Chapter 44 Finally Free Inside the assembly hall, there was one boy who was unsure of what to do and that was Peter. He had been there the whole time from the very beginning but chose to hide in the crowd so he wouldn’t get picked. When he saw Quinn come to the stage to try help Vorden, he felt even more guilty. Why? Because the whole reason Vorden was tied up on the slab in the first place was because of him. The other day when the second years came to see Peter, they had come with a proposal. Help them get Vorden to come to the assembly hall and he would be protected by the second years. Of course, Peter felt like he had no choice. If he refused the second years there and then, they would have tortured him until he agreed anyway. So what was the use of fighting back if the end result was the same? After their combat classes had finished, Peter had asked Vorden to go with him to the assembly hall to help him further practise. When they entered the room, the second-year students included Momo where hiding waiting for him. When the time was right, they all came out at once and jumped him. But what had surprised Peter was in that instant, Vorden had turned and pushed Peter out of the way. "Run, I’m sorry this is all my fault," Vorden said. Vorden thought the second years had targeted him because of what he had been doing in his free time. He had been fighting the second-year students when they were all on their own, trying to weaken Momo’s gang one by one. Not knowing what to do, Peter ran out of the room, only later to return with everyone else. Then when he saw Quinn, someone who was just as weak as him, stand up to the second years, Peter felt a pain in his heart so strong. He had betrayed them. But Peter was going to make things right, while no one was looking and everyone attention was focused on the fights around them, Peter had managed to leave the assembly hall. Meanwhile, at the centre of the assembly hall, Erin and Layla were busy confronting the two-level four students. The first years had spread out making sure not to get hurt in the crossfire but at the same time doing nothing to help. It was unclear who the winner would be and they felt like if they joined the wrong side it would only make things worse for them. "Hey, do you mind if we switch." One of the second-year students said, "My water abilities are weak against her?" "I see so you want the level, 2 user, huh." The other student replied. "Oh well, just finish her off quickly." With that, the two-second years charged in for the attack. The water ability user went after Layla, while the earth user went after Erin. As the earth user got closer, he stomped the ground and a spiked earth mound followed, heading right for Erin. But Erin remained calm, as the spike came towards her, she slashed her sword and with a single strike, cut the spike in half causing it to fall to the ground. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢 "What the? That beast weapon, if it cut through my earth ability is it an advanced tier beast weapon?��� The earth user thought. However, he didn’t have much time to think, with her other hand Erin had formed an ice spear and threw it towards her opponent. The earth user lifted his arms causing a wall of earth blocking the attack. He then moved his hands apart and at the same time the wall he had created, split in two but when the view in front of him was clear, Erin was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, he felt his legs start to feel cold. When he looked down, he noticed they were starting to freeze. "For a second-year level four earth user, you are incredibly weak." Before the boy could react, Erin had whacked him in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword. Then as he fell to the ground, she froze his arms and limbs in place making sure he would stay on the ground. "How did she win so easy?" The first-year students watching said. "Yeah, shouldn’t a match between a level four and five user be closer than that, and he was a second-year student." "Maybe they aren���t as strong as we thought?" Usually, a fight with a level four and five users would be a lot closer, especially considering the other student was a second year. But there was a major difference between the two fighters and that was something called, fighting IQ. No matter how strong someone’s ability was or how powerful a punch they packed, you needed to know how to use your abilities and when. This could be improved with experience or some people were just naturally gifted. For Erin, she had always fallen into the gifted category. Although Erin had finished her match quickly, the same couldn’t be said for Layla. Her attacks were basically useless. As an archer, her skills were best used when surprising her opponent and when there was a distance between the two. Here she had neither of them. Every attack of hers was met with a wall of water that would stop her arrows in their tracks and finally when she was tired. The second-year student threw out his fist and a ball of water came out towards her. It hit her dead in the stomach and sent her flying back towards the front of the hall near Vorden. The water user started running after her planning to finish her, Layla seeing this struggled but was to hurt to get up. "Hey you, free me, I can deal with him." "What?" Layla said as she looked up noticing that it was Vorden who was speaking to her. "Come on hurry, we don’t have much time touch my leg." Layla hesitated for a moment. She still had remembered what had happened when the two of them were in the room, she still had an odd feeling in her gut telling her Vorden was a bad person but right now it was the only person she could rely on. She crawled over to Vorden’s side and touched his leg as he had asked. Then the shackles tied around Vorden’s arms and legs started shaking. "Come on, help me you bitch!" Vorden shouted at her. Vorden was using Layal’s telekinesis ability but it was weak, it wasn’t strong enough to break from the shackles. Layla then lifted her hand and with the two of them working together, the shackles were finally removed and Vorden was free. He started to rotate his wrist as if he was getting used to his body. He shook his limbs out and started to jump up and down. "Finally, I get to come out, it’s been a long time." As the water user continued to run forward now that Vorden was free, he was more cautious. The last time they had fought with him in the assembly hall they remembered Vorden having earth powers. At the time the last person he had touched was Peter. Vorden then started to laugh hysterically and charged towards the water user. It was an unexpected move, the water user panicked and threw out two lines of Water blades. These where just as sharp as an attack from a regular blade but could be thrown out. As the blades came towards him, at the last second Vorden managed to twist his body in an odd way avoiding both of the blades. He then lifted one of the black balls from the ground using his telekinesis and threw it out. However, the attack was easy for the water user to block, forming a water wall stopping the ball but then *Crack. Something was felt on the back of his leg and at the same time a crunching sound was heard, the boy immediately fell to one knee. As he looked at Vorden in front of him, he could only see Vorden with his hands held out. Then another striking pain was felt through his body, this time on his other ankle. Without realising it, Vorden had attacked him from behind, pulling the other black balls towards him. The water user was two focused on the attack in front he never thought about an attack from behind. Also, it had come as a surprise to him that Vorden was not an earth user as he thought. Vorden then lifted up two more black balls and swung his hands down. At the same time, the balls came rushing down at a crazy speed hitting the student in the forearms, breaking them at the same time. The student screamed in pain and with his arm’s mangled, he could no longer use his water ability as he could before. "Finally, I, Raten have returned.