Harry jumped backward under the combined assault. Right in front of him was Mia furiously pursuing him with a halberd while Cressida was on one side casting spell after spell in his direction. Hermione was at the other, her spell work less furious but more well aimed. Shifting terrain behind him or spells directly at him at critical moments.
He landed and ducked under a pair of spells. Mia tried to use the opening in an outreaching vertical swipe. Harry however had time to deflect the descending axehead into the ground. Having an opening he stomped through the wood that snapped instantly. He'd had to bend back to avoid having his eyes poked out by Mia's counter move with the remnants of the pole.
He threw himself backward once more as Hermione and Cressida picked up the pace with their barrage to allow Mia to pick up a new halberd. Harry weaved through the spell fire and returned the favor in the form of powerful stinging hexes. Hermione chose to shield, her barrier popping but keeping her safe, while Cressida dodged without breaking her next incantation.
Harry tried to charge Cressida but Mia jumped back in the fray barring his path with a wide sweep of her weapon. With a war cry training blade met the steel of the halberd in a clash. Harry's wand shot over the weapon, spitting a curse that Cressida was a moment too slow to dodge, clipping her side and turning her legs into jelly. Mia attempted to pull back but received a pair of hexes to the face for her troubles. "Grah, not again." the swordswoman complained as her eyes swelled.
"I surrender!" Hermione exclaimed, raising both her hands in the classical surrender posture. Harry lowered his weapons and bowed. "I gratefully accept your surrender. Now I shall carry you to my quarters and ravish you." Hermione tried to look indignant but instead blushed at the wink Harry finished his declaration with.
"When you say things like that I am starting to believe you don't like us anymore more." Mia complained with a pout, her eyes clearing up as Harry applied the counter curse. "Now either of you either are going to do something about this enormous pimple?" she added as she pointed to the thumb sized pimple that was still slowly swelling in size. Hermione responded first and the pimple's slow growth stopped. She tried the spell again but the pimple was unresponsive.
"You put way too much power into the hex Harry." Hermione noted expersated before slapping away Mia's hand who started to wander over to poke it. Harry looked sheepish "Oops?" his counterspell did work and the pimple shrank away into nothingness leaving behind perfect unblemished skin. "Thanks." Mia said with a nod as she checked her visage in the reflection of her weapon.
Hermione meanwhile double checked on Cressida and undid the jelly-hex curse Harry had managed with the glancing blow. "Well that was good practice." Harry said with a pleased nod. And not just because he had won. "It was? Hermione said with a frown as Cressida went through a quick exercise to confirm she had full control of her body. "You beat us in nearly a blink of the eye."
"Which a Campione is supposed to do." Mia concurred. Hermione opened her mouth to object before pausing. "I suppose you are right." she admitted reluctantly. Although she still couldn't see the value Harry would get out of beating them so quickly. 'It must be one of those fighter things I just can't read about in the books.' she mused in her mind as she watched Harry and Mia starting to go through their cooldown sequence.
She just hoped that it would help Harry with whatever he would face next.
"Nothing is going to happen Harry." Hermione repeated in a tired tone as he was too tense to dig into dinner. Harry had been wired the entire day as he waited, in his own words, 'for the other shoe to drop. The three girls together had to talk him out of making a preemptive strike against professor Umbridge when the defence against the dark arts lesson's lecture happened without an accident.
She and Cressida had to admit there was a sort of pattern when it came to halloween. However Hermione was convinced that past results had no bearing on the future, as doing so would validate a form of divination. Instead she focused her energy on convincing Harry that nothing would happen although his stubbornness and growing paranoia was wearing on her.
Dinner went by without an incident and the four made it to Harry's room without encountering any danger. "Well.. I suppose you are right." Harry admitted after they sat down and Hermione had started to glare a hole into Harry's head. Hermione would have exclaimed her victory if Harry and Mia weren't both tensed up and ready to strike something.
Twenty seconds later they relaxed. "Well even jinxing yourself won't make the baddies appear." Mia noted with a grin. "I really was expecting something to bust in with how you are today Harry." the swordswoman explained. "A pattern can be broken." Hermione exploded at the perceived nonsense from them both. "And if you do this again I will not be around Harry Potter. This idiocy is unbelievable."
"Hermione…" Harry protested as he saw his girlfriend's temper explode. "Don't." Hermione hissed. "'Hermione' me. I have been enduring this divination based nonsense of yours all day long. Since there are no trolls, basilisks, convicts of choosing of the champions appearing that means everything is going to be alright. The most 'exciting' thing happening this year is another useless defense professor. Understood?!"
Harry decided to keep it to himself while nodding like a bobble head. 'Maybe I have gone a bit too far.' he admitted in his thoughts. 'Although cutting Umbridge's head off would be a public service in my opinion.' "Now I am going to read this book. You are going to do some class work and everything is going to be calm and orderly. Mia is going to stow that blasted sword somewhere I cannot see it. Understood?" Hermione finished her tirade, her patience had truly snapped.
This time she had two bobble heads, although one hadn't really stopped in the first place. "Good." She plopped down, opened a book big and heavy enough to use as a melee weapon in a pinch and started to read. Harry and Mia snuck off to deposit their weapons before Hermione could point them out.
Cressida having put up with her Campione's paranoia as well decided Hermione had an excellent idea and joined her with a book of her own. They were soon joined by a visibly disarmed Harry and Mia. The first opening up a book of his own on geology while the latter decided to start catching some sleep early. Hermione decided to be gracious and not try to figure out Harry's choice of reading material as it was definitely not classwork.
A dozen robed figures with white masks waited on top of a sandstone coloured building. A cold desert night wind flowed past them making their long black robes flutter slightly. A rat scurried up to the group and transformed into a man while the moon shone overhead. "My lord. They have started." Pettigrew intoned hastily.
"How long until the ritual is complete?" The Dark Lord demanded as he could see in the distance the first unnatural stirrings of a greater power being lured down. Peter spat out an answer which Lucius concurred with. "Good. Head to the muggle area and start an obviously magical fire to distract them." Peter scurried off to the Dark Lord's bidding.
As the obvious flow of divine power became clear most of the death eaters did their best to hide their nervousness. Some of them had seen the ease with which Perseus had controlled the women in the arena. And although their faith in the dark lord's power was strong. They were well aware that Harry Potter had gotten lucky while he was being underestimated.
There was a sudden flash of light. "Now!" Voldemort commanded and the group disappeared into series of pops. Pettigrew had disabled the wards keeping apparitions out while he was spying on their final preparations. They appeared to find a mixed group praying to the tall and regal looking woman standing in the middle.
She had a moment to allow her outrage to show when Voldemort unshrunk a cursed spear and banished the weapon at her. The death eaters dished out their namesake in the form of acid green spells to the utterly surprised supplicants. Most of them were cut down before they could finish their cries of fear, panic and anger. A few managed to scramble to their feet and resist.
The woman ducked under the spear hurled at her midsection. The wicked edges snagged her tall crown and ended the journey into one of the supplicants who rotted within seconds from the inside out. Tom Riddle ignored the stream of ancient egyptian as she materialised a bow while a quiver of arrows appeared on her back. He was too busy unshrinking a pair of spears that held a wicked chain between them. Each part was cursed up to the gills to inflict horrendous injuries even on a glancing blow.
He launched the spears just as she took aim and an arrow of light raced at him. Tom managed to sidestep her counter attack but the chain was cut. The shock sent his own attack wild, nearly hitting two of his death eaters. They were nearly done slaughtering the mostly defenceless supplicants.
With a shriek she launched herself and delivered a head pulping kick to one of his followers. "Retreat!" Tom bellowed to his men who were more than eager to follow his command. Another death eater fell in the time it took them to apparate out. It did give him the chance to unshrink most of the stolen enchanted muggle weaponry and with a general banishing charm send them in the direction of the warrior goddess.
Her bow, despite being made of primitive materials, was more than able to stand up against the flying weaponry and she battered several away with it. One of the final sabers she slammed back towards Tom who was forced to duck under the buzzsaw of a spinning saber. A killing curse flowed from his lips on instinct and smacked into her chest to no effect.
Nor did the spell distract her. Tom snapped a shield up just in time to block the arrow she fired. Its silver streak crossed the distance between them in a tenth of a second and blew Voldemort clean over the courtyard and through the walls surrounding it. He landed roughly into one of the rooms facing the courtyard. His enhanced and magicked body ached but Tom bulldozed through the haze of pain by sheer willpower.
"ACCIO" The dark lord thundered as he mentally focused on all the weapons he had released. He then transfigured the ground into a solid wall. Weapons started to thunk into the barrier seconds later but to his dismay he did not hear the satisfying sound of a weapon burying itself into the heretic goddess's flesh. With a swipe he sent a directional concussion curse into his freshly conjured wall to send the cursed weapons flying into the courtyard again.
Through the dust he saw the goddess unflinching in the face of a barrage of cursed weaponry buzzing around her, nor did the shards of debris cause any hesitation in her aim. Tom Riddle was painfully aware that he was staring straight at an arrowhead glowing with golden divine power. With unnatural speed he twisted away like he had no spine. The golden arrow traced a line through the air and effortlessly pierced the wall behind him.
A shock wave followed with the force of a roaring dragon. Riddle got picked up like a piece of debris and blasted out into the desert with half the building the summoning had taken in place. The world spun into a blur of dark night sky and the dust storm that obscured the desert underneath. Half of a sword Riddle remembered cursing himself to cause an agonizing death spun by the area his nose should have been.
'That would be ironic. Cut down by my own cursed sword while I am flying around like a piece of debris.' Tom Riddle thought. He then hit the ground and dispersed his momentum while rolling through the sand. His superhuman reflexes allowed him to deflect a few pieces of debris with just a twitch of his wand as his wand arm was not covered by himself.
He clambered through his feet the moment he came to a halt. With a wide sweep of his wand the dust exploded away from him in a gust of wind. His body ached as bruises and smaller cuts let their presence known and he was aware that had he still had his first body he would be dead now. Not even a stronger wizard's body would be able to take this kind of abuse. Even most armor would have been useless to protect their wearer.
'The power of a heretic god is amazing.' Tom Riddle acknowledged while greed filled his gut. The display of power of a relatively weak goddess made him yearn to obtain it, and use it as a springboard to obtain more until he was immortal in more ways than Sun Wukong.
In the distance he saw the remaining bits of the building he had invaded collapsed. Whether it was by the backlash, total structural failure, or another attack that missed as he flew further than the goddess had expected he did not know or care about. There was a flash of light and he reacted by apperating a hundred meters away. The area he had vacated exploded as a beam of light hit it.
'Another arrow. It must be an authority to have such power. To use a muggle weapon is beneath me but I will make an exemption for such power.' Tom acknowledged as he greedily sought the form of the goddess. The dark lord apperated forward into the destroyed summoning area. As he had hoped he appeared behind the woman who whirled around as he transfigured the sandstone into a spike aimed at her midsection.
He hit only for her form to waver like an illusion. He acted instead of gaping like an amateur and whirled around to expect the woman to attempt to shoot him in the back. However nothing was there. There was a shout of ancient egyptian behind him. 'She tricked me!' Tom raged in his mind as a spearhead erupted from his retaliation he unshrunk a cursed stone and banished it right behind him.
The thud of the hit was music to his ears. The pain from the stab wound shook his body as the woman withdrew her spear at an angle worsening the wound. Voldemort however did not care. He knew his body would continue functioning for a while longer despite the damage. "Victory is mine." he gloated as he turned around expecting the bruise to have turned purple and weeping life liquids.
Her scant clothing gave him a good view. However it was much smaller than he had expected. "It is not. I shall guard this city forever from bugs like you. My rule shall make its splendor shine that it will be seen from the heavens." The goddess declared. Voldemort used the time she used to gloat in return to set up his next spell. He finished his small twitches with a wide sweep upward. "No. You will be just my first stepping stone to immortality!" he cried out as a veritable field of rock spears lunged for her.
None hit her however as she moved like lightning. Her spear swiping all around her to cut down the attacks before they got close. Voldemort conjured a glob of acid and threw it at her as his spell sputtered to an end. She was fast enough however to cut her way free and avoid the green liquid that enthusiastically started to melt its way into the earth.
She charged Riddle who leaped backward and formed the strongest shield he could as the spear reached out for him. His shield failed after a moment but the impact gave him enough speed to fly out of her reach with her weapon only adding another shallow cut to his collection.
Her weapon shifted back into the bow and she started to chant something. Tom hit the ground with both feet and apperated away. He appeared some distance away at her side "Accio cursed items!" he shouted as her arrow pierced the air he had been before. He waited a pair of seconds to let the weapons and their shards fly towards him.
He apperated again while maintaining the spell. The swell of cursed metal turned towards the goddess as he appeared right at the opposite side of her. He noted with some interest he saw the silver trail of her arrow cross the sky. 'A homing function.' The goddess did not whirl. Her bow shifted instead into a curved sword that she used to cut apart the wave of metal flying towards her.
That was fine by Voldemort who released the summoning spell and hastily drew out a cursed mace. He enlarged it and prepared to toss it up to banish it at her. With her back towards him he never saw the satisfied smirk as the homing arrow completed its near circuit as he banished the mace. The only warning Voldemort had before he was annihilated was the soft glow of silver in the corner of his eye.
In the distance the few death eaters brave enough to watch saw their lord hit by the arrow that detonated into a massive silver sphere. The silver glow blinded them from the hit that their lord managed to strike. What they did notice afterwards was how their dark mark branded on them faded again like it had when Voldemort was hit by his own killing curse.
As the cowards who did not watch kept well out of Nagini's sight in the fear she would report their cowardice to their lord. They did not notice the snake shrieking and writhing in the pain. It was only later when the most trusted started to execute their lord's orders in the scenario that this happened that they would notice how exhausted the snake was.