A few moments before.
Black yawned as Dumbledore began riling up the students with his speech.
With Dumbledore willingly accepting the Corruption from the Gaunt's Ring, a great weight had lifted off Black's shoulders.
First, the matter of the Hidden Mission related to the Ancient Magical Script had become a curse for him. Sooner or later, Lord Black Phoenix was bound to find out that no matter how much Black taught him, the Lord wasn't making any progress. Once that happened, either the Hidden Mission would become invalid or… Black would fail it.
Neither of these two outcomes was desirable.
Second, Lord Voldemort's re-resurrection had done what Kai had schemed for it to do.
It had brought another player on the level of Supreme Providence in the timeline, rivaling the rising strength of Lord Black Phoenix. Simultaneously, it opened a path to make the storyline Character into something more…
However, what it didn't do, and couldn't do, was check Dumbledore.
Lord Black Phoenix was so strong that unless the likes of Herpo the Foul came with his main body and attacked him, he wouldn't face any defeat. Much less needed to be said about a fellow Character from the same timeline. If Dumbledore hadn't been facing an existential crisis because of alien elements, then he could have easily ruled the world, taking care of Ekrizdis and Voldemort sooner or later.
The matter of the ring… and love… took care of that.
The Dark Alliance had lost Gellert Grindelwald. Even Orochimaru couldn't summon him, no matter how many pieces of flesh of the dead wizard Black gave to the Grimoire's Character.
But, in return, the disappearance of Grindelwald's soul had sealed Dumbledore's fate.
For a moment there, a week ago, seeing Lord Black Phoenix overcome his traumas through Darcie, Black's heart had skipped a beat. The man carried so much Despair that even for him, despite having Lucky Intuitions, it was hard to tell what the wizard was going to do next.
Surprisingly, and luckily, Kai's carefully planted scheme worked out at the right time, with Dumbledore realizing why Grindelwald's soul hadn't materialized next to Ariana.
When they had chosen to resurrect Grindelwald, Kai had no plans to use him for this task, as Dumbledore had still been only Dumbledore at that time.
It was only after his first clash with Lord Black Phoenix, and with the fool openly admitting that it was his hate for Lord Yellow Warlock that helped him resurrect, that the scheme had begun taking shape in Kai's mind.
All that needed to be done then was to keep Grindelwald secured and let matters play out in his favor.
With his luck, Kai didn't even need to go out of his way to manipulate events more than he already had.
And, finally, it happened.
Even from here, Black could clearly feel the Corruption running through Dumbledore's veins, killing him… slowly. Snape would have helped to stall the Corruption from spreading further, but it was only momentary. Eventually, it would kill Dumbledore, whether he died again and resurrected, becoming stronger.
Now, it was a battle against time between Kai and Dumbledore.
The one who managed to last longer than the other, before the Timeline stepped into the Pillar Status and heralded the War between Timelines, would be the winner.
Black looked up at the sky then.
This had become his nature, it seemed.
His mere presence had become equivalent to the destined arrival of Chaos.
He was Nyarlathotep, the Walking Chaos. And, soon, the entire Harry Potter Bubble would be drowning in the same Chaos as well. Death would reign in every corner, rivers of blood flowing from one timeline to another.
Oh, well… Black shrugged, yawning again.
Then, suddenly, he saw a flash of black fire, making him snap his jaw shut.
Above Dumbledore hovered a strange broom, with a black handle and fiery, black bristles.
"Oi…" Venom's voice rang in Black's mind. "Is that…"
Black's breathing quickened.
No.
It wasn't an Item.
As this thing was not an Artifact from the Original Storyline, it couldn't be an Item.
Yet, there was something about it that rattled both Black and Venom, consuming their emotions.
Whatever this broom was, it was alive.
Not only was it actively feeding on emotions, but it was also burning them, just as Dumbledore burned his Despair to power himself.
"The Black Phoenix Broom," Dumbledore said, his voice now entering Black's ears more clearly than before. "It is the fastest broom in the world, but… its speed is only one of its qualities, and not even the main one. Believe me when I say it, if you win the Tournament, it will even shadow the thrill of glory."
Harry nudged Black from behind. "You've seen it before?"
Black shook his head.
"Look at Darcie…" Ron said from behind Harry.
Draco peeked out from even further back and, along with everyone, saw Darcie's back, her hands clenched into fists.
Together, the boys gulped.
If there had been a chance of them winning the Tournament, it dropped even lower now.
"The First Stage of the Intercontinental Tournament of Magic is simple," Dumbledore continued, letting the broom hover over him to feed upon the emotions of thousands of wizards. "I have named it — Hunt. Each student, regardless of the Junior or Senior Category, will be allotted two individuals. One of these two individuals will be a first-year student from one of the participating Schools. The other… will be a Muggle."
WHAT?!
Not only the students, but even the other wizards and witches looked at each other, gobsmacked.
"The Junior Category's students will have to cross the Forbidden Forest with these two individuals, reaching a certain checkpoint," Dumbledore said, paling all faces. "You will face… realistic hurdles in doing so. Not only do you need to protect yourself, but also the individuals allotted to you. Once you reach the checkpoint with both individuals unharmed, you will pass the first stage.
"The Senior Category's students will have similar rules, and only the nature of their difficulties will differ from those of their Juniors. Alright. Now, we will call out your names and send you to your starting locations."
But, even as Dumbledore began speaking out names, almost none of the candidates could clearly hear him.
From the name of the first stage, they'd thought that they would be hunting for treasures or something.
Only now, after hearing the cold, casual words from Lord Black Phoenix, did they realize that…
… it was they who would be hunted today!
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