After Nathan told Stephen to focus only on his fight, the four organization members immediately charged toward the students.
Most of the students retreated backward, avoiding the organization members. Most of them knew the strength of the Hollow Crown Organization members, having been utterly defeated by them before.
The only ones who remained at the front were Agnes and Ira, with Ira protecting the injured Agnes behind her; Leonard and Kai, where Leonard created a stone wall separating them from the students who had fled backward while Kai charged toward the organization members, launching several fireballs; and David and Nathan. David gripped his spear and also moved forward to fight one of the four members.
Nathan glanced for a moment toward Stephen's battle. The speed of the two fighters was so great that his eyes could not keep track of their movements.
Nathan looked away from them and focused on the four organization members.
Two of the members were facing Kai, and Kai was having an extremely difficult time merely defending against them, continuously being pushed back. One member was fighting David, and one was fighting Leonard and Ira.
Nathan dashed at high speed toward one of the two people fighting Kai.
The organization member noticed Nathan approaching with a fist aimed at him and easily dodged.
Nathan continued forward a short distance after the member evaded him, then stopped and smiled as he turned toward Kai.
"It wouldn't be fair for you to fight two people, so I'll take one of them."
Nathan clenched his raised fists tightly and pulled them backward. As he did so, the organization member who had dodged him was suddenly yanked backward by Nathan's threads, causing him to be dragged back at high speed. In the end, however, he managed to regain his balance and stand while staring at Nathan.
Nathan smiled at him, revealing his pointed teeth.
"Hello~"
The organization member glared at him angrily.
'Is this brat mocking me?!'
The member rushed at Nathan with his sword. Nathan sidestepped the attack.
The organization member attacked again with a swift horizontal slash, but Nathan lightly bent down, letting the sword pass narrowly above his head. Then he shot out a thread that wrapped around the member's wrist with incredible speed.
The member felt a sudden pull on his wrist but did not release his sword. Instead, he yanked his arm forcefully, dragging Nathan toward him.
But Nathan did not resist the pull. He allowed his body to be drawn forward, using the momentum to his advantage. The moment he got close to the member, he bent his knee and launched an upward kick toward his chin.
The attack landed, but the member was sturdy and only had his head knocked slightly backward.
The organization member quickly raised his left hand and grabbed Nathan's knee.
Nathan smiled as if he had expected this. He pulled on the thread he had attached to the pillar behind them, causing it to wrap loosely around the organization member's neck.
After Nathan pulled the thread, it tightened forcefully around the member's neck and violently dragged him backward, smashing him into the pillar.
The organization member raised his sword and cut Nathan's threads, then glared at him angrily.
"You insect!!"
Nathan's mouth twitched slightly.
"Tsk."
'If only my threads were sharper, I could have cut off his head just now.'
Nathan shrugged and charged toward the organization member again.
'It's fine, I've already found the solution to increasing my strength~'
Their battle continued for several minutes before both of them heard the voice of one of the members.
"Retreat!"
The organization member fighting Nathan looked toward the other member and nodded before backing away.
"Huh? Where are you going? I'm not done yet."
The organization member suddenly felt something pulling on his foot, dragging him backward and causing him to fall forward.
'This damn brattttt!!'
The other organization member quickly helped him by cutting the threads.
"Hurry, the pillar has been destroyed."
The man immediately forgot his previous anger and got up to flee.
"This is impossible. We'll be wiped out."
The four of them quickly escaped from the area.
Nathan frowned as he watched them flee, then heard Kai's and Leonard's voices shouting behind him at the same time.
"Blackieeee!!!"
"Black Crow!!"
Nathan looked toward the direction they were running and saw Stephen had fallen to one knee and appeared to be coughing several times.
Nathan clenched his fist tightly as a bad feeling overtook him, and he ran toward Stephen.
Stephen coughed up blood several times. The hand covering his mouth became stained with blood.
'...I didn't use the Time Skill for even three seconds. Why am I coughing blood?'
'The side effects of the skill are getting worse. Maybe I should stop using it completely before things become even more severe.'
Stephen knew the blood wasn't caused by the poison. It was one of the side effects of the Time Skill. The poison's symptoms were simply weakening his body more and more. According to her words, the fatal symptoms would begin after twenty minutes. He still had ten minutes left.
Stephen sensed two people rapidly approaching him. He hid his bloodstained hand beneath his cloak and forced himself to stand.
'I need to get the students out. But even if I manage that, how will I reach Jens in such a short amount of time?'
Kai grabbed Stephen's cloak and looked at him worriedly.
"Blackie, I saw you fall. Are you okay? Were you injured? Are you in pain?"
Stephen pushed Kai's hand away and replied with only one short word.
"Fine."
Stephen noticed Nathan rapidly approaching him. Nathan stopped in front of Stephen and carefully examined him with a frown. Then he suddenly reached into Stephen's cloak, grabbed his hand, pulled it out, and looked at it.
"Blood!"
Stephen remained silent. His body hurt and he was beginning to feel dizzy as the poison symptoms became more noticeable.
Stephen sighed, pulled his hand away from Nathan, and spoke.
"It's not my blood."
"Let's get out of here."
Stephen started walking forward. His head throbbed painfully and his steps were unsteady. Kai and Leonard watched him with concern.
Nathan stared at Stephen strangely.
'Not his blood?! Does he think I'm stupid enough to believe that?'
Nathan felt annoyed. He stepped closer to Stephen, grabbed his wrist firmly, and checked his pulse.
Nathan's brows furrowed for the first time.
"Poison!"
He raised his head and looked at Stephen with an angry smile.
"You're fine?! Are you kidding me?!"
Stephen felt irritated and slapped Nathan's hand away.
"I told you I'm fine."
As Stephen turned away, he heard Nathan ask:
"How are you going to cure it? It's spreading quickly."
Stephen was suffering from a severe headache and his vision had become blurry. He closed his eyes and held his head.
Suddenly, he felt something press against his back. When he opened his eyes and looked, he saw Nathan holding a bottle filled with a strange liquid.
Nathan raised his head and spoke calmly.
"...Drink this."
Stephen looked at Nathan strangely.
"What is it?"
Nathan smiled and replied,
"Just drink it and don't ask questions."
Stephen frowned but accepted the bottle. He opened it and drank it in a single gulp. A few seconds later, he began to feel better, and his headache started fading away.
Nathan laughed.
"It's true that I told you to drink it and not ask questions, but why did you actually drink it?"
Stephen could feel his body recovering after drinking whatever Nathan had given him. He looked at Nathan calmly and said:
"...I feel better now. Thank you."
Nathan froze and stared at Stephen with widened eyes. Then he turned his head away awkwardly.
"U-Uh... ahem, that's... I didn't do anything. No! I mean... well, I'll accept the thanks."
"Also, my neck is starting to hurt because of your ridiculous height."
Nathan's gaze suddenly caught David standing some distance away from Agnes, who was using her power to treat an injured student. David kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye before quickly looking away.
Nathan clicked his tongue in amusement.
"Look at that bastard. He's busy staring at Agnes. Tsk tsk."
Stephen also looked at David and thought:
'He fell in love with her at first sight, but it seems he has no intention of approaching her.'
'But if he can't get past that issue, he won't even accept his feelings for her and will keep denying them.'
Stephen shook his head.
'That's not the problem right now. I need to get the students out first.'
Leonard looked at Stephen and Nathan, then whispered to Kai:
"I feel like we've been forgotten."
Kai didn't hear what Leonard said. The only thing occupying his mind was the two people standing before him. He watched them whispering to each other and exchanging items, making their relationship seem very close.
Kai raised his hand and bit his finger while staring at them with eyes burning with jealousy.
'Their relationship is really close. Blackie has never spoken to me like that before.'
'I've known Blackie for four years too.'
'And what if he's known him for ten years? Why is his relationship with Blackie better?!'
Kai was practically burning with jealousy as he looked at Nathan challengingly.
'I'll improve my relationship with Blackie too!'