HP: The Arcane Thief

Chapter 114

Even with the topic of Axel Hunt getting more and more controversial, people like Ludo Bagman, the sponsors, investors, and the broadcasters were all ecstatic.

Because the controversies and negative publicity about Axel was only going to increase the viewers in the next match.

Even now, due to all the commotion, new people were finding out about Axel everyday, getting interested in the matter no matter which side they joined. They wanted to find Axel's response. Would he apologize or not?

On the other hand, the situation with the Ravenclaw team was completely different.

—In the Quidditch pitch—

"Come on! Let's try the tactic 53 again! We still need some work on it," yelled the Captain, as he blew the whistle. Beads of sweat dripped from his chin from time to time, but his eyes were full of spirit.

The same could not be said for every other member of the team though.

"But Captain! We have already practiced that for around a hundred and thirty two times!"

"Yeah! We need a break!"

The other members looked completely knackered, as if they could fall off the broom any time. And why would they not? They had been training very hard ever since Axel's first match against Gryffindor, devising tactics and countermeasures against him. And their training had only intensified after his match against Hufflepuff.

The Captain glared at his lethargic teammates. "Do you guys hear yourself?! We're up against HUNT in the next match! And the whole wizarding world will be watching! Do you really want to be humiliated like Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors?!" He barked.

"No…"

"We can't have that…*

The players unwillingly began to train again. They were the Ravenclaws. They could not afford to lose as badly as the others. Especially after they had so much time to prepare.

"Sigh… that Axel Hunt. I'll take out all my frustration on him in the next match."

"Yeah, I can't wait for the match to come!"

For their match against Axel, they had been working extremely hard. First they had studied Hunt's moves thoroughly, to determine his limits. Even doing that was not easy at all. It's as if he can adjust his skill level at will.

At some times, they can estimate it, but there are a few instances in which he has surpassed them by a lot, like at that time when he dodged the Gryffindor beater while in mid launching boom.

They had no choice but to assume that those were flukes. After all, if he could really do things like that then he would have repeated them more often and it wouldn't make sense.

After determining his skill level, they had begun imagining various scenarios and developing tactics and countermeasures to stop Hunt.

After that, they started to practice those tactics, the most difficult part. Hunt was good. Too good. There was no denying the fact. To defend against someone like him, Just tactics and strategies alone weren't enough. They had to increase their skill levels, and execute everything they planned with perfect coordination and timing, which is something that needed an awful amount of practice.

It's safe to say that the last few months had been quite rough for the Raven players. Never in their lives had they studied any player to team so thoroughly.

So, it is quite understandable that they are quite eager to actually face Hunt on the field. After all they have gone through due to the guy, it's quite difficult to wait for the match to arrive. No matter if they win or lose, they really need to face the fucker in the field and test out all these tactics. Because no matter how many trials and simulations they run, the only way they can truly find out where they stand is through the real match.

…

And during all this time, Axel Hunt, the reason for all the problems and controversies, didn't even give a single thought to all that was happening in the outside world, as his days kept going according to his usual routine.

"Look at this. There's another one. This one is about your scars," said Theodore, showing him another article.

"From an insider source, we have come to find that aside from the popular scars on his face, which most people think are artificial, Hunt also has numerous scars of all kinds all over his torso. If true, then this is a matter of great concern, as it raises the question of how someone his age can have so many scars, and more importantly, how good his mental condition is, after going through all this. The insider source refused to share their memory as proof of this information with us for fear of revealing their identity to Hunt."

Tracy scoffed, "They've just started posting nonsense at this point. You can easily prove this wrong by taking off your shirt in celebration of the next win."

Axel just shrugged, getting back to his work. He didn't bother telling them that at least for once, the article had gotten it right.

At his lukewarm reaction, Theodore gave him a somewhat puzzled look. "Mate, do you seriously not care about all this? Don't you feel angry at all?" He asked.

Tracy nodded rapidly. "Yes, I was wondering the same thing! I'd be a mess if all this was happening to me!"

These days, Theodore and Tracy would tell him about the happenings of the outside world from time to time, expressing their outrage at his plight. But, Axel just found the whole situation funny and ridiculous.

Like what the fuck? First of all I play for free, even though I don't want to. And then I also have to follow their will?

Just what misunderstanding did these people get to think they had any control or power over his actions? In his perspective, there was only the Organisation and his name being famous enough to reach them, preferably as underrated as it could be.

Quidditch, and all these people yapping away at him online, were mere tools to achieve his goals. He just needs these people to make him famous, and then they can fuck off for all he cares. As long as he isn't branded a Dark Lord, it's fine. And the way he can see it, he still has a bit of leeway before it comes to that.

Then, why would it matter at all if they don't like him? Would it change anything? Not at all.

If they really like him, then so be it. He had already decided what to do in the next match already. And with the way things were going...

'I think they'll be satisfied,' he thought, a smirk coming to his lips.

Remembering the fact that he had yet to inform Patricia of his decision, he took out his magi-mirror.

...

Patricia was a bit busy at the moment.

"ForeverTeamAxel?? (@teamaxel300)

Replying to @supawizard69

Mr. Supawizard69, I see that your argument is completely baseless and purely based on jealousy. You have a profile picture that is more offensive than Axel's gesture. Do not be a hypocrite and stop trying to bring people down just because they are better than you."

Patricia flexed her fingers after she had successfully defended Axel against another brainless hater.

She had recently picked up the new hobby of surfing the internet with her alternate account and picking fights with those who commented negatively on Axel. Even without any profile picture or revealing her identity, she had already gotten quite a following on this account, leading a team of Axel's fans from the Savage Army. Needless to say, she was a core member of the Savage Army as well.

But of course, she couldn't do this kind of thing with her main Id since this is risky work and as someone who was new to this keyboard warrior profession, she would sometimes be mercilessly obliterated by veterans.

Patricia sighed as she rubbed her eyes. She didn't even know exactly why she was doing this anymore. It began with a sense of responsibility. As someone who dragged Axel into all this limelight and as someone whom he calls "Captain", she felt partly accountable in his setbacks, though also in his success.

But... there's more. Patricia has to admit, she LOVES to see Axel play. It gets her blood pumping and her heart racing. Most of all, it makes her feel proud. If she hadn't seen his talent and tenaciously begged him to join the team, only Merlin knows if that guy would have ever bothered playing.

And... every time he does something completely crazy and unexpected on the field...it... does things to her.

The scene of Axel casually walking away while leaving the Middle Finger Symbol flashed in her mind.

A flush crept up on her face as she recalled at that moment how she had secretly begun grinding against her broomsti—

*Ring*

*Ring-Ring*

Suddenly, her Magi-mirror rang, bringing her out of her thoughts.

!!!

Looking at it, she almost jumped from her seat. It was from none other than Axel!

Patricia quickly picked it up. "Axel? This is the first time I'm getting a call from my star player! Tell me, what's the occasion?" She asked excitedly.

Though, when she heard what he said, the smile disappeared from her face as her eyes widened.

"Whut?!"

....

"WELCOME, WIZARDING WORLD!!! THIS IS THE HOGWARTS HOUSE QUIDDITCH LEAGUE, BROUGHT TO YOU BY BIG OWL, BLUEBERRY MAGICAL APPLIANCES, UNICORN BEVERAGES, AND PHOENIX MAGICAL PHARMACEUTICALS!!!"

"""""""""CHEEEEEEERRRSSS""""""""

There was a loud response to the introduction, which made Bagman grin from ear to ear.

Looking at all the viewership ratings as well, he could already see the money rolling in.

'Just like I planned,' he thought conceitedly. 'No, it's even more!'

He had already anticipated that there would be a massive audience for today's work. Meaning that his cut would be even bigger. That's why, he had already bet all of the money he was going to get after today's match on credit.

'Hahaahhahahaa! I'm rich! I'm rich again!' Bagman could already see the profits rolling in. Though he had made good earnings through various means, he had lost most of it in gambling. But now... now was the chance to turn everything around in one go!

"Witches and Wizards! I am Ludowick Bagman, the head of the British Department of Magical Games and Sports, and the Commentator of today's match!"

Bagman relished the cheers of the crowd. Everything was going great today. It's good that he had gotten rid of that kid Jordon as well. The scale of these matches is too large for inexperienced kids to be playing around. For commentary, he alone was more than sufficient.

'Now, let's get the ball rolling.'

"Everyone! Since I'm not some supreme sorcerer, I can't proclaim why all of you are watching this match. But, I can definitely predict why more than 99% of you are here!"

Bagman once again brought up his main card right off the bat, as a clip of Axel flying appeared on the big screens.

*CHEEEEEEEEEEERRRRSSSSSS*

This time, an even louder hollar of agreement came from the crowd, confirming his words.

"Yes, Axel Hunt! Undoubtedly the most famous, AND, the most controversial person of the year! If anyone still hasn't heard about this guy, then they must be living at the bottom of the ocean! But, before we start the match, let's get a recap of the situation!" He said, not learning from his earlier mistake at all.

The screen showed the highlights from the last match. "In the last match, when we showed the truth about Hunt's background to satisfy our audience's curiosity. But, Axel did something completely unexpected in response!"

"He first used a suicidal tactic to single-handedly make the game massively in own favour, and when the viewership was at its highest, he made a massive flipping off mark in the middle of the pitch, and left the game only after 25 minutes, causing the rest of the game to be completely meaningless!" He said, as the screen briefly showed the slightly blurred image of the savage mark.

"But, it would seem that Hunt went too far this time, as even though this publicity stunt of his exploded in popularity on the internet to the point of being called the Savage Mark, it also got him a massive backlash due to the vulgarity of the gesture."

"Various celebrities, and high profile individuals have expressed their disagreement over his actions, and many are pushing for him to apologize for his actions and to reign in his wild behavior."

"So, today we're here to see what Hunt will do, and to also see how far he will go against his opponent's team, Team Ravenclaw this time, as it's the House in which his fianceé belongs!" Bagman finished, feeling satisfied. He had tried to remain as neutral as possible. After all, he was a professional.

Last time, he had pissed off Axel and lost a lot of money when the match had suddenly become completely meaningless to watch after 25 minutes because he had provoked Axel. But this time, he still did not hesitate to use him.

It's not that he didn't know there will be consequences. It's because he knew there WILL be consequences. This massive increase in the popularity of this match is because of what Hunt did in the last match. If he had played like usual, the difference wouldn't have been this huge.

So, Bagman WANTED Hunt to be pissed again, and throw another tantrum. With the level of skills the kid has, Bagman can safely assume that there are still quite a few things he can show.

And this would also make sure that the Kid doesn't go easy on the Ravenclaw team.

"So, WITCHES AND WIZARDS, ALL OVER THE WORLD! ARE. YOU. READY?!!!"

""""""""YYYYEEEEESSSSSSS"""""""""

"Then, Without Further Ado, LET'S CALL THE TEAMS!" Bagman was feeling completely ecstatic. Everything was going great.

One by one, the players began to enter from the opposite sides of the stadium. And as always, the noise of the crowd peaked when the last player of the Slytherin team walked into the stadium.

But cheering was soon replaced by voices of confusion and exclamation as everyone looked at the stadium in surprise.

"Wait a moment, there… there seems to be a slight misplacement," said Bagman, suddenly having a sinking feeling upon looking at the situation.

Turning off the mic, he picked the receiver with the direct line to the staff. "Where… where the hell is Hunt?! Why don't I see him?!"

...Yep, Axel Hunt was nowhere to be seen on the pitch.

...

A.N. POWESTONES

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