Phaser's body stood in the middle of the endless concrete expanse again under the low, phantom sky that never changed. The same storm clouds rolled over the horizonless void above. He didn't even know how many times he died here. But this would be the 927th time he had face his Flux.
And this time, he wasn't going to hold back. The air around him rippled as his Xana began to circulate.
"927 times, Phaser. Don't think. React. The Flux isn't something that obeys fear."
"I'm not afraid."
He exhaled and the Void came alive.
Void flared outward from him, expanding in all directions until they formed a vast, dome. He created Void Dome. The air inside bent and twisted.
Then, he used Void Strings.
From his fingertips, black strings sprouted. They darted forward, weaving arcs through the air. Seirath didn't move. His expression remained perfectly neutral. Then, with a flick of his wrist, the wind roared to life. It slammed into Phaser with hurricane like strength. The Void Dome trembled under the pressure.
"Too slow."
Phaser's strings reacted instantly, digging into the ground and anchoring him as the gale blasted through. The Void Dome barely held. He twisted his arm and the strings lashed outward, wrapping around Seirath's arm and torso. For a moment, Phaser thought he had him.
Then lightning struck.
A blinding flash of blue-white light erupted from Seirath's hand. The explosion threw Phaser back, the Void Dome shattering into splinters of black glass that disintegrated in mid-air. His chest burned. He landed hard, sliding across the cracked surface. His ribs screamed in pain, and his left arm hung limply. It was dislocated.
He gritted his teeth, forced the bones back into place, and felt them click. Then, his Roborare activated, and the pain dimmed into a manageable throb.
Seirath appeared in front of him before he could even stand. Phaser barely twisted his torso and the blow still tore through the fabric of his outfit, sending him skidding across the ground again.
'Get up, Phaser!'
He didn't need to encourage himself. His body had learned to move before his mind could think. Phaser slammed his hands into the ground, using his Void Creation.
Black particles bloomed across the floor in a wide radius. They formed into tendrils. He raised his hand, and they all launched forward at once. The sound they made was like glass and thunder colliding.
Seirath didn't flinch. His hands moved lazily and suddenly, pillars of stone erupted from the concrete, blocking the barrage. The Void weapons shattered against them, each explosion rippling the air before fading.
"Better. You're faster now."
Phaser was already behind him.
From his palm, a condensed black stream erupted. The Void Beam tore across the arena, cutting through the wind and stone alike, and struck Seirath square in the chest. The blast swallowed everything in a sphere of silent black light. Then came the an earthquake-like shockwave that knocked Phaser backward.
When the smoke cleared, Seirath stood in the middle of a crater. His shirt was torn, but his skin wasn't even scratched. His eyes met Phaser's.
"You're still thinking too much."
Phaser didn't reply. He raised both hands. He used Void Blast. This time, it came from everywhere.
Black spheres appeared around Seirath, blinking in and out of existence before erupting like bombs. The explosions merged, creating a dome of shimmering darkness around Seirath. Phaser used the opening to lunge forward, using Neveolus to form a sword.
The blade connected but Seirath's hand stopped it with two fingers.
The pressure of impact caused the ground beneath them to collapse into a massive crater. Phaser's arms shook. The sword shattered. The counterattack came instantly. A backhand punch, charged with condensed Xana, sent Phaser flying hundreds of meters across the concrete plain.
He landed hard and coughed blood. His ribs were gone again. He could feel the cracks. He forced himself up, blood dripping down his chin. He was still smiling.
"That one hurt."
The next moment, Seirath raised a hand and water surged from the ground beneath Phaser. It formed a vortex, dragging him upward before freezing into ice spears that stabbed down. Phaser leapt, flipping mid-air. His Void Protection flared, forming like a second skin. The ice shattered against it, shards flying in all directions. He landed but he was unharmed.
He launched forward again, stringing through the battlefield like a shadow. Void Strings anchored his movement, snapping him forward with inhuman velocity. Seirath responded with fire erupting in a wide arc. Phaser dove through, his protection flickering, and swung his arm, summoning his strings.
One brushed Seirath's sleeve. That was the first real contact in months. Phaser felt it like victory.
But victory was short-lived.
Seirath vanished and appeared behind him. Phaser didn't even see the movement. A fist slammed into his spine and the world went black for a split second.
He hit the ground again. His body should have been destroyed but his healing was faster now. The flesh pulled itself together, bones sealed, and he gasped. He stood again. And again. And again.
"You don't give up," Seirath said, genuinely impressed.
Phaser smirked through the blood. "You told me not to."
"Good."
Lightning struck again.
And the battle resumed.
Each movement was a storm of violence and precision. Phaser's Void carved lines through the domain. Seirath's elements shattered and remade the field every second. The sky above flickered, the dome of darkness expanding each time Phaser pushed his limit.
He could feel his Concept Flux stirring, whispering just beyond his perception but this time, he didn't black out. For forty-three seconds, he stayed awake. And in those forty-three seconds, for the first time, Seirath's expression changed.
He smiled.
The forty-seventh second finally ended.
Everything inside Phaser went silent. His heartbeat flattened, his breathing stilled, and the echoes of Seirath's strikes vanished.
The voice spoke.
"You are not ready."
Phaser's vision bled into black and white static. His fingertips went numb as the strings around him trembled. His body was freezing, burning and tearing apart all at once but this time, something was different. This time, he wasn't letting go.
"You've said that every single time you arrogant bastard."
The ground cracked beneath him, cracking outward in a violent pulse.
"Then prove it."
And so he did.
His body convulsed and from his back erupted thorned tendrils. They spiraled around him until they formed a cocoon, pulsating with Xana. Inside, everything went weightless. The world outside dimmed. He could feel his mind tearing in half. One side was his and the other was the voice's. But for the first time, the voice didn't take him. It yielded.
He heard Seirath's distant voice.
"Hold on, Phaser! Don't fight it. Just hold!"
The cocoon pulsed, each beat synced to his heart. The tendrils tightened, sealing him inside. Every strand was black, glowing faintly at the tips with that eerie silver sheen. Seirath exhaled deeply, his arms folding as he stared at the massive cocoon suspended in the air, held in place by the Void that coiled from the ground. Seirath sat down cross-legged on the fractured concrete, right at the center.
"Finally. Nine months. You really did it, my student."
His body began to glow faintly, lines of deep obsidian light crawling up his arms. He pressed both hands together and whispered an incantation in Ancient Coptic.
"By the breath of the nameless Abyss, by the crown of the dying sun,
I summon the void between truths, the space that devours gods and silence alike.
Arise, oh nothingness unchained. Let the void unravel itself before me."
His eyes turned completely black. The void obeyed.
It poured out of him like liquid night before rushing toward the cocoon. The thorned vines trembled in recognition as the void touched them, spreading across their surface like molten ink.
The entire arena began to fall apart. The ground quaked. Cracks spread for miles. The false sky above shattered like glass. The horizon warped inward, pulling the world toward the cocoon's power.
"Let it consume what you were, and keep what you are."
The void rose higher, swallowing the cocoon completely. Even Seirath, who had mastered almost all elements, could feel the weight pressing on his chest.
"Seriously Anastelle... just what kind of monster did you give birth to?"