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"Summon: Julius."
"Summon: Demi Gula."
"Summon: Palpatine."
"Summon: Nicolas Flamel."
Lockhart summoned four famous wizards in one breath. These were rare cards he had paid a steep price to obtain.
"Activate Magic: Total Protection."
It was quite a powerful defensive spell. If there was enough magic behind it, its effect was even better than a Shield Charm.
"Activate Magic: Eternal Freeze."
If there was one magic card that could rival Fiendfyre, it was this super-powerful freezing spell. It could freeze all things and was practically Fiendfyre's natural counter.
You, Harry Potter, had only two powerful hero cards plus one magic card.
I have four full hero cards and two magic cards, and every one of those wizards is famous.
According to the Wizard Cards setting, the more famous a person was, the stronger they became, except for special character cards such as Dark Magician Girl.
After playing them, Lockhart leaned back with what he clearly thought was a tactical pose.
This time, victory was mine.
Under the steady pressure, the combination of Dark Magician Girl and Dark Magician was soon cut down. Harry's trump card, Fiendfyre, was also broken by the freezing spell.
Yet even then, Harry showed no panic.
"Activate Trap Card: Call of Herpo the Foul. Sacrifice Dark Magician Girl and Dark Magician from the graveyard."
"Summon: Blue Fiendfyre."
"Special Summon: Albus Dumbledore, the White Wizard."
When the shining white Dumbledore appeared, wielding blue Fiendfyre, Lockhart's lineup of four powerful wizards instantly collapsed.
No one had ever said a Dark Magic deck could not summon Albus Dumbledore, the White Wizard.
As long as the conditions were met, he could be summoned.
This time, no matter how Lockhart struggled, he could not reverse the situation. His cards were mercilessly crushed.
The arrival of the hero card Dumbledore meant the end of the match.
"Professor Lockhart, it looks like I win."
Harry declared his victory with a winner's bearing.
The result was decided.
Just then, Dudley's ears twitched slightly. He seemed to hear a sound from somewhere outside the Great Hall.
A faint, extremely subtle rustling sound, as if something were muttering.
"Dudley, what is it?" Hermione asked with concern when she saw Dudley staring blankly.
The moment Hermione's voice sounded, the rustling sound vanished again, as if everything just now had been Dudley's imagination.
"I hope I heard wrong," Dudley said thoughtfully.
Not long after, among the crowd of excited students, one person separated himself from the group.
"Tch. What Wizard Cards Tournament? Boring."
He spoke disdainfully, but his eyes were fixed on Harry and the others on the stage, and envy showed unconsciously in his gaze.
Cormac McLaggen.
A contestant who had confidently stepped forward to sign up, then been eliminated in the first round.
He had watched the top four get decided, then watched the final reach its heated stage and end.
Cormac stood and walked out of the Great Hall.
"Boring tournament. Boring people."
Cormac walked alone down the corridor, kicking at a small stone that had appeared from who knew where as he muttered complaints. "Why wasn't I the one who won? I'm obviously better."
"Hee hee hee..."
Suddenly, Cormac faintly heard a female voice. He turned toward the sound and saw a figure flash past.
Golden hair.
Cormac followed without thinking.
No one knew what had gone wrong in his head, but when he encountered something like this, his first reaction was actually to assume the other person wanted him to follow.
He almost broke into a sprint as he rushed after the figure. He wanted to see what the owner of that silhouette looked like. But each time, he seemed to miss by just a little, seeing only a tiny trace of golden hair.
This only made Cormac more curious.
One ran, and the other chased. He did not know how long it went on. After crossing a bend in the corridor, he completely lost the figure.
The ground seemed wet. There was a small puddle. Just as he hesitated over whether to go back the way he came, he seemed to notice something.
Filled with curiosity, he walked over.
On the wall before him, something was gleaming.
He approached slowly, narrowed his eyes, and carefully identified it in the darkness. Between two windows, about a foot above the floor, words had been smeared onto the wall. They glimmered in the light of the burning torches.
"The Chamber of Secrets has been opened.
Enemies of the heir, beware."
The red writing seemed to have been written in blood.
Below that line of words hung a fuzzy black shadow.
Cormac moved closer and saw that it was a stiff, dead cat.
Mrs. Norris!
The caretaker's cat!
The sudden sight frightened Cormac so badly that he fell straight onto the floor. His hands accidentally touched the puddle on the ground. It was sticky and carried a sharp, unpleasant smell. He brought his hands beneath the burning torch, and only then did he realize that what lay on the floor was not water at all.
It was blood.
Bright red blood.
Whose blood? Who had been killed?
Cormac felt a buzzing in his head. His mind went blank, and his whole body froze on the spot.
At that moment, the first Wizard Cards Tournament ended, and the students began leaving the Great Hall in groups, heading toward the dining area.
The place where Cormac stood happened to be not far from the hall.
A low rumble of noise rose like distant thunder, growing closer and closer. From both ends of the corridor came the sound of countless feet climbing the stairs, along with loud, cheerful laughter as students discussed the matches they had just watched.
There was no doubt that the first Wizard Cards Tournament had been a success. It made the students remember the event, especially the glittering Galleons in the champion's hands.
It also filled them with expectations for the second tournament.
Students pushed and squeezed in from both ends of the passageway and came around the bend.
Only then did Cormac recover from his shock, but by then it was already too late for him to stand.
When the group rounded the corner and saw the upside-down Mrs. Norris, all the lively chatter vanished in an instant.
Covered in blood, Cormac sat alone in the middle of the corridor.
The students fell silent at once, crowding forward to look at the terrifying scene.
Then countless girls screamed, the sound echoing through the entire castle.
"What happened here? What happened?"
Filch came running over with his hands clamped over his ears. Clearly, he had been drawn by the screams. He forced his way through the crowd with his shoulder. Then he saw the blood-red writing and Mrs. Norris hanging beneath it.
He staggered back several steps, eyes wide, hands clawing at his own face in horror.
"No! Mrs. Norris! What... what happened to you?!"
Filch let out a scream. His bloodshot eyes swept around and finally landed on Cormac, who was covered in blood.
"You! It was you! You killed my cat! You killed her! I'll kill you! I'll make you pay with your life!"
Filch's furious roar drifted through the empty corridor.
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