With Harry gone, only two champions remained: the last representative from Beauxbatons and Cassandra.
The Beauxbatons champion went first. Displaying some skill, she struggled valiantly to evade the Ukrainian Ironbelly, but ultimately failed.
She'd been a hair's breadth from the golden egg, but that single step would have been fatal if not for the staff's intervention.
The tournament was drawing to a close; half of the original eight champions had already been eliminated.
Now, only Cassandra remained of the original nine champions.
...
Inside the waiting tent.
"Phew~"
Hearing the cannon fire, Cassandra took a deep breath, rose, and left the tent.
The cheers from the audience were as loud as ever, perhaps even louder.
But Cassandra ignored them, her focus solely on the enormous black dragon that had landed not far ahead.
Adult Norwegian Ridgebacks grew to be ten to fifteen meters long; this one was clearly around ten meters.
Just as Tom said, it's growing well.
"Roar?"
The audience was taken aback by the sight before them. This Norwegian Ridgeback was nowhere near as ferocious as the previous fire-breathing dragons.
Annie had been raised by Tom for so long; of course she recognized Cassandra, and the two had a good relationship.
From what she'd picked up from her previous companions, Cassandra and her friends wanted the golden egg, right?
With that thought in mind, Annie slammed a wing against the nearby rocky dragon nest.
Boom! ~
The dragon nest shattered, rubble flying everywhere, and the golden egg tumbled to Cassandra's feet.
"..."
The audience fell silent.
Just as they were about to fume in indignation...
Cassandra lightly kicked the golden egg aside.
This action left the audience even more bewildered than before.
Then, they saw Cassandra draw her wand.
"Wait! Is she going to do what I think she's going to do?"
"What do you think?"
"Idiot! She's going to take on the dragon one-on-one!"
"Incredible!"
"..."
The audience, reaching this conclusion, became even more excited. After all, taking on a dragon single-handedly was a completely different beast from simply stealing the golden egg!
Most of them had never witnessed anyone taking on a dragon in a duel!
"Roar?"
Annie seemed confused. Didn't Cassandra want the golden egg?
"Please."
Hearing Cassandra's voice and seeing the wand in her hand, Annie immediately understood and assumed an attacking stance.
"Roar!"
With a resounding roar, the battle between human and dragon began.
"Ong wasu dalie siwaha!"
Cassandra launched straight into her ultimate move, casting a Weather Charm that instantly filled the sky above the arena!
Boom! ~
White lightning bolts ripped through the clouds, striking Annie's dragon hide.
"Roar!"
Slightly singed by the lightning, Annie immediately unleashed a torrent of dragonfire!
A sea of scorching flames roared towards her, but Cassandra transformed into black mist to dodge the dragon breath, then reappeared behind Annie.
"Thunder Explosion!"
A beam of yellowish-white light shot from her wand, striking Annie and causing a violent detonation!
This "Thunder Explosion" was released by Cassandra at full power.
A deafening roar echoed, followed by billowing black smoke, and Annie was blasted to the ground.
Of course, it only knocked her down; if the professors had been involved, they probably would have sent her flying.
"Ugh... Roar!"
Annie righted herself, shook her head, then used her wings to brace against the ground, propelling herself towards Cassandra!
Just as Annie was about to reach her, Cassandra waved her wand to the side, "Balloon!"
Bang!
A massive boulder, three or four meters tall, hurtled towards her, slamming into Annie's head, causing her to stagger and lose her footing.
Seizing the opportunity, Cassandra used a Flight Charm to create distance, following up with another Thunder Explosion.
In the audience.
"She's really taking on a dragon by herself? Is Cassandra really that amazing?"
Malfoy's words drew nods of agreement from Harry and others who overheard.
Especially Cedric, Fleur, and those who were older but had never seen Cassandra in action before.
They thought they were fairly skilled, but today they were completely outshone by someone younger than themselves.
The professors were clearly surprised as well. They knew, of course, that Tom Riddle's student was far beyond ordinary individuals.
But wasn't this a bit much?
A fourteen-year-old taking on a dragon in single combat? Even though it was just an immature dragon, and after Tom Riddle had spent three years training it, it was still astonishing.
How many wizards didn't even know many spells at fourteen?
But when they considered how Tom Riddle's teacher, at eighteen, had utterly crushed the "greatest white wizard of the century," silencing the entire wizarding world, the professors felt that Cassandra taking on an immature dragon wasn't so unacceptable.
Back in the arena.
Cassandra, facing Annie's onslaught, made no attempt to defend.
Sensing she might not be able to hold a defensive line, she prioritized dodging, ideally avoiding Flight Charms to conserve her mana.
So, when facing dragonfire, she used a Flight Charm to narrowly avoid it, but for less urgent attacks, she cast "Relaxation!"
This was a variation of the Hypnotic Charm, not complete hypnosis, but it consumed less mana, and with the added benefit of her Veela blood, it effectively affected Annie's movements.
After the control spell took effect, Cassandra followed up with an offensive spell like "Thunderous Explosion."
This allowed her to inflict good damage while giving herself space to maneuver.
However, the dragon's hide remained tough. Even after several rounds of attacks from Cassandra, Annie showed no signs of collapsing, though her movements were becoming somewhat unsteady.
Cassandra wasn't confident she could defeat Annie before her mana ran out, so she decided to change her strategy.
"Roar!"
The pain in her body made Annie irritable. She used her wings to send several large rocks hurtling towards Cassandra.
Watching the massive projectiles raining down, Cassandra raised her wand and chanted, "Shatter to pieces!"
She shattered the boulder that was about to crush her.
Then another torrent of dragonfire erupted, but this time Annie didn't see the wisp of black mist.
After the flames subsided, Cassandra was nowhere to be seen on the scorched ground.
This puzzled Annie. She tried to use her keen sense of smell to locate her, but the pervasive smell of burning in the air muddled her senses.
Helpless, Annie could only begin to move around, searching.
Meanwhile, Cassandra, having carefully closed the distance and found an opening, immediately canceled her Disillusionment Charm, pointed her wand at Annie's dragon head at close range, and shouted, "Powerful Blast!"
---
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