Vivian rolled her eyes, though her tone roud. “He makes us run obstacle courses he builds with the Impediment Spell. Every day! If you don’t finish in time, the spell vanishes, and you fall. Trust me—it hurts.”

  The reporter looked at her, wide-eyed. “And people say young wizards these days are soft…”

  Meanwhile, ba the duel, Alex had reached his peak. Standing mid-air, six meters above the ground, he smirked. The spells below whizzed past him harmlessly, exploding against walls and pilrs. “Tired already?” he called out, his voice dripping with mockery. “Guess it’s my turn now.”

  “Don’t let him rest! Bring him down!” Avery shouted, desperation creeping into his voice. He raised his wand, aiming high. “fringo!”

  But his teammates hesitated. They were breathing hard, their robes damp with sweat. “We’ve been throwing spells nonstop!” one of them pined. “We’re going to keel over at this rate!”

  Another muttered under his breath, “Why the hell did we agree to this duel? We came here for a ba, not a battlefield…”

  Alex didn’t care about their pints. His wand moved in a blur, casting spells so quickly that his motio afterimages. “Let’s see if you hahis,” he murmured, releasing a flurry of attacks from above.

  The five wizards scrambled to cast protective barriers. “Protego Maxima!” they shouted, yering their defenses. For a moment, it seemed they’d succeeded—Alex’s spells collided with their shields, sending dull shockwaves rippling through the air.

  But then something strange happehe impact of Alex’s spells felt wrong—too heavy, too forceful. The defenders’ barriers cracked uhe pressure, as if the magic carried more weight than it should have. “It’s just a Stunning Spell!” one wizard cried out, pani his voice. “Why is it s?”

  One of them, despite resisting the initial barrage of spells, discovered the reason. “How did he do it?” one of the wizards muttered in disbelief. “He only cast for a sed or two—how were there ten spells all at once?”

  The protego maxima cracked like shattering mirror, the wizard failed to notice that his magic reserves were running dangerously low. The protego he had hastily jured was weakening uhe relentless force of the sed Stunning Spell. Before he could react, the spell hit him squarely, sending him flying backward and crashing into the ground with a heavy thud.

  The others fared slightly better. Some mao raise their defenses in time, juring their own po to deflect the ining spells. Avery, in particur, gritted his teeth and braced himself against the onsught. Though the power of the spells was more intehan he had anticipated, he mao hold his ground.

  After withstanding two of the Stunning Spells, Avery prepared to terattack. But when he looked up, Alex was gone. fused, Avery sed the area and realized too te that Alex had returo the ground. Before anyone could react, Alex unched his wave of attacks—a series of four 'Drowning' spells that skimmed just above the ground, streaking toward them like missiles.

  Avery's instincts kicked in, and he quickly raised another protective barrier. His shield deflected the spells just in time, but the effort left him shaken. He opened his mouth to warn his panions, only to hear two loud crashes behind him. Turning his head, he saw two of his allies sprawled on the ground, unscious.

  From the sidelines, Professor Flitwick, who had been ily, couldn’t tain his excitement. He csped his hands together, clearly impressed, and excimed, “Now that was brilliant!”

  One of the reporters standing nearby turo him, puzzled. “Professor, what was so special about it? Alex just used a few Stunning Spells and khem out like it was nothing.”

  Flitwick chuckled and shook his head. “Oh no, it wasn’t that simple. What you just witnessed was a mastercss in tactics. Alex exploited the differen vantage points brilliantly.”

  “Vantage points?”

  “Exactly. He started by attag from above, f them to focus their defenses upwards. But while they were busy holding up their protego, he moved to the ground and struck from below. Their focus didn’t shift in time to ter the sed attack. It's not just about power; it’s about timing and strategy.”

  The reporter nodded slowly, beginning to grasp the expnation, as Flitwick tinued. “But that’s not all. Alex also used advanced casting teiques. He yered multiple spells simultaneously—a method known as the current Casting Teique. Most skilled duelists mawo or three spells at once, but Alex unleashed ten. On top of that, he cealed additional spells within his attacks and even incorporated a modified Curse for his sneak attack.”

  The group of onlookers, many of whom were novices, gawked in amazement. They might not have fully uood the teical jargon, but they could tell Alex’s skill was extraordinary. Ba the field, Avery and the st remaining wizard struggled troup. Their earlier fidence was gone, repced by a growing sense of dread. Alex wasn’t hiding or relying on tricks—he was simply overp them with skill and strategy.

  Alex raised his wand again, this time with a subtle flick. To Avery, it seemed like nothing had happened, but suddenly, a body hurtled toward them. The fainted wizard behind them was yanked forward as if pulled by an invisible rope, smming into the st standing wizard with a loud crash.

  “Ahhh!” the unfortunate wizard cried out as he was struck, tumbling forward. Before he could recover, Alex fired aunning Spell, sending him flying into the crowd of onlookers. The impact caused a otion, and the spectators scrambled to get out of the way.

  Now alone, Avery felt a cold chill creeping up his spine. He had e into this duel determio humiliate Alex and show off his own skill, but the tables had turned pletely. His panions were all down, and he could feel dozens of eyes on him, watg his every move. His humiliation deepened as he gred at Alex, who stood calmly, his expression unreadable.

  Anger fred in Avery’s chest as he ched his fists. He wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off Alex’s face. His thoughts turned dark, and he gripped his wand tightly, sidering the unthinkable. ‘It’s fine,’ Alex thought to himself, watg Avery’s iruggle with calm detat. ‘Get angry. Let it e you. Use the Killing Curse. e on, do it. Just one spell, and it’s all over. You know you want to.’

  When Avery unched another spell, Alex didn’t bother with words. With fident strides, he stepped forward, effortlessly defleg the Petrification Spell. The follow-up curses aimed at him were swatted away just as easily, almost like swiping at flies. Avery could only wat shock as Alex closed the gap between them. Just as Avery prepared to cast a spell at cle, Alex shed out with a sharp kick, sending Avery’s wand flying.

  The movement triggered a memory. Avery’s face paled as reition dawned on him. ‘It’s you.’ A few years ago, a boy had disarmed him in a simir way—a boy who had intervened during that i with Sirius. “Oh… it’s you,” Avery muttered, disbelief and dread mixing in his voice.

  Alex didn’t stop at disarming his oppo. A roundhouse kided squarely in Avery’s gut, making him retch violently, just like before. “Looks familiar, doesn’t it?” Alex remarked coldly, grabbing Avery’s hair as he doubled over. Without giving him time to recover, Alex followed up with a brutal krike.

  The resounding thud echoed as Avery hit the floor, blood streaming from his face. His body slumped into unsciousness. As his mind drifted, fragments of that fateful night repyed in his head—a night when Snape had saved him. But not this time. Sanding off to the side, watched with a mix nation aat. Avery was a former cssmate and colleague, but their paths had long diverged.