Chapter 187: Success and Failure, All for Naught
"Mr. Yang Fan? Why are you here?" Harry's face lit up with a hint of joy, as if he had found allies.
Yang Fan waved his hand slightly. "As exchange students, naturally, we must attend classes together. Moreover, had we arrived a bit later, would we not have had to watch the true champion of Hogwarts be bullied by a so-called noble? Taking a stand for justice happens to be a tenet of our academy."
Draco sneered, his face laced with mockery. "Ah, the famous Savior lives up to his reputation. Your renown spans the seas, reaching even wizards in the Far East. But those who don't understand the times are destined to be swept away by history. Many who sided wrongly met tragic ends."
Zhen Dong stepped to Harry's side, her charming face curling into a faint smile. "There's no need for Malfoy to trouble himself with our fate. Justice and fairness are not mere ornaments. Here and now, apologize to Mr. Potter, and we can pretend none of this ever happened."
Malfoy's pale face flushed with two patches of abnormal red as his gray-blue eyes filled with icy disdain. "Do you even know who you're talking to? The Eastern Academy? Justice? A joke. You're nothing but a group of self-important fools. Let me show you: in this world, justice is just an excuse for the weak. Strength is everything."
He raised his wand, pointing it at Yang Fan. In the air, pale green wind blades resembling razor-sharp knives began to form. A flurry of these blades filled the sky, their edges glinting ominously as they streaked toward Yang Fan.
Yang Fan's pitch-black eyes flickered with slight surprise. This magic… it didn't seem to belong to the systems of this world. Still, what of it? The damage potential was far too underwhelming.
Shaking his head lightly, he stood motionless, letting the wind blades come at him.
Suddenly, a flash of cold light cut through the air. A long sword's shadow swept past, slicing the magical blades into countless fragments of scattered energy. The flying sword cleared the air and swiftly returned to its sheath.
Standing next to Yang Fan was a young man, whose sheathed sword now seemed particularly striking at his waist.
"Han Yi," the petite girl in their group muttered with disdain, "what's the point? That spell couldn't even penetrate the captain's defenses. Why bother?"
Han Yi, seemingly used to her grumbling, remained calm. "I was itching for action."
"Hmph," the girl snorted softly before turning away.
Malfoy's face alternated between pale and flushed. With a flick of his wand, the wind elements around him began to coalesce like flowing water. Green points of light danced in the air, gathering into a swirling column of wind. The ground shook as snow and ice were pulled into the windstorm, forming a massive rotating pillar of wind and snow.
The spiraling column paused momentarily in mid-air, then surged forward with an ear-splitting roar, aiming straight for Harry and the five newcomers.
Yang Fan's expression turned slightly serious.
Beichen Ke, smirking, watched the scene unfold. Even his subordinates boasted the destructive power of a second-tier gene lock. His earlier objections to this mission had been ignored. Regret would come too late.
The petite girl flipped open a large, ancient book that seemed to appear from thin air. As its pages turned, dozens of jet-black skeletons wielding massive scythes emerged, their eerie forms spreading across the snow-covered ground. These skeletons formed a mysterious formation, merging their scythes into a single point. A black curtain of energy rose from the snow to meet the advancing wind pillar.
The swirling wind collided with the black barrier, producing a thunderous boom. Malfoy's wand movements intensified, causing the wind pillar to rotate faster and absorb more snow and ice. Its power surged, and the black barrier began to falter.
The girl bit her lip, turning more pages of her book. Each turn drained the color from her face until she stopped at a quarter of the way through. From the book emerged a towering figure clad in radiant golden armor. The figure's face glowed like red jade, and his beard was black as ink.
This golden-armored figure leaped into the windstorm. With his shining metallic hands, he grasped the edges of the storm and halted its rotation. An immense suction force radiated from him, disrupting the wind elements within. In a flash, the gigantic wind pillar disintegrated.
"Anti-magic?" Augustus murmured, stroking his chin.
The golden-armored figure absorbed the remnants of the windstorm, forming a massive spear in his hands. In an instant, he lunged toward Malfoy, the spear's dazzling tip bearing down like a falling star.
Malfoy, drained of his magical reserves, struggled to even raise his wand. His attempt at a fourth-tier spell had pushed him to his limit. Had he worked as hard as Loki and become a grand sorcerer, would these insects dare stand against him?
As the golden spear closed in, stopping just a foot from Malfoy's face, the girl's voice rang out coldly. "Now, will you apologize, Mr. Malfoy of mighty strength?"
"This farce ends now." Augustus sighed softly, raising his wand. A tiny black flame ignited at the golden figure's feet. In the next instant, the black fire exploded into a roaring inferno, consuming the armored figure entirely.
"What began as a gesture of diplomacy and etiquette need not escalate further," Augustus said, his calm gaze turning icily indifferent. His voice carried a hint of authority. "As things stand, all five of you shall kneel and apologize to Draco. Then we can put this behind us."
The faces of the five exchanged complex and varied expressions. As members of the Central Continent team, they had roamed the multiverse, nearly unstoppable. Yet now, a native of a low-tier world, a mere student at a magical academy, dared to demand their submission?
It was a joke too absurd to entertain. They had faced countless challenges in countless worlds, but nothing as laughable as this.
As the saying goes: Heaven may forgive the sins it inflicts, but self-inflicted sins are inexcusable. Perhaps these privileged locals had lived too comfortably, forgetting that some people in this world simply cannot be provoked.
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