Cedric vs Soisen

Enough time passed and by now, all the champions were finding their way through the labyrinth under the gaze of the spectators, who were watching on the different screens projected in the sky the efforts of their representatives.

-Cedric is making good progress, but Krum is catching up fast," Cho commented as she watched her boyfriend's projection.

-Fleur is doing well too, but he has very bad luck and keeps running into dangerous creatures that waste his time," commented Ginny who felt a little sorry for her.

-If you want to talk about bad luck, look at Potter," said Silvia as she pointed to a screen where the boy was running away with all his strength from a furious sphinx that was chasing him while casting the same disarming spell over and over again.

-What happened? -Ginny asked in bewilderment, as she wasn't paying much attention to Potter. At this point in her life, her past crush was gone and she saw that the boy who survived was no big deal- Did he answer the riddle she gave him wrong?

-The sphinx doesn't chase him for that- Luna added to the conversation while covering her smile with her palm- Soisen gave the sphinx a riddle and she was concentrating thinking about the answer and by her expression, she almost had it, but he came along and interrupted the sphinx's train of thought, which annoyed her enough to chase him.

-And why does he keep using the same spell over and over again? -Hermione frowned at the lack of creativity a wizard should have, "We are finishing the fourth year of our studies, didn't you learn anything else to defend yourself?

Silence descended on the stands.

-Oh, look! -Cho interrupted, pointing to the projection with surprise, "Cedric and Soisen have met!

...Inside the labyrinth...

-I didn't expect us to meet so soon," Cedric said as he held his wand in his hand pointed at Soisen, not daring to look away from his hands. He knew that a flick of his little finger was enough for Soisen to attack him with magic and he needed that little edge to react and defend himself successfully.

-I didn't expect our encounter early either," Soisen answered him honestly as he shrugged his shoulders and was also secretly alert.

He thought that due to the effects of liquid luck, he would manage to walk to the cup without running into anyone until the end. Maybe he was "lucky" enough to run into Cedric now so he could handle it and keep him from dying for having a spirit of sportsmanship?

-This is the last test and my girlfriend is watching me, so I won't hold back," Cedric reminded politely as he adjusted his stance, "No hard feelings, okay?

-My beautiful and talented girlfriend is also watching me, so be careful," Soisen's eyes flashed with gold in less than a second, which in contrast to the darkness of the labyrinth, increased the pressure Cedric felt, "Don't worry if you get knocked unconscious, I'll call the Aurors for you.

Cedric looked admiringly at Soisen and then cursed himself as he realized he missed a good opportunity.

Everyone must be watching his confrontation, shouldn't he have said a compliment or two to score points with Cho?

Looks like he also needs to ask for some tips on how to flatter women later.

Soisen seemed to notice his momentary distraction and cast a flame spell that Cedric blocked with the shield charm. After the wave of fire ended, several strips of grass transformed into metal daggers which, propelled by Soisen, shot out at full speed. Cedric used an electric spell that caused the daggers to turn to slag and countered by summoning a surge of water and firing several drops at high pressure.

Cedric remembered how Soisen handled the dragon fire in the first test and knew it was not the wisest thing to use that element against him, so he avoided it lest he suffer a backlash like the dragon.

Soisen erected a curved stone wall to block and deflect the attack. He then employed a small explosive spell to fragment the wall and use its shards as solid projectiles.

Cedric was starting to sweat and they hadn't even been facing each other for two minutes. He had to control his intent, make the right gestures with his wand and occasionally say the spell correctly when he didn't have the confidence to use his non-verbal version well.

Soisen on his side was the complete opposite. A flick of the wrist, a raised finger or even a raised eyebrow and he could manipulate and alter his attack strategy while maintaining a flexible defense.

It wasn't long before Cedric would determine that he would lose for sure if they remained engaged at this point, so he began to plan how he could distract Soisen and retreat to safety. The goal was not to take down anyone, but to obtain the cup.

Should he attract some creature from the labyrinth?

But while Cedric was thinking of retreating, Soisen also wanted to get this encounter over with soon and save as much magic as possible. After all, a manipulated Krum could appear around the corner if they kept delaying like this and give him a nasty surprise.

So he cast a classic disarming spell and just as Cedric tried to deflect it with a wand gesture, he realized that it went right through his body without doing anything to him. In the midst of his confusion, he suddenly felt sleep come over him and everything went dark.

Soisen sighed in relief as he saw that the illusion of an attack along with a discreet but powerful sleep inducing spell worked well on the first try. If Cedric had decided to use a shield type spell like he used to do most of the time, he wouldn't have been able to hit him.

Lucky him, right?

He moved him to a comfortable sleeping position and raised some shields around him for safety, before looking up and glancing at the nearest den den mushi.

-Can you send the Aurors to pick him up? He won't wake up before the test is over, thank you," saying his warning and after making sure the defenses on Cedric would be enough to handle most things that might attack in the maze, he continued on his way to try to get to the center of the maze.

...Out of the labyrinth....

-At least he's not too badly hurt," Cho sighed as she watched her boyfriend fall asleep after doing his best, knowing that this was the end for him. He had fought well and his performance was enough to be proud of.

-He's not the only one to pull out, Fleur can't go on either -Ginny pointed to the side screen, trying to comfort her Ravenclaw friend a bit -She seems to have been hit by something and the Aurors are already taking her out for Madam Pomfrey to examine her.

-Where's Krum? -Hermione realized that at some point, while everyone was focused on Cedric and Soisen's battle, the Durmstrang champion seemed to have vanished.

-The snails are fading? Maybe they're sleepy... -Luna saw some projections suddenly stop.

-Something smells funny," Silvia rubbed her cheek as she watched.