Cedric Diggory's outstanding performance made him the fastest champion to complete the task so far, earning widespread praise from the judges.
Except for Karkaroff, who grudgingly awarded a low score of 4 points with a livid expression, most of the other Headmasters gave him high marks of 8 or 9.
In the end, Cedric left the arena calmly amid thunderous applause, having secured an excellent result.
"A brilliant performance! Both champions from Hogwarts have displayed extraordinary skill!"
Ludo Bagman's voice was once again filled with excitement. "Now, let us welcome the champion from Uagadou!"
Accompanied by exotic drumbeats and rhythmic chanting, a nimble, dark-skinned Uagadou student leapt into the arena.
She wore simple but brightly coloured clothing, with the mysterious totem of an ancient bird-like beast painted across her face. Her eyes were as sharp as an eagle's.
The moment she touched the Duelling Stone Tablet, the arena transformed dramatically.
A chill that seemed capable of freezing the soul swept across the venue. The previously warm hillside vanished, replaced by a vast world of eternal ice and snow.
Towering pillars of ice rose from the ground, while the surface beneath them was covered in hard frozen ice. Biting winds howled through the arena, sending countless tiny ice crystals swirling through the air.
The leaden-grey sky allowed almost no light through, leaving the entire scene bathed in a cold, deathly blue-white glow.
Deep within a nest constructed from blocks of ice lay the Uagadou champion's opponent, a Greenland Frost Dragon.
It looked distinctly different from its fire-breathing counterparts. Its body was somewhat bulky, covered in thick, pale scales resembling ancient ice that had endured for thousands of years.
Its wings were very short, suggesting that it rarely flew.
Most chilling of all was its head, which resembled a terrifying combination of a giant lizard and a mammoth, with tusks protruding like menacing icicles.
Its ice-blue eyes appeared lifeless, and visible frost constantly drifted from its nostrils. Every breath released a wave of biting cold mist.
"Merlin's beard!"
Bagman's voice trembled slightly, whether from the cold or shock. "It's a Greenland Frost Dragon! An extremely rare subspecies! It doesn't breathe fire, but instead releases a freezing breath capable of instantly solidifying everything! Its scales are harder than steel, and it possesses tremendous resistance to most fire magic! The Uagadou champion has certainly drawn a difficult opponent!"
The Frost Dragon let out a low roar, its icy gaze fixed firmly on the challenger before it.
Facing such a formidable opponent, the Uagadou champion showed no fear.
Her body began to sway with a rhythm full of primal strength, while a deep, rhythmic chant emerged from her throat.
The totem painted across her face seemed to come alive, glowing faintly.
Then, under everyone's astonished gaze, her body began to change dramatically.
Her limbs rapidly elongated, dense black feathers covering them as her hands and feet transformed into enormous, sharp talons.
Most astonishingly, her head retained a largely human shape while her body merged seamlessly with that of a powerful eagle, transforming her into a mythical bird-human creature.
"Human Transfiguration! Ah, an extremely advanced form of Human Transfiguration!"
Bagman exclaimed in amazement. "After all these years, I finally get to witness a Uagadou champion transform into a mythical creature again! The last time I saw such a marvel was sixteen years ago at the Quidditch World Cup!"
The bird-human suddenly spread her wings.
A powerful gust sent shards of ice swirling through the air as she gracefully soared upwards.
She clearly intended to use her aerial advantage to evade the Frost Dragon's deadly freezing breath and ground attacks, approaching the golden egg directly from above.
At first, the strategy worked extremely well.
The Frost Dragon raised its head and released a stream of pale freezing mist, but the bird-human easily avoided it with a series of difficult aerial manoeuvres and rapid turns.
She moved like a bolt of black lightning, weaving swiftly through the biting wind as she gradually closed in on the dragon's nest.
Then came a beautiful dive.
Her sharp talons were already within reach of the golden egg, which gleamed brightly against the surrounding ice and snow.
However, the Greenland Frost Dragon, as an ancient magical creature, was far from foolish.
Just as she reached the lowest point of her dive, her body momentarily suspended in mid-air...
The enormous, ice-armoured tail of the dragon suddenly lashed upwards like a long-dormant frost python, moving with a speed completely at odds with its massive size.
"Thud!"
With a dull impact, the dragon's tail struck her cleanly.
The tremendous force instantly shattered her flight posture.
The Uagadou champion let out a pained groan, her Transfiguration nearly collapsing as her entire body was sent flying sideways like a broken kite.
But the danger was far from over.
Almost at the same moment as the tail strike, the Frost Dragon had already turned its ice-covered head.
Its lifeless ice-blue eyes locked onto her unbalanced figure as its enormous jaws opened wide.
A blast of freezing breath, shimmering with destructive blue-white light, erupted like a high-pressure torrent of ice and struck her directly in mid-air.
"Crack..."
A chilling sound of freezing echoed clearly through the arena.
The Uagadou champion instantly froze solid in mid-air, transforming into a lifelike ice sculpture, her terrified expression frozen in place.
The Frost Dragon did not stop.
Its massive body displayed astonishing agility as it lunged forward, opening its enormous jaws lined with icicle-like fangs and biting down viciously.
"Bang!"
The ice sculpture shattered in mid-air, exploding into countless glittering fragments that reflected the cold light.
At the critical moment, the arena's protective magic fully activated, transporting the champion away before the fatal attack could truly take effect.
Even so, the scattered ice crystals remained a chilling reminder of just how brutal and dangerous that exchange had been.
The entire arena fell into deathly silence, with only the howling wind remaining.
The Uagadou champion's innovative strategy had been astonishing, but the Frost Dragon's cold and deadly counterattack sent a shiver through everyone present.
"Oh... no..."
Ludo Bagman's voice was filled with shock and regret. "The Uagadou champion... she has failed. The Frost Dragon's counterattack was simply too fierce! Even that remarkable Human Transfiguration could not withstand such extreme cold... Let us all hope the champion is safe."
The glow of the protective magic completely enveloped the arena, and the Frost Dragon, along with its frozen kingdom, slowly disappeared.
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