12 The First Task, Serafall Interlude
After Sergei's performance, next up was Fleur Delacour. She was somewhat confused about the creature she had to face, though. Here, the French Veela was standing in a rocky dirt arena, and she was supposed to face a Kelpie, a monster that was typically only found in water. Yet, there was no water anywhere. It was actually surprisingly dry and dusty in the arena, Fleur noted to herself.
"And now it's time for our real champions to take the stage," the announcer called out. "And she will be facing a Kelpie! But first, to even the odds, how 'bout a change of venue?"
As the announcer finished speaking, Fleur noticed in shock that the dusty arena was rapidly filling with water. She immediately scrambled to the tallest rocky hill just in time, as everything around her, besides the tops of a few taller rocks, was fully submerged underwater!
"That was a close one," Fleur said to herself. It was a well-known fact that Veelas and water did not go well together! What wasn't as widely known was just how true that statement was. When submerged in water, a Veela, who was a creature of fire, would immediately have her magical power reduced by half! On top of that, she wouldn't be able to use her half-bird transformation either because the feathers would get so waterlogged that she wouldn't be able to swim!
Suddenly, the water surrounding Fleur's small platform started to ripple ominously. A green, horse-like head covered in seaweed briefly broke the surface and glared at Fleur before the kelpie swiftly disappeared back underwater. Fleur's heart raced even faster at the sight. To make matters worse, the water filling the arena mixed with the dust, turning it into a murky mess. She wouldn't be able to spot the kelpie until it surfaced, leaving her almost defenseless and unable to cast any spells at the creature accurately. Fleur knew she was in deep trouble…
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Serafall had been watching the competition so far from the top of the stadium, and she wasn't exactly impressed. The French boy who went first and soiled himself did make her bust out laughing, however. She'd seen a lot in her hundreds of years, but that was easily going to be one of the top 20 funniest things she'd ever seen. The next contestant, Surrogate, wasn't bad, but he wasn't particularly powerful either. She would have listed him as about mid-low class in terms of magical power. Above the average wizards who usually never low-low class in magical power, but still very weak. The only thing he had going for him was the accuracy of his spells against the Chimera. Unfortunately for him, his arrogance led to his downfall. And that was always the thing she found funny about wizards and witches—their sheer arrogance that they dominated the magical world. The joke was these wizards, especially the pure bloods, didn't even know where they actually came from! They were actually failed experiments created by the Devils a thousand years ago to try and create decently powerful foot soldiers. They were to be used basically as fodder against God's endless army of angels that he was churning out constantly.
God and his angels were so proud and protective of the humans that the idea was they would struggle to fight back against an army of them who had been infused with a bit of devil magic to grant them easy casting abilities. Unfortunately, the devils' plan didn't exactly go well, as the wizards and witches were immediately declared heretics and hunted on sight by the forces of the church. The survivors of the hunts eventually fled and created smaller communities that had basically stayed independent from any other supernatural faction for the next thousand years. And because of that, the modern witches and wizards not only didn't know that they were actually creations of devils, but that other far more powerful supernatural factions exist all over the world!
The reason Jake had taken so well to Hogwarts and been able to cast spells so easily, with no real effort in learning them, was because all those spells were actually severely toned-down devil magic... even the so-called light spells. She had all but interrogated Dumbledore on all he knew about Jake, which frankly wasn't much. But she was surprised to learn that he hadn't even known about magic until he turned 16! This led her to speculate that Zeoticus probably didn't even know he had a second son. His supposed lack of magical knowledge also made Jake's ability to time travel even more perplexing to her. He was truly a mystery she was becoming increasingly eager to unravel. However, she didn't want to solve it too quickly, as she was actually enjoying her mini-vacation at Hogwarts! Not having to constantly apologize to all the factions the younger members of her race consistently piss off is a real relief for her. Serafall has single handedly prevented more wars than any other being in history! She's more than happy to let Sirzechs and Ajuka suffer such a stressful responsibility for the time being.
"And Fleur Delacour has emerged victorious, but not unscathed!"
The announcer's voice interrupted Serafall's pondering as she looked down and saw that Fleur had indeed defeated the Kelpie, but apparently not easily. Fleur's body was covered in what looked like horse bite marks, and not only that, her clothes and herself were smoking. It seemed that she'd grown desperate in the fight against the Kelpie and, not being able to find it in the brackish water, she decided to cast a lightning spell on the water all around her. Unfortunately, she was also soaking wet at that point from the many times the Kelpie had splashed her. Therefore, some of the voltage from her spell ended up hitting herself as well, as she was floating on her back in the water unconscious right next to the same floating and stunned Kelpie. 'It certainly wasn't the most graceful or painless of victories,' Serafall mused to herself.
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Suddenly, Serafall sensed a familiar magical signature and a familiar magic teleportation circle appeared on the ground next to her. She quickly cast a privacy spell to ensure that none of the nearby wizards could see who was about to teleport in. In a flash of light, the gray-haired super maid devil, Grayfia, appeared.
"Hello, Grayfia," Serafall said. "Are you here to check up on me, or are you here to check up on Sirzechs's mysterious little brother? If so, you might as well stick around because he'll be competing soon. I heard he's facing a dragon, well, not a real dragon, more like a fire-breathing wyvern."
Grayfia didn't like that comment. Whether it be a dragon or just a wyvern, the boy was supposed to be family, and she wasn't particularly fond of the idea of him having to go up against any type of monsters at such a young age.
Serafall could tell from the frown on Grayfia's face what was bothering her. Even though she married into the Gremory clan, Grayfia had fully embraced their protective mindset when it came to their family members. "Relax, Grayfia," Serafall reassured her. "I promise to step in and save him subtly if it seems like Jake can't handle it. But I'm sure he'll be fine. I've been close to him twice now, and I can sense that he has low-high class magical reserves. Very decent for his age. A few well-placed spells from him should be more than enough to take down a measly wyvern." Grayfia's blank stare at Serafall's reassurance prevented the latter from knowing whether the former believed her or not. There was no way Serafall would let Jake get too hurt though. Not only was he her close friend's family, but she also found him charming in his naive youth. She also still hadn't gotten that date yet either…not that Serafall was actually considering fully dating a 16 year old. Even by devil standards she'd be considered a cradle robber. She might consider it a bit in the future though when Jake is a bit older…
"OOOOOOOOH, AND VICTOR KRUM TAKES A DEVASTATING HIT FROM THE CLUB OF THE SECOND TROLL! THAT'S GOT TO HURT. AND I THINK HIS ARM MIGHT EVEN BE BROKEN. GOOD THING IT'S NOT HIS WAND ARM!"
The conversation between the two powerful women was momentarily interrupted by the announcer's exclamation. Serafall had been caught up talking to Grayfia and hadn't even realized that the next champion was already in the arena. It seemed he was facing three trolls, each armed with massive clubs. Serafall noticed that he was putting up a decent fight—he had already defeated one troll, and another was blindly swinging its club around. However, the third troll managed to land a solid hit on him.
"I'll be heading back now. We're expecting a report from you soon regarding Jake and his apparent breaking of the time continuum, whether it was intentional or accidental," Grayfia said as a teleportation circle formed beneath her feet. She needed to return to the underworld promptly because someone (she shot a final glare at Serafall) had given her husband more work on top of his already numerous duties as the leader of the Satans!
"Don't you want to stay and watch Jake compete?" Serafall asked, suspecting that Grayfia didn't entirely trust her and may want to ensure Jake's safety herself.
"No, I'm too busy," Grayfia curtly replied. "I need to make sure Sirzechs is properly managing his new workload." With that, the teleportation magic circle beneath Grayfia flashed, and she vanished as if she had never been there in the first place. Serafall dispelled the privacy spell and turned her attention back to the arena.
"AND VICTOR KRUM, DESPITE SUSTAINING SOME INJURIES, EMERGES VICTORIOUS AFTER FACING THREE FULLY GROWN MOUNTAIN TROLLS SIMULTANEOUSLY! LET'S GIVE HIM A ROUND OF APPLAUSE, EVERYBODY!" The announcer cheered, causing Serafall to politely clap while the rest of the audience erupted in excitement.
She was surprised at how popular this Krum guy was, with all the cheering. Serafall had heard he was some kind of professional sweeper or something. She didn't pay much attention when a student from "her house" had explained it earlier. It involved brooms, and she knew how much wizards seemed to love those things. Sometimes, she just couldn't quite grasp wizarding culture…
Serafall was looking forward to seeing Jake face his "dragon" soon.
-chapter end-
And that brings this chapter to a wrap. Jake's battle will be up next!
If you'd like to read (5 or more) chapters ahead of time visit me @ p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m/ FiveStarTomato
