Lyra squeezed her fists tightly, her long nails digging into her palms.

"D—Don’t mess with me boy! I’m not stupid, I saw everything!" She shouted, her breath shaky as she spoke.

Jacob maintained his calm demeanor, staring straight at the woman with his hands were behind him as he responded to her.

"I’m not sure you saw everything." He said, the corner of his lips curving into a mischievous smile.

"Die!!" She screamed, a guttural shriek that shook the walls of the small structure.

She charged towards Jacob; her blade emitting a purple mist, suggesting that it was laced entirely with poison.

Jacob didn’t move, he only spoke one word.

"Manifest!"

A thin tendril seeped out of the ground in the space between Lyra and Jacob. The tendril began to expland, gaining mass and shape.

In less than a second it has materialized into the shape of a man, almost as tall as Jacob.

Lyra stopped in her tracks, as though she had hit an invisible wall. She could hardly fathom what it was that she had just laid her eyes upon in that moment.

"Sa—Sa—" her breath hitched, her words slurred. Tears instantly poured out of her eyes like a fountain, uncontrollably.

"What has he done to you?!" She yelled as she moved closer to the figure, stretching her hands out, she appeared to be in a trance.

"How may I serve you, Master?" The figure spoke in a voice that was all too familiar to her.

The words caused her to halt her movements, her expression changed now, it was laced with confusion.

"Master?" She asked, her pupils switched from side to side as she bent her head to look at her bloodied palms.

"What have you done to him?!" She asked, she seemed to grow even more angry with every passing moment, Jacob otherwise remained level headed.

"Like I said, he serves me now." Jacob replied, his words were sharp, cutting right through the woman’s exterior.

Her frame was instantly shattered by the words that Jacob had just uttered.

"He... serves?—My Sa... serves you? No! No! He would never... he would never do that! No!" A visible internal conflict raged on within her.

"I didnt even mean to kill him, you need to understand. He was corrupted, I wanted to save him, but removing the corruption took his life." Jacob explained, his expression serious.

He had no idea how potent the poison she had used on any of this party members was or if it could kill any one of them, so he decided to be as quick as possible in handling this crazed woman.

"Shut up! You’re lying!" She snapped.

"I’m telling the truth."

"Shut your mouth!!" She screamed as she lunged at him again, the purple mist surrounding her.

"Savant!" Jacob yelled as he watched the woman very quickly close the gap between them.

CLANG!

Steel met steel as the shadow of corrupted Savant instantly understood the assignment and blocked her attack.

An expression flashed on her face as she stared at the listless shadow, it was a mixture of confusion and sadness. Before she was able to get a word in, the shadow raised its free arm, sending a strong blow towards her face.

She spotted it and dodged as quickly as she could, rolling over to the side, but the punch was too powerful, the wind that followed scattered every structure in the room.

Corrupted Savant immediately began to create a large crimson energy ball in its mouth, similar to the one it had attacked Jacob with; not giving Lyra any time to rest.

She watched as the energy ball increased in size, to the point it was almost impossible to dodge. She held her blade in front of her face with both hands, preparing herself to withstand the impact of the attack.

In a matter of seconds, Corrupted Savant sent the attack flying towards her. She blocked with her sword and a significant amount of her Qi, but the force was so great, it sent her pummeling through the building’s wall, creating a large hole on the side of the small structure.

She held the attack for as long as she can until it eventually dissipated.

With a single backflip, she jumped and landed on the rooftop of the opposite building, Corrupted Savant followed; the battle raged on.

Jacob could only hear the clangs of metal and the whooshing of energy from a distance now.

_ _ _

He walked over to where his party lay, each one of them seemed in a deep sleep as he crouched down.

"System, analyze this situation." He said out loud.

<Analyzing... 1%... 50%... 100%>

<These humans are under the effect of S-Grade Crafted Poison Gas>

"Is it fatal? Are they going to die?"

<No. The Gas has only put them in a deep slumber>

Jacob stared at them and pondered for a moment, it was a relief to discover that they weren’t going to die, but he still needed to know if there was a way to nullify the effects of the gas on them.

"System, would the Elixir of Alvira work in this case? Or if not, can I extend a fraction of my immunity to them?" Jacob asked the system.

<The Elixir of Alvira is primarily a cure for the Dark Plague. If used for any other poison related ailments it would take days or weeks for the subject to recover>

"Okay...?"

<Host is able to allocate 5% immunity to external bodies. Seeing as they are under the effect of an S-grade poison gas, Host would need to allocate 10% immunity each>

"That’s a dilemma, but since the second option isn’t viable now, let’s go with the first." Jacob said, choosing to go with the Elixir of Alvira.

Three small vials instantly materialized in the palm of his right hand.

He walked over to each of them, pouring the entire content of the vials in their mouths and making sure they swallow.

It might be days before they would recover, but as long as they were protected within this small building, he was willing to wait.