Chapter 173: The first duel, Chris v/s Felice

After coming back from the dinner, Chris was thinking of going back to his training but Felice had other plans.

She turned around to fix her strict gaze on Chris who was in a good mood after eating his fill.

"Tomorrow is the tournament and I haven't yet checked out on your dueling skills upto now because 'someone' had just said, 'there is no need'," she said, rolling her eyes in exasperation and Chris supposed that "someone" was his dad.

According to Felice, Chris is very weird. Before today, she even didn't know that he could do the Shield spell, since he had stuck to the more difficult and risky alternatives like Dodging and Swatting, but she saw him using it non-verbally today when the food was blasted in all directions.

Thus, she can't understand why he never once fought honorably in the Selection tournament. In actuality, there's no deeper meaning to it. To Chris, shielding is just not cool enough.

Though Felice doesn't know this. So... here they were


"So, you want to test out my skills, don't you?" Chris asked, guessing what this was about. Unsurprisingly, he wasn't surprised.
"To make sure I don't 'embarrass' France?" changing his tone to mimic hers for the last part, "Well, I refuse," he said simply as he began to leave. He was too busy to play with her.


Felice gave Chris a withering look, "How rude. Clearly, your mother hasn't even been able to teach you anything about manners yet. I think we'll need to work on that too since your incompetent mother can't teach you anything," she said twirling her wand.

Chris stopped dead in his tracks. This woman expects him to be polite to her despite being rude to him from the start?

It is apparent that she has some major issues with his family, or more specifically, his mother. And then there's the fact that he badly injured Louise who's like a niece to her and for no apparent reason. But, that doesn't mean he's going to tolerate her insulting his family.

All traces of his usual lazy smile vanished from him as he turned around and stared dead into Felice's eyes, "You can insult me, but not my mother," he said calmly, without showing any sign of anger or hostility.

He knows he's an asshole but Camille is probably the kindest person he's ever met. And it's not her fault that Chris is being rude to rude b*tches.

Fleur, who was standing to the side realized that Chris right now was dangerous.
She only now realized that she hasn't once seen Chris with such a serious and blank expression. He's always so relaxed and cocky, mostly having that knowing smile on his face that seems to always get her flustered.

That Chris is now serious, and she knows the reason.
'She shouldn't have said anything about his family,' she thought as she unconsciously gripped the pendant around her neck. This guy only has one reverse scale.

"Chris... please don't... please?" She pleaded. She has to stop him now, before he does something that everyone will regret later.

Felice is her headteacher whom she genuinely respects. That woman has always been kind to her despite her Veela heritage and guided her in dueling. She really didn't want her to face Chris's payback... because it'll likely be something far worse than what she said to Chris.


Looking at Fleur, Chris sighed as he decided to be merciful. Had it been a year back, he'd have succumbed to his dragon traits but, he's more mature now.

Though, there's another reason for that as well. He simply doesn't have the time, energy, and magic power to waste on this woman. He needs his magic power for his various projects and his energy for his training, not for fighting pointless fights.

"One spell," he said, at last, making both Fleur and Felice confused.


"One spell??" questioned Felice.


Chris nodded, "I'll shoot just one spell. If you couldn't defend it, then I should be capable enough to not embarrass France and... you will have to apologize to my mom,"

The headteacher had a bewildered expression on her face.
".... Are you joking?"
Felice thought that this was pure nonsense and childishness. She is the headteacher of Beauxbatons, one of the best in the world. Furthermore, her field of specialization is Dueling itself.

Even if it's a professional duelist, she can guarantee taking at least more than one spell.

But looking at Chris's seriousness and confidence, she clarified one thing, "Alright, but you can't use dark spells. You must atleast know about your maternal family's reputation,"

Dark magic can be dangerous. And not something that can be cast in a confined space in a foreign land. It'll get everyone in trouble.

"And, you have to apologize to Louise and Jacques for what you did to them," she added. This would be a great opportunity to teach this kid some manners.


Chris frowned as he thought about it, "It's doable, but I have one question,"

"What is it?"

"Who was Jacques again?"

Felice popped a vein on her forehead, "... Jacques Auclair, is the boy whom you injured at the selection tournament," she said through gritted teeth.

Chris suddenly remembered, "Oh! You mean that Rose guy? Alright, alright, I'll apologize if I ever lose," he said dismissively.

"...."
'You didn't even bother remembering the name of the guy you injured?! Was all that empathetic and regretful behavior at the dueling circuit just for show?!'
She suddenly had an overwhelming urge to smack this guy.

Felice brandished her wand, "Let's just get this over with," she said at last. She wasn't afraid that he'll use some dangerous magic that his father taught him since she was familiar with most of Durant's tricks.


Chris still had an indifferent and expressionless face, but he got into a stance, "Get ready to apologize,"

Felice rolled her eyes. She was the same headteacher for whom thousands of audience were clapping and cheering at the Selection Tournament. Never before has a student dared to be so disrespectful to her.


Chris didn't wait any longer. His preparations were just about done. He's going to show this b*tch something she'll keep trying to figure out for the rest of her life.

This woman might even be at Mcgonagall's level or at least close.

So yes, it's difficult or nigh impossible for him to bring down someone this powerful with just one spell without having to use one of his powerful cards which would take a lot of magic power and expose his monstrous genius.

But... who said he's only going to use one spell? He's a lazyass genius cheater, so of course, he's going to take the easiest route which will also not need much power, only skill.

He slowly weaved his wand into a complicated wand movement and blue sparks began to fly out of his wand.

Seeing the complicated wand movement and Chris's serious behavior, Felice also prepared her best shields, just in case.

Chris gripped his wand with both of his hands as sparks of blue light intensified. Then, he said the incantation that he longed to shout without being called a Chuunibyou kid, "Azarath... Metrion... ZINTHOS!"

Of course, this was just for show. There was no need for any incantation for the magic he was about to cast. He's just messing with the headteacher.

In the next moment, those blue sparks turned into Blue Lightning bolts all of which began to head in different directions as the room got dyed in blue light.

Behind her shield, the headteacher and one of the best dueling instructors of France had her jaw slackened.
'Lightning magic?! Is this for real?!'

Lightning magic is one of the fastest magics out there, plus, its destructive power is nothing to scoff at. The only problem is, that it's considered impossible to control unless you know the right incantations along with the right training.


And as she had expected, it seems that Chris can't control it either since all of the bolts of lightning traveled in different directions in the first few milliseconds.

But...
"What?!"
in the next moment, all of the bolts which were headed in different directions suddenly changed their trajectories, all of them curving in Felice's general direction.


'I-Impossible!' the spell beams somehow turned in mid-air, and it shocked the hell out of her. There are very few spells that can change directions after they're fired and even in that category, none was so fast!

Felice didn't even get the time to react before the lightning went around her shield to hit her from behind.

Fortunately, Chris had kept the damage output to the minimum, so Felice didn't get burnt too much. Only all of her hair stood up straight, and she felt an unpleasant tingling all over her body which caused her wand to drop out of her hand and her shield also vanished.

Even while she was getting shocked, she was in shock, 'S-Such-h cont-trol?! H-How i-ss this p-possible?!'

Chris stopped channeling his magic and Vanished the things he'd prepared beforehand. This magic he did just now... of course he didn't do it with just one spell-like he'd wagered. He's achieved this result after the combination of atleast three different types of magics which are easy for him and need low magic power.

The lightning was just an edited version of his super Trigger blue. He just had to tweak his intent a bit and voilà, you have lightning that can actually hurt!

Though, in actuality, he can't control the direction of this lightning once it's outside his body, at least not yet.
So, to do that, he first conjured thin metal wires and turned them Invisibile using his stealth. Then he just stuck them to her back and let the lightning flow. He had done everything even before he started.


"Head Teacher!" Fleur called out in panic as she ran towards Felice who had slumped to the ground on her knees after she couldn't feel her legs.

With her head still down, Felice raised her hand towards Fleur to stop her,
"I...am-fine. Don't... disturb," she said, her voice somewhat shaky. Currently, she was feeling... very different. It's as if... the world has gotten slow.

'Or... have I gotten fast?!' She wondered in disbelief. Her mind was working incredibly fast right now. She tried to ignore the pain and humiliation and focus more on exploring this wonderful state.

Fleur stopped in her tracks, wondering if her teacher had lost her mind. She ran to Chris instead.
"Chris! Is... Is she alright? What WAS that magic?!" She asked worriedly. She's afraid that Chris went too far.

Chris on the other hand knew what was happening to Felice. Even when destructive, it's basically still super trigger blue. So she must be experiencing about 10 to 20 percent of the usual Super Trigger Blue effects.

That much might be quite insignificant for Chris who can even increase his Super Trigger blue above 100% (albeit at the cost of enormous magic and mental power), but it means the world to people like Felice who can make a big difference in a duel if they could think and act just a little bit faster.

Both her and Durant have trained very hard just to increase their speed by minor amounts. And to have it increased this much so suddenly?! She was very surprised. Thus, she was currently acting weird and Chris didn't judge her for it since he knew all this.

But... who would explain all this to Fleur who was now going ballistic watching Felice who had started to do odd things like jumping and moving around and randomly making exclamations. Her hair which was still stuck out in a mad scientist hairstyle didn't help her case either.

Fleur tugged at Chris's collar to shake him out of his thoughts, "Hey! What did you do to her?! Has she gone mad?! Wh-What do we do now?!"

"...." This scene was quite reminiscent of the scenes where a person has killed someone in anger and his partner in crime is now panicking as to what to do next, call 911, or erase the evidence.

To calm her down, Chris created a silencing ward around himself and Fleur,
"She's most likely feeling some of this," he said as he touched her shoulder and gave her some of his blue magic, the non-destructive type.

Fleur's eyes widened as she saw the lightning pass through her body. Though contrary to her expectations, this one didn't hurt her at all. In fact, it felt even somewhat.... good.

This is the watered-down version of the super Trigger blue which won't hurt her. He has a lot of variants (And one specially reserved for Dora which is focused on pleasure instead of speed.)

When she felt the effects of the magic, Fleur forgot everything else.
"Woah! This... this is amazing!" She exclaimed. With her now several times quicker thought process, she could already think just how amazing this could be. Everything could be so much easier if she was so fast!

Though Chris cut off the magic output, bringing Fleur back to normal, "You get it now? So stop screaming and panicking. Your beloved headteacher will be fine," he said as he pocketed his wand. He can now begin his work inside his Newt-case laboratory.

Fleur stopped him, "Hey! What was that magic?! Do you use it all the time? Oh! Is this the reason why you're so fast at learning everything?"

Chris lazily waved off all of her questions as he began heading towards his room, "Yeah, keep it a secret. I'm going to remove the silencing ward around us,"

"Wait, I'm not done yet! How did you—!
—" She tried to stop him but the ward was already going off, so she had to stop talking about it.

"Here are some words which you'll need: Family magic from Laurants," he said before he left the frustrated Veela behind.


"What? What am I supposed to do with that?! Chris Martin! You can't just leave after dropping such a—" *slam* but he had already closed the door.

'This bastard!' Fleur stomped her feet in frustration as she saw him walking away like it was nothing. He's just trusted her with another one of his dangerous secrets. And now she can do nothing but think about this all the time with hundreds of questions in her head.

"Fleur..." she heard her head teacher's voice from behind. She turned around to find Felice who was currently panting from exhaustion while looking at her with a desperate expression,
"I need to know anything you can tell me about the magic Chris just used. Anything. Just please tell me,"

Fleur didn't know what to say. She now did know some incredible things about Chris's magic, but there's no way she's going to tell anyone even a word about it and break Chris's trust. It took two years for their family to gain it.

She recalled Chris's parting words and realized what they meant. He already knew Felice would grill her for information. And he had the perfect savage reply ready, "It's his Family magic from Laurant's side," she said unwillingly at last.

She knew it wasn't something that he learned from the Laurant family, but rather, it's just like him to kick an already beaten opponent with this ironic reply.

"...."
Felice couldn't say a word after that. Laurant... his mother's family name. The person whom she'd insulted just now. To defeat her with a magic taught by his mother, the woman she hates the most and whom she had just criticized for not being able to teach him anything.

Felice was now regretting her behavior. She's usually not at all so biased and bitchy. It's just that when it comes to Durant and Camille, she has a lot of bitterness in her heart.


***

The next morning was the day of the tournament. Chris came off his room to see Fleur firing spells at a practice dummy.

"You know, practicing at the last minute won't make you any better. You should rest well before " he said as he laid down on the couch.
"Oh, and why pray tell, does this dummy look like me?"

Fleur was annoyed with Chris. She couldn't sleep properly because she kept thinking about him sleeping in the next room and then he even came in her dreams.

She turned around to retort at him, but stopped when she looked at his condition.

"Are you alright?! You don't look too well," she said worriedly, noticing that he was quite pale and had dark circles under his eyes.

Chris waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about that," he said, taking out some pure magic potion and drinking it.

Sleep is for the people who can afford it. With his complicated life, he can't help but feel the urge to be overwhelmingly strong, just in case he needs it.

He just can't bring himself to sleep.
'That's why I can't blame mom for not telling me this sooner,' he thought wryly.
Along with the fear that he'll think of her as a monster, and also hate her for him not being a human, she was also worried that he'll over-worry about this with his paranoid nature.

After drinking the Potion, Chris felt much better as some color returned back to his skin and his aching muscles got mended and further strengthened.

He drank some more bottles to recover his magic power and because it was delicious and nutritious. It's not only pure Magic. He has also blended a lot of other beneficial ingredients to make this. It's the best protein shake in the world.

"Here, you drink it too," he said as he tossed one to Fleur. It seems that she also needs some.

Fleur caught the potion with shaking hands, "I-Is this... the same portion as that day?" She asked, somewhat shaken.

These potions are priceless in the market and this guy is just drinking them like water. He takes extravagance to a whole new level. And that's coming from a Delacour, one of the richest wizarding families.

"I know what you're thinking. And it's not like that," he said as he sighed.

"What am I thinking?"

"That this potion is too precious. It's not. I can't afford to sell it. I don't want anyone other than the people close to me to get the benefits since I'm not some idiotic protagonist," he said, remembering how some idiotic protagonists he'd read about would try to help the world while getting themselves and people close to them in danger.

"Plus, it's just too risky since other people like me would try various ways to get the source of it once they realize its benefits. And I can make many of these if I have the magic power. So... these are precious, but not as much as you think. So just drink it,"

He wouldn't have bothered explaining all this if they weren't so close. They're now close enough that he'd feel guilty if she thinks he's doing her some great favor by giving it to her. There's no need for that kind of manipulation.

Fleur also realized this and smiled at him. She drank the potion and came to sit next to him as they enjoyed the drink. Fleur pointed her wand at the dummy and it stopped looking like Chris.
She can never stay angry at this guy.

They were ready for the dueling tournament.

***

A.N.: what can I say? I'm sorry for being late. My life is kinda sucking bad due to the lack of time. I now have to choose between novel, sports, studies. I'm leaning towards novels.