Chapter 977: I Kill Myself
Chapter 977: I Kill Myself
Compared to the previous night, there were far fewer contestants remaining in the participants' resting area this evening. The original four sections had been reduced to a blank bracket for the sixty-four contestant elimination round.
The contestants were gathered near the bracket by the host's staff, who explained the upcoming competition rules.
If one couldn't understand any of these three languages, they were simply out of luck.
Aware of the limited patience of the crowd, the lecturing wizard kept his speech concise, wrapping up the key points within a quarter of an hour. As the contestants grew increasingly restless, he signaled for them to form a queue and draw their lots, following the customary practice.
To ensure fairness, the hosts allowed the contestants to draw their own numbers. Whatever number they picked would be theirs, and they would face whichever opponent that number corresponded to. This way, there could be no accusations of cheating or foul play against the organizers.
The hosts merely provided personnel to assist the contestants in affixing their number plates to the appropriate spots on the sixty-four contestant elimination bracket.
With the Aurors' supervision, all contestants obediently lined up to draw their lots.
Even those who didn't understand a word of the instructions followed suit, figuring that it couldn't be too complicated if everyone else was doing it.
Soon enough, it was Albert's turn, and he drew number twenty-one. As he stepped aside to hand his number plate to the witch in charge of recording names, a male wizard abruptly withdrew his wand from his robe's pocket and pointed it at Albert, who was then conversing with the witch. The wizard seemed poised to perform some sort of spell.
"What are you doing? Put your wand away immediately!"
One of the Aurors tasked with maintaining order noticed the unusual behavior and raised his alertness. He drew his own wand, ready to intervene if the contestant made any improper moves.
However, the male wizard appeared not to hear the Auror's warning. As he pulled out his wand, he unleashed a dazzling beam of green light directly at Albert.
This sudden turn of events stunned everyone around them.
No one expected someone to dare attempt an assassination in such a public setting.
"Merlin's beard! Has his brain gone haywire?"
The Aurors reacted swiftly. Almost as soon as the male wizard cast the Killing Curse towards the young man, they raised their wands and fired a Stunning Spell at the assailant, incapacitating him instantly.
As the verdant light faded, the shocked onlookers regained their senses and quickly distanced themselves from the attacker, fearful of being mistaken for his accomplices or inadvertently caught in the crossfire.
Curious as to what the unfortunate soul could have done to invite such a deadly assault, they were secretly relieved that they hadn't been the target.
What baffled them even more was that the young man who had been attacked... was still alive.
Indeed, the sudden victim of this assault had somehow survived. In that critical moment, he seemed to have sensed the impending threat to his life and instinctively lunged to the side, narrowly escaping his fate. It was truly a miraculous escape.
The Killing Curse missed its mark, erupting into a burst of green flame on the ground before vanishing without a trace, as if it had never been cast at all.
Albert rose to his feet, still shaken by the incident, and summoned a heavy shield in front of him with his wand.
Then, he slowly backed away from the center of the commotion, seeking to avoid any further attempts on his life.
The events had transpired so swiftly that no one noticed the slight curl of his lips.
If anyone had inspected the attacker's wand, they would have discovered that it was made of applewood and unicorn tail hair.
Attempting to cast the Killing Curse with such a wand was nothing short of a joke.
The combination of these two wand types meant it was ill-suited for casting Dark Magic. Neither applewood nor unicorn tail hair was known for their aptitude in that realm of magic.
Furthermore, a closer inspection would have revealed that the wand wasn't even his. Using someone else's wand would have made it incredibly awkward to cast spells, and the assailant had even muttered the incantation aloud, further diminishing its potency.
Despite the impressive display of the Killing Curse, one might question whether it could truly kill a wizard.
Had anyone been observing closely, they would have noticed that Albert had already flung himself to the side before the attacker withdrew his wand, thus dodging the curse.
He had never intended to catch the Killing Curse with his face or put himself in harm's way. Naturally, the curse was released after he had already evaded it.
However, no one paid attention to these details, as the contestants' lounge had descended into chaos. Everyone was on edge, wary of their surroundings and fearful that another reckless individual might strike or accidentally catch them in the crossfire.
"Quiet down! The danger has passed!" an Auror shouted, anxious to prevent a riot. These were all wizards who had made it to the sixty-four contestant round, and their dueling skills far surpassed those of most other wizards. A riot in such a group would be catastrophic.
To express his displeasure, Albert hung the first Auror who had pointed his wand at him on the wall with a spell.
"Lower your wands and stop pointing them at me," Albert said coldly. It wasn't until the second Auror found himself in a similar predicament that the rest of the Aurors finally heeded his warning and put away their wands, opting for a more civilized conversation.
It took some time for the tense atmosphere to dissipate, largely because the attempted assassination hadn't targeted any of them.
To ensure everyone's safety, all wizards were instructed to keep their wands sheathed; otherwise, they would be disqualified from the tournament on suspicion of ill intent.
Of course, the surprise attack was in no way Albert's fault; it was a lapse in security on the part of the organizers, and Albert had no idea who his attacker was.
"You truly don't know him?"
"Of course not! What a ridiculous question," Albert snapped at the Auror in Spanish, his frustration evident. "Have you all lost your minds? Why don't you wake that idiot up, give him a Veritaserum, and ask him why he tried to kill me?"
"Oh, you're right," the Auror said, looking embarrassed. They were hoping to shift the blame. If this was a personal vendetta, then the security breach couldn't be attributed to their negligence. But if it wasn't, then it was undoubtedly their fault.
Especially if they wanted to continue hosting the International Wizard Duelling Tournament, such incidents had to be handled appropriately. And the young man before them was a renowned genius—someone they'd rather not antagonize if they could help it.
The previous issue was purely habitual scapegoating.
"You are right; this incident is indeed our fault." The Auror quickly adjusted his attitude, "We will request to use Veritiserum to interrogate him and provide you with a satisfactory answer."
Everyone was surprised to see the organizers back down so readily, and they, too, eyed the would-be assassin bound to the chair.
"Could he have been controlled by the Imperius Curse? I heard there was some trouble at Barnabas' Bar today. Someone went to confront a Dark Wizard. I recall this guy lives there too. Maybe he was controlled by the Imperius Curse at that time." A contestant who resided at Barnabas' Bar offered his speculation, "After all, he must be crazy to attempt to assassinate a wizard here unless he was being controlled."
This speculation sounded far-fetched, but there had indeed been an incident at Barnabas' Bar earlier that day, and the perpetrator was still at large.
Before anyone could ponder the reason for the assassination attempt, they noticed that the male wizard bound to the chair had vanished.
"What's going on? How did he..."
"Damn, it's a Portkey! There's no way to Apparate here."
Realizing that their captive had slipped through their fingers, the Aurors' faces darkened with embarrassment, understanding that they had been played for fools.
"Let's proceed with the competition first. I've already notified the Spanish Ministry of Magic, and they will send people to handle this matter."
Naturally, the organizers did not want the remainder of the tournament to be disrupted, as the financial losses would be far more painful than any physical harm they could endure.
...
At that moment, in a secluded park outside the suburbs, Lucius Malfoy anxiously eyed the pocket watch in his hand.
He was waiting for news.
As the minute hand on the watch struck midnight, Lucius Malfoy abruptly closed the watch, returned it to his pocket, and withdrew his wand, pointing it at the spot where a Portkey had appeared.
The next moment, the darkness seemed to distort ever so slightly, and a figure bound to a chair materialized out of thin air, falling heavily to the ground. The bound man took a nasty fall but showed no signs of waking up.
After confirming that no one else was around, Lucius Malfoy breathed a sigh of relief.
The capture of the man meant that the plan had likely succeeded.
He immediately approached the captive and used the Reviving Spell to rouse him from his unconscious state.
"Cater, were you successful?"
Malfoy slapped the man's cheeks forcefully to fully wake him up.
"Stop hitting me," the man mumbled.
"Were you successful?" Malfoy demanded.
The Dark Wizard named Cater paused for a moment before answering, "I don't know."
"You don't know?" Malfoy glared at him angrily, his eyes flashing with murderous intent, "How dare you tell me you don't know?"
"I successfully cast the Avada Kedavra curse on that Mudblood, but I was also knocked unconscious by the spell, and I didn't see whether he died or not. You should know that Aurors are not idiots; they reacted quickly and stunned me almost immediately after I cast the curse." Dark Wizard Cater spoke expressionlessly, seemingly displeased with Lucius Malfoy's attitude and the way he had been awakened, "I did my best, and the defenses inside were tight. It was pure luck that I wasn't killed by the Aurors."
"Damn it!" Lucius wanted to kill the man but ultimately refrained, cutting the ropes binding him and snapping, "We must leave immediately."
Lucius Malfoy dared not linger, intending to make a swift escape. As for whether the plan had succeeded, he no longer cared.
He knew his chances were slim, and if he didn't flee, he might be cornered by the Spanish Aurors, in which case he would never get away.
He had never underestimated the capabilities of the Ministry of Magic; they could easily trace the Portkey to this location, and Lucius Malfoy, who frequently dealt with the British Ministry of Magic, was well aware of this fact.
Not long after Lucius Malfoy and his companion made their escape, a squad of Spanish Ministry of Magic Aurors arrived at the park, barely missing them.
"I think he must be dead, that Mudblood. No one can dodge the Avada Kedavra curse at close range. If he survived that, it's best to stay far away from him." Dark Wizard Cater reached out to Malfoy for payment, "Give me what I'm owed."
"Go and deliver a message to the others to temporarily abandon the plan and retreat." Malfoy ignored Cater's gesture and, before using a Portkey to leave Spain, gave him an order, "Tell them to return to Britain via the original route and avoid confrontation with the Aurors."
"I need a wand." The Dark Wizard said, "And when will I receive the rest of my galleons?"
"What about the other wand?" Malfoy reminded him, "While you're at it, take care of the guy being controlled by Pettigrew. As for your galleons, if that Mudblood is dead, I'll give you an extra five hundred galleons."
"Can't you give it to me in advance?" Cater asked.
Malfoy did not respond and instead used a prepared Portkey to depart.
After Malfoy left, Cater suddenly became expressionless and Apparated into a secluded alley. Not far from him, a figure stood silently in the shadows.
Without turning around, Dark Wizard Cater's body trembled slightly, and he walked out of the alley and disappeared.
"Greed truly is a human's downfall." The figure in the shadows watched Cater's retreating back and murmured, "The show is about to begin, Sirius. Don't disappoint me."
At that moment, Albert had already quietly taken down the group of Dark Wizards gathered nearby, intending to cause trouble.
They were not Death Eaters, but some of the henchmen recruited by the Death Eaters were quite powerful. Unfortunately, their vigilance was lacking, and Albert, using the Disillusionment Charm, had sneaked up on them unnoticed, easily taking them down with the Stunning Spell.
As for the group of five Death Eaters gathered together, Albert left them alone, mainly because it would be difficult to launch a surprise attack without making a commotion.
He was leaving them as a gift for the Order of the Phoenix, as a reward for helping him with his bets.
Well, Albert wouldn't admit that it was because dealing with four of them would be troublesome. Although defeating each Dark Wizard would grant him 200 experience points, the points were the same regardless, so he left the challenging ones for the Order of the Phoenix.
After all, they were the true enemies of the Death Eaters.
Albert believed that Sirius definitely wanted to take revenge on Pettigrew himself, and he wouldn't be so tactless as to ruin their revenge for a mere 200 experience points.
"However, tonight's assassination attempt feels more like a joke." Looking in the direction of the stadium, Albert muttered.
(End of Chapter)
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