Seeing that Rose had "recovered" her magical energy reserves, Asterion spoke while looking at Rose, who was leaning against the tree with her hands behind her head. "I'm going. Don't stray too far from Cedric and Luna."
Cedric, the poor boy, was still in shock from the news of the Dark Lord's arrival. On the other hand, Luna couldn't care less about Grindelwald. The delicate girl seemed to have more courage than Cedric, which made Asterion look at the Twilight vampire with slight disappointment. Even Edward Cullen had more bravery.
Hearing Asterion's words, Rose opened her eyes and showed a displeased expression. From Asterion's words, it seemed like she was an irresponsible person who didn't know how to control herself.
"Don't kill anyone, star boy~," she said in her sarcastic tone, her eyes looking at Asterion with an arrogant gaze.
"Humph!" Asterion snorted and returned her sarcastic words. "Do you think I'm like you?"
"I'll be back in a few minutes," he finished, using his innate technique. Behind Asterion, a curtain of darkness formed, and a pair of claws widened the portal. Three gigantic eyes emerged from the curtain. A cursed spirit, more terrifying than anything else, came out of the portal and fell to the ground. It looked like a centipede with claws instead of legs and two pairs of wings made of blood.
Seeing the cursed spirit, Rose's face showed disgust. "Did you have to choose the ugliest one? Now I can't eat anything."
Cedric, beside her, nodded in agreement with Rose's words. The cursed spirit that Asterion summoned was indeed ugly and grotesque.
"Who's the cutest boy~?"
Hearing the ethereal feminine voice, the lips of Rose, Asterion, and Cedric twisted abnormally. The sight of Luna petting the head of the cursed spirit was really hard to watch.
"You call that cute? I think there's something wrong with your concept of aesthetics," Rose commented, observing the infernal scene in front of her. Although she knew the peculiar girl was born missing a few screws, she didn't expect it to be at this level.
"You all judge by the cover; you have to read the content to understand," Luna replied, pouting at Rose's words and continuing to pet the cursed spirit.
The cursed spirit itself seemed uncomfortable with the girl's caress, squirming uncomfortably while letting out some grunts.
Pushing the pale-haired girl aside, Asterion climbed onto the cursed spirit. Without even waiting for his order, the cursed spirit flew upward, afraid of the strange girl.
"Cutie," Luna said, raising her hand in the air, looking sadly at the cursed spirit that was getting farther and farther away from her sight.
Rose's face twitched for a moment, seeing the longing and regret on the delicate face of the Ravenclaw girl.
"What a strange team I'm part of," Cedric whispered to himself. Sometimes he thought he was the only normal person on this team. Even Asterion, who seemed the most normal, was odd in his eyes, not to mention Rose and Luna, both of whom were at the very least chaotic.
Sighing again, Cedric focused on healing the members of the German team. Although Hans' condition had stabilized, he wanted to do his best to reduce future sequelae.
Meanwhile, in the sky, Asterion flew at a relatively high altitude, but it was enough for anyone in the arena to see him clearly. As for this, he was not worried. If possible, he wanted everyone to follow him and start attacking him, saving him time.
Unfortunately, after some time observing, there was no sign of any team following his obvious trail in the blue sky. On the contrary, everyone seemed to be hiding, their gazes looking at him from the darkness, watching him, looking for a weakness or any clue they could use against him.
This made him snort, but he didn't care and continued his flight, disappearing from the view of those teams.
"Let's leave the area immediately," Fleur stood up from the bushes she was hiding in and gave the order. Her teammates and the people enslaved by her charm nodded and quickly left the area, afraid that Asterion might come again.
Fleur's face was more dignified than ever. Even though she hadn't personally seen Rose Potter's fight with another unknown team, she saw the forest burning in blue flames from afar. The heatwave reached her, showing how terrifying that spell was.
She had to reevaluate her plans and prepare to fight against Rose and Asterion. Even limited to using Grade 2 strength, both were ultimately special-grade wizards, the pinnacle of power in the wizarding world.
A level she aspired to reach when she grew older. She had trained hard for this and would continue to train, not just for herself but for her family. The wizarding world was becoming increasingly dangerous, and to protect those who mattered to her, she would need the strength of a special-grade wizard.
Sighing, Fleur glanced at the people she had enslaved with her charm, her eyes falling on Matteo Romano, one of the members of the Italian team she had defeated.
Having enslaved people all her life with her charm, she knew exactly how a person fascinated by her behaved. Although Matteo was doing a good job acting, the pretense did not escape her sharp eyes.
Fleur was surprised that he had broken free from her charm, but after looking into his deep eyes, like two dark wells, she understood that the young man had mastered Occlumency, effectively warding off her charm with the mental arts of magic.
The captain of the French team did not immediately attack Matteo. On the contrary, Fleur pretended that everything was normal and continued with this act. She would let him think he was deceiving her, and when the right moment came, she would let him be a suitable pawn when she sacrificed him.
Poor Matteo, thinking he was hiding well enough, didn't know that his entire act was nothing more than a bad joke in the eyes of the terrifying woman that Fleur Delacour was.
Looking at his friend and captain being enslaved by the wicked witch, Matteo wanted to show some expression of pity or even try to wake Giovanni, but after thinking for a moment, he didn't.
The chances of him being caught were more than high. There was no reason to believe that Giovanni would understand the situation immediately upon waking and act as he did.
He wasn't talking about half an hour for him to adjust after waking up, but less than a second.
Who could analyze a situation in such a short period?
Therefore, Matteo just watched his friend being enslaved, unable to do anything to help him. His eyes fell on Fleur Delacour, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life, but also the most frightening he had ever encountered.
It can be said that seeing Fleur enslaving every man they met sent a shiver down his spine every time he witnessed the terrifying sight.
Fleur Delacour – The Witch of Seduction.
Matteo felt that the epithet given to Fleur was nothing more than fitting.
Meanwhile, in the sky, Asterion had spotted his primary targets.
The Spanish Team!
---
Author's thoughts:
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
P-atreon.com/HPSCB
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 144 - King's Game (12), Chapter 145 - King's Game (13), Chapter 146 - Second Phase of the King's Game (1), Chapter 147 - Second Phase of the King's Game (2), Chapter 148 - Second Phase of the King's Game (3), Chapter 149 - Second Phase of the King's Game (4), Chapter 150 - Second Phase of the King's Game (5), Chapter 151 - Second Phase of the King's Game (6), 152 - Second Phase of the King's Game (7), 153 - Second Phase of the King's Game (8), 154 - Second Phase of the King's Game (9), 155 - Second Phase of the King's Game (10), 156 - Second Phase of the King's Game (11), 157 - Second Phase of the King's Game (12), 158 - Second Phase of the King's Game (13 e And), 159 - Death of Arcturus (1).
Asterion didn't hide his aura or the aura of the cursed spirit. He wouldn't do like Rose, wasting so much magical energy reinforcing his body when it wasn't necessary. He preferred something more old-fashioned, making a grand but imposing entrance.
Because of this, the Spanish team had also spotted Asterion and his cursed spirit from kilometers away.
Seeing the enormous cursed spirit, about fifteen meters tall and so hideous it was hard to look at, the faces of the four members of the Spanish team turned grim in an instant.
"Everyone, get into formation. Don't attack; focus entirely on defense," commanded Ana Rodríguez, the captain of the Spanish team, a student with non-magical parents, as she took a fighting stance.
She had brown hair and blue eyes, her ordinary face showing a resolute expression. A thin drop of sweat rolled down her face as she watched the cursed spirit get closer to her location.
There was no way to escape. The enemy on the other side could fly, and if they separated, they would be weakened, allowing Asterion to eliminate them one by one.
For this reason, Ana didn't order the entire team to flee like Hans Weiss, the captain of the German team.
Landing softly on the ground, the cursed spirit, shaped like a centipede but with claws instead of legs, looked at the four members of the Spanish team with its three eyes.
Asterion descended from the cursed spirit and calmly brushed the dust off his clothes, his eyes never once focusing on the team in front of him, something that certainly didn't please anyone.
To those watching or to the Spanish team itself, it might seem like he was showing disdain for the team, but Asterion simply disliked dirt, especially on himself. He cleaned the dust off his clothes before starting to fight.
After all, if he was going to fight, he had to do it with elegance.
The blatant disregard almost made one of the Spanish team members charge forward to fight Asterion.
Ana glared at Carlos furiously and grabbed his shoulders, stopping the young man from rushing toward Asterion. "Control yourself, Carlos. He's doing this on purpose. He wants you to get angry."
"But that bastard—" Carlos didn't finish speaking as he felt a chill run through his body. He looked up and saw the cold eyes staring at him, and behind the seemingly calm gaze, there was a faint murderous intent.
Apparently, Carlos wasn't the only one who sensed Asterion's murderous intent. Ana flinched for a moment and recalled the circumstances of Asterion Black's birth.
Her face darkened somewhat, realizing her teammate had just called an English Special Grade Sorcerer a bastard, someone who cared greatly about the circumstances of his birth.
"Carlos spoke impulsively, Your Excellency. He didn't mean to offend your noble mother and father," Ana said in a dry but very sincere tone of apology, while nudging Carlos's ribs with her elbow. Losing didn't matter anymore at this point; she just wanted to suffer less at the hands of the very handsome young man in front of her.
Carlos, hearing his captain's voice, finally realized what he had just done. The information about Asterion Black wasn't a secret; every country had investigated and kept their own files on extremely dangerous people, and Asterion Black was one of those people.
Asterion, who was about to teach the young man a rather painful lesson, looked at the woman with interest. He looked at her for a moment and nodded.
"Very well, I'll forgive your offense." When Asterion spoke, it was like an angel saving Ana and Carlos's sanity, but their hearts sank when they heard his next words.
"But," Asterion smiled and continued, "you'll still be my training dummies for a while." Behind Asterion, the cursed spirit moved its hundreds of claws and opened its mouth full of teeth, letting out a beastly roar.
"ROOOAAARRR!"
A bitter expression appeared on the faces of the four members of the Spanish team, but no one backed down. They reformed their formation, the three protecting a girl with black hair and brown eyes in the middle. They all drew their wands and were ready to fight at any moment.
They didn't want to return to their country as cowards; their names would be dragged through the mud, and everyone would remember them as those who fled instead of fought, even if it was a hopeless battle.
Seeing that no one fled, Asterion showed a slightly disappointed expression. Although he thought Rose wasted too much energy on mere ants, he found the idea of chasing and hunting them one by one quite appealing.
Drawing his wand, which had a cursed spirit core specially made by him, Asterion pointed it at the enemies.
"Stupefy." A spell shot from the tip of Asterion's wand, and a red flash flew toward the enemy team.
"Protego!" Ana quickly conjured a transparent shield, repelling the attack.
Seeing this, Asterion shook his head. "Instead of dodging, you used your magical energy to conjure a Protego. Not very smart." His eyes looked at Ana with slight disappointment.
Ana gritted her teeth in anger, hearing the instructive tone in Asterion's voice. Didn't he know that something like this was gained through experience over the years? She was eighteen and had only fought with students her age, besides doing missions against cursed spirits.
Although she was a civilian genius with great talent, she was still an eighteen-year-old girl.
"What should I expect from someone so weak? What a disappointment. Rose really hit the jackpot fighting the German team," Asterion murmured to himself, returning to his cold and disinterested expression. He had hoped for a fight like Rose and Hans', but he was disappointed in the end.
His words, though whispered, were very audible to everyone present in this particularly quiet forest.
Carlos, who already had trouble controlling his anger, clenched his teeth and didn't care about anything else. He reinforced his body and forgot his orders. In the next second, he shot forward, appearing almost instantly beside Asterion. He aimed a kick at the Special Grade Sorcerer's ribs.
"Idiot!" Ana wanted to strangle Carlos at that moment. Although Asterion's words made her extremely angry, she didn't let them shake her. Her teammates were like her; unfortunately, Carlos was an exception.
Grabbing Carlos's leg by the ankle, Asterion smiled maliciously. With his fist reinforced with magical energy, he struck the Spanish boy's stomach.
"You need to learn to control your anger," Asterion said calmly.
Carlos's eyes widened, and he spat out a tremendous amount of saliva into the air before being thrown back like a cannonball, hitting a tree brutally and falling unconscious the next moment.
"One down," Asterion casually commented, looking at the three remaining members of the Spanish team.
"Shall we continue to dance?" he asked, approaching with his wand in hand.
---
Author's Note:
Support me to write more and read chapters ahead of all regular readers!
P-atreon.com/HPSCB
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 145 - King's Game (13), Chapter 146 - Second Phase of the King's Game (1), Chapter 147 - Second Phase of the King's Game (2), Chapter 148 - Second Phase of the King's Game (3), Chapter 149 - Second Phase of the King's Game (4), Chapter 150 - Second Phase of the King's Game (5), Chapter 151 - Second Phase of the King's Game (6), 152 - Second Phase of the King's Game (7), 153 - Second Phase of the King's Game (8), 154 - Second Phase of the King's Game (9), 155 - Second Phase of the King's Game (10), 156 - Second Phase of the King's Game (11), 157 - Second Phase of the King's Game (12), 158 - Second Phase of the King's Game (13 e And), 159 - Death of Arcturus (1), 160 - Death of Arcturus (2), Chapter 161 - First Phase of God's Creation Plan (1).
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