The team moved quietly through the windy hills. Specter, their unseen guide, fed Jonah a constant stream of information. The target was just ahead, patrolling a narrow ravine, its movements just as twitchy and unnatural as Jonah had described. They called it the Acidic Stalker.

Seraph found the perfect ambush point - a rocky ledge that created a natural chokepoint. She laid out the plan with quick, sharp hand signals. Titus would block the exit. Jax would use his skills to create a diversion, drawing the creature into the trap. Benita and Vanessa would provide support. Jonah's job was to command the takedown.

They got into position, their hearts beating loudly in the heavy quiet of the Grey Fells. Jonah took a deep breath and summoned Maul.

Maul appeared with a low growl, the ground shaking a little under its mass. Jax and Titus both gave the creature a wary, sidelong glance. They had seen it in the training chamber, but seeing it out here, in the wild, was a different experience entirely.

"Ready?" Seraph whispered into her comms.

A series of clicks answered her.

"Go."

Jax tossed a small, sound-emitting rock down the far end of the ravine. It let out a sharp, high-pitched shriek, mimicking the cry of a wounded beast.

The Acidic Stalker's head snapped up, its multiple limbs twitching. It let out a sharp hiss and charged toward the sound, It moved in a strange, ugly way - a mix of wolf, insect, and reptile.

It ran directly into the kill zone.

"Titus, now!" Seraph commanded.

The Aegis warrior slammed his shield into the ground. A glowing force wall shot up, blocking the ravine's exit. The Stalker saw its way blocked, skidded to a stop, and turned its huge head, its insect-like eyes glowing with evil.

"Maul," Jonah said, his voice calm, projecting the command through their link. "Hold it down. Don't kill it."

Maul roared with pure anger and charged. For a creature of such rage, its movement was surprisingly controlled. Instead of stabbing the Stalker with its tusks, it slammed into the creature with huge force, using its immense weight to pin it against the rock wall. The Stalker shrieked, spitting sizzling acid that dissolved a chunk of stone near Maul's head.

Maul ignored it, its powerful hands clamping down on the Stalker's insectoid limbs, crushing them with a series of sickening cracks. The beast fought, but it was trapped. The disabling blow was perfectly delivered, leaving it alive but unable to fight.

"Jonah, move in!" Seraph ordered.

Jonah ran forward, his hand outstretched. The creature was still alive, its strange eyes filled with pain and confusion. He placed his palm on its hard back, ignoring the foul-smelling slime that covered it.

"Got it," he said, feeling the familiar sensation of absorption.

[Stable Chimeric Essence (Acid/Insectoid) Acquired]

The prompt was a wave of relief. The primary mission was a success. The essence felt strange - solid and well-formed, but also strangely… incomplete. Like a single gear taken from a much larger machine.

"It's done," he called out. "Finish it!"

Before anyone could deliver the final blow, the creature's body convulsed violently. A low, gurgling sound came from its throat.

"Back away!" Jax yelled, his hunter's instincts screaming. "Something's wrong!"

But it was too late. The Acidic Stalker's body burst. It didn't blow up with blood but split open with a soft pop. From the hole in its body, a cloud of glowing, clear gas poured out quietly, fast filling the narrow ravine.

Jonah was knocked back by the psychic feedback of the creature's death, gasping as he ran away. The gas was odorless, but the moment it touched his skin, he felt a strange numbness.

"Hold your breath! Get to high ground!" Seraph yelled, her own movements becoming sluggish.

The team climbed up the rocky walls, coughing hard. Titus was the last one up, his heavy armor slowing him down. They all felt the effects - dizziness, numbness in their legs and a spreading weakness.

Then Benita, the medic, who had been closest to the creature, stumbled and fell to her knees.

"Benita!" Vanessa cried, rushing to her side.

Benita's face was pale, her lips starting to turn blue. She tried to raise a hand, a soft green healing magic flickering weakly around her fingers before dying out. "My… magic…" she gasped. "It's not working."

Then her body went stiff, and she began to shake violently.

Jax stumbled over to where the gas had first appeared, his face showing growing horror. He sniffed the air, then cursed. "It's neurotoxin. Rare stuff. There's a plant that grows on deep iron deposits… looks like this thing's been eating it. The acid in its body must have concentrated the poison."

"Antidote?" Seraph demanded, her voice strained as she fought the toxin's effects.

"There is one," Jax said grimly, pulling a medical kit from his own pack. "But it needs a specific enzyme to activate. One found only in the glands of a Moon-Winged Moth."

Everyone's blood ran cold. They were in the middle of the Grey Fells. There wasn't a flower, let alone a rare magical moth, for fifty miles.

They were out of time. Benita's convulsions were getting worse, her breathing becoming shallow.

Jonah's mind raced, a storm of panic and calculation. Moth. Enzyme. Moth. The word echoed in his head. He didn't have a Moon-Winged Moth, but he did have an essence. An essence with the properties of Air and Illusion.

He looked at Benita, her life fading before their eyes. He looked at the concerned faces of his new team.

A wild idea sparked in his mind. An insane gamble.

He hurried to his bag and started searching through it, tossing things aside one by one. Seraph had equipped him with a variety of basic Genesis Cores for field syntheses. He pulled one out - a pale green Lizard Egg.

He held the egg in one hand and closed his eyes, focusing on his Beast Space. He found the swirling, silvery motes of the Glimmermoth Essence.

He had the foundation and the blueprint.

"What are you doing, kid?" Jax demanded, his voice thick with alarm. "This is no time for…"

Jonah ignored him. This wouldn't be a normal synthesis. There was no time for the careful, weeks-long preparation he had done for Specter. He needed to create an antidote and he needed it now.

He would have to force it. A blitz-synthesis.

He took a deep breath, shoved every safety protocol he had ever learned out of his mind, and slammed the two concepts together in his mental workshop with the raw force of his mana.