At the end of Dumbledore's words, all the competitors Apparated at the same time, their figures seeming to distort into a spiral and sucked into a tube, disappearing with a loud pop that resembled a car exhaust.
Asterion felt the earth firm on his feet again and looked around, walls of green with thorns surrounded him, a gray mist hung mysteriously in the air. Waving his hand, he noticed the mist distorting, gradually revealing a clearer environment, but it only lasted a few moments before the mist filled the space again.
He had entered the Labyrinth moments before and everyone had been Apparated to different locations, something he had come to dislike a lot during this competition. Reaching out, a curtain of darkness appeared above Asterion's hand and an eye-like creature emerged from the undulating darkness.
The creature, called the Watcher by Asterion, split into countless smaller versions of itself and quickly spread everywhere. Monitoring everything within a radius of ten kilometers, but because of the fog, their field of vision was severely obstructed.
But it was enough for Asterion to spot other people or battles taking place in the fog.
Suddenly, Asterion heard the sound of heavy footsteps coming towards him forcing him to stop, although he couldn't see, from the sound of the heavy footsteps approaching, it wasn't a small creature at all.
Asterion controlled his magical energy and made himself invisible. He leaned against the green wall of grass and thorns, watching the huge gray creature pass calmly in front of him. He almost immediately recognized the grey magical creature in front of him. It was an Erumpent. It looked like an African rhinoceros, if it didn't have a horn big enough to impale a full-grown human.
The animal could cast a spell similar to Bombard or the Blast Curse with its horn, strong enough to blow up an entire house.
Asterion didn't see the point in fighting such a battle; in his eyes, it was better to leave without disturbing the beast than to start fighting foolishly and attract the attention of everyone nearby. That's what he did, but the world didn't always go according to plan.
In front of Asterion, footsteps were heard approaching, not the footsteps of any magical beast, but human footsteps. Although the footsteps were low and cautious, they still alarmed Erumpent, who was not at all happy about appearing in an unfamiliar place.
A loud snort was heard as the huge gray monster turned around; its small eyes fixed on the vague figure through the mist. At the base of the horn, sarcomas of flesh began to glow with an intense light, a faint smell reminiscent of sulphury wafted through the air.
Erumpent sniffed at the air one after another, ran forward while lowering his head slightly, ready to impale the enemy at a moment's notice.
Asterion just leaned against the wall of grass and thorns as he coolly watched the magical beast run past him, the ground seemed to shake with every step the creature took and a hole was made in the earth. He didn't wait to see the result of Erumpent's attack and walked in the opposite direction, observing his surroundings through the Cursed Spirit called, Observer.
BOMMMM!
At a relatively great distance from the site of the attack, Asterion heard a deafening explosion as the mist around him was blown towards him at great speed. It was obvious that Erumpent had used his own magic and blown up whatever he had hit.
Asterion wasn't interested in the outcome of the battle and disappeared into the mist, leaving only his vague figure appearing in the mist.
On the other side of the Mist Labyrinth, a small, delicate girl held her wand looking at the monster in front of her. The girl had blonde, almost white hair and beautiful eyes that resembled a shade of silver, although the blue could still be seen in her gaze.
It was Luna and in front of her, a beautiful purple and blue serpent with feathery wings seemed to cover the path she had to take to advance through the labyrinth. The snake was so large that it easily covered a distance of fifteen meters.
"Occamy" Luna thought with a helpless expression, the winged serpent wasn't the friendliest of the magical serpents on the planet, and she could imagine that the specimen in front of her wasn't at a good moment, as it had been placed in a completely unfamiliar place.
Normally, she would have avoided this kind of creature with her Gift, but after spending an entire night trying to see the future of the war, her mind and body were completely exhausted, so she hadn't been able to see Occamy before and consequently came across him at this moment.
Taking a deep breath, Luna knew she couldn't stay still, and putting a levitation spell on herself, she jumped into the air and floated forward. The mist was gently pushed away with her movement, but nothing too drastic to make the winged serpent notice anything wrong.
Luna's face was slightly tense, passing over the dangerously close to the beautiful creature, she could even smell the snakes' characteristic scent from how close she was to the creature.
Suddenly, Luna's face showed a helpless expression. In front of her, the snake's purple eyes stared at her with a cold gaze. A shiver ran through her body, those eyes looked as if they would strike at any moment.
"Look how thin I am, I barely have any meat, if you want meat, Rose is more suitable than me, I'm like a stick!" She spoke, her expression showing an innocent touch as she gestured with her arms, showing off her thin arms. Clearly saying that it didn't taste good, just crumbs of meat.
Then Luna's face changed dramatically, her Gift warning her of the imminent danger. She didn't care about the consequences and used her Gift without any hesitation. In an instant, she saw her being killed by a dagger to her throat!
Without hesitation, Luna moved to the side, watching with calm eyes as the dagger passed just a few centimeters from her face. The same dagger that would have taken her life if she hadn't dodged it earlier. The icy blue eyes stared at her with a cold gaze.
Luna quickly backed away and no longer cared about paying attention to Occamy, there was something more dangerous than the snake in front of her. It was a monster that she felt no trace of magical energy.
Looking at the captain of the German team, Luna's eyes narrowed with a cold stare, she held her wand tightly as she spoke. "You're not Hans Weiss."
Her certainty came from the fact that there was no magical energy in the supposed Hans Weiss in front of her, although there were indeed items that hid someone's magical aura, but these items couldn't hide a wizard's magical aura so perfectly.
The only two items known to do so were the helmet of the Wizard God of Death himself, Hades, and the Invisibility Cloak, one of the Three Relics of Death!
Although if you were an Animagus, you could obtain the same ability, but this was a rare ability that few in the world had.
However, if Germany had such items, it wouldn't have behaved so discreetly in the English Magical Civil War a few months ago. They would have attacked in full force and given England no room to recover or get out of the Civil War so easily.
"You're an Abortion, or rather, you were born without any magic, but you've gained an incredibly strong body and keen senses." Luna commented, keeping her gaze on her enemy's body, not daring to underestimate someone who could kill her with any mistake or hesitation on her part.
The mention of the name made the young man's face turn slightly colder, although it was imperceptible, it was more than clear to Luna that this was the confirmation she wanted.
"It seems you've betrayed Dumbledore and England as a result." Luna commented, already discovering the identity of the attacker, there were no other people she knew with such a peculiar situation in England. She had watched the young man fight Asterion in the Magical Self-Defense Tactical Training Class.
"He's allied himself with the monster, how can I follow a man like that?" He replied, his voice so cold that it sent shivers down Luna's small body. There was such an amount of hatred in his voice that it really made her wonder why he felt so much hatred.
"You call him a monster, I call him a hero, better than you, who betrayed his country for revenge." Luna didn't mince words and commented, her voice full of sarcasm as she didn't hide her contempt for the young man in disguise.
"Hero?" Neville seemed to hear the biggest joke in the world, the burnt skin on his body began to burn, as if remembering the pain Asterion had caused him.
If Asterion had heard Neville's thoughts, he would have rolled his eyes at his hypocrisy, House Longbottom still existed because he had more important matters than killing a decrepit old woman and an Abortion without magic, besides he hadn't caused his injuries, it was Bellatrix.
"I'm going to kill you, I'll enjoy seeing the look on his face when he learns of your death." Neville contracted his muscles and got into attack position.
"Kill me?" Luna showed an expression of surprise, but that expression soon turned into the most contemptuous face that could appear on anyone's face.
Putting the tip of her wand to her lips, Luna's lips curved into a smile tinged with sarcasm. She tilted her head to the side and spoke each word with such contempt that it made one wonder how such a sweet girl could turn out to be so prejudiced.
"A worm with no magic and a filthy Abortion like you can never touch me. You should go back to the hole you crawled out of and contemplate your utter insignificance, you traitorous mouse."
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Next Chapter Second Volume: Chapter 223 - The Labyrinth of Cnossos (2), Chapter 224 - The Labyrinth of Cnossos (3).
Next Chapter of the Third Volume: Chapter 225 - A Dark Day (1), Chapter 226 - A Dark Day (2), Chapter 227 - A Talk Between Two Monarchs (1), Chapter 228 - Preparations for War (1), Chapter 228 - Preparations for War (1), Chapter 229 - Preparations for War (1), Chapter 230 - The French Battlefront (1), Chapter 231 - The French Battlefront (2), Chapter 232 - The French Battlefront (3), Chapter 233 - The French Battlefront (4), Chapter 234 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (1), Chapter 235 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (2), Chapter 236 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (3), Chapter 237 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (4), Chapter 238 – Battle Between Special Grade Wizards (5), Chapter 239 - Occupation of the Principality of Andorras (1).