Anne stood opposite Tom, feeling somewhat nervous.
A year ago, she had still been able to fight Tom on fairly even terms, but now...
She really was no longer his opponent.
In truth, Tom's talent far surpassed that of most people his age. It was just that Wade shone far too brightly.
Because of that, everyone tended to think Tom's achievements were nothing special, but that did not mean he wasn't powerful.
"Come on, then. Let me see if you can beat me up," Tom said proudly.
However, the muscles in the hand gripping his wand were already tense.
Clearly, although he looked arrogant on the surface, he was extremely cautious inside.
Wade could not possibly be unaware that Anne was no match for him. Yet he had still told her to beat him up, and he seemed completely confident that she could do it.
That meant the glasses Wade had given Anne had to be special.
So Tom had no intention of underestimating them.
This was the kind of lesson he had learned the hard way.
Anne put on the glasses Wade had given her.
"Hm? Searching for enemies?" Anne stared in surprise at the small line of text appearing at the bottom of her vision.
Then the text changed.
[Potential enemy detected. 80% probability of attack. Counterattack route successfully calculated...]
"Huh?" Anne looked at the words in surprise, along with several red trajectory lines. She suddenly began to understand how the glasses worked.
As Anne drew her wand, the text changed again.
[Enemy confirmed. Possible attack routes listed below. Possible spells listed below. Recommended defensive spells and counterattack routes listed below...]
While Anne was still staring blankly, the edges of her vision suddenly turned red.
A line of red text appeared.
[Shield Charm! Remaining reaction time: 2 seconds!]
"Protego!"
Anne instinctively cast the Shield Charm as quickly as she could.
A smooth magical barrier instantly covered her entire body. At the same time, a red Disarming Charm arrived directly in front of her.
Pop!
The Disarming Charm was deflected by the Shield Charm by the narrowest of margins.
"Hm?" Tom stared at Anne in surprise.
He had taken advantage of her momentary distraction and attacked first, intending to seize the initiative.
He had not expected Anne, who should not have had time to react, to respond at all.
And she had used the Shield Charm at exactly the right moment to block his spell.
Anne was far less proficient with the Shield Charm than Tom. She could not cast it instantly.
Yet just now, it had been as though she already knew he was going to attack and had cast the Shield Charm in advance.
"Perfect Shield Charm!" Flitwick shouted excitedly from the side.
Anne's timing had truly been excellent.
If she had cast the Shield Charm any earlier, Tom would not have used the Disarming Charm against it and might have switched to Transfiguration instead.
If she had cast it any later, she would not have blocked Tom's Disarming Charm.
Her timing had been exactly right.
Perfectly blocking the opponent's spell meant Anne could take advantage of the brief opening after his attack and begin her counterattack.
Sure enough, a new prompt immediately appeared in her vision.
A bright red line appeared on the left with a word above it.
[Recommended Spell: Disarming Charm! Reaction time: 1 second! 90% probability of hitting the opponent!]
Anne immediately swept her wand along the red line and fired a Disarming Charm toward Tom's right side.
Tom had just launched his attack from the right, and his wand had not yet fully returned from the left.
Snap!
At the last possible instant, Tom straightened his wand and used a skilful movement to knock Anne's Disarming Charm aside.
For an ordinary student, that attack would already have decided the duel.
But Tom was no ordinary student. He still managed to block the spell at the final moment.
Even so, Anne's Disarming Charm gave him an extremely uncomfortable feeling.
Because the direction she had attacked from was precisely where his defence was weakest.
Anne had now stopped thinking entirely and was simply following the prompts appearing in her glasses as quickly as possible.
Every spell she cast targeted the weakest point in Tom's defence.
Anne's spells were not especially powerful, nor was her casting speed particularly fast, yet Tom was forced to spend far more effort defending against them.
It felt incredibly awkward.
Anne attacked while Tom struggled to defend.
For a time, the battle completely shifted into Anne suppressing Tom.
Tom did not even seem to have an opportunity to counterattack.
"Wow! Wade, are those glasses really that powerful? Even Tom is being suppressed! Look, Anne's about to win!" Flitwick said excitedly.
Wade shook his head and sighed.
"No. Anne can't beat Tom."
"Why? She's clearly winning right now!" Flitwick asked in confusion.
"Tom's ability to react and adapt is too strong. If Anne wants to beat him, her only chance is within the first minute. Once more than a minute passes, he'll start adapting," Wade said with a sigh.
Tom's talent for combat seemed almost innate.
As he grew older and his magical power increased, his combat ability would only become stronger.
Even Wade, before breaking through his current magical limits, still needed to rely on ancient magic and his cat-like reflexes to be confident in completely suppressing him.
Tom's talent was actually not much inferior to Dumbledore's.
If Voldemort had not become so insane later on and had remained as rational as he was in the beginning, Dumbledore's plans might not necessarily have fooled him.
"Ah!" Flitwick suddenly cried out.
Wade looked up again and discovered that in the brief moment he had been distracted, the situation on the field had changed dramatically.
The glasses had actually been knocked off Anne's face.
Just as Wade had predicted, Tom quickly adapted to Anne's attacking rhythm.
And from the gaps between her attacks, he had noticed something unusual.
Anne's attacks were orderly, but they were always just a fraction too slow.
Against anyone else, that slight delay would hardly matter.
Against Tom, however, even that tiny delay became a major flaw.
From the subtle hesitation in Anne's movements, Tom deduced that the glasses were giving her instructions.
Anne had to receive those instructions and then cast the spell. No matter how quickly she reacted, there would always be a tiny delay.
Because Anne needed reaction time.
Once Tom understood that, his counterattacks began incorporating feints.
Sure enough, Anne's previously smooth movements immediately became disordered, making her look almost flustered.
That gave Tom the opening he needed.
He directly knocked the glasses off Anne's face.
Without the glasses, Anne was no longer Tom's opponent.
Snap!
______
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69