Cypher’s armor moved to block the strikes that he was too slow to block himself. That of course used up even more mental energy and he was quickly entering dangerous territory. The armor steadily refilled his Zight and physical energy, but not his mental energy. He was already pushing that to its max as he worked to fight against the much more powerful Gaizeal.
The attacks suddenly stopped coming, however, and Cypher stood ready to fend off another attack at a moment’s notice. Gaizeal was smiling at him with a smug look on his face and Cypher narrowed his eyes. Gaizeal lowered his whip and pointed at Cypher.
“It’s clear that you can barely keep up with me. This battle is essentially finished, boy. Why not come quietly? It would save you a lot of pain in the long run.” said the hulking Order Captain.
Cypher didn’t move an inch and only gripped his saber tighter. Gaizeal smiled wider at that, almost as if he was expecting that answer.
“Heh, good to know. I was hoping that we could have some more fun. Brace yourself, boy. Things are about to get more serious now!” said Gaizeal. With that, the strange haze that was filling the area seemed to grow thicker, and the Order captain faded into it as Cypher lost sight of him.
Cypher planted his feet and began carefully scanning the area around him. It was one thing to block the attacks when he could see where they were coming from. In truth, it was more battle instinct and experience that allowed him to block them rather than actually seeing the trajectory of Gaizeal’s whip. Now though, Cypher had absolutely nothing to go on.
Cypher prepared himself all the same though. With a thought, he thickened the armor around his vital points by pulling extra material from his shins and forearms. It would leave those areas more exposed, but with his small stash of healing pills, he could at least somewhat repair his wounds in those areas.
“SHHHH… CRACK!”
Gaizeal’s whip struck Cypher across the back. Searing pain shot through him and he turned in that direction to fend off the next blow. The attack never came, and Cypher winced as he felt the white-hot line stretching across his back.
“SHHH… CRA-CRACK!”
Another searing line appeared this time along this thigh. Gaizeal’s whip was easily slipping right through the armor around his body despite his best efforts to enhance his defense. Cypher could only be grateful that Gaizeal didn’t use a more sturdy weapon like a sword or lance to attack with. The whip hurt, but it was by nature a flowing weapon and each blow that landed didn’t quite carry the blunt force solid weapons did.
Still, the force behind each crack of the whip was incredible, and Cypher could only worry about where the next blow would come from. If not for the armor, each attack from that whip would have easily removed his limbs. The weapon was fast, and he could only hear it in the last instant before it hit him. He whirled on his heels and swung his saber upwards.
“SHHH… CRA-CLINK!!”
He barely caught the whip with the tip of his saber and deflected it before it could crack across the back of his head. He grimaced though, he had been lucky, not skilled enough to do that on his own. In truth, there had been several places Gaizeal could have attacked next, and Cypher had guessed that he would go for the back of his head.
Cypher could only panic as the mist grew thicker, but he was starting to get angry at Gaizeal.
“SHHH… CRACK!!”
“SHHH… CRA-CRACK!!”
Two more searing white-hot lines of pain covered Cypher’s body. One went across his chest, while the other went up the entirety of the back of his right leg. Cypher stumbled a bit as the pain compromised his balance. Gaizeal only laughed from within the mist as he watched his prey struggle.
Cypher lashed out in anger and managed to catch the whip before it could strike his body once again. This time it had bounced off the hilt of the saber, sending a shockwave through Cypher’s hand that almost caused him to drop the weapon.
Cypher continued swinging his blade in a rage-induced display and more of Gaizeal’s laughter could be heard through the mist. From the sound of it, the hulking man was dashing around the town square at high speed, only stopping to strike out at Cypher.
Through that noise, Cypher could better pinpoint where an attack would come from. He popped a healing pill and his wounds closed slowly. As they did, the armor sealed up as well and Cypher returned the armor to an equal distribution. If the blows could get through anyway, it was better to have a balanced defense rather than a concentrated one.
Cypher found himself barely able to think through his anger and the moment he heard Gaizeal come to a stop, he dashed forward in that direction. His Zight Stanza was overflowing with power as he delivered his attack. His fist smashed into the elongated nose of Gaizeal and sent the hulking man flying backward. He had not been expecting that attack.
Cypher’s anger continued to rise and his mind grew hazier and hazier with each breath. He didn’t stop with one attack though, he recalled his saber into his ring and dashed forward to land on Gaizeal’s chest. If his weapon couldn’t pierce the thick skin of Gaizeal, he would simply pummel the man to death.
Cypher’s blows rained down, each one carrying with it the maximum output his Zight Stanza could provide. Gaizeal grunted with pain as each strike landed. However, the damage Cypher was doing was minimal. His constant attacks only served to stun and anger Gaizeal rather than inflict real wounds.
Gaizeal caught a fist after a moment and flung Cypher back into the middle of the square. Cypher’s body crashed through a statue and tumbled across the ground several meters before he slid to a stop. Cypher struggled to get to his feet and his armor pulsed as he stood back up. He took several deep breaths and stared in the direction of Gaizeal. The entire square was shrouded in a thick mist and the man was nowhere to be seen but Cypher knew he was still there.
Gaizeal was hiding in the mist, waiting to strike. As he stared on, trying his best to see a glimpse of the hulking man, his pain seemed to vanish and Cypher’s mind started to clear up.
He blinked several times as he finally caught sight of Gaizeal scanning the area for him. Cypher had been sent so far back that it seemed like he was outside Gaizeal’s area of detection. Of course, Cypher was sure that Gaizeal wasn’t using any extra detection methods because if he were, he would have already spotted Cypher.
More importantly, now that he was outside of the fog, Cypher could feel that something had been affecting his mind as the whip strikes came. Cypher’s eyes went wide as he realized that this fog pouring from Gaizeal’s nostrils and mouth was the culprit. Something about it had been causing a reaction inside Cypher’s mind.
Now though, it was slowly ebbing away and his thoughts were clearing back up. Still, he could feel the effects of Gaizeal’s miasma slowly creeping back into place. His armor pulsed again, and the fog was pushed back. Along with the fog, his anger seemed to subside a little as it was pushed back.
However, the armor could only resist so much, every few seconds the fog would roll back in and his armor would pulse and push it back outwards. Like this, it would never fully vanish from his Athenaeum while he was within or near the cloud Gaizeal was producing.
He could still fight in this condition and focus without his anger getting the better of him but it wasn’t easy. Cypher quickly hatched a plan and set it into motion. Cypher raised his hand and cast a spell at the miasma filling the area. “Solo, Verse 1, Tempest’s Roar!” A great gust of wind swept through the square and most of the miasma was blown away into the distance where it faded away and vanished.
Cypher then dashed forward and preparing another spell pressed his hands against Gaizeal’s chest. “Trio, Verse 4, Moment of Stillness!” The temporal spell kicked in just as Gaizeal’s fist reached the side of Cypher’s head. Another instant and the blow would have likely sent him flying and left him with a concussion.
Cypher knew he didn’t have much time, so he quickly moved out of the path of Gaizeal’s fist and jammed his saber into the man’s armpit. The blade sunk in only a few centimeters, but the next few stabs sent it in even deeper. Soon, the blade was buried about 8 centimeters into Gaizeal’s body. Cypher’s time was up though and the spell ended.
Gaizeal stumbled back in pain and grabbed at his armpit. A look of rage crossed his face but Cypher was already back to work, his hands pressing into Gaizeal’s chest once again. “Trio, Verse 4 Moment of Stillness!” Cypher repeated the same technique, only this time on the other armpit.
Once his saber was inside, Cypher twisted it hard and a scraping sound soon filled his ears as the blade was ground against the edges of Gaizeal’s crystal armor. Once again the spell ended and once more Cypher repeated it. He smiled in his heart as he thought, “This can work!”
