. "You may go."

Bowing once again, he left the room, to a thoughtful Grindelwald, who waved a hand, causing nearly a dozen figures to materialise from seemingly thin air, representing his inner circle. "Thoughts?"

"He's hiding something," Sigmund Rosier growled, as though offended by the very thought. "I still say he needs to be properly enlightened to the justness of our cause."

"Nonsense," Grindelwald dismissed with a wave, "we do not coerce. We are liberators, and only accept the willing into our ranks. That will not change."

"Of course, milord," the elderly man bowed, clearly displeased.

"Viveka, you've always had an eye for reading people. Thoughts?"

"I concur with Sigmund. He's too demure, too eager to please. At that age, it doesn't make sense, meaning it's an act," the French woman commented. Grindelwald hummed thoughtfully.

"Ironic, is it not? The game of spies? To serve two masters at once...though I must wonder what White has done to gain this measure of loyalty. But enough of these games, while White is a future threat or ally, currently, he remains out of the picture. Tell me, what information do we have on the ICW attacks?"

"As far as we can tell, Voldemort attacked them," Xenik answered after a moment of hesitation. "It makes no sense...but that's what all the evidence points to. They're one of the few groups with the means, and the MO fits them, though what they hoped to achieve, I'm uncertain. It makes no tactical sense, given the ICW attacks have basically crippled."

"No tactical sense for Voldemort, indeed," Grindelwald mused lightly. "Though, it plays nicely for us...too nicely."

"Someone is framing you?" Cohen questioned incredulously. "Who would have such the means and motive?"

"Can you think of no one, Viveka?" Grindelwald tutted. He looked to the rest of his circle, noting how despite the deep thought they all were in, none could make the connection the dark lord already made in his mind. "The Russians."

It was as though a confundus spell had been lifted from his inner circle. Several were cycling in disbelief, though all remained silent. "Their strength has been depleted, and they need time to reassert their presence in Eastern Europe with the fall of the iron curtain. The BMU buffers between us and them, yet it does little to prevent Voldemort from driving up from the South. By turning the ICW's attention mostly onto them, they weaken their greatest threat."

"Wouldn't the BMU be the greatest threat?" Obadia questioned. "They are the regional superpower."

"Aside from the cultural debt of gratitude, the Russians have little that they need. Eastern Europe remains rife for expansion. Their greatest external threats are us and Voldemort, and undoubtedly there is some level of unofficial cooperation between them," Grindelwald lectured. "While this likely means that Voldemorty will see us as nothing but enemies, in the short term, it does alleviate our problems facing the ICW. In fact, I would have considered such a move myself."

This seemed to alleviate much of the anger many of his inner circle members felt. Despite their bruised pride at being framed, Grindelwald needed them to realise the opportunity that was presented to them. His next request would likely test the limits of their loyalty.

"We will neither antagonise Voldemort nor the ICW." Several looked mutinous, even if they daren't voice their objections. It was, of course, understandable. They had lost many a comrade against the ICW in the past months, not to mention it was the successor organisation to the Coalition, which had been responsible for their first defeat. "Our two greatest enemies are content to kill each other, and we must let them do so, even if it angers our pride. I have no doubt those sympathetic to Voldemort will eventually force the ICW to shift their attention back to us, and that Voldemort will be eager to attack us given an opportune moment, but for now, neither can afford to whilst locked into conflict with each other. It is in this moment we must recoup, gather strength and grow stronger, such that we will finish off what remains of our enemies when they are finally finished with their battles. For the greater good!"

"For the greater good!" a newly invigorated inner circle saluted with their hands on their chests. Grindelwald smiled.

-Break-

Harry sighed as a submarine surfaced from in front of his boat, releasing thirty broom riders, who shot up into the air, moving to surround him. He was so close to the boundary as well. Setting the ship on autopilot, he concentrated on the memories of the ancient magics he had learnt, knowing it would be the difference between success and failure. As five of the broom riders dived towards him, he pointed his wand to his throat, transfiguring it to the shape required. The sensation was mildly painful, though Harry paid that little thought as he spoke the words of the ancients, commanding plumes of air from the sea surface to rise like angry eruptions, knocking two of the broom riders off their mounts and causing the three others to scatter.

Yet the small tornadoes did not fizzle out, instead merging, the air accelerating to hurricane speeds, swirling the water below into an uneasy storm, as the broom riders clutched their handles for dear life, trying to stay mounted. The air continued to move in violent jerks by the command of his intent, the power of the ancient words so great he felt barely any exertion using such powers.

With great satisfaction, he watched all the magicals fall like flies one by one into the ocean. Two tried apparating, to which he snorted derisively. That there were still bits of their bodies tumbling to their ocean confirmed his belief that such a move would be disastrous.

Turning his attention to the submarine, Harry concentrated, this time deciding to switch to water magic. Making a different series of grunts and murks, the water around the submarine converged on the metal construct, slowly crushing it inwards despite the magical protections and enhancements. He could feel the panic of the individuals trapped inside, and continued to press deeper and deeper, until the ship ripped into two under the strain, the welding popping apart in a cascading series of failures.

And just in time, he managed to reach past the ward limits, the oppressive air of magic finally dispersing for the freedom of the salty open seas. He tapped his wand onto his throat, untransfiguring it back into its human state. Quickly placing a coin in each of the troves, he held one himself, casting a blasting curse below him to ensure that the vessel would sink, and called out, "Reclamation."

With a swirl, he felt himself being violently tugged through a vortex of space fold, before being spat out onto a patch of grassland. Looking up, he saw the thirteen troves safely transported. From the manor in the distance, he eyed a figure riding a flying carpet streaking over, revealing herself to be a worried Jade, who descended, allowing the carpet to drape uselessly over the grass as she wrapped him in a hug.

"Harry! You're alright," she hugged him in tight relief. Harry returned the gesture, even if he found he couldn't conjure the same warmth from such a gesture like he used to. Thankfully, she didn't seem to notice, instead looking around at the piles of artifacts recovered and gaping. "Is...is this…"

"How?" she breathed in awe, opening one of the golden caskets and reverently retrieving a woven tapestry, despite its fragile appearance radiating in power. "The...the mandate...merlin...you've really outdone yourself…"

"It was in their highest security vaults," Harry chuckled. "It was quite a pain to get, but I present to you some of the most ancient and valuable artifacts in existence."

"You...you have no idea how much this means to me," Jade dropped the scroll, before wrapping him in another tight hug. From his chest, he could feel her tears trickling down, though even the way her body shook betrayed just how moved the woman was. He patted her soothingly on the back.

"Of course I do. What are friends for, afterall?"

"We...we sent six teams...none of them returned...I...I was joking...but...you've...I've only dreamed…"

"What are you going to do with them?" Harry queried. Jade looked up at him, confusion clearly written in them. "You know you can't display them, and the Nationalists are going to do everything in their power to reclaim them."

"They don't have the diplomatic leverage," Jade dismissed. Harry shook his head, suppressing his annoyance at her short sightedness.

"Not through official channels. I mean through black ops. As long as you don't make this public, the Nationalists will never admit to losing the artifacts, it would lose them any credibility by admitting their defenses were broken through. But you can never publicly display these."

"I know," Jade sighed, "as much as I want to...it's better this way. But these artifacts will be under the best protections we have, that much I can assure you."

"It's not me you have to answer to," Harry shook his head. "The Nationalists thought their protections were perfect, look at us now. I'm just saying, don't let your guard down."

"Hey, you might be Raven, but that hardly makes me a lousy operative," she chuckled. "I know the game, it's just...well, it's been my father's wish to see these before he dies. I've sent several of my best operative teams, but none of them returned, I presume they're dead."

"Oh?"

"He's terminally ill," Jade sighed, "incurable tumour in his brain. It's in its early stages, but he has maybe three to five years left."

"My condolences," Harry offered, to which she simply nodded. "He's grooming you to be his successor, then?"

"My brother in law," Jade shook her head. "He's finally conceded that I'm unlikely to get married in his lifetime. He's a decent individual, knows his place in our relationship."

"Planning on being a grey cardinal, then?" Harry questioned amusedly. Jade simply nodded. "A good path, one I wish you the best of luck on."

"Who needs luck when I have friends like you?" she giggled. Harry knew he should have felt something from the statement, yet the grin he placed, however real it was, simply was forced. Once again, she appeared oblivious, whether because of her emotive state or because of his skill, he didn't know. "I can't offer anything publicly for this...but anything you want, I'll offer."

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry smiled, taking her hand and squeezing it comfortingly. "Now come, we have to resettle these artifacts."

-Break-

"Taiwan…" she muttered to herself, setting down yet another history book on the island. It was the sixth she had read in the past day, yet Alana was no closer to deciphering what was so special about the island. Most of it was speculation more than anything, given the secretive nature of the Nationalists' magical society.

The only hints she had, courtesy of Sarah, were that Grindelwald once visited the island, and that Harry believed it was the source of some ancient magical knowledge. As ridiculous as it sounded, Harry was rarely off with a hunch, thus she decided to go with the assumption he was right.

Which meant that he would be seeking her help soon enough. But how was Alana supposed to prepare when she hadn't a single clue as to what the nature of magic he was exploring was. He had sent over some of his notes on three dimensional rune schemes, but those failed to capture her attention as she knew he was pursuing something far greater than whatever those runes could hope to achieve.

The schematics were for some sort of focusing scheme, like a beacon. Alana supposed they could be used for rituals, though very few would require magic to be concentrated as densely as the scheme was designed for. Yet another question mark as to what Harry aimed to do with that.

Alana sighed as she eyed the device Harry had gifted her with. It was so small, so innocuous, yet its mere existence taunted her. Everything she knew told her it was fundamentally impossible, and yet...it had been done. Alana also couldn't shake the feeling it was connected to everything Harry was chasing after.

She knew that there was a purpose to the gift, for Harry rarely acted without ulterior motives. Sometimes, she wished he would be more direct in his teachings, because she swore if she had to feel another teasing pulse of magic that happened roughly every thirty four minutes, she would go insane.

Turning her chair one hundred and eighty degrees, she stared down from her window at the production facilities, already churning out hundreds of magical batteries an hour. They were difficult to produce, and even one mistake required the entire unit to be scrapped, yet they were making good progress. These could be used to power anything from computers to cars, yet the next stage seemed infinitely harder.

Turning back to face her desk, Alana observed the disorganised notes she had written up for ideas on how to scale up the packs. The eventual goal was to capture magic exuding from epicenters of ley lines, but the scale of energy in those sections were orders of magnitude above the scaling limit of these batteries.

As much as it pained her to admit it, she knew it required a fundamentally different approach. Attempting to force a key into a lock never worked as it should, after all. Thus, she took her wand out and cast a flame charm, burning all the writings she had come up with in several months before vanishing the ashes.

Her thoughts drifted over to the muggle side, which was doing far better. The success of their energy production had drawn talent from all over the world wishing to make a difference. Many even offered to work for free, simply wanting the opportunity their resources provided to make a difference.

Already, they were making huge amounts of money with their supermaterials. From selling nano-carbon armour to various militaries across the world to supplying a new superlight material for aircraft to Boeing and Airbus, they had only begun to tap the potential market for supermaterials, being unable to keep up with the huge demand. If they IPOed, as many speculated they would, the estimated valuation was in the trillions, though Harry undoubtedly wanted this operation to remain private.

She grabbed the pile of proposals she was to review, skimming through them. Thank Raven for augmency, or she would never have been able to work so efficiently. Advancements in circuitry protection, approved, development of a hyper efficient computer chip, approved, space program, approved, fusion, approved...frankly, every project in the pile was going to get approved. Her assistants had already screened out the unsuitable ones, meaning all she had to do was sign. And with the resources available to them, why not?

In fifteen minutes, she had approved all but seven of the hundred and fourteen projects, and sent those papers down a chute. Suddenly, a Raven flew in from one of the open windows, landing on her desk imperiously with a letter on its leg.

Taking it out eagerly, she rewarded the bird with a pet before allowing it to fly o ver to the perch in the corner of her office, stocked with bird feed and water. Opening the letter carefully, she took a whiff of the parchment, luxuriating in the magical imprint Harry left.

"Why are you sniffing the letter?" a cheeky voice interrupted, drawing a scowl from Alana as she looked towards Eesha, who had just entered the office. "Ooh, a raven, where did you get it from?"

"It's from a friend," Alana dismissed, immediately regretting the admission as Eesha's eyes twinkled mischievously when she skipped towards her.

"A friend, or a friend?" she asked, waggling her eyebrows. Alana shook her head in bemusement. "Oh, so, what's he like?"

"He's my boss."

"Oh, you mean Lord Warcraft?"

"No, Albert's boss," Alana shrugged nonchalantly, inwardly crowing over Eesha's incredulous gape.

"Warcraft has a boss? Who, you have to tell me! Please!"

"He's called Harry. One of the smartest people you'll ever meet. Maybe you'll have a chance to meet him someday. Merlin knows that he inspired the both of us to start up Raven inc. He provided the seed capital too."

"Still doesn't explain why you're sniffing his letter though, fancy as that paper looks," Eesha giggled. "Someone's in love."

"It's parchment, and...well, Harry to me is what Albert is to you," Alana explained. "He mentored both Albert and I, so I suppose I'm a bit biased, but he's really brilliant."

"Of that I have no doubt," Eesha shrugged. "But enough about your sorry excuse for a love life, Lord Warcraft is expecting you in the reception."

"I...you little," Alana sputtered at the innocent wave Eesha gave as she skipped out of the room, waving giddily. Biting her lip to prevent a spew of curses, she instead clamped down on her emotions, forcing a pleasant smile on her face and prepared to meet Albert. It would be good to see an old friend.

Author notes:
Thank you to the outpour of support! It really does mean a lot to see you all are enjoying this fanfic. Snowbot, I admit, more than anything, the fact that the flame was about the unbelievability of the story was rather humourous, given the fandom we're in. Thanks to Ezylryb, Jojo, Frisk5896 and an unnamed guest for your kind words I'm glad you're enjoying yourself, and hopefully learning a bit of history. While we're definitely diverging from real life, with the Russian civil war being the most notable example, though the failure of Europe to form the EU is definitely a close second, I will definitely keep making references for you to catch!

This chapter was a blast to write, as reflected by how long it is (over 10,000 words!) While I didn't go into as much depth with the formosan natives as I liked, I realised that alas, the way I could reasonably incorporate magic into their culture was limited. I've tried to do it some justice with the ideas of sanctums and 'elders' being entrusted with passing on the knowledge of the ancients to their disciples, but expanding beyond that was far more difficult than I anticipated, which is why I didn't go into as much depth as, say, the Native Americans. Frankly, there wasn't much material to work with, seeing as from the 1500s we saw sinicisation bascially destroy the local culture.

Something I'm far more happy about is the real life parallels to the two China problem. Don't worry, Taiwan is going to be explored in the future on both the muggle and magical side. It'll be interesting to see the breakdown of Taiwan's globalism due to a more chaotic Europe, an isolationist America, Japan and South Korea infighting, and the rising strength of the Chinese. In our own history, only with the death of Chiang Kai Shek did the country actually snap out of its dream of reconquering mainland China. It took years after that for democracy to be instituted; you read that right, Taiwan lived in martial law for several decades, and Taipei was a 'wartime capital'. I will say that Taiwan in my story is going a far different path compared to our own world, both because of the different geopolitical circumstances, as well as the decision of its leaders. Another phase 3 teaser, hehe.

As always, if you enjoyed, consider following and favouriting the story. It shows your appreciation, and encourages me to continue writing the story. While I love Harry Potter and the Raven, there are definitely times when writing can become a slog, and you encouragement is what keeps me going! Thank you to all those who have supported the story this far! Two gold stars for each of you. Liked something? Disliked something? Just want to say hi? Be sure to comment! I'm still very green to authorship, so any feedback helps me grow as a writer, and in turn produce a better story for your consumption. With all that said, thanks again for reading, and until next time, toodles!