Chapter 43: The Fight

Kaiser was very interested when he noticed the names of the champions.

"Yun Canghai" (China) vs "Jean Krovius" (Belgium)

Kaiser did not understand why the Krovius family was so feared, why they held so much weight in the wizarding world. He could understand the 'advantage in number': their family had branches all over Europe, and therefore could make an army of their own, not to mention everyone working on their orders.

They certainly held many important positions over many countries, but that was not the reason why they were "feared". Take Voldemort as an example. The reason why he was feared, as a wizard, was undeniably his power. Aurors tried taking him down on several occasions, and he always came out on top, even when confronted by the assault of five fully fledged wizards, injuring two of them in the process before retreating.

His knowledge on the Dark Arts was another factor. In a duel where Dark Magic is used, using anything other than Dark Magic can only result in loss. While the caster sacrificed a huge amount of control over his magic, the increase in its potency and destructiveness is exponential.

But Voldemort was but one man. The Krovius family, on the other hand, was a titan of the Wizarding World. Their repertory of spells was extensive and versatile, as shown in the last world war. Though Kaiser wasn't there to witness their prowess, and now he had the golden opportunity to do so first hand.

Remus appeared equally excited at the prospect of witnessing such a unique fight. He never considered it possible to fight with magic and weapons at the same time. He heard Godric Gryffindor fought with the famous Sword of Gryffindor instead of a wand, but he couldn't imagine how it would be used in coordination with magic.

"Kai!" A voice interrupted their thoughts as they were about to claim their seats, causing them to wonder who it might.

But the emitter did not let them much time to think, as an auburn headed missile took Kaiser in a bear hug, leaving him stunned for a few seconds. But once the scent of lavender and vanilla reached his nostrils, he knew it was Susan.

A genuine smile graced his face, glad to have met one of his best friends in such a foreign place. He hugged her back, albeit not as enthusiastically as her.

"Hello, Suzie. Fancy seeing you here." she beamed at him, even though a blush slowly crept through her face.

"I didn't expect to see you in China! What brings you here?" She asked happily.

"Have an errand to run here. And I can't miss such a display of magic, now can I?" Kaiser heard a wolfish whistle coming from her companions.

"Sorry. Should I leave you lovebirds alone? You should get a room." The pink haired lady said with a grin.

"D-Dora!" Susan exclaimed, outraged at her insinuations. Maybe just a little bit.

"Hello, Tonksie!" Kaiser liked the bubbly Metamorphmagus very much, and they did speak on several occasions. He wouldn't call himself a close friend of hers, but a friend nevertheless.

"Wotcher Kai."

"Professor Lupin?" Susan blurted out, wondering what their defense teacher was doing here of all the places, and he seemed to be with Kaiser.

"Hello." He said awkwardly.

Kaiser just remembered that this was the first time Remus would meet Tonks, and he wondered if they would become a couple in this world too. He looked over at Tonks, and could see she was checking him out.

With a mischievous glint, he said: "Ah where are my manners. Tonks, meet Remus Lupin, last year's DADA professor, the best Hogwarts had in years if I might add, and currently a colleague of mine. Remus, this is Nymphadora Tonks, Auror trainee. She doesn't like being called by her first name."

Surprisingly, Tonks stepped forward, extended her hand for him to shake, while he returned the gesture.

"A pleasure to meet you."

The match was about to start, so they each took their seats. Susan took the one next to Kaiser, while Nymphadora boldly moved beside Remus.

"How is your summer so far?" Susan asked.

"Very productive. I've tried playing Quidditch, I admit I never truly appreciated the game until I tried it."

"Was it the first time you ever played the game?" Susan asked curiously.

"Yep." Kaiser confirmed. Susan just remembered that he was muggle-born, but one cannot blame her. Anyone would think he was pure-blood based on his knowledge of magic. "What about you? Did anything fun with Hannah?"

"Mm." she nodded eagerly, and began telling him about all the fun activities they did so far. He was surprised when he heard Daphne was also included in some of them, but in a good way. He hoped she'd spend more time with her friends. In his previous life, he could not make friends due to the age difference, since he was at college at the age of fifteen.

Their conversation was interrupted by the beginning of the match.

On stage, two wizards whose age did not surpass 20, stood in front of each other, their faces betraying no emotions, but an intense concentration on whatever their next move would be could be felt throughout the arena. Perhaps they were probing each other with Legilimency attacks, but no one could tell.

The blue champion's grip hardened around his rapier, before suddenly dashing towards his opponent, not giving him or the audience time to react. An aura of magic could be felt surrounding his body, and the wind seemed erratic at his movements, most likely the result of a reinforcement spell cast on himself.

It was exceedingly difficult to follow him with an untrained eye, as his rapier shone with a blinding silver color in front of his opponent's throat. This was by no means a death match, but dying trying to avoid such obvious attack would only be blamed on his opponent.

The red champion did not drop his calm demeanor in front of the sudden assault, but slashed with a vertical motion toward the approaching sword master, but the motion was far from ordinary, if the wind that pushed his opponent back was any indication.

He was not done, however, as he sent a wandless piercing spell at his opponent's face, that managed to graze him, despise his attempts at dodging it. Anger crept into his face because of what he considered to be a humiliation. Had the other targeted his body instead of his face, it would've certainly done much more damage, yet he chose the latter.

Yet it was a calculated move nevertheless, as the Jean Krovius suddenly seemed dazed with a blank look on his face, the result of a successful invasive Legilimency attack, which was followed by the red champion's aggressive assault. The blue champion's daze did not last too long, and immediately had his guard up.

Their fighting style involved a lot of movement that was just confusing for the static western wizards, along with the acrobatics that came with each attack. It was an eye opener for Kaiser to have the weapon act as a focus instead of a wand, and as an enchanter, he could definitely understand the advantage.

First of all, the size of the magical artifact used meant the possibility of adding more enchantment. While theoretically speaking, runes could be compressed to be held within a single atom, it would take hundreds of years to pull off for a single enchantment. It was the main reason why he wanted to finish his Runic Printer and RPU so much.

Kaiser knew that wands did not only serve as a focus for magic, that's what made their conception so difficult, requiring the Olivander family more than three thousand years of accumulation of knowledge before reaching their current level. Their enchantment varied from fail-safes in case a spell went awry, to prophetic and predictive enchantment to help the caster.

More importantly, the reason why wizards always had spells "come out" of their wand. Theoretically speaking, a 'focus' does its job all over the person's magic, meaning it does not bind it to come out of the tip of the wand. Instead, having a wand in hand, an experienced wizard could make the spell materialized in any location he wanted, as long as it was within his own 'spherical' range.

'Local' casting is what made spells even easier. The theory is that the medium has enchantment in place that made the spell sequence easier to build close to it. Weapon wielders made full use of this, as they cast the spells on their weapons instead.

The slash the red champion sent at the blue one in the beginning could be blocked by a protego, but you'd have to put a lot more energy into it, which was exceedingly wasteful. He proved not only to excel in magical attacks, but also in strategy, as he could not afford being careless against someone who clearly specialized in speed.

The fight dragged on without any victor for at least ten minutes, each of which would make Kaiser experience a new level of art, getting bewitched by such quick reflexes and flexibility. Their stamina seemed to be running out, and each of their errors cost them a piece of their clothing.

The spear wielding champion seemed to understand that a war of attrition would not benefit him, and decided to take off the kids gloves. A sudden look of determination graced his face, and his opponent understood his intent. The spear starting rotating around the wizard in an impressive display, which would make one think he was showing off, if not for his intense expression.

Suddenly, an Arc of lighting took off from his spear, rushing madly toward his opponent. Kaiser wondered how could lightning take such a shape. It's not as if it was malleable. He understood even less how a person could make "lightning" follow a certain direction to propagate. It needed a difference of potential, and the only logical conclusion would be for it to go for the ground, yet it did not. Which made him think that perhaps this was not true lightning after all.

The blue champion did not waste time to get out of the way, but it was far from over. Another arc of lighting made its way, right where he was headed. And yet, he managed to dodge it in the last moment, conjuring a Protego to slightly deflect it. The red champion seemed to be brewing another one, but the sword master had enough.

The atmosphere suddenly shifted in the air, making the crowd grasp at what was about to happen. They knew what this meant, as most of them were experienced wizards themselves. Dark magic.

It was by no means forbidden, but lethal dark magic was. The referee seemed ready to intervene at a moment's notice, and the flabbergasted look on the spear master escaped no one's notice. He wondered what spell he could possibly send that wouldn't violate the rules.

Surprisingly, it was a mere stunning spell. How he could use a dark variant of the stunning spell at such a young age had everyone praise his talent.

An overpowered Protego sprang to life in front of the spear master, wish successfully deflected the spell, alas, he forgot the wizard who cast it was no less of a threat, as he greeted him with a kick to the stomach that sent him outside of the allocated space.

The referee proceeded to announce the victor, who was greeted by a round of applause for an impressive display of magic.