Cypher scanned the serial numbers on each of the warehouses he passed. He knew exactly which one was his target, but he was doing his best to confuse any onlookers into thinking that he was struggling to find his way. He eventually found the one he was looking for, the one that would be the home of the battle yet to come. GZR-368.
After a quiet loop around the building, he discovered that four Order members were guarding both the front and rear entryways. After using his Zight to leap to the rooftop of a nearby building, he noticed a few more guards patrolling the top of his target warehouse. His idea was to enter through the skylight but of course, they had stationed two guards up here as well.
The two hooded guards were standing watch aimlessly and conversing among themselves. They clearly hadn’t taken notice of Cypher yet. They were also much weaker than he was, and once again he felt conflicted about killing the weak when they had no chance against him.
Still, he knew they would kill him if given the chance, so he quickly ran up to the first guard. He pulled out his saber and bashed the guard in the temple with the pommel, killing him instantly. He twitched as Cypher had bashed in the side of his skull, but fell to the ground and moved no more.
The second guard attempted to alert the others while attacking with a downward slash, but before he could even open his mouth, Cypher stepped to the right, dropped to his knees, and with a grunt, slid the blade of his saber through the neck of the guard. He fell down clutching at his neck, unable to make sounds other than gurgles and quiet groans.
He too twitched for a moment, but quickly grew still. Cypher shuddered at the carnage he was able to unleash. Two guards lay there in a growing pool of their own blood, and a sickening feeling came over him as he realized how far he had come since his battle with Gelath the Ghostly. Still, he ignored it and carried on as his old chest scar tingled at the memory of that man’s jagged blade ripping through it.
He steadied his thoughts as he leaned down to inspect the area through the skylight. He recalled his saber into his ring and then pulled out the Ark Cradle. He knew more guards awaited him inside, and there wouldn’t be time to equip this later.
He quickly slapped on the belt and flipped it to defense mode. “Ignite!” he said silently, and his body was engulfed in a small burst of flames. The armor locked onto his torso and limbs, and it filled him with strength.
In this moment, he could feel how his senses were heightened. His eyes darted quickly from left to right, scanning the area. He caught every detail of his surroundings down to the last speck of soil on the ground below. It was almost overwhelming but he reigned it in and calmed down.
His muscles flexed and tested their new strength, and even his bones felt stronger as a cool feeling began to spread through them. Overall, he felt heavier and sturdy. Of course, he also noticed how the armor had changed from the form it took at Elaine’s.
The pauldrons were curved now and flowed with the natural shape of his shoulders, and although they were much thicker they would work quite well for enduring physical blows or deflecting those of a Magickal nature. The other armor pieces were also much thicker and shared characteristics, but Cypher didn’t notice any added weight. A row of small spikes ran the length of his entire body and each one emitted a steady but minimal flow of energy.
He could feel passive wards activating and he could even tell what their purpose was and how they worked. A silver-lined cape hung from his back, connected underneath the pauldrons, and his cuirass had a strange symbol engraved in the middle above a glittering blue gem. He was pleased with his appearance and the security it provided, but he put it to the back of his mind for now and kneeled down to the skylight.
There was work to be done.
With a short spell, he unmade the glass, turning it into sand which he collected into a pouch he had made ready. He looked around and saw no guards, but there were numerous crates inside. Altogether, they could easily hide dozens of Conductors.
Still, he couldn’t wait around anymore. He sent Zight to his legs to brace his fall and lighten his landing, but as he leapt inside, he fell through the air slowly, floating downwards gracefully. He soon discovered that a few wards on the cape allowed for this. Quiet as a feather, he landed and dashed behind some nearby crates.
It wasn’t long before he spotted Alex and Melodi in the center of the room and sighed. They were surrounded by a barrier, but that wasn’t what made him sigh. If they were in the middle of the room, they were obvious bait for Cypher. The question was, where would the predator be lying in wait to snare him?
Cypher knew that this was a trap. In fact, it had never occurred to him that it wasn’t one. He knew that the moment he stepped into the light, Order members would swarm the area and attack. That wouldn’t be a problem if they were weak, but if they were strong, Cypher would have noticed them by now thanks to his heightened senses.
The weak could suppress their power and presence, but the strong simply gave off too much of a disturbance. Still, there was always the chance that a Magickal item could hide them too, or that the gap was so wide he’d be unable to detect such opponents. That said, the strong would have already engaged him. Still, that thought didn’t bring him much comfort.
Of course, with that out of the way, he now had a dilemma. The barrier. He could use a counterspell to shatter that barrier around his friends, assuming he could divine its properties. At that point, the guards would come storming out and could very easily capture him by holding his friends hostage.
On the other hand, if he dashed into the middle of the room, they could ambush him from any direction, and while he still might be cornered, he could always deploy his own barrier. Things didn’t look good, but this had been accounted for.
Cypher pulled out the seer’s stone, and through a series of taps and pauses, messaged Elaine and her men. It was time for them to move out. From the looks of things, they were going with plan 12B. Cypher smiled, he had devised this one all on his own.
