— — — — — —

"Hiss... how the hell did I not think of that?"

Inside the private room, Tom clutched his head in disbelief.

What went around really did come around.

A moment ago it had been Grindelwald questioning his entire existence. Now it was Tom’s turn.

How had even the little fox started doing bizarre nonsense too?

She was literally carrying the shopkeeper all across the Rift. Thankfully, the penguin had just been something Tom casually made on the spot rather than a real alchemical lifeform. Otherwise, it would already be screaming bloody murder by now.

"Pfft hahahaha!"

Just as Tom’s temples began throbbing violently, an untimely laugh sounded from beside him. Grindelwald had revived from his existential crisis and was now grinning with blatant schadenfreude.

"Riddle, oh Riddle, what are you going to do now? The match doesn’t seem very fair anymore. Shouldn’t you pause it and deal with this?"

"..."

Tom took a deep breath, mentally adding another grudge to Grindelwald’s ever-growing tab. Then his figure abruptly vanished from the room.

Meanwhile, the other champions on Kamio’s red team, Ariana and Jauncey, had also started returning to base to buy scrolls. But when they arrived, they discovered the base completely empty.

The two looked dumbfounded.

...

"You foxes really never stop causing trouble for me. And Fleur, you’re in the middle of a competition here—can you two take this seriously? You’re not even on the same team, remember?"

Tom’s helpless voice echoed simultaneously in both girls’ minds.

And why was Fleur getting dragged into this too? Because after Kamio brought the penguin back to lane, Fleur had also fallen for the little creature’s charm. The two of them had outright abandoned the minion wave and run off to the river together just to pet the penguin.

Listening to the laughter erupting from the audience stands, Tom suddenly felt the urge to black out on the spot.

How had a perfectly good match turned into this?

Fine. When this competition is over, you two are getting twenty smacks each. Don’t think either of you is getting out of it.

After Tom’s reminder, the two girls finally remembered they were still competing. Both awkwardly smiled and quietly separated as if nothing had happened.

"Guguga! Guguga!"

A giant hand made of energy descended from the sky, grabbed the penguin still tucked in Kamio’s arms, and carried it back to the red team’s base.

At the same time, Tom used a Sticking Charm to firmly glue the little penguin in place.

The blue team’s dog didn’t escape either.

Because Tom had already noticed Daphne extending her evil little hands toward the dog’s head.

After all that chaos, the match finally started moving in the direction Tom had originally intended.

The champions refocused on the game itself. As the seals on their magic gradually loosened, the power of their spells increased dramatically as well. Conflicts broke out more and more often, making the battlefield infinitely more exciting than the dull opening phase.

By now, the Tournament had already reached its fourth round. At last, the champions finally had a chance for direct confrontation.

During the previous Black Lake event, the deep water had severely limited the effectiveness of many spells.

This time was different.

Although everyone’s wands were restricted, that limitation also conveniently placed every contestant on the same starting line in the early game. What mattered was pure combat skill.

Jauncey, Quinta, and Nassim had also accepted reality by this point. In terms of talent, or simply raw magic power, they weren’t particularly dominant among the champions.

Using game terminology, they were early-game heroes.

As the wand seals weakened further, people like Ariana and Daphne would definitely become far more terrifying later on. They were late-game monsters.

So in order to build enough of an advantage early and snowball it into victory, the most aggressive fighters on the field instead became Jauncey and Quinta.

Both had excellent fundamentals, and their exchanges in the top lane were intense and exciting to watch. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

As for Nassim... He was having the time of his life farming the jungle.

At first, being pushed into the jungle role had left him feeling deeply wronged, but now?

This place was practically paradise.

Not only did the entire blue-side jungle belong to him, he could even invade the enemy jungle whenever he wanted.

The only issue was that clearing camps had been difficult at the start. But as his wand gradually unsealed, Nassim’s efficiency rose higher and higher.

By around the fifteen-minute mark, his wand had already surpassed fifty percent unsealing progress, the highest in the entire match.

Shhk!

A sudden wave of gasps erupted across the arena as everyone’s eyes snapped toward the top lane.

Jauncey flicked his wand lightly. A thread of pale blue magical energy precisely redirected Quinta’s incoming spell, causing it to slam heavily into a nearby enemy goblin instead.

The two goblins exploded apart instantly, gears and scrap scattering everywhere.

Using the chaos from the collapsing minions as cover, Jauncey quickly stepped back. His other hand darted into his robes, fingers pulling out a magic card.

The card glowed with blazing red light, scorching magical power flowing through the intricate patterns across its surface. The instant it left his fingertips, it burst into flames.

Quinta’s face changed immediately.

Her pupils shrank violently. She had completely forgotten magic cards existed.

In the blink of an eye, a gigantic fireball nearly the size of a human body roared toward her with terrifying speed and blistering heat.

Under normal circumstances, Quinta might have tried blocking it with a defensive spell.

But right now, her fragile Shield Charm would be shredded apart instantly. And then she herself would become barbecue.

Sure, she’d already died a few times before and knew the Rift had protection mechanics in place... But she still had zero interest in experiencing being roasted alive.

Not to mention, the later the game went, the longer resurrection took. By the time she returned, Jauncey might’ve already destroyed the second tower.

In that split-second decision, Quinta made the smartest possible choice.

She immediately pulled out two magic cards at once without even checking what they were and hurled both forward.

One floated uselessly through the air and did absolutely nothing.

The other exploded with brilliant golden light and slammed directly into the incoming fireball.

BOOM!

The explosion thundered through the entire Rift.

Even the players in the mid and bottom lanes heard it clearly.

Daphne and the others instinctively looked toward top lane, where they could vaguely see smoke and golden light erupting into the sky. There was no way that kind of destructive force belonged to Jauncey or Quinta themselves. Neither of them were strong enough for that.

So everyone immediately connected it to the magic cards.

"Oh right! How did I forget about these?"

Daphne smacked her forehead and instantly pulled out several magic cards.

Seeing that, Ariana’s scalp nearly went numb.

’Girl, why are you taking out so many at once?! Are you trying to rocket me into space?!’

Helpless, Ariana could only respond by pulling out her own magic cards as well.

Three seconds later—

BOOM!

A gigantic mushroom cloud suddenly erupted from mid lane.

Gray-black smoke mixed with burning sparks billowed upward like a colossal beast, spreading across the Rift and completely blocking out the sunlight.

The entire canyon instantly dimmed.

Visibility dropped sharply, while the sharp stench of gunpowder filled the air. It took quite a while before the smoke finally began to clear.

Then, immediately afterward, a dragon’s roar shook the entire valley.

The deafening cry left everyone’s ears ringing faintly.

All the contestants turned toward the source of the roar.

Without much hesitation, Daphne curiously ran over first.

At the same time, several others also started heading in that direction...

Not long after, five champions had gathered inside an enormous circular pit.

Within the mist, a gigantic shadow slowly began rising from the ground.

.

.

.