A lot of people have complained about this chapter, and going back I too felt it was a bit lacking, so here it is, improved.

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With his back against the wall, Ben could not help but let out a curse; it was a good thing that [Muffle] was still working, otherwise, it would have been game over for him.

The Alley was too narrow for him to be able to slip by without them noticing, and they were moving closer to him with their wands out.

With no easy way out of it, Ben's already racing heart starts pumping blood even faster. His brain started simulating the upcoming confrontation a hundred different ways at the same time.

His first thought was to use the Illusion spell [Fury] on the two brothers and make them fight each other, but Ben was not sure if it would work on these guys.

His Illusion skill was only at the Apprentice level and he had never tested it on adult wizards.

As soon as he cast a spell in this dark alley, his location would be revealed, but he didn't have long before they found him anyway, so he had to make the first shot count.

With deep but steady breaths, Ben slowly moved closer to one of the brothers and waited for the opportunity.

As soon as the second wizard faced the other way, Ben hit the first wizard with a [Muffle].

The wizard quickly realised that something was wrong; two hands grabbed his head from both sides, but before he could react, he lost control of his body as he felt electricity coursing through his body.

Dual-casting gets unlocked once a skill reaches level 20. With twice the spark in the [Sparks] spell, Ben cooked the poor crook's brain to a medium rare, or he would have, had it been a muggle.

While the [Muffle] spell took care of the incoherent screaming and the *Zapping* noises of the [Sparks] spell, it could not cover the bright flashes produced by the electricity.

The second wizard quickly turned around and was stunned as he looked at his brother's spasming body in Ben's hands.

In a fit of rage and terror, he screamed "Nooo!" and cast a series of spells at Ben.

Ben used the unconscious wizard as a shield and charged at his attacker, trying to get closer as he felt his Magicka run out because of casting [Muffle] this whole time.

"HAAAAA!" Ben yelled, channelling all his energy into the charge.

*Crash* "Ugh"

Without warning, Ben was violently thrown back, crashing into the wall alongside his human shield.

Despite the unconscious scum tanking most curses, the force of the knockback jinx sent him and Ben crashing against the wall.

"You vile knave," spat the wizard, pointing his wand at Ben. His face was full of rage, looking at the horrible state of his brother who had taken the brunt of his attacks.

"Huuh," Ben took a deep breath, pushing the unconscious crook to the side.

"The pot meets the kettle,.. or.. something," he said, trying to remember the proper phrase for the current situation, but couldn't as he had just his head on the wall.

"You will pay for this," he said, pointing his wand at Ben and tying him up in magical ropes and then bent down to check on his unconscious brother.

"Reggie, wake up brother," he said, shaking his limp body, but he was out cold or dead. He couldn't tell. There were deep cuts and burns on his brother's body, and it only made it worse that most of them had been from his own spells.

"By the devil's horns, I'll see you dead!" He roared with a murderous voice, "But not before making you regret putting your hands on my brother."

But when he looked over, he was shocked to see that the bindings on his brother's killer had vanished.

"How-th-"

"I sold it, you dipshit," Ben said, punching him right in his ugly mug that had been too close to dodge; knocking him at least a few feet over. The Polyjuice Potion had given him the strength of a middle-aged, balding alcoholic wife-beater, which wasn't much but reinforcing his fist with [Oakflesh] did the job.

"Y'rr dead," the man said, sounding a lot like Squidward, his words coming out muffled as he clutched his broken nose, "I'll m'k sure of it," he said, spitting out a tooth, his wand pointed at Ben.

With a murderous glint in his eyes and a bloody smile, he shot a blinding red curse at Ben. But the expected cry of pain never came as his curse got blocked by an ethereal, glowing shield that appeared out of Ben's hands.

"How-th-"

With the dual-cast [Lesser Ward] in front, Ben once again charged at the man, slamming him against the wall.

*Thud* "Uhh"

He didn't stop there and swiftly delivered a crushing knee to his family jewels.

"Uh-uhh-uhh," Ronnie whimpered like a beaten street dog.

"How do you like that? you pigeon," Ben said in triumph as he saw the man's knees give out. He was not at all ashamed of delivering the ungentlemanly blow.

"I'll take that," he said, taking away his wand.

"On second thought, I don't really need it," he said, snapping the wand on Ronnie's head in anger.

The wand broke with a flash of light that almost blinded Ben. Reggie took advantage of that by head-butting Ben, breaking his nose and laughing like a maniac.

Ben's hand emitted a flickering purple light, conjuring a ghostly dagger with a menacing appearance.

He wanted to end this fucker, but the tremble in his arm betrayed him. 'he deserves to die,' he told himself, but his conscience was not convinced.

Ronnie saw this struggle in Ben's eyes and lunged at the opportunity, but Ben was not as indecisive as he thought.

*puchi* "Aaaagh"

The dagger went straight through his shoulder, pinning him against the wall.

"Motherfu-" "Thwak"

Before he could utter the whole word, Ben fed him a bare-knuckle sandwich. Ronnie was surprisingly sturdy as he took the punch, staring back at Ben with loathing eyes.

"Look sharp, dipshit," said Ben as he released the dagger and cast an alteration spell. The last thing Ronnie remembered was a massive fist made of stone, coming at him in slow motion.

Ben let out a sigh after making sure that the man was out, but still alive. Taking a few long breaths, he looked around, making sure no one else was around.

There were many ways this could have ended, but Ben was just glad that it had ended.

Looking back, he was glad that his hand had trembled when it did. Murder was not something you could come back from. It was no small matter, especially in this world where it literally split one's soul.

He might be forced to take that step someday, but he was just glad that it wasn't today.

Ben picked up Reggie's wand. The guy was probably dead, but that had nothing to do with him. He only used him as a shield. It was his brother who killed him.

Kicking that matter to the back of his mind, he performed a few cleaning spells so that nothing related to him remained in that alley, such as his blood or any pieces of clothing. Although he was still under polyjuice, he didn't want to take any chances.

Healing his broken nose, he promptly disappeared from the place, throwing the wands into the store to dispose of.

The flight back home was not as exciting as before. There was a lot on Ben's mind and he could still feel his body shaking.

--Dreamscape--

MC just learned that the real world can be very brutal and he is not ready. Read more on Patre@n/DreamyApe

Here's something that the A.I. wrote when I asked it how a melee fight between two wizards would go, enjoy:

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Wizard 1: "You'll not be besting me with your wand, good sir!"

Wizard 2: "We shall see about that, I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

Wizard 1: "Ha! You're no match for my spell-casting abilities."

Wizard 2: "Don't be so sure, I've been trained in hand-to-hand combat by Aurors."

Wizard 1: "Hand-to-hand combat? You'll not be standing a chance against my magic."

Wizard 2: "We'll see about that. I've got a few defensive spells memorized and I'm not afraid to use them."

Wizard 1: "You'll be cheating, then. I'll not stand for it."

Wizard 2: "It's not cheating if you're willing to do whatever it takes to win."

(fight ensues)