Beast Soul

"Coast is clear. Let's go!" Alphonso turned to look at Gerald and said as he leapt into the opened window and entered the building, and Gerald hesitated for a second before letting out a sigh and entering the house through the window. 

"Are you absolutely sure that there's no one inside the house?" Gerald leaned towards Max and asked, which made Alphonso roll his eyes. "How many times do you have to ask the same question? He told you already, didn't he?" Alphonso replied with an annoyed tone. "There's no one in the house, Gerald.." Max replied. "At least, not on the surface."

Gerald nodded his head with hesitation, and the three boys slowly moved towards the bathroom while being careful. 

Max observed the interior of Mr. Carrick's house with his enhanced vision, studying every corner of the living room. 

"He sure keeps everything a bit too tidy, doesn't he?" Alphonso snorted as he stared at the living room before continuing to walk towards the bathroom, and Gerald asked, "What's so suspicious about keeping your living room tidy?" He asked with a confused and annoyed expression on his face. "You're making it sound like anyone who keeps their rooms tidy might be a monster!"

"That's not what I meant, jacka**!" Alphonso rolled his eyes as he pointed at the glass table in the middle of the living room, and said, "Look at that table over there. You see the stuff that's on top of it?"

Gerald turned to look at the direction at which Alphonso was pointing at, and saw the glass table. He observed the table and saw that there were a bundle of newspapers that were placed on top of each other and right next to it was the television remote and a wifi modem.

"I saw it." Gerald answered back as he shifted his gaze towards Alphonso once again. "I still don't get what your problem is. It's just kept a bit too tidy."

"The television remote and the modem are still inside the plastic cover that's present on it when you buy the products." Alphonso said as he pointed at the table once again, and Gerald looked at the objects on the table once again and realized that he was right. The objects were still enveloped by the plastic covering that was coated around them, and didn't even seem to have been used that much, and even seemed like it was just taken out of their boxes and then placed on the table. 

"Maybe he just likes the plastic coatings. I don't know the guy now, do I?" Gerald still didn't believe that was enough of an evidence that suggested Mr. Carrick was a monster and not a human, and Max agreed with his statement.

"I also don't think that's a good enough evidence to prove Mr. Carrick is a monster, Phonzi.." Max said as he continued walking behind Alphonso, who simply shrugged his shoulders in response. "Alright then. I was just saying that the living room looked a bit too tidy, but if you don't think that's shady, then that's fine with me."

He then focused his attention onto the pathway as he muttered under his breath, "Of course, I'm going to be proved right either way.."

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'What on earth is my plan here?' Noah had never fought a monster in human form before. And definitely not one which could talk properly. This meant that the creature had intelligence, or at least much more than the one's Noah fought up until now. This only put more pressure on Noah, who had to think hard as to what he must do. 

'Luckily, we're inside an abandoned building. So there's no need to worry about casualties all that much," His gaze then shifted to the unconscious group of goons that he had fought earlier and he clicked his tongue. "Well, not entirely free of worry, I guess.."

He glanced at Augustus, who glanced back, and their eyes met. 'Now,' Noah thought. 'How the hell do I deal with this monster?'

"Aha! I can tell that you're scheming something, Noah Pemberton.." Augustus spoke almost immediately after making eye contact as a wide smile blossomed on his face, and his words made Noah flinch for a second. "Your eyes, they're very revealing…" Augustus snickered softly as his eyes narrowed, and beads of sweat began to drip down from Noah's forehead.

He slowly moved left hand behind his back and motioned at Adrian. 'You have to leave,' Noah signaled to Adrian, who couldn't help but widen his eyes in surprise before immediately assuming an expression of indifference on his face.

"What do you plan on doing?" Noah asked, trying to make Augustus keep his focus on him rather than Adrian, which might give him a chance to slip away. "Are you only here to spar with me? Is that your only intention?" Noah asked. 

"Ha, ha, ha… Sparring? That's very funny, Noah Pemberton!" Augustus had a sinister expression on his face as he spoke, which made Noah clench his fists tightly, waiting for the fight to start, which he knew was inevitable. "We don't spar. We fight to the death." The smile on Augustus' face disappeared instantly, replaced by a serious expression, and Noah couldn't help but feel a chill run up his spine. 

"That's our way. You should know this, Noah Pemberton.." Augustus continued speaking as he took a single step forward, which made Noah immediately assume his fighting stance, raising both his arms as he kept his eye on the opponent.

Augustus stopped moving after taking a single step, and then, all of a sudden, the people whom he had brought with him charged forward, yelling and roaring loudly as they rushed towards Noah.

"GAAAH!" The group of young men screamed loudly as they reached Noah's side, who immediately swung his fist, landing a hit on the first guy and sending him flying backwards, right towards Augustus.

Whoosh!

Augustus quickly shifted his upper body to the side and watched as the young man flew past him and slammed onto the wall behind with a loud noise, before falling down onto the ground, completely unconscious.

"Wow! I can't believe you're going all out against humans! I guess you didn't regain control simply by chance!" Augustus said with a grin on his face as he readjusted his body, and Noah widened his eyes.

"They're humans?" Noah was confused after listening to Augustus' words. 'Why on earth were these humans helping this monster?' Noah didn't know the answer, which caused him frustration.

WHAM!

Noah kicked another guy right on his face, making him do a roll mid air before crashing down onto the floor.

BAM! BAM! BAM! 

The group of men kept on coming, and Noah continued punching and kicking them down. This also gave Adrian enough time to sneak out through the backdoor of the gymnasium without anyone noticing him.

"Well, this is really interesting to watch." Augustus said while he walked towards the stands and grabbed a seat as he kept his eye on the fight.

Whoosh!

Noah moved through the group of people without getting hit by them, and swung his fist at yet another young man, pushing him backwards and causing him to fall down.

"AHHH!" Before he could take a breather, another young man swung his leg right at Noah's neck from behind, and Noah immediately ducked down, letting the opponent's leg smash onto another guy's face who was charging towards him from the front, and then Noah immediately sweeped the other guy's leg, causing him to crash land on his a**.

It only took Noah about five minutes to take down the rest of the group, with the last remaining boy rushing towards Noah as he aimed for his abdomen, and Noah twisting his body and landing a flying tornado kick right on the boy's face.

WHAM!

The boy went tumbling down onto the floor, and Augustus stood up and clapped in response. "That was brilliant!" He said as Noah looked at him with a weird expression on his face.

"Leader! You've got to take him down now!" Nelson, who was somehow still conscious, yelled out loudly to Augustus, and Noah kicked him once again, this time right on his face, which finally knocked him out.

BAM!

"Wow! That really was a wonderful fight! I must say, I enjoyed that very much.." Augustus said as he began walking towards Noah, who became alert once again.

'Does he plan on fighting me right now?' Noah thought. 'Was he waiting for me to get tired? Was that what he was waiting for?'

"You can have the school." Augustus' words however, were not what Noah had been expecting to hear. 

"What?" Noah couldn't believe what he heard, and so he asked Augustus to repeat what he just said.

"I don't want the hierarchy anymore. It was not part of my plan anyways," Augustus shrugged his shoulders and let out a chuckle before heading towards the entrance of the gymnasium.

"You- you're not planning on fighting me?" Noah couldn't help but ask, and Augustus stopped in his tracks, turned around, and said, "I do plan on fighting you. Just not today."

He flashed a smile before heading out, leaving a confused Noah alone in the gymnasium.