"What's wrong?"
Harry and Draco were suddenly blocked by Eli.
Eli didn't answer, only staring nervously at the dark shadow on the ground, tightening his grip on his wand.
The dark shadow quickly noticed the three arrivals as well, slowly raising its head. Most of its face remained obscured, and silver blood still dripped from the corners of its mouth.
"Ah!!"
Draco let out an exceptionally shrill scream, grabbing the other two as if to run, but tripped clumsily over a tree root and fell flat on the ground.
"Ah, hiss..."
The moment the dark shadow raised his head, Harry felt a piercing, agonizing pain shoot through the scar on his forehead, and he clutched his head in torment.
Eli knew what the dark shadow was—it was Quirrell, possessed by Voldemort!
It was Quirrell who let the troll in on Halloween, Quirrell who cursed Harry during Quidditch, and Quirrell who tried to steal the Philosopher's Stone!
Voldemort was left with only a tattered fragment of a soul, his life incomplete, and he wanted to steal the Philosopher's Stone to restore his strength.
Before getting the Philosopher's Stone, he had been sustaining his strength by drinking Unicorn Blood.
He certainly knew what the consequences of drinking Unicorn Blood were, but for the sake of power and survival, he had gone mad.
A pale green beam of light suddenly struck. Eli's pupils violently contracted, and he shoved Harry and Draco aside with all his might.
Barely dodging the Killing Curse, Eli was still shaken.
Damn it, this was way too ruthless, going straight for Avada on the first move.
If Eli hadn't reacted quickly just now, they would have been goners right then and there.
It wasn't that he forgot to use a charm to block it earlier; primarily, the Killing Curse could only be parried through physical means, as magic couldn't stop it unless locking beams in a duel.
"Diffindo!"
Eli quickly counterattacked, though he had no intention of entangling in a prolonged fight. The opponent's Killing Curse was executed entirely through Silent Casting—what was he supposed to use to fight someone when he still had to foolishly chant incantations?
Having landed a strike, Eli swiftly cast a Shield Charm around himself, Harry, and Draco.
Fang had already bolted; Eli only hoped Hagrid would arrive soon.
Another green light struck, and Eli controlled a tree trunk on the ground to block the spell.
Boom!
The powerful spell blasted the tree trunk clean in two, kicking up a sky full of wood chips.
"Stupefy!"
Eli quickly made his move, taking advantage of the wood chips obscuring the Inner Eye to attempt a surprise attack.
Yet his opponent was no pushover either, and a single Shield Charm directly batted Eli's spell away.
Eli didn't know whether it was Voldemort or Quirrell controlling the body now, but in any case, the opponent's strength was beyond what he could contend with, and adding two more people wouldn't have helped matters.
"Hurry up and leave, go get help!"
Eli rapidly erected several protective barriers, turning his head to shout urgently at the two people on the ground.
Yet they hesitated, and Harry even looked as though he wanted to pick up his wand.
"Draco, hurry up and take him away, don't throw your lives away!"
Draco was startled awake by Eli's roar. After a brief struggle, he pulled Harry up. "Be careful yourself!" Then he ran off, taking Harry with him.
Seeing the two leave, the dark shadow let out a roar, rapidly pursuing Harry's direction and firing off several spells.
It seemed his primary target was Harry!
Eli flashed forward to block him. "Your opponent is me! Stupefy!"
In high tension, Eli began recklessly unleashing his magic, every single spell carrying considerable power.
The dark shadow prepared to bat away Eli's spell just as before, but he had ultimately underestimated a spellcaster cannoneer!
The moment the spell made contact with the wand, the wand was actually jarred right out of his hand by the sheer vibration.
The dark shadow staggered back repeatedly.
"Useless trash!"
Eli vaguely heard an angry roar, and as the dark shadow convulsed, he reached out a hand, causing the wand to automatically fly back into his grasp.
Eli wasn't just standing there letting him make his move either.
"Reducto!"
The dark shadow dodged rather awkwardly; having witnessed that outrageous spell from moments ago, he dared not take it head-on.
The battle seemed to have turned.
Yet Eli grew even more solemn.
"Avada Kedavra!"
"Reducto!"
The two of them directly sustained their output of magic, their spells forming lightning-like pillars of light that clashed against each other!
A massive expanse of the forest was illuminated by the two colors of light, and explosive sounds continuously erupted where the spells met.
Eli felt the tremendous force transmitted through his hands, pouring out his magic as if it were worthless.
The dark shadow wasn't having an entirely easy time either, the veins on his hands bulging fiercely.
In terms of raw magic, Eli was not much inferior to him, but the opponent's spell was extraordinarily condensed. Like a sharp blade piercing into tofu, Eli's power began to give ground!
Eli's forehead was covered in dense beads of fine sweat, his hands trembling continuously. Even so, the Killing Curse kept inching closer to his side.
Suddenly, hurried and chaotic hoofbeats came from the side. Perhaps unwilling to fight to the death, the dark shadow suddenly burst forth, savagely slicing through the connection between the spells.
"What the..."
Eli had no energy left to react and was sent flying straight through the air.
Rear-end facing the sky, looking utterly wretched.
The dark shadow turned around and bolted.
Just then, Ronan and Firenze also rushed over with the centaurs, arriving just in time to see Eli's posterior pointed skyward.
"Ah, I'll fight you to the death!"
Having taken a face-plant and then getting caught looking like that, Eli flew into a rage from embarrassment, unleashing several Reducto spells in the direction the dark shadow had fled, which triggered a series of explosions.
The centaurs wore expressions of utter sheepishness, and Firenze hurried over to pull Eli up.
Hagrid, holding a crossbow and leading Harry and the others, rushed over as well. Seeing the centaurs here, he breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his crossbow.
However, seeing Eli apparently grabbed by Firenze and still struggling, Hagrid assumed a conflict had broken out and immediately stepped forward to explain.
"Oh, he's my friend, he means no harm, he's very friendly!"
"You son of a bitch, come on, hit me again, I'll blow your asshole to pieces! F**k! Shift!"
A torrent of curses rang out from Eli's side.
Hagrid: "..."
"This... he's usually not like this..."
Hagrid suddenly had no idea what to say.
Ronan knew Hagrid had misunderstood, stepping forward to say, "It is not as you think. He is also our friend. He was just fighting the creature that attacked the unicorn, and perhaps... he is still in the heat of the moment?"
With such an incident occurring, the patrol of the Forbidden Forest was immediately called off, and everyone returned to the castle.
No one brought up the events in the Forbidden Forest again, but a piece of good news was about to take place.
The Dueling Club was officially open!
The notice board was surrounded by crowds, everyone brimming with interest in this suddenly appearing Dueling Club.
An empty classroom had been converted into a dueling arena.
It was packed with people, and Professor Flitwick and Eli stood upon the dueling stage.
Professor Flitwick looked exceptionally different today, dressed very sharply and appearing rather sharp-edged. The young wizards marveled endlessly at the professor's unusual demeanor today.
"Ahem..."
Professor Flitwick cleared his throat, and the surroundings immediately grew quiet.
The professor looked spirited to the extreme. "Welcome, students. I am your Professor Flitwick. In order to promote student exchange, in order to... yada yada yada."
He spoke for a full hour, delivering a speech full of passion and endless chatter.
The students down below were practically falling asleep.
"And now, please let our club's Head Boy, Mr. Hall, say a few words for everyone."
It was finally Eli's turn.
Eli cleared his throat with a theatrical flair. "Ahem... I... this... the Dueling Club is officially established!"
After racking his brain for ages without coming up with a speech, he figured they might as well just establish it right then and there. Let's get on with it; he was tired.
Before you continue