The Oracle Paths

”Lost Divinities is gone. They summoned a strange building that looked like an ancient temple littered with statues. The temple vanished right after.”

”The Pantheon of the Gods.” Radur snarled gloomily. ”Inside they can use their Divinities at full power. This artifact is like an antenna that amplifies their connection to their main Divinity as well as all their believers. Incidentally, it can also be used as a means of transportation, a temporary fortress AND to make matters worse... concealment.”

”They want to force us to attack first.” Will commented matter-of-factly.

”They know we canʼt afford to wait.” Enya agreed. ”What do we do?”

Vexa thought silently for a few seconds, then sighed, ”I know Ael well. There is no doubt that Anti-Life and the Mirror Vanguards are his target. He has the same goal as we do, to reduce the number of participants below 10,000. He may hold a grudge, but there arenʼt enough of you to change the course of the Ordeal even if we wipe you out.”

”If we canʼt avoid the trap, letʼs make sure we choose which way we shall fall into it.” Alef, the highest ranking member of Rubyʼs team, suddenly came forward. ”Mirror Vanguard should attack Anti-Life. The rest of us will intercept Vhoskaud and his armies. Lost Divinities will probably ambush you when youʼre at your worst, but no matter what the scenario losses are inevitable.”

”Why should we take all the risks?!” A Mirror Vanguard Player protested angrily as he grabbed the old officer by the throat. Others joined him in his protests right after.

”Letʼs fight.” Vexa flatly ruled, leaving no room for argument. His subordinates, Radur and Prysm stared at him and he added, ”Those who are slain will be compensated. We are Mirror Vanguard. Weʼre not afraid of anything or anyone. Letʼs set an example.”

Those who protested fell silent as the one strangling Alef loosened his grip. The instructor massaged his sore neck as he glared at the Player behind the choking, but he refrained from voicing his opinion again.

Turning to Jake, Vexa added, ”You okay with that?”

”Yeah, but we should take some precautions...”

A second later, Mirror Vanguard broke away from their group and the sounds of explosions and clashes of metal weapons of all kinds echoed a few hundred meters away. With the exception of Jake, no one had a clear view of what was going on.

”The opponent that Vexa was fighting earlier directly came to meet him. Their confrontation has begun. Vexa has the advantage.” He reported to his comrades. ”Our turn.”

As they also set off, an explosion of antimatter ripped through the black clouds from the battlefield of Vexa and the others. Jake winced as he discovered that one-fifth of the Mirror Vanguard Players had been taken out by that one blast. The rest had already activated their Oracle Shields.

Apparently she hadnʼt used all of her bugs before.

”Letʼs hurry!” Jake urged his companions as he felt a sense of urgency.

At the same time, thousands of orange cubes scattered through his Purgatory like a swarm of mosquitoes, covering the entire Celestial City. This was the plan they had decided on with Vexa so that they could move quickly through the battlefield to help each other.

”Only 90 seconds left.”

Jake and those who could teleport appeared all around Vhoskaud and Psykow a split second later. Before any of them could even hit the drop-shaped alien, it vanished as if it had never been there.

”Damn it, where did it go?!” Drastan bellowed as his steel club smashed the ground at its former position.

With Vhoskaudʼs gigantic body impossible to ignore, all the other attackers pounced on him after his ally abandoned him.

”Psykow!!!” The android roared as he was bombarded by various spells at full power.

A blurred figure charged at him at lightning speed, a blinding spray of sparks formed an arc in the air and his huge right arm fell heavily to the ground. Lucia reappeared a few meters behind him, holding her sword in both hands.

”Tch! I wanted to cut his head off.”