— — — — — —

"Not bad. This generation’s Greengrass has the makings of a Dark Lord."

Inside the private viewing room, Grindelwald nodded in satisfaction and said to Dumbledore beside him in an approving tone.

Dumbledore’s beard twitched, and his eyebrows jumped involuntarily.

Was that supposed to be a compliment or an insult?

He genuinely couldn’t tell.

Voldemort came first, and then everything after him felt like a flood that never stopped. First there was Tom—strong, gifted, and clearly destined to become a Dark Lord. Then came his sister, who was openly walking that very same path. Then Ginny, whom he had once happened to overhear declaring her ambition to become the strongest Dark Witch. And now another name had been added to the list: Daphne Greengrass.

Maybe... just maybe, he should retire and stay at home. The world simply wasn’t suitable for him anymore—the last remaining "white wizard" left to deal with it all.

"Albus? Albus? Have you fallen asleep?"

Grindelwald’s voice pulled him back to reality. The old man quickly composed himself and said calmly, "Gellert, that joke feels rather forced. Miss Greengrass is pure-hearted by nature and possesses many admirable qualities. You shouldn’t judge her based on a single action. You ought to notice her other strengths as well."

Grindelwald fell silent for a moment before replying with a smile, "You truly are a master of words, Albus. Even so, I stand by my opinion. Greengrass has the potential to become a Dark Lord. If you don’t know how to teach her, I can do it myself."

"Gellert, let’s talk about Ariana’s control issues first. Don’t you think you’ve taught her a bit too much Dark Magic?"

Dumbledore immediately changed the subject.

...

Meanwhile, as the two Dark Lords continued bickering, the dragon hunt in the canyon raged on.

Only now, Ariana and the others were still stunned by Daphne’s latest stunt.

It turned out that using people as shields was actually possible.

"No, wait... you’re not the spy?" Ariana asked, firing two spells at the dragon while glancing toward Daphne. "I always thought it was you."

Blue Team: Fleur, Daphne, Quinta, Nassim.

Red Team: Kamio, Ariana, and Jauncey.

"Of course this young lady isn’t a spy. Even if I were, I’d still do it again. That guy is the biggest, the dumbest, and he offended me before. If I wasn’t going to use him as a shield, was I supposed to use you?" Daphne said, looking proud of herself.

Ariana opened her mouth, then closed it again.

She shifted her focus back to securing the dragon kill.

...

..

The Dragon’s health continued to fall.

Sometimes, numbers were the greatest advantage of all.

In a one-on-one fight against the Dragon, even with a fully unsealed wand, nobody here besides Ariana and Daphne stood a chance.

But with enough people, they could support one another and divide the dragon’s attention. The balance gradually shifted in their favor.

As a result, the dragon-slaying raid went surprisingly smoothly.

The only casualty was the unfortunate Jauncey, who had died once while serving as the team’s tank.

But when the dragon’s health dropped below twenty percent, the atmosphere changed.

Nobody had forgotten that there could only be one winner in the end.

Failing to land the final blow meant all your effort would simply benefit someone else.

And when the dragon’s remaining health fell into single digits, Quinta suddenly pointed her wand at Daphne without warning.

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego!"

Daphne reacted instantly. The Shield Charm sprang up around her, deflecting the spell, and she immediately counterattacked.

Ariana flicked her wand, redirecting the incoming curse as well.

Just then, Jauncey, who had only recently respawned and rushed back from base, decisively threw out two magic cards, one aimed at Quinta and the other at Fleur. With that done, he quickly realized he wasn’t going to be much help in the fight. Rather than linger, he turned around and headed back to his lane to farm.

Swish—

Fleur’s silver, waterfall-like hair flowed behind her, scattering the sparkling motes of light from Jauncey’s card. Still,, the particles carried a faint hypnotic effect.

But it was useless against her. Fleur’s mental resistance was too strong to be affected.

Quinta, however, was standing nearby and faltered for a brief instant.

That moment of hesitation was all it took. Quinta failed to activate her protective magic card in time.

A burst of light slammed into her, stripping away every defensive layer she had.

Then a violet radiance descended from above and carried her away.

In an instant, the battlefield became a one-versus-three.

Ariana was facing the enemy team alone, while Daphne single-handedly kept her locked down.

Ariana was unwilling to accept it, but she knew the situation was hopeless.

There was almost no chance she’d secure the Dragon kill now.

Six percent.

Three percent.

"Daphne, keep her occupied no matter what!"

Fleur shouted while secretly studying Daphne’s expression, trying to determine once and for all whether she was an infiltrator.

Yet the young lady merely nodded. From beginning to end, her expression never changed. She dutifully blocked Ariana’s advance and forced her even farther away from the dragon.

She’s really not a spy?

Suppressing her doubts, Fleur decided to focus on securing the dragon first. There would be plenty of time afterward to identify the traitor.

When the Dragon’s health dropped below one percent, the Blue Team was convinced victory was already theirs.

And that was exactly when disaster struck.

Weeds burst from the ground and wrapped around Fleur’s ankles. The vines jerked tight, throwing her off balance and sending her sprawling to the ground.

Then a magic card shot toward the Dragon.

Panicked, Fleur immediately fired a spell, trying to finish the dragon first.

The good news was that her spell traveled faster than the magic card.

The bad news was that it didn’t hit hard enough.

The dragon’s health dropped from 0.95% to 0.3%.

And then all she could do was watch helplessly as a fireball from the magic card slammed into the Dragon and claimed the final sliver of health.

A mournful roar echoed through the canyon. And... the Dragon vanished.

A pale violet aura appeared beneath Ariana’s feet as the Dragon Buff took effect. Her wand’s seal loosened even further, and the spells she cast now screamed through the air with overwhelming force.

The sheer power pushed Daphne backward again and again.

"Oh my, looks like luck is on my side today."

Kamio emerged from the bushes. The girl wore a dazzling smile as she walked forward.

"Arriving early isn’t as good as arriving at the right time. What was that thing Tom always says again?" She tapped a finger against her lips.

"Ah, I remember. This treasure was clearly destined for me."

Pinned down and thoroughly beaten, Daphne looked at her with grief and indignation, "Kamio, you actually ambushed us!"

"And that’s what this competition is about." Kamio blinked innocently. "Besides, I didn’t ambush you. I only ambushed Fleur."

"Oh, right."

Daphne thought about it and immediately nodded in agreement, "That makes sense."

Fleur and Ariana both pressed a hand to their foreheads.

They had completely given up on her.

Ariana even lowered her wand, unable to bring herself to keep fighting.

No wonder Tom spoiled her so much.

If she wasn’t kept under constant supervision, someone could sell her off and she wouldn’t realize what had happened until much later. She was astonishingly naïve, even by Rapunzel’s standards.

"Come on, Kamio. We’ve got the Dragon Buff now. Let’s push the towers and end this match."

Ariana called out as she headed back toward the middle lane.

Kamio flashed Daphne a sweet smile. "Sorry. Looks like I’ll be the one sending you home."

Two spells shot out.

At long last, Daphne earned her very first death of the match.

With the Dragon Buff secured, the game finally entered its fast-forward phase.

.

.

.