51.7 Defense Club

It was 6:30 PM, and Cedric was pacing nervously, mumbling something to himself. He didn't notice Kaiser, who slowly crept behind him.

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" sending a stinging hex his way that missed him by an inch, and consequently taking Cedric out of his miserable state. He shot an annoyed look at him, as if asking "what was that for?".

"You looked lost." Kaiser shrugged before he could ask. Michael couldn't stop himself from laughing, however.

"Why'd you come so early? There is still thirty minutes before the meeting?" Cedric asked, not noticing the fact he was there thirty minutes early as well.

"We wanted to get some extra practice before we begin."

"Hello!" Hannah and Susan arrived next. They weren't wearing Hogwarts' uniform, instead settled for more comfortable clothes.

"So, who wants to go first?" Kaiser was wearing a simple black gym t-shirt and pants, along with muggle trainers. He took out his wand and held it in his hands, shooting a sinister grin at Michael.

Michael gulped, but got into position nevertheless. He pointed his wand warily at Kaiser, thinking of which spell he should use in this situation. He settled for a stunning charm, hoping it would at least distract him.

Kaiser, in contrast, was unconcerned, seemingly enjoying his nervousness, which pissed Michael off to no end.

"On my signal." Susan said, checking if both of were ready. When she got the confirmation, she announced: "Begin!"

"Stupe-"Michael didn't even get the chance to finish his incantation, before his wand was yanked from his grasp, and floated towards Kaiser, who did so slowly, until it reached his free hand. "Nice wand." He smirked.

Everyone else was looking at him dumbfounded, except for Cedric was impressed by his choice of actions. Michael, on the other hand, could not understand what actually happened. He did feel the contact of foreign magic right before he lost, but could only assume it was a spell he was unaware of.

"What the hell was that" Michael asked, unable to wrap his head over the existence of such a cheat.

"Oh that? Just the Levitation charm." Kaiser said nonchalantly. "You know, 'Wingardium Leviosa'?" He swished and flicked his wand in display.

"No, seriously, what spell was that?" Michael asked, annoyed even more than before.

"He wasn't joking." Cedric supplied. "That was the levitation charm."

Michael, Susan and Hannah were looking at them, waiting for them to burst into laughter, but when neither did, they were outraged.

"What?! How the hell was that the levitation charm?!" Michael asked.

"Well, the levitation charm, as its name implies, allows you to levitate things and move them in 3-D sp-"

"I know what the levitation charm is!" Michael snapped. "Since when can you disarm someone with the levitation charm!"

"Since forever?" Kaiser looked at him stoically. "The question you should ask yourself is: why would you assume it wasn't possible?" Michael paused at those words, and started seriously considering the question.

"If it was so easy, why do people still use the disarming hex then?" Susan asked curiously.

"Because this technique only works on beginners." Kaiser explained. "It is too wasteful to use against experienced wizards, since it's almost guaranteed to fail."

"Really?" Susan frowned. "I can't even think of a way to counter that."

"A simple low energy finite is more than enough, especially when you factor in the distance between the caster and your wand." Kaiser patiently explained.

"How come when Susan asks, he explains everything enthusiastically, but when it's me, he's such a jerk?" Michael asked Cedric, who smiled wryly.

"She is his cute girlfriend, and you are… yeah." Cedric supplied happily, getting back at him for laughing previously. Susan's face almost reached the crimson shade of her red hair from blushing, while Kaiser did look uncomfortable. He stuck his tongue out childishly at the both of them.

"Want to try again?" Kaiser asked him. "I won't use the same trick." He added when he noticed his hesitance, to which he nodded.

"Begin!"

"Stupefy!" Michael sent a stunner at him, and prepared to move out of the way, when he noticed there was no spells coming from him. He was aware Kaiser could cast silent spells with lightning speed, so he looked at him suspiciously, until he noticed that his stunner disappeared once it approached him. 'Counter Magic!' he thought immediately. It wasn't that uncommon, they were taught about the subject in third year, learning a few counter spells themselves. It didn't surprise him much that Kaiser would know the stunner's counter curse.

It seemed that Kaiser was challenging him to get past his 'counter magic' techniques since he chose not to retaliate. The best course of action, as he knew, was to overwhelm the opponent, since one misstep means that one of his spells would connect, either ending the duel or giving him a good opportunity to do so.

Diversity was the key: if he only cast the same spell over and over again, the outcome was as clear as day, especially since counter spells hardly consumed any Mana compared to the original one. And so began Michael's flurry of hexes, ranging from stunners, disarmers, stinging hexes, to prank spells like tripping spells… Yet neither had any effect on the defendant.

Kaiser was standing eight meters (26 feet) away from him, wand pointed forward. He did not move since the beginning of the duel, as wand movements became moot for him a long time ago. Whenever Michael would cast a spell, Kaiser would analyze its runic sequence, determine which parts should be negated for optimal performance, before casting the counter spell he'd prepare. Months of practice with Flitwick weren't for naught, after all. He doubted there was anyone at Hogwarts', apart from the seventh years, who could give him a challenge.

Hannah and Susan, even Cedric, who had participated in an international dueling tournament before, were looking at him with admiration. What he was doing was no easy feat, and they knew it was something they couldn't achieve.

After two minutes of casting, Michael decided to switch strategies. It was clear he couldn't even force him to use a shielding charm, so he decided to send spells he couldn't counter.

"Aguamenti!" a jet of water flew towards Kaiser who smiled at his decision. The jet of water was hardly dangerous. At best it would distract him or slow him down, but that was Michael's goal. Unfortunately for him, Kaiser would always defeat his expectation.

Kaiser merely cast a movement bewitching fielding to deflect it, leaving him in the very same position he started with. He decided it was time to end the duel. A ball of water materialized in front of him, before it shot with astonishing speed towards his opponent.

Michael had the good sense to erect a protego the moment he saw the ball, saving him from getting knocked over, which the attack would've achieved without a doubt.

Kaiser was not idle, however, as he sent a shield breaking charm at him immediately, followed by a disarming spell consecutively.

Michael's wand made its way towards Kaiser again, ending the duel with his victory.

Michael sighed at his incompetence as he took back his wand.

"Don't let it bother you too much." Kaiser offered.

"Well, you did wipe the floor with me, so..."

"You lost because I had more practice and experience than you." Kaiser shrugged. "You can't expect to excel at something if you dont put in any efforts." Kaiser offered mercilessly.

Kaiser wasn't showing off by defeating Michael in such manner, he was merely showing him the most obvious ways someone who trained could beat him with, and he hoped Michael got the message.

"I'm up next." Susan said, looking at Kaiser with determined eyes. She knew the chances of her winning were very low, but hoped to give him a challenge at least.

Kaiser knew he could definitely not use the same trick as the previous duel. For starters, the finite spell did not require wand movements, and he was certain the daughter of the Bones family would be able to cast it silently. He was also unsure of what spells she knew, so she might surprise him with some complex ones he'd be unable to parry. Though the true reason is that he wished to experience the Bones family shield, but he was unsure if it was classified as dark magic or not.

"Begin."

Susan quickly cast a stunner, while Kaiser sent an disarming charm at her. He could obviously cast faster than her, but the distance between them ensured that she had enough time to react in time. She followed her spell with a silent Protego, as an ethereal shield sprang to life, deflecting his spell and sending it back. Kaiser was already on the move the moment he noticed the shield, therefore, he easily sidestepped out of its way, but not before sending a tickling charm at her. While the latter was harmless, Susan couldn't determine the nature of the spell immediately, therefore she had to hold her shield for a couple more seconds, wasting her Mana on the process.

Kaiser decided to up the difficulty for a bit. With a silent Aguamenti, a two feet large ball of water was conjured, but unlike the previous time, he didn't send it at his opponent. Instead, he manipulated it into a shield, which he used to parry her next spells.

Susan assumed it was transfigured water instead, so she tried to destroy the integrity of the transfiguration, which would make it reverse to its original state, but was surprised to find out he was using real water instead, meaning it should have taken a considerable chunk of his stamina to do so.

She conjured a rock as well, a spell she had master a long time ago in case she needed an obstacle for the 'unshieldable' spells, and put everything in her power to send it at him. She didn't expect it to work, but maybe it would force him to drop his spell.

Surprisingly, Kaiser didn't dispel his shield, he seemed to cast a few spells silently, changing the water's structure somehow. When the rock hit it, it didn't make a dent, instead it brought with it the surface of the water that expanded inwardly, eating at its momentum, until it was canceled.

If Susan's eyes were as wide as saucers when she saw this, imagine her reaction when the rock bounced back at her with greater speed. She panicked, as she knew an ordinary shield wouldn't be able to save her. However, it didn't last long, as she immediately collected herself. She pointed her wand forward, and with an intense look, a blue shield was erected just before it hit her. The projectile crumbled upon contact, but it seemed Kaiser was craftier than that.

As it fell to the ground, it seemed to reform into the shape of a snake, that lunged at her feet, wrapping itself around her. Just as she was about to cast a vanishing spell, a disarming hex her, ending the duel.