The lower ranked hero felt immense pain throughout his body. His mana vessels were overwhelmed, making him feel like they were going to burst open.
His mind started getting cloudy, and before long he had completely lost all his reasoning.
Stronger Heroes like Blaze could at least hold onto their sanity under such pain, but for a lower ranked hero, this was impossible.
The man had become like a beast, howling wildly even as his skin started breaking apart with cracks all over the place. With each passing second, his body was getting destroyed from within.
Unfortunately, the man couldn't do anything except roar like a beast as he felt death creeping closer. He couldn't even attack anyone as Gaia kept him in place, forcing him down to his knees.
"Go ahead, he will not be able to attack you." She glanced at the young Anker.
Anker approached the wild hero, his body slightly shivering. Even though the hero was one of the lowest ranking heroes within the Tower, he was still a part of the Hero Guild which recruited the best of the best.
The mana overload caused a Hero's eventual death within minutes, but it also had the effect of making them temporarily stronger. That hero could kill him with a single slap if he was freed.
Anker could only trust Gaia, as he stopped half a foot away from the middle aged hero who had failed to rise through the ranks of the tower.
With trembling hands, he poured the lemon juice in the man's mouth while keeping some distance between the opening on the bottle and the man's lips.
The liquid spilled out of the bottle and entered the roaring man's mouth, slowly entering his body through his choking throat.
"He should be fine now." Anker took a deep breath and stepped back. No, it was closer to running away from that low ranking hero, turning back towards the Tower Master.
"As you all can see, my elixir can fix Mana Overload. This thief should be punished as harshly as possible!" He pointed his fingers at Leo.
Leo simply tilted his head sideways with a strange look on his face. Subconsciously, the corner of his lips crept up.
"He is smiling?" Anker was thrown off guard. Did this man really go crazy with the fear of death?
"Is that what you called heal?" Leo asked a single question.
Only then did Anker realize something. Shouldn't the man's scream have stopped by now? Didn't Blaze say that the Elixir took effect within seconds? So why was this hero still crying from pain?
"This can't be!" Anker looked back with a pale face. The reality slapped him as hard as it could.
The Hero hadn't recovered from Mana Overload. No, his condition was only growing worse. The Mana Overload had progressed even more. There were no signs of healing.
"If we don't do anything, he will die," Gaia said. "It looks like you have failed. Your elixir... Or rather, this lemon water is ineffective."
She waved her hand, and another bottle flew straight to her hand from the seat where she was sitting before.
It was a bottle with a childish drawing, and the product name handwritten with a permanent marker. It was Leo's Miraculous Elixir.
"Just as I thought, there was no merit in this hearing." Gaia poured Leo's elixir in the low ranking hero's mouth.
Miraculously, his mana vessels started calming down. Even the cracks on his skin slowly healed, and his aura grew weaker, returning to his normal levels.
The man also became calmer, his roars finally coming to a stop. Still, he couldn't avoid fainting, as his body and mind had already taken a lot of strain.
"Just why didn't my elixir work? I used the same composition!"
"Just why didn't his elixir work? He used the same composition."
Anker and Leo had the same question in their mind. Of course, their perspectives were different
"If the composition isn't the problem, then it must be the materials. Could it be the sources where I bought my lemons and water from?" Leo wasn't complaining about this outcome. Even if there were questions in his mind, he couldn't show it right now.
"Take him to the medical bay." Gaia called another person, who carried the fainted hero away. Finally, her hands were free.
"It looks like we have found our liar," Gaia raised her hand. And this time, it was Anker's witness who flew straight into her hand.
"I-i was forced to lie! Master Anker forced me, saying that he would kill me if I didn't say what he wanted me to!"
Gaia didn't even have to ask a question before the so-called witness blurted out everything under her gaze.
If Anker still had a winning chance and the composition was correct, no one would question him. But now that something had gone wrong, his first thought was to save his own skin. To heck with the credits that Anker had promised him.
"You!" Anker felt like the roof above his head was split open and a lightning bolt fell on his head.
He was right about the composition. All the tests had proved that he was right! There was no other ingredient! So why?! Why didn't it work when he did the same thing?!
"How? How did you do it?!" He didn't know why his elixir didn't work, but he was sure Leo was behind it.
He glared at Leo with bloodshot eyes. "Tell me the truth! Why didn't it work?!"
He ran to Leo in anger, shame and disbelief. Unfortunately, he had just taken three steps when he suddenly stopped.
No, it was more like he was forced to stop, his throat merely inches away from a flying aura sword that could easily cut him a thousand times within fraction of a second.
"Just as I thought, Anker was wrong." The Guild Master stood up. His gaze subconsciously glanced at the Guild Executives. "We should put this to an end."