Allen hovered in mid-air, the hem of his trench coat billowing wildly in the lake breeze.
The eyes beneath the fox mask narrowed slightly. He could sense the black-robed man's magical energy rapidly contracting towards the center of the lake, like a fish desperately trying to dive into deeper water.
"Trying to run?"
He muttered something to himself, his gaze fixed on the shadowy figures that were barely visible beneath the dark surface of the water.
But then, his brows furrowed.
There was no way around it; the lake was simply too vast, with an extremely wide area of deep water. The man in black robes had clearly dived to a very deep place, and since he was wearing a robe enchanted with Waterproofing Charm, he had been underwater for far longer than an ordinary wizard.
Just as Allen was searching for a spell to deal with this situation in the vast ocean of knowledge, a very faint light suddenly flashed in the depths of his mind.
The light was like fish scales at the bottom of deep water, fleeting yet carrying a strange sense of familiarity.
He subconsciously followed the light into his consciousness, and then he "saw" a scene.
It was a dim afternoon. In an old study filled with ancient books, Quirrell sat at a table with a yellowed parchment scroll lying in front of him.
He muttered some notes to himself, his wand slowly spinning between his fingers as he tried to combine two seemingly unrelated spells.
The Levitation Charm and the Blasting Curse.
Quirrell tried many times, but failed each time. The two spells collided at the tip of the staff, either canceling each other out or exploding into a meaningless shockwave.
He always fell just short, never quite finding that critical point that could seamlessly integrate the two.
But on the beach at St Margaret's Bay, in his final moments, Quirrell seemed to finally understand something.
But that realization came too late; it was too late to put it into practice.
At that moment, a gentle yet weary voice echoed in Allen's mind, as if someone were whispering softly against his ear.
"This is my Composite Spell."
"I never succeeded while I was alive, but I only realized it in the final moments of my life."
"But with the power that the Grey Lady just temporarily lent us, it should be enough to sustain it."
Allen was slightly taken aback, then understood.
This was the last gift Quirrell left in his consciousness, or rather, the final present before the shadow of that obsession dissipated.
" Composite Spell..." Allen repeated the word in a low voice, feeling the previously independent spell knowledge in his mind slowly converging in the same direction under some unseen guidance.
[ Levitation Charm × Blasting Curse ]
Two seemingly unrelated spells began to intertwine amidst the entanglement of countless pieces of knowledge, like two streams of water slowly merging into the same river.
"I can't use the Nonverbal Spell this time." He suddenly realized, shaking his head helplessly. "With my current strength, just casting this Composite Spell is difficult enough, let alone Nonverbal Spellcasting."
Outside the light screen, the murmurs in the Ministry Atrium gradually subsided.
Everyone stared at the black figure hovering on the lake's surface in the light screen, waiting for his next move. Hundreds of eyes were focused on the slowly rising magic wand.
Fudge took a step back and involuntarily grabbed the sleeve of an official next to him.
The tall wizard narrowed his eyes slightly, his gaze fixed on Allen's staff-wielding posture on the light screen.
"Is he preparing some kind of spell?" the tall wizard murmured in confusion.
But... what spell could possibly solve this situation?
The female reporter in the round hat next to him immediately turned around. "What incantation? Can you see what he's chanting?"
Allen, seen through the light screen, took a deep breath.
The incantation that appeared in his mind was long and complex, with tightly nested syllables; the slightest deviation in a syllable would cause the entire incantation to completely collapse.
He opened his mouth and began to chant.
It was an intonation he had never heard before, with an ancient rhythm, like some long-lost dialect being rediscovered in the cracks of time.
The syllables of the incantation were not hurried, but rather long and drawn out, one syllable overlapping another, like a sung ballad.
In the main hall outside the light screen, the expressions on most people's faces changed from confusion to deeper confusion.
"What... is he chanting?" a middle-aged male wizard in a crimson robe asked instinctively.
"I don't know, I don't understand." The person next to him shook his head.
"I've never heard this pronunciation before. What kind of magic system is this?"
"Not quite Europe... sounds more old-fashioned."
"It's somewhat like a variant of Old English, but not quite..." An elderly scholar wearing glasses stroked his beard and analyzed with a puzzled expression.
"So what incantation was he chanting?" someone asked.
A buzz of discussion filled the main hall; clearly, most people hadn't understood what was going on.
Most people frowned and exchanged bewildered glances. They could hear Allen's voice coming from the light screen, but the syllables of the incantation didn't sound like any spellcasting language they were familiar with.
It is neither like Latin-based incantations nor does it have the regular consonant structure of modern magic spells.
But the expressions of the old wizards in the front row of the guest area changed almost simultaneously.
The white-haired old man from Wizengamot sat up straight instantly, his cane nearly slipping from his fingers.
The tall male wizard from the International Confederation of Wizards next to him had a solemn expression. He subconsciously leaned forward, his gaze fixed on the black figure on the light screen.
"He's actually... casting Composite Spell."
His words were like a stone thrown into the water.
The murmurs in the main hall suddenly subsided, and everyone's gaze shifted from the light screen to him.
" Composite Spell? What's that?" a young witch in the front row immediately asked.
The tall wizard didn't answer immediately. He stared at Allen on the screen for two more seconds, making sure he hadn't misjudged the situation, before slowly speaking:
"When a wizard's skill reaches a sufficient level, if he has an extremely profound understanding of two or more spells, there is a small probability that he can combine them into a completely new spell."
This type of spell is called Composite Spell.
He paused, as if organizing his thoughts. "Each Composite Spell is unique to its individual user."
"Because everyone's understanding of spells is different, the combinations cannot be exactly the same."
Therefore, Composite Spell often carry a very strong personal touch and have various unique effects that differ from ordinary spells.
"To give a simple example—" a look of reminiscence crossed his eyes, "When Dumbledore and Grindelwald dueled, he cast a spell that created a dueling field."