HP: The Arcane Thief

Chapter 129: A Savage Reawakens

"WHAT THE FUCK?!"

What happened was so surprising that Lee Jordan couldn't care how big a mistake it was to curse at an international game like this. Even Professor Mcgonagall, who was nearby to keep an eye on him for situations like these, couldn't do anything.

Well, they couldn't be blamed for their reactions. The whole Hogwarts team… taken out in an instant.

All of the audience stood up in their seats, mouths agape as they stared at the scene in horror. The medics rushed in to check the conditions of the players. It wasn't until it was announced that everyone was fine, just knocked unconscious that the commentators were able to resume.

"Ah…Ladies and Gentlemen, it seems that the whole Hogwarts team has been totaled by that surprising move of Mahoutokoro. They have suffered serious injuries and won't be able to continue the match. Though I'm still a bit unclear as to exactly how it happened…" announced Travis.

Jin had an awed expression on his face as he explained the whole process. "That was, truly a masterful technique. It used the full potential of the whole team. The two wind mages had to create a storm strong enough to cover the whole field. The water affinity ninjas had to summon enough water that it produced a stream, connecting them to all parts of the stadium. Then Takeshi, the key to the plan, the extremely rare lightning affinity ninja produced an electric discharge strong enough to incapacitate all the players, which reached them conducted by water. Finally, the remaining members were tasked to defend the team while they were making preparations, which they did successfully."

"Merlin's socks! It's no wonder that the Hogwarts players were taken by surprise. Even I didn't anticipate it until the last moment," said Travis in amazement. "But... why have I not seen something like this happen before?"

Jin scoffed. "That's because you won't find Lightning Affinity ninja playing Quidditch. There were very few of them, and all of them have far more important jobs than Quidditch."

At this moment, team Mahoutokoro, who had somewhat recovered, finally began to move.

"And it seems that Team Mahoutokoro is back in the game. With Team Hogwarts no longer able to continue the match, they only need to score a few more points to win." Said Travis.

"Yeah, this match is over," said Jin.

"And what an exciting match this was! Despite having the odds stacked up against them, Team Mahoutokoro was able to take down the formidable team Hogwarts and even defeat the Prodigy Axel with their incredible teamwork! What a match! I say, this match is definitely going down to the annals of history. What do you think, Lee?"" Asked Travis, elbowing Jordan to break him out of his trance.

Since the take down of Team Hogwarts, Lee had simply stopped commentating, making Travis and Jin to cover for his absence. That's why Travis directly called him out this time. This wasn't an ordinary school match. Lee was commentating at a professional stage right now. Granted that he was good, but if he can't handle his team losing, then he is not fit for the job.

Though, even after being called out, Lee didn't immediately react. The commentators box could access all the cameras in the stadium, and Lee's eyes were still fixed on the camera showing the ground, where Team Hogwarts was being treated right now.

"It's not over yet, look… at the ground!" said Lee, finally breaking his silence. Because, something unbelievable was happening on the ground right now.

…

Axel went down like the rest of his teammates. SInce Lightning and water were both his affinities, he hadn't taken any physical damage, but his mind was still reeling with various thoughts. He really hadn't anticipated for such a thing to happen. Or more like, he hadn't bothered. In his mind, there was only one fact: Mahoutokoro can't really do anything to him. And observing them in the first half, he really didn't think he had anything to worry about. Even his teammates could handle them on their own, and he had countermeasures for everything they had shown in the first half. Then why bother?

That's why, when he realized what was going on, it was already too late. So, Axel currently wasn't falling because he was injured. But he was falling because he thought he deserved it. Axel looked at his teammates, who were being rushed by Healers and Medics. Their skin had charred marks, none of them conscious. From time to time, their bodies would jerk from the residual electricity.

Before today, he hadn't even bothered remembering their names. But, now he did. He also remembered how they had given their all to protect him, how concerned they were about his injuries they had reached the changing room, and how much trust they had put in him. And what had he done in return? He had held back from showing off, prolonged the match, and gotten them badly injured.

Axel's eyes opened fully and he slowly sat up, scaring the hell out of the Healers who were checking his condition. He was incredibly mad right now. Mostly at himself. But because he was so mad, his face was a mask of calm right now.

"What...? Axel Hunt... he's is still conscious after that move!" exclaimed Travis. "He has risen up like a dead man back to life!"

Jin stood up in his seat. "H-How... is that possible?"

"I have no idea!" Yelled Travis.

Lee Jordan had a maniacal grin on his face. "You guys haven't done your research. Axel Hunt has the Lightning Affinity."

"What?! Really? Well, I think that should explain it," muttered Travis.

But Jin shook his head. "No, having Lightning Affinity doesn't give you total immunity from Lightning. Even if he's not unconscious, he shouldn't be able to move through all the pain!"

"Well, he obviously IS able to move!" Said Travis. "The question is: Can he continue to play?!"

Everyone had eyes on Axel who was sitting on the ground, blankly staring at his unconscious teammates.

"COME ON AXEL!" Someone yelled.

"YEAH! YOU CAN DO IT!"

"AXEL!"

""AXEL!""

"""AXEL!"""

"""""""AXEL!""""""

Soon, the whole ground was chanting Axel's name.

Axel sighed. Grabbing his broom, he slowly got up, smoke still emitting from his charred clothes.

"""""""""YYEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!"""""""""

And the biggest cheer in history arose as the people saw the unbelievable scene.

"Just… why won't he go down?!" On the other hand, team Mahoutokoro looked at Axel and felt like he was a monster rising from hell, hell bent on taking them down.

"What are you gawking for?! Don't let him recover! Take him down now!" Takeshi ordered, heading straight for Axel.

Axel mounted his broom and kicked off, rising up to meet them head on.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THIS IS HAPPENING! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THIS MATCH IS NOW AXEL VS MAHOUTOKORO, ONE VS ALL!" Yelled Jordan.

Team Mahoutokoro prepared their jutsus, and Axel prepared his magic.

"Fire!" Yelled Takeshi, firing his Jutsu, the rest of the team following his lead. In the face of such fire power, Axel didn't bother defending himself. He pointed his wand to his left, "Launching Boom."

This was the magic he had learnt when he was rushing to save Martina when she was kidnapped. It involves building up magic in his hands or feet and then launching it all once, giving him a forward boost in the opposite direction. This time, Axel decided to reveal this magic after careful consideration, Only, he is using his wand and the chant to deploy, neither of which he actually needs.

At once, Axel was pushed sharply to the right due to his spell, making the Jutsus pass by him harmlessly.

"Son of a—" Takeshi cursed when he saw Axel pull off something completely new, making them waste their best chance at taking him down. To think the fucker was holding back all this time.

"Electrica Impulsa" x 5

Axel didn't waste his time. While the Mahoutokoro players were still preparing the hand seals for their next attacks, he had already plunged in their midst.

"Scatter!" Takeshi realized the danger when he saw Axel's wand, which was shinning with high voltage Electricity, but he was already quite late.

*ZAP*

One teammate, the girl with Fire affinity, was already down, having tasted the power of his signature spell which had been charged five times. By this time, their next Jutsu was prepared.

'One down. Five to go.'

"You're dead this time! Fire!"

"Launching boom." Axel quickly launched himself at the next teammate, the kyoichi guy with water affinity. Before he could complete his hand seals, Axel had already socked him in the face using his force of his momentum, stopping him in the process. Then he gripped the handle of kyoichi's broom and hid behind him.

"Matte—" Koichi was only able to say that before the friendly fire hit him, coming from two of his teammates who were only focused on Axel and couldn't stop themselves in time. Kyoichi was very much done for, but, Axel still didn't let the poor lad rest just yet. Gripping his broom, Axel led him to the next target, using him as a shield to deter the two players who still hadn't fired their Jutsus.

"Petrificus Totalus,"

While taking cover behind the unconscious kyoichi, Axel unexpectedly launched a simple spell at one of the players who was hesitating to use his Jutsu. It was the Earth affinity ninja, the keeper. The guy didn't expect a range attack from Axel at all. It caught him in the leg and he got paralyzed, making him fall.

Axel crashed Kyoichi in the other player. While the player tried to dodge, he got a face full of Launching Boom, which Axel used to change direction.

Only two players left now. Takeshi and Endo. The problem was, the two of them had big jutsus ready for him. Endo: Great Wind Storm, Takeshi: Lightning Stream.

The wind storm struck him, obstructing his mobility. At the same moment, Takeshi had prepared his Lightning attack. Axel tried controlling his broom to escape, but he realized the storm was slowing his broom enough that he wouldn't make it in time.

"Die already!" Yelled Takeshi, launching his attack while grinning. He knew he had him this time.

At this moment, Axel unexpectedly kicked off his broom, plunging straight down. "Launching Boom." Then he used a launching boom to further increase his momentum, getting him out of the range of the wind storm and Takeshi's Lightning Stream. When everyone was too surprised to react, he summoned his broomstick back in his hand and flew straight back up to greet the two who had thought that they already had the victory.

"Damn it! Get him this time!" Yelled Takeshi, seeing Axel coming for them again. But this time, instead of confidence, his eyes were filled with horror. Just why won't he go down?!

"Petrificus Totalus!" While flying at his fastest speed, Axel fired a body binding charm at Takeshi. Takeshi wasn't struck like the previous player, but his Jutsu casting was still stalled.

"Electrica Impulsa," x5

Axel took this time to Head was Endo, who had towards windstorm prepared for him. Due to his close proximity this time, Endo, who was about to launch the windstorm, couldn't complete it in time. The same time he launched his Jutsu, Axel's wand also touched him. Endo was brutally put down, and receiving the [Wind Storm] at point blank range, Axel also took damage. But…

"It's set."

Even though he was injured, he was also launched in the opposite direction at an incredible momentum due to the force of the spell. The direction he had set was—

"Fuck!"

Takeshi freaked out upon seeing Axel headed towards him like a missile. He hastened his Jutsu casting.

'Can't let you do that," thought Axel. Without any hesitation, he threw his broomstick at the guy which managed to take him completely by surprise, hitting him smack dab in the face!

"Launching Boom," Axel covered the remaining distance through the launching boom and directly kicked Takeshi off his broom, taking his place.

"Not done yet." Looking at the arrogant guy falling to the ground, Axel dived straight down using Takeshi's broom. The handle of broom made contact with Takeshi and Axel only increased his speed, plunging straight towards the ground.

At the last second, he pulled back, letting Takeshi hit the ground at that speed.

*THUMP*

"Six down."