The Rune Mage Starting at Hogwarts

Ivan subconsciously adjusted the direction of the ice cone, shooting it in the direction of the distortion.

"Boo! Boo! Boo!"

With a series of sounds, the ice spikes were all driven into the hard floor of the dueling ring, splattering ice shards everywhere.

Philip himself stood less than half a foot away from the ice spikes, looking completely normal.

"How is this possible?" Ivan's eyes widened in disbelief upon seeing Philip completely unharmed.

From his perspective just now, Philip was clearly standing in that spot.

Undeterred, he swung his wand again, this time unleashing several swift shattering spells.

As Cordosdorez's ace, Ivan's spellcasting speed is extremely fast. All three spells are aimed at the opponent's protective spells, or at least break through the protective spells in front of the opponent.

As the red light approached Philip's body, Guan Xingxi waved his hand and his soul trembled.

Because those spells twisted and passed directly through Philip's body, flying straight towards the protective shield behind him without even touching the hem of Philip's clothes.

In that instant, the entire venue erupted in cheers.

Ivan stood frozen in place, his wand still waving, his eyes wide open.

He clearly saw his Shattering Curse pass through Philip's chest without any obstruction.

But in the next moment, Philip's figure twisted violently.

This feeling is very similar to the spatial compression a wizard experiences when apparating.

"That's... Apparition?" On the stands, an official from the French Ministry of Magic couldn't help but stand up and exclaim in surprise.

Similarly, this idea was shared by the vast majority of the male spectators present.

In the wizarding world, Apparition is a spatial magic that only adult wizards can access.

Due to its dangerous nature, underage wizards are strictly prohibited from practicing it in private; at least openly, they must be adults before they can learn it.

The junior division of the Wizarding Duel Tournament consists of underage wizards. Even if they practice in private, Apparition is a spell that is prohibited for junior divisions in order to ensure the fairness of the competition and the safety of the contestants.

Moreover, these dueling arenas were equipped with powerful anti-Apparition spells before the start of the competition.

That's precisely why the referees and event organizers are the most nervous right now.

"Impossible! The Anti-Apparition Charm showed no signs of fluctuation. The Hogwarts contestants didn't use Apparition!" The old wizards on the judges' table were thrown into disarray.

After Philip's outrageous actions, they all pulled out their wands and pointed them at the dueling ring, checking whether the Anti-Apparition Charm on the ring was still functioning properly.

But the answer was that everything was normal, and the Anti-Apparition Charm worked perfectly.

On the dueling platform, Ivan looked at the commotion below and felt somewhat uncertain.

So what exactly was that spell the other party used?

It was only after the referee confirmed that his professor shouted from below the stage, "Don't just stand there! The referee hasn't announced the end of the match yet. Focus and keep attacking!"

He then realized that Philip had secretly used magic to dismantle several layers of defense during the process.

He quickly continued waving his wand to counter the opponent's attacks.

A series of obstruction spells emanated from his wand.

However, the red light passed through Philip's body again before hitting him.

The same effect occurred: the opponent's figure twisted for a moment, then quickly shifted a short distance, appearing a few inches away.

He gritted his teeth and looked at the referees who were already busy below the stage, but obviously the Anti-Apparition Charm was still not working.

"So what exactly is going on on stage?!" This competition has many high-ranking officials and prestigious wizards watching from here, and the organizing committee of the duel tournament is now going crazy with anxiety.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the dueling ring. Even Professor Flitwick of Hogwarts stated that it was definitely not the Apparition Charm, but rather a brand-new spell that Hogwarts had developed specifically for this dueling tournament.

In theory, schools should not interfere with new magic developed by various institutions unless it is too destructive or involves black magic.

But the Hogwarts players just kept moving around on the stage, and now players and professors from other schools are coming over to question what's going on.

"This is not a duel at all! The Hogwarts contestant is cheating! He is openly defying the Ministry of Magic's ban on the dueling ring!" This was the protest sent by the Durmstrang team's professor.

The professor from Beauxbatons followed suit, raising a barrage of questions: "The organizing committee must stop the competition immediately. If the Anti-Apparition Charm fails, it's not just a matter of fairness, but it could also affect security in various locations. We must find out what Hogwarts has done!"

The stands were in complete chaos. More than the Ultimate Flash, they wanted to figure out what spell Hogwarts was using to bypass the counter-spells on the dueling ring.

Some reporters, waving quills, excitedly rushed towards the Hogwarts lounge area, asking Professor Flitwick, who was surrounded by a group of professors and referees, trying to get some firsthand information from him: "Has Hogwarts found a loophole in the Anti-Apparition Charm and thus developed a new spell? Does this spell have a name now?"

Chapter 206: Victory

The old wizards on the judges' table were now covered in sweat.

They examined the magical runes on the base of the dueling ring with their wands again and again, sensing the subtle, swollen energy within.

"Everything is normal..." Under immense pressure, the chairman of the organizing committee wiped away his sweat. "The anti-curse was not damaged at all, and the spatial structure of the dueling platform is very stable. The contestant on the platform... he didn't move at all!"

"Then what was he performing on stage? Was it an illusion? What kind of illusion could fool all of us?" the Russian professor asked angrily.

He pointed at Ivan on the stage, his voice particularly excited: "Look at my student, he's being played like a fool by the Hogwarts picks!"

His gaze then fell upon Professor Flitwick, hoping to obtain an explanation from him.

Professor Flitwick knew the implications of the advent of light magic, so he had to use a loud voice spell to give a brief explanation.

“Please calm down, everyone,” Flitwick’s shrill voice echoed throughout the area. “I assure you that Mr. Fowler has absolutely not touched any forbidden magic related to space. All the magic we use at Hogwarts is in accordance with the requirements of the Games.”

"This is actually just a new breakthrough for Hogwarts in some spells. As for it looking like Apparition, that is just a coincidence that depends on the observer's perception."

"If you are interested, perhaps we can discuss this magic in detail at the discussion after the competition, but for now, please watch the Hogwarts students' competition carefully."

The professors present weren't fools. Since even Flitwick had stated that this wasn't spatial magic, and considering the "observer's perception" mentioned in his words, they quickly realized that this was probably just some kind of special "illusion magic."

But in their minds, illusion magic has always been considered a synonym for impracticality.

Compared to shapeshifting magic that can turn stones into living beings, ordinary illusion magic is often easily shattered and can be seen through with a little care.

But the Hogwarts students on stage used this rather uncommon magic to completely outmaneuver a Cordostas ace.

So, how exactly did Hogwarts improve this kind of magic?

As Professor Flitwick explained, the discussion in the stands began to take a different turn.

"An illusion? You mean that's just a mannequin on stage?" One of the spectators exclaimed, "That's Apparition, just a modified version. What kind of illusion can use magic so clearly... Or is this some kind of Apparition Charm modified from Apparition?"

"Whether it's an illusion or a mirage, Hogwarts has certainly brought something extraordinary this time," a student from another school said with a hint of sourness.

Hogwarts prepared so much for this duel that it's not unjust for their school to lose to Hogwarts this year, but why does Hogwarts have so many new spells?

Regardless of the progress of the battle on the dueling platform, the students and spectators decided to move to the dueling platform. Everything else could wait until the duel was over.

At this moment, the once smooth floor was now mostly covered by Ivan's frost, and a chill was rising from it.

However, Philip also destroyed almost all of the ice walls that Ivan had prepared.

As the shattered ice fragments rapidly sublimated into water vapor under the aftershocks of the spell, visibility on the dueling platform began to decline.

In this damp and cold environment, Philip's figure began to appear ethereal due to the moisture in the air.

The mist refracted the light, which had already been adjusted by light magic, making his position on the stage even more elusive, and even causing double images to appear at certain angles.

This heightened sense of distortion due to the changing environment made Philippe appear even more bizarre on stage.

“Where is he…where is he?” Ivan gasped for breath, his wand pointing somewhat dazedly ahead, only to find the outlines of three Philips in his line of sight.

Under immense pressure, he fired spells at the three contours of his face, but unsurprisingly, they all missed.

However, at that moment, an extremely bright white light suddenly burst out from Ivan's side.

That was the intense light unique to the "Ultimate Flash," which filled everyone's field of vision almost instantly.

"Over there!" The ice wall in front of Ivan temporarily blocked the powerful beam of light, while simultaneously pinpointing the source of the light burst.

At that moment, he actually felt much more at ease.

No matter how elusive the other party is, as long as the source of the curse can be found, that's all that matters.

Without any hesitation, he unleashed an explosive spell before the ice wall melted.

"Boom!"

The powerful magic blasted the floor in that direction into dust.

Strangely, there was nothing there except for the rubble that had been blown up.

Ivan was stunned; the audience in the audience was stunned.

From God's perspective, they could clearly see that Philip was actually standing to the side and behind.

However, this time the beam of the Final Flash was not a simple straight line, but rather it was strangely deflected in the air, just like a chopstick bent when inserted into a glass of water. But this slight deviation in vision, combined with the already dazzling beam of the Final Flash, was enough to cause people to misjudge.

Ivan was still staring blankly at the huge crater he had blasted open. The light was clearly coming from the same direction, so why did his attack miss?

Before Ivan could turn around to check the situation, the Ultimate Flash had already broken through the ice wall defense in front of him.

A burst of intense light erupted, and Ivan felt a sharp burning pain in his left shoulder.

"He collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious!"

Just as Ivan's movements became erratic due to the pain in his shoulder and the psychological pressure, Philip calmly delivered the final stun spell from the mist on the other side.

The spell struck Ivan squarely in the chest.

The ace of Cordosdorez, who had been under immense pressure in the dueling ring, could no longer hold on. He fell backward and crashed heavily onto the floor of the dueling ring, completely losing consciousness.

A moment of deathly silence fell over the entire arena, followed by thunderous cheers that first erupted from the Hogwarts area, and then applause quickly spread throughout the entire arena.

They were all cheering for the magic displayed by the Hogwarts picks in this duel.

"The winner, Hogwarts, Philip Fowler!" After confirming Ivan's condition, the referee waved his wand, dispelling the thick fog on the stage, and announced the winner of the match.

Chapter 207: The Intractable Light Magic

On the dueling platform, Philip did not immediately celebrate.

After his victory, he seemed to lose all strength, his body swayed slightly, and he breathed heavily, his wand almost slipping from his hand.

He braced himself on his knees with his other hand, his face equally pale. Hogwarts students rushed up to help him off the dueling platform.

This scene, witnessed by professors from other schools, eased their initial tension slightly.

"It seems this spell is extremely draining... If we can hold on any longer, I'm afraid we won't be able to keep going," Durmstrang's leader muttered to himself.

However, they did not notice that Philip, who looked almost exhausted, immediately straightened his back after being pulled back to the rest area and out of sight of outsiders.

As he took the recovery potion from his companion, he muttered in a low voice, "How was my performance? Did I successfully mislead them?"

“Perfect, Philip,” Rizz said, standing outside the lounge area, looking at the scene. “This new magic is making its debut, and you performed so brilliantly that at least half the audience now thinks we’ve found a loophole and broken through the anti-Apparition spell on the dueling ring.”

Apparition is a powerful spell that consumes a great deal of energy, requiring absolute concentration and a thorough understanding of the destination to complete.

Although theoretically powerful wizards could even use this magic to cross oceans, the number of wizards in the wizarding world who can do this can be counted on one hand.

Even if the professors and athletes at those schools knew that everything on the dueling stage was an illusion, they would still subconsciously feel that maintaining this magic was very taxing after seeing Philip's performance.

This judgment will also give them an advantage in the next two matches.

After several months of research, and with the assistance of Principal Dumbledore, the most powerful white wizard of the time, they upgraded their light magic before the competition, and were able to simulate some simple magical effects by using the refraction of light.

To make the simulated magic look more realistic, Dumbledore and Professor Flitwick also helped add some sound effects.

He started by using light magic to simulate Apparition on the dueling stage, also to further increase the pressure on students from other schools.

Otherwise, that ace player from Cordostadt wouldn't be so easy to deal with.

"That's good, but that guy's ice wall is really hard to deal with. I can only use my trump card to scare him," Philip chuckled. Although he was not as weak as he had appeared earlier, he had indeed expended a lot of energy in this match.

Rizz patted him on the shoulder, gesturing for him to sit down and rest.

Not long after, Professor Flitwick strode into the rest area.

The dean of Ravenclaw was beaming. Although he had just endured a lot of pressure in front of the judges, it was something he had expected.

In comparison, the pressure is nothing when you see your own students' performance.

He briefly praised Philip, then lowered his voice and told the committee that the competition would be temporarily suspended for an hour to quell the doubts raised by other schools because the previous match was still being hotly debated.

During this hour, they will conduct a thorough inspection of the dueling ring in front of the other ten magic schools to ensure that Hogwarts has not used any illegal means in the duel.

For other schools, this one-hour suspension is a chance to catch their breath.

The remaining few players who were to face Hogwarts were currently discussing tactics with their professors backstage.

“Although the match was suspended for an hour, judging from the situation at Hogwarts, they probably didn’t use any illegal methods. So it must be some kind of illusion spell that Hogwarts developed,” the Beauxbatons professor instructed his students. “When you go up on stage later, use the Reveal Charm and Stop Charm as much as possible. As long as you can find a way to break the illusion effect of that spell, Hogwarts will only have that beam spell left. Even if it doesn’t work, you have to hold out for a longer time. When the opponent’s energy is too exhausted, they will always show some flaws.”