The Oracle Paths

Traversing the sky with the swiftness of a shooting star, Jake chased the clock in the uncertain hope that Will's message was just a mistake, a nightmare stemming from his imagination.

At this speed, the sound waves generated by his flight could be heard for miles around. He was no longer pretending to hide.

On the plus side, it only took him about ten seconds to get to the supposed battle zone from which Will's cry had been heard.

When he got there, his eyes fell first on the huge central volcano towering over them, then on the battlefield below, witnessing unprecedented chaos and carnage.

Hundreds of Evolvers, creatures, and Digestors of all races and origins were fighting to the death against their sworn enemies, but unnervingly they were mostly murdering one another among their own allies.

It was as if the world had gone mad. People laughing and eating together just a few hours earlier were trying to tear each other's hearts out as if the other had just cuckolded them blatantly with their husband or wife.

Nawaii were killing other Nawaii, aliens were killing other aliens looking like them, animals were fighting their own pack or herd, bloodshot eyes and drooling lips as if they had been injected with a stimulant.

Myrtharian Digestors resembling Jake, but also other humans and even other humanoid species such as orcs, Nosks and goblins were slaughtering these uncooperative Evolvers, but they too had serious problems in their ranks. Some of these Elite Digestors had killed more Digestors than these Evolvers offering them a pathetic resistance.

Aether Spells and other enchantments of various kinds and descent rained down by the hundreds every second. Colorful explosions and other inexplicable physical phenomena were constantly erupting, the techniques employed so numerous and varied that Jake found it difficult to make sense of all the chaos.

One moment a streak of purple and crimson lightning split the battlefield in two, but the next a flash of black light plunged the valley into darkness, momentarily blinding everyone.

Titanic beasts were continually crashing into one another with deafening shockwaves, trampling other fighters and monsters below, and Jake believed he recognized the familiar mane of a huge lion among them.

Other Evolvers clashed with their weapons of choice. Some wielded swords, axes, spears, hammers or clubs of some sort, while others kept their distance by firing from the safety of an elevated point on the slope of the volcano or another hill.

More than once, Jake heard the ringing of cataclysmic gunfire from these positions. Whether it was the skill of these marksmen or the sniper rifle used, some of these shots were capable of blasting a hole in his body the size of a child's skull if he wasn't careful.

Evolvers or Digestors, many still warm corpses had suffered from this.

All the Evolvers present, to have reached the central volcano leading to the Fifth Floor were either extremely lucky and resourceful, or powerful enough to wander up to this place with impunity.

With the exception of Will, all had at least reached the power standard of a Fourth-Ordeal Evolver.

No wonder the businessman had been overpowered.

Anxiously scanning the barren valley for his friends, he eventually... found them.

Will, covered in blood that was not his own, was fighting alongside Fumdalf and several creatures. A passed-out Nawai warrior going on his twilight years hung on the back of the huge chimera fiercely protecting the summoner.

Speaking of the businessman, his face was swollen and his eyes red as if he had been crying, but now there was only a cold anger driven by a desire for revenge.

Every time he opened his mouth and barked a command, his opponents would either obey or flinch involuntarily, giving Fumdalf or the other creatures under his leadership time to finish them off.

Not far away, Jake recognized the sliced carcass of his baby dragon, as well as that of a huge brown vulture whose head had been broken off. Charizard wouldn't evolve further...

Terribly worried, Jake continued to search with growing nervousness for the one whose fate Will claimed was already sealed.

Before finding him, his attention was again caught by the familiar mane of the huge lion fighting furiously in the distance. Every ruffle of its mane, every swing of its tail, every roar, every claw invoked tornadoes, hurricanes and cyclones.

It was obviously Mufasa, but the reason Jake was so shocked was because he also recognized his opponent. Facing the lion, a monstrous tiger wrapped in a purple lightning halo moved effortlessly through these tornadoes, transmuting its body into lightning and reaching immeasurable speeds.

Dozens of times per second, the lightning struck the robust lion and he would respond with powerful wind blasts. Despite this, the tiger transformed into lightning was far too fast and seemed completely invulnerable to the gusts of wind passing through his body. The purple lightning only flickered indifferently, completely unaffected.

This tiger was Shere Khan.

'Why are they killing each other?!' Jake shouted in his head with complete incomprehension.

Despite the extreme urgency of the situation, the two felines were dueling? What kind of crap was this?

Jake was in the mood to insult them when he saw one by one the other Aristocats scattered on the battlefield. They too were fighting ferociously like degenerate beasts. The only reason they weren't killing each other was because they were too far apart to meet.

One of the lionesses appeared to be dead, but given her condition it could have been another creature.

Adding to the chaos, the corpses did not stay dead for long. Regularly, the dead who had become zombies would get up under the influence of the Death Mark and start attacking the other survivors with even more devotion.

Now truly distressed, Jake resumed his exploration of the battlefield and finally found the one he was interested in.

No doubt, Kyle was dead.

His half-eaten corpse lay lonely in a corner of the battlefield covered in blood and guts. His sword was still clutched in his hand, its blade dripping with blood. His head had been smashed like overripe fruit, while his torso was as flat as a sheet of paper after being hammered by an object of monumental weight or speed. If not for his sword, Jake would never have recognized him.

Beside him, another corpse of much smaller stature lay, her dainty little hand tightly entwined with his friend's other free hand. Her throat had been slit by a decisive sword cut. She had died bleeding to death.

Although she was also covered in blood and in an unrecognizable state, Jake still recognized her. It was Maeve, Kyle's little sister.

With a flash, Jake teleported to his friend's body, despite his exhaustion. Seeing a powerful Myrtharian Nosk charging at him, he immediately activated his Oracle Shield and vigilantly drew his sword.

Before coming, he had not forgotten to put on his new gauntlets.

He held his breath, almost expecting this Digestor to be able to teleport in as well, but his worst prediction did not come true.

After slamming into the energy barrier once, the Nosk roared furiously and then decisively turned away to attack another target. On this battlefield, there were plenty of choices...

Releasing his breath, Jake knelt down beside Kyle's corpse and examined it meticulously with his mental strength. His scrutiny confirmed what Will had already told him, and an Oracle Scan drove the final nail in.

Kyle was dead, fucking dead. He wasn't coming back.

Not one to give up, Jake looked around with his Soul Power for any stray Spirit, any spiritual fluctuation that might indicate his soul had survived, but to no avail.

He found many Souls drifting around him belonging to the deceased. Fourth-Ordeal Evolvers had long since solidified their Souls and could theoretically survive the death of their bodies.

Regrettably, getting a second life in this state was a difficult and challenging task. Ghosts were frightening to the uninformed and superstitious, but to other Evolvers and creatures capable of magic and other supernatural abilities, they were like a flickering flame in a blizzard. The tiniest flake could extinguish them.

[Even if Kyle is still alive, with the Oracle System not working in Digestor territory, I'm afraid it's a waste of time to try to find him.] Xi said hesitantly.

"I know..."

Jake was about to let go and store Kyle and his sister's remains in his Space Storage when his mental sense caught a tiny fluctuation. Peering down at the source of this feedback, he discovered that this surge of mental energy was coming from Maeve.

"This... She's alive?"

Even Jake could hardly believe it. After all, Maeve was just a normal human. However, Bhuzkoc seemed to value her quite a bit, unless Kyle was the one who saved her, as her body seemed to be able to withstand the hellish temperatures and vacuum of this floor.

Not surprisingly, he found that Kyle had invited her to join the Myrtharian Nerds. She was alive in part because of the Myrtharian Passive.

If Kyle was truly gone, he could at least make sure his sacrifice wasn't in vain. Clinging to this lifeline, Jake quickly activated the Vitality Link to transfer her injuries to him.