Art stood there for a moment, unsure of how to respond to the situation playing out in front of him.
"Well... I'm glad to see everything's going well here. I'm gonna head off now... again don't hesitate to let me know if I can help with anything."
The same student was about to shout some other odd request but the student who had previously slapped him quickly clamped his hand over his mouth. Art quickly left the building.
Stepping outside, Art was stunned to hear a mix of painful moans and angry cries from the direction of the students around the fountain. Looking over, he saw the first years grouped up, facing off against clearly hostile and threatening second years. A student was groaning in pain on the ground amongst the first year group, his arm twisted at an unnatural angle.
Art immediately shot off in their direction like an arrow leaving the string of a bow, his long legs flexing for a brief moment as he pushed off the ground, producing a small burst of air where he had stood from the sheer force of his movement. At a speed hard for the eye to follow, he arrived between the two groups.
The apparent leader of the second years, with a mocking glint in his eyes, was readying his mana for an attack.
"Flint said the new students were disgustingly arrogant, and it seems he wasn't exaggerating in the slightest. See if I don't put you all in your place! Lesser scorching draught!"
Raising his arm in front of him, a ring of fiery characters appeared around the student's hand as he activated a spell. The spell he used was scorching draught, a low level fire spell that sent a stream of burning air at the target. At it's peak, the spell could instantly reduce those it hit to ash, and while the student's spell was a lesser version of the original, and was suppressed to about half its power, it was still sufficient to leave the first years with painful burns that would require treatment from the school's infirmary.
Letting out a cold harrumph, Art, who had suddenly appeared in front of the wave of heat, waved one hand to the side and shouted, "Cold front!" A ring of icy blue characters appeared around his hand, and a shockingly cold hazy mist gushed forth from his hand. Cold front was an original ice spell created by Art that mimicked the effects of the fire magic 'scorching draught,' but to more potent effect. It could neutralize both physical and magical attacks as it froze all in its path.
The result of the confrontation was clear - Art's cold front spell easily neutralized the second year's scorching draught, engulfing it in an a layer of gray mist, before continuing on towards the second year group. Art stopped it just before it reached them, and let the mist slowly disperse, revealing the blanched faces of the previously arrogant second years. None of them had even seen Art appear, and before they could even react, his spell had nearly reached them. His strength was clear.
"Arthur-sama!"
"Student president?"
Surprised exclamations of relief were made by the first years.
The second years only now managed to react.
"Y...You... Who are you? Why are you interfering? A little friction between first and second years is normal! You better not cross us, Flint told us to do this and he'll probably arrive soon. At that time... Don't say I didn't warn you."
The student who had attacked earlier at first stammered a reply, but then the growing anger and shame at his previous humiliation at Art's hands allowed him to finish his words with a menacing tone.
Art smiled coldly, sending chills down the backs of all the second years.
"I'm the first year representative. I think it's only natural for me to interfere, don't you? As for Flint... I'm not worried."
The second years faces drained of the last remaining traces of color. This student was a first year? What kind of sick joke was that? He was clearly too strong to be a first year! They wouldn't have been surprised if he had said he was a 5th year student!
"This..." The second year didn't know how to react.
"I'll bring this up with the headmaster later. For now, scram away."
As he spoke those last words, Art released a sliver of his mana presence coupled with a chilling killing intent, terrifying the second years.
"We... We'll let you off this time." It seemed the second year leader could only fall back on a cliche movie line in an attempt to save the last bit of his shattered pride. He proceeded to scram obediently, the rest of the group following him.
In truth, it was understandable. Even the first years behind him, towards whom Art didn't even direct any killing intent, were finding the oppressive atmosphere he released hard to bear. Living alone with nothing but ferocious beasts as a child, Art had been forced to foster a petrifying ferociousness and killing intent - it was the only way to survive in the world of beasts, where weakness meant easy prey.
Fortunately, a certain someone arrived at that moment to completely break the stifling atmosphere.
"Wow! So you even have such a dangerous side to you? Somehow you're even cuter with that terrifying coldness though..."
Soren's cheeky words broke the silence.
Art leveled the most judgmental glare he could muster at him. Deciding resolutely to ignore him, Art moved to the side of the injured student. The man was still lying on the ground, his lips pressed thinly together, beads of sweat dripping down his pasty face as he tried to suppress the pain he was feeling. His arm was still at angle that shouldn't be made by human limbs, and looking closer, Art could see that a number of bones in his hand were shattered. The skin from his hand up to slightly past his elbow was bright red and covered in blisters.
Art's eyes narrowed. This was likely the work of the same students as earlier, the traces resembling what would be produced by the spell 'Fire Titan's Hand,' a spell which cloaked the user's hand in fire elements, and could be used to produce a crushing grip strength. It was truly a vicious move to use this on a fellow student. If not treated soon, his arm may be permanently crippled.
"Jade Lake Restoration."
Art's calm, soothing voice called out as a shimmering watery glow appeared around his hand. He pressed his palm down onto the student's arm, who hissed in pain at the sudden contact, before visibly relaxing. Jade Lake Restoration was an advanced healing spell of the water element. Depending on one's understanding of the human body, it could heal almost any injury completely by sending gentle streams of water essence into the injured area to repair damaged to tissues or even moving bones back into place. Moreover, as a water element spell it was incredibly effective for treating injuries caused by fire spells.
The burn symptoms were easily treated. However, the bone was much more difficult. Art had to first straighten out the arm, before carefully direct the water to enter the students arm and carefully mend the numerous fractures to the arm. Fortunately it had a numbing effect, otherwise the student would likely not have been able to bear the pain of having his bones shifted.
A strand of hair fell down in front of Art's face as he bent over in concentration. The pure look of concentration on his face, the light flush to his cheeks, and white teeth that bit his luscious pink lips.... They combined to produce a truly beautiful image that, in spite of the gruesome nature of the scene, enchanted all the onlookers.
Straightening up, Art sighed and told the student, "I wasn't able to completely heal your arm. The bone had too many breaks. But I did heal it enough that if you get treatment from a professional doctor from the school, your arm should be fine within two weeks."
"What exactly happened here?" He now addressed the rest of the students.
The group of first years quickly recounted how the second years had arrived, brimming with condescension and arrogance and immediately began insulting them. One of them had gone as far as tripping the student who now had the broken arm. He had jumped back up, and in a moment of rage, tried to punch the second year who tripped him. The second year, who was the same one who tried to attack when Art arrived, viciously caught his hand and crushed it using a fire spell.
Art scowled. To dare to casually attempt to cripple another student, the second year clearly had some sort of backing. This incident likely had both the hands of both Flint's family and some of the school's administration behind it.
"Don't worry. This matter isn't over. I'll speak to the headmaster about this."