"Poison?" the youth muttered lightly, his face turning slightly white at the thought. "Impossible, how could I have missed such a thing? You're lying," the youth cried out in slight panic.
"You'll find out if I'm lying or not soon enough," Iris replied calmly, as if her opponent was already in her clutches.
Normally when a cultivator used poison on their weapons, it was readily apparent to the opponent. Poison users would normally only be able to get one or two good attacks in during a fight, as their use of poison indicated they were most likely weaker combat prowess wise. As such, they would need to use a large enough amount of poison on their blades to overwhelm their opponent with just a strike or two.
From the side, John raised an eyebrow at Iris's words, as even he did not notice the poison at first. However, he was not fighting Iris, and so had no reason to carefully inspect her blades at the time.
'With her incredible speed and remarkable eye talents, Iris was able to land dozens of attacks. Although each attack was light and only barely broke skin, it was enough for the small amount of poison on her blade to work its way into her opponent's system. After each attack, she would retreat for a moment and stealthily reapply her poison, starting the process all over again. Most opponents would take notice when she reapplied the poison, but her movements and ability to dodge all attacks has frustrated her opponent to the point that his anger shrouded his judgment and vision in this fight. Iris truly is an annoying opponent to fight, and one could almost be frustrated to death by her.'
The youth continued to feel his strength slowly drain from his body, and quickly realized that Iris was telling the truth. He jumped backwards away from her and took out a bottle, which contained dozens of pills. The pills were all different sizes and colors, and the youth quickly swallowed them all without regard.
"Trying to neutralize the poison with antidote pills?" Iris asked the youth with a smirk on her face. "I'm afraid that won't be possible."
"I have hundreds of different poison neutralizing pills," the youth replied as he continued to swallow more and more pills. "One of them can surely work against your pitiable poison.'
"Good luck," Iris replied while chuckling lightly, as if she knew none of his pills would work.
Instead of pressing her advantage while the youth swallowed pills, Iris stood there patiently as she watched him frantically down the pills. If the youth was not a cultivator that was able to instantly convert pills into medicinal Qi within his stomach, his stomach would have already exploded from the inside from the amount of pills he had consumed.
While Iris waited patiently, John casually walked over to her and stood beside her. His gaze focused on the youth as well.
"Shouldn't you press the advantage now?" John asked questioningly. "What if he finds the antidote to the poison you have."
Iris glanced at John as a smile appeared on her face. "He won't," she replied.
"How can you be so sure," John asked.
"Because this poison was made specially for me," Iris replied as she glanced back at the youth. "And according to that person, this poison can only be neutralized by the most expensive of antidote pills, or by cultivation alone. However, you need to be in the Late Heaven Tribulation Realm to neutralize it by cultivation alone, so this youth cannot do that."
"Made specially for you?" John asked. "And its that high quality of a poison? Who do you know that can make such poisons?"
"You already know them," Iris replied as she smirked at John.
"I know them?" John asked in confusion, before knowing realization hit him. "Chase?"
"Yes, Chase," Iris replied.
"Chase can make such poison pills?" John asked.
"Apparently he can. He told me that when he was in the Bloodfiend Sect, the only reason the sect allowed him to continue his pill studies was because he had a heavenly talent for making poison pills, which the sect valued highly. It has something to do with his Wood Constitution, which allows him to breed specific poison plants, which combined with his alchemy talents allows him to make incredible never before seen poisons," Iris replied, explaining the whole thing.
"What? Chase never told me any of that about himself," John replied, fully surprised at what he had heard. "Why didn't he tell me that?"
"No idea," Iris replied. "Maybe he didn't want you to look down on him, knowing that his greatest talent is making poisons to kill people."
John fell into silence upon hearing Iris's reply, as it did make sense when it came to Chase. He detested the Bloodfiend Sect, what they did to him, and also hurting people. Naturally he didn't want to reveal such a cruel talent to John at the time. However, it seemed as though he was finally comfortable enough to reveal the truth to the group, or Iris at least.
"Wait, why did he only tell you about his talents?" John asked.
"Because I asked him if he could make poison for me," Iris replied.
"I had expected to get some decent poisons from him, but never expected his talent in the poison making art to be so great. All the better for me though," Iris replied cheerfully as she watched the youth frantically down pills, but to no avail. "However, with how little I apply to avoid detection on my blades, I need to hit my opponent dozens of times which is quite the hassle."
Her gaze shifted back towards John, her vision lingering on his arm next to her.
"Forget about it," John replied calmly as he instantly saw through her actions. "I don't care what kind of poison you have. It won't work on me."
Iris's face turned slightly red upon having been exposed, as it was just a fleeting thought as she considered if the poison would be enough for her to overcome John's freakish strength.
"Haha, I would never think to do such a thing," Iris replied with nervous laughter. "After all, I've already sworn to follow you for life. Why would I try to do anything to you."
"Mhm, sure," John replied dismissively. While he knew Iris had no intentions to harm him, he also knew of her mischievous nature. Just as she did with Adam, a time would surely come when she tried to knock John down a peg or two. However, such a thing was virtually impossible when it came to combat.
"Will the poison kill him?" John asked as he watched the youth continue to grow weaker.
"No, its mostly a paralysis pill according to Chase," Iris replied.
"Good," John replied with a head nod. "We don't want to ignite the anger of the entire Alliance by openly killing a fellow member. Now go and finish him off, he seems like he's about to collapse at any moment."
"Aye, captain," Iris replied as she dashed forward towards the youth.
"You bitch! Give me the antidote," the youth yelled out as he watched Iris approach. He remained on his feet and stood tall, trying his best to look strong. However, Iris knew he was only feigning, and was on his last legs.
A smug smile appeared on her face as she stopped before the youth, just a few feet from him. However, despite her close distance, the youth did not make a single move.
"You know, I could kill you right now for those words you said earlier," Iris replied coldly, her narrowed gaze sending a shiver down the defenseless youths spine. "However, since I can't openly do that, I'll do the next best thing."
Without waiting for the youths reply, Iris wound her right foot back behind her body, as if she was preparing to kick something with her greatest strength. The youth's eyes opened wide as he realized what was about to happen, and his face filled with frightened panic.
"No, no, no, wait, wait, wait," the youth cried out hastily, but his pleas were met with silence as Iris's foot flung forward.
Bang!
A muffled bang resounded over the arena, causing all those watching to wince, especially the men. Although they were not the one kicked, they couldn't help but sympathize for the youth. A shriek of pain left the youths mouth, before his face turned white and he collapsed, unconscious from the pain he had felt.
The battle between Iris and the youth had come to an end, with the result shocking those watching once again. John smiled at Iris as she returned to his side, before his gaze shifted to the center of the platform, locking onto Alderen.
As if noticing his gaze, Alderen's eyes opened and stared back at John. A heated expression appeared in Alderen's eyes as he watched John slowly approach.
