"..."
If the steam had not already taken away their ability to speak, those pure-blood nobles—who usually considered themselves rather refined—would absolutely have started cursing out loud.
So after all the fuss they had made, the two most important people on their side had both turned out to be undercover agents arranged by the enemy?
Even the Grindelwald they had personally visited in the tower of Nurmengard was fake?!
And especially when they saw Barty Crouch Jr., who was also inside the barrier, deprived of speech and wearing the same bewildered expression, they immediately felt even angrier.
"Now then, allow me to first announce the true rules of the third task of the Triwizard Tournament."
Albus Dumbledore smiled as he watched countless figures pour excitedly out of Durmstrang Castle, now that the protective barrier had been removed. Madame Maxime, Karkaroff, and old Barty Crouch—whose expression looked somewhat strange—had also returned to their seats on the judges' platform. As for Moody beside him, the grin on his face had already stretched so wide that he could not suppress it at all.
Dumbledore cleared his throat, then said loudly,
"At present, all of these Death Eaters summoned here by Voldemort's resurrection, as well as the criminals who attempted to illegally enter Nurmengard and assist a serious offender in escaping, have been confined within the barrier. They have also lost the ability to speak and chant spells. What the three champions must do is knock down as many of these prisoners—who still possess considerable combat ability—as possible. Their scores in this task will be calculated based on the number they defeat, and the champion of this Triwizard Tournament will ultimately be decided by the total scores across all three tasks."
"Aside from prohibiting the champions from attacking or interfering with one another, there are no restrictions on their actions or spellcasting methods in this task. After all, although these people can no longer chant spells and their combat power has been greatly weakened, they are still genuine, vicious criminals. Fighting them will still involve no small amount of danger... But please rest assured. Professor Karkaroff, Mr. Alastor Moody, and I will act as safety supervisors, monitoring the battle and ensuring that the champions do not truly encounter life-threatening danger."
"As for how to assign targets defeated during the melee, the four judges will make a joint decision through replay review after the task concludes... Very well, those are the rules. Next, let us invite our three champions onto the field and prepare for the match!"
...
"It's our turn."
Inside the headmaster's office at Durmstrang, Avada, who had long since been sitting in a soft, comfortable high-backed chair watching the broadcast, suddenly perked up. He forcefully suppressed the lingering shock in his heart, set down the teacup in his hand, and hopped off the chair before turning toward Krum and Fleur, whose faces were still somewhat tense.
Earlier, the instant the Aquatic Teleportation of the ghost ships had been thrown out of control by the hidden mechanism Barty and the others had installed, the three champions—who had known the script in advance—had naturally used the Fawkes feather Portkeys prepared beforehand to teleport out of the ships. They had landed directly inside Durmstrang's headmaster's office, where they watched the shocking battle between "Grindelwald" and "Dumbledore" through the mist screen, only to be thoroughly stunned by the final twist as well...
Even Avada, who knew the most out of the three of them, had only known that the "Dumbledore" after the Christmas Ball had all along been Moody in disguise.
What he had never expected was that Grindelwald had also been fake?!
In other words, the real Grindelwald might very well never have left Nurmengard Tower at all.
Then why had he kept refusing to let Avada visit him?
Not just before Christmas—even over the past five months, Grindelwald's ban on university professors going to Nurmengard had never been lifted!
Aside from that unexpected point, the remaining parts had all proceeded perfectly according to the script.
Everyone who had participated in the plan to kill Dumbledore, or who still remained loyal to Voldemort, had been gathered here. At this moment, they had successfully become lambs waiting for slaughter, merely waiting for the champions to enter and clean them up.
Meanwhile, at Leach University, his Nathan Clarke duplicate had also helped the other professors settle the students from the three schools who had come to take refuge. It had now returned to its own room and lain down, temporarily released from control.
All of Avada's mental focus had been transferred back to his main body, making full preparations for the great battle that was about to come.
Oh, right. As for the fact that Baron was the one who had opened the university's door for Hogwarts—Avada had only had some guesses about that all along, but had never received any information from Baron himself.
Probably because he knew how important this plan was, Baron had kept everything absolutely watertight this time. Even Avada, who could directly perceive mental power, had not realized Baron had hidden things so deeply before learning that "someone among the Hogwarts students possessed a Leach University key."
In daily life, Avada had never seen the university key's unique magical structure on Baron either. That key had probably only been delivered to him not long ago.
Forget it. I won't think about that for now. This time, I really have to make a proper showing—for the university's reputation...
"Let's go."
Krum and Fleur finally rose slowly as well. After glancing at the enormous barrier outside the window, they followed Avada toward the door, though their expressions still revealed obvious tension.
After all, the people they would soon be facing were genuine Dark wizards—the kind who killed people.
Although the loss of chanting ability had already weakened them enormously, meaning they definitely could no longer use the three Unforgivable Curses or other advanced and deadly Dark Magic, those tricked into the barrier were either veterans who had lived through a wizarding war, or core members of pure-blood families with deep magical heritage. There was even someone like Barty Jr., a powerful Dark wizard capable of impersonating Moody.
Their combat power absolutely could not be underestimated.
And with several dozen of them present, their numbers alone were enough to place tremendous pressure on the champions.
No matter how outstanding the three champions' abilities were, no matter how excellent their talents, they were still only students who had not yet graduated from school.
One of them was even a fifth-year!
When Krum and Fleur had first heard the true content of this task from Ken, they had once suspected the judges' panel had gone mad—and at the same time, they had deeply admired Ken, who had been able to calmly explain it all without his expression changing.
As for Avada himself—
The only thing he was worried about now was whether his performance later would be shocking enough, and whether it might affect the final show.
After all, he knew it very well.
This task had been tailor-made specifically for him...
(End of Chapter)