"Wow, viewers, I have to apologize to you!"
Watching the two figures exchange blows on the field, Frost excitedly clutched Bulstrode's arm and refused to let go.
"I'm not a professional sports commentator, let alone a professional wizard, so I truly have no way to properly explain this brilliant duel to you."
"But as a student of Professor Tver Fawley, the gentleman beside me, Mr. Bulstrode, surely... Bulstrode?"
"It's magnificent..."
Even with Frost tugging at his arm, Bulstrode was not distracted in the slightest. Instead, he became even more absorbed in the fierce battle unfolding on the field.
"The professor once said that even he had not studied the three Unforgivable Curses as deeply as Voldemort had.
I thought the professor was just being modest, but now I see that Voldemort's Killing Curse is no longer just a spell. It's practically the most cunning venomous snake on the battlefield!"
"What's even more impressive is that the professor doesn't look flustered at all. The Bird-Conjuring Charms fluttering from his hand are like birds of prey, precisely catching every venomous snake that tries to ambush him!"
Seeing Bulstrode even more excited than the two people dueling on the stage, Frost let go of his arm with a hint of fear.
These wizards were terrifying. The moment they opened their mouths, it was Killing Curses and venomous snakes.
The surrounding spectators were not much better than Bulstrode, especially the Dark Wizards. Although they were destined to spend the future in prison, that did not stop them from treating this as a priceless treasure and loudly discussing this feast of dark magic.
If the Aurors had not been keeping a strict watch around them, they would probably already be cheering for the contestant they supported.
However, the two people at the center of the duel paid no attention at all to the commotion off the field.
"I was once rather curious. As Grindelwald's student, just how far would your dark magic attainments go?"
Voldemort casually overturned a stretch of grass, transforming it into a massive shield that blocked Tver's shadow, deep and dark as a black hole.
"What a pity. Because of your identity, you have no choice but to suppress your talent in this area."
Tver smiled without caring.
Even now, Voldemort still had not forgotten to try tempting him with the evil allure of dark magic.
If the two of them were not in the middle of their final battle, Tver might have thought Voldemort intended to use this duel to make him obsessed with dark magic.
"To me, methods always serve the purpose, Voldemort. When you pursue dark magic one-sidedly, it means you have abandoned the usefulness of white magic, even when it is the more correct means and the easier way to achieve your goal."
Their expressions did not look nearly as intense as the battle itself. Of course, that was also because both sides were still testing each other.
"Speaking of which," Tver said after thinking for a moment, deciding to use this final opportunity to talk with Voldemort about something more personal, "when you were disguised as Karkaroff, you must have taught the students, right?"
Voldemort had not expected Tver to steer the subject there. Although his hand did not falter, a hint of surprise still crossed his face.
"What, are you planning to discuss the experience of teaching students with me?"
"I became a professor earlier than you did!" Tver said bluntly, then shattered the snake head Voldemort had angrily transfigured with a single strike.
"I'm just curious. Didn't you gain any fun from teaching students?"
"Fun?" As if remembering something, a faint smile appeared on Voldemort's face, but he quickly suppressed it.
"Do you not understand those students who are usually clever, yet become unbelievably stupid in class? To put it unpleasantly, I was so angry at the time that I nearly wanted to torture them with the Cruciatus Curse."
Tver nodded with deep sympathy, but after noticing the students below with dark expressions, he restrained the smile on his face a little.
"Isn't that where the fun of teaching comes from? Watching them grow from ignorant and confused into mature, sharp people. That's the satisfaction of being a teacher."
"Perhaps..."
A complex look flashed through Voldemort's eyes, but his movements grew even sharper.
"But for me, killing is the only thing that brings me pleasure!"
He pointed his wand, and the lawn, already ruined by their battle, immediately sent up a vast cloud of dust. A hurricane formed within it, sweeping toward Tver with a sky full of sand and wind.
Sensing Voldemort's seriousness, Tver frowned. He did not choose to take it head-on, but used his advantage in Apparition to dodge.
Sure enough, the tornado exploded the instant Tver left, and countless spikes burst out from within it, filling the sky.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
The endless sounds of piercing impacts rang through the wind and sand. Only after the dust dispersed did everyone finally see what had happened at the center of the field.
The ground seemed to have turned into a hedgehog, covered with countless spikes. Only the patches of earth beneath Tver and Voldemort's feet had barely avoided them.
Outside the field, those spikes were frozen in midair. Only after a while did people realize that they had been stopped by the golden shield maintained by Dumbledore and Grindelwald.
"That's ruthless." Looking at the grand spectacle, Tver clicked his tongue in wonder. "There are still plenty of your former subordinates around, you know."
Voldemort tapped lightly, and the spikes around him decayed into their original dust.
"This is a duel to the death. Mercy won't defeat you."
"Tsk, tsk." Tver shook his head helplessly. "I didn't expect you to still be this cruel."
But jokes aside, that last strike had made one thing clear. This final battle was about to enter its fiercest moment.
His expression turned serious. With a sweep of his wand, all the remaining spikes on the field began trembling violently, as if struggling to break free from some restraint.
In the end, the trembling grew so rapid that it produced an unsettling buzzing sound.
"Interesting."
A smile curled at the corner of Voldemort's mouth. His wand moved again and again, shattering the spikes that had originally been under his control.
"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The spikes finally could no longer withstand that intense control. They shot into the sky at once, froze for a second, then rushed as one toward Voldemort's position with unstoppable force.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Under Tver's control, the spikes exploded like fireworks, blooming in clusters one after another as they hammered nonstop against the shield Voldemort had hastily shaped from earth.
"Creak... bang!"
The collision of dust and earth was like a broken violin, producing an ear-piercing shriek that set everyone's nerves trembling.
"Is Voldemort dead?" Harry stared dumbfounded at the apocalyptic scene in the middle of the field and muttered.
Voldemort's imaginative spike attack had already shocked him enough. In fact, if Voldemort had used that move against students like them, they probably would have been dead already.
But after the professor keenly defended against it, he had instead used an even more skillful and powerful method to turn it back on Voldemort.
"You have to remember, that's Voldemort," Sirius said gravely, staring at the center of the bombardment. Although the dust had not yet dispersed, he could still sense an uneasy aura there.
"That's more like it, Tver!" Voldemort's wild voice came from the smoke.
"Let me see your true strength!"