Chapter 31.

  One day during the Easter holiday, Soren received a duel challeter delivered by an owl.

  When Soren first received the challeter, he was fused. After inquiring from various sources, he finally uood the intricacies of the Slytherin fa disputes. "So there are sudercurrents within Slytherin, things that were never mentioned in the inal story. I'm starting to find campus life quite iing."

  Faced with a plot twist outside of the inal pn, Soren smiled with delight, as if he had entered something very enjoyable.

  There were two challengers—one was Terence Higgs, a third-year former Slytherin seeker who had been repced by Drach financial means. He felt unjustly treated for losing his positioo manipution, so he wao challenge Soren to a duel, hoping that if Soren lost, Draco would restore him to his position as seeker.

  The other challenger was Gellert Lestrange, a fourth-year student who viewed the Malfoy family's choice to prioritise self-preservation after Voldemort's downfall as a betrayal of pure-blood families. Therefore, he would not allow the Malfoy offspring to easily gain popurity and prestige within Slytherin.

  Cautious, Soren had Daphne help iigate the strengths of the two challengers from their families before deg to accept the challenge. Soren also had the idea of establishing his own following within Slytherin, and this challenge was a good opportunity to assert his authority.

  Soren did not want to be like thid pure-bloods, strained by narrow-minded pure-blood ideology. He hoped that the power he built could be based o, valuing talent over bloodline—he pced more importan a person's character, temperament, strength, and talent.

  And anyway only by subduing the entire Slytherin could he feel at ease in recruiting talents from other houses.

  This challenge had already spread widely due to someone's deliberate promotion. The moment Soren sighe acceptance of the challenge oter, the young wizards in the on room erupted iement. They eagerly anticipated the duel, and some even invited Professor She head of the house, to be the referee on the night of the duel.

  The duel was scheduled for two nights ter, in the Slytherin on room.

  On the night of the duel, when Soren stepped into the on rht on time, the atmosphere instantly became quiet and eerie.

  Professor Sood expressionlessly in the tre of the room, and every er was filled with young wizards. Soren quickly sed the room and realised that almost every Slytherin students had attended.

  Draco looked at Soren with a somewhat worried expression, after all, Soren's oppos were students several years his senior; Daphne and Meredith, however, were filled with blind fiden Soren, looking at him with excited and expet eyes.

  Just as Snape was about to speak, Soren hurriedly interrupted, "I'm sorry, Professor, but before tonight's duel begins, I would like to say a few words."

  Snape's indifferent poker face showed ion, and Soren took his silence as sent.

  He cast a sonorous charm on himself, "Good evening, fellow house students. I'm sure you all know the significe behind tonight's duel. Before that, I want to crify ohing: me ioday is a personal decision and has nothing to do with the Malfoy family!"

  Upon hearing this, the crowd erupted in astonishment, and the young Slytherins began whispering to each other, making the room as noisy as a market.

  Soren tinued loudly, "On the first day I was sorted into Slytherin, I was very satisfied. Ambitious, shrewd, valuing honor, adapting to circumstances, preserving oneself, and prioritising victory—these are the things what I care about. However, I do not look down on any student from Gryffindor, Ravencw, or Hufflepuff. Because today I discovered that house Slytherin is also not perfect!"

  This statement shocked everyoo say such things in Slytherin, a house that values honor and looks down on others, was a recipe for disaster.

  Except for the still-expressionless Snape, everyone was stunned by Soren's surprising words, and the atmosphere abruptly turned silent.

  Seeing that he had achieved the desired effect, Soren pressed on, "Dear fellow students, do you know the purpose for which Sazar Slytheriablished this house? Do you know why he insisted on the pure-blood ideology?"

  He paused, and when the Slytherin students looked at him in fusion, he tinued, "It is power! It is unity! It is a unified will!" Soren looked at them with pierg eyes, "Of course, there are also the tinuously evolving and iwining is!"

  "True Slytherins should be posed entirely of excellent students; deceit and ing are not the best descriptors for us. The correarrative should be one of unity and mutual assistance, achieving success together."

  "True Slytherins care not for the excellence of bloodlines, but for true talent and strength."

  "True Slytherins regard wisdom merely as a means, not an end. It no longer evokes disgust, but instead veys elegance."

  "True Slytherins joyfully tell their families on the day they join, 'Look, I have ehe best house at Hogwarts,' and on the day they leave, they will smile deeply to the Slytherin badge, thanking it for every day spent here."

  "Now look at yourselves, think about what you have dooday. While you g to a stagnant noble mentality, the brave Gryffindors are enhang their Defense Against the Dark Arts. While you revel in the success of your schemes, the wise Ravencws are familiarising themselves with spells. While you are divided and fighting over trivial bes, the diligent Hufflepuffs have already sown their mandrakes, which are now ready for harvest."

  "Why do we sider ourselves superior? Just because of a bloodlihat brings us no power? Just because of schemes that only focus oy gains?"

  "So I hope that everyoonight fet that I am a Malfoy, and remember that I am a Slytherin!"

  It must be said that Soren's passionate speech moved many young wizards.

  Head girl Gemma Farley was the first to stand and appud, followed by Draco, Pansy, Daphne, and Meredith, and soon more and more young wizards joined in the appuse, slowly more than half of the students were g, especially those from weaker families or mixed-blood backgrounds.

  Their status in Slytherin was generally low; positions such as head boy, Quidditch team members, or even prime resources in the on room usually did not go to them. They had long been dissatisfied with their inferior status in the house, and the vision Soren described resonated most with them.

  As a rival, Terence Higgs was also moved by Soren's words.

  He himself came from a humble mixed-blood family, and he was able to establish himself in the fiercely petitive Slytherin thanks to some es between his father, Bertie Higgs, and the Auror office director, Rufus Scrimgeour.

  heless, despite his excellent talent in flying, he still lost the position of seeker. This time, he would bee a target, forced to step forward and be used by some powerful families hiding in the background.

  Gellert Lestrange's face fshed with a sinister expression as he sneered, "No wonder you're a Malfoy; you certainly know how to talk, sounding as if you have great principles. The question is—do you have the strength to ge Slytherin?"

  Soren scoffed dismissively, "Whether I have that strength is not something to be determined by mere words; we will soon find out!" Without waiting fellert to respond, he turo Snape and said, "Professor, I am ready; let the first duel of today begin with me challenging Higgs!"

  Terence looked at Soren's fearless fidend saw ation or fear in the eyes of this boy, who still appeared somewhat youthful, only determination and fidence. He sighed and fixed his gaze on Soren's eyes, saying, "I am moved by your words; I hope you remember what you said today—Professor, I apologise for wasting everyoime tonight; I choose to forfeit!"

  Snape's expression showed no ge, merely nodding slightly to aowledge Terence's forfeit.

  Then Gellert stood up, moving to the tre of the on room, fag Soren.

  Although he verbally belittled Soren, he held no uimation in his heart; after all, Soren's performan the dueling club was well-known, especially during Christmas when he had easily dealt with Harry and Ron two against one.

  After both performed the a dueling salute to each other, the duel began after Snape ted to three!

  Gellert knew power of Soren and took the initiative to strike first, casting "Disarm," "Stun," and "Petrify," spells in quick succession. In an instant, three attack spells were unleashed, sealing off all possible escape routes for Soren, achieving the remarkable feat of casting three spells in the blink of an eye!

  Soreimated that with his casting speed, he could at most mawo spells in an instant. Realizing he couldn't win through speed, he angled his wand cleverly to cast a spell filled with red light, which accurately collided with the Stun spell among Gellert's three spells.

  The two spells collided with such force that instead of g each other out, they rebounded like two balls hitting each other, suddenly accelerating and flying off in opposite dires—while the red spell khe Disarm spell away, the Stun spell was deflected off its attack trajectory.

  With just one spell, Soren mao ralise his oppo's offehout moving an inch, which required immense ce and absolute fiden the precision of his spells.

  Gellert didn't have time to admire Soren's response; as Soreralised the attack, Gellert moved swiftly, running around Soren at high speed. When he reached Soren's left rear side, he unleashed the same three spells again in an instant.

  Faced with the identical assault, Soren chose to ge his strategy. He quickly cast two universal ter-spells, "Finite," accurately hitting and nullifying two of Gellert's spells, and rolled to the side to avoid the st spell while casting a dim white light spell aimed at the moving Gellert from below.

  Gellert, still running, attempted to dodge by turning his body, but the white light took a strange curve and abruptly turned, striking Gellert in the chest, sending him flying into the air before crashing down hard!

  A loud crash echoed throughout the arena, apanied by the sound of bones breaking, and Gellert let out a chilling scream of agony!

  Snape rushed in, first administering a potion, then using spells to perform emergency care, which allowed a student to carry him to the school hospital.

  Snape gred at Soren, his usually icy demeanor darkening. Although it was a fair duel, causing such severe harm to a cssmate with dark spells still vioted school rules.

  Moreover, Soren's attack was so fast that even Snape couldn't rea time; otherwise, he could have used a ter-spell to prevent Gellert's severe injury. As the referee present, he bore some responsibility for this.

  Since Soren had been casting spells silently throughout the duel, no one could dis ells he had cast, except for Snape, whhat the white light seemed to be a high-level application of the Levitation Charm.

  This spell was a modified version of the Levitation Charm created by Soren, capable of rapidly elevating the target before causing it to plummet to the ground, injuring the target due to the impact. Soren the "Thousand-Pound Drop Spell."

  However, even with Snape's knowledge, he could not identify the red light spell that Soren had cast, let alone uand how Soren made the spell curve after leaving the wand. It must be said that Soren's various mysterious aspects successfully made him the sed priority of Snape's attention.

  As for the first priority, it was needless to ask—naturally, it was the son of his enemy, Harry Potter.

  To be fair, Gellert was undeniably strong; his ability to cast three spells in an instant was enough to leave most of the young wizards present in awe. Soren had defeated him in just two rounds, causing a strong visual impa the young wizards present.

  In that moment, Soren's image as a powerful and ruthless figure was deeply ingrained in the hearts of every Slytherin student—

  Terrence Higgs suddenly felt fortunate for his earlier decision to forfeit, while those who had harboured ill iions towards the Malfoy family now felt a sense of awe towards them. Students who already admired Soren became even more fervent in their worship of him.

  *****

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