Uagadou's sixth-year competitor, Omar Karada, stood an imposing two meters and sixty centimeters tall. Height alone would have been intimidating enough, but his massive build—easily over two hundred kilograms—made him look like a walking tank.
Castelobruxo's representative was a fourth-year boy with brown curly hair, Anduin Urien. When he saw that his opponent was Omar, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
Losing to someone that strong won't feel so bad, he told himself.
Omar was impossible to overlook. The moment the other three teams saw him, they all marked him as a dangerous contender.
The gap in strength is enormous, Sean thought. We probably won't get to see Omar's true abilities.
From the start, Anduin was forced into a defensive position on his own half of the field, just like Joanna had been against Zach the day before.
Magical traps, illusions—anything that could slow the opponent down—he used it all.
But Omar strode into Anduin's territory without hesitation.
Although they were only two school years apart, the difference in strength between them was even greater than the gap between Joanna and Zach.
Just moments earlier, Anduin had launched a sneak attack with a Petrification Charm.
It hit Omar squarely in the stomach.
Yet the petrifying effect barely spread beyond a palm-sized area.
"As an opponent, Omar is definitely troublesome," Sean muttered.
Sean himself knew several extremely powerful spells—Shadow of Corrosion, Falling Starfire, Sectumsempra, and even the Killing Curse.
Any of those would seriously injure Omar.
But in a competition setting, none of those spells were appropriate to use.
Sean's greatest strength was magic.
If that advantage disappeared, the situation would become difficult.
After all, basic spells were unlikely to break through Omar's magical resistance.
"If we face him in the fourth event, it'll be a real problem," Charlie said seriously.
"Give up," Omar said calmly. "You can't defeat me."
His deep voice sounded like the echo of an ancient war horn.
Anduin's heart trembled.
He had already accepted the possibility of losing.
But hearing his opponent tell him to surrender still sparked a flash of anger.
Even if I lose, I won't lose disgracefully.
He raised his wand and shouted:
"Serpensortia!"
"Wait—he actually used that spell," Sean said in surprise.
He had expected to see Draco Malfoy cast it during his fourth year.
Instead, he was seeing it now.
Sean had come prepared.
To learn spells from other competitors, he had kept his Magic vision active throughout every match.
The cost in magical energy was enormous—he was practically more exhausted than the competitors themselves.
"Ten magical frameworks," Sean murmured. "But the structure is unusual… it looks like a summoning spell?"
Still, it wasn't quite the same as a normal Summoning Charm.
When Sean used Accio, the object he imagined would fly toward him.
If it was far away, it simply took longer.
But Serpensortia caused a snake to appear instantly.
A three-meter-long jungle python materialized, flicking its crimson tongue as it slithered toward Omar.
As one of the dominant predators of the Amazon rainforest, it showed no fear—even in the face of a half-giant.
"Looks like Anduin's wand core is jungle python nerve," Theo commented.
Sean already knew that Castelobruxo students used custom wands.
Their cores came from six magical creatures native to the Amazon rainforest.
The jungle python was one of them.
Although Serpensortia only used ten magical frameworks and looked easy to learn, it actually involved a small amount of spatial magic.
That made it harder than it appeared.
It also required a strong mental connection.
Unless the caster truly loved snakes and strongly desired to summon one, the spell would fail.
"Is that… spatial magic?" Sean asked uncertainly.
He knew the spell's name but had never studied its mechanics.
Theo glanced at Charlie.
Although he didn't like admitting it, Charlie had more knowledge in this area.
Seventh-year students were already preparing for the Apparition test.
"It probably includes some spatial magic within the framework," Charlie explained.
"Something similar to Apparition. That's why the snake can appear instantly."
"But Apparition itself is a much more advanced spell—it uses over twenty magical frameworks."
"Unlike Apparition, Serpensortia doesn't require moving the caster's body through space, so it's relatively safe."
"Failed Apparition, on the other hand, can cause splinching."
"I see," Sean nodded.
He understood now.
Penelope and Percy, however, still looked confused.
Meanwhile, the duel on the field had reached a dramatic moment.
Omar grabbed the attacking python with his bare hands.
Then, as if throwing a massive stone, he hurled it across the field.
But the snake's scales were extremely tough.
The impact barely harmed it.
Instead, it only enraged the creature.
"Reducto!"
"Fiery Torment!"
Omar took advantage of the distance he had created.
He cast two spells in quick succession—one with eleven magical frameworks, the other with ten.
Got them, Sean noted silently.
The python writhed violently within the flames, rolling across the grass as it tried to smother the fire with dirt.
"Jungle pythons have strong magical resistance," Charlie said. "That fire won't stop it."
Omar clearly knew that too.
He charged forward and delivered a powerful flying kick straight into the snake's head.
The python flew nearly ten meters before crashing onto the grass.
"…He knocked it out with a kick," Sean said, speechless.
Is this a magical duel or the Roman Colosseum?
In the end, Anduin surrendered.
Uagadou won the second round.
The score was now one to one.
"The third round," Zach said excitedly. "I wonder which team will win."
"Uagadou already lost," Sean replied calmly.
"What?" Zach blinked. "The match hasn't even started yet. How do you know?"
Although Sean was only a second-year, none of the team members underestimated him.
After weeks of training together, they had all witnessed his abilities firsthand.
"I'm not talking about this round," Sean explained. "I mean the overall points."
"Uagadou's strategy failed."
"They sent their strongest players in the first two rounds but didn't secure two victories."
"That means the next round doesn't really matter anymore."
Charlie nodded and added,
"Their plan was to win three points in the second event."
"They basically gave up on the third event entirely."
"If they succeeded, they could still tie with Castelobruxo."
"So that's their plan… a qualification duel strategy," Zach realized.
If both teams finished the second and third events with equal scores, a final one-on-one duel would decide the winner.
Uagadou had clearly been confident in Omar winning that final duel.
Unfortunately for them, the strategy backfired.
They were eliminated ahead of time.
Once Hogwarts and Ilvermorny finished their third event later, whichever team had the lower score would face Uagadou in the loser's bracket.
Just as expected, Uagadou sent a fourth-year competitor for the third round.
(Clearly their fifth-year had already participated in the Potions competition.)
Castelobruxo sent out a second-year—Carol Reed.
Carol was completely crushed.
Uagadou claimed the point without difficulty.
Final score: 2–1.
That evening, every team held strategy meetings.
They analyzed the matches from the past two days, evaluating the strengths of key competitors and planning tactics for the upcoming events.
A week later, on Christmas Eve, Sean received a letter from the Leaky Cauldron.
It was from his uncle, Herns.
The letter contained holiday greetings and asked whether Sean planned to return for Christmas.
Sean immediately refused.
During the holidays, the Leaky Cauldron's business doubled.
Going back meant ten days of unpaid labor.
As he sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, an owl swooped down and landed near Snape's seat at the professors' table.
It dropped a wooden box and a letter.
Snape opened the letter, scanned it quickly, then picked up the box and walked toward Sean.
"Come to my office after breakfast," Snape said flatly.
"What is it, Professor?" Sean asked.
He hadn't been summoned to Snape's office for quite a while.
"The Ministry has approved your application," Snape said before leaving the hall.
Sean blinked.
"The Ministry… application?"
"What application?" Cassius asked curiously, while Chris also turned to look at him.
Suddenly, Sean's heart leapt.
He already knew the answer.
After waiting three months—
his Time-Turner had finally been approved by the Ministry of Magic.
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