Symphonic Odyssey
: Vol. Four: Odyssey’s Outset: Verse One-Hundred Seventy

Elaine stared at him with a smug look, and Cypher tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean it’s all the elements?” he asked.

“I mean what I said. Null is comprised of every element all at once. It isn’t that you identify with fire, it’s just that your early personality did. You clung to that and it has manifested as proficiency with the Fire element. You have the potential to resonate with all the elements if you try hard enough,” finished Elaine.

Cypher was a bit shocked to hear that. If what she was saying was true, then his power ceiling just increased by a ridiculous amount. Ideas and experiments started forming in his mind, but he quickly stuffed them away for later. There would be time to pursue those thoughts later.

“In any event, all that matters is that you understand these things. To use this barrier, you will need to replace a perfect balance between all six of the elements. You might think that because you have Null it would be as simple as copying that particular balance, but that is not so. Your Null replaces balance automatically, however, this spell will require you to consciously replace a balance on your own.”

Cypher nodded, while Elaine stood up, and walked a good distance away from him. She stretched and rolled her head for a few moments before looking at him. “I haven’t done this shit in a while so excuse me if it isn’t exactly a perfect demonstration,” she said.

Cypher’s eyes went wide as he realized what she meant. “You can use this barrier?!” Elaine laughed and nodded.

“Of course I can dumbass, how else do you think I landed on the same team as your father? He forced me to learn it the moment I reached the third Rank. Of course, he had to help improve my Orrium beforehand, but we don’t need to go through that with you. Anyways, forget about that shit and pay attention! Use your eyes, mind, and Zight to monitor me and you’ll see what I’m talking about.”

Elaine closed her eyes and started to focus. At first, it seemed as though she was only standing there. Cypher didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary and he couldn’t feel any Zight coming from her. However, after a few moments, he felt it.

It was weak at first, barely anything at all. Cypher could see the waves of her Zight swirling around her Orrium with his mental energy. Normally one wouldn’t be able to see this in another Conductor, but Elaine was allowing him to observe and had lowered her guard.

She continued to swirl her Zight and eventually, her mental energy joined the fray. At that point, her energy levels seemed to spike. They began growing at leaps and bounds until Cypher couldn’t keep up anymore. His power was great for his level, but she was on the verge of advancing to the Heroic Ranks. His own power paled in comparison.

Her energy soared higher and higher, and soon, the effect began to manifest itself in the surrounding area. Shockwaves of energy began to ripple out from her body, and a visible cycle of Zight flow began. This also shocked Cypher, who was staring with a look of complete disbelief on his face.

Zight itself was not visible to the naked eye under normal circumstances. Even when casting spells, one couldn’t see the Zight of another person. However, Elaine’s was now clearly visible. The Zight around her continued to cycle through several colors. Red. Blue. Green. Yellow. White. Black. The force she was producing was beyond anything Cypher had ever felt and it was a stunning display.

She seemed to manipulate each element with perfect control. None of them escaped her careful observation and she seemed to move them according to her will. Water clashed with Fire but did not extinguish it. Wind clashed with Earth, but the Earth held firm. Her mental energy was working hard to replace a delicate balance between all four primary forces.

There didn’t even seem to be any foul side effects. Her body mind and Orrium were all completely fine and she showed no signs of stopping or breaking under the pressure. Cypher could only look on in awe. She was incredible, truly incredible, and she wasn’t even finished yet. Cypher quickly doubted that he could perform this technique and worried that she was giving him too much credit.

Her power soon began to stabilize and merge. The shockwaves became so powerful that Cypher was knocked to the ground. The wind was howling, the air became moist, the earth was trembling, and small flashes of flames surrounded her body. Even the surrounding trees were bending at awkward angles under the force.

A bright flash of light began to shine around her, giving off radiant rays. One passed by Cypher and momentarily blinded him. When his vision returned, it seemed like the area had grown dimmer. it was as if a wave of darkness also moved around her form.

These forces raged for several moments before they all froze in place and slammed into her body with a multicolored flash of light. At that moment, the wind subsided and the shockwaves began to dissipate. Cypher stood up slowly and could see a nearly transparent barrier that repeatedly flashed white, grey, and black.

Another flash caused him to look away for a moment and when he looked back, he could see that the grey in the barrier was consuming the other two colors. At that moment the atmosphere shuddered and felt tighter and heavier. The dome shimmered once more, and then, all was still.

Elaine stood in the middle of it, breathing heavily, but other than that she was fine. She flashed Cypher another smug grin and then placed her hands on her hips. The barrier was incredible and it didn’t even seem to bother her or place her under any strain as a normal barrier would have.

“This, Cypher, is known as the Duality shield. I performed it slowly so as to show you how much Zight, mental energy, and control one would need. If you paid attention and watched closely, you would see that it doesn’t require as much of each as one might think despite the light show.” Elaine smiled from inside her perfect defense and soon exhaled.

The barrier vanished in an instant, and she shuddered a bit. After that, she ramped up her power and did it again. Only this time, the barrier appeared almost instantly with none of the environmental effects or signs of that spectacular show from before.

“Once you master this, you’ll be able to use the barrier whenever you want almost instantly. It has nearly no casting time, and requires no chants or words to use like normal spells!”

Cypher felt nervous at the prospect of trying it. However, he also felt something else. Something that had been gnawing at him since she started demonstrating this spell. Excitement!