[Note: Read up to Chapter - 177 on P patron at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]
.
.
.
.
"There's no way we can take him head-on—we wouldn't even get close to Aris…"
"We'll have to hit him from several directions at once. Might give us a slim chance."
"Or we try an ambush. He can't keep his eyes everywhere, can he?"
"Maybe this is the moment to put our training to the test. Wind Whirl's fast—Cho, you should be our main attacker!"
"And Luna looks the least threatening. She can mask the others' movements…"
The group whispered their plans for a good while before finally scattering, each slipping off in the direction where Aris was expected to pass.
Meanwhile, Aris had just stepped into the training ground.
"Not bad—you've even thought to hide yourselves and go for a sneak attack," he murmured with a nod of approval as he scanned the area, finding no sign of the young wizards.
He'd half expected them to charge at him head-on. If they had, they wouldn't have stood a chance.
"This place was thrown together too quickly—the details aren't quite right…"
The silence was telling. Not a sound stirred, which was far from natural.
Other than the occasional rustle of leaves in the wind, there should've been the chatter of small creatures at least.
But to maintain such an environmental illusion would drain a huge amount of energy—even for Aris. And really, it was only a training ground. No need to make it flawless.
Lost in thought, he wandered deeper into the woods.
Then, a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"So you're here. Careful as you've been… it's a pity."
"You still can't slip past the Apparition Spell."
He lifted his hand and gave a casual wave. A blast of wind roared in the direction he indicated.
A moment later, a figure tumbled out from behind a tree, hitting the ground in a heap.
"Aris… how did you find me…?" Ronald stammered, sitting on the dirt with a bewildered look as Aris strode slowly towards him.
"It's just a simple Revealing Charm. Haven't you learnt that one yet?" Aris said matter-of-factly.
"I bet you're the only one who even knows that spell!" Ronald snapped, suddenly scooping up a fistful of dirt and hurling it straight at Aris.
Not waiting to see if it hit, he sprang to his feet and bolted madly into the trees.
"Clever… but pointless."
Aris shifted his footing ever so slightly, and his figure blurred like a phantom, reappearing ten metres away.
With a flick of his right hand, Ronald felt his body lurch. His feet left the ground, and before he knew it, he was dangling helplessly in mid-air.
"This one should be familiar—the Levitation Charm," Aris's voice came coolly from behind.
"Aris! Put me down if you've got the guts—let's have a proper fight!" Ronald shouted indignantly, twisting and straining to look around.
But his body was bound fast by Aris's magic, leaving him unable to move an inch.
"…Oh? Harry's here as well?"
Just as Ronald was about to give up his struggle, Aris's voice drifted over again.
The words made Ron's stomach drop—then, in the next instant, he remembered his role. He thrashed harder than ever, desperate to draw attention away.
"Aris, what are you on about? Harry's not here! Don't think you'll ever find them—they're hidden far better than I am. At the right moment, they'll strike you down, and we'll win this battle for sure!"
"Enough—you're far too noisy."
Aris flicked his hand, and Ron's voice was cut clean off. His mouth still opened and closed, but not a sound escaped.
"Even your bluffing's amateurish…" Aris muttered, shaking his head before turning his gaze elsewhere.
Harry had indeed been careful, lying in wait, perfectly still in his ambush spot.
But against Aris's detection spell, it was pointless.
Right now, he could sense every ripple of magical energy in the area—clear as day. That was how he'd picked up both Ron and Harry so quickly.
"Come out—stop skulking about," Aris called, his voice tinged with boredom as he stared at Harry's hiding place.
If this was all the young wizards could muster, then they were in for disappointment.
Such childish tactics… laughably childish.
They hadn't even begun to use their powers as true wizards.
"I'm not coming out—you'll have to catch me if you can!" Harry's voice rang from ahead, laced with frustration, as though he couldn't stand how easily Aris had flushed him out.
"Alright then—I'll come and catch you," Aris replied with a smile, strolling forward at an unhurried pace.
He wasn't the least bit worried about traps. In his mind, against absolute strength, all tricks and clever ploys were meaningless.
"Hm?"
A sudden gust whipped in from the left.
Aris raised his hand, conjuring a stronger whirlwind that easily smothered the attack. His eyes flicked towards the source, and his lips curled in mild surprise.
"Cho?" he said with a grin. "Didn't think you lot would be this crafty."
In an instant, he pieced it together.
They'd clearly worked this out in advance.
The moment Ron's hiding place had been exposed, they'd realised how effective the detection spell was. Then Harry had used his own "discovery" to test the spell's range.
And Cho's strike—it had been fired precisely from the area where the detection field had reached its limit.
"Nice try—but still pointless!"
Aris raised his hand, dispersing the whirlwind with ease. Cho, standing off in the distance, bit down in frustration.
She hadn't expected Aris's casting speed to be that fast.
Her whirlwind had been barely two or three metres from striking him when, in almost the same instant, he'd unleashed one of his own to cancel it out.
His reflexes and speed were downright abnormal.
It was then the young wizards truly grasped the gulf between themselves and Aris.
"I just can't… I can't break through your defence!" Harry burst out, stepping from cover with a fistful of stones and hurling them at Aris with all his strength.
At that point, chucking rocks seemed more practical than any spell. No chanting, no delay—just direct attacks. It was the only method Harry could think of that might work.
But as the stones rained down, Aris's figure blurred into a white afterimage and vanished in an instant.
The magic resembled the technique the Death Eaters used to dissolve into black smoke, except when Aris performed it, he became a hazy white afterimage—more akin to the silvery smoke of the Order of the Phoenix in the original tales, though not quite the same.
It was an advanced form of Apparition, one that allowed a wizard to fly freely without a broom.
Depending on which magical systems a wizard practised, the effect took on different appearances.
As the white afterimage streaked forward, Aris slipped straight through the hail of stones Harry had thrown and appeared directly before him.
A moment later—another Levitation Charm.
Just like Ron, Harry found himself dangling helplessly in the air, little more than a decoration.
"Aris, that's cheating!" Harry shouted, frustration lacing his voice.
"We've no way to fight back against that sort of magic!"
.
.
.
.
Drop Power Stonessssssssss!
[Note: Read up to Chapter - 177 on P patron at: p-atreon.com/Knockturn_Alley]