Chapter 272 The winners of the assessmen
The pressure emitting from the two groups was immense, that even one wrong word or act might make the already fearsome looming presence break out and swallow them whole. In the case for someone like Peter and Vorden they were able to handle such a pressure that coiled, however for Layla and even Logan, it felt like they were about to be consumed by the dangerous energy that was swirling around, it was only waiting to be unleashed.
"Are they really going to clash?" The students on the side asked one another, some of them began to get anxious of a fight breaking out.
"It would be silly if they did." Another student sneered, shaking their head, "After all this is such a small thing, no one would be willing to start a war between a few missing students."
However, they were unaware of how Leo thought. He was a simple man, rather than thinking about the bigger picture of what his actions would lead to, he thought it was best to do what was right in the current situation. As things came to him later he would continue to deal with it.
This was how he always was and continued to be. Right now the people in front of him had put the students he was responsible for in danger. In the past, Leo was a different man and he did think about things, perhaps thought about them too much. To the point where those around them suffered because of it.
’I won’t let that happen again.’ Leo thought.
Although the others thought Leo wouldn’t do something, Vorden managed to catch a glimpse of Leo’s thoughts. He could see his fingers twitching slightly as he held the hilt.
’He’s ready to attack at any moment.’ After sharing Leo’s powers and interacting him with theory time he did with Quinn. Vorden felt like he could understand him a bit more.
He tried thinking of a way to perhaps calm Leo down. The world didn’t need a civil war right now. In the past, there were several civil wars before Truedream came along. There were rumours that the Dalki were keeping an eye on the humans, ready to attack at their weakest point, if something similar were to happen again. Perhaps the Dalki would attack even sooner than they predicted.
"Leo, when we were down there, there was an incredibly strong beast. For now I think Quinn and Fex are safe but I don’t know how long they will survive. They need help now." Vorden said.
After hearing these words, Leo’s grip around his hilt weakened, it seemed to have work. He stood up straight and carried on walking past the group. As he walked he purposely barged into Andre’s shoulder.
"Hey what do you think you’re doing! Can;t you at least show some respect, we saved your students. We didn’t have to do that and we could have kept the whole thing a secret." Andy shouted.
Leo then pointed towards his own eyes and opened them up. Where the pupils should have been black, it looked as if his entire eyeball was a tint of grey. There was no colour.
"I’m sorry but I’m blind you see, I didn’t know he was standing there. Fay I will leave it up to you to do what you want with these visitors of ours. Whatever you choose I will back it up when we return to the base."
With that Leo continued to walk into the jungle, while also carefully stepping his foot over a large root going across the floor. "Nearly tripped over that one," he said whistling away into the jungle.
’Blind my ass.’ Andy muttered under his breath.
By this point, Fay had already calmed down from her anger before. Doing or saying anything would just be a waste of breath. So she decided to take the political stance instead. Doing what was best for both pirates.
"Thank you for informing us of this information. Please in the future do inform us sooner. This way we can avoid any future problems."
Andre bowed down to her, before leaving with his group, with a sour taste in their mouth of what they had just experienced.
While Vorden and the others were revealed. All they needed to do now was wait, hope Fex and Quinn could return safely.
While walking back to the others, Vorden started to think about what just happened. When he first joined the military it seemed like they didn’t care about what happened to the weaker students.
They allowed fights to go on without intervening and it was almost as if the fights were encouraged to happen. Even with the whole Duke and Peter situation, it seemed like they were purposely trying to cause friction and division between those that were weaker and stronger in the school.
This did happen in the outside world naturally and in school before it, however, the divide never seemed to be as big as it was in the military school. After hearing not only Leo’s reaction, but Fay’s reaction as well to the students in distress and him thinking. Perhaps it wasn’t the whole military that was like this. Or there was also the option that it was more because of the ones that were in charge. Their connections seemed oddly close with the Truedream family, more than they should have been.
After waiting for an hour, finally, Leo had returned and this time he wasn’t alone. By his side was both Fex and Quinn. Layla had run up to greet them and the others were happy to see them as well.
By now, all of the students from Del’s class had been checked up on. They were now allowed to spend time with the other classes but news of what really happened to the class while they were out started to spread and the tension was felt in the air.
The reality of how dangerous this expedition was finally was starting to hit them. Friends and students they had only talked to a few hours ago in the morning, were nowhere to be seen and they would ever be able to talk to them again.
Leo and Fay were busy discussing what to do next. Although they were of the same rank Fay never felt that way and she decided she would agree with whatever Leo had decided.
"I have made my decision," Leo said. "I’m going to cancel the expedition and return to the academy."
"Are you sure?" Fay replied. "It’s only been one day and not much ground has been covered. Paul won’t be happy with the decision. Can’t we just travel as one group and protect the kids. Judging from what the travellers told us, the Dalki settlement seems to be abandoned."
"No!" Leo replied immediately. "When I went down there I could sense it. There is definitely still something there and it’s at least at the power of a four spiked Dalki."
Hearing this, Fay’s eyes nearly popped out from her skull. A shiver was sent down her whole spine and her hairs were left standing on top of her arm.
"We would need at least one of the generals here to try to deal with something like that, and even then I don’t think they would be much of a match," Leo explained.
"I understand, if we explain this to Paul they should understand. They might even remove every one of the planets and classify it as a red portal planet until further notice." Fay replied.
She had actually misinterpreted Leo’s words. For Leo had said there was something down there that had the same power as a four spiked Dalki. But she had taken this to mean there was a four spiked Dalki. Only Leo knew the truth, that the energy that was emitting from the being was one that was similar to both Fex and Quinn.
As Leo looked over at the two students, a thought soon planted itself in his head, ’Is there an actual threat right underneath our noses that is probably far larger than the Dalki?’
All the students had been covered, on the muddy open soil area of the shelter which stood just before the jungle. Leo had told all of them there would be an announcement to be made.
"I’m sure by now you have all heard of the news that has happened to Del’s class. Because of this, we have decided to cancel the expedition and head back to the school," said Leo.
After hearing the news, some of the students felt a weight lift off their shoulders. No longer were they in danger and had the thoughts of meeting such things. The ones that were part of Del’s class were even more overjoyed.
Still, this feeling of relief wasn’t shared at all by everyone in the crowd. Those who had done well on the test so far and had run into no troubles started to voice their concern.
"What?!" A student complained as they looked around for support, "But it’s only been one day! That doesn’t make any sense." Why should they go back?
"Stop being so selfish!" Another shouted back at them.
It seemed like two camps had emerged of those that wanted to leave and those that wanted to stay.
"Enough!" Leo shouted in a loud booming voice. His voice had projected so loudly that some of the students felt like their eardrums would shatter. They wondered how a man so small was able to produce such a loud sound.
The chatter had stopped but a single student still had his hand remained up.
"Yes, young one," Leo said.
"I don’t mind having to go back early but I do have a question. What does this mean for our assessment? Who got the top grade, and how will our scores be divided." The student asked politely.
"Your grades will be decided by how well you have done so far. In the past, usually those that perform well on the first day, then would continue to perform well through the test. I know this might not be really fair, but we will take this into consideration based on your performance on future assessments and adjust your result accordingly.
"As for Del’s class, they will have an exemption due to the special circumstances they faced and will be tested at some other time. Now the winners, I suppose at these types of events, we always like to promote those that did best so the other students know who to look up to as role models. I shall decide the winners right now then."
After hearing Leo say this, many of the students that had done well on the assessment so far we’re starting to get excited. They would straighten out their clothes and make sure their hair was ready as they were to be called up to the front.
Fay walked over to where Leo was standing and tried to hand him over a clipboard with the scores of all the students points that had been received from the scanner. Instead of taking the clipboard, Leo pushed it away and shook his head.
"There is no need," Leo said and glanced towards the crowd of awaiting students.
"The winners are as follows, so will these following students please come to the front? Vorden Blade, Layla Munrow, Cia Green, Pio Blank, Fex Seg, Logan Richardson and finally, Quinn Talen."