Cypher stared down the man with bated breath. His grip was tight on his sword and his eyes never wavered as he scanned his opponent. The man held a sadistic smile on his face and his own grip on his claymore was relaxed. Cypher couldn’t make heads or tails of what he might do first but whatever it was he was going to be ready.

The man took a step towards him and Cypher inched back a bit. The man’s smile grew wider and then he bolted around the side of the house at full speed. Cypher’s heart paused in his chest as the man took off running. Out of instinct, he followed quickly and rounded the corner only to find the man waiting to strike with a swing of his claymore.

He was fast. Far faster than Cypher had given him credit for. Cypher ducked low and slid across the ground on his knees. The man’s sword embedded itself into the wood of the house with a thud, barely missing Cypher’s neck in the process. With no time to think, Cypher brought his sword arm across his chest and tried to deliver a strike to the man’s torso, only for him to jump back and dodge the attack at the last second.

Before Cypher could even get back to his feet the man struck. A downward slash; A glancing blow from the right, then the left. The man tossed his blade to his opposite hand and continued the attack. A full slash; A chop; a feint followed by a jab; Without pause, their blades clashed several times and Cypher was trapped on his knees doing his best to fend off the attacks of the bandit leader. All the while, the man’s eyes gleamed with devious glee.

Eventually, Cypher was able to roll to the side and return to a standing guard, the claymore of the man clanging against a stone as it sped to a stop against the ground. The bandit leader simply smiled and said, “Well, it seems that you’re quite skilled for such a young one. I knew it was right to test the waters and get a feel for what I was dealing with here. Your reaction time is quite good. Who was your teacher? Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter now does it?”

Cypher gritted his teeth and pressed the attack. Now wasn’t the time for idle chit-chat. Cypher’s strikes were fast and strong as he aimed at the man’s various openings. However, each of his attacks was blocked just as quickly as he could deliver them. It was a flurry of steel and iron as the two fought on.

Their scuffle led them further and further from the others as they rounded the house. Occasionally a blow would be deflected and crash against the glass of one of the windows of the house. The glass shattered loudly and clattered to the ground but still, they fought on. It didn’t take long before they were at the rear of the house.

The man reached into his leather armor and pulled out a small bag. With a smile, he smashed it against the ground and a large smokescreen burst into view. Cypher coughed as he inhaled the smoke and squinted his eyes trying to see his foe through the smog. However, he could hear the man clambering into the house through the now-broken window.

His boots clacked against the wooden floor and Cypher followed quickly as he heard the man start running through the hallway of the mayor’s house. Once clear of the smog Cypher caught a glimpse of the man as he dashed into a side room. Cypher carefully rounded the corner expecting another surprise attack.

However, all he saw was a regular old dining room.

“What the..?” he said aloud as he stepped cautiously into the room, sword held aloft. He strained his eyes but saw nothing, although he could have sworn he saw the man run in here. As he looked around the room he saw that there was no way to exit save for the entrance he had just come through.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary but that didn’t mean that it was truly the case. Cypher’s boots clacked against the floor as he took slow deliberate steps. He could faintly hear the sounds of battle outside as he made a guarded pace around the dinner table. Still, the man was nowhere to be seen.

Then without warning a flash of steel caught his eye at the periphery of his vision. He dashed back just in time as the man’s sword cut through the table beside him. However, when he turned to face him he saw nothing. A jingle of metal came from behind him and he ducked low once again dodging a death-dealing blow. Once again, without a trace, the man was gone again.

There was only one thing that came to mind in a situation like this; Magick was at work.

Somehow the man was able to turn himself invisible. How or why Cypher didn’t know but this would be a major problem if he wasn’t careful. He dashed back several feet, pushing the table aside as he did so, and heard a grunt. For just a moment the man became visible again. The table had pressed against his hip and he had stumbled over a bit which had revealed him unexpectedly.

Before Cypher could attack again the man had once more vanished with a twisted smile. Cypher strained his eyes as he looked on but could see nothing. Still, he refused to tear his eyes away from the spot he had just seen the bandit leader. Then, he managed to catch a tiny glimmer of something.

It wasn’t much but perhaps it was something to go on. Cypher clenched his jaw as he cautiously stepped forward and then he saw it again. It was small. Hell, it was almost completely imperceptible but he SAW it. There was no mistaking that dubious gleam. It was the light of killing intent and it was coming directly from the man’s eyes. At least, it was coming from what little of his eyes remained.

For whatever reason, this man was completely invisible except for the irises of his eyes. Cypher quickly averted his gaze and pretended to look around the room for his opponent. In his mind though, he made sure to track exactly where the man was just by the position of his irises. It wasn’t easy but with that knowledge, he had at least a chance to fend him off.

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When the man had been visible for that brief instant, Cypher had seen his sword in his right hand. That meant that if he was going to attack, it would be from the right. Cypher gripped his sword tightly in his hands and glanced around. All the while keeping the man’s irises in his peripheral vision.

The task took enormous focus and even maintaining it was pushing Cypher’s young mind to its limits. He didn’t dare blink for fear of losing sight of his target. But through the countless hours of grueling training Jelroy had put him through, coupled with the amount of time he had spent staring at that magickal sigil bound within that blue book he knew that he could keep it up for a while longer.

Then, a flicker of the man popped back into being and Cypher blocked the strike aimed at his neck.

“What the fu-” uttered the man, his body becoming visible once more, but just as quickly the man vanished again as he audibly sucked in a breath.

“So that’s how it works…” Cypher thought to himself.

Clearly, the man could only be invisible while he held his breath. This technique, or spell, or enchantment… whatever it was had a few drawbacks. The first being that his eyes were exposed. It took Cypher a moment of guessing before he landed on an answer. It was because of how the man’s eyes worked.

Invisibility was just that; One became completely unseeable. However, that didn’t mean that the person was no longer there. It just meant that light was passing through them from all angles. If the light was also passing through his eyes he wouldn’t be able to see at all. Or perhaps he’d see nothing but light. Either way, it meant that the man was forced to keep a tiny part of his eyes visible no matter what.

Cypher wasn’t a Conductor so he didn’t know the finer points of becoming invisible. Still, there were rules in this world that, even with the aid of magick, had to be followed. He wasn’t a Conductor, no, but he wasn’t without knowledge. The books he had managed to read in the mansion back home had mentioned the sciences of the body.

Human eyes captured light and through a series of biomechanical processes, turned it into what we saw. There was no getting around that fact. Without light humans just couldn’t see anything at all. So that was the first drawback. Cypher silently thanked the Galvan’s for making sure that Eiden’s studies were so thorough.

The second drawback was that the man couldn’t breathe while being invisible. That was a bit more of a mystery to solve. In the end, Cypher couldn’t decide if it was because as the man exhaled his breath became visible or somehow interfered with the cloak of magick around him; or if as his chest filled with air, it caused the disruption in that cloak.

In any event, the man couldn’t breathe. Not if he wanted to stay hidden. All this said though, Cypher was quite sure that the bandit leader wasn’t a Conductor. If he was, this fight would have gone very differently than it had up until now. With these two drawbacks in mind, Cypher waited out the situation.

A moment passed, and only the sounds of the battle outside and the creaking of the floorboards as the man stepped carefully to the side could be heard. Cypher was done with the pretense now that he had figured out the trick behind this man’s ability. Still, he made sure to keep his gaze bouncing around the room for what came next.

After a moment of hesitation, the bandit leader attacked again, flickering into view as his sword sought to connect with Cypher’s shoulder. He stepped to the side and dodge the blow before returning one of his own, and as he did, he locked eyes with the man. Between another timely dodge and the fact that the boy before him had instantly locked eyes with him, he was too stunned to do anything but stumble back instinctively in an attempt to avoid taking damage.

But Cypher’s aim was true, and his arm was quick. His sword dug its way across the man’s chest and left a deep gash. The blow had been one meant to deal more damage but by slim chance, the man had been able to mitigate most of that by flinching back.

The bandit leader’s eyes grew wider as he realized that Cypher had figured him out, and then they furrowed into a scowl. The man exhaled and became fully visible once again. With a sigh, he pressed a hand against his bleeding chest.

“Well, I guess the jig is up eh? You know, you keep impressing me more and more as this fight of ours drags on. How perceptive ARE you? It would have taken anyone else until their dying breath to discover the secret of my technique. Trust me, I’ve seen it many times. But you…”

Cypher took in as much of the man before him as he could. He had to find the source of the man’s invisibility no matter what. Enchanted items could be anything though. That was the sheer power of Magick in this world. Something as unassuming as a sock could contain immense magickal power. There were of course limits and Cypher was greatly uneducated when it came to actual matters of magick.

Still, he was an excellent judge of character. The man before him was boastful and arrogant. That much was obvious. A man like that… Well back in the mansion, Cypher had seen many nobles exactly like that come and go. One of the most important things he had learned about people like that, was that they always flaunted their most valuable possessions for all to see. They felt invincible, powerful, and above all else, superior to those around them through those possessions.

Cypher had no doubt that this man was no different from those prideful nobles. To that end, he decided to see if he could tap into this guy’s ego and keep him talking for just a bit longer.

“That’s right,” began Cypher as he locked eyes with the man before him. “I’ve got you all figured out. I know the secret to your little trick and it won’t work on me anymore! You might as well give up now and come quietly. If you do, you might just be able to get off with a lighter sentence. I haven’t killed anyone yet and I’d much rather avoid tarnishing my record with the likes of you.”

“Pfft…” scoffed the man. “You think that you get to play the noble hero? Foolishness. You clearly don’t know who you’re dealing with! I have quite a notorious record in this kingdom. If I turn myself in there’s only one fate waiting for a guy like me and I’ll be damned if I let that happen! I am Gelath the Ghostly! My enemies never see their deaths coming and you won’t be any different.”

“I thought that maybe I could let you off the hook considering that you’re just some dumb kid. I thought that perhaps if I simply maimed you that would be enough to get you to chill the fuck out but no! You just HAD to keep pressing me, didn’t you? Well, now you’ve really pissed me off you little shit. Imagine, ME! Me of all people being scarred by the likes of some shitty brat! You’ll pay dearly for this! THAT I promise you!”

Cypher might have had his eyes locked on Gelath’s but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t taking stock of the man’s equipment as he rambled on. Jelroy’s training had come in handy for just such an occasion and Cypher felt even more honored to be his student. The man truly was one of the best teachers that Galex could have asked for to train his son, and Cypher was just lucky enough to become his student as well.

All that said, this little monologue that Gelath was mindlessly spewing had given Cypher more than enough time to deduce exactly what it was that fueled Gelath’s invisibility. At least he hoped that his guess was correct.

The only thing left to do now was to figure out his next move.