After Sagres's "weather control," the entire dueling arena was once again filled with a festive atmosphere.
The sun shone warmly on the now-dry stage, and the audience's faces still carried a flush of excitement, but all eyes were locked on the two contestants at the center of the arena.
Fleur Delacour, the jewel of Beauxbatons.
She stood tall, her silver hair gleaming in the sunlight, her elegant wand hanging gracefully at her side, her gaze sharp and composed.
Viktor Krum, the eagle of Durmstrang, stood silent as a mountain, hawk-like eyes deep-set beneath a furrowed brow, his burly frame radiating raw power.
Having just witnessed Sagres's near-miraculous weather magic, Kestrel could barely contain her excitement.
So, after Professor McGonagall calmly announced the contestants' entrance, Kestrel eagerly volunteered to request a more enthusiastic introduction from the strict Headmistress.
Under her persistent persuasion, she finally won Professor McGonagall's reluctant approval, and under the older witch's slightly suspicious gaze, Kestrel's deliberately impassioned voice rang out across the arena:
"Ladies and gentlemen! The final round of the Triwizard Dueling Tournament — Match One! Fleur Delacour of Beauxbatons! Versus! Viktor Krum of Durmstrang!"
Krum and Fleur stood before the dueling stone tablet, and once both sides confirmed, the scenario was randomly set: A magnificent Great Hall.
Massive crystal chandeliers shimmered from the dome, and several sturdy stone pillars rose in the center of the arena.
The rumble of the stone tablet settling had barely faded when Krum struck first without hesitation.
No probing, no showmanship. Krum's wand lashed out like a venomous snake, so fast it left only an afterimage.
"Stupefy!"
A dazzling red beam tore through the air, flying straight at Fleur without hesitation.
The power and speed of this spell far surpassed any he had previously cast—clearly, he wasn't holding back.
Fleur's pupils contracted slightly, but she gracefully leapt to her back left.
She chose not to confront the attack head-on; the elegance of Beauxbatons manifested in her as extraordinary agility.
The red light narrowly skimmed her flowing silver hair, crashing into the protective barrier at the edge of the arena and sending out violent ripples.
"So fast!" Hermione exclaimed.
Fleur landed lightly, her wand tracing a delicate arc through the air as she chanted Latin incantations in a rhythm unique to her.
Her voice was clear and melodious, yet carried a strange enchantment. No spell beam shot from her wand tip—rather, a flurry of shimmering pink butterflies emerged, swiftly and softly enveloping Krum.
Several Beauxbatons students immediately lit up with excitement.
Krum's vision wavered; the world around him distorted.
Fleur's figure blurred, becoming ethereal and impossibly alluring, like the most precious treasure imaginable. He even felt a sudden urge to lower his wand.
"Will-interfering magic!" Percy folded his arms grimly. "If you haven't properly studied Occlumency, encountering that is extremely dangerous!"
But Krum on the stage merely grunted, and a fierce light instantly flared in his deep-set eyes.
He abruptly bit the tip of his tongue, and the sharp pain, along with a powerful, almost instinctive resistance, immediately dispelled the enchantment's haze.
The confusion vanished from his eyes in an instant, replaced by an even more intense ferocity.
"Protego!"
Krum roared, and a solid silver shield appeared before him. Almost the moment the spell took shape, Fleur's second wave of attacks arrived.
Several blazing fireballs smashed into Krum's shield, but were swiftly extinguished, vanishing into sparks.
But it wasn't over—multiple ice-blue beams, radiating an intense chill, curved around the edges of Krum's thick shield, striking precisely at the ground beneath his feet.
Crack—!
The stone slab beneath Krum was instantly coated in a smooth, glass-like layer of ice, radiating a biting cold, as though the air itself had frozen.
Krum's footing suddenly slipped!
Even with his solid stance, his balance was instantly lost, and he staggered backward uncontrollably.
"Good opportunity!" Cedric exclaimed from the stands, unable to hold back. He knew all too well how strong Krum was—any chance to disrupt him was invaluable.
A glint of triumph flashed in Fleur's eyes. Her wand didn't hesitate for a moment, aiming directly at the off-balance Krum. "Stupe—!"
However, the last syllable had not yet left her lips!
Just as Krum lost control of his footing, he finally revealed the terrifying physical coordination that marked him as a world-class Seeker.
Instead of trying to regain his balance, he used the momentum of his fall to roll sideways in an awkward yet lightning-fast motion.
At the same time, his wand flicked upward at an impossible angle.
"Confringo!"
But his target wasn't Fleur—it was a nearby stone pillar supporting the illusion of the Great Hall.
Boom—!
The pillar exploded!
Massive chunks of stone, carried by the shockwave, blasted toward Fleur like a storm of shrapnel.
This was a completely unorthodox dueling tactic—Krum had used the environment to unleash a violent barrage of debris.
Snape, seated among the professors, narrowed his eyes. A flicker of admiration flashed across his face—Krum's maneuver mirrored the same move Snape himself had executed during the exhibition match.
"Watch out!" The Beauxbatons stands erupted in alarm.
Fleur's expression turned grave as she quickly aborted her Stupefy.
She flicked her wand sharply. "Impedimenta!"
A translucent barrier instantly materialized in front of her.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The debris slammed into the Impediment Charm with force. Though it failed to break through, the violent impact made the barrier tremble, and Fleur staggered back two steps as her focused magic was disrupted.
Krum, meanwhile, had used the moment to regain his footing. The ice beneath him had been shattered by his own Confringo, eliminating the hazard.
Without pause, he raised his wand high and pointed it toward the sky: "Bombarda Maxima!"
His target was the enormous magical ice crystal chandelier suspended in the Great Hall illusion, used for lighting and decoration.
A thick yellow beam struck the chandelier's base.
Boom—Crack!
The massive ice crystal structure shattered and collapsed, sending countless glittering shards crashing down over the center of the arena, covering nearly half the space.
The fragments refracted brilliant light in the sun, like a deadly rain of ice.
"Oh my goodness!" The audience let out a collective gasp. This move bordered on suicidal!
Fleur's face turned pale.
She immediately understood Krum's intention—to use a wide-range, indiscriminate falling attack to force her into a dilemma: either endure the hit or expend a large amount of magic for wide-area defense or evasion, exposing a fatal weakness in the process.
On the Quidditch pitch, Krum was famous for these precise and ruthless "destructive" tactics.
He wasn't just skilled at finding the Golden Snitch—he excelled at forcing opponents to self-destruct using Bludgers and the Quaffle.
At this critical moment, Fleur demonstrated the exceptional skills that had earned her the role of Beauxbatons' representative.
She didn't attempt to defend against the massive chandelier as a whole. Instead, her wand tapped rapidly in front of her, casting spells in quick succession like a machine gun.
"Wingardium Leviosa!"
"Incarcerous!"
"Glacius!"
The Levitation Charm acted on the sharp ice shards hurtling toward her, slowing and redirecting them.
Incarcerous became several bands of glowing rope, snaring the larger chandelier fragments and the metal frame, forcibly altering their trajectory.
Meanwhile, the Glacius spell landed precisely where she predicted Krum might charge, instantly forming an even slicker and more treacherous patch of ice.
The entire sequence of spells was executed fluidly, completed in a blink.
The massive main body of the chandelier crashed down just behind her, its fall redirected by the magical ropes, while the most dangerous shards aimed at her had already been cleverly neutralized.
But just as she finished this high-risk "bomb disposal" operation—Krum moved.
He was completely unfazed by the deadly hail of ice that had been unleashed!
Amid the crashing noise and the flying shards, he charged forward like a long-dormant leopard, completely ignoring the ice trap Fleur had conjured.
His powerful body burst forth with incredible speed, skating across the slick surface with the agility of a world-class Seeker, his balance maintained by sheer core strength and muscle control.
The ice beneath him cracked and shattered under the force of his momentum.
In the blink of an eye, the distance between them vanished.
From the corner of her eye, Fleur spotted Krum hurtling toward her like a mad bull, and alarm bells blared in her mind.
She had just enough time to fire off a hasty Banishing Charm.
The small ice shards, still held aloft by her Levitation Charm, shot forward under the spell's propulsion—but Krum didn't slow in the slightest.
He raised one arm to shield his face, allowing the razor-sharp fragments to slice his skin and draw blood.
Immediately after—
"Expelliarmus!"
Krum's cold voice rang out, and a concentrated red light burst from the tip of his wand.
Bang!
The spell slammed into Fleur's hastily formed magical barrier, shattering it like fragile glass.
The force of the impact didn't just destroy the shield—it also knocked the wand from her hand.
Her elegant wand, inlaid with a pearl at the tip, spun high into the air before landing among the scattered debris at the edge of the arena.
Fleur Delacour remained standing, breathing lightly. She looked at her now-empty right hand, then at Krum, who still had his wand trained steadily on her.
A flicker of unwillingness appeared in her striking blue eyes, but after a moment, she bowed her head in surrender.
Krum slowly lowered his wand, his chest rising and falling. He showed no joy in victory—just a small nod, and in his deep, slightly raspy voice, he said simply: "You lost."
Whooaah—!!!
After a brief stunned silence, the Durmstrang section erupted in thunderous applause and cheers.
Kestrel's excited voice cracked again: "Incredible! Viktor Krum seized the narrowest opening! A flawless counterattack! He's defeated Fleur Delacour! Durmstrang takes the first round!"
The Beauxbatons students, meanwhile, were filled with sighs of regret. Karkaroff wore a satisfied smile, and Madame Maxime shook her head slightly, though her gaze toward Krum carried a touch of approval.
Fleur took a deep breath, trying to calm her turbulent emotions.
She offered a flawless Beauxbatons curtsey, her voice calm, though tinged with a barely noticeable tremor: "Brilliant tactics, Mr. Krum. I underestimated your ability to create chaos and seize the moment."
She turned and walked toward her wand, her steps noticeably heavier than when she had first taken the stage.
In the contestant preparation area, Cedric stood watching Krum, who now resembled a god of war on the dueling platform. His palms had begun to sweat.
Krum's strength wasn't just brute force and speed—it was his terrifying instinct for exploiting openings in chaos, and his ruthless precision in execution.
A truly formidable opponent.
At that moment, Kestrel's voice rang out again, filled with dramatic flair: "Ladies and gentlemen! After a brief rest, we will welcome today's second duel! Representing Hogwarts, Cedric Diggory will challenge the fearsome Viktor Krum! Let us look forward to it!"
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