The Oracle Paths

This Power was head and shoulders above the other Principalities, its ideally proportioned face having something demonic about it in its lack of imperfections. It had one more pair of wings than its subordinates, bringing its total number of wings to eight. Each of them had the color and sheen of pure gold. The golden chitin covering its body formed an impenetrable plate armor far exceeding the sophistication and craftsmanship of the best blacksmiths. A helmet also protected its head, exposing only its eyes burning like two yellow suns.

Whereas the Principalities were equipped only with a spear, a gladius and a small roundel, the Power was armed with a heavy halberd, a massive rectangular shield covering its body from head to ankle, while thick gold chains were wrapped around its body and connected to its wrists.

As soon as it arrived, its cold eyes radiated an uncanny light and with one sweep of its gaze it scanned the entire city. His attention was drawn first to Vexa and Prysm, then immediately to Jake and his companions, and finally to Crunch and Lord Phenix who were lying in wait outside the city.

"Wretched ungodly vermin, you are disturbing our peace and our plans." The Power declared with a sentencing tone. "These interferences from the Oracle are but the last futile stirrings of resistance from an already vanquished enemy. The more you antagonize us, the more you hasten your undoing."

The eight-winged angel's body burst forth with a powerful dawn-like pulsing light and the Myrtharian Nerds, Jake included, felt a compelling urge to prostrate themselves. This feeling of reverence and adulation came from the bottom of their hearts and at that moment if that Schwazen had asked them to commit suicide, they would have done so gladly.

But even if that wasn't their intention, that wasn't the only danger of that radiant aura. Besides feeling their Spiritual Energy rapidly depleting and disrupting their consciousness, their cells were also dying from within, their DNA and Aether Code rapidly denaturing.

They didn't know it yet, but if they stayed in here any longer than a few hours they would eventually die of what the Aetherists called Aether Cancer. This was what happened when an individual's Aether Code became completely dysfunctional.

The most optimistic prognosis was that their Bloodline Grade would drop to zero. In other words, they would become ordinary humans again. The slightly less optimistic one was that the Encoding of their Aether stats would be compromised. If their Aether stats dropped to zero as well, the consequence would be instant death by disintegration.

In theory, even if that happened, they still had Quanoth's minimal Aether density to ensure their survival, but Jake and his friends soon noticed that under the effect of this aura of golden light the surrounding Aether appeared to be shying away from their presence. It was still there, but they could no longer access it.

As Jake felt these strange symptoms robbing him of the control over his own life, he felt the same sense of helplessness he had felt against the Nullifyer. What was the point of having super-high stats if everything could be taken away from him with a snap of the finger?

The feeling of futility, that all his efforts served no purpose or meaning festered in Jake's mind, but his companions were facing the same anguish.

Just then, Vexa's voice rang out simultaneously in their minds.

"Take the prisoners and leave. Now! I'll meet you later."

A White Cube suddenly encased them, forming a protective shield, and an extremely dense stream of pure Aether cleansed the enemy aura. A Green Cube overlapped with the White Cube, producing a bright emerald light that instantly repaired the damage to their Aether Code, Soul and DNA.

Jake was the first to recover and he decisively looked around for the prisoners mentioned. Responding to his wish, several dozen badly injured humans and aliens magically appeared in front of Jake inside the two Cubes and he immediately recognized the prisoners locked in that armored glass cage before the hypermarket explosion. Apparently, the cube man had been thoughtful enough to save them before he trashed the place.

"That goes for you too, Prysm." Vexa's voice echoed in their minds again.

The flower woman clenched her teeth and fists in frustration, but orders came first and she retracted the tide of scarlet flower petals into her body and teleported to Jake and the others. She promptly brought out a human-sized Yellow Cube from her Space Storage and asked them to step inside.

"What about Crunch and Lord Phenix? Tim frowned.

Prysm gaped stupidly, then cursed loudly,

" Shit! I'll be right back."

She teleported out of town, then a few seconds later reappeared with Crunch and the giant turkey. Displeased, she growled at Jake,

"You'll have to pay me back all that Aether. Now get in the Yellow Cube, we don't have much time."

"Do as she says." Jake ordered the others, who complied readily.

The wounded prisoners followed by Fo and Trea were the first to disappear into the Yellow Cube, and the Power watching them condescendingly in the sky missed nothing of their actions.

"You really think I'm going to let you escape so easily?" He commented in a gentle, soothing voice. "You destroyed this city and this will be your burial ground."

His hand grabbed the air and a golden chitin javelin was excreted from it. The Schwazen's gaze hardened and a golden, then black halo coated the projectile. Then, at a swiftness beyond comprehension, he threw the weapon he had just created at Jake and his fleeing comrades. Immediately afterwards, he equipped his halberd.

The projectile turned into a blur and shot through the kilometers of empty space separating them in a flash. As it drew near, Jake again felt his cells, DNA, and Aether Code become unstable and break apart despite the protection of the two Cubes conjured by Vexa.

When the impact seemed inevitable, the cube man teleported between them and the javelin wrapped in black light and deflected it with his own sword shrouded in a blinding halo of red, orange, yellow, purple, black and white light.

BANG!

A flash of black light momentarily imprinted their retinas and a blast of darkness instantly engulfed the entire city and the edge of the surrounding forest. The walls of the two cubes shook, a rumble of apocalyptic turbulence raging outside the shield.

Prysm's face clouded over with concern for Vexa, but biting her lip she vented her frustration at Jake and the others,

"What are you waiting for? Get your asses moving!"

CLANG, BANG, BOOOOOM!

Hearing the sounds of bangs, explosions, and sysmic tremors occurring at an insane rate outside the two cubes, Jake and his friends were quick to respond. The scariest part was that the darkness generated by the first collision had still not subsided.

'Xi, is it just dark or... is there nothing left?' Jake wondered with a grim expression.

[Surely a bit of both.] She answered solemnly. [Go now. Don't waste Vexa's sacrifice. Especially since I don't think he will die so easily. After all, it's his job to deal with this kind of threat. If he didn't have the level he wouldn't have received this Ordeal Mission and neither would we. There must be a way to defeat them.]

'That's what I think too.' Jake nodded, his countenance a little more relaxed.

Skorgeld, Tim, then Crunch and Lord Phenix entered the portable Yellow Cube in turn, and soon it was just Jake and Prysm.

"Will he make it?" Jake inquired before stepping into the cube.

The flower woman flinched, but forcing herself to smile she answered,

"He always does. But it's still depressing. One of these days, I'm afraid he won't come back."

BOOOOM!

The walls of the Green Cube shattered and those of the White Cube began to crack quickly. Unsure of what to say and pressed for time, Jake nodded towards the young woman, then disappeared into the Yellow Cube.

The next second he appeared in a bunker that was identical to, yet different from, the previous base they had visited. It was another Mirror Vanguard hideout, a place to fall back to when the first base was compromised.

Seconds later, Prysm popped up behind them, but immediately afterwards the Yellow Cube that had allowed them to reach the site disintegrated, a wave of dark energy consuming its structure. The black light didn't stop there and quickly spread throughout the bunker, disintegrating the floor and walls.

Jake and the other Myrtharian Nerds scrambled back, but the flower woman could not escape. Raising her palms in front of her, she fired millions of flower petals into the black light like a hailstorm. Each time one of these scarlet petals touched that energy, it would turn black and promptly disintegrate.

Nevertheless, Prysm persevered, instead intensifying her petal production and soon the black light began to dim, consumed by the endless tide of flowers. About 5 minutes later, the half-destroyed bunker returned to its original peace, half-buried in a lake of scarlet flowers 7 to 8 meters deep.

"It's okay, we're safe." Prysm sighed as she wiped the sweat off her forehead.

Now all that was left was to wait for Vexa and pray that he was still alive.