Mako’s eyes widened in shock at Bill’s request. The room fell silent, with Nathan, Erin, and Leon all turning their attention to Bill, their expressions a mix of confusion and concern.

“P… Poison you?” Mako echoed, his voice trembling slightly. “Why in hell would you want something like that?! Have you gone insane? Look at yourself!”

A tiny grin appeared on Bill’s body as wanted to chuckle but still hadn’t recovered enough to do so.

Bill’s gaze was unwavering, though his voice was barely more than a whisper. “It seems our team captain has forgotten a very key detail while he was thinking about this coming special exam.”

All eyes turned toward Mako with even more confusion, with Mako being the most confused of them all as he had no idea what Bill was talking about.

“What does he mean, Mako…?” Leon asked while scratching his head.

“I don’t know… *Huh!*…,” Mako said before he suddenly had a realization.

Mako turned toward Bill with knowing eyes,” You don’t think…”

“Oh, I definitely think so… It’s the perfect opportunity,” Bill replied.

Nathan was getting a bit annoyed at this point,” Mako, mind telling the rest of us why he wants you to poison him?”

Mako and Bill paused as they stared at each other quietly for a couple of moments before finally, Bill opened his mouth again to let everyone know about his plan.

“I want him to poison me just enough so that I recover slowly and won’t be able to recover enough to be able to participate in the special exam,” Bill explained.

“HUH!” Everyone except Mako reacted in the same way after Bill explained his plan. “Are you serious?”

Why the hell would you do that to yourself?”

“I think he still hasn’t come to his senses,”

The group voiced out their opinions as they couldn’t understand why Bill would want to prolong his own recovery and stay in this weak and frail state.

“You guys are forgetting about one thing…” Mako finally spoke up, “If all the students, teachers, and professors were away from the school, the enemy would have a golden opportunity to scour the whole area and place a trap for the Pyronite delivery.”

“Bill wants to purposefully fail the exam by not being able to participate due to his injuries so that he will still be here while everyone else leaves and he will be able to monitor everything in our absence so that the enemy can’t make their advancements,” Mako stated.

Erin, Nathan, and Leon exchanged glances, processing Mako’s explanation. The gravity of Bill’s plan began to sink in, replacing their initial shock with a mixture of admiration and

concern.

“But Bill,” Erin said, her voice gentle yet firm, “What if the enemy targets you specifically because they know you’ll be here alone? You’re putting yourself in incredible danger. None of us nor any of the professors will be here to help you in case something serious goes down.” Bill’s grin widened slightly, the faintest hint of his old self returning. “I’ve considered that. But if we all leave, we risk losing everything. The showdown that is to come in 3 months’ time might not even matter if the enemy were already successful in planting their trap and setting everything up for their perfect heist. Someone has to stay behind, and right now, I’m the best candidate.”

Nathan crossed his arms, his brow furrowing in thought. “And what about your recovery? If he poisons you, it could delay your healing even more than what we can expect. You might not bounce back as quickly as you hope.”

All eyes turned to Mako as he was the key in order to make this plan work as he was the only one with the poison ability.

Mako raised his hands up in defense against everyone’s glares as this wasn’t just a regular request. They were banking on Mako’s proficiency of his Poison ability to be able to poison Bill’s blood just enough so that the healing pills would target the poison in his blood rather than repair the damage to his body.

If the poison was too potent, it could severely worsen or might even kill Bill while on the other hand, if the poison weren’t potent enough, it would only cause Bill unnecessary pain while his recovery would pretty much still be the same.

“I don’t possess any skills of Poison yet, and I don’t feel comfortable pumping poison directly into your system without any control, especially considering the condition you are in right now,” Mako replied.

The rest of the group understood Mako’s hesitation as this was a huge responsibility that nobody would want to bear.

“Please, Mako… Let me do this… You were right… I was just so fixated on myself that I let myself fall down to such a level, so now… let me make up for this. It is thanks to my mistakes that we know about the special exam early and even have the perfect opportunity to make sure our enemy never gets the upper hand on us ever again” Bill said.

“But Bill… you could die…” Erin voiced out with concern.

“I’m willing to take that risk,” Bill replied. “This isn’t just about me. It’s about protecting everyone and ensuring that the Pyronite doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

His eyes returned back to Mako with heavy determination,” I trust in you, Mako. You are the most remarkable person I have ever seen. Never could I have ever imagined seeing you stand where you’re standing today, and I wouldn’t choose anyone else in the world than you with my life… you know this is the only way,”

Leon sighed, shaking his head. “Man, this is nuts. But I get it. You’re doing this for the team, for the mission. Just… don’t expect me to like it.”

Mako stepped closer to Bill, his expression serious. “Are you absolutely sure about this, Bill? Once we do this, there’s no turning back.”

Bill met Mako’s gaze, his eyes steely with resolve. “I’m sure. Do it, Mako.”

With a reluctant nod, Mako’s hand began to glow with a bright neon green aura. The room’s atmosphere grew tense as he approached Bill, the weight of what they were about to do pressing down on everyone.

“Remember,” Erin said softly, “This has to be just enough to keep you out of the exam but not enough to do any permanent damage. I’ll make sure to monitor you closely.”

Bill nodded, his eyes never leaving Mako’s glowing hand. “I trust you, Mako.”

Taking a deep breath, Mako carefully began administering the poison.

As soon as Mako made contact with Bill’s extremely frail and thin bandaged arm, his eyes also began to glow a bright neon green as he also activated his poison mutant gene in order to

make sure he didn’t screw anything up.

Bill winced in pain as he felt the liquid enter his bloodstream causing Mako and everyone else

in the room to panic.

Even though Mako had only just begun to administer the poison, Bill was already experiencing so much pain that it took everything left inside of him not to scream out loud.

Seeing Bill’s condition, the glow in Mako’s eyes and hand faded as he quickly stopped before The caused any more pain.

From the outside, Mako looked completely fine but he didn’t move a muscle and maintained contact with Bill’s arm with his eyes closed.

The pain that Bill was experiencing had quickly faded and even he was a bit confused. He opened his eyes to see Mako still standing beside him, but he remained completely still and emotionless which admittedly looked a little creepy as if he had fallen asleep.

Nathan, Erin, and Leon were also visibly confused with Leon moving forward to try and shake Mako so that he could come to his senses, but Bill intervened, shouting as loudly as he could

from his weak throat.

“No! Let him be! He hasn’t given up…” Bill said.

Bill didn’t know exactly what was going on but he knew Mako. He had seen him many times just to be staring at absolutely nothing for an uncomfortable amount of time, almost as if he

was meditating or something.

He couldn’t really figure out what it was that he was doing while he was in this state, but he knew that he wasn’t giving up as the grip around his arm was still firm and strong.

This was why he opted to give Mako time and let him do whatever he was doing before he resumed injecting the painful poison inside his body once again.

The room remained silent as they watched Mako stand absolutely still, the tension thick in

the air. Erin, Nathan, and Leon hovered nearby, ready to assist if needed. Minutes passed, and Mako hadn’t moved a muscle; however, despite that he was now sweating quite profusely, which goes to show just how hard he was concentrating.

While the group waited patiently for Mako to come back to reality, Mako was having a panic attack inside his mind as system notifications continued blaring in front of him even while his

eyes were closed.