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After the arena had just been shaken by Sargeras's awe-inspiring "weather manipulation," the atmosphere quickly returned to one of festivity and eager excitement.
Warm sunlight spilled down onto the dry dueling platform again, gilding every stone surface with a golden sheen. The faces of the audience still carried the flush of excitement that had yet to fade, but already every pair of eyes was fixed upon the two competitors standing at the very heart of the field.
Fleur Delacour, the shining jewel of Beauxbatons.
She stood tall and proud, her back straight, her posture elegant and commanding. Her long silver hair shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight like fine threads of silk, catching every glimmer of radiance. A wand of exquisite craftsmanship rested gracefully at her side, and in her gaze was a sharp and measured calm, cold yet steady, as if nothing could break her poise.
Opposite her was Viktor Krum, the eagle of Durmstrang. Silent as a mountain, immovable and unyielding, his sunken eyes glinted with a hawk's piercing intensity. His broad, powerful frame seemed to hold within it a coiled, explosive strength, like a predator ready to strike.
Having personally witnessed Sargeras's near-miraculous weather spell moments earlier, Kestrel could scarcely contain the rush of exhilaration surging through her chest.
So, after Professor McGonagall gave her brief and restrained announcement introducing the two contestants, Kestrel eagerly stepped forward, volunteering herself to deliver a far more passionate opening.
She pestered and persuaded, chattering and coaxing until at last, Professor McGonagall allowed it with a doubtful look. In that moment, Kestrel drew in a dramatic breath, and her voice, brimming with exaggerated fervor, rang across the entire arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen! The final round of the Triwizrad Dueling Tournament — First Match! Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons! Versus! Viktor Krum of Durmstrang!!"
Krum and Fleur moved into position before the dueling stone stele, and with both parties giving their confirmation, the battlefield was randomly chosen.
The next instant, the stone shimmered, and the scene around them shifted into a magnificent Banquet Hall.
A massive crystal chandelier descended from the vaulted ceiling, while tall stone columns appeared in the center of the ground, giving the illusion of an opulent palace chamber.
The heavy rumble of the dueling stone stele's descent had barely faded into the air when Krum acted without hesitation.
There was no testing of waters, no wasted motion, no unnecessary flourish. His wand shot out like a serpent striking from its lair, so swift that it left nothing behind but the blur of an afterimage.
"Stupefy!"
A blinding flash of crimson tore through the air, lancing directly toward Fleur with unrestrained force.
The speed and sheer power of this spell far surpassed any Krum had displayed before. Clearly, when facing Fleur, he had chosen not to hold back even in the slightest.
Fleur's pupils narrowed, but her nimble body moved with quicksilver grace. She leapt lightly backward and to the side, her motion as fluid as a dancer's.
She did not attempt to resist head-on. The elegance of Beauxbatons, in her hands, transformed into purest agility.
The scarlet beam skimmed past the trailing strands of her silver hair, brushing so close it seemed to set them alight, before it crashed into the barrier at the edge of the arena, sending ripples shuddering violently across its surface.
"So fast!" Hermione cried out in astonishment.
Fleur steadied herself, wand already carving a graceful arc through the air. Her lips moved with steady rhythm, chanting a Latin incantation that carried an enchanting cadence.
Her voice was clear and melodious, yet laced with an almost hypnotic allure. No beam of light burst forth from her wand. Instead, a cloud of shimmering pink butterflies unfurled from the tip, dreamlike and delicate, fluttering swiftly toward Krum.
The Beauxbatons students erupted with excitement, their eyes alight with recognition and pride.
Krum, however, suddenly felt the world before his eyes warp and blur. Fleur's figure became veiled in a haze of beauty, so compelling, so radiant, that she seemed to him in that moment the most precious treasure in existence. A dangerous impulse stirred within him, whispering that perhaps it would not be so bad to simply let his wand fall.
"Mind-affecting magic!" Percy muttered gravely, folding his arms across his chest. "If one has not been systematically trained in Occlumency, falling under its influence can be incredibly dangerous!"
But on the stage, Krum only gave a low grunt. A vicious gleam burst forth from the depths of his sunken eyes.
He bit down sharply on the tip of his tongue. A lance of pain shot through him, raw and searing, and with it his natural, ironclad willpower surged forth, tearing apart the fog of enchantment that tried to cloud his mind.
His gaze cleared in an instant, the haze dispelled, and his eyes became even more feral, filled with an untamed savagery.
"Protego!"
Krum's voice was a harsh growl. A solid silver shield snapped into existence, forming almost the very moment the incantation left his lips. And just in time, for Fleur's second wave of attacks was already streaking toward him.
Several blazing fireballs slammed into his protective barrier with a thunderous impact, scattering sparks across the invisible shield before breaking apart and vanishing.
But Fleur's assault did not stop there. From her wand streamed slender beams of icy-blue beams, each radiating a biting chill. They darted like serpents, weaving around the edges of Krum's shield with uncanny precision, striking instead at the ground beneath his feet.
"CRACK—!"
The stone slabs of the dueling platform were instantly glazed over with a sheet of ice smooth as glass, gleaming under the light. The cold spread in all directions, so sharp it seemed to freeze even the air itself.
Krum's foot slid sharply out from under him!
For all his powerful stance and solid base, his balance was suddenly broken. His massive body lurched backward in an awkward stagger, unable to resist the treacherous ground.
"A perfect chance!" Cedric couldn't help blurting from the stands. He knew all too well how formidable Krum was, and any opening that could unbalance him was priceless.
Fleur's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. Not pausing for even a heartbeat, she snapped her wand toward the off-balance Krum and cried out, "Stupe—"
However, the final syllable had yet to leave her lips.
In that very instant, as his body reeled out of control, Krum revealed why he was counted among the finest athletes in the world.
Rather than fighting to steady himself, he embraced the momentum of his slip, twisting into an awkward yet astonishingly fluid roll across the icy floor. His body moved with uncanny coordination, honed from years of chasing quaffles and dodging bludgers at impossible speeds.
At the same time, his wand lashed upward from a bizarre, unexpected angle.
"Confringo!"
But his target was not Fleur. Instead, he aimed at a small stone pillar nearby that helped hold up the enchanted hall around them.
BOOOOM—!
The column exploded into rubble, fragments erupting outward with a shockwave. Massive chunks of stone, propelled with terrifying force, hurtled toward Fleur like a storm of shrapnel.
This was no conventional dueling tactic. Krum had turned the very environment into a weapon, conjuring a sudden storm of flying debris to overwhelm his opponent.
On the professors' platform, Snape narrowed his eyes, a faint flicker of approval crossing his face as he regarded Krum. The maneuver was the very same ruthless tactic he himself had once executed during the exhibition match.
"Watch out" the Beauxbatons stands erupted into an uproar.
Fleur's expression tightened, her composure giving way to solemn focus. She had no choice but to abandon her Stunning Spell mid-cast.
Her wand snapped in a swift motion, voice clear and decisive. "Protego!"
A translucent barrier sprang up before her, shimmering faintly in the light.
BANG, BANG, BANG—!
Chunks of stone slammed violently into the shimmering barrier. Though none managed to pierce it, the sheer force of impact made the shield shudder and flicker, and Fleur herself was driven two steps backward under the strain, her concentrated magic scattered and dispersed.
Krum, meanwhile, seized the moment. He planted his feet firmly, blasting apart the icy floor beneath him with a Blasting Curse. The frozen surface cracked and broke apart, removing the threat of slipping.
He did not stop. His wand was raised high again, stabbing toward the ceiling above.
"Bombarda Maxima!"
His target was none other than the massive enchanted chandelier, crafted of magical ice crystals, which hung above the hall for both decoration and light.
A thick beam of yellow light struck the chandelier's base.
BOOM—CRACK!
The colossal fixture tore free and came crashing down, its jagged fragments glinting like deadly spears as they rained toward the dueling floor. The impact threatened to swallow nearly half the arena.
The shards refracted the sunlight into blinding flares, transforming the spectacle into a storm of glittering, lethal ice.
"Oh, heavens!" gasps erupted from all sides of the crowd. This was no careful duel, but a clash driven to the very brink of mutual destruction, raw and unrestrained.
Fleur's face turned pale in an instant.
She immediately understood Krum's intent. With such a wide and indiscriminate attack, he left her with only two choices: endure the full brunt of it, or burn through vast reserves of magical energy to shield herself from the falling debris, and in doing so risk leaving her defenses fatally exposed.
On the Quidditch pitch, Krum was infamous for this very brand of precision and cruelty. He was not simply a excellent seeker chasing the golden snitch. He thrived on destruction, using bludgers and quaffles alike to drive opponents into mistakes, turning the chaos of battle into his weapon.
And now he was using that same philosophy here.
In the blink of an eye, Fleur revealed the depth of her skill as Beauxbatons' chosen representative.
She did not attempt to block the entire chandelier outright. Instead, her wand darted through the air in rapid succession, each movement accompanied by incantations that flew from her lips like a volley of arrows.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Incarcerous!"
"Glacies!"
The Levitation Charm snatched at the sharpest icicles plummeting directly above her, halting their fatal descent.
The Incarcerous Spell became glowing bands of light, whipping around several of the larger chunks of crystal as well as the shattered frame of the chandelier, dragging them violently aside to alter their trajectory.
Finally, the Freezing Spell precisely struck the ground where she anticipated Krum might charge, instantly coating it in a fresh sheet of treacherous ice, slicker and more dangerous than before.
It was a dazzling sequence of magic, fluid as flowing water, executed in the heartbeat.
The bulk of the chandelier, pulled off-course, came crashing down just behind her. It shattered with a bang, showering the stage in shards. Those fragments that had posed the greatest threat to her life were diverted, deflected, or destroyed, reduced to harmless spray.
However, the moment Fleur completed this breathtaking "disarming of the trap," Krum moved.
He had not been deterred in the slightest by the avalanche of glittering shards.
Within the roar of collapsing ice and the blinding dance of fragments, he surged forth like a leopard breaking cover, undaunted and merciless.
He ignored the new ice-trap Fleur had conjured. His massive frame erupted with shocking speed, each step tearing cracks into the frozen floor. He moved with the frightening balance of a professional seeker, his powerful core strength and unearthly coordination allowing him to glide over the treacherous surface with an almost skating-like grace.
The ice beneath him shattered again and again with each forceful push, cracks splintering outward like spiderwebs, but nothing slowed his advance.
The distance between them vanished in the blink of an eye.
From the corner of her vision, Fleur caught sight of Krum's towering form charging straight at her like an unstoppable bull, and her heart thundered with alarm.
In her haste, she barely managed to fling a Banishing Spell.
The shards of crystal she had suspended earlier under the Levitation Charm shot out in a deadly spray, streaking toward Krum like a storm of knives. But his body never faltered. He merely raised an arm to shield his eyes, barreling forward without pause. The razor edges sliced across his arms and shoulders, carving thin crimson lines that blossomed into scattered bursts of blood.
And then…"Expelliarmus!"
Krum's cold voice rang out. From the tip of his wand, a concentrated bolt of scarlet light erupted.
BAANG—!
The red beam slammed into the half-formed shield Fleur had conjured in desperation. The barrier shattered at once, brittle as glass struck by a hammer.
The impact didn't just tear through her defense. It smashed into her grip, ripping the wand straight from her hand.
Her elegant wand, pearl set into its crown, spun high in the air, tracing a wide arc before crashing down into the rubble at the far edge of the dueling platform.
Fleur Delacour stood rooted on the stage, breath quickened, chest rising and falling. She looked down at her empty right hand, then across at Krum, who leveled his wand at her with absolute steadiness.
In those beautiful blue eyes flickered a glimmer of unwillingness, a stubborn fire that resisted defeat. But in the end, she lowered her gaze and admitted loss.
Krum slowly lowered his wand. His chest lifted with the weight of his breathing, but there was no exultation, no elation in victory. He simply inclined his head, his deep, slightly hoarse voice concise and merciless:
"You lost."
Hwaaa—!!!
For a heartbeat the arena held its breath, silent as stone. Then the Durmstrang stands erupted in a thunder of cheers, the sound shaking the venue like a storm breaking loose.
Kestrel's voice cracked with excitement, nearly breaking into shrieks: "Unbelievable! Viktor Krum! He seized that fleeting moment, that single opening! A flawless ambush! He has defeated Fleur Delacour! Durmstrang takes the first round!"
The Beauxbatons students answered with sighs of regret, their cheers swallowed by disappointment. Madame Maxime shook her head gently, though her eyes, when they turned toward Krum, carried a trace of recognition. On the opposite side, Karkaroff's grin stretched wide, smug and satisfied.
Fleur drew in a deep breath, fighting to steady the turmoil of emotions roiling inside her chest.
She bent gracefully, performing a flawless Beauxbatons curtsey. Her voice, though calm, trembled faintly at the edges, betraying the effort it took to hold her composure. "A brilliant strategy, Monsieur Krum. I underestimated your talent for chaos… and the precision with which you seize an opportunity."
Then she turned, walking slowly toward her fallen wand. Her steps seemed heavier than when she arrived, each one carrying the weight of defeat.
In the waiting area, Cedric watched from the shadows. His palms were damp with sweat as he stared at Krum, who stood tall upon the stage like a god of war.
Krum's strength was not only in his speed or raw power. It was in the way he thrived amidst chaos, the way he could sniff out a chance in the storm and strike without hesitation. His tactics were merciless, his instincts razor-sharp.
A formidable opponent!
Right on cue, Kestrel's voice boomed again, brimming with fiery energy that whipped the crowd into a frenzy.
"Ladies and gentlemen! After a short break, we move on to the second match of the day! Representing Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory will challenge the terrifying force we've just witnessed… Viktor Krum! Let's see what happens next!"
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[Chapter End's]
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