Third Task : Finished!

Fleur's mouth hung loose as she looked at the Nexus in front of her, which was down to half its health. She didn't understand what had just happened.

'How zid he do it!?'

'I made sure to kill his Zouwu!'

'Zid he have another creature like me?'

The Queen Vampyr Mosp had frozen mid-air and Fleur couldn't bring herself to believe that she had lost.

But in front of her very own eyes, the Queen Vampyr Mosp was slowly disintegrating and vanishing, along with the Nexus in front of her and the various trees, plants, the fog and the poisonous rain that was battering her.

Harry was ecstatic while Krum was disappointed.

The transformation of the Quidditch pitch surrounding them had slowly started to vanish, leaving them all in the centre of a large stadium that was excitedly clapping and cheering for its champions.

Each champion could hear their names from the audience, some in support and consolation, while others in excitement and happiness.

But to each of them, the loudest name was-

"Loki!!! Loki!!! Loki!!! Loki!!!!"

Loki who was lightly panting calmed down when he heard the chanting.

He didn't feel nervous any more about being the centre of attention, but he did feel slightly embarrassed.

'But I guess I have to get used to this quickly…'

'Since my next plan requires that I absolutely don't lose my calm.'

Loki looked around the Quidditch stadium but found no familiar faces wishing him well in the stands.

He did spot Colin Creevery who was busy clicking pictures so he didn't disturb the kid before all the champions heard a soft *pop* rise from the centre of the stadium, on the pitch where the same platform they were on earlier was errected.

It was Bagman, he'd teleported towards the new stage in the centre, beside the small trophy table which held the Triwizard Cup that was glowing an eerie blue and had silver handles.

"Welcome once again to our viewers close and far!! I hope you are all just as happy as I am watching the exciting third task of the Triwizard tournament which was fought with great amounts of glory and wisdom!!"

*WWWWOOOOOOOOOO* *CLAPS* "I LOVE YOU LOKI!!!!!" *CLAPS*

"Whether it was Fleur's fantastic attempt at infiltrating the enemy team, or Krum's relentless assault on the bottom lane of the map. Team Red performed just as well as Team Blue."

"In fact, Harry Potter's marvellous gambit to kill off the enemy creatures so that they wouldn't be able to gather enough of them to defend against Loki's assault on the top lane was a nail-biting experience!"

"Yet, truthfully, it has been Loki's excellent mental tactics that used information to his advantage that truly captured our hearts!!"

"But before we reveal the key to Loki's master plan, why don't we ask the champions how they're feeling after this blood-pumping match!?" Bagman said and turned towards Team Red of the champions who had reached the stage.

"Mister Krum, what do you think about Team Blue's victory? How do you think they did it!?"

Being a professional Quidditch player, Krum had been a witness to several wins and losses. And even though he felt like this loss was his biggest because he alone was responsible for this, he was able to hold his emotions in place as he spoke calmly.

"In a competition, there are always going to be victories and defeats. But I'm sure all of Team Red has done their best to achieve clear victory today and I am glad for that. If Lady Luck wasn't on our side today, I guess that means it was just not our day. I'm sure Team Blue did their best too, and today they proved to be better."

"A clear affirmation of Team Blue's skills.", Bagman said with acknowledgement as he turned towards Fleur.

"Miss Delacour, what do you think about Team Blue winning? Any things you would change if you had a chance to redo this match again?"

Fleur looked at Loki and then spoke with some annoyance in her tone.

"I would attack Loki with Krum at the start of the match."

Bagman smiled and a few people in the audience laughed at the blatant invitation for a fight while Harry was embarrassed for being ignored so easily.

"Indeed. Mr. Loki is a terrific opponent indeed." Bagman said calmly and then turned to Harry.

"Mr. Potter, could you guess what your teammate had planned and executed for you to win this round!?"

Harry immediately panicked at the attention that was placed on him and he looked at Loki hoping to get some information or help, but Loki just smiled at him innocently.

Harry *coughed* in embarrassment and finally turned to Bagman and spoke calmly, "I think he found a way to damage the Nexus in one go?"

Bagman's smile deepened and he finally looked at Loki as the audience laughed and made fun of Harry's answer.

"Mr. Loki. It is nice to be here with you today."

"It's nice for me too Mr. Bagman, in fact, I can say that I'm going to enjoy lifting the Triwizard tournament cup too!"

*WWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO*

Everyone loved Loki's bold answer and Bagman laughed a little too, especially when they all saw Fleur glaring at Loki from a distance.

"Then let's not keep it a secret any longer, would you like to do the honours and explain your strategy Mr. Loki!?"

"Sure." Loki nodded and spoke softly while looking at Krum and Fleur.

"Since your creatures grew to be twice as strong because you destroyed our bottom lane Guardian Turret first. I developed a simple plan based on the actions you would think we should take next."

"And what were those?" Bagman asked with a sneaky smile.

"Since Team Red could attack us with half the creatures they would generally need, I predicted that they would think that we would focus all our efforts on defending the bottom lane instead of attacking."

"And this is the gap in their perception that I took advantage of."

"Since they were busy putting pressure on us by bringing more and more monsters to overwhelm our defences, I quickly realised that the top lane was left empty and undefended."

Krum and Fleur's eyes narrowed when Loki said that.

"Now normally this wouldn't have been a terrible decision since the minions of each team would have eliminated each other."

"Then how did you change the outcome?" Bagman asked while hinting at more.

"That was my trick, each time I went back into the forest to tame more creatures, I sent along with the alchemical minions a few tamed beasts of my own so that they could take agro of the enemy alchemical minions and team blue's alchemical minions could reach the nexus safe and unharmed."

Krum and Fleur's mouths fell open. Even Harry was a little shocked by what Loki did.

They all didn't realise they had played right into Loki's hands with everything that they did.

It was Loki's tactic to keep them on their toes and drag the fight out more and more so that the mounting number of minions that probably sneaked over to the enemy base would be able to chip off the health of the Nexus.

Especially Fleur.

When she realised that the reason Loki fought with her to the last of his stamina was because he wanted to make her think that he was being a sore loser and didn't want to let her win easily, her mouth hung loose.

That was when she remembered the last words she heard Loki whisper into the wind.

''Too late..''

'He already knew it!'

'He knew I lost again!'

Fleur almost swore she heard someone say 'Loser' in that moment.

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