Fear overwhelmed him as he hesitated to give a physical reaction to the man standing before him. His hands were slightly trembling in preparation for an incoming attack, but the man noticed this and took a few steps forward.
"Don't tell me you're getting cold feet?" he said in a mocking tone. "Where was that bravado you've had before?"
Nathan failed to give a comeback; he only asked him one simple question.
"Was it you who did this?"
The man answered, "Yes, but just so you know, I'm not alone."
"Is your whole cult here, too?"
He laughed after hearing what he had heard.
"Cult? That's a new one." He sighs in relaxation. "No, no, we're not a cult. I mean, we're 'like' a cult, but if we're a cult for believing in an ideology, then everyone is part of one."
[The way he talks… He's probably in his early 20s. Let's ask what his name is.]
"One more question, what's your name?"
The man gave a loud groan in frustration. "Ugh, why so many questions? It's getting annoying. But fine, how about you answer me, then I'll do the same."
"Fine, what is it?" Nathan answered in a more relaxed manner.
A small grin swept across the man's face.
"Who's the silver-haired girl with the blue eyes you're always around?"
Nathan's pupils dilated in a furious gaze into the man's eyes. Anger overtook his body, with his teeth forcing themselves on each other.
"What the hell did you say?"
The man's grin grew even wider at Nathan's reaction.
"Aah, so that's what makes you tick. I'll have to pay a visit to blue eyes after all."
The air in the room began to fill with suffocating amounts of mana as Nathan positioned himself in a fighting position. "If you go anywhere near her, you'll pay."
Water started hovering around the man's upper body.
"Finally, let's have some fun, shall we?"
Before their clash unfolded, Nathan started to hear footsteps from the hallway. The man was irritated that Nathan's attention wasn't on him.
A boy appeared from the corner of the door. It was an exhausted Harry, heavily breathing from running past the classes before this one, helping with the evacuation.
Nathan quickly asks Harry, "Is everyone alright?" Harry answered with sweat dripping down his face, "Yes. But I have to still check other classes."
"Alright, go."
Just before Harry could leave, the man threw a slash of water towards him. But Nathan intercepted it, letting it hit his right shoulder, causing a streak of blood to spew out.
"Are you okay!?" Harry anxiously asked, concerned about the state of his upperclassman.
"I'm fine, just a bit of blood, now go."
Harry rushed off to evacuate the remaining students in their classrooms, leaving Nathan to deal with the man.
"Shall we resume, hero?"
"Just shut up."
Nathan surged towards him with his fist covered by a pitch-black void, but the man blocked it.
"Not too bad, you're more direct than you were the last time.", he said with a cocky smirk.
The force of the impact sounded like a howling wolf. He blocked each attack with confidence and certainty.
[Damn it. Even after all this time, he's still toying with me.]
As the fight went on, Nathan noticed the teachers fighting the rest of the man's group, with some of them storming through the halls on the other side of the school, and Prof. Nowell taking care of most of them.
[The best I can do is hold him up until they get here to handle the rest.]
Then the man threw a ferocious undercut punch underneath Nathan's chest, cracking a part of his ribcage. Losing and struggling to breathe, he stepped back for a moment to recollect himself.
But without letting up, he attacked Nathan again, leaving him on the floor, bruised and gasping for air. "Wow, you're shit. I thought you'd improve, but maybe that was too much to ask for."
"Screw you."
"Till this day, I still can't understand what he sees in you." The man said in confusion.
[Is he talking about his lord or whatever?]
The man took a good look at the fallen Nathan before he turned his attention to outside the window, where he was watching his comrades fending off the teachers, but no sign of Prof. Nowell.
He asks one of them where he was with the same transmission technique Noah used with Nathan. They had no clue where Prof. Nowell was, and this forced the man to command all of them to retreat.
"Change of plans. Since my objective is now complete, there's no point in staying here any longer. But… maybe I can surprise him by bringing you as well. I'm sure he'd be quite thrilled to see the boy he has taken such interest in."