Just as the crowd erupted in anticipation of Moriarty's new title, he descended gracefully from the sky and landed smoothly on the pitch.
Thunderous applause erupted in the stands, echoing from all sides, solely for Moriarty.
The Slytherin students somehow produced a series of enchanted spotlights. As they activated them, brilliant beams of light illuminated Moriarty, Jericho, Tonks... the Dream Team. Everyone basked in the glory.
Jericho and the others descended swiftly on their broomsticks, and before their feet touched the grass, they leapt down, one by one, and high-fived Moriarty enthusiastically.
"We did it! We won! Hahahaha!" Jericho and Charlie yelled excitedly, waving wildly at both the Slytherin and Gryffindor students cheering in the stands.
Leon gave a refined bow to the audience in the spotlight, exuding the composure of a noble pure-blood.
Marcus and the Ravenclaw seventh-years maintained an outwardly calm demeanor, yet the proud smiles on their faces betrayed their inner joy.
Tonks was the last to land. From the way she looked at Moriarty, she seemed ready to leap into his arms—but Moriarty didn't extend his. Tonks hesitated, then offered him a warm smile instead.
"Senpai, if you don't confess to your husband now, your chance might vanish," Jericho appeared out of nowhere beside Tonks, teasing her with a cheeky grin.
Tonks swung her broom handle toward Jericho threateningly, prompting him to yelp and duck behind Moriarty for cover.
"Come on, guys!" Jericho called to Charlie and the others, peeking from behind Moriarty, "Let's help our dear senpai fulfill her dream!"
"Wow, such a beauty play—I mean, I'm too happy for grown-up romance!" Charlie quipped as they all dashed forward.
The group formed a line around Moriarty and Tonks and began hopping around playfully, squeezing them together until they were side by side, nearly face to face. Their faces nearly touched.
Some girl in the stands drew a big heart in the air with her wand—and suddenly, the rest of the girls went wild!
They stormed the field and charged toward Moriarty. As he spotted the leading girls, their crazed expressions made him think of Diana from the Oaks—the wild glint in their eyes was identical.
"You two," Moriarty grabbed Jericho and Leon by their collars and pulled them in front of him. "I believe you two will enjoy the feeling of being mobbed."
Before they could protest, Moriarty shoved them toward the stampeding girls. Jericho cried out, "No! Sir, I have Helena!"
"Wow~ Speedy boy's got options!"
His words were drowned in a storm of high-pitched shrieks and the sound of rustling clothes.
Clearly, Jericho had a fanbase of his own.
While Jericho became the new target, Moriarty stealthily vanished into the crowd. Groups of younger boys darted around him, but his attention zeroed in on one person—the magician hiding among the spectators.
During the match, that magician had attempted to brainwash Moriarty with an unfamiliar spell—one that worried Moriarty deeply.
This level 75 great magus was still the only viable breakthrough point for discovering the source of the strange influence surrounding Hogwarts.
"Whispering Snake."
Moriarty incanted silently in Parseltongue. A swarm of black snakes responded to his summons and slithered across the field.
The serpents crawled swiftly toward the members of the defeated national team, who lay near the edge of the pitch, covering their faces, too ashamed to speak.
Then, one of them—the magician—sat up abruptly, scanning his surroundings.
He spotted a snake creeping through the footprints in the grass.
No. He realized Moriarty was making a move!
He rose instantly and began striding toward the stadium exit. As he passed Roman Reigns, he muttered, "Goodbye, my captain. The next time we meet, we may be enemies."
Roman, still reeling from his defeat, barely registered the words. But after a pause, his wild hair seemed to bristle. "What did you just say?"
The magician didn't reply. He moved briskly toward the exit. The summoned snakes pursued him.
On the professor's platform, the professors exchanged tense glances—they had all seen the snakes. And only Moriarty could conjure snakes using Parseltongue.
Ludo, however, remained clueless. With a beaming grin, he raised the magical microphone, cleared his sore throat from too much yelling, and chuckled hoarsely.
"Ah, looks like the magician from the national team's come over to congratulate Hogwarts! Maybe he's about to reveal a new spell—he's always the first to walk away from a loss. That's the sign of a strong mindset!"
"He doesn't care about Quidditch at all," Moriarty muttered under his breath, casting Ludo a disdainful glance.
Still, Moriarty couldn't blame Ludo. The magician had disguised himself so thoroughly that not even his own teammates noticed his strangeness.
The magician had deliberately targeted Moriarty. He even sacrificed his position on the national team just to make a move.
Moriarty reaffirmed his suspicions, then cast a Disillusionment Charm upon himself and approached Marcus.
"Use the secret passage to get to Hogsmeade immediately. Contact your father. Tell him to send people to both Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade—watch for the magician and capture him the moment he appears."
Marcus nodded and disappeared into the shadows.
Moriarty drew his snow fir wand and waved it. Wind-element magic surged forth, blowing the cloud cover away and revealing the sun.
Then, using the Levitation Charm, he shot high into the sky, tracing the exact path his snakes had taken.
Two minutes later, he found the magician deep within the Forbidden Forest. As Moriarty descended, a flash of green light shot toward him.
"Gouging Heart!" the magician shouted, his wand blasting a forbidden curse before sprinting deeper into the trees.
Moriarty raised his hand. A thick wall of ice materialized, absorbing the spell. His fingers flicked downward, channeling water-element magic into the forest floor.
"Crack… crackle…"
The ground rapidly froze. Steam and water vapor condensed into frost and snow, spreading into the forest.
Snakes fused with water-element magic transformed into ice serpents, surging ahead like an avalanche.
The magician sprinted frantically, but the ice field chased after him. The serpents moved faster than any human could run.
"Transform!" the magician cried, spinning and slapping a snake's head with his wand.
A puff of smoke—and a rabbit-shaped hat exploded into the air!
One snake's head was blasted apart, but dozens more ice serpents surged forward.
"Snap!" The magician snapped his fingers.
From the air, a flock of pigeons appeared, shrieking in a strange, unsettling pitch. A shadowy light radiated from them as they charged toward the ice snakes, gouging out their eyes.
"Dove of Peace!" the magician announced smugly.
"Peace?" Moriarty's voice echoed scornfully as he stepped out from behind a frozen tree.
The magician's face stiffened. He threw a white handkerchief at Moriarty. "Magic Handkerchief!"
"Reducto!" Moriarty fired the spell. It hit—but the handkerchief wasn't destroyed. One of the ice snakes struck it, and it shrunk dramatically.
Moriarty's eyes gleamed. "So—doves and handkerchiefs. Classic magician props. But they're no tricks. They're alchemical items."
"The 'Dove of Peace' disintegrates, and the handkerchief compresses objects."
"You've been using performance magic to mask real spellwork. Clever."
"Clap clap clap," the magician applauded. "Exactly right! But it won't help you stop me."
He twirled his wand, transforming his national team uniform into a pristine white suit with a top hat. With a dramatic flair, he spun and dashed away.
Moriarty's eyes narrowed. He raised his wand and slashed downward, "Cyclone Cut!"
A giant wind blade roared forward, shredding trees and tearing through the forest.
The wind caught up to the magician, tearing through the back of his suit.
"No wonder you fly so fast," the magician muttered. Gritting his teeth, he leapt and swung his wand.
"Ritual of the Dead! Apocalypse Wither!"
Blood-colored rivers surged from the sky, while skeletal mountains rose from the ground. They blocked the wind blade and buried the ice and snow under a wave of decay.
Then—an emerald fire flickered to life, dancing like a candle in the night.
A nun's wail. A vampire's hiss. A werewolf's howl. A devil's laugh...
The cacophony assaulted Moriarty's mind.
He immediately invoked Occlumency and activated his Alchemy Matrix, sealing off his thoughts.
But the distraction had bought the magician time. When Moriarty cleared his mind, the magician was gone.
Only the forest remained—tainted with blood and ice.
Scattered handkerchiefs had turned black. The white doves were now blood-red monstrosities.
"It's the dark element."
Moriarty turned toward the east—the direction the magician had fled.
---
Half an hour later, London Heathrow Airport.
With his appearance altered, the magician boarded a flight to the Far East. From his coat, he pulled out an enchanted alchemy phone and dialed a sequence.
"…Boss, the plan failed. I'm retreating."
A calm voice responded, "Did you fight Moriarty?"
"Yes. I couldn't win. If not for your spell, I'd be at Slytherin Castle right now."
"Moriarty..." the Boss mused. "What element did he master?"
"Wind," the magician replied, visibly shaken. "Definitely wind. And it's terrifying."
"Wind? Hahahaha!" the Boss laughed maniacally. "Do you know why our organization is called the Eternal Life Organization?"
"…No, my lord."
"Because we are closer than anyone to unlocking eternal life."