Realizing that a fight was unavoidable, Cedric raised his wand as well, his expression turning sharp and resolute.
If they wanted to save time, there was only one real option—take Krum and his team down as quickly and cleanly as possible.
Unlike George and the others, who had reacted a beat too late, Viktor and his teammates had already prepared themselves for combat.
The instant Viktor realized there was no point continuing the exchange, he signaled to his teammates.
An attack signal.
"Fumos!"
The figures that had just been revealed were immediately swallowed by thick smoke, cutting off everyone's vision.
"Quietus," Poliakoff followed up seamlessly, silencing the three of them so completely that even their movements became nearly imperceptible.
These two spells were standard combinations in Durmstrang's dueling classes.
Blind the opponent. Conceal yourself. When outnumbered or at a disadvantage, close the gap by any means necessary.
Cedric's group, however, had little experience facing tactics like this. For a split second, they faltered.
"They're trying to run?!" Jordan blurted out, unable to restrain his voice.
Even though Cedric immediately tried to cover his mouth, and Fleur threw up a Shield Charm at once, they couldn't block the Stunning Spells fired from three different directions.
Thud.
Jordan became the first to fall, collapsing onto the grass not far away, unconscious.
"Quietus."
Cedric reacted instantly. The fog hindered both sides equally, and any sound now could give away their position. He cast the silencing charm without hesitation.
Fleur followed with one of her own. With their larger numbers, there was no harm in reinforcing it.
Though casting still drew retaliatory fire, the Weasley twins and Davies responded quickly, raising Shield Charms to block the incoming spells.
Cedric and Fleur countered twice toward the direction the red streaks had come from, but the force of those attacks wasn't enough to trouble the three Durmstrang students.
And so, both sides fell silent at the same time, each unwilling to expose their position further.
The battlefield grew eerily quiet.
"I have a feeling that if they slip away right now while we're still groping around in here, the professor watching from the shadows is going to think we're idiots," George muttered quietly under the cover of the silencing charm.
"Krum won't do that," Cedric replied softly.
"Even if they retreat, they'll still have to face both our teams at the platform. The advantage they gained by taking out Jordan would disappear."
"Then we can just go save Jordan."
Cedric glanced toward where Jordan had fallen. With the layered fog obscuring everything, he could only estimate the spot based on the trajectory of the spell.
"That's exactly what they want. I'm certain someone's lying in wait there. The moment we step forward to lift the spell, we'll be attacked."
In truth, Viktor's plan went beyond that.
The moment he realized the fight had reached a stalemate, he decisively signaled Poliakoff and Horn to disengage from the center and move toward the outer edge of the fog.
Not to flee.
But to draw in a third party.
Whether it was one of Tver's statues or another team arriving on the scene, as long as they could throw this battlefield into chaos, they would have their chance to strike in the confusion.
"Krum!"
Not long after, Poliakoff and Horn came sprinting back into the mist, which was already beginning to thin.
Cedric and Fleur had no fear of Viktor fleeing, but they also had no intention of letting the situation drag on. Even though Viktor had been sustaining the spell, he couldn't stop the fog from gradually dissipating.
And with the growing sound of footsteps in the distance, Viktor realized there was no need to maintain it any longer.
"How many teams did you draw in?" he asked, a flicker of anticipation in his voice.
"Well… didn't you say the more, the better?" Poliakoff replied hesitantly, glancing nervously over his shoulder toward the direction he'd just come from. "So we made a bit of noise… and… kind of attracted a whole crowd…"
"Horn, you explain," Viktor cut in, already sensing that the commotion behind them was becoming impossible to ignore.
"Looks like around ten teams joined forces. They're planning to take us out first before heading to the platform," Horn said helplessly. "We didn't expect this many either. At first, it was just a small scouting team. But then more and more teams kept showing up behind them…"
"So we're about to face more than a dozen teams?" Viktor stared blankly at the forest where the noise was swelling. He didn't even notice Cedric closing in anymore.
He had wanted to stir up muddy waters and fish in the chaos—not trigger a landslide that swallowed everything whole.
"More than that," Poliakoff added grimly. "I saw several Beauxbatons and Durmstrang teams too. I think the rest are searching for us."
"What's going on with you?" Cedric asked, confused.
He had been ready to press the attack, but Viktor's sudden lack of urgency caught him off guard.
"Let's cooperate," Viktor said with a sigh. It was the only solution he could think of.
"What?" Cedric frowned. Just moments ago, they had been locked in a battle of wits—and now he was proposing an alliance?
"I mean this." Viktor pointed toward the figures beginning to emerge from the thinning mist, their excitement obvious the moment they spotted them.
Even Tver, watching invisibly from the shadows, couldn't help but laugh under his breath.
The whole point of the fog had been to scatter the teams—at the very least, to separate Cedric, Fleur, and Viktor so he could observe them individually.
Only in chaos could a person's true nature be revealed.
Yet somehow, the three teams had still run into one another—and even managed to collide with the main search force.
Still, Tver couldn't call it a failure. If anything, he was quite satisfied.
Cedric had genuinely intended to cooperate with Fleur from the start, even taking the initiative to make it happen on the battlefield. He had a natural ability to connect with others—sharp-minded and emotionally intelligent.
His only shortcoming was a lack of ruthlessness. Though in times of peace, that could hardly be called a flaw.
Fleur, on the other hand, was the kind of person who thought things through carefully.
She wouldn't recklessly offend others for short-term gain, but in any given situation, she always chose the path that best served her interests.
A bit like a more well-intentioned Lucius.
As for Viktor…
Tver had known since his school days that he was both bold and meticulous.
His silence wasn't indifference. If anything, it meant he observed more than he spoke.
He might act less than the other two, but at critical moments, he was often the most reliable of them all.
So even when the three teams were ultimately overwhelmed and disarmed by classmates who had absolute numerical superiority, Tver didn't think they had performed poorly.
After all, the purpose of this match had been fully achieved.