The storm did not roll in.
It formed.
Radiation clouds spiraled above Boston, pulled inward toward the figure standing atop the shattered skyscraper. Green lightning crawled across the sky like veins.
Harry hovered opposite him, wind whipping his robes beneath his indestructible armor.
Below them, the Commonwealth watched.
The Brotherhood of Steel held defensive lines.
Sensors inside The Institute struggled to measure the energy spike.
Every Geiger counter screamed—and then shorted out.
The figure smiled.
Not fully human.
Skin pale as ash. Eyes glowing radioactive emerald.
A twisted rebirth of Lord Voldemort—rebuilt by arcane radiation inside Vault 0.
"You tried to end me once," the Nuclear Dark Lord hissed.
"But the old world gave me something better than horcruxes."
He raised his hand.
Behind him, shapes emerged from the storm.
Mutated followers—raiders fused with radiation and corrupted magic. Their armor warped with glowing runes. Their eyes burned the same sickly green.
The Wasteland Death Eaters.
The First Strike
The Dark Lord moved first.
A beam of concentrated radioactive magic tore across the sky—half curse, half nuclear blast.
Harry countered instantly.
"Protego Diabolica!"
Golden fire met green radiation.
The collision split the clouds.
Shockwaves rippled across the Charles River, sending water towering into the air.
Below, Brotherhood soldiers fell to one knee from the pressure alone.
Harry pushed forward.
"You're not immortal," he called out. "You're unstable."
The Dark Lord laughed.
"Radiation does not weaken me."
He spread his arms—and absorbed energy from the storm itself. Buildings cracked as radiation bent toward him like worshippers.
Harry realized the truth.
He wasn't fighting a wizard sustained by horcruxes.
He was fighting a being fused with the wasteland.
As long as radiation existed—
He would regenerate.
Steel Joins Sorcery
Vertibirds roared into the storm.
Brotherhood Paladins opened fire on the mutant followers.
From below, Institute teleport signatures flashed as synth squads deployed to evacuate civilians.
For the first time—
Steel and science fought beside magic.
Harry tapped his Pip-Point mid-air.
ARCANE COMMONWEALTH PROTOCOL: ACTIVE
Wards activated across settlements.
Energy shields shimmered over Boston.
The Dragonclaw he had tamed roared and launched itself into battle against the mutated Death Eaters, claws glowing blue.
The war for the wasteland had begun.
The Duel
Harry and the Nuclear Dark Lord collided mid-air.
Wand met corrupted magic.
Each strike cracked reality.
Green curses twisted like serpents.
Golden counterspells shattered them.
"Avada—"
"Expelliarmus!"
The spells collided.
For a brief second—
Time slowed.
Harry saw it.
At the center of the Dark Lord's chest, glowing like a reactor core—
A shard of enchanted nuclear material.
Not a horcrux.
A nuclear heart.
Destroying him meant destabilizing it.
Possibly leveling half the Commonwealth.
The Dark Lord smiled, sensing his hesitation.
"You cannot kill me," he whispered. "Without destroying everything you rebuilt."
Harry's jaw tightened.
He wasn't the boy from Hogwarts anymore.
He was the wizard who survived the end of the world.
And he would not trade one apocalypse for another.
A New Strategy
Harry lowered his wand.
The Dark Lord laughed—
Until Harry spoke softly:
"Finite Incantatem… Totalis."
Instead of attacking the body—
Harry targeted the radiation itself.
Across the battlefield, golden light surged outward, purifying pockets of radiation in expanding waves.
The storm weakened.
The Dark Lord staggered.
"No—!"
Harry pressed forward.
Each purified zone dimmed the nuclear glow in his enemy's chest.
He wasn't destroying him.
He was starving him.
The Dark Lord shrieked as green lightning flickered erratically.
"You can't cleanse the entire wasteland!"
Harry's eyes burned brighter than ever.
"Watch me."
The battle raged into the night.
Magic against mutation.
Hope against corruption.
And as the radiation storm slowly thinned—
For the first time since Vault 0 opened—
The Nuclear Dark Lord looked uncertain.
To Be Continued…