Wow.
Such a sincere choice.
Cedric's mouth twitched uncontrollably. He looked up and the statue seemed to sense something, lowering its head. So, man and statue silently exchanged glances, and the boy's eyebrows jumped fiercely.
Although the statue didn't even have eyes, Cedric felt a sense of familiarity from it.
...Kabuda?
"Don't worry, he won't use a sword, and I'll protect you all." William paused and added with emphasis, "As long as nothing unexpected happens, there will absolutely be no life-threatening danger."
"Alright, time is limited. Do you plan to start or give up?"
"Is there any penalty for giving up?"
George's ears twitched, and he quickly raised his hand to ask.
"...Nope."
William's smiling face made some little wizards involuntarily shrug their necks. Why don't they just trust him?
Thus, with a shout from William, the seemingly heavy statue moved. Its speed was completely mismatched with its size, so fast that the third-year little wizard in the middle of the crowd hadn't even reacted before the discus-sized fist was already crushing the tuft of hair on his head—
"Accio. (Fly to me)"
William wielded his magic wand and pulled the boy to his side before he was turned into a meat pie by the punch. Seeing the boy's pale face, William drew on his scorecard, "Eli Morton is out, you can continue—"
"Scatter!"
As William spoke, Cedric shouted loudly. As the acknowledged leader of Duel Club, he naturally took command, and the surrounding little wizards had no objections, retreating to the sides to avoid the sweeping arm attacks of the statue.
"Squeak!"
The statue let out a strange cry, then rolled on the spot, its rear crushing towards the little wizards hiding on the other side of the classroom. These little wizards, trained by William for a whole semester, obviously wouldn't be as clumsy as last year when they couldn't even hold their magic wands steady—
Before the statue's rear pressed down, Neville had already planted Devil's Snares. Green vines wrapped around everyone's waists and tossed them all to the other side of the classroom. Meanwhile, seeing the statue on the ground, Cedric and the group of little wizards didn't need to communicate as they raised their magic wands—
"Confringo! (Explosion)"
"Diffindo! (Slice apart)"
...
A series of colorful but potent charms violently struck the golem, successfully blasting off its arm. But before the little wizards could cheer, a blue-purple light flashed across the statue's body, and the next moment, its broken arm instantly regrew, and it even bent over to pick up the other arm.
"Crack—"
With a gentle twist, the arm split open in the middle, connected by a thick iron chain. It swung the chain forcefully and tucked the arm nunchuck under its armpit, its palm provocatively beckoning the little wizards.
"It can regenerate? How do we fight it?"
Fred held his head in perplexity and asked Cedric.
"..."
How the heck should I know?
Cedric was silent, but the sense of helplessness only spun half a circle in the boy's mind before it was flung out—Are you kidding me? Helpless? Was there ever a time more helpless than last year when he was fancy beaten by William all the time?
It's just a mere Magic Rune Stone Statue; it definitely has a weakness—
Cedric stared at the slightly complex patterns on the golem for a while, then he suddenly seemed to have an epiphany and shouted, "All wizards above fourth year attack the golem with me! Hermione, lead the others to protect Longbottom! Mr. Longbottom, use that move on it!"
"And, Harry, you need to get behind it—"
That move?
"..."
What move?
Do you guys have a secret plan?
Was it because of Sirius that I took two weeks off from Duel Club?
Harry's eyelid twitched, and he instinctively exchanged glances with Longbottom nearby, only to find the latter had already started taking something out from his pocket without hesitation. Seeing this, Harry could only turn to the rest of the third-year wizards nearby, "Hermione—"
Hermione's actions were faster than Harry's words. The girl stepped forward, raised her wand, and countless intricate patterns began to flow from the tip of her wand. Blue designs started to merge into the air, creating faint ripples.
On the other side, Cedric also led the senior wizards to attack the statue. Colorful charms fell on the statue, and though they didn't cause much damage, they succeeded in limiting its movement most of the time.
However, the statue's magic runes were clearly not just for show. Its speed instantly became ghostly, occasionally finding openings to punch or club the young wizards, and from time to time, someone would be pulled out by William. Soon, less than half of the wizards remained on the field.
After doing all that just now, Hermione immediately turned and ran to Neville's side, starting to help him prepare. The blue light kept shining from the magic wand in her hand.
"?"
So, do you need that move too?
Harry opened his mouth, his gaze swept over the sparsely populated third-year little wizards around him, and finally, his gaze settled on Malfoy.
"Ha, are you seeking my help, Potter—"
Malfoy's sarcastic voice just started when Harry suppressed it with a mild tone, "Malfoy, you also don't want to fail your end-of-term assessment, do you?"
"..."
Draco's expression changed slightly, the boy instinctively looked at William standing outside the arena. The latter had a gentle smile on his face, but Draco knew very well that it was just a disguise. Subconsciously, memories of his father's letter from three months ago flashed in his mind.
He also realized that day why William never attacked Harry, all along, he wasn't Voldemort at all...
But he was even stronger than Voldemort!!
Malfoy recalled his father's words, something about defeating Voldemort head-on, a Killing Curse taking down a crowd of Black Wizards, riding a Fire Dragon and almost tearing down half of Malfoy Manor... Angering him is probably more serious than angering Voldemort, right?
The boy's eyelid twitched, and he nodded towards Harry with a grim expression.
"... Then come with me."
Harry, who thought he would have to spend more words convincing Malfoy, was momentarily stunned, somewhat confused as to why the stubborn Malfoy agreed so quickly. But he had to admit, among those participating in the Duel Club from the third-year little wizards, aside from Hermione, who improved at an unreasonable speed, the strongest were he and Malfoy.
Neville was not strong enough; aspiring to become a "Pokémon Master," his own abilities were insufficient. Thus, the other little wizards had devised a special attack strategy specifically against Longbottom, and the Incendio spell would always prove effective against plants.
Although Neville had been raising a Fire Salamander to break the situation, it was still yielding little effect.
Now, Harry led Malfoy, and the two took advantage of the higher-grade wizards on the other side wildly throwing charms, dodging along the way and occasionally blocking the deliberate or accidental blows from the stone statues. Fortunately, the route wasn't long, and in the end, they made it to the back of the statue with only minor thrills.
"Alright!"
Seeing Harry in position, Cedric quickly shouted, "Kabuda!" "?" The statue, upon hearing the call, instinctively lowered its head, its actions revealing a clear sense of stupidity, clearly pondering how Cedric discerned its identity.
This statue was developed by William out of boredom to fulfill Kabuda's wish, mimicking the mecha films he watched in his past life. William set a cockpit in the center of the statue that could accommodate a Niffler, allowing it to control all the actions of this "mecha."
"This fool."
Watching Kabuda stop its actions just from Cedric's call, William sighed, and at the next moment, a sharp whistling sound suddenly rang out. Without knowing when, Neville had already reached the front of the statue, clutching his pocket. A green vine grew from his pocket, the devil's snares snarling like dragon heads began to spread wildly.
The deep green vine, accompanied by blue magic runes, split into one, then two, then four, quickly wrapping around the statue, completely immobilizing it.
"... Tree Realm Descent?"
Watching this scene, William couldn't help but twitch his eyelid, thinking to himself that Neville Longbottom was approaching the level of Thousand Hands Hashirama....
"Now!"
And at the center, Neville was also surrounded by the unreasonable devil's snares, his head poking out, yelling at the others.
"Squeak squeak!"
Watching Harry crawl towards its head, Kabuda screamed to stop him, but since the entire mecha was forcibly controlled, it couldn't do anything. It could only watch helplessly as Harry stopped in front of it, lifting his magic wand—
"Diffindo! (Severing Charm)"
...
...
"Well done, so except for the unlucky Mr. Morton, the rest of you all passed—As for Mr. Morton, you can choose to have a practical duel with Diggory. If you perform well, I can add points for you as appropriate—"
William placed down the scoring board in his hands, nodding in satisfaction.
The group of little wizards breathed a collective sigh of relief, and the pale-faced third-year wizard excitedly pulled Cedric aside.
"Senior, is Kabuda okay?"
Hermione approached William, poking Kabuda, who looked utterly despondent after Harry pulled it out of the "mecha" cockpit, and asked curiously.
"Ah, it's fine. Earlier, I promised it that if it defeated you all, there would be no homework during the summer vacation."
"Huh? But it lost..."
"Right, it's a gambling fool; because it lost, the homework is quadrupled—accepting loss with good grace."
"Squeak squeak squeak!!! (Let me die!!) "