"I'm coming!"
Even though his opponent had no sense of sportsmanship and launched a sneak attack, Goku still gave a polite shout before initiating his strike.
However, his speed was so extreme that the moment the words left his mouth, he vanished from where he stood.
Apparition?
Seeing Goku disappear, Alek Neil instinctively thought the boy had Apparated. But he dismissed the thought almost immediately—Apparition was a high-level skill taught at seventeen, and this kid looked twelve or thirteen at most. 'Could he be a prodigy who taught himself?'
"Danger!"
His powerful mental discipline and years of combat instinct flared, warning him of a threat approaching from behind. He slashed his wand through the air in a panicked blur.
"!"
A transparent magical barrier instantly enveloped him. As a notorious Dark Wizard, Alek's combat experience was far beyond that of a common wizard. Even without seeing the threat, his honed survival instincts allowed him to pre-emptively cast a shield.
The difference between a regular wizard and a Dark Wizard was like the difference between a desk clerk and a hardened mercenary. Regular wizards focused on domestic charms or spells for their jobs; unless they were Aurors, they had zero combat experience. Their first reaction to danger was usually to scream and run, not to counter-attack.
Dark Wizards, however, spent their lives perfecting violent magic, especially the Dark Arts. They were trained to fight and kill. A normal wizard would never have sensed the danger, let alone cast a Shield Charm in time.
Unfortunately for Alek, even though his reaction was flawless, his was utterly useless.
When Goku's fist collided with the Shield Charm, the barrier held for less than a second before shattering like fragile glass.
"Impossible!"
Alek's eyes bulged. A Shield Charm cast with his level of power could withstand dozens of strikes from a troll's club. For a thirteen-year-old to shatter it with a bare fist was beyond comprehension.
Despite the shock, Alek's hands didn't stop. He whipped his wand around, intending to use a curse that would end the fight instantly. He was no longer holding back. He went straight for one of the Three Unforgivable Curses.
The Killing Curse.
Killing an underage wizard in London would bring heat from the Ministry, but his survival was now on the line. Besides, he considered the British Ministry of Magic the weakest in the world. They were still reeling from Voldemort's war eleven years ago, and the current Minister, Cornelius Fudge, was a bureaucratic fool who prioritized optics over ability.
Most of their Aurors couldn't even cast a decent Shield Charm. That was exactly why Alek had fled Germany for England; he knew he could outrun the "rubbish" in the British Ministry.
But despite all his experience, the gap in raw power was simply too vast.
"... urgh! My back!"
Alek was halfway through the incantation when a massive impact slammed into his spine. The sheer agony short-circuited his brain, cutting the spell short. He was sent flying through the air like a meteor, straight toward the old shopkeeper who was watching the fight.
The old wizard's jaw dropped. Seeing a human cannonball hurtling toward him, he reacted instantly, Apparating five meters to the side just in time.
For most wizards, Apparition was a means of travel. For elite Dark Wizards and Aurors, it was a tactical combat tool. With enough training, they could Apparate to any point within their line of sight almost instantaneously.
The secret to Apparition was the "Three Ds": Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. A normal wizard needed about three seconds to visualize and commit to the jump—far too slow for a duel. But for a specialist, a short-range jump required no visualization because the eyes provided the destination instantly, making the move near-instantaneous.
The old shopkeeper was clearly one of these specialists, which was the only reason he wasn't crushed by Alek's flying body.
*BOOM!*
Alek smashed through the front of the shop, his body punching a massive hole in the stone wall. He collapsed inside amidst a pile of rubble and shrunken heads, his bones shattered. He drifted into unconsciousness.
'I should have... should have used the Killing Curse from the start... or just Apparated away...' That was Alek's final thought before the world went black.
"That 'master'... seems... kind of weak..."
Goku blinked, pulling back his fist. He hurried over to the wreckage of the shop.
"Mister, are you okay?"
Because the old man had told him this guy was the strongest, and because the first spell had actually required a bit of effort to break, Goku had expected a life-or-death struggle. He was disappointed that it only took one punch.
Luckily, he'd pulled most of his power at the last millisecond; otherwise, he would have punched a hole straight through the man's chest. He hadn't even touched his Afterimage Technique or his Energy Waves yet.
"Phew, he's still breathing."
Goku checked the man's pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned back to the old shopkeeper, whose face was a mask of terror and calculation.
"Old Grandpa! That move you just did was so fast! You must be a real master. Can we spar for a bit?"
Goku had never seen magic like Apparition before. Seeing the old man teleport five meters away, he assumed it was a high-speed movement technique that his eyes had failed to track. In Goku's world, if someone was too fast for him to see, they were definitely a top-tier fighter.
***
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