Cypher continued to train relentlessly in the Duality Shield. After another two months, he was finally starting to see some improvements and serious progress. He could layer the elements all the way to the fire stage. However, when that happened, Cypher would lose all control of the spell and a massive beam of condensed elemental energy would be discharged.
Elaine had been forced to reinforce her own barriers around their training area several times. But even with that added enhancement, the beam still carried a massive amount of force and would always end up destroying a decent bit of the ground around them.
Cypher wasn’t discouraged though. He worked hard to get to this point and three months of constant training to use this spell had begun to pay off. The control of his own powers had grown to such a degree that he was far more formidable than ever before.
He wasn’t able to breach the rank barrier to an insane degree or anything, but he could now probably endure battles with Rank-Two Conductors and hold his own. Without the use of rank-breaking spells, he wouldn’t be able to win, but survival was certainly assured as long as he could hold out for reinforcements.
His control over his own energy was even so great, that he could accurately calculate how much Zight to convert into Physical energy and vice versa. This as well increased his battle effectiveness and opened up a new way of fighting he hadn’t been able to consider before.
All in all, his training was going as well as anyone could hope for.
However, on the third day of that fourth month, tragedy struck. He had been going about his training as per usual. It was a normal day and nothing had gone wrong up till that point. Cypher was getting ready to layer the fire element and begin to condense the whole thing when something went wrong.
As he successfully finished layering the fire element, the flow of energy changed. It was almost unnoticed, like a shimmer as the currents of power shifted. It was like a shadow of a shadow within that massive power flow. It only took an instant before he lost all control, and by the time he realized something was irreparably wrong, it was far too late.
The floodgates of his Zight seemed to crumble as he felt the true unfiltered power of something much larger than his own existence. In fact, it felt like several somethings. His shockwaves became erratic as he panicked and he grew dizzy.
As it was, the base principle of this spell was that in order for it to work, all the forces needed to be in harmony. At this moment, those forces were warring inside Cypher in a bloody battle that would only end in his demise. He had made a critical error when applying his mental energy and ended up accessing something he had no business accessing.
He could feel the intense energy beginning to rip him apart from the inside, as what he imagined was his spleen exploded. The pain was blinding, and he let out an involuntary groan.
“Cypher!” bellowed Elaine as two of his ribs shattered inside him with an audible crack. “You gotta reign that shit in! If you don’t the power will rip you apart!!” Elaine had moved closer to his side, and was desperately trying to funnel some of the power from his body into hers, and then into the earth itself.
However, she might as well have been trying to move a mountain with a hand shovel. Cypher attempted to do as she said and regain control of the vast forces inside him, but no matter what he tried it was no use. Another pair of ribs shattered inside him and sent waves of pain through his body.
There was just too much energy to keep track of, too many opposite forces swirling around inside him. It was as if he was connected to the very fabric of the world, and at that moment, all else faded away. Time seemed to speed up and slow down simultaneously. He could see that the world around him was still moving at a normal pace and not the warped way he imagined.
He struggled to maintain himself among the swirling chaotic energy and a faint melody rang in his ears. It was ancient. Primal. It thundered with a sound of importance, but also one of calm tranquillity. It was something he had never heard in his entire life from any of the spells he had encountered so far.
That, coupled with the pain, disoriented him even further. There was only one thing left for him to do. Only one thing came to his worried mind: If he couldn’t regain control of this energy, he had to cut off the flow completely. He would then launch all of the built-up energy out of his body, and hopefully, it would save his life. This idea was based on his failures while training, but it was something he had never tried before.
He didn’t even know if it would work as he imagined, but he was running out of time and had to do something or he would die. Knowing that this could have the opposite effect, he resolved to do it. It was his only chance after all.
He raised his hand and began chanting in a strange language that caught completely Elaine off guard. Cypher, however, didn’t even realize, to him, it was as if he was only yelling as he manipulated the energy throughout his body for his own goals.
“Lu Sarrin, Koete, Meta-ah rizoria omroa!!” Cypher’s strange words rolled from his lips, and at once all of the energy that had built up inside him was released with a thunderous roar. He had just barely succeeded before his body gave out and was torn asunder. He had survived, however, a wave of pain shot through him as he spiraled off into the distance.
The beam was massive and featured properties of every element. It tore through Elaine’s barriers like they were nothing, and continued screaming through the air, right into a nearby hillside. The hill itself was obliterated, but the beam continued deep into the ground leaving a deep hole where its light soon vanished.
Cypher, on the other hand, continued to fly into the distance in the opposite direction, and he slammed right into the trunk of a thick tree. Incredible jolts of pain shot throughout his entire body. But he had succeeded in saving his life for the most part.
His arm had been destroyed. Every bone had been torn apart with a loud crunching sound as the beam had been fired. His vision began to fade, and he could see a pool of his own crimson blood forming around him as ashes fell to the ground like snow in a blizzard.
His Orrium was completely depleted, as well as his reserves of mental energy. His body was hanging onto life by a thread, but he was still able to resist the call of the endless void. The last thing he remembered was Elaine kneeling over him in a panic, the feeling of complete tranquillity mixed with unknowable pain, nothing, and then darkness.
