"How's it gonna be? Will you still try to stop me? Or will you finally join me, Alen?" Julius glanced to the side.
Alen kept manifesting his own element into the wind wall along with many other students in hopes of freeing themselves from Julius' grasp.
"I told you that I have no interest in becoming your slave" Alen answered in a dry tone, putting all his focus on his task.
Julius sighed "I'm not asking you to join me at this point. You either join me or these stude-"
"[Ice Stalagmite]"
The ice spikes began their run towards Julius, who was distracted while talking with Alen.
But the floating fire orb shot at Fran' spell, defending its caster by breaking the attacking ice.
"He's my friend, Julius. And I don't plan to hand him to you" Fran coldly said with a frown on her face.
"You can't reach me, princess. None of you can, that's why I have yet to be hit" Julius said in a mocking tone, hoping that his remark would make Fran act without a plan.
Fran loudly chuckled "Hitless? I'm the only one who's yet to receive any damage here..." she pointed at Alen "He headbutted your ugly face"
Julius' face turned more serious with Fran's remark and mocking tone. His eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms.
"And every student that's trying to stop that wind spell. They're also participating in this fight. All of us are against you!" Enrick yelled. He felt a new surge in power now that he had rested for a minute.
"Oh, great and powerful tree of might. With roots so powerful that they could pierce even the hardest of metals..."
Everyone's eyes widened as they heard the incantation for a tier four nature spell.
Currently, on the fourth week, only the elite students in the third year should be able to cast a spell in that tier.
"Trust in Fran and Enrick! Keep manifesting the magical element!" Alen yelled to the students that looked like they had already given up on escaping.
Fran started running towards Julius to stop him. But the fire orb shot its fireballs at her, preventing any of her opportunities to reach the prince.
Enrick began casting a rock affinity spell, thinking that a long-range attack might be more useful. But he was stopped by the fire orb, which landed a fireball on Enrick's chest.
"...With a bright blue fruit that grows from your branches, a fruit that breaks the limits of those who eat it. Bring to me a small branch of yours to overpower anyone that stands against me"
The incantation was finished. Julius raised his hand.
"[Branch of the Tree of Might]"
For a moment, time seemed to stop when Julius called out the name of the spell.
The ground began to shake and tremble as the floor tiles began to shatter one by one.
Most student that got caught into this as a hostage stopped what they were doing. They lied on the ground and covered their heads to try to prevent any fatal damage.
The only ones that kept manifesting their mana were Alen and a couple of students that put their faith on Alen.
From one of the shattered floor tiles, a thick and dark-brown branch started to grow up. Along with it, small but equally thick roots made themselves clear for anyone to see.
The main branch stopped at around the two meter range and started to glow green. Side branches and leaves are growing from it.
"Cut it down now before the fruit comes out!" Alen yelled.
That spell doesn't only work as a way to get a buffing item in the form of the fruit that grows from it, but it also brings other supportive abilities with it. Lifesteal on a range around the main branch, a self-defense mechanism that ensures that the branch grows the fruit.
Now Julius had summoned two objects into the battle that helped him.
"Warriors of the desert tha-"
Enrick's incantation was interrupted once he saw the fireball that was approaching him.
"Hugk" he lifted up his arms to defend himself.
But the fireball impact never came.
Once he opened his eyes, Enrick saw that the white-haired princess defended him.
"Cold ice. Protect me"
"[Ice Wall]"
A wall of ice formed in front of them before a second fireball could hit them.
"You were going to cast rock axe? Do it, go prevent the fruit from growing. I'll take on Julius and the fire orb" Fran breathed out as she watched her burnt forearm.
Enrick nodded with determination and began chanting the incantation.
Fran couldn't let Julius alone even for a second, so she immediately left the defensive ice wall.
Once outside, she started to run circles around the fire orb. She made sure to see Julius hadn't moved from his spot.
"Pierce"
"[Ice Shards]"
Small and sharp ice shards began their fly towards the blonde prince.
None of them connected thanks to the fire orb's protective fireballs.
Fran couldn't rely on bigger spells as she was going to get interrupted mid chant. She couldn't rely on small spells as those were weak enough to not make a difference in the fight.
Julius had the upper hand in this battle.
Glancing to the side, Fran saw Enrick come out of the wall she cast for him. His rocky axe had its edge coated in flames. Not only did he cast rock axe, but he also cast flame infusion.
"Haaaa!" Enrick yelled. His axe ready to swing against the main branch.
Now that Enrick was the focus of attention, Fran began to cast her spell.
Enrick swung his axe. But the main branch defended itself by launching spikes in the redhead's direction.
But mere spikes wouldn't stop Enrick. All the adrenaline he felt flowed perfectly through his body to deliver that swing.
Chank!
The fire infused axe hit its target. However, it only hit a secondary branch that rose to defend the main branch.
Enrick, meanwhile, had multiple spikes in his torso and left arm. He was bleeding from every point he was hit from.
His swing was stopped by a branch, and the extra exhaustion he felt due to the lifesteal of the branch made him fall to his knees.
On Fran' side.
She had cast ice lance and ran towards her main target. Not Julius as he's the hardest to get to, but the fire orb.
She tanked through the fireballs shot at her and pierced the fire orb, making it disappear into thin air.
She panted heavily and looked at Julius straight into his eyes.
"Heh" the prince grinned at Fran.
The white-haired princess gripped her ice weapon she cast and lunged at Julius. Who, of course, easily dodged it.
"Ready!" One of the students that didn't stop manifesting their magic element into the wind wall yelled.
The wind wall, which had been slowing down thanks to the students' wind running in the opposite direction, finally stopped.
But their happiness was short-lived as, behind the wind wall, there was a second wind wall.
Julius began to laugh out loud as he saw the look of despair form on the students' faces.
"You got so distracted with that branch that you didn't notice that I just managed to cast a second wind wall"
The two students that were fighting against Julius looked to the ground, disappointed in themselves for not being able to fight against the prince.
"Don't give up! We could take down one wall. We can definitely definitely stop a second one!" Alen yelled before running at the second wind wall and started doing the same thing once again.
But only a few students followed him this time. Most were already accepting their destiny to end up attacked by the wind wall.
"Heh... Alen's right..." Fran lifted up her head to meet Julius' face "I just need to do it again... but better this time"
"You can't" Julius coldly said, narrowing his eyes.
"You may have planned far ahead enough... but we can react in time to your mistakes"
Both Fran and Julius looked behind Fran, to where the main branch was.
Julius' face contorted into a surprised frown.
The round, blue fruit finally grew on the main branch.
And Enrick was the one who was the closest to it. He lifted up his hand to try to grab the fruit.
"No..." was all Julius could breathe out before he started running towards the main branch.
But he was quickly stopped by Fran's icy lance.
"I'm not letting you go there" Fran said in a low tone as she blocked Julius with her while body "And you better avoid any attack I throw at you if you want to keep that illusion of not being hit the whole fight, prince"
Fran mocked Julius with a grin before she started to spin her lance, ready to attack again.
"I... need to... reach for the fruit... Alen put... his trust in me... and I won't fail him"