[The martial elder begins to glow intensely, nearly blinding you. Somehow, you regain control of your body and stumble away, hiding behind a tree.
You hear Master Brightflame scream about his [Nine Suns Technique], and you look back in time to see a chain of explosions that travel from the martial elder to the harvest tree, breaking apart several nearby trees and forcing you to protect your eyes from the debris.
When you look back, you see that the harvest tree has protected the water lilies with its roots, and simultaneously bound Master Brightflame with its branches…]
"Is that all you have?" Master Brightflame yelled out, as though he was unaware of the branches that were wrapped around his legs and waist.
Lem saw the branches tighten like the coils of a snake, reaching further up the martial elder's body. At the same time, Master Brightflame suddenly clapped his hands together.
A bright red flame burst from between his palms, carrying with it an immense heat, as the entire world appeared to ripple from heat distortion.
Lem's simulated self thought that his entire body was about to be cooked to death. He could feel his skin searing, and he began to scramble backwards again.
"Interrogation Flame!"
Master Brightflame clapped his hands again, creating large flames and Lem's simulated self felt a dreadful premonition. His legs began immobile again, and yet he felt a morbid fascination.
Lem knew that the mental faculties of his simulated self had ceased to function again.
The gray-blue of the harvest tree turned red and fiery.
Master Brightflame clapped again. More flames spurt from his palms and the heat increased.
"Impervious on the outside, but how tough are your insides!"
The harvest tree looked like it was about to combust any moment, but Lem's attention was drawn to the martial elder.
At some point in time, his appearance had changed drastically, like he had lost most of his body weight. His skin was now shrunken, clinging close to the bone, and his hair seemed thin and unseemly.
"Hahahaha," Master Brightflame laughed loudly, as he clapped his hands again.
The harvest tree suddenly immolated, shooting flames dozens of meters into the air.
Lem felt that time had stopped.
The world seemed to blink, and the flames were gone, but the harvest tree had turned completely black. The heat in the air had disappeared completely.
The world blinked again, and the tree was back to normal. Its gray-blue hues were just the same as before, and it appeared to be unharmed by any of the martial elder's attacks.
What was that?
Lem questioned the sensations that had just occurred, but he could not come up with an explanation.
Master Brightflame's attacks seemed understandable enough, as did the physical movements of the harvest tree, but how had it made the fire and the heat disappear, much less reverse the damage it had taken?
A moment later, Lem's shock increased.
It wasn't just the harvest tree that had reverted to normal. All of the other trees that had been broken by the martial elder's attacks were similarly back to normal, giving Lem an eerie feeling.
No matter what the martial elder did, could the harvest tree just reverse the results?
He had never heard of a harvest tree, or any plant for that matter, that had such properties!
What kind of tree was this?