The spear still hummed. What had stopped it was a slightly translucent cuirass.
Dumbledore remained calm, merely watching him with an indifferent gaze.
Zhang Xiao gave a forceful snort, contracting his abdomen to blast the blood out of his nose. He barely managed to twist around and land in a backward flip.
Leaning on his spear, he gasped for breath.
Faint lightning arcs still flowed over the armor's surface.
This was the Shield Charm-a Shield Charm honed to its absolute limit...
Zhang Xiao's mouth tasted bitter. Even if Dumbledore had held a steel plate in front of himself, that last thrust would definitely have pierced it.
But a Shield Charm of this caliber...
A crisp crack rang out.
Zhang Xiao's ears twitched. His eyes fixed on the translucent armor, on the spot where his spear tip had struck.
Cracks slowly emerged, then rapidly spread across the entire cuirass.
Finally, it shattered with a clatter, dissolving into scattered motes of light.
"Heh... ha... hahahahahaha..."
His low chuckles gradually became booming laughter. The laughter pulled at his injuries, turning into agonizing coughs.
Yet Zhang Xiao still wore a smile.
It broke! It finally broke!
He forced himself upright, spinning the spear in his hand with a mournful whistle of wind. He had only broken Dumbledore's Shield Charm, but that alone swept away all his earlier frustration.
Both Voldemort and Dumbledore had long since mastered the Shield Charm to an extraordinary degree.
But neither could break the other's Shield Charm, so any duel between them became a contest of control, skill, and experience.
Dumbledore had told him that himself while he was practicing the Shield Charm! (Voldemort's little silver shield.)
Enduring the excruciating pain throughout his body, Zhang Xiao took his stance again. Breaking the Shield Charm had inflated his confidence a little.