"Who sent you?" Jacob roared. His voice echoing across the field.

"If it isn’t already obvious..." said the gold haired twin, presumably Jirin, "We have created a barrier around this field, no one can see, hear, or notice anything that’s happening here."

Jacob immediately activated Eye of the monarch, and was able to see the huge impenetrable dome that rested above them.

"Contractual terms state that until our target is dead, the dome won’t lift." Jirin said, his eyes turned blood red and he smiled sinisterly, "So don’t try anything stupid."

Jacob stared at them for a moment, slowly processing everything that was happening. He then closed his eyes shortly, when he opened them, his face was covered with a wide grin.

"Finally... some fucking excitement." A crooked smile played on his lips.

It made sense why someone would want him dead, but why wait all this time, when he had attained such level of power and was eager to test it all out.

The details didn’t matter, all that mattered was the two targets in front of him.

The space beside him tore open and Excalibur slid perfectly in his grasp, a faint hum emanating from the blade.

"Oooo shiny!" Jaran exclaimed, licking his lips lustfully.

"I don’t know what it is you seek, but I’m glad you’re here." Jacob said, gripping the leather handle of his sword with both hands.

"Oh?" Exclaimed Jaran, who stood up gently and tilted his head to the side.

WHOOSH!

In a flash, Jaran had vanished, a sinister chuckle could be heard beside Jacob, the only indication that Jaran had closed the gap between them.

’Fast!’ Jacob strained, barely evading the slash of Jaran’s blade, which appeared as a small knife but grew longer as he swung.

Its edge cut into Jacob’s right arm, just then his skin started to burn, he could feel his vision fading away painfully.

"The pain must be terrible, your eyesight stripped away, piece by piece. Your skin in utter torment as the pain leaks into your bones." Jirin spoke from afar as Jacob fell on his knees, gasping.

<Poisonous substance detected>

<Aether>

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

<Poison Dispelled, host is now impervious to all forms of Aether poison or attacks>

His body healed quickly and his eyesight was restored, he looked at Jaran determinedly, who shook his head and pinched his nasal root between his thumb and index finger.

"How were you able to adapt to that attack in seconds?" Jirin said, taking a closer look into Jacob’s soul. "Ohh it’s obvious now, your soul is not of this world."

"It’s gonna take more than poison to bring me down demon." Jacob said, tightening his grip on his blade.

"JIRIN! This one is feisty." Jaran laughed as he leaped at Jacob again, swinging both his swords frantically and laughing, he was fast, faster than Jacob had anticipated.

Just then Jirin started to recite something; "miirriiovala valar toiiènár vèathibus." His hands and head were raised, a powerful ball of energy began to form in front of his lips, it was black and it seemed to be hotter than fire. Electrical sparks eclipsed this ball of energy.

"vrakhalis-sever!" A beam of dark light shot at Jacob instantly, one powerful enough to tear a hole in the dome as Jacob evaded it, but it didn’t stop, Jirin directed the beam at him as he continuously ran along the sides, the dome repairing itself as quickly as damaged.

Jaran followed up with attacks, he bit his thumbs off, his dark red blood streaked out and formed two additional blades, copies of the existing ones.

Two extra arms popped out of Jarans torso and immediately gripped the blades. He smiled at Jacob and licked his lips.

’Of course he has four arms.’ Jacob sighed, dodging the last wave of the energy beam, Jaran dashed at him, thrashing around with his blades, two of them a dark shade of red, only after images could be seen from afar as both parties’ swords met over and over.

Jacob imbued his sword with light, instantly increasing the frequency and power of his strikes. He struggled to meet up with the four arms of Jaran, who seemed to be enjoying himself quite a bit.

Jirin raised his hand again, "If my brother’s aether does not affect you, then you will suffer my ash. sivioñarrii krabas!"

Jirin cast spell after spell in an ancient tongue that was unknown to Jacob, ash began to fall from the sky. It wasn’t ordinary ash.

Jacob felt as the life was slowly sucked out of him, he couldn’t breathe.

"Wha-what is this? What are you doing?" He inquired weakly as he stumbled.

"Shh, young lord, it will all be over soon." Jaran said quietly as Jacob passed out.

He fell deep into darkness and was unaware of what was happening in the real world.

<System calibrating...>

<Poison dispelling 1%... 50%... 100%>

<Host is impervious to poisonous ash>

His eyes opened a deep blue color, tiny streaks of lightning appeared along their sides.

"Enough!" He roared, his voice echoing as he got up instantly.

He created a ball of air around himself, pushing Jaran away, and watching as he crashed into Jirin, ending his incantations.

_ _ _

The Lady of Ironfell could be seen moving gracefully down the hallway to her son’s room. She wore a silver dress, made entirely of silk; her beautiful brown hair hung in neat braids down her left shoulder.

She gave three short knocks on the boy’s door, as she did on occasion, but she heard no reply. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

She repeated the action but the boy didn’t respond.

"He should be in his room by now,’ she thought.

"Jacob, it’s your mother, open the door please." Said Elena as she knocked again.

She held her hand out and used a magic spell to unlock the boy’s door quietly for fear that he may be in a deep sleep.

She entered the room and found no one inside. "Strange, where has Jacob gone at this hour?"

She turned to move back out and noticed Xenia walking down the hall with a white towel in her hand, her hair was damp and loose as though ahead had just finished a long shower.

"Xenia." Lady Elena called out to her.

"Yes, my lady."

"Shouldn’t Jacob be in his room by now? I went to look for him but I couldn’t find him."

"My lady we finished our sparring session about an hour ago, I assumed he would retire to his room after that." Xenia told her.

"Alert the guards, tell them to search the entire castle."

"Immediately, my lady."