Chapter 52.1- Doom Days

I held my wand in a loose grip even as I rocked on the balls of my feet. There were dozens of duelling platforms all around me. I was standing on platform seven— an auspicious sign if I was one to believe in such things as I waited for my next opponent. My first duel had passed without incident, the boy who faced me having been nothing special. His attempts to use transfiguration against me would have been cute if they had not been so disgraceful. To watch a wizard on the cusp of maturity struggle to conjure anything more complex than a vertebrate was sad.

This next opponent, Thiago Barreto, was a South American who looked like he had sene more than Seventeen years on this planet, but who was I to judge a man for being taller than his age would suggest. He walked to the platform at a languid pace, clearly feeling none of the anticipation that I was bubbling with. His reaction— or lack thereof— to being called as my opponent made me take a deep breath to center myself. I felt my mind clear as a matter of habit before the world snapped into focus. It was time to get to it.

“Are you ready?” The referree called once my opponent jumped on to the platform.

“Yes” I said. He just nodded.

The man looked between us both and after he seemed to have found what he was looking for, he blew his whistle jumping off the platform.

My wand snapped up, but against all odds, he was the first to unleash his spell. He was faster than I was, I raised even as I slapped the dark blue explosion curse to the side. As I moved to redirect the next spell he sent, I noticed hum flick his wrist and then my own wrist flew to the side, leaving me wide open for the spell. I barely managed to curve my body, bending at the waist to avoid the spell from hitting me. How the hell had he done that?

I snapped back to standing straight and hammered him with a trio of piercing curses. His wand produced a faint mist even as he stepped to the left. My spells disappeared into the mist before coming straight back at me at double the speed. I formed a shield, and just like before, he flicked his wand and my wand arm moved out of position. I fell to the floor to avoid my spells turning me into a mess of holes. As I prepared to stand, he flicked his wand again, and only my grip on the floor kept me in the ring as I dug in. What the hell was this?

I pushed off, rolling to the side to avoid two spells that came my way. I shot forward with an explosion curse on the tip of my wand. Before I could fire, another flick of his wand and my arm flew to the side, sending my smell into the wards.