The Oracle Paths

A few seconds later, Epsilom and his luminescent cargo ended their journey, radiating against the Voidsteel wall that marked the end of the seemingly endless corridor into which the last conjured mirror had redirected them.

In their photon form, a portion of their energy was absorbed by the steel wall, but the remainder was re-emitted against the surrounding walls, bathing the austere metal corridor in a dazzling radiance. Under Rigel's slightly belated command, Epsilom terminated their transmutation, and the Gorgonite and his mount reappeared, noticeably emaciated and fatigued.

Soon after, the Gorgonite fell to all fours and began to vomit the contents of his stomach: a conglomerate of gems and minerals, along with other less identifiable substances. The Sinewshade serving as his mount showed no reaction, but its trembling legs and subtle sway betrayed its exhaustion.

Hade and Lyra also ended their fusion, separating from each other. The Sinewshade version of the Fluid Grandmaster remained as stoic as Rigel's mount, but his pallid appearance also indicated that the energy consumption had been severe.

Their sickly appearance, however, was short-lived, their robust Digestor vitality quickly restoring them. A second and a half later, their group was as fresh as a daisy.

"Goddamn transmutation," Rigel grumbled, struggling to his feet, his expression nauseated. "Epsilom, if I weren't certain that the Sinewshade virus has indeed affected you and that you're completely loyal to me, I'd swear this was intentional.

Next time, deactivate the transmutation before we hit a wall."

"..."

Epsilom provided no response, but Rigel didn't expect one anyway. Although his former fellow disciple had more or less managed to preserve his original appearance due to his ethereal nature, the virus had significantly degraded his consciousness. Obeying simple commands was already the best one could hope for from him.

Anyway, even if Epsilom had all his mental faculties, he would probably have responded that he couldn't have done anything anyway. Once transformed into light, he moved so fast that controlling his trajectory was already the best he could do, let alone precisely controlling where to stop or turn.

That's why Epsilom's combat style was usually based on premeditation. He calculated and predicted his movements and those of his enemies before acting, with the slightest mistake potentially causing his death if he wasn't careful.

To take the example of the radiation against the Voidsteel wall that had absorbed a fraction of their energy and re-emitted the rest like any non-white surface, one mistake and it was game over for him.

For instance, all it took was for him to radiate against one of those black surfaces specifically treated to absorb 99.999% of the light, and he would end up crippled.

Worse, the remainder would be re-emitted and would ricochet off the surrounding walls thousands of times at the speed of light, draining his energy all the faster.

A single timing error could indeed be fatal to him. Rigel had every reason to be upset with him. Even a surface absorbing only 5% of the emitted light could do a lot of damage after the cycle of re-emission/reabsorption had been repeated a few hundred times.

"At least, I managed to recover Syrbarun," Rigel growled contemptuously, taking the glass cage from Hade's hands.

A sadistic smirk crept onto his rocky face as he saw the pitiful Brain-Eater floating in a morose and depressed manner in his glass prison.

"Haha, you can't know how happy it makes me to see you so miserable," the Gorgonite chuckled, openly reveling in the parasite's fate.

The apathetic silence of the miniature Syrbarun quickly killed his excitement until Rigel realized with astonishment,

"It can't see me?"

He then attempted telepathic communication without response, then tried to break the glass cage in vain.

"Alright, it's pretty tough. I'll have to take a look at this later," the Gorgonite admitted temporary defeat, his stone nostrils dilating and cracking in response to his frustration.

Rigel didn't dwell any longer on this setback and, mounting his mount, ordered his small escort to get moving again. Even if he had shaken off Jake and that damn Oracle Guardian, he knew he wouldn't be so lucky next time.

For this reason, after a few detours to confuse the tracks with the help of the Dungeon Digestor reshaping the corridors, his group rushed straight to the Nexus as originally planned, aware that their ticket to leave the Magnetic Resonator would be played out in a matter of seconds.

If he missed the boat, they would be abandoned without mercy by the Digestor supposed to repatriate them and left to their own devices.

Rigel, despite the worry and persistent discomfort knotting his stomach for a while, began to feel a resurgence of optimism as he approached his destination without further incident. In the middle of the long corridor opening directly onto the Nexus chamber, the Gorgonite's hopeful excitement was at its peak when something unthinkable happened:

The presence of the Dungeon Digestor retracted abruptly at a blistering speed. It was so sudden that the Brain-Eater first thought that Jake had caught up with him and that he had just been discarded by the Digestor like Syrbarun a little earlier.

He turned around in panic, his eyes bulging with extreme fear, but he was only more confused when he found that the corridor stretching behind him was resolutely empty.

"Maybe the Dungeon Digestor recalled its Spirit Body because our driver just arrived?" Rigel guessed to reassure himself. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense.

Once self-convinced of his theory, the Gorgonite found himself even more motivated and anxiously spurring his mount, he launched it at full gallop to cover the distance separating him from the end of the corridor. Epsilom, Hade, and Lyra followed without a word, as expressive as robots.

A few seconds later, Rigel and his escort burst into a vast metal room whose ceiling was shaped like a large dome. The chamber was as spacious as three football fields, and a twelve-story building could fit comfortably between the floor and the vaulted ceiling.

In the center of the room, a translucent, diamond-shaped structure with multiple facets but iridescent with silver light veins levitated, slowly spinning a meter above the ground. These facets, like miniature mirrors, hypnotically reflected the light, creating a kaleidoscope of dancing reflections with each movement. Each of these crystalline faces was a work of art in itself, cut with a precision that no jeweler could imitate.

Rigel let out a loud sigh of relief as he recognized the gem.

"Praise the World Eater, the Nexus is still here! I'm not too late," he congratulated himself, cheerfully jumping off his mount.

"Indeed, you arrived just in time. We were waiting for you," an unpleasantly familiar voice immediately echoed his joy, a horrible chill running down his spine.

Stiffening, the Gorgonite slowly turned his head, his face tense, his gaze empty as if life had just left his body. A bitter smile then distorted his face.

"In the end, I was still too late," he grimaced, activating his Oracle Shield without hesitation.

Unlike theirs, his was black and its fluctuations were stable, not seeming ready to run out of Aether for a while. Seeing this, Jake and Saros immediately realized that of the two Brain-Eaters, the Digestors attached more importance to Rigel than to Syrbarun.

Was it because the former was more competent or because of their host choice? A Gorgonite undoubtedly had a higher potential than a Vrusug in terms of bloodline.

Without knowing it, Jake was quite close to the truth. Brain-Eaters devoured the soul and brain of their hosts, but their mutation potential was almost nonexistent. Their value was mainly determined by the host they controlled.

However, this did not mean that the digested genetic and Aetheric material was lost. Brain-Eaters could also grant bloodlines and abilities to their hosts if they wished, based on their own internal database. If they were devoured by another Digestor, the latter would obtained all their genetic and Aetheric database in the process.

A Brain-Eater who had possessed powerful hosts was therefore a powerful tool to increase the quality and guide the evolution of other Digestors and Evolvers. From this point of view, Rigel was certainly more valuable than Syrbarun, whose only host he had ever controlled was a mere Vrusug.

Jake and Saros watched the Black Oracle Shield enveloping Rigel with vigilance.

Jake was just wary and curious, but the Oracle Guardian had a much more ominous expression.

"So, you've already managed to establish your Aether network up to here," Saros said with extreme coldness and gravity. "Is it the death of Lure and what you stole from our Aether Network that allowed you to develop so quickly?"

"Who knows?" Rigel responded vaguely, backing towards the Nexus without taking his eyes off them.