Fierce Battle in the Garden

Skylar and Phoebe stepped into the depths of the dense forest. The surrounding light was blocked by the thick foliage, making the entire environment dark and cold, with a strange magical fluctuation permeating the air. The silence was eerie, as if even the chirping of birds and the murmur of insects had been swallowed up.

"If I'm not mistaken, this area should be the kind of habitat the Red Cap prefer—dark and damp enough, and full of their favorite poisonous fungi," Skylar said slowly, his brow slightly furrowed. "The Red Cap like to attack humans, but we haven't encountered a single one, which is very unusual."

"You mean...?" Phoebe asked.

"The Red Cap are vicious, so the only monster that could make them hide so well must be an even more ferocious one," Skylar said.

Just as they cautiously walked through a thicket of twisted, gnarled roots, the sight before them made them involuntarily stop in their tracks—

Seferis, Mara, and Alison were hanging upside down from a tall tree branch, swaying unconsciously. Their wands were missing, and there were marks on their bodies from being whipped by vines, indicating that they had suffered a violent attack and fallen into a coma.

Raffaella was trapped in a small tree trunk cage, hanging high in the tree. It was a cylindrical cage, somewhat similar to medieval prisoner cages, but the cage itself was made of original black branches intertwined, with several thick branches tightly entwined together, twisting and growing like vines to form an indestructible wooden prison.

The wooden cell was covered with a strange layer of moss, faintly exuding a damp, decaying smell, making one wonder if the wood grain possessed some kind of Grim life force.

Sharp wooden spikes grew from the four corners of the cage, like barbs to prevent escape, and even trembled slightly, as if reacting to the approach of outsiders. Whenever Raffaella struggled even slightly, the branches tightened as if they were alive, seemingly trying to constrict her more tightly and force her to remain still.

Trapped in the center, she had almost no room to move, barely able to curl up her limbs with her knees against her chest. Her tattoos were still shimmering with a faint blue light, each line seemingly alive, flowing with ancient runes, temporarily protecting her from even greater oppression.

The tattoos on her body were clearly some kind of secret protective magic. The faint blue light flowed along her arms, preventing her from being knocked unconscious, hung upside down, or physically harmed by trees like the others.

When she saw Skylar and Phoebe, her eyes widened, and she shouted urgently, "Run! This is not a place you can handle! Go find the referees and professors for help!"

Her voice was particularly jarring in the silent forest, filled with urgency and terror.

Skylar frowned, his gaze quickly scanning his surroundings, trying to pinpoint the source of the anomaly. He could sense a strong fluctuation of Dark Arts permeating the air, as if the entire forest was being controlled by some strange force. This was no ordinary trap, but some meticulously planned setup.

"Who did this?" he asked in a deep voice, his gaze sharp as a knife.

"Morozov..." Raffaella gasped, her eyes filled with disbelief and terror, "The Rampant Tree!... This is no longer a normal forest... It's come alive..."

Deep in the dense forest, the air seemed to freeze, and the rustling of leaves and grass came from the shadows, as if something was stirring.

Skylar gripped his wand tightly, the incessant, anxious cries of Raffaella from high above still echoing in his ears. She seemed to have become even more hysterical—"Run! Why are you all standing here like idiots—go find help! Hurry!"

However, he had no intention of fleeing. He simply took a deep breath, his eyes sharp as knives, and winked at Phoebe before saying in a low voice, "Since it's the infamous Rampant Tree, we won't be able to escape together—I'll hold him off. Phoebe, you run first—find a way back to the entrance and seek help there!"

Phoebe was startled and was about to retort, but Skylar had already taken a step forward, wand raised high, like a proud duelist, ready for battle. His thin figure stood alone in the dense forest, like a lone wolf about to face a raging storm.

In the darkness, after a moment of silence, a low laugh suddenly broke the silence.

"Skylar Malfoy... you do have some backbone."

Morozov's figure remained hidden in the darkness, but the entire forest had quietly awakened.

The surrounding trees began to change, their trunks twisted violently, their roots sprouted from the soil like living things, their vines grew wildly like snakes, and an eerie green light appeared faintly among their branches and leaves.

"Let's see how long you can last?"

Morozov's voice faded into the echoes of the dense forest, and then countless sharp thorny vines came furiously from all directions, with a terrible howl that tore the air apart, as if they wanted to tear Skylar to pieces!

Finite Incantatem!

Skylar swiftly swung his wand, then plunged it violently into the ground!

Boom--!

A powerful magical wave emanated from beneath his feet, causing the earth to tremble and the air to surge. The first wave of attacking vines was instantly shaken and scattered backward!

But then, the demon tree grew wildly again, with denser and fiercer thorns and vines surging in like a tidal wave. The green light between the branches and leaves flickered eerily, as if the dense forest itself had transformed into a giant beast with bared fangs, ready to devour Skylar completely!

"Phoebe —run! I can't hold them off for long!"

Skylar roared, brandishing his wand and unleashing a barrage of flames, wind blades, and shockwaves, briefly carving a path through the dense forest!

At that moment, Phoebe stood there, clenching her teeth, her azure eyes flashing with complex emotions.

She knew perfectly well that Skylar was deliberately drawing fire so that she could escape, but her feet felt as if they were nailed to the ground, and she couldn't take a single step.

"... Skylar," she murmured softly, tears glistening in the corners of her eyes.

Her fingernails dug deep into her palms. Finally, she took a deep breath, forced herself to turn around, and desperately ran out of the dense forest!

"You must hold on! I'll bring back reinforcements!"

She left those words behind and quickly disappeared into the depths of the forest, never looking back.

Skylar watched her retreating figure disappear, a barely perceptible smile flashing in his eyes.

Good, she's gone.

So...

He can finally give it his all.

He took a deep, deep breath—

"Purple Fire Scorches the Plains!" A purple flame erupted from the end of Skylar's wand, crackling as it burned the air, transforming into a swirling purple blaze that slammed forward like a long serpent!

"This is..." Morozov's incredulous voice faintly echoed from the woods.

"It's the signature move of Harfon Monte, the second principal of Durmstrang!" Raffaella perked up immediately, loudly finishing Morozov's sentence. In her view, the renowned Skylar was their only hope for escape. While Phoebe's strength was considerable, she couldn't possibly be stronger than the rest of them hanging from the tree combined.

It's important to understand that among the defeated warriors hanging from the trees, only Seferis was defeated individually, while the other three were taken down by Morozov in a three-on-one situation. This doesn't mean Morozov was individually stronger than them, but within the demon tree array, Morozov had the advantage of both timing and location, while they only had a single magic wand, making them no match for him. If it weren't for Raffaella's family's secret "Protection of the Forest" tattoo, which grants her the ability to prevent the forest from harming her, she would probably have been hanging in mid-air like prey, just like the others.

"This isn't over yet, watch this move— Dance of Crimson Flame!" A burst of orange-red flames erupted from the tip of the wand once more, emitting a mysterious sound that was like a song, resounding through the heavens and even causing the soul to tremble.

"My God—it's the famous secret magic technique of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, the Sacred Fire that can burn and purify all evil!" Raffaella's exclamation rang out at the right moment, trying to boost morale while also attempting to undermine Morozov's confidence with words.

"Final move - Fiendfyre Burning Heaven - Ultimate - Transformation!" The blue Fiendfyre exuded an astonishing aura that could incinerate everything, soaring high into the air and transforming into its final form, the black Fiendfyre Blaze, the instant it left the wand.

"This is -- Fiendfyre, my god, the Fiendfyre that destroys everything -- wait, why is Fiendfyre black?" Raffaella shouted excitedly, but his tone carried a hint of confusion.

Three flames crisscrossed and rushed towards each other in different directions, while at the intersections they merged and devoured each other, giving birth to a completely new and unprecedented alien flame!