Chapter 233: Disappearing Act

Taking a life was something Quinn didn’t expect to happen so easily, even in a fight. In an ideal world, this would be something he never had to worry about, and he believed he’d be able to control himself when the time arrived. However, when Burder kept talking about how he didn’t deserve his power, something in his mind snapped.

{Erin} Quinn, are you okay?

Quinn didn’t know how to respond.

‘Did I just kill someone? Wait, what if they detect it!?’

Before Quinn could send Erin a message, another man in uniform teleported in, and Quinn’s worst fears were already confirmed.

{Erin} Quinn, why aren’t you answering?

‘… Crap.’ Quinn wished he could send a message, but it was too late.

—

Meanwhile, Vorden ran out into the hallways, searching for any military official or staff member to notice his injury. Since there were only 8 Sergeants per school year, and most working staff members remained inside of class, it took a few minutes before he found someone.

“Can you call to take me to the doctor’s? I fell down the stairs.”

The teacher nodded, and called a nurse. Because class ended early, Vorden was lucky there were no other students around.

A few minutes later, a man in uniform teleported in, grabbing Vorden by the shoulder. He smiled, knowing he just got the man’s skill.

‘Level 7 huh? That should be more than enough to teleport Quinn into the portal room,’ Vorden thought with an eager grin.

There was a sense of unease. Vorden couldn’t hear anything on Quinn’s side after what sounded like an intense battle. He just hoped he wasn’t too late.

The two teleported into the hospital room, startling Rosario again for the second time that day.

Vorden couldn’t spot Quinn nearby, so he ran down the hospital ward, and turned a corner, just to find Quinn standing next to a dead body. This only complicated things because the next moment, Quinn was gone, teleported away by another military official.

It all happened so fast that he wasn’t even sure he saw it right, or if it was just a trick of his mind. Seeing something that he wanted to see.

“… Quinn?” Vorden managed to squeak out. “What just happened?”

Dr. Hayley turned around at his voice, and looked at him with sorrow.

“Were you his friend?” She said, then turned back to the now empty spot, “I’m sorry, but he’s gone. I don’t know where they took him.”

Vorden couldn’t breathe. ‘Just a second. One second!’ he thought.

Quinn was gone and he was literally one second too late. It was clear there was a reason Quinn was forced to kill a man. This was going to be used against Quinn and for a moment, there was only panic. Even Raten stirred uneasily, not knowing how to explain to Sil what happened.

—

Back in Del’s class, Erin’s heart dropped because she sensed Quinn’s presence far away before she could even hear the news about Quinn’s whereabouts. There was no message back, which was even more concerning.

She heard on Vorden’s spider just what happened, grinding her teeth in frustration.

‘It’s not over yet, I can still communicate with him!’

{Erin} Where are you?

{Quinn} Suffocating… Gas.

Erin’s anxiety went through the roof. She started to panic before sending him another message.

{Erin} I need more information!

{Quinn} Bus…sleepy…

{Erin} Where are you?!

After that, Quinn didn’t respond. The words didn’t make sense at first, until she remembered the first day of school.

“There was a gas used on him that made his vision go dark,” The system explained, “I can’t access his perspective anymore, which means he’s unconscious.”

The only saving grace was the fact that both her and the system could see that Quinn’s health wasn’t at 0, but it wasn’t very high either.

The same question remained, which made things even worse.

Why did Duke want him?

—

After class, everyone reconvened in the library, utilizing the silencing orbs. Teachers allowed their students to go free now that Quinn was successfully captured, which had a lot of people discussing the events of what happened.

“What did that Quinn guy do?”

“I don’t know, maybe he was a spy?”

“I heard from one of my friends in the infirmary that they actually saw him kill a Sergeant!”

“No way? Isn’t that, like, illegal?”

As Vorden was heading to the library, he kept hearing everyone talk about Quinn. It was hard to focus knowing his friend killed someone and was captured, but what really worried him was how Sil would react.

‘What am I going to tell him?’ Vorden thought.

“We’re going to get him back,” Raten said firmly, although it sounded more like a lie than anything encouraging.

In their mind space, Sil continued to sleep, and he dreaded when he would wake up. Raten glanced over at both Vorden and Sil, unable to think of something to say.

As Vorden arrived at the destination, he found he was the last one to sit at the table. Tapping the top of the silencing orb, they began to discuss.

“Is this everyone?” Erin said, looking around at Vorden, Layla, Peter and Fex.

“It should be,” Fex responded.

“There is something I should be honest about,” Erin began, “A long time ago, I mentioned something about a book that turned me into a vampire. However, what I didn’t mention was that this book also linked both me and Quinn together. I mention this now because despite this connection, I cannot feel where he is. At least, not now.”

Vorden perked up. This was the first time he was hearing about this.

“I’m also mentioning this because we need to figure out where Quinn is, and why he was captured.” She continued

No one said anything for a bit, which made sense given the lack of information, but the truth was… Layla had an idea of what was going on. The guilt ate at her consciousness, but if she told the truth, then it would reveal just who she truly was.

Before she could even begin speaking, Fex started talking.

“We shouldn’t have trusted Peter,” Fex spoke with venom in his words, “It was because of him that we are even in this mess!”

“I didn’t want this to happen!” Peter cried.

“But it was you who brought that book to him,” Fex accused, “If it wasn’t for you, then Quinn would still be here!”

“Guys! Stop fighting!” Layla shouted, “No one could’ve known what would’ve happened, not even Quinn. If anyone is to blame, then it would be me.”

Fex raised an eyebrow, “…What do you mean?”

Taking a deep breath, Layla chose her next words carefully, “When I heard that Quinn needed to learn the 6th level book before the end of the week, I realized that the inter-base tournament was also at the end of the week.”

“So?” Fex crossed his arms.

“What I mean is… ” Layla clenched her fists tightly, frustration evident, “The Big Four will be there. They wanted to capture Quinn to give him to the Big Four.”

—

Through blurry vision, Quinn slowly felt himself regaining consciousness. He remembered killing Burder then suddenly getting teleported away into a closed room. Then he remembered the first day of school and how a bus was filled with gas, which confused him because that just happened again.

At first, he attempted to move his arms to hold his head, but was restrained by some sort of material he couldn’t control. Slowly, his vision cleared, and he was in a strange wooden prison.

Quinn blinked, and tried to break out of his chains again, but it was no use. He was tied down to a chair, wrapped in wooden branches that looked to be done using an ability. Maybe if he was given enough time, and focused his qi, he could break out, but there was a bigger problem in front of him.

“I expected you to fight back, how could you not after the assembly incident,” Duke spoke with a startling clarity, “But to kill a Sergeant? That’s a level of skill that shouldn’t go to waste.”