The two girls and the boy stared at Stephen in shock.
The male student looked at the black crow emblem on Stephen's cloak and opened his mouth.
"B-Black Crow?"
Stephen turned his head and looked at the student staring at him with shining eyes. Stephen could not help but frown.
'Does he know me?'
Stephen did not think his fame was that incredible to the point where everyone knew him.
He believed his strength was decent, but his rank was still only A-rank, and there were many people stronger than him.
Stephen turned around and walked toward them without answering the student's question.
He raised his sword and cut the ropes binding the students, freeing them one after another.
The girl immediately rushed toward her friend Heidi and checked on her anxiously, while the male student approached Stephen.
"You really are Black Crooow!!"
"This is awesome, we've been saved!"
Stephen looked at him for a moment before speaking.
"Wake your classmates up. You all need to follow me."
The student nodded enthusiastically and turned around to wake the others.
While waiting for the students to wake up, a sudden explosion erupted nearby.
BOOM!!
Stephen looked toward the direction of the explosion. Dust and small rocks scattered through the air until half the corridor was covered.
When the dust finally settled a little, Stephen heard a faint cough followed by a cheerful voice.
"Leo, didn't I tell you this method would work—"
While Kai was talking to Leonard, he suddenly looked ahead, widened his eyes, and pointed at Stephen in shock.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!"
The sudden scream startled Leonard standing beside Kai, and it startled the other students as well.
Hearing the familiar scream, Stephen could only sigh.
'Damn… I never expected to meet Kai here.'
Kai quickly ran toward Stephen and leaped at him.
"Blaaaackyyy!!"
Stephen dodged him, causing Kai to fall flat on his face.
Kai immediately lifted his head and looked at Stephen with sparkling eyes.
"Blacky, how did you get here?!"
Kai stood up beside Stephen and bombarded him with questions.
"How did you get here? Are you on a mission?"
"Oh, never mind! You know, I wanted to meet you before entering the academy, but you weren't there."
"Oooh, what an amazing coincidence!!"
"It must be fate!!"
"We were destined to meet!"
Stephen pressed a hand against his forehead in annoyance.
'Annoying.'
Leonard approached while looking at Kai strangely before glancing at Stephen.
'What's wrong with him?'
Kai smiled brightly at Leonard.
"Look, Blacky, I made friends! This is Leonard, and there's also Ira, Elisa, Evelyn, Agnes, and some students from my class too."
"My strength has grown as well. Want to know how much stronger I became?"
Stephen pushed Kai's face away after he leaned in too close and spoke coldly.
"This isn't the right time."
Kai looked around before finally remembering that he and Leonard had suddenly been teleported here and imprisoned with the other students.
Kai frowned and nodded reluctantly.
"Fine…"
Stephen nodded in satisfaction.
'Good. At least he understands the situation.'
Earlier, Kai's attention had been entirely focused on Black Crow, so he had not noticed his surroundings. But now, after looking around, he saw three corpses wearing white masks and black robes.
He looked at Stephen and asked,
"Did you kill them?"
Stephen nodded and warned them.
"You all need to stay together. This place is dangerous for you."
Leonard then asked Stephen,
"How did we get transported here? We were inside the academy."
Stephen answered,
"I don't know why you were all brought here, but I'm here to eliminate some criminals using demonic mana."
Kai and Leonard widened their eyes.
"Demonic mana?!"
Kai frowned.
"A demonic attack inside the academy?! But how? Isn't the academy supposed to be the safest place in the world?"
Stephen shook his head.
"There is no safe place in this world."
Kai and Leonard fell silent.
"…"
"…"
Stephen looked around and, after seeing that all the students were awake, spoke to them.
"Follow me."
The students nodded and followed behind him.
Stephen led the group forward. He could not leave the students alone in this place, especially since he did not know how many members of Hollow Crown were here.
The group moved together behind Stephen. Most of them knew that the person before them was an A-rank awakener and recognized him as Black Crow.
Kai spoke to Stephen again.
"Are they strong? Can I help too?"
Stephen glanced at him briefly before looking away and calmly replying,
"I don't know how strong they are. Just help protect the students."
Kai quickly shook his head.
"Nooo."
"I've become much stronger now. I can help you fight them."
Stephen looked at him with furrowed brows.
'Does he think I need help?'
"Protecting your classmates is also helping me."
Kai widened his eyes before nodding seriously.
"Ohhh, right. That's helping too."
Leonard watched them lazily, though his attention remained fixed on Stephen. Suddenly, he pulled Kai closer and whispered quietly into his ear.
"Doesn't Black Crow seem kind of familiar to you?"
Stephen heard Leonard's words. His body stiffened slightly before he raised a hand and pulled his cloak higher to conceal more of his face.
Kai frowned slightly and stared at Stephen for a moment, trying to understand what Leonard meant, but Stephen had already hidden his face more thoroughly.
Afterward, the two of them tried getting closer to Stephen in hopes of seeing his face again, but Stephen skillfully avoided them.
Suddenly, Stephen stopped and signaled for the students behind him to remain silent.
The students instantly fell quiet and stopped moving.
Stephen moved ahead after sensing movement somewhere in the distance.
He disappeared into the shadows and approached cautiously to investigate. As he got closer and the sounds became clearer, he heard an angry female voice.
"Are you insane?!"
"How could you jump straight into that weird ring and drag me with you?!"
A cheerful male voice replied,
"Focus on the person you're fighting right now and leave me alone. We can talk later."
Ira gritted her teeth angrily while fighting the masked man before her.
The masked man wrapped himself and his sword in demonic mana. With a skilled movement, he deflected Ira's sword to the side before lifting his leg and kicking her hard in the waist, sending her flying into the wall.
"Ugh!!"
Ira's body trembled in pain as she tried to stand back up and continue fighting.
Nathan manipulated his threads and wrapped them around the masked man's arm, restraining it. Then he dashed forward, raising his fist to punch the man in the face—or more precisely, his mask.
But just before Nathan's fist reached him, the man skillfully twisted his body and grabbed Nathan's wrist with his free hand, stopping the punch midair.
With a sudden burst of force, the masked man threw Nathan toward the wall.
Nathan quickly manipulated his threads, surrounding himself and stopping his collision with the wall.
He then pulled the threads tightly and lunged forward, kicking the masked man directly in the face.
The man's head turned slightly from the impact before he glared furiously at Nathan beneath the mask.
A violent surge of demonic power exploded around the man's sword, causing Nathan's body to stiffen for a moment.
The sword slashed toward Nathan, but Nathan narrowly dodged. The force of the attack was so powerful that the ground shook slightly, leaving a crater where Nathan had been standing.
The man did not stop and charged at Nathan once again.
At the same time, Ira was also fighting the other masked man with all her strength. She nearly froze the entire area, but her situation became far more dangerous when the other man suddenly grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into the air.
Ira dropped her sword and grabbed the masked man's arm with both hands. Her face gradually turned red as she struggled to breathe.
Just as Ira was about to lose consciousness and closed her eyes, a black streak shot through the air at terrifying speed and severed the masked man's head.
Ira collapsed onto the ground coughing violently as she tried to regain her breath. She looked toward the person who had just saved her.
He wore a cloak as well, though unlike the masked men, he did not wear a mask.
Stephen raised his black sword engraved with a black four-leaf clover, disappeared from before Ira's eyes, and instantly appeared behind the man fighting Nathan.
Without hesitation, he stabbed the man straight through the heart.
The man coughed up blood before the last light faded from his eyes and he collapsed onto the ground.