A few seconds later, a burst of noise came from above them, meaning the two contestants had entered the arena.
Then Minister Bones's voice rang out.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the first match of the Round of Sixteen in the final stage of the Global Youth Wizarding Tournament is about to begin! Please welcome our contestants: Miss Hermione Granger of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Madam Ekaterina Feodorovna of Koldovstoretz School of Magic!
"You've all seen our contestants, so now let us welcome our referee, duelling champion Professor Filius Flitwick!"
Applause and cheers erupted throughout the stadium.
Minister Bones raised her voice, forcing it above the noise as she continued, "Duelists, bow to one another. Three, two, one... begin!"
Listening to the cheers from above, much louder than before, Astoria frowned.
"How can the school allow so many suspicious people inside?" she complained unhappily. "The teachers and students from the other magical schools are one thing, but why are even members of the Society being allowed in?"
Daphne waved a hand.
"It's fine. Professor Dumbledore and so many Headmasters are here. If they dare cause trouble, we can just send them straight to Azkaban. Besides, their leader, Mr. Gryffindor, already said everything before was a misunderstanding. He even came personally to apologise, so the misunderstanding has long since been resolved."
Astoria fell silent.
Although her sister's reasoning made sense, she still felt uneasy deep down.
While Minister Bones was hosting the match, Bagman and Mr. Jamison Greengrass returned to the changing room.
Just as they were preparing to conduct the second draw, a sudden burst of shocked cries came from above.
Both men stopped in their tracks, trying to figure out what had happened.
They found out almost immediately.
Another male voice rang out. It belonged to the host of the famous American wizarding radio station, Global Voice of Magic, who was serving as commentator for the match.
"My goodness, what did we just see?! Contestant Ekaterina went down in an instant! What exactly happened? I didn't even see what spell Miss Granger used! But regardless, the first contestant to advance to the quarterfinals, and the first dark horse of the tournament, has appeared! She is Hermione Granger of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!"
Boom!
The Quidditch stadium erupted in thunderous cheers.
From inside the changing room, it sounded almost like an earthquake.
Bagman could not hide the smile on his face.
He said to Mr. Greengrass, "Let's hurry with the next draw. We shouldn't keep the audience waiting..."
"All right."
Mr. Greengrass did not waste any words and immediately drew the clay figurine of the next contestant.
This time, it was Astoria.
There was nothing strange about Hogwarts being selected in two consecutive rounds.
They had more contestants in the final sixteen than any other school, with five in total, accounting for more than a quarter of the remaining competitors.
Astoria's opponent was Hide Yamashita, an albino wizard from Mahoutokoro.
When his name was drawn, Yamashita smiled at Astoria, his eyes narrowing into thin slits.
Astoria ignored him and walked straight toward the duelling arena.
After the same introductions were completed, Astoria calmly looked at the Japanese wizard before her.
"Surrender. Otherwise, you may lose your life because of this."
Astoria was already gathering strength and quietly making preparations.
She did not actually expect a few words to make her opponent forfeit.
But delaying the match worked in her favour.
"My, my. What a frightening thing to say."
Yamashita continued smiling.
"I observed you in that world before. Your magic is terrifying. You control blood, don't you? You certainly weren't lying just now."
Astoria's expression darkened.
Her opponent knew about her abilities.
That was not good news.
Still, she did not believe it would affect the outcome of the match.
"If this were before the second stage, I would've surrendered without hesitation. But now..." Yamashita spoke in heavily accented English. "I had an unusual encounter in that world as well."
At the same time, he reached into his robe and somehow pulled out a long sword.
Merlin knew how he had managed to hide such a long weapon on his body.
Astoria's eyes widened sharply.
She could sense an extremely powerful magical fluctuation coming from the blade, almost as though a domain were attached to it.
"Rise, Kumomaru!"
In an instant, dense mist erupted from the blade.
Within only a few seconds, it completely enveloped Yamashita.
"Ventus!"
Astoria acted without hesitation.
Having been taught by Rhys, there was no way she would simply allow her opponent's mist to spread.
She immediately used magic to try to disperse it while simultaneously activating her blood manipulation ability to interfere with Yamashita.
Yamashita immediately tasted blood in his throat, and the metallic smell of blood filled his nose.
But he had prepared for this.
He wrapped the mist released by the blade around his body, forming a protective layer over his skin.
The effect of Astoria's interference was immediately reduced by more than half.
However, Yamashita understood that this was only a temporary measure.
If the stalemate continued, the mist's protective effect would gradually weaken.
But that was not a problem.
Because his goal had never been to win the match.
Astoria's spell tore apart the mist released by the sword.
But something unexpected happened.
The shattered mist transformed into hundreds upon hundreds of thin white threads, drifting into the air before suddenly expanding.
Very quickly, the entire arena was filled with clouds and fog.
Her spell had actually helped Yamashita spread the mist!
The spectators were startled at first.
But after discovering that the fog was nothing more than ordinary cloud mist, causing no harm other than making their robes damp, they relaxed.
What they did not know was that Godric Gryffindor, standing among the Gryffindor students, had already curled his lips into a smile.
The plan to destroy Hogwarts had begun.
The mist was only a smokescreen.
The true move was still hidden behind it.
Faced with the dense fog, quite a few spectators pulled masks from their robes and put them on.
No one knew why they happened to be carrying such things.
What the audience also failed to notice was that several inconspicuous little boxes hidden in the corners of the stadium had begun releasing white smoke.
The smoke blended seamlessly into the fog filling the entire arena and gradually spread downward from above.
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12 Chaps ahead at Patreon.com/HornyFBI