— — — — — —
The Dream Arena was roaring with excitement, but thanks to the soundproofing magic protecting the arena, none of the cheers or commentary could reach the maze itself.
The labyrinth was simply too complicated. With countless twists and turns, there was no way spectators could follow the action with the naked eye alone.
To solve that problem, the floating Lume-Lenses above the plaza displayed live footage from multiple angles.
As for the little fox Kamio, she showed absolutely none of the tension expected of a finalist.
She looked more like a beautiful girl out on a spring picnic, finding everything around her fascinating wherever she went.
Then suddenly, she stepped on a trap.
A rope snare sprang up from the ground, trying to catch her ankle and hang her upside down.
Fortunately, her reflexes were quick. With a flick of her wand, the now-visible rope was sliced apart before it could tighten around her leg.
The next instant, a bucket of flour came crashing down from above.
She immediately summoned a gust of wind to blow most of it away, but there was simply too much, and it had come without warning. Some still landed on her face and clothes, making her cough repeatedly.
By the time she finally cleaned herself up, her cheeks were already puffed out in annoyance.
She was absolutely certain this had been Tom's terrible idea. And if the very first trap was already this nasty, she didn't even want to imagine what horrors were waiting deeper inside the maze.
From that moment on, her attitude changed.
She quietly raised her guard.
...
Watching from above, Tom smiled knowingly.
Kamio might currently be ranked first, but in truth she wasn't particularly competitive. Even now, the reason she was finally taking things seriously wasn't because she wanted to win. She simply didn't want her image to suffer.
A vain little fox, through and through.
A few minutes later, it was Ariana's turn to enter.
Since Kamio had already chosen Entrance Four, Ariana could only pick from the remaining options. After a brief hesitation, she stepped into Entrance One.
Daphne and Fleur soon followed when their time came.
As for the remaining contestants—Jauncey, Nassim, and Quinta—their scores were far behind. All they could do was watch helplessly as their rivals pulled farther and farther ahead.
...
"What the?"
Suddenly, Ludo Bagman's commentary shot up in volume.
"Miss Greengrass! What is she trying to do?"
Instantly, everyone's attention turned toward the Lume-Lens showing Daphne's progress.
"Merlin's beard! Daphne Greengrass has pointed her wand at the maze wall. Is she planning to bulldoze her way to the finish line using pure destructive force?"
"..."
Inside one of the VIP boxes, Lady Greengrass sat among Ministry officials and pure-blood nobles.
She couldn't help covering her face with one hand.
No matter how hard she tried, she simply couldn't understand how her carefully raised eldest daughter, the future heir to the Greengrass family's glory, had turned out like this.
Could Daphne really not display a little intelligence instead of relying solely on brute force?
If Daphne heard that, she would probably respond: "My super intelligence is telling me it's time to use my super strength."
Unfortunately, her super strength wasn't enough this time.
Just as Bagman had guessed, Daphne's plan was indeed to blast through the walls and carve a direct path to the finish.
After gathering her magic for a moment, she unleashed a powerful Blasting Curse.
The spell struck the wall. And a brilliant red glow erupted across its surface.
Then the glow spread outward, racing through the surrounding structure.
And something astonishing happened.
The wall trembled slightly. The red light gradually faded.
And then...
Nothing.
Not even the smallest scratch remained on the wall.
"...Did my magic stop working?" Daphne blinked blankly.
Unwilling to accept it, she tried several other spells.
But the results were exactly the same every time.
Eventually, she figured it out. The walls had been enchanted. Any magical force striking them would be evenly distributed throughout the entire structure.
Unless she possessed enough power to destroy every wall in the maze at once, attacking a single section was completely pointless.
Daphne briefly considered using Tom's Patronus-powered demolition method.
After some thought, however, she abandoned the idea.
The Patronus Charm was powerful, but the mental and magical strain it imposed was equally terrifying.
If she forced her way through the entire maze with it and ran out of strength later, she would be completely out of the championship race.
After working hard for an entire year, and now standing at the final hurdle, even Daphne had become cautious.
...
..
Meanwhile, the other contestants continued advancing through the maze as well, though none of them moved particularly quickly.
Compared to the pitifully simple maze from the original Triwizard Maze, Tom's version was vastly more complicated.
Not only was it larger, but it was packed with traps. Hidden trapdoors could also lead contestants to unknown locations.
Some shortcuts could dramatically reduce travel time and bring a competitor much closer to the finish. Others would send them wandering in circles before dumping them right back where they started.
...
At the moment, Kamio remained firmly in the lead.
If the entire maze were divided into three sections: the outer zone, the middle zone, and the core area surrounding the final passage— then she was currently standing at the border between the outer and middle zones.
Pass the next challenge, and she'd officially enter the middle section.
Guarding the checkpoint were five Kneazles.
Kneazles were magical creatures that many wizards hated dealing with.
They possessed extremely high resistance to spells. Worse, after being attacked, they could split into multiple copies of themselves. Combined with their agility and ability to close distances quickly, they made life miserable for spellcasters.
Many wizards found themselves unable to properly use their skills against them.
But unfortunately for the Kneazles, Kamio happened to specialize in dealing with magical creatures.
A faint trace of the aura from her superior bloodline leaked out.
Immediately, the five Kneazles began trembling.
Without putting up any resistance, they obediently stepped aside.
The path opened. And along with it appeared three identical treasure chests.
There were exactly three chests.
The instructions had already been written on the wall. Each contestant could open only one.
The reward inside would be random. And any item obtained could also be used during the remainder of the competition.
Looking at the three identical chests, Kamio reached for the one in the center.
Bang!
The other two exploded into clouds of smoke and vanished.
Meanwhile, the chest in her hands clicked open automatically.
Inside was a slip of paper.
She picked it up, expecting a map of the maze or perhaps directions to a shortcut.
Instead, there was only a single sentence written on it: Don't forget the meaning of the journey. If you do forget, go take a look at where it all began. He who forgets his past has no future.
Below the message sat a big yellow smiling-face emoji.
Kamio: "???"
The hell?
What was that supposed to mean?
She soon found out. Her body suddenly lifted into the air against her will.
Then she shot backward at incredible speed, flying toward the direction she'd originally come from.
A route that had taken her half an hour to traverse was covered again in barely ten seconds.
And just like that, she was back at the starting point.
Kamio: "..."
.
.
.