SWNOVELXO Chapter 112: Did I Make the Wrong Choice?
With the words coming out of Diluc's mouth, the sphere of flame floating above his head starts shrinking to a certain size, seemingly creating an even more terrifying flames possessing temperature so high that even some of the academy staff starts worrying about the safety of the other freshmen in the exams, especially those within the close vicinity of the emperor-like young man.
"Don't make a move yet, and no need to panic too much, should push comes to shove, I will take care of everything"
Before those worried adults can even start to warn the emperor-like young man to the dangers of whatever spell it is that he is casting, a powerful, confident voice comes from the principal herself, the words coming out of her mouth clearly tinged with anticipation and curiosity as well, things that are mostly related to the magic currently being performed by Diluc himself.
Meanwhile, on the arena, the freshmen who attacked just previously are about to be thrown into utter surprise once again as the magic spells they hurled towards their target begins closing in on his vicinity, only for their expectations to be completely shattered as they get closer to the source of the fire.
Dozens of spells of all elemental affinity, gigantic rocks carved like cold weapons, ice forged like daggers, metallic needles seemingly sharper than any sword there is, water seemingly wanting to devour everything in its path, wood that clearly wants to absorb every nutrients it can get its hand on, and even fire seemingly want to destroy and turn everything into ashes, every single one of the attacks that Diluc's opponent sent towards his way seemingly has the intent to completely incapacitate him, yet amidst all that, he just stood there, completely unmoved by such sight.
It doesn't even end with that, as waves from all sorts of weapons travels towards his current location as well, not to mention assortment of flying weapons, arrows, along with all other projectiles, it does seem that there is just no more way for him to escape out of this predicament all by himself.
"Expand…"
As another word leaves the mouth of the emperor-like Diluc, the ball of flame floating above himself seemingly trembled into an utter joy, almost as if a loyal retainer who receives their chance to once again, prove themselves and their usefulness to their lord, eager to show just what sort of skills they have to convince the master they serve that they are worthy of their position.
The next few moments, what those other freshmen fear the most just had to happen in the most horrible of ways, the ball of flame now showing reaction once again, but rather than how it forms all too slowly compared to a normal spell, as well as how slowly it compresses itself into something barely smaller than an adult's head, the ball expands at an alarming rate, clearly wanting to devour everything that came along its path.
With the fast expansion of the emperor-like young man's offensives, it doesn't even take a moment for the now spherical barrier of violent flames to approach the attacks that his opponents sent towards his way, creating contact between his attack and their attacks for the second time.
As much as the audience, along with those other freshmen student wishes that this attack is only similar to the one that neutralizes that massive white ball the freshmen miraculously formed previously, the truth can never be farther from that, as the moment that the barrier expanding comes into contact with anyone else's spells, only two reactions were witnessed by everyone.
And by no means, were these reactions the ones that they expected or hoped to see, nor was it ones that they can, at the very least, feel comfortable with, no, what they witnessed the emperor-like young man's spell is doing to their spells was something that will most likely make them question their authenticity as a genius of their respective places, seeing that there is someone like this, of the same age as them, just a little bit above their level in terms of their core, and yet, seemingly standing a far distance away from them.
What makes these freshmen feel all these are exactly how their spells reacted to the nature of Diluc's spell, the first one being the fact that whichever spell that barrier of raging flame comes in contact with, are destroyed with the finest brutality, dissipating completely in the air along with the trace of whatever elemental mana was used to cast the spells, removing even the trace of that spells existence, making it seem like no one has ever casted a spell there to begin with, just like how water turns into air and wood turns into ash when they are subjected to a certain amount of heat, only the process they are watching made this process near instantaneous.
As for the second reaction of the spells towards the barrier of flame, it feels even more ridiculous than the first one, so much that even the previously mildly amused Aria stood up from her seat and directly moves herself right above the arena in order to witness the spell as close as she can, with the fascination glowing in her eyes exceeding more than just normal curiosity about a person from the younger generation, turning into one similar to how everyone is intrigued by mystical things.
'The mana is... submitting?'
As she observes the phenomenon happening below her, the horned principal mutters to herself with trace of uncertainty still apparent on her shaking voice, said uncertainty being only a small part of it as most of her voice's current shaking is due to the excitement that she is currently finding to be quite difficult to contain.
'Just what kind of surprises do you have in store, kid?'
Remembering who the parents of this young man is, Aria merely smiles as she feels the mana dancing around in the air, something that she only observes during two occasions, first is when there is a gathering of multiple geniuses within one place with mana dancing around the entirety of the place, and the second one when there someone similar to her exist, an individual with talent that far outshines even the elite masses with those individuals having mana dance around them without any real effort in their part.
Seeing the expanding fire elemental spell in the distance, this oftentimes volatile principal, for the first time in a while, held such profound look on her eyes forged by all sorts of experiences, her eyes ever so often glowing every time she witnesses a spell being devoured, or rather, absorbed completely by the barrier of flame, the assortment of colors from all elemental attribute disappearing within the ardent burning of Diluc's spell, pushing it to expand even faster than it already does.
On the other hand, the attackers who witnesses the second reaction of Diluc's spell towards other spells felt the difference between them and him all the more, as the spells they hurled towards his direction were either completely removed along with its traces, or devoured to be a part of the very spell's strength, making it appear like this spell is the equivalent of the young man stating something to them.
'Resist and perish, follow and prosper'
As if they are somehow controlled by a single individual during that short moment of time, all those freshmen thought of the same words with the only difference in them being that each individual heard it with their own voices in their heads, seemingly completely cold in front of such force approaching them.
"I…I surrender!!"
"I don't want to be here anymore!!"
"Jump from the spires!!! Run away!!!"
"I-I-I s-s-surrend-der!!"
"Please spare m-me!!!"
"Fuck this, Come what may, I am ready!!"
"I'll be eliminated anyway, I should go as grand as I can, HAHAHA!!!"
Watching as the barrier of flames gradually approaching their distance, Diluc's multitude of opponents starts fleeing away in all directions, all while some of them still choses to stand their ground and decided to defend their place no matter the cost, and protect that small amount of pride they still have for themselves, the latter group, while being mocked by fellow freshmen who escaped for their lives, were actually being secretly praised by the majority of the student audience, whether they the second, third or fourth years, commending their guts for standing to face an unknown, clearly dangerous spell without anything but the desire to prove that they are better than what their opponents expected.
Despite gathering all their wills to stand proud and try to defend themselves within their own spires though, those remaining opponents of Diluc couldn't help but feel just a little bit worried as the flaming barrier starts getting closer and closer towards them, all while tearing apart everything that it encounters along its way, almost as if it is a great devourer that wants nothing more than to consume everything around it.
'Did I make the wrong choice?'