Academy of the Aberrant Chapter 4 (Part Two) (Patreon)

I do not own Harry Potter/Highschool DXD or any other referenced franchise, only my own OCs.

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…

I slowly exit the library, sighing in disappointment as I fail to find the Protego spell again. I tried doing a last-minute search before Combat Practice, but it seems luck wasn’t on my side today.

There are a few minutes left until the class is in session, so I still have time to make my way there even if I’ll barely make it in the nick of time.

On a completely unrelated note, I found a book about the mind arts while I was browsing for charms and spells. I’ve absorbed every single word of that book and then did it again for good measure.

My mind is now… still completely unprotected. Apparently, the process of creating Occlumency shields is not so basic that memorization of the steps means instant success. In other words, a few minutes of trying to make a shield are not going to show any good results.

The ‘shield’ is not exactly like a forcefield around the brain, it’s… kind of like making a substitute or a decoy in your brain. If a person tries to look into your brain to find some super secret info, they might find you thinking about what you want to eat tomorrow instead. Something like that.

One of the first steps was to simply clear my head of all emotions and memories, supposedly one of the hardest steps but quite easy for me. Mostly because I have little to no memories that can distract me, but also because I haven’t felt any intense emotions in my life before that could possibly obstruct my attempts.

The next step was what stopped me from going further, as it required a ton of time and it would’ve been a terrible idea even trying to do it in the middle of the library.

That’s why I’m currently staring at the ground blankly with exasperation when I finally arrive at the gigantic building in the fields of Hogwarts. Entering the gigantic building, I’m greeted by hundreds of students all lined up in front of an extremely beautiful woman in Breastplate armor who turns to me with a pleasant smile once I enter.

“Oh?~ You’re right on time, little man. Go ahead and stand next to your classmates, we’ll be starting in just a moment…” Her voice was extremely pleasing to the ear, almost making me shudder just from hearing it. I noticed that several boys in the crowd suddenly shuffled when she spoke, an awkward expression on their faces.

“Please excuse my tardiness.” I nod my head and quietly excuse myself, making my way into the crowd under her watchful gaze.

She was truly quite enchanting, having long, silky white hair with gray eyes that almost looked like stormy clouds moving in the night sky. Even through her armor, her voluptuous figure was very clear to the eye and was definitely the focus of many eyes.

I slowly looked around the Colosseum-like building with focus, searching for anything noteworthy before Freyja began and quickly spotting several figures I did not expect to see.

Can you guys go home? You have work to do, damn it.

Yeah, it's the House Heads. The Aids are also standing next to them, seemingly in a conversation with their respective House Head. I noticed that Azazel was listening to an excitable Flitwick as the short man rambled about something while standing on a stool. The opposite scene was happening with Serafall, where the devil woman was chattering about something nonstop to a disgruntled Snape who looked like he wanted to die. Gabriel looked like she was having a conversation with Mr. Brunner, but I couldn’t tell what they were talking about or really anything else beyond Gabriel’s enthusiasm. Lastly, Yasaka and Demeter were just having a calm conversation and I actually caught the eyes of the latter as she stared at me directly before huffing and turning away.

… What did I do?

I spotted some of the other teachers standing around or sitting in the stands, some engaging in conversations with each other while others simply sat on their lonesomes doing different things. It seems an audience was here for today’s Combat Practice.

“Now that we’ve all been assembled, I believe it’s about time we begin our first Combat Practice lesson of your Hogwarts Education, no?~ My name is Freyja, Goddess of Beauty, Love, Fertility, War, and many other domains. You may refer to me as Ma’am, Professor sounds too formal for my tastes.” She giggles sweetly as I notice many of the boys in the crowd almost fall, their knees weakening from the sound of her giggles. Hell, I think I saw a few girls almost fall too.

Who thought this was a good idea? I don’t think half of these students can take their eyes away from her, let alone have an actual battle or whatever it is we’re doing here. Dumbledore was not thinking this one completely through, was he?

“We will be having many combat simulations in this class in the next few years, things like duels, team duels, team battles, capture the flag, and many other ‘minigames’. Coming on top in these ‘minigames’ will grant you a handsome reward.~” She purred those last few words, the faces of hundreds of boys turning a deep shade of red at the implications. “House Points, of course.”

I hear Azazel laughing his ass off in the stands as many boys in the crowd looked devastated, suddenly staring at the ground with depression and disappointment. I notice Freyja’s lips twitching up in amusement, clearly aware of what she’s doing and enjoying every minute of it.

“Today, I thought of starting our first year together with a… bang.~” Some of the boys seem to have already caught up with her antics and didn’t react, but most of them still gulped at her words. “That’s why we will be having a little ‘tournament’ to start off this year!”

Oh? A tournament. Isn’t it too early for a tournament arc? Though I suppose there’s the annual tournament at the end of the year that we could use to check our progress, so this tournament would help in finding how much you need to improve right now.

“Of course, I don’t expect all of you to participate yet. You’re free to take a seat in the audience stands if you’d rather watch for today and use what you see as a reference for the future. Just for today though.~” Many students in the crowd breathed out a sigh of relief and many of them began flocking out of the field, entering the audience seats to watch over the remaining students still standing in the field.

By the end, we only had a few dozen students left from the hundreds that were here. I’m guessing a lot of them were worried that they’d lose horribly to someone like Holly Potter so they just gave up, or were simply too inexperienced to even try and attempt anything like most Muggleborn.

“Ah, how unfortunate… It seems there are fewer students here than I expected. Very well, I suppose it’s time that I explain the rules of this little tournament we’re having!~” Freyja claps her hands and a forcefield suddenly envelops the entire building, an oddly dressed man appearing at the top of one of the elevated stands at the same moment. His eyes were completely closed, yet I could tell just by looking at him that he was of Norse origin because of his… Aesthetic.

“This here is Heimdall, the runecraft teacher. You all don’t need to worry about his classes until third year once you choose electives, so don’t concern yourself with that for now.~ For now, he’s here to make sure no one is gravely injured and help me with arena repairs. Say hi Heimdall!~” She calls out to the man as he completely ignores her in favor of staring at us with stone-faced focus. He’s like that stone Maoi emoji.

It makes sense that he’s the Runecraft teacher I think. He’s the man who passed down the All-Father’s runes to mankind, granting them the ability to use runes. If Odin himself can’t teach runes here, then he’s probably the second-best option.

“He’s fun at parties sometimes, I promise.~ Anyways, the rules are quite simple. No crippling or lethal attacks, no targeting lethal areas on purpose, and no flying for extended amounts of time for those of you capable of flight. Keep it clean.” Some of the people here capable of flight suddenly began releasing sounds of complaint, clearly displeased with that third rule as Freyja chuckled and clapped her hands to silence them. “Yes, yes. I understand that you’re upset, but it’s no fun if you just fly above everyone and throw spells down. There’s no thrill, no excitement!~ If you want, I’ll allow you all to fly indefinitely with the only clause being that you need to dodge my attacks every time you fly?~” All complaints immediately quieted down as Freyja giggled again and placed her hands on her hips.

“Now that that’s done, I believe it’s time we get this party started! Your house dorm number and name should appear on the screen when it’s your turn to battle, so make sure to not waste any time or I’ll be upset.~ We have many battles to go through after all.” Freyja quickly shoos us to the side of the field as the first two names appear on the screen, the called students swiftly walking to the field as I start searching for anyone familiar with the present students.

Who am I kidding? All of my friends are here. Except for Michael, Anthony, and Terry. I see them staring at me from the stands with sheepish but encouraging looks as they all send me a thumbs up.

I smile wryly at them and nod my head, moving to Neville as he turns to me once he notices me approaching.

“I thought you didn’t like violence? Why do you choose to fight despite that?” I ask him curiously once I stand next to him, staring at the relatively lackluster duel between two newbie wizards who were apparently brave enough to try and enter the duels despite not seeming like they knew many spells.

“... That may be true, but I still wish to test myself. If it were just a random fight with any student, I’d refuse to fight. Here, I have a chance to fight people like Holly Potter. You as well.” He admits quietly while clenching his fists, my eyes widening slightly in response to his mention of me as I tilt my head at him inquisitively.

“Me? Why would I be a person you’d want to test yourself against?” He turned to me with an unimpressed raised eyebrow, wryly shaking his head as if he was shaking off some amusement.

“Don’t joke around, Richard. You fought Mr. Moody with me just yesterday, I already know that you aren’t the average wizard. Not to mention your Sorting’s results…” I laugh awkwardly, realizing how ridiculous my surprise may have been to him with what he’s seen of me so far.

“I suppose that is true…” I admit quietly with a small smile, staring at the fallen wizard who just got beaten by the opposing witch and is suddenly teleported away. The panting witch slowly made her way back to the group, sweating from exertion as she immediately took a seat on the ground.

“You fought Mr. Alastor??” Kunou asks with surprise as I nod, watching Neville’s head snap to the fox girl with widened eyes at her sudden appearance. “Why? Also, how are you not dead?”

I ignore her question for now, turning to Neville and gesturing to Kunou. “This is Kunou, she’s my friend that likes to appear suddenly out of nowhere sometimes. Kunou, this is Neville, also my friend.” I gesture to Neville once I introduce Kunou to him, introducing him to her next as she nods to him with a smile before turning to me with narrowed eyes.

“Speaking of me suddenly appearing out of nowhere, how do you always know when I’m next to you? I’ve managed to escape my mother’s guards with my illusions, yet you’re never surprised when I show up next to you.” Kunou pokes my torso painfully with a pout, clearly displeased at my constant lack of reaction.

“You make it really obvious. You don’t even try to stand outside of my peripheral vision, so obviously I’d notice you.” I also kinda just feel her there whenever she approaches, but what I said is also true. She’d probably have a better chance if she didn’t walk into my vision.

“... I’m supposed to be invisible to the naked eye.” She deadpans at me before sighing once I simply shrug, not knowing what to say to her. “Whatever. Back to fighting Mr. Alastor. How did that happen?”

“... He almost hurt my friends when he appeared to our house. I was angry and tried to attack him, but Richard stepped in to back me up for some reason.” Neville admits quietly as Ravel lets out a sound of understanding and looks at both of us with bewilderment.

“You’re both suicidal. I’m not even gonna ask how you survived long enough for me to see you once Hufflepuff came.” Kunou shakes her head with a huff before suddenly her eyes widened. “Wait, I remember now. Hermione said something about you punching Mr. Alastor and your hand getting injured, right?”

I laugh awkwardly and nod. “Something like that.”

“... He punched Mr. Moody so hard that he was blasted back several meters and his hand exploded. His bones were protruding from his skin.” Neville snitches and Ravel turns to look at me with astonishment, a slight look of amazement and incredulity accompanying that astonishment.

“... Yeah, that’s probably enough to impress him. You’re a very weird person, Ritchie.” Kunou nodded to herself and stared at me with a smirk, making me raise my eyebrows at her as I crossed my arms.

“Is that pot calling the kettle black?” She smirked even more and blew a raspberry at me, extending her tongue out to taunt me.

“Oh. Richard, it’s your fight.” Neville suddenly alerted me as I looked up at the screen, my name and number appearing and making many of the students turn to look at me with shock.

“Oh my!~ It seems we’ve got someone that’s already in the 200s… How exciting! Please move to the center of the arena, Richard Lee.~” My brows twitched as she purred my name out, doing my best to ignore her voice and quickly made my way to the middle of the field.

In front of me stood quite a tall boy, his hands wrapped in some bandages as he stared at me with a wary but unphased expression. He had the Gryffindor colors on his clothes and no wand in sight, so he was most likely a Church or Pantheon representative.

Seeing how he has those wrappings on his hand, he’s most likely a melee fighter. That means he’s going to immediately move in closer, so I shouldn’t try and waste my time with a spell like he’ll expect me to do.

I close my eyes and clench my right fist, pushing my energy into it in droves. Not enough to make it explode upon impact, but not too little that the boost would be negligible.

“I know how you wizards usually fight. You like to keep your distance and cast your laser spells from afar.” The boy speaks to me from several yards away, glaring at me with focus as he gets into a fighting stance. I ignore his words though in favor of focusing on my energy.

Not too much. Not too little.

“The fight between Richard Lee and Caleb Drakos begins now!~” Freyja announces and ‘Caleb’ immediately charges forward with his fist pulled back.

“That means all I have to do is knock you out before you could even raise your wand!-”

*CRASH*

The boy’s body crashed against the ground, his punch completely missing me after my sidestep and his head being punched into the ground once my right hand impacted his face. He was currently lying in a crater with his eyes rolled to the back of his head, definitely out for the count.

I stand there for a few seconds, staring at his body silently before he’s suddenly teleported away. My eyes widen slightly and I look up at the people around, blinking owlishly as I hear Terry, Michael, and Anthony cheering for me very loudly despite the silence in the crowd.

“Oh, he was totally right by the way. You should probably not give a wizard time to cast if possible.” I quickly point out loudly before someone thinks that he was full of shit simply because he lost easily. The faces of the few wizards around soured slightly, the other students around looking at me with astonishment.

I silently walk away from the center of the field, moving back to Kunou and Neville and waving to the boys in the stands as I stand next to Neville.

“Oh, it’s Neville’s turn,” Kunou notes just as I stand next to them, Neville looking surprised at the fact and quickly nodding to the both of us before going in. “So… Was that the punch you were talking about?” Kunou asks once Neville leaves, still looking quite bewildered as she stares at me.

“Not exactly? When I did that particular punch, I overcharged my hand with too much energy that it exploded upon impact. Here, I just kinda… balanced the amount of energy with my body’s threshold so I wouldn’t get hurt but also do the most amount of damage I can.” I quietly tried to explain myself as best as I could to Kunou, watching her hum with interest before she nodded her head as if she understood what was going on.

“Yeah, I have no idea what you’re doing. You’re a freak.” My eyebrows twitch at her blunt and almost hurtful words as I stare at her blankly. She sticks her tongue out at me again with a smirk, clearly intending to annoy me with her words.

“I completely agree with her. That was not normal in any way.” Ravel walks up to the two of us with an amused smirk, exchanging a nod with Kunou and turning to look at me with furrowed brows and a smile. “You’re sure you have no idea what you are or where you’re from?”

“Hold on, let me go ask my dead parents to check,” I reply bluntly with a blank expression as they both flinch, Ravel’s amused smirk quickly fading into a solemn grimace. “On a serious note, I can really promise you that I don’t actually know what I am. I don’t know what else to say.” I sigh and shake my head, pursing my lips at the slightly disbelieving expression on Kunou’s face before she wipes it away in favor of resignation.

“Fiiiine… I’ll believe you.” Kunou sighs and pouts at me with a light glare, clearly trying to clear the gloomy mood with her ‘angry’ act. I reward her efforts with a small smile, turning away from the two of them to watch Neville’s fight.

He was kind of winning? It looked like he was trying to hold back against his opponent, but the other person was not holding back in the slightest. Even then, Neville was still dominating the fight without really breaking a sweat. It was a contest to see who’d be the one to either capture the other non-lethally or knock the other out.

Unsurprisingly, Neville won.

I stared at the screen above to see who’d be next, my eyes widening slightly as I saw who was about to fight who.

Holly vs Kunou

Kunou freezes next to me and stares at the screen with a bitter look, sighing and looking at me with a hesitant smile.

“It seems it is my time. It was nice knowing you two.” Kunou dramatically speaks, staring at the ground with ‘resignation’ as Ravel suppresses her giggles and stares at the fox girl with mirth.

“Quick, use Ravel as a meat shield, Kunou. Throw her in and run.” I advise Kunou wisely as the fox girl’s eyes widen and she turns to look at Ravel with a smirk, the Phenex girl’s own eyes widening and turning to look at me with betrayal.

“We are not doing this again! Stop suggesting that you use me as a meat shield, damn it. Just because I’m a Phenex doesn’t mean I don’t feel physical and emotional pain.” Ravel pouted and turned away with closed eyes, playing along with our dramatics as she acted hurt while looking away.

“How sad… Now get in the Pokeball. I need my meat shield!” Kunou acted sympathetic for only a moment before ruthlessly pushing a Pokeball she pulled out of nowhere against Ravel’s cheek. The Phenex’s eyes twitched and she quickly slapped Kunou’s ‘pokeball’ away as the ball dissipated into motes of light, revealing that it was an illusion.

“How rude…” Kunou pouted at Ravel as the latter girl smirked smugly.

“Hey, Kunou, as amusing as it is watching you guys making a fool of yourself, I’d like to get this show on the road please.” Holly’s voice called out to Kunou from the center of the field with an amused but impatient tone as the fox girl flinches and quickly runs to the field, sending us one last smile.

“Sorry Holly!” Kunou sheepishly said to Holly, the redhead simply grunting in response while shaking her head to show that it was fine. The match soon began as both sides unleashed elemental attacks against each other immediately.

The ground they walked on was morphed and transfigured, illusions of all sorts cracked and appeared all around, and many elements flew across the field with blue fire being the most evident.

Now this is a fight I want to see.

…

[Round Two]

“Holly, please teach me how to use Protego.” I blankly request from the sitting girl as she looks up at me with amusement and incredulity clear in her eyes. She did not seem very hurt, the only sign of her earlier fight being some unkempt hair.

“I could, but why would I do that? I’d only be empowering one of my future opponents.” She raises an eyebrow challengingly, a smirk on her face. It was clear she wasn’t against actually teaching me the spell, only asking to see what she could gain from doing so.

“Because you’re such a kind and pure soul that would never let her friends suffer needless damage simply because you find it amusing.” Her eyebrows twitch dangerously at my emotionless voice as I speak these words, glaring at me lightly before huffing and shaking her head.

“I’ll teach you the spell on one condition.” She waits for me to nod before continuing. “If you don’t manage to learn the spell on the first try, you have to tell me what you were doing with Ravel, Kunou, and Hermione earlier. If you get it on the first try, you don’t have to tell me anything.”

“Deal.” I extend my hand to shake hers as she smirks and grabs mine. As soon as she does, I feel a spark light up inside of my head and my eyes widen slightly.

“Oh,” I mutter with a slightly surprised tone, slowly taking my wand out under Holly’s confused gaze.

“What? Nevermind. Okay, so the wand movements are-” “Protego.”

Holly freezes and turns to stare at me with horror as a translucent shield of energy appears in front of me, a satisfied smile reaching my face as I nod my head and dismiss the light construct.

“Well, it was nice dealing with you. Thank you very much for the help.” I incline my head politely to Holly and begin walking away, ignoring how she was gaping and staring at me with bewilderment. “Congrats on your win against Kunou by the way,” I add as a side note, quickly speed walking away when I notice her face turn slightly red in anger and embarrassment.

I’m sorry little one.

Anyways, Holly won against Kunou. It was a long, arduous battle, but she came on top in the end. Hermione got put up against Ravel and got annihilated. Le Fay was against the Lint Sellzen girl and was able to win after a minute of fighting by paralyzing the girl. The girl didn’t seem too down though, congratulating Le Fay just as she was teleported away as the blonde witch thanked her cheerfully.

I turn to look at the screen and freeze as I realize my name is up there… against Xenovia Quarta.

I turn to look at the blue-haired girl and she turns to look at me as well, eventually moving to stare at my number and then at hers with furrowed brows.

She was 396. Though Gryffindors supposedly had the largest number of students in the school with more than a hundred more than Ravenclaw.

It seems that it’s my turn again.

I slowly meet Xenovia at the center of the field, the craters and burns that were all around the field now gone as Heimdall supposedly patched things up with his runes in the middle of rounds. I didn’t even notice.

She raises a giant practice greatsword into the air, standing in a fighting stance as she silently stares at me and waits for the match to begin.

“... Let’s have a good match, Xenovia.” I wryly called out to the girl as her eye twitched and she grunted in reply, probably agreeing. Maybe. “Are there any spare weapons we can borrow? I feel like I’m going to need one.” I called out to Freyja from where she was standing as she looked down from whatever she was doing at me.

“Oh?~ Do you even know how to use any weapons safely?” She asks with an amused smirk while staring down at me as I shrug my shoulders in response with a sheepish smile.

“Give me a shortsword please. I’ll manage somehow. Just point the pokey part at the enemy or whatever.” I mutter the last sentence under my breath, but she probably heard it anyway considering how she started giggling immediately after.

“Very well. Make sure to not hurt yourself cutie.~” She extends her hand out and a shortsword comes flying out of nowhere towards me and I quickly catch it out of the air, awkwardly holding the hilt as I try to make heads or tails over what I’m supposed to do with this thing.

Better to have it than not. I’ll do my best to do what feels natural, hopefully that works out well.

“... You’re a fool if you think you can learn how to use a sword in a single fight against a trained swordswoman,” Xenovia comments and speaks for the first time, staring at me with an unimpressed glare as I slash the sword through the air to test it out… and make it look like I know what the fuck I’m doing.

“It’s alright, I’ve played Skyrim before. It’ll probably be fine.” I reply back with complete seriousness, confusing her immensely as she probably doesn’t even know what Skyrim is.

“Skyrim hasn’t been released yet though!” Someone comments from the crowd as I turn to look at whoever it was incredulously, not managing to pinpoint who it was who said that.

Really? Well, oops. Who the heck is the gamer in the crowd that actually knows that though?

I shake my head to clear the unneeded thoughts and hold my wooden sword out, my other hand holding my wand towards Xenovia as I take a deep breath and try to stand naturally.

Here we go…

[Ravel POV]

“Let the battle between Richard Lee and Xenovia Quarta… Commence!” Freyja announces from her stand with a little dramatic flair as Xenovia immediately dashes forward at Richard with her blade ready.

Richard doesn’t seem panicked at her speed despite being much faster than his earlier opponent. He almost looks exasperated as he brings his wand up, a green glow emanating from the tip before a beam is shot at Xenovia.

Ravel thinks that she heard him say ‘Expelliarmus’, so he’s probably trying to disarm the girl. He must have decided to cast a spell this time now that the element of surprise is gone thanks to his last fight. Everyone knows he can fight in close range now, after all.

Xenovia brings her blade up and deflects the spell without halting her charge, stopping once she was close enough and slashing her greatsword at him in a wide arc with an utterly unconcerned look. That look quickly disappears once her slash impacts a translucent shield. Richard then swiftly uses the range he had gained from asking for a sword by slashing at her with his blade.

Xenovia doesn’t seem to panic and quickly blocks the slash with her sword’s guard, taking a step back while pivoting her blade to change her blade’s positioning and slash at Richard again.

Richard steps to the side while parrying the blade, the two blades clashing in a bind as the giant greatsword slides against the length of Richard’s blade. Before it can fully be deflected though, Ravel notices Richard raising his wand hand towards the sliding greatsword and placing his middle and index finger at its flat end.

Xenovia’s greatsword is suddenly blasted back uncontrollably as the girl’s eyes widen, her arms shooting into the air due to her firm grip on the blade and leaving her body. She’s unable to react when Richard shoots a spell from the wand’s tip, being launched back violently once the beam of light impacts courtesy of a ‘Flipendo’ from Richard.

She rolls on the ground a few times, landing quite painfully and laying on the ground for a moment before immediately moving to get back up while gritting her teeth.

“You alright? Also, that’s not a condescending question, I am genuinely asking if you are fine to continue.” Ravel hears Richard question the blue-haired girl before quickly clarifying as Xenovia’s face looks slightly angered.

Her angry expression evaporated once he clarifies though and returns to its previous blank look. She grunts in reply before fully standing back up and hoisting her sword back into position.

“I’m fine. I apologize for underestimating you, I will not repeat that mistake.” She informs him solemnly and he nods in response, smiling slightly and preparing for their next clash.

This time, Richard seizes the initiative and raises his wand as a geyser of water shoots out from the tip. Xenovia swiftly dashes to the side to dodge the discharged water, the geyser quickly moving after her as Richard tries to aim his wand at her.

Ravel notices that Richard’s eyes were looking incredulously at the water he was shooting out as if he was surprised by how much he was shooting out. Before she could dwell on it any longer though, Xenovia swiftly dashed across the field in front of the bystander students.

Ravel’s eyes widen in horror as the geyser following Xenovia slowly turns its sights on them and the ray of water shoots at the group.

Just as everyone starts panicking, a gigantic shield of translucent light appears and blocks all of the water from drenching the students. Ravel notices Holly with her wand up, smiling in amusement as the geyser disappears alongside the shield. She didn’t even hear Holly chant anything before the shield appeared…

“Sorry!” Richard calls out from the center of the field with a sheepish smile before refocusing on Xenovia and speed-casting several spells against the ground all around him. Xenovia quickly dashes forward once the geyser stops but is forced to halt and slash at the gigantic vine that sprouts out of the ground, cutting off the head of the vine and slashing it in half in moments.

Ravel notices that Richard’s eyebrows are twitching again, clearly surprised by the size of the vines just like how he was at the water spell’s output. It was quite a surprise watching him conjure that much water and then immediately transfigure such a gigantic vine while still not looking the slightest bit exhausted.

Does the gigantic life force Kunou sees inside of him match his magical power? Ravel doesn’t know any way to measure magical power without using certain magical items, but Richard clearly had plenty if his rapid casting was anything to go by.

Just another odd power to add to his already ridiculously long list. ‘Muggleborn’ her ass. What muggleborn wizard regenerates like a Phenex at a pace faster than most races? Even if his regeneration speed is atrociously slow when compared to a Phenex, its mere existence is still mind-boggling. That’s not even mentioning how he’s already punching like a truck despite being a fledgling wizard.

What a joke.

Xenovia steps over the vine on the ground and lunges forward at Richard as he raises his blade to block the attack. Xenovia seems to put her entire body weight into her swing to probably try and overwhelm him with her superior weapon and strength once he blocks with his sword. She’s left surprised though when another translucent shield blocks her attack instead of Richard’s blade, blocking her from swinging down at Richard as he capitalizes and slashes at her prone body.

Xenovia twists herself in the air and dodges the somewhat clumsy slash at her torso, kicking the blade away and landing on the ground. She tries again for another swipe at Richard as his eyes widen slightly.

In a baffling display of previously unseen skill, Richard pivots his own body out of the slash’s way and kicks at Xenovia’s head with even more surprising flexibility. Xenovia blocks the kick with her forearm with barely more than a grunt, but her eyes widen when the kick suddenly blasts her back a few inches and upsets her stance and balance.

Richard moves his wand hand upward once he sets his foot back down on the ground, bringing the tip of the magical rod right in front of Xenovia’s face as it glows an ominous green color. The girl braces herself and closes her eyes, but the attack never comes.

“Good fight,” Richard speaks with a polite tone as the light on his wand disappears, a magical circle slowly appearing under Xenovia as he speaks.

Her body quickly disappears within the magic circle as Richard is left pointing his wand at empty space. He slowly lowers his wand as the last few motes of light disappear, breathing out a sigh of relief and walking back to the remaining group of students.

“You’re a freak.” Ravel flatly declares to him once he walks close enough, the boy flinching at the sudden words and staring at her incredulously.

“What did I even do? You and Kunou are way too rude for no reason...” He complains with a frown as Ravel sighs, unsure if he’s just acting oblivious or if he genuinely thinks they’re calling him that as an insult.

Xenovia or whatever may have been a church dog, but she was not a joke as a swordswoman. At least to people in their age group, since anyone still in their first year was probably a joke to anyone above fourth year. Richard did not just defeat the girl, he came out relatively unscathed with the only attacks he suffered being a light kick against his blade from Xenovia and his own touch blast thingy’s recoil.

Admittedly, she would come out with barely a scratch herself if she fought the blue-haired girl, and that’s being generous since she wouldn’t even have said scratch on her by the end. But she’s also a Devil noble who has known of the Supernatural her entire life and trained herself from a very young age. Not to mention how she has one of the most envied clan traits in the devil houses, mostly because of the healing of Phenex regeneration and Phenex Tears.

“Whatever. Are you still fine to go to your next fight?” Ravel already knows that he’s fine considering how he hasn’t taken any damage and looks no worse for wear, she’s just asking to be nice.

“Yeah, I’m totally fine. I’ve barely worked up a sweat.” He isn’t lying, Ravel notes. He doesn’t have any sweat on his head and barely looks like he’s been in a fight.

It’s very surprising.

His stamina is something else…

“I’d ask you if you’re fine as well but we both know you could lose your head and then walk it off the next second.” He smiles exasperatedly and shakes his head as Ravel giggles and rolls her eyes.

“It’s not like anyone’s touched a hair of mine yet, let alone my entire head.” She smirks smugly as Richard stares at her with an unimpressed raised eyebrow. “Nothing on Hermione, of course. She did not have the best opponent for her first fight…” Ravel quickly clarified at Richard’s stare as he shook his head and smiled wryly.

“Anyways, what did you do this time? You didn’t seem to know how to wield a sword at first, but your movements weren’t half-bad by the end there.” Ravel asks with half-curiosity and half-exasperation as Richard laughs awkwardly and rubs the back of his neck.

“I don’t know? I was mostly following my instincts by the end there. At least when it came to my movements and stuff, I was focused on my spell choice and timing.” Ravel was fuming. What did he mean by ‘instincts’? You don’t just outmaneuver a swordsman thanks to ‘instincts’. That’s like a child picking up a sword for the first time against a sword instructor and then beating them in a few moves, utterly ridiculous!

“I don’t know if I should keep this sword or not. On one hand, it’s nice not blowing myself up every time I engage someone in melee. On the other hand, I feel like an amateur since I don’t actually have anywhere to sheathe this thing.” He awkwardly lifts the sword up and stares at it with a complicated gaze before trying to put it inside the back of his shirt, the hilt sticking out from behind his neck. “This feels weird… I feel so edgy.”

… That’s your current dilemma?

Ravel takes a few seconds to calm herself down as she facepalms, leaving Richard to stare at her with confusion.

“Ignoring what you just said for a minute, do you know what happened to you earlier with your spells?” Richard sighs in an almost knowing way and takes his wand out, shooting a spell at the ground as a small plant quickly grows out of the ground.

“It happened in Herbology when we used a certain spell to make a plant grow faster. Mine suddenly began growing at a ridiculous pace and Lady Demeter had to block its growth. That vine was meant to trip Xenovia once she approached me, not burst out of the ground like a giant snake to try and body slam her. I didn’t realize this rapid growth extended to water spells too… Everything else I tested was fine.” He admits while looking deeply in thought, a frown of concern marring his face. He seems genuinely confused on why this was happening, which baffled Ravel significantly.

Did he never notice anything odd about himself? Hell, how has he covered up his insane regeneration before getting his Hogwarts letter? How has he escaped the sights of the Supernatural until now? Ravel knows several factions that search for potential recruits and sacred gear users everywhere they can, it’s almost impossible that none of them stumbled across him and didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary.

“How many spells do you even know?” Ravel dreaded the answer to this question. Would it be a dozen? Maybe two dozen? He’s shown quite a few spells already, but surely he hasn’t gathered that big of a repertoire.

“... Maybe like a hundred? I’ll admit I know quite a lot of variations of some spells, but the overall amount should be close to 100 either way even if you discount variations.” Ravel almost collapses at the number as Richard places a hand on his chin in a thinking pose and hums thoughtfully.

Didn’t he say he never cast a spell before back in the train compartment? Did first years even learn that many!? She never thought about it, but wizards do have a lot of spells for just about every situation. Do they just have to remember every spell? Maybe the spell books in RPG games are there so wizards can remember spells better instead of relying on memory. But how does Richard remember all of those spells on the fly? He’s clearly counting them out right now.

“... I’m gonna go prepare for my next fight. Good luck Ritchie.” Ravel speechlessly started walking away, leaving Richard to stare at her departing form with confusion.

…

[Back to normal POV]

Did I do something wrong? Who knows.

I stare at the last fight of the second round, watching Ravel violate some poor witch who was way out of her league right now. Probably got matched up against another newbie wizard in the first round.

Ravel is smirking as she plays with the girl, tanking anything the girl throws at her and dodging any incoming spells. She’s keeping the girl on her toes with some wind attacks every few seconds, but she’ll have to finish this soon since the clock’s ticking.

Oh yeah, there’s a clock here in case a match goes on for too long. If it does, it’s declared a draw. It’s put in so we don’t waste time watching people flail around for several minutes when we know neither of them are going to do anything noteworthy… which is exactly what happened in most fights between two wizards.

Anyways, Ravel punches the girl with a fire-infused fist and the witch is immediately teleported away to get treated. Ravel casually walks back to the group with an unbothered smirk as I notice how thinned out we’ve become since the start.

There were only 16 people left. I had three matches left until the finals, if I even make it that far.

Speaking of which… It seems I’m up first this time.

I stare at the screen as my name is displayed first, my opponent being one ‘Draco Malfoy’ apparently.

I notice Malfoy smirking in glee as he glares at where I was standing and walks to the center of the field, a certain Potter glaring at the back of his head as she turns to look at me with worry.

I send her a reassuring smile and make my way to the field as well, taking my wand out but leaving my sword ‘sheathed’ on my back.

It was not going to be helpful in a fight like this.

“Why so silent, Dick? Afraid of the repercussions of the threat you dared voice against me in the train?” He taunted me with a grin, laughing in glee a few moments later. “This is great! First I’ll defeat you, then I’ll defeat Holly Potter to truly show you how bad you messed up!”

“Not really. Also, for your information, I didn’t actually know the severing charm back in the train compartment. That was just a bluff I made to scare you off since you were reaching for your wand, I didn’t actually know any spells back then.” His eyes widened at my words before his face grew red in humiliation, an angry scowl entering his face as I could almost hear him gritting his teeth.

“You’ll regret this, Dick.” He tries to taunt me again by saying that nickname, but that’s literally just my name. Or at least another variation of it.

“You know that I won’t get angry just because you’re referring to me as one of the variations of my name, right? I’m not so childish that I’d be upset at someone saying the word ‘Dick’.” He glowers but doesn’t respond, raising his wand into the air and waiting for the signal.

“Ooh, some pre-battle banter, eh?~ How exciting… Make sure to keep it civil though, cuties. I’d hate to have to punish you for acting up.~” I could almost feel the shudder of every male in this building at Freyja’s voice, silently praying that she’d shut the hell up already so I can fight this guy. “Very well, the battle between Draco Malfoy and Richard Lee begins now!”

A quickly conjured Protego shield deflects three spell beams that Draco swiftly sent at me in less than a second. He clicks his tongue and rolls his eyes, clearly displeased with being unable to take me out quickly.

He’s a fool if he thinks I’m going down that easy.

I quickly shoot a few spells at him as he easily dodges out of their way without much effort while sending a taunting smirk at me, his wand glowing and shooting an Expelliarmus at me which I deflect with another Protego. He’s then forced to jump back as I shoot out an inferno of fire at him with an Incendio.

His eyes widen once he lands from his dodge, finding the ground under him both slippery and spongy and quickly falling on his back. His eyes only widen even more as the already gigantic inferno of fire expands further thanks to an Engorgio cast by me.

This spell combo might just become a favorite of mine.

I shoot the ray of fire for a few seconds before dismissing it while narrowing my eyes, the smoke obscuring my vision and not allowing me to see if he was teleported out or not.

I’m not sure if he’s gone or not, I’ll stay on my guard just in case.

Just for good measure, I quickly move out of my earlier position while transfiguring a stone pillar out of the ground in front of me in my new position to use as cover. My caution proves itself correct as a spell shoots itself out of the smoke and directly at where I was standing previously.

The smoke clears to show an angered Draco Malfoy standing with a translucent shield of green energy in front of him that slowly dissipates. He seems to be standing without much issue, which leads me to believe that he counterspelled the spells I cast on the floor with a Finite Incantatem or just Finite.

Interesting. He’s a lot better than I thought he would be.

He stares in confusion at where I was just standing before turning to the stone pillar, finding me standing behind it. I wave at him from behind the pillar as his face grows angrier and he raises his wand up.

I dash out from behind the pillar just as a powerful Flipendo launches it out of the ground and smashes it into a million pieces. I’m forced to summon another Protego once a beam of ice is fired at me and begins clashing against the translucent yellow energy shield.

This Glacius is quite strong… I should be able to hold it back, but I don’t think any normal wizard could.

“How about we see who can keep their spell up for longer, Dick!? Can you keep your shield up for longer than I can keep my ice beam up??” He asks loudly with a few mirthful laughs as my face lights up at his words and I reinforce the Protego shield with more magical energy.

I can totally do a battle of attrition! Protegos don’t drain me enough that I’d be worried, so I can do this all day.

The beam of ice clashes against my shield for several seconds, slowly increasing in strength but not cracking my shield until the beam of ice suddenly intensifies in power. I notice that my shield is starting to crack and quickly conjure a second one to reinforce the first while pushing a ton of magic into both, idly realizing that Draco may have copied my earlier strategy and Engorgio’d his beam of ice.

Or pushed more energy into the spell? Possibly both?

I stand there for an entire minute or two with my wand hand raised, the other hand relaxed by my side as I continue holding my shield up. I’m occasionally forced to reinforce one of the layers with more energy after they crack, but it’s a relatively easy task to keep my shield up.

Half a minute later, the ice beam dissipates as my shields fall in response. I spot Draco kneeling on the ground with a disbelieving and incredulous expression, his wand arm raised into the air but trembling.

“How… How the hell are you still standing!? Protego is one of the most taxing and advanced spells out there, you should be on the ground in exhaustion! I was only using a Glacius, a mere second-year spell!” He yells out with disbelief written all over his face as I blink and shrug at him.

“You did also use Engorgio…” I point out wryly as he looks at me with so much affront you’d think I was audacious enough to insult his mother or something.

“That’s also a mere second-year spell! Not to mention how I heard you cast a second Protego while you were in there… What the hell are you!?” He punches the ground and shakily stands up with anger, glaring at me with a complicated look in his eyes as I sigh with a sheepish expression and shrug again.

Who asks their opponent that type of question and expects an actual response?

“Who knows? Anyways, are you fine to continue or are you done?” His eyes almost bulge out of his skull at my apparent audacity, gritting his teeth so hard I hear them scraping against each other in his rage.

“You… YOU…!” He breathes out with fury in his tone before almost falling once he steps forward, staring at his feet with incredulity and… despair. “... Just get me out of here.”

As soon as those words are uttered, a magical circle suddenly appears underneath him and he’s immediately transported away with a complicated expression on his face. He scowls at the ground with such intensity that I could swear I saw a crack form on the earth, but that was probably just a crack from an earlier fight or something.

I take a deep breath and walk away, waving at my boys in the crowd as they cheer loudly for me. I find Holly staring at me with both surprise and happiness as I walk back into the group, sending me a smile with what looks to be gratitude and pride.

Whatever feud she had with Malfoy must’ve been bad if she’s that happy about me defeating him. Or she’s just petty, which is admittedly quite likely.

I smile at her and then take a seat on the ground to rest. I wasn’t tired by any means, but it was better to take it easy since I think I know who I’m fighting in the next match.

Yeah, I might need to take a breather for this one.

…

[Alastor Moody POV]

Staying quite true to his name, Moody grumbles with irritation as he watches another pathetic display from the third round’s battles. It was now down to eight students fighting to enter the semi-finals.

There were a few students that caught his attention. Well, not really, but they forced their way into his attention simply using their talent, prestige, or mystery.

Holly Potter.

Le Fay Pendragon.

Neville Longbottom.

Ravel Phenex.

Richard Lee.

All of them just so happen to be in Ravenclaw, too. It’s quite a sad sight for the other three houses, missing out on such characters to a single house. It almost made him want to laugh.

Of course, he didn’t actually laugh. Nothing here was a laughing matter.

The varying potential of those five was extremely diverse, yet none could deny any of their power even if it was quite pathetic as of right now.

Every single one of them was already in the 200s range, specifically 249, 251, 288, 250, and 269. Though that last ranking was debatable.

‘I didn’t actually know any spells back then’. Those were the words of the boy, referring to the day of his arrival at Hogwarts. Yet the same boy spoke ‘Maybe a hundred?’ when asked about how many spells he knows. The train was a mere two days ago, yet the boy claimed to have learned over a hundred spells and variations since then.

That was not natural. That was nowhere near natural. It was baffling, utterly perplexing.

The boy also held a regeneration that presumably only lost to Phenexes in terms of speed. It was not unnatural for races to have a healing factor beyond any normal human or wizard, yet even they do not heal at a rate visible to the naked eye. Of course, his healing was most likely nowhere near an actual Phenex’s regeneration, but it was still something to behold.

Unfortunately, that’s not the end of the list of powers Moody has observed of the boy. He also had some form of combustive fighting style that made most close-range fighters shiver in fear. It also apparently boosted his strength when not used at maximum output, exchanging the explosive element of his attacks in favor of raw power. If the boy was stronger, even Moody would hate to deal with him in close quarters and experience the disorientation and random bursts of explosions the boy’s touch brings.

Moving from the boy, the next child would be Ravel Phenex. The younger sister of Riser Phenex, one of the most annoying students Moody had the displeasure of teaching. He was not a troublemaker of any sort, but damn was it annoying watching him fan out his feathers like a peacock to impress everyone around him before huffing and puffing about having to run for an entire hour. It was clear which of the two siblings was the smarter one, as the younger girl did not complain once during her exercise and did not even show off despite being faster and stronger than almost everyone around her.

She was already a dozen times better than her brother, but only time would tell if that would last or not. For now, she was a talented student who probably stood at the top of the first years simply because of how ridiculous her clan trait was.

Now comes the other boy, the one you’d expect to have less brain and more brawn due to his build, but is surprisingly calm and even slightly intelligent in his own way at times. He seemed quick to anger when his friends were threatened, but was not rash and kept himself collected when fighting.

His physical strength was something to behold. He was a monster of physical strength you’d never expect to see in a wizard, let alone a Pureblood wizard. Watching Holly Potter’s face sour as she failed to match his physical speed even after using some spells to help her clear some of the harder obstacles was truly a sight to see. That boy Neville definitely had potential as an Auror even if he never makes it as a normal wizard, something that seems to be quite apparent by his under-average talent in most wizard subjects.

Moody can always appreciate a wizard or witch that decides to hone their body instead of just their mind and spell repertoire.

Speaking of which, the Le Fay girl was the polar opposite of the Neville boy when it came to their power. She was nothing special in the physical department, merely cruising along right above the fledgling wizards who have never run a mile in their life.

Yet… In terms of spellwork and intelligence, she was unmatched. If Moody thought that Richard’s talent was ridiculous, then Le Fay’s was not of this world. She truly lived up to her name ‘Le Fay’ with how utterly ridiculous her proficiency in everything wizard was. Moody would usually chastise any student who dared to fall back in developing their body, but this girl was practically a second Dumbledore in the making with her talent in Wizard subjects. She was best left alone unless absolutely necessary.

If it could be put into ‘game’ terms like the ones the children play these days, Le Fay put all of her points into her ‘Intelligence’ stat, while Neville put all of his into ‘Strength’. At least that’s how Moody thought it worked.

Last, but definitely not least, Holly Potter. It did not need to be said, she was a beast of her own. Moody was already aware of the circumstances of that night, but none can deny that she came out a monster despite the lack of voluntary participation she had back then. He had no idea if it was the effect of that man on that night or the prophecy, but Holly Potter was somehow a beast of talent in both the physical aspect and the mental. Not on the level of the other two, but she more than makes up for it by being an absolute monster in both aspects rather than just one.

Moody did not even need to think about Kunou, he already knew the trickster girl well enough to know of her future as a Sage. The only reason she did not win this entire tournament was her reluctance to undergo professional training for her Senjutsu, else she’d easily breeze through all of the opposition here with only Ravel Phenex giving her some trouble thanks to her immortality.

At least one student from this monstrous generation ended up outside of Ravenclaw. Not counting that one particular boy, Moody will have to wait and see if that boy will be an ally or enemy before even considering his potential.

Moody’s eyes refocus on the field as he realizes that the next battle is about to start. Two very familiar names suddenly show up on the screen, Moody’s eyes widening slightly at the sight of them.

Richard Lee vs Neville Longbottom

“Now this is a battle worth watching…” Moody muttered with a small grin, not expecting anything too flashy but knowing that it would be the first exciting battle since Kunou vs Holly Potter.

The two boys were engaging in a conversation before their names showed up on the board, both of them looking shocked at the mention of their names and turning to each other. The shorter boy, Neville, nodded with a focused expression and slowly made his way to the center of the field. Richard stared at the walking boy for a few moments before sighing and walking after him, moving to his side of the field as they stood across from each other. Three boys in the crowd cheered loudly for the two boys as they both turned to the stands and waved before turning back to each other.

“No hard feelings, Neville? Would hate to see you sad when I beat you.” Richard jokes slightly with the other boy as Neville rolls his eyes with a small smile, stretching his muscles and jumping a few times to warm himself up.

“There are no hard feelings to be had, my friend. Whoever exits this battle victorious will have earned it thanks to their hard work, I have nothing but respect for you if you are that person.” Neville surprisingly did not respond with a taunt of his own, instead reassuring his friend that he would not be upset at his defeat. Moody noted that Richard’s smile turned slightly sad at the mention of ‘hard work’, as if regretful of something unknown to his opponent. Moody did not mind it for now though, the boy certainly had a loaded past with much of it unknown to even himself.

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to break a leg just to show you how serious I’m taking this.” Neville’s small smile quickly turned upside down as he narrowed his eyes.

“... Please tell me you aren’t actually planning to break your leg. Also, why do you not have your wand out yet?” Neville’s concerned worries seemed to amuse Richard as the boy twisted his waist side to side to stretch his muscles before popping his neck with an audible *crunch*.

“No promises! Also, the best conversation exchanged between men is exchanged through fists, not fancy wand-waving. Can we get this show on the road already?” Neville seems to only grow more concerned at Richard’s words but is interrupted by Freyja before he could speak. Too bad Moody was too busy laughing his ass off to care about Neville’s concern.

What a boy! To even challenge a person you know to be superior to you in strength simply for the sake of ‘fairness’... Indeed, that is the best way to have a conversation between men. This boy is wise beyond his years.

“How absolutely exciting!~ I thought I’d never see something so manly anywhere outside of Asgard… I certainly agree that it’s time to ‘get this shown on the road’ already. The battle between Richard Lee and Neville Longbottom begins now!~” Freyja’s enthusiastic voice echoes across the field as many of the boys flush at her… passion, leading Moody to grumble at the weakness of today’s generation.

At least the two boys down there thought with their upper heads rather than lower.

To everyone’s surprise, Neville immediately adopted a defensive stance while half-heartedly glaring at Richard as the second boy smirked. Richard suddenly exploded forward at Neville, surprising the other boy for only a moment before he brought his forearms up to easily defend against Richard’s punch.

Neville’s eyes widen though as the impacts force him to stumble back a few inches, his guard still managing to block the hit but not being able to reduce all of the knockback. Richard does not stop though and steps forward to try and punch Neville again, the shorter boy quickly ducking under the fist and attempting to uppercut Richard.

Richard brings his other hand to guard his chin but is launched back several inches from the powerful hit from Neville. The other boy does not escape unscathed though; upon landing his uppercut on Richard's forearm, his fist is blasted back and he stumbles back a few steps with a wince on his face.

Moody spots shock and bewilderment on Richard’s face. This was most likely the first attack that Richard has felt from the start of this tournament. He could not tell if Richard was shocked from the pain or from the action, but whatever it was did not seem to stop his movement or hinder him whatsoever.

This process continues for an entire minute as both boys wrestle it out with their fists, Neville possessing the superior physical strength, speed, and experience while Richard had superior reaction time, dexterity, and technique with his explosive touch. Every hit Neville landed on Richard was powerful, but it came with its own recoil. Richard's hits did not do as much damage as Neville, but his tricky dodged and disorienting technique allowed him more numerous attacks on the shorter boy.

Moody noticed that Neville was slowly becoming more and more engaged with this fight as time passed, a small smile making its way to his face to show his enjoyment. He may have disliked Richard’s decision to not use his magic from the beginning, but none could deny the satisfaction on his face as he punched Richard straight in the gut before getting uppercutted in return.

The match was quite even, but it was undoubtedly in favor of Neville as it is right now. Richard held surprising combat awareness and skill, but it seemed to be too… new, or untrained, as if his mind knew the steps but his body did not. Neville definitely played to his strengths a lot better than Richard did, and his tenacity allowed him to continue fighting despite the disorienting fighting style that Richard had.

A few moments later, Neville took a step back and punched the ground with all of his strength, the ground shattering under his fist and a particularly large piece of earth shooting up. Neville extends his open palm and pushes the earth at Richard, the sudden change in strategy from Neville taking Richard by surprise.

Richard could only gasp and bring his hands up to defend against the projectile, shattering it into a cloud of sand and rocks without much trouble. His eyes widened in shock though, as he found Neville right in front of him with a fist extended from behind the shattered projectile.

Richard only has time to hastily bring up both of his hands in front of Neville’s fist before a very loud *BOOM* echoes across the field.

Neville is ragdolled back several meters for the first time in this battle, crashing against the ground and rolling around for a few times before quickly jumping back to his feet with only a grimace to show for his pain.

Richard, on the other hand, was launched back and crashed into the arena's walls violently, even entering a man-shaped crater from the impact.

Moody shook his head and turned away, fully expecting Richard to be out for the count after that powerful punch. It was his first time taking a direct hit after all, such a punch would surely down any normal wizard due to their weak durability at the start of their education when compared to other races.

"Jesus Christ… Anyone see the number plate on that truck that just slammed me? I don't remember being religious but I think I just saw God for a second." Richard's pained but still stable voice spoke out of the crater as he slowly stepped out, collapsing to one knee once he exited the crater before slowly rising back to his feet as Moody’s head snapped back to the field with slightly widened eyes.

Moody noticed that Neville's fist was very injured, his knuckles bleeding and his flesh raw from the injury. Though it was nowhere near as bad as Richard's injuries, both of his wrists and part of his forearms bleeding profusely and his left wrist almost displaying his Scaphoid bone.

“... Ignoring what you just said for a second, are you alright? I was sure you’d be out after that.” Neville did not advance and capitalize on Richard’s weakness despite knowing of his healing, allowing Richard to heal undisturbed at a visible rate.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m fine. Just a flesh wound. But seriously though, I don’t think I’m winning this if I only use my physical strength. I hope you don’t mind if I use a spell or two.” Richard slowly took out his wand and stared sheepishly at Neville as the other boy shook his head and rubbed his fist slightly to dull the pain.

“No, this is the fight I wanted from the start. Please, feel free to go all out. I know I won’t be holding anything back anymore…” Neville took a deep breath and stared at Richard with a serious gaze, unlike his earlier hesitant one, causing Richard to grin and raise his wand into the air.

“Very well, I guess it’s time I take this tournament a little bit seriously… God, that sounds so chuuni.” Moody snorted at the whispered words of the boy but quickly narrowed his eyes once a bright yellow glow emanated from Richard’s wand, a rumble suddenly sounding out from the ground before the earth began to shift. The terrain the boys stood on warped completely, turning into a rockier and difficult-to-move area that would surely hinder both of their movements.

Moody noticed something quite odd though. Stone pillars and archways of all kinds were also carved out of the earth, something that would have surely cost Richard more energy to create. Did they serve a purpose? They appeared to be smoother than any of the other terrain around, but a creation like this was too costly to simply be for aesthetics.

Richard flexed his newly healed wrists and jumped a few times on the rough terrain to stretch his stiff legs, a mysterious smile on his face as he slowly bent his knees much to the confusion of Neville.

Richard abruptly launched out of the area he was standing in with a loud *BOOM* from where he was standing, closing the distance between him and Neville in mere seconds as the surprised boy’s eyes widened.

Neville did not let the sudden attack frighten him and easily took a step back while raising his hands to block the incoming attack. Unfortunately, the ground was no longer as even as it was at the beginning of the battle.

Neville suddenly found himself falling as he tripped against the difficult terrain under him, his hands no longer having the support they needed to properly block Richard’s advance.

Richard slowly moved his hand towards Neville’s face as Moody braced himself for another loud boom. He’s left surprised as Richard grabs Neville’s face with his palm and smashes him into the ground, dragging the boy’s body ruthlessly against the ground and siding across the field.

Before Neville could react again, a *BOOM* echoes again as Richard is blasted away from Neville and to a nearby pillar. Moody is even more surprised once Richard lands on the pillar… sideways, standing vertically against the pillar’s surface and away from the rocky ground while crouching slightly.

His eyes traced the battlefield with laser focus, clearly deep in thought but also keeping track of everything.

Richard did not seem like he was ready to take things easy yet, shown by how he taps the pillar he’s standing on with his wand twice and casts two unexpected spells that make the pillar slowly tip over from Richard’s weight. He places his hands on both sides of the pillar and slowly allows himself to tip over, eventually landing on the ground and dislodging the pillar from the ground. He brings the pillar over his head and smashes it down where Neville just was, the aforementioned boy suddenly jumping out of the crater he sat in and punching the pillar into a thousand little pieces.

Richard takes a step back but Neville is on him within a moment, punching at Richard as he crouches under Neville’s fist and taps his wand against the ground. In only a moment, a pillar rises out of the ground where Neville is standing and slams into him from beneath.

Neville flies through the air for a few seconds before readjusting himself in the air, finding himself faced with several earth projectiles and forced to punch them away before they could impact him.

Just as Neville punches the last projectile away, he hears something above him and looks up in shock to find Richard sticking to one of the ‘stray’ projectiles that had ‘missed’.

“It’s over.” Richard declared with finality and launched forward, directly punching Neville’s face and causing another explosive *BOOM* to echo across the battlefield as Neville’s body is sent flying into the arena’s floor and skidding across the rocky earth.

Richard takes a deep breath as he begins falling, his eyes holding both fatigue and excitement. It was clear to Moody that this may have been one of Richard’s most exciting battles, if not the most exciting one ever for him.

The arena is engulfed in silence with the only sounds being the remaining debris that were in the air slowly falling to the ground. Richard lands on the ground and quickly rushes to the cloud of dust where Neville was, a worried look slowly entering his face as he watches the dust clear.

Moody’s face morphs into a grin as he watches Neville stand in the middle of the crater he was just punched into, the only sign of injury on him being the blood falling down the side of his face and his bleeding knuckles.

This boy could not be kept down, could he?

“You crazy bastard, you’re still standing?” Richard asks with an exhausted yet exasperated grin, leaning on a nearby pillar with one hand and staring down at Neville. The other boy slowly shakes his head, a smile of his own on his face.

“... No, I’m done. If I’m this outclassed when you’re still not using all of your spells, then I already know that I was never going to be the victor of this match.” With that declaration, a magical circle suddenly began appearing underneath Neville as the boy smiled happily at Richard. “Thank you, Richard. You’ve shown me that I still have to work even harder. I hope I can give you a better challenge the next time we fight.”

Richard nodded to the slowly disappearing Neville, turning around and making his way back to the group with a minor limp in his step and a satisfied smile on his face.

These two boys… Moody already knew they’d grow into something impressive. He had no idea where Richard’s potential would bring him, but he was sure it would be no less amazing than Neville’s in the future and vice versa.

If only that boy could stop pulling new abilities out of his ass, though. Moody is having a hard time keeping track of all of them for future analysis. Stupid enigmas and their constant mysteries.

Oh well.

…

[Demeter POV]

“Damn, that was metal as hell. Kid blew off his own wrists and didn’t even stop.” Azazel, forever an annoyance, whistled in appreciation once the battle ended and clapped alongside the crowd of students with that sleazy smirk of his.

“Those two were taking things too seriously. Did you see how hard they punched each other? They could’ve hurt each other.” Demeter complained with a huff, ignoring how Yasaka turned to her with amusement as she stared at Richard’s healed wrists.

“While I do agree that they took things a tad too far, I believe that both of them seemed to be in the correct state of mind and would’ve stopped if they recognized that things were getting too intense. I’m personally quite overjoyed to have such mature and talented students in my house!” The small Professor Flitwick practically jumped out of his seat (even though he was standing on it rather than sitting) with how excited he was at watching this match, no doubt remembering his own duels back when he was a dueling champion.

Correct state of mind? That problem child exploded himself just to inflict a small amount of damage on his opponent! He’s in no ‘correct state of mind’ at all.

“Of course you’d say that Filly. You managed to snatch these two kiddos from me when they could’ve totally been in Slytherin right now!” Serafall grumbled and crossed her arms with a pout as the half-goblin man laughed at her annoyance.

“... I’d like to remind you that Neville Longbottom did not have the option to enter Slytherin, Lady Leviathan. He had a superior Gryffindor sphere as well as a normal Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw. Only Richard Lee had all four… Superior Spheres.” Serafall turned to Snape with a betrayed expression as the man sighed tiredly and continued staring at the field to try his best to ignore her.

Poor man. Demeter would hate having to deal with Serafall’s antics constantly, even ignoring the ‘Magical Girl’ part. If only he wasn’t so greasy and irritable, then she’d actually be able to spare him some feelings of pity.

“Traitor! They’d totally be able to join Slytherin if it wasn’t for Hoggy Warty being a total meanie.” Serafall glared at Snape while grumbling as he continued to ignore her.

“Could we speak about how Richard Lee suddenly began sticking to the pillar with only his feet? The rock he launched up as well. That was totally something straight out of Arachnidman!” Gabriel pointed out with a star-eyed look in her eyes that made her look disgustingly young and pure as C- Brunner chuckled next to her while shaking his head.

“I don’t remember watching Mr. Lee shoot out any spiderwebs, so he’s unfortunately not likely to be Arachnidman, Gabriel.” The angel’s face turned dejected at the man’s words, pouting in a way that almost made Demeter diabetic. She sometimes hated how susceptible her maternal instincts were to young blondes that look somewhat similar to her.

“His Arachnid powers aside, how difficult was the transfiguration spell he cast? I’m not too versed with the magical schools of wizards for obvious reasons, but that Transfiguration was clearly no small feat.” Yasaka curiously noted while humming in interest as Flitwick piped up and Snape narrowed his eyes.

“I wouldn’t say that I am the most versed in Transfiguration in the school, as that would obviously be Headmaster Dumbledore, but I’d easily say that that piece of Transfiguration work was nothing short of phenomenal! Not only did he change the terrain to mess up his opponent’s footwork and movement, but he also managed to erect several structures all around to aid him in avoiding the difficult terrain he created. The control required for such a thing is awe-inspiring!” Flitwick rambled quite enthusiastically while waving his wand around in his hand, showing just how impressed he was with how energetic he seemed at the subject.

“... You’re missing something, Fillius. Mr. Lee definitely did not know the seventh-year spell which would’ve allowed him free reign to change the terrain as he did here. Instead, he used several basic transfiguration spells aimed at minorly editing the nearby surroundings in quick succession to achieve the effect he made here. No, even then, he did not aim to transfigure half of the area he did. It was just like his earlier fight with the Gryffindor girl, the output of his spell was beyond even his own intention. My words are further emphasized by his need to cast more spells when he was dislodging the first pillar and summoning a second one underneath the other boy.”

…

Everyone stared at Snape incredulously as the man continued staring at the ongoing battle, eventually recognizing the sudden silence and turning to look at the House Heads and Aids that were staring at him in either shock or amusement.

Even Demeter seemed shocked. It was not every day that Severus Snape himself decided to speak more than a few sentences at a time. Especially not when the topic was related to a boy outside of his house.

“Has the boy caught your eyes by any chance, Severus? It’s quite unnatural for you to be so talkative about… anything, really.” Brunner asked with a tinge of amusement as Snape rolled his eyes in response, turning away from everyone to stare into the arena again.

“Hardly. The boy is adequate, but nothing worthy of my attention when it comes to Potions. I recommend that you all compose your faces, you wouldn’t want to make a fool of yourself in front of all of the first-years.” Demeter glared at the man at his words, displeased with the mere suggestion that she would ever ‘make a fool of herself’.

How audacious. Any pity she had left for the man having to deal with Serafall is gone, she hopes the Leviathan girl forces him to wear a magical girl costume alongside her. Maybe that will knock him off his high horse.

“Wait, if what you’re saying is correct Severus, that boy must have been using 10x the amount of magical energy he’d normally need to achieve such a feat! The seventh-year spell is already quite a taxing one, probably taking a tenth of the magical reserves of most freshly graduated Hogwarts students.” Demeter stilled at the insinuation, staring at the suddenly shocked half-goblin man before turning back to stare at the blond boy with green eyes in the crowd.

Wouldn’t that mean the boy potentially had seventh year reserves already at his age? The boy did not seem particularly drained, even if he seemed a lot more tired than in all of his previous battles.

“A monster.” Yasaka voiced Demeter's own thoughts for her, staring at the remaining students on the field with interest. “This entire generation is filled with them.”

“Hands off! Ravenclaws stick together, you know?~ You all better not have any funny ideas.” Azazel lets his annoying presence be known again as he smirks at all of them and extends his hands out for a high five to Fillius, who looks confused for a moment before gladly taking the offered high five with a bright smile.

“Hmph. As if you have any jurisdiction over who I can and can’t interact with. If I wish to interact with Richard Lee, then I will do so whether you want me to or not.” Demeter glared at Azazel and huffed, turning away and looking back into the arena. She then freezes as she realizes what she said, an ominous feeling entering the pit of her stomach.

“... He didn’t mention Richard Lee specifically, Demeter.” Yasaka wryly pointed while holding back some chuckles as Demeter’s eyebrows twitched.

Traitorous woman! So be it. Let’s see who will cover for you when you want to get away for some ‘Kunou time’. Don’t blame me for your own mistakes when that time comes!

“Now that I think about it, Richard does kind of look like Demeter does he not?” Serafall jumps on the opportunity to tease Demeter and smirks in an infuriating way that makes Demeter contemplate blowing something up. “Did you finally decide to have another child after so long?~ Mama Demeter?” Preferably a certain female Maou, if possible.

“Oh!? Is that true Demeter?” Gabriel asked with excitement as Demeter felt herself die inside a little.

“Everyone shut up! The next match is about to begin.” Demeter quickly redirected the conversation, not wishing to crush the pure angel’s happiness yet refusing to discuss this conversation any further.

It was now the fifth round. The last few battles had passed very quickly while they were all talking. Most fights barely lasted a minute or two anyway.

“The semi-finals… and the first match is certainly one to behold,” Brunner commented with interest as Demeter’s eyes widened at the names displayed up there.

“Well, this should certainly be interesting.” Azazel grinned as the girl-who-lived slowly made her way to the center of the field while staring at the panicking Richard with amusement.

“Ravel! I need you right now. Act as my familiar, go and beat Holly up in my stead!” Richard grabbed the Phenex girl by the shoulders as she looked panicked for a second before blushing in embarrassment and glaring at him.

All four House Heads began snickering and even Demeter couldn’t help but smile at how ridiculous Richard was acting right now.

“Damn it Ritchie! I already told you that I’m not acting as your meat shield. Stop asking for that already!” She pushed his hands away and turned him around, kicking his back to push him into the field as he feigned an injury and limped his way to the battlefield.

“Ow… Hey Holly, how about you take it easy on this poor injured boy?” He rubbed his back with a fake wince and smiled at the girl as she rolled her eyes and smiled back in amusement.

“Too scared of taking on my full power, Ritchie? I’m starting to think you’re not even worthy of that dragon omelet.” Demeter tilted her head in confusion at the girl’s words, but was left even more surprised once Richard immediately dropped his injured act and stared at Holly with an extremely serious look.

“You’re not winning this match.” He declared with such seriousness and finality in his tone that even Holly recoiled for a moment, taking a few seconds to process what he said before suddenly bursting out laughing. The Hogwarts Staff in the stands all seemed confused about what the ‘Dragon Omelet’ they spoke of was, but it didn’t seem like they would be getting answers anytime soon.

“Is that so? Let’s test out that promise of yours then, shall we?” Holly grinned viciously and slowly took out her wand as Richard did the same. She turned to where Freyja was with a glare. “Start the match.”

“So forceful~... Very well, the battle between Holly Potter and Richard Lee… will now commence!” Freyja giggled and quickly announced the start of the next battle as both sides tensed.

Neither of them moved immediately, merely raising their wands at each other while having a silent stare-down. It was honestly quite tense despite how literally nothing has happened yet, which only made it very surprising when Richard lowered his hand and stared at Holly exasperatedly.

“Can you do something already? I wanna see how much power I’m gonna need for this.” Holly’s eyebrows twitched dangerously at his words as she slowly began smiling, but not in her usual amused or smug way. No, she looked like she was contemplating murder with that smile.

“Oh really? I was about to ask for the same thing myself. It’s quite weird how the muggleborn is trying to hold back against the girl-who-lived. How about you go all out? I’d like to not accidentally hurt you, and I’d like to have some fun in this fight.” Richard did not seem to mind her taunts whatsoever, simply tilting his head for a few seconds before nodding his head.

Demeter was stumped. Was Richard legitimately asking that instead of simply trying to taunt Holly? What gave him such confidence? He did not appear to be an arrogant or prideful person, even asking Ravel Phenex to fight for him (even if it was a joke).

“Okay. I’ll do my best to make this fun for you, then.” Richard slowly raises his wand into the air with a blank expression, nothing more than a small smile on his face to show his thoughts. Demeter only has a few moments to think about what he could be planning before she’s forced to recoil back with a face of surprise.

*WHOOOSH*

An inferno of fire envelops the entire arena as Heimdall’s forcefield shield quickly appears to block the fire from entering the stands, a smaller one appearing around the students that were inside of the arena. Demeter watches in surprise as the fire roars and pushes against the force field for what feels like hours (but is actually less than a minute) until slowly fading away and leaving a ton of smoke behind.

“... Well, that’s definitely Mid Class. Kid’s already stronger than half the school. Damn, wizards are terrifying.” Azazel, of course, couldn’t keep his mouth shut and immediately commented despite no one asking for his input.

“Zaz shut the hell up! It’s getting good.” Serafall voiced out everyone’s thoughts as even Snape grunted in agreement, everyone in the stands also staring intently at the clearing smoke with palpable intensity.

“First, I’d like to apologize for taunting you like that.” Holly’s exasperated but unhurt voice sounds out as she stands in the same spot she was in, not looking the slightest bit concerned or hurt. A red energy shield slowly dissipates from in front of her, a few cracks spread across it but nothing else worthy of note. “Second, was that personal or were you just trying to kill me for fun?”

“I’d be severely disappointed if some fire was all it took to put you out of commission. How are you meant to wrestle a dragon and claim its egg to make an omelet for me if you can’t even handle some ‘muggleborn’s’ fire? This is simply a glance at what you should expect.” Richard’s casual speech at Holly’s apparent plan to wrestle a dragon and claim its egg all to make him an omelet almost makes everyone recoil in shock, the way Holly laughed with amusement and nodded her head without rebutting him in any way not doing their sanity any better.

“Yeah yeah, no need to continue your passive-aggressive nonsense. Let’s get this over with.” Holly shakes her head and raises her empty hand into the air as Richard’s eyes widen and he raises his wand hand to match hers. Suddenly, a large magical circle appears in the sky, dark clouds slowly appearing from the magic circle and rumbling threateningly.

Demeter could not believe her eyes. Holly Potter was already capable of using magical circles and changing the weather? This generation was ridiculous.

Richard’s decision to raise his wand into the air proved to be the correct one as he manages to summon a shield of green light moments before a lightning bolt strikes down at his position, blinding everyone staring at the battlefield for only a moment before the light slowly dies down.

Richard is standing in the same position he was in earlier, only surrounded by a patch of burnt ground and with a half-broken Protego shield above him. His face was shocked, clearly the first time he was taken by surprise this much in any of his battles. Demeter could even sense an iota of fear in his eyes before it was quickly overtaken by calm and… some sort of calculated look.

He’s quickly forced out of his state of surprise and thought as he jumps to the side to dodge a sudden spell from Holly’s wand. He looks up with widened eyes at the smirking girl before suddenly turning to stare up at the thundercloud and summoning another Protego shield just in time to block another lightning strike.

He’s then forced to summon another one to block the spells Holly shoots at him from the side and under his Protego shield, causing his concentration on the first Protego shield to falter for just a moment and allow the last remaining bits of the lightning to strike him.

Richard lets out the first sound of pain he’s done since the start of this tournament as he screams at the shock his nerves experience from the rampant lightning he’s experiencing and slowly falls to his knees. Demeter had to control herself from jumping in and even placed her hands on her ears to try and block out the sound.

The pained scream slowly died off until nothing but silence reigned for a few moments. Suddenly, a very quiet laugh replaced the scream as Richard slowly stood back up, a small smile on his face despite his earlier pained screams.

“... Did you just have an awakening and learned that you’re a masochist or something?” Holly’s sudden question with her repulsed expression made Richard pause and look at her with befuddlement.

It was clear he took real damage from that hit, evident by his twitching limbs and burnt body. He was looking a lot better than one would expect, but Demeter was still quite worried at how damaged he was already.

It was barely the start of the match and he was already at a disadvantage, unlike earlier with how even he was with the Neville boy.

"What? No! The lightning started tickling me after the pain faded. Wait, who assumes something like that!?" Holly's eyebrows twitch and she quickly turns away, the clouds above rumbling again to show that they were about to strike again.

Richard quickly points his wand at the ground and casts a few spells as a long metal pillar slowly rises out of the ground and towers over the field. The lightning shoots down at Richard but redirects at the last second to the lightning rod, impacting the metal with a thundering boom and completely missing Richard.

"Oh? How smart, a lightning rod. Basic, but not something you'd expect from a 13 year old." Azazel comments with amusement and interest as some of the others nod their head.

Holly stares at Richard with a dumbfounded look, clearly surprised at what just happened and momentarily stumped on what to do.

Before she could decide, Richard takes the initiative again and raises his wand at Holly. A powerful stream of water shoots out from the tip of his wand as Holly snaps out of her surprise and summons a Protego shield to block the water. She's left surprised once the stream of water stops for a moment before being replaced with a large beam of ice and cold.

Eventually, the Glacius beam stops and reveals that the floor has now been encased with slippery ice all around the field. Two other metal pillars had appeared next to Richard as he slowly walked on the slippery ice, his feet sticking to the ice without any trouble.

"You really like your terrain changes, don't you?" Holly asks exasperatedly while inspecting the changed terrain, testing her balance on the ice outside of her small patch of normal land.

"One mark of a great soldier is that he fights on his own terms or fights not at all. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War." Richard replies with a smile as Holly's eyebrows rise and she smirks.

He’s quoting a book at a time like this? Why?

The magical circle Holly summoned in the air slowly disappeared, and with it the thunderclouds slowly faded to reveal the shining sun. Richard noticed that Holly seemed to be preparing to summon something new and quickly rushed forward, shooting several spells in quick succession as Holly was forced to raise her wand and summon another Protego shield to block them.

It was clear that Holly was currently defending the small area of land she was standing on which wasn't affected by the ice floor. She could not dodge any incoming attacks, so Richard could tire her out by forcing her to Protego all of his attacks. She needed to think of a way out of this situation if she wanted to regain the advantage.

And a solution she found. Holly blocked the last few spells that were shot at her before pointing her wand at Richard and yelling "Incendio!" At the top of her lungs, an inferno of fire no less than Richard's own enveloping the arena once again as the forcefield activates.

It was baffling how easily these fledglings were capable of throwing such spells around, especially with how they were both wizards in their first year. Holly did not seem drained whatsoever after all of these spells just like how Richard didn’t seem exhausted.

The fire died down a lot faster this time, revealing a completely charred but relatively fine battlefield without any ice. Holly is left shocked though once she fails to find Richard anywhere around the battleground.

She lowers her wand slightly and glances around, clearly confused on where Richard and warily looking for any sign of the boy. Demeter was worried for a second that he was retired, but Heimdall would’ve informed everyone if that was the case.

Holly’s eyes suddenly widen as she feels something grab her ankles, failing to react in time as Richard bursts out of the ground and slams her against the floor by her leg. She lets out a pain gasp at the sudden physical attack before her eyes sharpen and she glares at Richard.

Holly folds her body and grabs Richard's wrists, hooking her other leg under his arm and pushing him to the ground while gripping his head with her other hand in an impressive display of flexibility.

"... Oddly forward of you." Richard comments with a slightly awkward expression on his otherwise blank face as Holly furrows her brows before blushing slightly as she realizes how she's sitting on his torso. That moment of embarrassment was all Richard needed to quickly blast Holly away with his explosive touch, rolling to his side and standing back up while rolling his shoulders to unwind any knots.

"You're gonna regret that." Holly promises with a furious blush on her angry face as Richard grimaces and smiles sheepishly.

"Blame the game, not the player. Opportunities multiply as they are seized. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War." He responds again while referencing the book that's apparently about battle and war.

Again? Is he trying to set up a theme of some sort?

Holly rolls her eyes and shoots a spell at Richard as he matches it with his own, the two entering a beam struggle with Holly's beam being red while Richard's was green. They circled around each other for almost two minutes, truly showing off their vast energy reserves as the beam struggle slowly fizzled out after a few more seconds.

They both immediately began firing spells at each other rapidly once the beam struggle ended, each dodging and blocking several attacks with some elemental attacks occasionally sprinkled in.

Holly suddenly shot another powerful ray of fire as Richard responded with a geyser of water, extinguishing the fire without much trouble but causing the arena to fill with heavy steam.

Richard stared warily at Holly's last position, preparing to dodge if he heard her cast anything. He's left surprised when a spell suddenly shoots out of the steam in front him, impacting him directly and causing his legs to feel as weak as jelly.

Richard gasps and falls to the ground, unable to stand on his feet anymore. The steam quickly disappears a few seconds later, showing a smug Holly standing across from a fallen Richard.

"... You've been able to cast silently this entire time. You just never did so that I wouldn't expect it and you could use it as a trump card." Richard accuses while doing his best to pull himself up, shifting his weight around with his arms but failing to force his feet to move.

"Heh, maybe. It's over, Ritchie. You've fought really well, a lot better than anyone in your position had any right to, but it wasn't enough." Richard's eyebrows twitched at the girl's monologue as an amused smile made its way to his face before turning into a 'resigned' one.

The boy looks at the ground for a few moments, shifting helplessly for some reason while narrowing his eyes. He eventually raises his head, staring up at Holly with a sheepish smile.

"I suppose it is the end… Do you mind if I speak one last quote from The Art of War before I'm gone?" Richard’s sudden request makes Holly's eyebrows rise in amusement as she shakes her head to show her indifference.

"Sure, go ahead." She indulges him with a smirk as he finally stops shifting his position on the ground, looking up and smiling at Holly with a mysterious feeling to his smile.

"The opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. - Sun Tzu, The Art of War." Holly raises her eyebrows at his choice of quote, opening her mouth to ask what he meant only to be surprised as Richard slams his arm against the ground with so much strength his hand blows up completely.

The attack breaks the entire arena's floor, cracks appearing all across the field and the ground rising and becoming uneven. Holly fails to keep her balance and trips, slowly falling to her back as she stares at Richard.

Before Demeter could panic about Richard's now nonexistent right hand, the boy's legs suddenly blast against the ground and launch him clumsily towards Holly as he flips through the air like a ninja star and even hits his head against an uneven piece of earth. He manages to twist his waist just enough to face Holly once she's within range, bringing his unharmed fist back and punching at Holly's face.

The girl can only gasp before the loudest *BOOM* yet echoes across the battlefield and Holly Potter is sent flying to the edge of the arena, crashing into the wall and making a crater from the impact. Richard falls face first against the ground, one of his arms lacking a hand while the other lacks three fingers and his knuckles.

"Holy shit!" Azazel yelled out while rising to his feet as everyone else in the Staff area quickly stood up and exclaimed similar words of surprise and shock.

Demeter couldn't hold herself back anymore and quickly jumped into the arena, running towards Richard's prone body as she noticed his still smiling form staring at Holly Potter's crater.

"You're done, right? I'd rather not explode my pelvis and back just to maneuver myself around." He called out humorously to the girl in the crater as Demeter's hair almost turned white from stress. Much to her despairing surprise, the sound of a girl laughing exited the crater as Holly Potter pushed herself out of the wall.

"You crazy mother fucker… Yeah, I'm done. Not everyone is willing to give up an arm and a leg for this stupid tournament. You're insane!" She kneeled on the ground and stared at his prone body as they both chuckled at each other, a magic circle quickly appearing under Holly. "You're teaching me your Transfiguration later! And whatever that fucking book is, too. I'm not gonna let my guard down against you ever again."

"Fine, but you have to teach me your magic circles. Those were a pain in the ass to counter." The boy conceded and nodded his head despite how painful the action was, watching Holly disappear into the magic circle and leave nothing behind but small motes of light.

Demeter quickly kneeled next to the boy and smacked the back of his head, surprising the boy as he let out a noise of surprise and tilted his head to stare at her.

"Lady Demeter?" He muttered in confusion as she felt her maternal instincts rampage at his slightly pained and confused sound.

"You absolute buffoon! Who sacrifices a hand for a small tournament that barely even matters like this!?" She chastised him with an angry expression as he blinked in confusion and weakly tried to move up, failing to do so as Demeter quickly pushed his body down and forced him down. "Don't move you idiot! You're in no state to fight or even move after what you just did!"

Richard blinked again, tilting his head at her with a puzzled expression before slowly moving the hand that only lost a few fingers up into Demeter's vision. She gasps as she watches the fingers that were exploded slowly healing. She grabbed his other arm and squinted at his forearm as she realized it was also slowly healing back to normal instead of simply closing up like a normal person.

"How fascinating… Please stay still, Mr. Lee. You've injured your ankles and feet as well. There seems to be some fractures in your Tibia and Fibula in both of your feet." Brunner suddenly commented as he crouched down next to Richard's body, extending his hand as a golden glow engulfed his hand.

"From a mere glance, Mr. Brunner?" Richard questioned with a small hint of amusement and amazement as the man laughed gently in response.

"I have a lot of experience with reckless students, Mr. Lee." He answers mysteriously as Richard simply nods in response and settles down, clenching and unclenching his fist as it fully heals and waiting for his other one to heal.

The healing rate was massively boosted thanks to Brunner's efforts to the point where Richard's other hand quickly healed back to normal in mere seconds. The spell affecting his legs had already worn off, allowing him to slowly sit up once Brunner gave him permission.

"Oh my~... That was truly a show to remember, wouldn't you say so Mr. Lee?~" Freyja slowly walked into the arena with a smirk on her face as Richard turned to her with a confused head tilt. "Unfortunately, I'll have to ask you to not blow your limbs up from now on. Despite how exciting it is for me to watch, it's much too gruesome for the other students around here.~"

Richard gapes for a few seconds before furrowing his brows. "But that's like 50% of my firepower." He responds while moving his head up to stare at the woman, quickly averting his stare with an eye roll once he realized the angle he was staring from.

Good job. Demeter approved.

Wait, no she didn't.

"Your plan should not include sacrificing your own body parts for extra attack power!" Demeter chastised again with a frown as he turned to her with confusion and raised his healed hand, opening his mouth to speak before being interrupted again. "No, just because you can heal the damage doesn't change the fact that you're blowing up your own body!"

He closed his mouth and looked down, unable to refute her words at all. Demeter nodded her head with satisfaction and patted his head, ignoring the sounds of laughter she heard from a certain retired auror in the crowd.

"How adorable.~ Now, please move to the side of the field. Could the teachers please return to their seating area?~ Heimdall needs to fix the arena for the next fight." Freyja smiled brightly at Demeter and Brunner as Demeter glared lightly at the other goddess and let go of Richard's hair, letting out a 'Hmph' and making her way back to stand by Yasaka as Brunner does the same while Richard walks to the remaining two girls in the watching area.

"Awfully concerned for that child, aren't you, Demeter?~" Yasaka teased with a foxy smirk as Demeter glared at her. Demeter’s face then suddenly started smiling amicably, causing Yasaka's smirk to evaporate as she started sweating slightly because of Demeter’s sudden change in demeanor.

"Ah, Yasaka, I forgot to inform you of some paperwork you seem to have forgotten to do. I'll be leaving it on your desk later today, please remember to fill it out in time." Yasaka's face turned completely pale as Azazel and Serafall burst out laughing while Gabriel stared at Yasaka with pity.

"... I believe you've also forgotten some papers as well, Lady Leviathan. It's quite good that I remembered." Serafall suddenly froze in her tracks while Azazel started laughing even harder, going for another high-five with the short half-goblin man as Flitwick awkwardly returned the gesture. Poor man, having to deal with Azazel but being too nice to say anything.

“... Mercy, Demeter. Please…” Yasaka tried to plead but Demeter harrumphed and ignored the fox woman, staring into the arena and watching as Richard approached the last two girls on the field.

“It seems I’ll be fighting you for the finals, Richard.” Ravel smirked while staring at the boy as Le Fay nodded for a moment before realizing what the Phenex girl had said.

“Wait, what!? I’m not going to be that easily beaten, you know!” She complained with a huff as Ravel looked back apologetically despite the smirk on her face.

“Le Fay, I think Ravel wants payback for all the times I tried to throw her in as a meat shield. I need you to beat her so I can escape her wrath!” Richard suddenly limped over to the shorter blonde girl as the witch stared at him with surprise before grinning and giving him a thumbs up. Ravel stared at him with narrowed eyes before shaking her head.

“Attempting to escape my vengeance? It’s futile, Ritchie. You will pay for disregarding my feelings just so you can have a ‘meat shield’.” Ravel promised with a fire in her eyes (literally) as Richard shivered and turned to the blonde witch with pleading eyes.

“It’s okay Ritchie! With your support, it’s impossible for me to lose! Sorry Ravel, but you won’t be getting your vengeance today!” Le Fay patted Richard on the back before turning to Ravel with her own determination written all over her face.

She lost.

…

[Main POV]

It was… close? Le Fay played around with Ravel for a while before suddenly realizing that she was wasting her stamina and magic while Ravel was easily handling anything sent her way. She then rushed to throw everything at Ravel all at once, but Ravel managed to tank it all and eventually come out on top.

So here I am, faced with a smug devil blonde, forced to fight against a girl who can have her head exploded one second and be fine the next. How was I supposed to beat her? I have no idea!

Doesn’t mean I won’t try.

“Are both participants ready for the finale?~ It’s your time to shine children!~” Freyja asked from her stand with an excited grin on her face.

“Yes.” Ravel simply nodded to the woman with a calm smile, the smug glint in her eyes still present as I slowly shook my head and sigh.

“Let’s get this over and done with.” My unenthusiastic response made Freyja pout, but I really didn’t care and simply pulled my wand and sword out.

Yes, I still had that sword. It was a bit roughed up from how hard I’ve been roughed up, but it was still in working shape. I couldn’t use it in my fight with Malfoy since we were having a wizard’s duel, and my fight with Neville was not one that I was supposed to pull out a sword for. Holly’s on the other hand… the sword was never gonna be doing anything useful in that fight.

“How totally boring… Very well, the final battle between Ravel Phenex and Richard Lee… Begins now!~” The moment Freyja mutters ‘now’, I immediately raise my wand at Ravel and shoot out a hyper-pressurized stream of water at the Phenex girl.

Ravel was just about to say something but was obviously interrupted when I immediately attacked. She barely had any time to react and was completely engulfed in the water attack, her form being completely surrounded with a ton of water.

I slowly stop shooting water out and lower my wand, staring at Ravel with an awkward expression on my face as she glares at me through half-lidded eyes. She was drenched from head-to-toe, but was otherwise unharmed at the moment.

“Damn. I totally thought you’d faint if I used a super-effective move like that from the start.” Ravel’s eyes widened considerably at my audacity as her face grew red and flames began to dance across her skin, slowly growing in intensity as her face grew more and more furious. “Oh shit, she’s charging up Overheat!”

“I’M NOT A POKEMON, DAMN IT!” She roared furiously and released fire across the entire arena as I quickly summoned a shield of green light to cover me. My eyes widen as the shield quickly begins cracking, forcing me to summon a second and then third shield to reinforce the first. It seems like Ravel was not holding anything back.

“This is not just Overheat! This is Blast Burn!” Her fire intensifies even further as I chuckle and reinforce the shields, slowly crouching down and tapping the floor with my wand as I find myself splitting my attention to both my Protego shields and my Transfiguration.

The fire suddenly stops shooting out as Ravel’s body disappears from sight, a box of earth suddenly taking her place. The earth that’s now where she was slowly rumbles for a few seconds before suddenly blasting outward, shooting out sand and rocks everywhere. She stands amidst the rubble with a blank look on her face, some dirt on her shoulders and hair as she slowly moves her head to look at me with a completely calm and expressionless expression.

“... I’m punching you in the face.” She slowly declared without any fluctuation in her tone as I chuckled nervously and took a step back, suddenly feeling extremely anxious about her abrupt threat.

Just as I do, she launches forward at me with her fist pulled back, fire gathering all around it. I grimace and lunge forward to match her attack, swiping my sword at her fist. To my surprise, her wings extend from her back and she suddenly twists in the air, dodging my slash at the last second and landing a clean punch on my face as I’m blasted back with a nasty pain on my cheek that unsurprisingly felt like it was burning.

I slam against the ground but quickly roll to my feet, turning and looking at her just in time to notice some wind blades coming my way. I dodge out of the first one’s way, slashing at the second and third one with my sword before I duck to the ground and dodge the last two. I’m not given any time to rest and I’m quickly forced to dash to the side as a wave of fire is sent at my crouching body, the flames nicking my shoulder as I barely dodge out of the way.

Ravel seems quite insistent on turning me into her next barbecue victim though, moving her inferno of fire after me and forcing me to continue running to try and dodge the flames.

I bring my wand up, releasing an actual hyper-pressurized stream of water from my wand unlike the half-assed one I had done earlier to check if it would nullify her fire. The geyser of water slams against the fire, barely pushing it back for a moment before they clash evenly and emit a ton of hot steam.

I increase my output once I feel Ravel do the same, matching her firepower with my own waterpower and slowly bring my blade up-

Ah. It’s destroyed.

I sigh and discard the badly charred and sliced blade, resolving myself to simply facing Ravel head on with nothing but my fists. Refocusing on our element clash, I decide to switch strategies and close my eyes to heighten my focus.

Split up my focus for a bit… I need to multitask…

My stream of water increased in power once again, forcing Ravel to do the same as I slowly slipped back into the ground and swam through the earth towards her position.

Yes, that’s something I found out I could do. It was weird, one moment I was above ground fighting Holly, the second I’m underground and slowly making my way to where she was standing.

I reached where I felt like she was standing and exhaled before bursting out of the ground and punching up at her chin, attempting to surprise-uppercut her.

Unfortunately, it seems Ravel may have learnt from Holly’s mistakes. As soon as I jumped out of the ground, Ravel jumped back and punched at my rising head with a fire-infused fist she prepared beforehand.

It seems the heavy steam didn’t throw her off enough to forget that ability of mine. Unfortunate.

I wince in anticipation and move my fist to clash with hers, feeling my knuckles burn from her fire as I activate my repulsive fist once I feel my knuckles touch hers. Our hands are blasted away from each other, but both of us recover at the exact same time as I spin and redirect my momentum to try and swipe at her head with my leg while she raises her elbow to block my kick. She tries to grab onto my leg once she successfully blocks the attack but her hand is quickly repulsed as the momentum gained from the blast sends my leg back into position and I try to punch at Ravel again.

She raises her palm and catches my fist between her palm with a smirk, playing right into my plan as I lean in to grab her upper arm and turn her around. She tries to grab my other hand with her free one, but her hand is quickly blasted away as soon as it touches me. I turn around and use an Over-The-Shoulder Arm Drag to slam her against the ground, channeling my energy into the hand she was somehow still holding as she was forced to let go.

I quickly jump back as a sphere of fire centered on Ravel emits from her body, not allowing me to capitalize on her prone form as I ‘tsk’ and take a moment to catch my breath.

This is not working. She can call a timeout whenever she needs a moment to heal, and any damage I cause her heals as soon as I even cause it.

Is this hopeless?

The fire quickly dies down to reveal Ravel again at the center of the flame sphere, standing back up on her feet and staring at me with pursed lips without looking the slightest bit harmed.

“You’re treating me too roughly! Is this how you treat a lady?” She asks with a huff of annoyance while dusting off her clothes as I roll my eyes, ignoring her attempt at banter and dashing forward to not waste anymore time.

“Only the ones that can take my attacks and still come back for more.” My response causes her to grin as she waits for me to approach before releasing a wave of wind from her body, pushing me back slightly and removing my momentum. She then dashes forward, punching at my stomach with her fire-infused fist.

Her eyes widen as the attack actually connects, directly charring the clothes on my torso and burning my stomach as I grunt. In her moment of surprise, I take a deep breath to concentrate and grab her hand. She quickly tries to punch my head with her other hand once I grapple her fist, but I duck under that attack and lift her into the air while boosting my body with energy.

Come on, come on…

Her fiery wings extend again and allow her to safely float without any gravity pulling her down, but she cannot stop me from slamming her down with my own strength before pulling her back up and repeating the process two more times.

Before I could continue, she emits a wave of fire from all around her like she had done earlier. Instead of letting go this time, I try to endure the fire’s heat and pull her arm towards me while punching at her head with all of my strength. I feel my knuckles burn and crack as my fist connects with her force, blasting my arm back and almost blasting her away if not for my grip on her arm. I try to punch her again, but the fire begins overwhelming me and I feel myself slowly being cooked alive.

After doing my best to throw her the hell away from me, I raise my wand and point it at myself while summoning a shitload of cool water on my body. Only once that’s done do I reopen my eyes, finding Ravel right in front of my face with her fist extended.

Ah, shit.

My body is launched back to the other side of the arena, sliding and rolling against the coarse earth as I feel my entire body ache and groan in pain at all of the punishment I’ve endured. I finally land on the ground and feel my face push against the ground, the burning pain all across my body probably being one of the biggest reasons I was choosing to stay awake after that direct punch.

My eyes slowly flutter open once again, fully expecting to find Ravel right in front of me. I’m surprised to find her still standing where she had just punched me, staring down at me with a smirk on her face as she crossed her arms. I slowly try and push myself up, the burns on my hands making the mere touch of the coarse earth spread unimaginable pain into me.

“Is that it? I expected you to break our teacher’s rule and blow up your limbs, but you’ve surprisingly stuck to that rule.” She tilted her head with amusement as I failed to push myself to my feet, forced to lay against the ground as my hands clenched the earth in my hand despite how painful the sensation was.

“... What’s the point of sacrificing something so crucial if it will not even grant me a decisive victory or edge? You’ve got me outmatched in melee combat and can match my range, a single powerful attack means nothing.” I reply to her with a sigh as I force myself up on my knees, sitting on my folded legs and staring at Ravel with a blank expression.

I… lost.

It’s over. I made it so far, I fought so hard… All so that I could exit this battle with my body crying in pain while my opponent stares down at me with barely a scratch on their body.

Ravel smirks at my words, slowly walking towards me as I avert my eyes from her face and stare at the ground with a complicated look in my eyes.

She beat me. She’s the first person to ever ‘defeat’ me.

…

Should I hate her? She’s my friend, yet my chest hurts so painfully at the mere idea of defeat…

I move my head down to stare at myself and watch my body work overtime to heal my burns, the burnt skin slowly disappearing and returning to its normal skin tone. I knew this because almost all of my clothes burnt, leaving my torso exposed and what was basically just ‘shorts’ to cover up my lower body.

… I hate this. I hate defeat. I’ve never felt something so… bad. I hate it.

I grit my teeth, clenching my somehow still perfectly fine wand in one hand while staring at my other fist with difficulty.

I want to lash out, I want to scream, I want to stop feeling this pain… But I know I can’t. No, I won’t.

…

I don’t want to lose ever again.

…

I refuse to let myself lose so pathetically ever again.

“... Congratulations, Ravel. It seems I won’t be able to keep fighting… I’ll have to give up this match.” Ravel’s eyes widen at my declaration, a magical circle appearing under my feet as soon as the last word is spoken. She stops walking toward me, a worried look overtaking her earlier expression.

“Ritchie…”

I’m unable to hear her next words, finding myself suddenly teleported into another room.

I look around while blinking rapidly to adjust to the sudden change in position, staring at the students all around me as I realize that I must be in some sort of medical area for all of the injured students.

“Congratulations, you’ve fought valiantly.” I hear from behind me and quickly stand up and turn around, finding Heimdall himself staring at me with his blank and expressionless face. “Do not allow yourself to be discouraged because of your defeat. Learn from your defeats, that is the way of a true warrior.”

With those last few words, he slowly walks off and leaves me to stare at everything and everyone around with surprise.

I don’t see any of my friends here, but I don’t think they were injured enough to need to stay here. Holly might’ve been, but she might have just brute-forced her way out to go watch the matches.

I find an empty bed and slowly sink into its bed sheets, placing my arm over my forehead to block the light from entering my eyes and allowing myself to rest.

I don’t want to lose ever again…

…

…

Here's yall's second part. You didn't expect Ritchie to lose, did you? It's quite surprising he made it so far, but Ravel's Phenex hacks are gamebreaking this early on. If you don't have any holy items, they win. It's done. Can't suffocate them, can't outlast them, it's ridiculous. Hope you enjoyed the shitty fights though.