148 A problem

Outside the second-year building, on the open field, Layla and Vorden were still patiently waiting. Peter had gone in a while ago, but they were already starting to wonder just what was taking him so long.

"Do you think they might have caught him?" Layla asked, looking at the two second years that stood directly outside the building like some guard dogs.

"I'm not sure. He doesn't look like the type to be good at lying," Vorden replied at her question. "Then again, he did fool me and Quinn before."

"Would you stop being so salty about that? It's getting annoying," Layla said, getting sick of the fact that Vorden seemed to be putting Peter down whenever they talked about him. "Right now, all of us are trying to help each other. That's how it should be. That's how this world should have been in the first place before the introductions of powers came and changed everything."

Vorden could tell that there seemed to be some sort of pain behind Layla's words. Then again, it was normal for people, who were of the lower class, to not be happy with the current system. Back then, everyone had a voice in a way. They voted and they had the chance to change things.

But right now, if you were of a low class, they didn't care about what you think.

"It's not the powers that are at fault," Vorden replied." It's the people at the top with those powers."

Eventually, the two of them waited for far long enough, coming to the conclusion that it didn't seem like Peter was going to come out anytime soon. With that, the two of them decided to stop waiting and started to head around the back. There was no entrance to get into the school around the back since the second-year building was up against the school walls that surrounded the whole place.

But perhaps, they could find some other entrance either by climbing some walls or through other means.

The two of them needed to be careful as they snuck around though, making sure they weren't seen, so the two of them would be using Layla's abilities to do just that. When they got around to the side of the building, they could see another student standing there. Using Layla's powers, they both lifted up a couple of stones.

"Are you ready?" Layla asked with a smile on her face. When she realised what face she was making, she quickly stopped. She couldn't believe she was actually having fun sneaking around and causing trouble. And with Vorden of all people.

"As expected, you do look a little cute when you are smiling," Vorden said as a response.

*****

Peter was patiently waiting outside the place where he had suggested. While doing so, Peter started to look around the place. There weren't many students moving about back here since there were no exits. There was also a plain wall, but it was nearly impossible for someone to scale unless they had some type of ability.

Though, as Peter continued to look at the wall, he started to wonder if the current him could do such a thing. But just as he was in the middle of this thought, a voice from behind was heard.

"Hey! Hey, Peter! It's been a while hasn't it?" Earl said as he walked closer before adding. "You know, lately, Duke has been blaming me for all of the failed attempts against Vorden, so I haven't been getting any rewards lately."

While walking closer towards Peter, Earl looked at what was in Peter's hands, which were the level 3 and 4 earth ability books. Although Earl was already a level four earth user and had no need for the books himself, he could always sell them on the market for more money.

"Hand them over, you piece of crap," Earl said as he slapped Peter across the face, leaving a red mark.

The truth was, Earl didn't care about the books. If he asked for them, then Peter was likely to give them to him. All he wanted to do was vent out his pent-up frustrations on someone else. Just a few moments ago, Duke did not give him any reward for his efforts, unlike what he had promised.

'Did he fail his task?' Earl pondered. Not at all. He managed to convince Peter to push his friend, just like they had asked. With that in mind, why wasn't he being rewarded for it? On top of that, after everything he had gone through, he had been beaten up by Erin. Soon after that, his friends had abandoned him, saying they no longer wanted to help him.

To them, it was too dangerous and they didn't want to get hurt by Erin as well. Then, later on, he was further punished by Vorden. He still couldn't sleep right after what Vorden had done to him.

Peter looked at the mark on his face. Usually, in a situation like this, his hands would be shaking. In the past, he had been so mentally broken that even Earl raising his hands would make him flinch…but not today. Something felt different.

After the scenes of Earl's neck being ripped out had appeared in his head, strange thoughts started to appear in his mind. 'What if I could make that a reality?' Peter thought.

Earl then proceeded to kick Peter in the stomach once again before grabbing him by the collar and throwing him onto the ground.

Peter was now in a space between two buildings, namely the second-year building and one of the storage rooms. It was a place that was quite dark, and unless someone purposely went around the back to find them, no one would find out.

"Well then. Ain't this a quiet little place for the two of us to carry on our business as usual?" Earl asked with a smile.

Peter then stood up and responded with a smile, "Indeed, it is."

*****

After distracting the students, who were standing by the side of the building, using the floating stones, they were able to gradually make their way towards the second-year building without being seen. Eventually, the two of them had finally arrived around the back.

It was empty. Nothing was there. Even the set of windows they saw seemed to be too high for them to climb up to.

"Come on. Let's keep looking," Layla said. "There must be some way to get into the school."

They looked around, but alas, they found nothing…until Vorden spotted a little alleyway just between the second-year building and the storage room. "Maybe there's a pipe or something we can climb."

"You have been watching way too many martial arts movies," Layla said.

Still, they decided to check it out anyway. They had already come this far after all. As they made their way to the alleyway, they started to hear strange sounds. Certain cracking and gobbling noises were made, as if there was some type of wild dog wolfing down its meal.

Finally, they turned the corner, only to see Peter there. However, he was not alone. His hands and mouth were covered in blood while a dead body wearing the student's uniform laid in front of him.

The dead body had parts of its limbs torn off while some bones with small bits of flesh on it could also be seen.

"Peter?" Layla said. "What have you done?"

****

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