Like a true meteor striking the earth in a catastrophic impact, the instant Neville's concentrated silver projectile pierced through the carpet of fallen leaves and detonated against the forest floor, endless, blinding light flooded everyone's vision in a devastating flash.
The shockwave rippled in concentric rings of raw magical force. Astoria's frail body was blown away like a withered autumn leaf caught in a hurricane, as she tumbled through the air!
"Astoria!"
BOOM!
Draco's anguished roar erupted from his throat, but his desperate shout was immediately suppressed and swallowed by the storm of displaced air that swept across the clearing with devastating, earth-shaking force.
The oncoming hurricane-force gust, carrying dirt and pulverized leaves in a stinging cloud, even forced Draco himself back several stumbling steps despite his desperate attempt to stand firm.
"Longbottom, I'll kill you!" Draco's voice cracked with fury.
Amid the thunderous howling, Pansy's face twisted into rage. She screamed ramblingly as she tried to surge forward toward Neville with intent of murder in her dark eyes. But her unstable footing on the churned earth caused her to lose balance completely in the violent, battering wind.
With a cry of frustration, she tumbled hard to the ground and was swept backward more than ten feet by the gale!
Under this powerful, devastating strike from Neville, everyone present on the battlefield was affected to varying degrees.
The explosion hurled dirt and thousands of shattered leaf fragments into the surrounding forest with violent intensity. Blaise and Nott, who had just cautiously emerged from behind their trees to assess the changed situation, were immediately forced back into cover.
Luna's ethereal musical notes floating in the shimmering void around the battlefield, were caught by the explosion's powerful aftershock.
They flickered and died one after another like candles snuffed by a great wind. The magical backlash from her spell's violent disruption caused Luna's brow to furrow deeply, her serene expression now was revealing pain.
As for Cedric—
His experience mirrored Pansy's unfortunate tumble almost exactly.
Locked in intense combat facing both Draco and Pansy, his attention divided between two threats, Cedric hadn't dared relax his guard for even a single second.
But the storm struck his unprotected back like a giant's palm. His legs were swept from under him, causing him to stumble and crash face-first to the ground. He rolled twice across the debris scattered earth, his robes were tangling around him, before finally regaining his stability.
Just as Cedric began fighting against the gradually subsiding storm to rise shakily from the ground, spitting out dirt and leaves, a hand extended before his dirt-smeared face.
"Neville?"
Cedric looked up at Neville's resolute, determined face hovering above him, momentarily dazed by the rapid shift in circumstances. When had he crossed the distance to reach him?
"Keep Zabini and Nott pinned down in the forest, Cedric!" Neville's voice was commanding.
He grasped Cedric's hand with a grip and hauled him up, then immediately spun to shout at the breathless, pained Luna across the clearing, "Hold Parkinson for one minute, Luna! I'm facing Malfoy alone!"
Steadying himself with effort, shaking off the disorientation from the explosion, Draco cast an alarmed glance toward where Astoria lay motionless on her side near the forest edge.
Then he suddenly thrashed his head back toward Neville. His eyes were blazing with such fury that they seemed almost to glow with hatred burning.
"You dare..." Draco's voice was low, dangerous, trembling. "Longbottom, I'll make you regret everything you've done! Every. Single. Thing!"
The previously chaotic and intense battlefield immediately underwent a dramatic shift as new battle lines formed.
Pansy, scrambling to her feet with leaves stuck in her dark hair and dirt streaking her face, prepared to rush to Draco's aid. She didn't care about honor or one-on-one combat. Making Longbottom pay in blood and pain was all that mattered to her in this moment.
However, before she could take even a single step forward, her path was cut off. A series of colorful, chiming musical notes through the air like guided missiles, forcing Pansy to throw herself aside and retreat repeatedly under the relentless volley, cursing viciously with each step.
Zabini and Nott received nearly identical treatment from their opponent.
The forest terrain surrounding their position was complex, filled with natural obstacles all blocking their potential paths of advance. Breaking through Cedric, who had positioned himself strategically and was absolutely determined to contain them at any cost, proved to be nearly impossible.
Nott and Blaise behind two oak trees that provided cover exchanged rapid glances. Without a word, they suddenly broke from cover and ran in opposite directions, attempting to flank around Cedric's position.
However, Cedric seemed to have anticipated this exact maneuver. Rather than chasing after them individually and dividing his own attention, he immediately began bombarding the surrounding forest trees with concentrated explosive hexes.
In mere moments, rocks and debris flew through the forest like shrapnel as massive dust clouds rose everywhere, obscuring vision.
They were contained!
Neville, who had been monitoring the entire battlefield, breathed an internal sigh of relief even as his eyes never left Draco. According to the current tactical situation, with all variables accounted for, Luna and Cedric could buy him a full minute of one-on-one time.
"Longbottom..."
Draco's breathless whisper, carrying across the space between them, startled Neville from his assessment. His vision refocused sharply on Draco's face at close range, and that twisted expression made Neville's heart tighten in his chest.
"Want to play the hero, don't you..." Draco's voice dripped with venom and scorn. "Just like Potter? The noble Gryffindor, standing up?"
Neville remained briefly silent. The old Neville would have stammered and denied it. The new Neville simply stated fact: "I only want to defeat you all and lead this team to ultimate victory. Nothing more, nothing less."
"Then come and try!" Draco's voice rose to a roar. "Let me see how capable you really are now!"
With that challenge hanging in the air, Draco suddenly charged directly toward Neville with abandon.
This seemingly reckless action surprised even Neville, whose eyes widened fractionally.
Any perceptive person with basic tactical training knew that engaging in close-quarters combat with a wizard wielding a blade-capable "wand"—a hybrid weapon that could both slash and cast was extremely unwise, bordering on suicidal.
That's precisely why Blaise and Nott had desperately maintained their distance throughout the entire fight, preventing Neville from closing to melee range where his sword would dominate.
Yet here was Draco, actively crossing the safety line of separation, abandoning all caution, launching a direct frontal attack at him.
This action was undoubtedly rash and tactically questionable. But simultaneously, Neville sensed an indescribable, almost overwhelming sense of oppression emanating from Draco's choice.
Nevertheless, whatever Draco was planning couldn't shake Neville's determination.
Their eyes locked across the diminishing distance, and both could perceive with clarity the unwavering, unbreakable resolve burning in the other's heart.
The two charged toward each other like jousting knights, boots pounding the earth in accelerating rhythm. When the distance between them shrank to a mere fifteen feet, Draco stopped abruptly, his boots were skidding slightly on the loose earth.
His gray eyes flashed with ferocity as his wand flicked in a complex double pattern, and two wrist-thick black serpents appeared in bursts of dark smoke. They shot forth from his wand tip with sharp, aggressive hisses.
After landing with heavy thuds on the forest floor, the two conjured serpents' tails whipped back and forth with blurring speed as they immediately oriented on Neville. They closed in from both left and right directions simultaneously, attempting to flank him, cut off his escape routes.
Draco himself stood his ground five paces back, wand held in a high guard position, his eyes narrowed to slits as he firmly locked onto Neville. He didn't rush to launch a follow-up offensive, didn't press the advantage.
Cannot act rashly!
Neville immediately recognized the deadly danger of the current situation with his instincts screaming warnings.
Malfoy wasn't attacking yet not because he was being cautious or giving Neville breathing room out of some misplaced sporting notion. He was predicting Neville's likely evasive movements, preparing to strike the moment Neville committed to dodging the serpents.
This was a trap with teeth.
Neville maintained his composure with equal discipline, forcing his racing heart to slow. His gaze remained locked unwaveringly on the waiting Draco while his peripheral vision carefully tracked the two venomous snakes approaching from left and right in pincer formation.
One serpent swayed its tail hypnotically, the movement leaving afterimages in Neville's field of vision as it swiftly maneuvered behind him with speed. Meanwhile the other appeared at his right front position, cutting off the obvious escape route.
The two snakes positioned themselves for their killing strike, each measured about five to six feet in length. Their lower bellies pressed flat against the carpet of dead leaves while their upper bodies arched up and swayed slightly.
They opened their mouths wide toward Neville in synchronization, revealing wickedly sharp, unnaturally long fangs that gleamed with what might have been conjured venom.
Crimson forked tongues flickered constantly in and out, tasting the air, sensing his warmth. Fierce, hungry light glinted in their dark red serpentine eyes!
On the tense, explosive battlefield, with Luna's spell-songs and Cedric's bombardment providing a chaotic soundtrack, the brief silence between Draco and Neville felt intensely conflicting.
"What's wrong, Longbottom?"
Draco's mouth twisted into a cruel, mocking smile. His voice was taunting. "Didn't you just say you were going to take me down?"
"That's exactly my plan."
Neville's cold voice carried absolute confidence.
Without giving Draco another second to posture, Neville's eyes suddenly sharpened to laser focus. He stepped forward decisively, his knees were bending into a low, aggressive stance that projected unstoppable forward momentum.
This deceptive posture, perfectly executed, immediately fooled the two serpents on the ground.
Like springs compressed to their limits and suddenly released, both snakes—one from the right, one from directly behind launched themselves from the ground simultaneously like twin bolts of black lightning.
They pierced through the turbid, dust-filled air trailing wisps of magic. Their pale, venom-slick fangs were aimed with precision for Neville's right sword-arm and left rear shoulder, targeting arteries and tendons!
However, Neville didn't rush straight toward Draco as his stance had strongly suggested he would. Instead, in a movement almost too fast to follow, he swiftly adjusted his center of gravity with perfect balance control and explosively leaped upward.
He executed a thrilling, gymnastic backflip to evade the serpent attacking from behind, his body was rotating cleanly through the air.
Draco's eyelids trembled with rapid micro-movements as his eyes tracked the unexpected maneuver. Having locked onto and calculated Longbottom's inevitable landing position, he finally struck with all his accumulated tension.
A black curse shot forth from his wand like an arrow released from its bowstring with deadly accuracy, aiming at the point where Longbottom would land.
It must be said that even with fury filling his chest, Draco maintained commendable rationality.
This coordinated three-pronged attack was nearly perfect in its execution. Even though Neville had unexpectedly completed an evasive maneuver that ordinary wizards could never accomplish, he seemingly couldn't escape Draco's lethal follow-up strike while vulnerable in mid-air... or so it appeared!
Draco's intention was crystal clear—Neville couldn't possibly have missed it.
Still midair from his rotational flip, his body inverted with head pointed toward the ground, Neville made his countermove. He swept his silver blade horizontally in a wide, powerful arc while simultaneously channeling magic through the metal.
"Impedimenta!"
Accompanied by a sudden cluster of crackling blue-green sparks that danced along his blade, the powerful Impediment Charm erupted out in an expanding sphere.
The spell actually froze both airborne serpents in place mid-strike, their bodies going rigid as they were suspended in the air. Simultaneously, Draco's incoming poison curse, entering the charm's expanding area of effect, also slowed to a crawl!
CLANG!
The silver sword carved a chilling arc through the air as Neville completed his flip and landed in a crouch. With two sharp, ringing bangs like struck bells, Draco's conjured serpents dissolved into harmless wisps of dissipating white smoke that curled up before vanishing.
Dodging Draco's poison curse with an agile sideways roll that brought him back to his feet, Neville immediately advanced with his sword raised high in an aggressive guard position.
This first failed attack didn't discourage Draco in the slightest or give him pause. A fierce, almost feral glint flashed in his gray eyes as he responded by similarly lunging forward rather than retreating!
The silver sword slashed diagonally toward Draco's extended wand-arm in a blow meant to disarm, but the blade ultimately only severed a few fine strands of platinum blonde hair as they fluttered through the cutting arc.
Draco ducked under the strike with flexibility and twisted his body, bringing his wand around and pointing it directly at Neville's exposed chin at point-blank range. But the curse light shooting from the wand tip was likewise dodged by Neville's backward lean.
The two figures crossed within mere inches of each other repeatedly in a deadly dance. Curse after curse shrieked away toward all directions as both fighters unleashed rapid-fire spells.
Each narrow escape, each near-miss that could have ended the duel, drew gasps of astonishment from the watching audience in the stands!
Before long, Draco's athletic wear had been slashed into tattered disarray, with blood from his right shoulder wound staining his sleeve crimson!
Neville's forehead had been scorched black in one spot, with trickling blood covering half his face.
Yet neither showed the slightest hesitation in their movements. Compared to the suffering they'd endured in physical education under Professor Watson's instruction, this pain was utterly insignificant.
As their forms crossed once more, the instant their eyes met, both confirmed what the other was thinking.
In this duel, one of them had to fall first.
There would be no draw.
No mercy.
Only victory or defeat.
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