Quin felt a relief for now, as right now Vorden was defending him,
"So, you managed to break free?" Momo smirked. "Do you really not remember what happened last time we fought?"
"That wasn't me you fought," Raten replied coldly. "That was Vorden. I'm not as forgiving."
He raised both hands, pulling the earth around them into a swirling dust storm. The boost he'd gotten from touching Quinn and Peter gave him more strength than usual, and combined with his own reserves, it was enough to make him dangerous. Using the cover, he launched earth spikes straight at Momo.
Momo dodged easily, grinning. "You really haven't learned, have you?" He lashed his whip forward, but Raten twisted his body at a strange angle, barely avoiding it. At the same time, he sent more spikes of earth and water slicing through the air.
Quinn tried to help, waiting for the right opening. As Momo focused on Raten, Quinn attempted to soften the ground beneath him, to trip him up. But before the mud could even form, Momo's whip cracked down right in front of him.
"Don't even try it," Momo warned.
Quinn froze. Momo had struck before he had even made a move. He tried again later, creeping closer, but once more the whip snapped out ahead of him, as if Momo had already known.
"This… can't be," Quinn thought. "He's predicting me before I even move. That means… future sight?"
And he was right. Momo's gift let him see a couple of seconds ahead, though it wasn't perfect. When he used it, faint outlines of people and objects showed him what they were about to do. Two seconds was more than enough. He'd trained his body for years to move with that vision, making it deadly in combat.
But Quinn wasn't the only one who figured it out.
"So what if you can see it coming?" Raten shouted. "If you can't block it, it doesn't matter!"
The whip cracked through the air, but this time Raten slowed it mid-swing with his water ability, giving himself just enough space to leap over. His other hand glowed as water gathered around his fist.
Then, another presence entered the hall. A woman with long silver hair flowing past her waist, a jagged bone-like rapier at her side, and eyes sharp enough to silence the crowd. She carried herself with the weight of authority—someone you could trust, but never cross.
The entire room froze. Only one second-year, lost in the fight, still moved. He lunged forward—only for the woman to appear beside him in a blur. A heartbeat later, he collapsed, clutching his ankle, blood pooling on the floor.
"When did she move?" someone gasped.
"I didn't even see her," another muttered.
Momo's smirk vanished the moment he recognized her. Without hesitation, he put away his weapon. He knew better than to challenge her—he'd learned that lesson the hard way last year.
Her name was Faye Dallum, a sergeant at the academy and leader of squad training. She wasn't the type to bluff.
"Injured students, head straight to the infirmary. The rest of you, return to your dorms and stay put until called. Do I make myself clear?" Her voice was firm, cutting through the silence.
For a moment, no one moved. Then she drew her rapier, and every student shouted in unison:
"Yes, Sergeant!"
Later, Quinn and Vorden were sent to the infirmary, both weakened from blood loss. The second-years were escorted back to their own quarters.
After being patched up by the school doctor, Hayley, the two made their way toward the dorms. Vorden wore a crooked smile.
"You're not gonna tell me what happened at the assembly hall?" he asked.
Quinn looked surprised. "What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You know how my ability works—I could feel it. Something happened out there."
Quinn sighed. "Fine… I think I finally figured it out. I can steal other people's abilities and add them to my own."
Vorden froze, shocked by the revelation. "Wait—if I copied your ability, shouldn't I only be able to steal abilities, and then get the powers instead of just receiving the ones you've already taken?"
Quinn shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe. We'll have to test it."
Quinn's voice then turned serious, "Hey Vorden, can I trust you with this, you won't just go and make me a chained, would you?".
Just upon hearing those words, Vorden got serious, "would you just relax, you don't have to tell me again and again Quinn, I won't let that happen to you". He spoke with a strong resolve.
Once Quinn and Vorden returned to their dorm, they were told to stay inside until further notice. Every now and then, a soldier would call out a student's name, taking them away for questioning.
Inside the room, the three of them sat together—Vorden, Peter, and Quinn.
"Good thing you called the sergeant when you did," Vorden said. "Otherwise, Quinn and I would've been finished."
Peter nodded, still uneasy. He knew he'd done the right thing by fetching Miss Faye, but the guilt of tricking Vorden into going to the hall still weighed on him.
"What do you think will happen to those second years?" Quinn asked.
Vorden thought for a moment. "Hard to say. If it were just a fight between two students, maybe they'd ignore it. But this time a lot of people got dragged in… they'll probably choose someone to take the blame."