The mist continued to flow rapidly from the crystal vial until it had all dissipated into the sandstorm, spread so thin it turned invisible. Jien stood there tensely, rapier at the ready and nerves on edge while he continued to breathe the acrid scent from the cloth. This continued for a long couple of minutes that felt more like an eternity to Jien. Though his eyes were calm, if not a little watery, his teeth were gritted in concentration, knowing that this very well could be a plan that would backfire on them if his signal was not received, or the others didn't act fast enough.
After the long minutes ticked by in silence and with no sudden attacks a change took shape around him. The winds were beginning to lose their momentum, the sand beginning to settle closer to the ground, still carried by the airflow. At least this was true for another minute or two as the wind died out completely, leaving the sand strewn in intricate spiraling patterns around all those present.
It became clear just looking at the patterns of the sand that the spell used had kicked up a sandstorm meant to separate people from their allies. It was likely a strategy used to either sneak past a team who was busy or to make fights more even, or perhaps uneven if you were facing several bandits on your own. It was a great strategy relaying on the environment to single out targets and Jien could appreciate its effectiveness.
He looked at the center of each spiral of sand to determine what the state of the match was. He noticed that there were multiple people in some of the spirals, specifically that of Alys, Olivia and Andrew. Barret was nowhere to be seen as was his usual style, likely hidden from the senses of everyone including his own teammates as a hedge against spells meant to confuse or manipulate allies. The others seemed to be either on their own or facing a single enemy.
As he had planned or at least thought would happen, most of the newer members of his own unit were laying on the ground sleeping. The only exception was Julie, who was struggling against the urge to sleep, her posture slumped against her spear, shaking her head constantly and biting her lip hard enough to draw a trickle of blood. Jien appreciated her grit in resisting such a strong anesthetic on her own, given that she did not possess the solution used by Jien and some of the others.
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He then began focusing on the other unit, noticing that their members too were laying on the sandy ground, some sleeping soundly while others were snoring with a rumbling that could cause an avalanche in the snowy mountains to the north. Each of the ten-member bandit unit was unconscious without exception leading Jien to sigh in relief. He hadn't been sure from the atart if it would work or if they would have members with enough stamina to withstand like or better than Julie had. There of course was the possibility that they would have had a way to block his attempt, or that the sandstorm was just there to wear them down and that the other unit had not been caught in it.
After confirming that the other side was out for the count, with an extra confirmation of Rebacca calling the end of the match he made his way to Julie, unwrapping the cloth from his mouth and nose and offering it to her. "Breathe in this scent for a few minutes and the effects will pass." The girl frowned deeply, a hint of what looked like a mix of anger and disdain showing in her eyes as she took the cloth and held it to her mouth and nose. She took a large breath and immediately started coughing, her eyes watering and her legs finally giving out, falling forward without the strength to keep herself upright.
Jien caught her on the way down, laying her gently on the sandy ground. "Normal breaths will do the trick just fine." he stated with a slight chuckle hidden in his tone. He could swear he saw a tint of pink in her cheeks as she turned away from him and continued to breathe in normally so as to not repeat the coughing fit. He could tell that she disliked his strategy, just like she disliked the way he ran their unit's operations so far. However, at the moment he purposely ignored her dislike of it, knowing that she would learn the hard way when classes started. Battle was not something honorable and straight forward, there were many ways that wars were fought, and many were dirty and full of trickery.
Now that the match was over, and he had toppled his opponent's strategy it was time to wake up his members before helping the angry bandit and his unit. He was sure that the tall boy would give him an earful for how he claimed victory, but a win was a win, both here and on the battlefields, they would be sent to in time.