The tree of might has multiple fruits that can grow from it, all of them with their own gimmick.
The blue fruit, the one Julius cast, heals the one who ate it by an amount equal to the life stolen by the branch.
The blue fruit stands out because it's a healing spell, and healing spells are extremely rare.
This means that Julius didn't intend to actually use the fruit. It was only meant to be a distraction while he cast the second eye of the storm.
But it backfired... somewhat. Now, Enrick has the chance to eat the fruit and heal his injuries. But given Julius' dominance against Enrick and Fran, the redhead getting healed won't make that much of a difference.
But right now, my focus was on stopping this second wind wall.
I noticed that most students accepted their fate, while only a couple still had the determination to try it once again.
While gathering them and ordering to manifest their magic in the opposite direction inside the wind wall, I recognized a couple of faces. Most of these students that got caught up as hostages are recruitable characters, all of them ranging from low tier to a respectable mid tier.
The ones that continued to manifest their element are the ones that are higher up on the tier lists.
And then there's me.
My mind is currently being assaulted with many doubts.
Why am I here manifesting my element when I could be helping in the fight against Julius? Was it a good idea to try to stop the wind wall in the first place? I could've let the other students deal with it while I fought Julius. But if I hadn't kept going with the plan when the second wind wall appeared, the other students wouldn't have followed me. Or would they? Should I just accept becoming Julius' lackey? No, I don't want my friendships to end...
I'm losing focus. My manifesting has become weaker.
I just need to take a deep breath and start again.
Inhale.
Focus on the shape I want the element to manifest.
A strong wind current that flows in the opposite direction of this spell's wind.
Move my inner mana from every part of my body to the palm of my hands.
Once I feel that tingling sensation on my fingertips is when the mental image is the most important.
Unlike learning a spell, where you can guide the mana on a predetermined path, simply manifesting an element is more erratic. Once inner mana leaves your body is when it becomes the most unstable.
That's why element manifesting is a sign of the most experienced mages and wizards.
They can control their own mana while it's outside of them without a need of following words from a book.
Controlling inner mana that is outside of you is incredibly hard and something I struggle with.
Even when I follow the rules to a tee, my lack of magical talent drastically slows my progress with anything magic related by a lot.
If we managed to take down one wall, we can take down a second one.
I kept manifesting my element in front of me while I heard the sounds of Fran and Enrick fighting.
I couldn't see what was happening, but it seemed like Enrick managed to eat the blue fruit and heal himself.
I couldn't fall behind them. They're fighting with all they've got, and they trust me to get us out of this.
I was so focused on manifesting my own mana that I didn't notice the hand resting on my shoulder.
"Not a bad idea, Alen. But there are better options"
That voice...
I looked up and saw the elven teacher Enyoll Iaves gently smiling at me.
"H-how did you... get inside?" I asked, and he just laughed.
"Any kind of construct works even better than simply trying to go against the wind flow"
The elven teacher pointed behind him, to a rock structure cast by a spell that opened up a whole to pass through. Although, the structure was being destroyed by the strong wind currents.
"Now, let us take care of him"
"Us?"
He started walking to the center of the area, where Julius was fighting against Enrick and Fran. He was chanting an incantation while approaching the students.
"Alen" teacher Crowbell greeted me with a cold and inexpressible tone in his voice.
"[Mock Burial]"
Enyoll cast the spell.
Every single student was suddenly dragged down neck deep inside the ground, and the ground closed around us, not letting us move a single muscle.
"Mock burial, tier four spell, rock affinity, and binding/trap spell. It was created in the Viavoule kingdom, situated in the desert..." Kafka Crowbell began lecturing about the spell used by the elf teacher "It buries people's bodies deep beneath the ground, leaving only their head out, and tightly closes itself, not allowing for escape"
Julius, the only one who wasn't affected by the spell thanks to his reaction time, looked at both teachers with a weary expression.
"The spell was... or is used against traitors and captured soldiers after a war. Once buried, the trapped individuals would then be ridiculed, laughed at, assaulted by getting their heads kicked or punched, be forced to watch their partners be tortured, or they'd have some disgusted acts done to them"
"Of course, we won't be doing any of that" Enyoll added once he saw everyone's frightened expressions.
"We won't guarantee the same thing for you, student Julius Der Botcam" Kafka said as he stood in front of Julius.
"You used spells from tiers way above the acceptable against first years and low ranked second years. You initiated a fight that was not duel approved. And yo-"
"I used no harming spells..."
Julius looked at Enrick, who had no visible injuries thanks to the heal provided by the blue fruit, and any trace of him using the tempest gauntlets spell was gone.
"And the harming spells I cast were on self-defense..." he then looked over at Fran.
"And about that fight... I wasn't the one who started it"
"What about your group of friends that beat up a second year group?" Enyoll asked.
Julius let out a single laugh escape his lips. Certainly, Enrick's friends were trying to stop his own friends, and the winner was decided.
"You got me there, I have no argument against my friends beating up those classmates"
Enrick looked at Julius with repressed anger as he thought of how bad Eusta, Vi and Agatha must be right now.
Kafka could only sigh with obvious disappointment in his voice "Just... go to the director's office"
Julius nodded and turned around.
"Alen..." he said before leaving the place "Friendships are a transaction. You can't simply do something and expect no compensation. I'd grow up from that childish view on friendship if I was you"
And so, Julius left the place that had been turned into a battleground between students.
"Hahaha"
I heard laughter coming from behind me.
"Mr. Alen... princess Von Themys..." The one laughing was Cecil.
Every buried student quickly got surrounded by their friends.
It seems like a crowd had formed outside of the wind wall.
"Are you okay, Alen?" Yani asked as she looked down.
"I could be a lot worse, honestly" I sighed as I kept hearing Cecil and now Tirino laughing at my situation.
"D-do we... take you out?" Asked Kaida in a whisper as she crouched a bit.
"Get away from Alen, you sinner!" Fran yelled, being equally as buried as every other student involved inside the wind wall.
"Does she have a sensor for it?" Theo asked himself in a whisper, making sure no one heard him, especially Fran.
"Are you okay, Fran?" It seems I was the only one worried enough about her.
"A lot better now" Fran said in a much happier tone since I was the one asking her.
"Enrick? Everything okay there?" I asked.
"I told you I didn't fail you, didn't I?" Enrick laughed.
"I failed you this time. I couldn't do anything"
"You did more than you think, Alen" Enricm said in a reflective tone.
"Do we... take you out of that trap?" Atro asked, feeling like we were ignoring the fact that most of us were buried neck deep and couldn't move a single muscle.
"Just... ask teacher Iaves to end the spell" after I said that, Atro left to go talk to the elf teacher.
It seems like my first encounter with Julius, one of the strongest in the game, went exactly as I thought it would.
He's way too strong and cares very little about anyone who isn't him.
I knew that entering the spotlight would create events where I interact with dangerous characters. But I think this encounter could've been worse.
Given Julius' personality, walking away with no injuries is a great accomplishment.
This is only the second day of the week, and I thought that this was going to be an uneventful week.
Oh, how wrong I was.