Harry tried several more approaches but found that the heretic god's control over water was enough to dissuade him from approaching directly. He had also cast another wind lance but so far it had only interrupted whatever fiddling the creature was doing with some kind of white porcelain cup.
And upset it rather badly but it soon became clear to Harry that the current state of affairs would not bring an end to the battle. He had no idea what happened to the people who dived in but he knew that the hostages still could be alive. However he had no idea how long the protections cast over them would last.
With him being the lord of the sky and the beast down below the master of the lake they were in a stalemate. He glanced around to see the evacuation of the magical folk well underway when he spotted Cressida trying to get his attention. Mia seemed to launch some kind of sword-beam at the heretic god drawing its attention to her.
With a curse he dived down towards Cressida. He knew Mia well enough that she would not garner the heretic god's ire without a good reason. Which meant that Cressida knew something he had to know.
Just as Victoria slowed down in order not to bowl over the young woman Hermione sprinted into sight clutching something in her hand. "What is…" Harry started to ask when Hermione all but leaped on Victoria's back. Cressida and Harry blinked for a moment and then Cressida followed Hermione's lead.
"Go!" Hermione shouted and Victoria leaped skyward. Harry looked around wildly for the attack that never came. "Eat this Harry." Hermione commanded as she pressed some kind of green rolled up seaweed to him. Harry did not hesitate for a moment and choked down the unpleasant thing in an eye blink.
He felt his body subtly change. His feet and hands gained webbing just like the heretic god and he felt something grow at the base of his neck. "Gillyweed. That should allow you to breathe underwater for an hour." Hermione explained.
"Good idea Hermione." Cressida praised. "Harry, your opponent is the Vodyanoy from eastern European lore." "He lures people into the water and drowns them. Stealing their souls." Hermione continued smoothly. "No weapons, only water manipulation. The souls are stored in the white cup. Open it and they will be freed."
Harry gave the girls a nod over his shoulder and brought Victoria around for a charge. "Chosen blade of the hero reveal yourself in grand splendor. Cut all those who oppose your wielder. Stand fast against both claws and teeth!" he intoned and the sword of Gryffindor thrummed with power as his authority took hold.
"Make sure Mia is alright. I lost sight of her." Harry commanded as he climbed up so that he stood on Victoria's back. The Pegasus's authority prevented him from falling off. "I am trusting the girls to you Victoria." he noted as the Pegasus dived down and charged the heretic god.
A wall of water started to appear to block the charge and Harry prepared his timing for when Victoria aborted her charge. "By Poseidon's blessed Trident. Grant this meagre mage a portion of its power to manipulate the very lifeblood of the planet!" Cressida intoned while holding open a book. The water in the way shivered and then opened a hole.
Victoria sped up with another mighty swing of her wings and then tucked them in. The shot through the closing hole in the barrier and Harry jumped off. Victoria spread her wings and nearly skimmed the water as she pulled up while Harry tried to slam swordpoint first into the heretic god.
Vodyanoy dived out of the way and instead Harry slammed into the depths of the lake. He did not miss the malicious glee the heretic god sported in the murky darkness as it pointed its clawed finger at him. The pressure around him increased and tried to drag him but his webbed feet gave him the propulsion he needed to approach the heretic god.
It stared at him flabbergasted which meant Harry's slash went unopposed. Vodyanoy jerked away at the last moment which meant that Harry left a deep poisoned slash on its chest instead of being cut in half. Harry pressed his advantage with an overhead slash but Vodyanoy proved to be the more agile combatant in the lake.
Vodyanoy screeched something that Harry was quite certain was an insult. It then pulled out the white porcelain cup Harry saw earlier. He saw the frog faced bulky man pull off the lid. Harry expected some kind of explosion of freed souls but instead a sliver of white energy poured out and slithered into the wound. It healed within seconds and Harry did not have much hope that the basilisk poison would still be active.
In the distant murk Harry saw somebody swim deeper and deeper into the depths. The person suddenly struggled to go upward again but soon went limp. A white essence flowed out of his body and headed straight into the cup.
'He… he…' Harry thought in disbelief before taking silver blade in a two handed grip and charged the heretic god. With a snarl he charged the snickering frog faced beast who immediately tried to lead Harry on a merry chase. Tried as it found out that it was faster underwater than Harry was, Harry was more agile.
The pair clashed twice. Each exchange leaving the beast with minor wounds as Harry could stay out of its reach of its claws while the Sword of Gryffindor drew blood. It sped off and Harry gave chase. It did not long for Harry to find out its target.
Up ahead Cedric Diggory launched red bolt after red bolt at the approaching heretic god to no effect. In desperation to save the champion Harry took a one handed grip on his sword and drew his wand.
"Eurus interauilonem ettelum imperator!" Harry chanted through the air bubbles as Cedric managed to avoid the decapitating blow by ducking just on time. Not all of his hair was lucky and he flinched as some of it was torn out by the root. The spear of air formed despite being surrounded in water. It charged forward leaving a trail of bubbles like a torpedo. Harry however realised a flaw in his plan. The amount of water crushing in around the spear would most certainly qualify as 'disrupting influences'.
The lance of air warped and imploded halfway towards its target. A loud thud reverberated through the lake as the compressed air then exploded outward violently. Harry flinched on the assault on his eardrums while Cedric was relatively unaffected. Vodyanoy shrieked in pain and darted away from Cedric as it spasmed as a result of the spell on its much more sensitive hearing.
It was clear Cedric had no clue what was going on but caught on to the fact that whatever Harry had picked a fight with was something he shouldn't get involved in. He frantically swam for the surface as Harry unleashed another spear. Once again it imploded and shook the water like a depth charge.
Vodyanoy shrieked again and charged right at Harry who smiled grimly. 'For once not remembering the exact warnings worked out for me.' He thought as he stowed his wand and took up the sword of the Gryffindor. With the speed the beast was charging at him he intended to end it in one blow.
A mighty overhead swing cut into the path of the outstretched arm aiming straight from Harry's head and Vodyanoy flinched away at the last moment. Instead of taking the blow on the arm through the chest Harry cut it off just under the shoulder. He dodged the projectile-like arm with a tilt on his head and slashed upwards to end the fight. Sadly Vodyanoy boosted out of range by shooting upward.
Harry gave chase and drew his wand again to launch another wind spear to draw the heretic god's ire to him. It cried out in pain as this wind spear detonated quite close and Harry wasted no time landing a blow with his sword as Vodyanoy writhed in pain. It shot off like a startled hare as Harry nearly hacked its spine in two.
Vodyanoy subtly shifted as Harry launched a second wind spear in the hopes of stunning it again and landing the final blow. It detonated nearby but to Harry's surprise it was unharmed. It dived through the veil of bubbles in an attempt to slash Harry. Harry caught the deadly claws on the edge of the Gryffindor blade and was pushed backward.
The close up allowed Harry to see the slow growth of the webbing on Vodyanoy's feet. The nails grew more dagger like. 'Shapeshifting?!' Harry thought with trepidation as Vodyanoy pushed him away and shot off far faster than it had done before. Through the murk Harry could see a white light. 'He healed himself didn't he.' the boy-who-lived-to-slay-a-god thought dourly.
He barely had time to bring up his sword into a guard position before he was slammed backwards into the depths. Ten dagger like fingers sought to gut him like a fish. As quick as the sudden assault had come, it disappeared just as fast. Harry's instincts went haywire and he turned on position with a horizontal slash.
Blood suddenly filled his vision as Vodyanoy nearly impaled himself. Harry felt his shoulder burn in pain as the now thin frogaced man had nearly torn his head over his shoulder. Harry turned again to chase his target only to see him dart away in the murk leaving a heavy trail.
The glint of something white caught his eye. With wide eyes Harry watched the cup tumble into the depths. Its lid had fallen off showing the glowing white souls within. "Eurus interauilonem ettelum imperator!" Harry shouted as loud as he could. The sound distorting in the water as a large lance of air, fueled by his urgency formed and rocketed off.
Vodyanoy had clearly noticed he had lost something and darted back. It reached out for the cup just as the lance struck it and imploded. It sucked in the cup and shattered it into shrapnel when it exploded. Vodyanoy shot through the explosion of bubbles with several pieces of shrapnel stuck in its skin.
More importantly in Harry's opinion was the white souls scattering like a disturbed flock of birds and fading away into nothingness. The next shriek coming out of Vodyanoy's throat was one of rage instead of pain. Harry saw it shift its form subtlety again patching the worst of the wounds.
It disappeared into the murk and Harry was forced to block a lightning fast passing attack. It barely had passed before Harry listened to his instincts and blocked a second attack coming in from its side. When the third attack came from a third direction Harry knew he had to leave the water. With Vodyanoy blasting through the lake with unnatural speed he knew it would sooner or later land a telling blow.
He avoided the next attack by the merit of being somewhere else and used the follow up to try to grapple with Vodyanoy should he be prevented from surfacing. Sadly only that yielded him a bloodied hand so Harry focused on getting out of the water as fast could. He tanked the next hit on his legs to maintain his speed and like a dolphin he shot out of the water.
Victoria swooped in and Harry landed on her back like it was all planned. "I am going to stuff you so full with carrots you won't be able to fly." Harry promised his steed as Vodyanoy caught handfuls of air but no Harry. All flailing wildly it fell back into the water and Harry had honestly expected the heretic god to resume its water attacks.
Instead a splash from below warned Harry he was going for Victoria. Thankfully the steed was well aware of the danger as well and moved out of the way. Without prompting she turned around to give Harry a clear swipe his target despite the risk to her wings. Vodyanoy appeared at Victoria's side and it sank its claws into the outstretched wing. Victoria took the hit without a whinny in pain and Harry exacted bloody vengeance.
The last look Vodyanoy had before returning to its legend was Harry enraged visage on behalf of his steed and the sword of Gryffindor swinging towards its throat.
The body fell down and hit the water with a splash while the head dissipated into nothingness before it could hit the water. Victoria staggered downwards with one heavily injured wing and barely managed to reach the shore. Harry leaped off to render aid but instead he felt the desire to leave from his steed. He let her do so and Victoria disappeared into light particles as well.
With Victoria gone and no enemy heretic god's in sight Harry's injuries decided they had quite enough of being ignored. He winced in pain and then remembered that Victoria didn't carry Hermione or Cressida. "Bloody hell, how did they get off?" Harry asked as he wondered why it was so silent.
He then realised he had not heard his own voice. When he felt a hand land on his shoulder he nearly startled-cut the person responsible. He saw the wizened visage of Dumbledore look at him worried and the man said something he didn't hear. Harry released the authority he held on the sword of Gryffindor and planted it tip first into the soft ground.
He made a vague gesture towards his ears as he looked at Dumbledore and the man nodded gravely that he understood. A few men in auror robes dived into the lake and Harry belatedly realised the hostages were still down there. Dumbledore meanwhile conjured bandages and those wrapped around his bleeding wounds on their own accord.
More officials appeared and started carrying those knocked out away. The hostages soon appeared unharmed much to Harry's relief. When the first few corpses started to be carried out Harry was guided away by Dumbledore. He was deposited in the care of Hermione, Mia and Cressida. The latter who helpfully pointed out he should recover after a good night's rest through a piece of paper.
Harry hoped it was the case. Hermione pointed out the flaw that deafening the heretic god must have burst his own eardrums. The pointed written remark that he did not notice the pain made Harry wonder if it was a compliment or an insult about his thick headedness. Going by Hermione's upset worried look he went with the second option.
More people came and went but with healing magic utterly ineffective at patching up his ears Harry had to wait for his Campione enhanced recovery to somehow solve the problem. From what he could gather the ministry mostly wanted to know why he hadn't killed the heretic god before it visited the Hogwarts lake while the two visitors from the Wittagamot mostly wanted more information on how a known target from Voban ended up in his turf.
Weary of the oldest Campione's reputation he had asked, by writing down, if it was worth the trouble sending the man an apology for killing his target. She wasn't sure if it was a good idea but Harry thought it was upon learning that Voban apparently had an axe to grind with Vodyanoy.
Second Gryffindor common room
"One.. Two… Three.. Testing." Harry joked with a relieved smile the next morning. Being able to hear again was a great relief. He wasn't that willing to risk whatever the muggles could do to fix the problem as magic was utterly useless in patching him post-battle. Aside from a few aches on his shoulder he could safely say he was 'fine' and mean it.
"I see that the Campione's ability to recover from non-mortal wounds is as good as advertised." Cressida noted as she took a good look at Harry and found his other injuries gone as well. "Huh. One of the things I do like about this entire Campione thing. No long stays in the infirmary for me." he paused. "On the downside. An increased likelihood of ending up there." he finished with a sigh.
Cressida gave him a wry smile of understanding. "How many people died yesterday?" Harry asked morosely. "Eighteen spectators dived into the depths and drowned. Headmaster Dumbledore's quick reaction saved many more lives. None of the champions or hostages got hurt in the fracas. Your own injuries have healed which only leaves up in the air how Victoria is recovering from hers." She reported factually.
"As for how or why Vodyanoy appeared we do not know." Mia said with a frown as she entered the common room. "The best guess the Wittagamot can offer is that someone threw in the cup it used to store the souls. From what was shared the Wittagamot knew it had multiple cups that were stolen or recovered over the years before it descended."
The knight gave a regretful shrug. "The cloaked man you thought you saw throw something into the water might just be very well the one responsible." "Unless his family had the specific thing to lure the heretic god to the Hogwarts like I doubt he is acting alone." Cressida theorized. "I would have suspected the Wittagamot. But then they would have informed us and found a more suitable location if they had such an artifact."
"Excuse me?" Harry asked puzzled. Both Mia and Cressida shot him a confused look at his interruption before Mia 'Ah'd in understanding. "Harry, every heretic god you defeat makes them yield an authority to you. Which in turn increases your strength." "Which in turn strengthens the Wittagamot's position on the world stage… and the wizarding Britain's I suppose." Cressida added.
"You would throw me into a life and death battle?" Harry demanded incredulously. The heaven Witch nodded without remorse. "A relatively weak heretic god. For both your own safety and those around I would." Harry shot to his feet with his eyes blazing in anger and betrayal. Cressida met the glare head on without flinching "The more authorities you possess the more likely you are to succeed in battle against a heretic god. Even if you do not actively hunt them they will come to you for their own reasons. Dragging you and those around you into the conflict."
Mia shot her fellow Wittagamot member an uncertain look as Harry clearly struggled with his temper. The air around him wavered with unspent magic seeking to lash out. He exhaled through his nose with a literal steam of air. "I need to think about this." He said in a tone of finality.
"Would you have preferred a comforting lie?" Cressida pushed and her hair flew backward as a blast of hot air exploded from Harry in response. The sound of gritting teeth filled the air. "No." Harry growled and he stomped off. At the room's exit he threw a look over his shoulder. "Make sure the Wittagamot is not involved in this."
The portrait closed behind him and both women thought it was a good thing there was no door for Harry to slam. They would have needed to call someone to repair it. "Maybe you should have filtered that point through Hermione?" Mia suggested uncertainly. "No." was the firm reply. "I have my marching orders. Keep him out of trouble."
Mia watched her colleague leave as well. 'Keep a ticked off Campione out of trouble? Really Cressida?' she thought. A few more unflattering thoughts filtered through her mind as she followed Harry's trail. It didn't take her much time to reach the great hall where most people present were warily watching Harry like he was a ticking time bomb.
To Mia's relief Harry seemed to be calming down while Hermione spoke softly to him. "Miss Develd." Dumbledore greeted as he seemed to appear beside her. "Do you perchance know what made Mister Potter so upset?" "Headmaster." Mia greeted in return. "Miss Layla thought it wise to inform Harry of the more unpleasant ways magical organisation can increase a Campione's power."
Dumbledore hummed thoughtfully. "I see. Please relay that if the Wittagamot tries something like that, or is in anyway connected to yesterday's disaster it is not only Harry who is displeased." He said pleasantly and Mia managed to not gulp nervously. Harry was not the only one who could fling around his magic into an aura to show his unhappiness. "I understand."
"Excellent." Dumbledore noted pleased and turned towards the professor's table. Mia hoped the uncharacteristic threat could be blamed on his tiredness. The old headmaster had a busy night rebuilding the wards protecting Hogwarts from the divine sight as well as dealing with the aftermath of the attack.
At least she hoped it to be. If it wasn't she was going to have a talk with Cressida about how the truth should be delivered. She volunteered to become a knight under Harry's command to protect the innocent and she had mostly succeeded yesterday by momentarily drawing the heretic god's attention for Harry to be briefed and engage the heretic god himself. She had also fished a couple of people out of the water when the battle went under the waves.
Garnering the ire of the Campione she was supposed to stand guard around and one of the more powerful wand wizards was not on her job description. Her musings on how exactly she would give Cressida a dressing down were interrupted before they could properly begin as a man rushed into the great hall.
She saw a brief irritated look on Dumbledore's expression and a few of the teachers sported their own and kept it up. The man scanned the crowd of students and soon locked into Harry's form. Her hand shifted from the pommel of the sword of Gryffindor to the grip as the man marched over with a nervous look on his face.
As she analysed him she could tell the man seemed to have run non-stop from wherever he came from to Harry. "The seventh King?" the man asked in confirmation with a thick accent that she had heard before from the Durmstrang contingent. "I am him." Harry said as he fully turned to face the man.
"I bear a message from the Wolf King Voban, Eldest Campione alive." he announced loudly and the hall stilled. "Greetings pup." the man recited out loud. "It is well to see one of the pups respect their veteran elders properly. It pleases me to see you sharpen your fangs on that nuisance, I will test them one day myself. Grow strong little english pup."
"That is the message from Sasha Dejanstahl Voban, King of the Balkans." the man finished. He gave a deep bow and ran from Harry like the boy was about to tear him apart. "Well… I don't have to worry about that then." Harry said loud enough for the silent hall to hear before returning to his breakfast like nothing had happened.
Despite his recent display of his anger the students couldn't resist gossiping about what kind of message Harry had sent to his fellow Campione. Harry meanwhile perused the newspaper as it lauded his heroism and was without a shred of complaint. 'Just remind them why they need me and suddenly I am the hero again.' Harry thought a touch annoyed.
'Well nothing new there in the end.' He added mentally. Nearly the entire paper was filled with stories of either daring escapes, valient rescues or descriptions of his battle before it went below the waves. 'Oh well. We'll see what makes the news turn around again.'