The defeat of the Uagadou champion cast a shadow over the arena, but the competition continued.
Ludo Bagman forced himself to perk up and announced in his characteristic booming voice:
"Let us thank the Uagadou champion for her extraordinary courage, and wish her a speedy recovery! Now, let us welcome our next challenger, another champion from Uagadou, Camiri Sanchez!"
A lean boy emerged from the waiting area.
He had bronze skin and a thick head of black hair. Dressed in Uagadou's distinctive leather armour, he clutched a glowing fishbone wand in his hand.
With a solemn expression, he placed his hand on the duelling obelisk, and the familiar burning sensation descended once more.
The arena instantly transformed into that heart-pounding volcanic terrain, with dark red porous rocks, fissures steaming with sulphur, and the familiar smell of scorching heat lingering in the air.
And in the nest at the centre of the scorched earth lay the same terrifying creature Harry Potter had faced, a Hungarian Horntail.
Its obsidian-like scales, brass-coloured spikes, and yellow slit pupils burning with sulphurous fury still exuded a chillingly ferocious aura.
Moreover, it seemed even more agitated after the previous battle. Its thick tail slapped restlessly against the ground, leaving shallow craters behind.
"It's a Hungarian Horntail again!"
A hint of tension crept into Bagman's voice. "It seems this most vicious of dragons is destined to face multiple challengers tonight! Champion Sanchez, good luck!"
However, luck was not on Sanchez's side.
Shortly after the match began, during a dangerous evasive manoeuvre, he failed to completely avoid the Horntail's sudden cone of fire, and the scorching flames swept mercilessly across his body.
A piercing scream instantly echoed through the arena.
Although the protective magic promptly transported him off the field, everyone clearly saw that the left side of his body had been severely burned, and the pungent smell of scorched flesh lingered in the air.
He was the first champion in the tournament to suffer such a severe injury. The school infirmary was unable to treat him, and he ultimately had to be rushed to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
The entire venue fell into a heavy silence. The consecutive failures of two champions had poured cold water on the previously heated atmosphere.
"This is truly unfortunate..."
Ludo Bagman's voice was heavy. "Let us all wish Champion Sanchez a speedy recovery. Now, the competition continues. Next up is..."
...
When the final champion successfully retrieved the golden egg from the claws of a furious Hebridean Black, the magical spectacle covering the floating arena slowly faded, eventually restoring it to its original stone platform.
Ludo Bagman walked to the centre of the arena. His brilliant smile had faded somewhat, and his expression was much more solemn.
"Ladies and gentlemen!"
His magically amplified voice echoed throughout the venue. "I hereby announce that the first event of the quarterfinals has officially concluded!"
Applause erupted, but it lacked the pure enthusiasm of the opening ceremony. Too many complicated emotions were mixed into it: cheers for the victors and shock at the brutality of the competition.
"As you can see," Bagman continued, his tone noticeably heavier, "the elimination rate for the first event was extremely high. Of our original sixteen champions, five unfortunately failed to complete the challenge. According to the rules, once eliminated, they are no longer eligible to participate in the subsequent events."
He paused, allowing everyone time to absorb the news.
"Therefore, a total of eleven champions have successfully advanced to the second event! They are:
"Hogwarts: Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory;
"Durmstrang: Viktor Krum;
"Beauxbatons: Fleur Delacour;
"Ilvermorny: Spud Kowalski and Nina Clarisse;
"Uagadou: Kelly Talaway and Bayo La Adesinji;
"Castelobruxo: Diego Rodrigues;
"Kunlun: Jing Xue and, our final successful challenger, Xu Ye."
As each name and school was announced, corresponding cheers erupted from the stands.
Once the list was announced, the entire venue erupted in thunderous applause, congratulating the eleven champions who had overcome the first challenge with courage and wisdom.
Immediately afterward, the final scores for each qualifying champion appeared one by one on the magical screen in front of the judges' table.
The audience quickly noticed that several obviously suppressed scores, along with a few unusually high ones, had been excluded from the calculations.
Just then, Ludo Bagman, as though he had only just remembered something, added in his slightly theatrical tone:
"Oh! That's right! Now that the scoring has concluded, please allow me, on behalf of the organising committee, to announce an important adjustment to the scoring rules."
He smiled at the audience. "At the suggestion of our esteemed Hogwarts professor, Mr Greengrass, and after careful deliberation by the organising committee, each champion's final score will be determined by removing the highest and lowest scores before calculating the average!"
He glanced toward Sagres at the professors' table, who merely nodded calmly.
"This measure is intended to ensure the fairness and objectivity of the scoring, preventing individual extreme scores from having an undue influence on the results of the champions' hard work. Personally, I believe it is a very fair and sensible decision!"
The moment he finished speaking, the audience fell silent for a brief instant before erupting into enthusiastic applause and cheers.
Many people immediately understood exactly what this rule was aimed at. It effectively neutralised Karkaroff's maliciously low scores and his shameless favouritism toward his own students.
"Well done!"
"They should have done this ages ago!"
Shouts like these rang out from the stands.
At the judges' table, however, Igor Karkaroff's face instantly turned ashen, his fists clenched tightly beneath the table.
He had already thrown aside all pretence in order to suppress the champions from the other schools, only to be told after the event that all his efforts had been for nothing?
He felt like a clown who had been stripped naked in public. With such a simple adjustment to the rules, all his shameless attempts at suppression had instantly become meaningless.
Well, not entirely meaningless.
At the very least, they had succeeded in making his foolishness a public joke.
He wanted to object, to protest, but with several Headmasters of prestigious wizarding schools and numerous Ministry of Magic officials present, anything he said would only humiliate him further.
All he could do was let out a nearly suffocated growl from deep in his throat as he glared venomously in Sagres's direction.
At the professors' table, Sagres seemed to sense his gaze. He turned his head toward Karkaroff, who quickly and awkwardly looked away, pretending nothing had happened.
Sagres smiled and gave Karkaroff a slight nod, then let out a short, quiet chuckle.
"Heh..."
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