I gave Vespera some time to calm down. She was visibly in shock. I admit, even I was a bit taken aback by her outburst—from an elegant woman of her standing, born for high society, one would expect a quote from poetry rather than the vocabulary of a pagan.
It didn't take long. She spoke sharply, her eyebrows knitted into a deep frown. "What do you mean, you have to hunt a troll? They are magically resistant... Patrik, even I would have trouble taking down a troll alone!"
"I know. But they aren't resistant to the elements. I can simply drown it with water," I shrugged, as if speaking of a common household chore. "I need to hunt it to gather ingredients for a ritual."
"I beg your pardon? I hope I misheard that last sentence," she cried out in horror, her face turning deathly pale.
I was certain I had spoken loud and clear, so I merely gave a silent nod. It looked as if a hundred devils had flown into her at that very second.
"What ritual? Patrik, rituals are extremely dangerous! They can easily kill you or leave you maimed!"
"I agree they are dangerous... but it always depends on the specific ritual and the source one draws from," I replied calmly. I refused to be unsettled by her anger. No risk, no reward. "I have an original book by Morgana Le Fay. I've already successfully completed the first ritual. I translated every word from Old English at least five or six times before I dared to act. I am confident in their reliability. Besides, the ritual was created for her son—at least, that's the impression I got from the text—and I don't believe she would have wanted to harm him."
Vespera listened with her mouth slightly agape, pale as a sheet. She stared at me in disbelief for a moment, but then shook off the paralysis and commanded resolutely: "I forbid you from performing any further rituals until I have looked at them!"
"Hm? Are you an expert in rituals?" I asked with genuine interest.
Vespera shook her head in disapproval. "I am not an expert in rituals. I have always considered them a pointless and extreme risk, unpredictable magic... your Black blood surely talked you into this." Finally, she let out a dissatisfied sigh and added: "I want you to be safe. I know Old English, so I will take a look at it. And the Bathorys... they are the greatest experts on ritual magic in all of Europe. If Elizabeth approves it, you shall have my permission. Provided, of course, that you are actually powerful enough to kill a troll in the first place."
"Fine," I nodded.
I had no problem agreeing if it would calm her down and convince her to go hunt the troll with me. At the same time, I realized I would sleep more soundly myself if someone competent checked a ritual with permanent effects. One does not trifle with magic intended to forever alter your body or soul.
"What ritual from that book did you perform first?" she asked after a moment of nervous glowering. "And what ritual do you plan to do with the troll?"
"The first was a cleansing, one-time ritual... it rids the body of everything negative. And the next one I'm planning is meant to increase physical resistance and speed up regeneration," I answered calmly. "So that I'm not so easy to kill," I added with a light shrug of my shoulders.
As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how powerful a piece of manipulation it was.
„Damn it, am I manipulating people even when I don't mean to?" the thought flashed through my mind with concern.
In that instant, however, all of Vespera's nervousness vanished. She stepped toward me immediately, placed her right hand firmly on my shoulder, and looked me gravely in the eye. "Patrik, as long as I am here, no one will ever hurt you," she promised with absolute determination in her voice.
"I know, dear aunt, but it is always better to improve one's odds," I nodded with total seriousness. There was no one I trusted more, which was strange given my nature... but in less than a year, she had completely and uncompromisingly won me over. By what she said, what she wrote, what she did, and even what she didn't do.
When she saw the same determination in my eyes as she had in hers, she nodded and called out: "Jobo!"
The poor elf appeared, clutching his lower back, and bowed with a hiss of pain. Vespera didn't care; she commanded him immediately: "Send word to Elizabeth at once. Top priority, emergency state!"
Jobo bowed with effort once more and vanished.
"When do you expect her to get here?" I asked curiously. From the films, I remembered that Apparition or Portkeys worked instantly, but I doubted that international travel was quite so simple in reality.
"By evening. She has a long-term visa, just as I do for Czecho-Slovakia. So as soon as she finds the time, she'll move to the Ministry in Prague and then by Portkey to London," Vespera replied calmly.
"Visas? Without them, how long would it take?" I inquired. "How does international transport actually work? And what about illegal routes? For example, if I suddenly needed to move to Germany?"
Vespera sighed heavily and muttered under her breath: "Black blood..."
After a moment, my aunt began to explain: "I don't know exactly how it works technically; runes and wards never particularly interested me," she shrugged and continued: "When wizards withdrew into seclusion away from the Muggle world, some countries created a defense system that they later shared with others. It's essentially a massive map of the country with a network of detection points along the borders. It displays strong magical discharges—for instance, if wizards were fighting somewhere. Of course, powerful shields can mask these flashes, and there are dead zones, like our estate."
She took a deep breath and went on: "It has several functions, but the main one is that your magic—or your soul, I have no idea how it works—has a unique signature you are born with in a given country. If someone with a foreign signature crosses the border of a state that has these wards, they immediately appear on the map as a glowing dot. So, if you suddenly appeared in Germany, the map would register you instantly, hit-wizards would show up at your side, and you'd be in massive trouble. Naturally, magic can be fooled, hidden, or powerful artifacts can be used... but normally you go legally through the Ministry, an airport, or a ferry where there are wizards."
She exhaled and concluded the lesson: "When you go legally, your signature is temporarily recorded in the system, and you can move freely through the country for a fixed period."
So, power was the deciding factor here too. What would those hit-wizards do if I teleported somewhere and neutralized them as soon as they arrived? And then immediately hid myself magically again? Of course, I had no such plans for now, but it was good to have this knowledge—just in case.
"Until Elizabeth arrives, we have time for a duel," Vespera spoke with a predatory smirk. "Since I'll soon be entirely grey-haired because of my beloved nephew... I intend to thoroughly enjoy this duel."
I smirked back and nodded. I felt the adrenaline beginning to pulse in my veins. "Rules?"
"No Killing Curses, nor any that cause permanent damage," she replied, stepping back a few meters and taking a combat stance with wand in hand. "Ready?" At my nod, she simply barked: "Show me then how you intend to handle a troll! Silencio!"
A silver beam flew at me instantly. She caught me completely off guard; I had naively expected some sort of starting signal, and so the spell hit me full on. I immediately felt that I couldn't speak. It was an unpleasant block on my vocal cords. I began to push against it with my own magic, but before I could remove it, more curses were flying my way.
"Os Frangere! Everte Statum!"
I threw myself to the side immediately. Her spells were faster than anything I had experienced so far. How was it possible? I remained in shock, but instincts worked for me.
Before I could even do anything, she pointed her wand in front of me and cried: "Glacius!" A cold blue beam shot from her wand, which immediately turned the floor into a mirror-smooth ice surface upon impact.
"Let's turn it up a notch, nephew!" she called to me with a laugh. "Cestus Ictus!"
A white beam shot toward me. I knew what that spell did—it's a magical strike like a steel fist. Normally I would have dodged, but on this ice? "Protego!" I barked internally. There was a dull thud, and my shield shattered instantly under the force.
Vespera wasted no time: "Nebula Caustica!" A thick emerald mist began to pour from her wand, crawling directly toward me. I knew I mustn't even touch it. It looked like evaporated acid.
"Finite Incantatum!" I shouted toward the ground, pouring a significant amount of power into it. I had to get rid of the ice under my feet. And before the mist could consume me, I decided to burn it: "Incendio!"
I saw Vespera stop releasing the emerald mist, but before I could burn everything crawling toward me, she continued her offensive: "Synapsis Interrum!" She paused for a fraction of a second, concentrated, and then aimed above me: "Pressio Grave!"
I dodged the pink beam of the first curse to the side, while I tried to destroy the silver star flying over my head with a Bombarda. I missed.
The blinking star was already hanging above me, and I immediately felt a crushing pressure trying to drive me to the ground. My movements grew heavy, but Vespera did not relent: "Everte Statum! Oculi Fervens! Pulmo Haurit!"
Again, she took away my ability to maneuver. I was trapped. I knew I wouldn't have time to conjure enough water to defend against the volley of beams, so I had only one option. The one I didn't have perfectly under control yet.
"Aegis Aurum!"
With a cry, a golden dome appeared around me. It still wasn't perfect; its walls were transparent in some places, but I felt a sense of relief—the shield reduced the force of the star above me, and I could move more freely. My Aegis absorbed both orange beams and the grey one meant to sear the air from my lungs without any trouble.
Vespera, however, had expected this. She added coldly: "Punctum! Confringo!"
What the fuck? flashed through my head. She said we wouldn't use dangerous curses! I cursed internally, hoping my shield would hold. But her blue-white beam hit the weakest, almost transparent spot of my shield with surgical precision and completely disrupted its structure. The following Confringo blew my Aegis to dust.
I felt only the impact of a magical wave, a flight through the air, and then a hard, painful landing on the stone floor. The world blurred for a moment.
"Expelliarmus!" rang through the room.
It wasn't the first time I'd been stunned in a fight. Instinctively, I performed a back-roll and, almost blindly, while still half-standing, I returned fire: "Levioso! Descendo! Expelliarmus!"
Her red beam splashed against the stone floor a meter in front of me. From my end, however, two yellow discharges and one red one flew in close succession. I didn't intend to let up; I needed to gain time and space: "Fulmino!"
A powerful bolt of lightning erupted from my wand. But Vespera underestimated nothing: "Protego Horribilis!"
My opening combination didn't even shake her shield, but my lightning struck it with such a crack that for a moment, I felt as if the whole world had shuddered. Her protection held, but I continued. Aggressively, I cried out in anger—I felt as if my magic and blood were literally burning: "Aguamenti!"
Hectoliters of water immediately began to pour from my yew wand, which I pushed directly at Vespera with the raw power of my will. My water slowed for a moment under her gravity star, but then the star vanished. I saw Vespera's hand shake—the mass of my water in an active gravity field must have exhausted her suddenly and extremely.
I felt that victory was within reach. I condensed the water and piled it up to create an impenetrable wall; I wanted every spell of hers to dissipate within it. I wanted to defend and then definitively break her.
Vespera, however, did not look frightened. She quickly wiped sweat from her forehead and barked a deadly combination against my wave: "Tensio Nulla! Expelliarmus! Hemo Tarsis!"
I immediately felt the center of my wave burst under the pressure of the first spell. A hole appeared in the mass of water, and before I could close it, the Expelliarmus tore the wand from my hand.
A split second later, a wine-red beam hit me square in the chest. I collapsed to the ground. My head spun brutally; the world around me lost its solid outlines. I just barely managed to roll onto my side and began to vomit in spasms.
I lay there next to a puddle of vomit while the world spun around me. After a while, I heard Vespera's footsteps, but I knew that if I looked at her now, my stomach would turn again.
"Evanesco!"
I felt the sour smell vanish, but I could still feel the foul aftertaste in my mouth. I lay with my eyes closed and thought. My first loss in this life. I had naively thought I would defeat Vespera.
"You are certainly powerful enough for a troll. Your elemental magic will take care of it... but we definitely need to work on dueling. Never expect fair play from anyone," her voice sounded dryly. "Based on the fire, lightning, and water, you rely too much on the elements. They are powerful, yes, but you are inexperienced with them. Your wizarding repertoire is insufficient. Your magical core is incredible, I must admit that, but from the start, you had no control and were only reacting. In the end, you even underestimated me, and that was your undoing. You should have split that water and added more to it. Judging by your state, you still have enough energy for it."
I felt her shake her head in disappointment. She was right. I had brute strength, but with the elemental spells, I had been sparing with my magic. They weren't crushing enough to win, and so she crushed me tactically—precisely and wisely. I had been arrogant and stupid.
I couldn't help a remark, however: "You said we shouldn't use Killing Curses, and you used Confringo."
I sensed amusement in her voice. "That Confringo was weak and uncontrolled. I'm simply no good at it. It was effective only because the Punctum disrupted your shield. Even if you hadn't had that shield, at most it would have scorched your skin and thrown you back... This way, you just took a little flight," she laughed. "You flew through the air quite humorously."
"Tss, laugh all you want," I replied. "We have the whole holidays for me to beat you."
"I hope you do beat me," she replied with disarming sincerity. I remained silent.
Suddenly, Jobo appeared in the room with a pop. At the same time, I felt something strange—the castle let me know that someone was standing at the gate. I felt that person's presence through the very stones of the estate.
"Mistress Elizabeth is here, Mistress Vespera," Jobo announced.
"Excellent. Bring her to us immediately," Vespera commanded.
I quickly opened my eyes. Though my head was still spinning, I certainly didn't plan on lying defeated on the ground in front of some strange witch.
***
Author's note:
Our MC just got a major reality check on what a powerful adult witch is truly capable of. Vespera's precision, talent, and sheer depth of knowledge far outweigh Patrik's raw magical power for now... and of course, he underestimated her brutally. Even though Vespera might not be a "magical titan" on a global scale, she remains one of the most formidable witches out there.
Are you guys curious about Elizabeth?
What did you think of the duel? Did Patrik deserve to have his wings clipped a bit, or are you rooting for him to take Vespera down?
***
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The shadows are shifting, and the story goes much deeper... If you can't wait for the next update, Advanced Chapters are already waiting for you.
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Upcoming Chapters – Already Written(16):
61. A Rosier, Not a Goyle
62. The Babel Charm and the Emperor's Dagger
63. Business and Bloodshed
64. Cruelty for Cruelty
65. Adopted by Fate
66. The Scent of Darkness
67. Socks, Sandals, and Sorcery
68. From Peaks to Plates
69. Ashes of Justice
70. The Scent of Despair
71. The Old Bird's Wisdom
72. Toujours Pur
73. The Emperor of Mankind
74. Two Romans Walk into a Bar…
75. Tactical Retreats
76. The Twelve-Year-Old Dark Lord
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