Jhonathan slowed down.
Barely.
But for someone moving at impossible speed, even the slightest hesitation became visible.
The assassin noticed immediately.
The wound in Jhonathan's stomach began turning purple.
Dark veins spread outward from the stab wound, crawling across his body slowly like living parasites searching for his brain.
The toxin was monstrous.
Not normal poison.
Something designed specifically to destroy immortals from the inside.
Jhonathan nearly failed to dodge the next strike.
The blade scraped across his shoulder instead of his neck by pure instinct alone.
The assassin smiled.
"It's spreading."
But Jhonathan still stood up.
His breathing became heavier.
Unstable.
Yet the immortal knight stepped forward anyway.
The assassin lunged again—
and Jhonathan instantly countered.
CRACK.
He grabbed the assassin's arm and broke it violently at the elbow before smashing him into the arena floor hard enough to crater the concrete beneath them.
The assassin coughed blood in shock.
"…Impossible…"
The toxin should have killed him already.
At minimum paralyzed him.
Yet Jhonathan was still moving.
Still fighting.
Jhonathan slowly grabbed the assassin by the throat.
Then tightened his grip.
The assassin struggled desperately.
But instead of fear—
he smiled.
A cold, twisted smile.
"IF YOU KILL ME…"
He coughed painfully.
"…YOU WILL BECOME LIKE ME."
Jhonathan's grip tightened harder.
"A cold-blooded killer."
Silence.
The words echoed strangely inside Jhonathan's mind.
The poison had already reached deeper now.
His vision distorted.
Sounds became warped.
The crowd screams returned.
Dead voices whispered again.
His grip loosened slightly.
The assassin laughed weakly.
"That's right…"
"You're afraid."
Jhonathan suddenly grabbed his own head violently.
The hallucinations intensified instantly.
He saw blood everywhere.
Sylviana dying again.
The heroes party burning.
Children screaming.
His own hands covered in corpses.
"STOP…"
He stumbled backward.
Then punched himself directly in the head.
Once.
Twice.
Trying to force reality back together.
But the poison kept spreading.
The assassin crawled away laughing.
"You can't save anyone…"
"You only destroy things."
Jhonathan's breathing became erratic.
His red eyes trembled uncontrollably.
Then his hand suddenly grabbed a broken light bulb from the destroyed stage equipment nearby.
Without hesitation—
he smashed it against his own head.
Glass shattered everywhere.
Blood dripped down his face instantly.
The pain momentarily disrupted the hallucinations.
Enough for him to move.
And then—
he ran.
Not toward safety.
Toward battle.
Toward noise.
Toward violence.
Trying to drown out the poison inside his mind.
But in his confusion—
he forgot something important.
Something he originally came to protect.
The K-pop performers remained trapped backstage.
Alone.