"BOOM!"
On a peaceful afternoon, an explosive sound shattered the tranquillity of the small town. The deafening roar that seemed capable of bursting eardrums sent the Muggles in the town into a panic as they ran out of their houses, gathering in twos and threes in open areas.
"What happened? A bomb?"
"Are the Germans attacking?"
"I don't see any smoke, and I didn't feel any vibration either. If it were a bomb, shouldn't we see a mushroom cloud?"
Gradually, the Muggles who had come outside discovered that the terrorist attack they had imagined hadn't occurred, and they slowly dispersed, each returning to their own home.
At this time, in the ruins of a small house at the edge of town, a middle-aged man with a cracked barrier in front of him was standing in place with trembling legs, his forehead completely covered in cold sweat.
Half a second. Just half a second short! If he hadn't sensed the danger and cast the Protean Charm in advance, that stomp would have landed directly on him!
Looking at his two brothers beside him who were buried under rubble, you could tell that just being affected by a little of the aftershock had reduced them to this state. If he had taken the full impact of that stomp, he would probably have already turned into a pile of mush!
Without time to think about what kind of magic could shatter everything within a ten-meter radius yet not affect anywhere else, the middle-aged man cast another Protean Charm and stared intently at the young man before him.
But the next second, that young man suddenly transformed into a silver light and disappeared. A Stunning Spell struck the Protean Charm from the side, creating ripples.
However, feeling the intensity of that Stunning Spell, the scarred man breathed a slight sigh of relief.
Good. This young man's ordinary spells weren't as terrifying as that previous stomp.
If it was only this level...
A trace of malice flashed in his eyes. After waiting for the light of the Stunning Spell to completely fade, the scarred man dropped his Protean Charm and raised his hand to cast a dark green light.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The life-devouring green light shot toward the young man, but before the green light could touch the young man's body, he suddenly transformed into silver light and disappeared, flashing behind him and releasing another Stunning Spell.
Using the Protean Charm to block it, the middle-aged man stubbornly tried several more times.
"Impedimenta!"
"Confringo!"
"Avada Kedavra!"
After all his attempts were dodged by the young man, the scarred man decisively abandoned all offensive magic and put all his energy into maintaining the Protean Charm.
He had already figured it out. No matter how he attacked, he couldn't hit this young man.
All he could do was defend in place.
Now he could only pray that his teammates in the other houses would hurry over.
But it had been almost half a minute. What the hell were those guys doing?
"What was that situation just now?"
Watching one side of the house suddenly crumble into falling rubble, the dark wizards in the small house looked at each other with clear confusion on their faces.
If their entire hut had completely collapsed, they might have thought they were under enemy attack, but with only one wall collapsed and nothing wrong anywhere else... what was this situation?
But soon, someone reacted.
"The boss seems to be fighting someone!"
Several people instantly drew their wands, planning to go help, but just then, streams of water suddenly appeared before them, blocking their path forward.
The next second, the water streams converged in the middle, forming a girl with long, pale golden hair and a smiling face.
The suddenly appearing beautiful girl stunned all three men simultaneously, and one of the dark wizards even showed a trace of greed in his eyes.
But the next second, he discovered just how unrealistic his greed was.
As the girl slightly raised both hands, countless water streams appeared out of nowhere, completely enveloping the three dark wizards.
They cast spells trying to break through the water restraints, but those seemingly ordinary streams of water seemed to possess some magical power that prevented their spells from penetrating through.
The next second, water-formed knights began appearing one after another where they stood. Holding water-made lances, they charged at the dark wizards.
"What... what is this? Ah!"
The same thing was happening in the other two houses, though with some difference from the first house. What Sothea had in these two houses were just water clones. After getting through the initial period of panic, one water clone dealing with three dark wizards was still somewhat difficult.
Time gradually passed. After about two minutes, one of the clones was defeated by a group of dark wizards working together, scattering into water mist that filled the sky before disappearing.
The victorious dark wizards gripped their wands and planned to go support their boss, but as soon as they stepped outside, they came face to face with a somewhat familiar visage.
Any member of an organisation that had split from the Saints couldn't possibly not recognise this face.
If Dumbledore was the deepest nightmare of all Saints, then the face before them was second only to Dumbledore.
Three dark wizards warily watched the seemingly harmless old man, their hands gripping their wands, turning slightly white.
However, after carefully observing the man for a few moments, one of the dark wizards suddenly became delighted and shouted loudly:
"He doesn't have any magical creatures with him! We can fight!"
Saying this, he was the first to release a Blasting Curse. A moment later, his two teammates beside him also reacted, and three spells flew toward the old man together.
However, just as those spells were about to hit the old man, they suddenly stopped in mid-air, intercepted by some transparent barrier.
"I indeed didn't bring any magical creatures." The old man smiled slightly and casually waved his wand, causing the transparent barrier in midair to slowly dissipate.
Then, the surrounding bricks and mud suddenly transformed into enormous arms that reached toward those dark wizards from all directions.
"But before I was expelled, I was Hufflepuff's most outstanding student!"
Five minutes later.
"Pro... Protego!"
With his mental state approaching its limit, the scarred man felt that his stamina could no longer support him continuing to fight, yet the young man before him hadn't given him the slightest chance to Apparate.
It was as if he was very skilled at dealing with this kind of situation and had already practised it many times.
Damn it. Clearly Apparition wasn't normally used in ordinary wizard combat. Where did this vigilance against Apparition come from?
And what exactly was that spell that let him flash around at will? How could it have no casting motions at all?
In his mentally tense state, the middle-aged man felt his consciousness becoming somewhat hazy, and his spellcasting speed had also slowed slightly.
No good. If this continued, he would definitely die here today!
Thinking this, he stepped back two paces, trying to find an opening to cast forced Apparition by creating distance.
At the same time, he suddenly noticed that the young man who had been casting spells at the same frequency seemed to have slowed down slightly.
Was he tired too?
A trace of joy appeared in his eyes. The scarred man temporarily abandoned Apparition and gripped his wand tightly again.
But just as he felt a slight relaxation due to the young man's slowed offensive, he suddenly met a pair of eyes containing whirlpools.
Legilimency? No, there was also a very strong mental impact...
His tense mental state instantly snapped. Under the gaze of those eyes, only one thought remained in the middle-aged man's mind.
He was finished.