"Thank you, Miss Delacour, for that wonderful performance! Truly a perfect combination of wisdom and beauty!"
Ludo Bagman praised enthusiastically as he watched Fleur leave, then raised his voice again.
"Now, the next champion ready to face the challenge is, from Ilvermorny, Spud Kowalski!"
A figure draped in the colours of Ilvermorny's Thunderbird House emerged from the small dark room. He was tall and handsome, with a head of striking golden curls.
Spud Kowalski walked confidently towards the Duelling Stone Tablet, wearing a self-assured smile.
He pressed his palm against the stone. The runes lit up briefly before fading.
The arena underwent another dramatic transformation.
The damp hills vanished, replaced by a rugged mountain landscape filled with strange, jagged rocks embedded with crystals of various colours.
The air was dry and thin, the simulated sky a clear azure blue. Strong sunlight shone down on the crystals, scattering dazzling points of light everywhere.
It resembled a barren mountain ridge rich in gemstone deposits.
At the highest point stood a magnificent nest built from pure crystal and gleaming blocks of metal. Resting within it was Spud's opponent, an Antipodean Opaleye.
Its appearance truly befitted a noble among dragons.
Its streamlined body was covered in smooth, lustrous scales like mother-of-pearl, refracting a rainbow-like sheen beneath the sunlight.
Its eyes had no visible pupils, resembling two enormous opals that shimmered with mesmerising colours.
The Antipodean Opaleye's wings were disproportionately large compared with its body, like two translucent canvases threaded with gold and silver, giving it an exceptionally elegant appearance.
Unlike the other dragons, the Antipodean Opaleye seemed far more interested in the glittering treasures within its nest and the golden egg than in showing hostility towards the intruder.
"Oh! A rare Antipodean Opaleye!"
Bagman excitedly began his commentary. "Ladies and gentlemen, behold! What a beautiful creature! It is one of the least aggressive dragon breeds and usually fights only to protect its nest and its treasures. Its flames are a vivid red and still extremely powerful, but it generally prefers to live far away from human settlements. Champion Kowalski's luck seems rather good!"
Spud Kowalski clearly did not think so.
He carefully observed the somewhat lazy Antipodean Opaleye, which was currently nudging a glittering stone with one claw. Then he looked up at the clear simulated sky before making a move that surprised everyone in the stands.
Instead of attempting to approach stealthily, he retreated several steps and found a relatively open, safe position.
He raised his wand high and began chanting an ancient-sounding incantation in a deep, drawn-out voice.
"This is..." Bagman's voice carried a hint of uncertainty. "Champion Kowalski appears to be preparing an extremely powerful spell! From the opening... could it be weather magic?"
A murmur spread through the stands. Only the Thunderbird judge seemed to recognise the spell he was preparing and nodded with a smile.
"While Champion Kowalski prepares his spell, allow me to explain something everyone may be wondering about: why there are nine dragons..."
Ludo Bagman filled the silence by addressing the audience. "Ah, some of you may already have guessed. The organising committee originally prepared seven dragons, one for each champion from the seven schools. However, because the number of participants changed, the number of dragons prepared by the committee was no longer sufficient. Therefore, Hogwarts kindly provided two additional dragons, and this Antipodean Opaleye is one of them."
Inside the arena, Spud's incantation was finally nearing completion, and powerful magical fluctuations began surging around him.
The originally clear azure sky began filling with thick black clouds at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The clouds hung low overhead. Deep rumbles of thunder rolled faintly within them, while thin arcs of lightning flickered through the darkness.
The Antipodean Opaleye also seemed to sense the unusual pressure gathering in the air. It stopped playing with the stone and raised its beautiful head.
Its opal-like eyes turned warily towards the sky as it let out a clear warning roar.
But Spud's spell was already nearing completion.
A blinding white light erupted from the tip of his wand and shot directly into the sky as the final syllables of the incantation rang out like thunder.
"Thunder from the Heavens!"
In an instant, a pale bolt of lightning, so dazzling that it seemed to drain all colour from the suspended arena, tore through the thick black clouds.
Carrying overwhelming power, it struck down like a divine sword.
Its target was the Antipodean Opaleye at the centre of the nest.
BOOM!
Deafening thunder exploded across the arena, drowning out every other sound.
The blinding flash left everyone momentarily unable to see.
When the light faded and the thunder subsided, the spectators were stunned to discover that the elegant Antipodean Opaleye, along with its magnificent nest, had vanished.
Only a scorched patch of ground remained, with faint arcs of electricity still flickering across it.
The arena's protective magic had been triggered at the last possible moment, transporting the dragon away after it sustained what would otherwise have been a fatal blow.
And in the middle of the scorched earth, the golden egg remained miraculously intact, shining even more brightly now that everything around it had been destroyed.
Spud Kowalski lowered his wand, his face somewhat pale from the enormous expenditure of magic.
He quickly stepped forward and easily picked up the golden egg.
The entire arena fell silent.
Everyone was too stunned by such a simple, brutal, yet terrifyingly powerful display of magic to speak.
"Mer... Merlin's beard!"
After several seconds, Ludo Bagman finally found his voice, filled with unprecedented shock and excitement.
"My goodness! One lightning bolt! Champion Kowalski... he summoned a bolt of lightning! He directly... directly ended the battle! Unbelievable! The champion from Ilvermorny has shown us what absolute power looks like! This is undoubtedly the most shocking display we've seen since the competition began!"
Only then did applause and cheers erupt like a delayed tidal wave, with the Ilvermorny students leaping to their feet in excitement.
The judges began awarding their scores.
Dumbledore considered the performance for a moment before giving an 8, while most of the other Headmasters also awarded high marks, acknowledging Kowalski's powerful magic.
When it was Karkaroff's turn, his expression shifted several times before he finally raised a 5.
"Lacks finesse... relies entirely on brute force..." he muttered.
But this time, his low score seemed feeble and insignificant in the face of Spud's astonishing performance.
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