Chapter 152 - 152. Duelling Class
The next day, after the classes, everyone gathered in a small hall. By everyone, it meant all the enthusiasts who wanted to join the Duelling Club. Professor Flitwick was also there, supervising everything and acting as the referee.
They had set up a long stage where the duels would take place. For now, it was just going to be Flitwick teaching everyone how duels are fought. The stage had charms on its corners that would stop magical spells from the inside to injure someone outside. It was not the best solution though, because with a strong enough attack the shield will break.
Magnus, being the only student with some fighting experience, was asked to come on stage. They were going to demonstrate how a duel is done.
Flitwick and Magnus took out their wands and stood at each end of the stage.
Flitwick started lecturing, "Everyone, focus here. Listen to me as this is how the official duels take place. As you can see, we are at the end of the stages. As soon as the match starts, you can move forward if you want.
"As said in the rule book, you must either push your opponent from the stage, disarm them or make them quit. Now, we will be using verbal charms, for now, to show you what can be used. Mr Pendragon, you can start whenever you want."
After getting the sign from Flitwick, Magnus readied his best-unused wand. He still had 5 more under his robes, plus he had taken a few potions from Ragnar to use them. In his defence, he was about to duel with a renowned Master Duelist.
On the other hand, Flitwick looked calm, but he was feeling so excited. His mind was telling him to feel excited, that he was about to duel with the descendant of Merlin, who was considered the best ever in charms and other enchantments. And knowing that Magnus had used his powers to completely defeat so many pure-blood wizards who had been spoonfed all the resources proves that Magnus was not to be taken lightly.
But this also reminded him not to take this 2nd-year student in front of him lightly.
But Magnus did not start. He looked at Ragnar, "Rag, blow up a balloon and then pop it. We will start the duel with the burst sound."
"A much better solution." Professor Flitwick agreed.
"BEAT HIS ASS, PROFESSOR!." James shouted from the side.
Flitwick glared at them, "I do not tolerate such demeaning language, Mr Potter. Do you want detention?"
"Sorry, sir. I just got too excited." James apologised immediately.
Ragnar did and asked. Soon, all the noise subsided as everyone looked at the stage and Ragnar in anticipation. Magnus and Flitwick became alert and crouched slightly to give the body better flexibility.
*BOOM*
"Aguamenti" Magnus cast his charm and aimed a jet of water towards Flitwick. But this was not the end of the series of attacks that he had planned.
On the other side of the stage, Flitwick immediately countered the water with Incendio charm. His wand created a similar stream of fire and soon the fire met water.
It created a lot of steam, but not all of it was turned into steam, some of the water did fall on Flitwick but it had no momentum.
As soon as the water stopped Flitwick sent a charm flying, "Stupify!"
To Flitwick and everyone else\'s shock, Magnus was seen running towards the coming charm. Midway he cast Protego, the shield charm, immediately neutralising the Stupify.
Next, Flitwick noticed Magnus putting his hand inside his pocket and taking out a small vial. He didn\'t throw it towards Flitwick, instead his own feet.
*BOOM*
A cloud of smoke covered Magnus. It covered the whole middle part of the stage. All the spectators made excited or cheering noises watching this.
This trick was only effecting in duels as in real life, the enemy would start bombarding attacks after attacks at the smoke. Flitwick stayed alert to tackle any coming charm. At the same time, he waved his wand to send a gust of wind.
BUT... Flitwick was confused by Magnus\' next choice of charm.
"Engorgio!" Magnus\' voice resounded. This was an enlargement charm.
~What is he enlarging?~ Flitwick wondered.
"Evanesco!(vanish objects)"
As soon as Flitwick heard this he knew this was serious. He let go removing the smoke and started throwing Descendo charms(Makes object fall down) one after another randomly in front of him.
"Descendo!" "Descendo!" "Descendo!" "Descendo!..."
*BAM*
Then, all of a sudden something collided with his legs, it was enough to push him to the edge of the stage. But he somehow stopped himself.
"Revelio!" He cast it on the invisible object. Instantly, a round spherical metallic ball appeared. But, that was not the end. The metallic ball instantly turned back into its normal fist-sized ball, but it left a lot of smoke there, and it was suffocating smoke.
"LUMOS!"
~WHAT? Who uses the light-producing charm in a duel?~ Everyone wondered there.
But then, to the shock and excitement of it all, they saw Magnus in mid-air as he had dived towards Flitwick, who was intensively coughing.
"BLOODY MERLIN!" Sirius loudly exclaimed seeing this awesome scene.
*KA-CHACK* a camera flash came and someone took a photograph of that moment.
The fight was coming to an end and this fast-paced duel was blood-pumping to all there, as every moment with Magnus was unpredictable.
By the time Flitwick looked at Magnus, the light-emitting wand was so close to his face that it blinded his eyes. Both of them were still surrounded by smoke, with only a hue of them visible to others.
*BAM* *BAM*
Loud noises of Magnus landing came and the next moment everything turned silent. No sound came, neither from the stage nor the crowd. Even all those who hated Magnus had stopped booing. The smoke dissipated slowly and the view became clear for all to see.
Magnus was standing behind Flitwick, with his wand\'s tip resting on the side of the professor\'s neck.
"I won, professor," Magnus said with a smile.
"YAAAAAAAA... HE WON," the crowd cheered after seeing him win.
"MY BROTHER WON!" Ragnar was about to run to Magnus in excitement. Who could have thought a duel would be so exciting?
"I wouldn\'t be so sure, Mr Pendragon. Priori Incantato!" Flitwick cast another charm. But this was troublesome to Magnus, this charm creates an "echo" of previously performed spells. So all he heard now was "Descendo!". But he knew that Flitwick was doing something else.
"Expelliarmus!" Magnus decided to end the match and used it at point-blank range on the professor\'s neck. It was a simple disarming charm, Flitwick will just lose his wand now.
"Hehe, you lack experience, Mr Pendragon. Relashio!" Flitwick\'s voice echoed, stopping everyone from cheering.
That was all Magnus heard. In a shocking turn of events, his hand automatically opened and his wand dropped to the floor, now Flitwick\'s wand was pointed at him. The situation was reversed in a split second.
There was confusion on Magnus\' face as he had cast disarming charm at point-blank, how it could fail.
"Confused?" Flitwick asked him. Magnus nodded so he continued.
"You had me there, but my experiences helped me in the last moment. Remember this?" Flitwick showed a piece of metal he was holding in the other hand. It was the same metal ball Magnus had used to fight. But now it looked like a curved steel plate.
Magnus\' eyes widened as he realised, "Ah, so you transfigured my own thrown metal ball and turned it into a small shield for your neck with Protego. That\'s why my disarming charm didn\'t work."
Flitwick put his wand back in the holster, "Haha... yes. You used a prop and I used the same thing on you. Your performance was flawless all the way to the end. For a moment I was certain that I would lose. But, in the end, you became careless and didn\'t notice the metal shield I had made as well as my wand arm secretly aimed at your stomach.
"But it was such an exciting duel, I got to experience a good fight after so long, Mr Pendragon. I can with utmost confidence say that with just a few months of training you can become a Duelling Master." Flitwick said in appreciation, and it was coming from the bottom of his heart.
~Certainlty, this is the blood of Merlin, only a second year and this strong. As long as he grows at this rate in magic, mind and body, he will surpass all. Maybe he will also become the Prince of Enchanters... no... maybe even higher than that. King of Enchanters.~ Flitwick silently marvelled.
Then his eyes fell on the still-shocked crowd. All of them were so confused, about how Magnus didn\'t win.
"Close your mouths, students. I will tell you how I won." He started teaching them about mental calmness and how he won.
"But Mr Pendragon is a master manipulator. He was purposefully creating conditions favouring him. In truth, if at the end Mr Pendragon had not used Lumos, and instead had used the regular stunning charm, I would have immediately countered it as it was harmful to me.
"However, because it was Lumos, and hence harmless, I didn\'t react and that gave Mr Pendragon a chance to jump behind me with his wand at my neck. Only if he had paid a little more attention to me he would have certainly won.
"So, this was how a real duel is fought. Not by beating your opponent bloody, but by defeating them with non-fatal magic. In international tournaments, non-life-threatening force is allowed, but here, we will not use that.
"Now, I want all of you to make a pair with each other and practice stupify and Protego on each other. Those who don\'t know these spells follow me to this side, I will teach them to you today."
[A/N: I suck at writing action scenes but tried my best on this.]
[You can see the duelling stage on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]
STONES ARE LIFE!
______________________________
You can read 20 advance chapters or my Naruto fic, and more at -patreon.com/misterimmortal.
Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*
Thank you for your support!