The Oracle Paths

When the tense silence between them seemed destined to linger, his fat black cat decided it was the perfect time to prance pretentiously in front of them, chin held high like an emperor parading before his subjects. As soon as Amy recognized the furry feline, all the tension on her pretty face evaporated instantly, giving way to an excited shriek.

"Eeeeeek! Crunch?! You're still alive!" Amy scooped him off the floor before he could protest, forcibly cuddling him against her soft chest.

Well, that should have been the case, but the breastplate she was wearing made the experience far less pleasant for the cat, who already sported a look of dissent, his fur bristling with discontent.

"Tch! Of course, I'm alive!" The cat hissed, forcefully pushing away the Earthling's cheek with his short paws. "You thought a being as unique as me would croak so easily? Now, it's Sir Crunch to you."

Amy might have been saddened by this rejection if his soft and smooth pink pads hadn't made the cat's flailing even more endearing. Exceptionally, the feline shot a plea for help with his eyes toward his master and turkey friend, but both averted their gaze with a gloating smirk.

Crunch immediately stopped struggling, yielding himself to his fate. However, his wounded glare promised vengeance, giving them a bad feeling, especially Lord Phenix, who was much more aware of his vices than Jake.

Even after leaving Lustris, Amy never once set the cat down on the ground, much to his great despair. He had long since stopped resisting, his body hanging limply like a ragdoll on the young woman's slender forearm.

Once at a safe distance from the capital where the Radiant Conclave resided, the two envoys, Lady Lyria and Faye, eventually bid them farewell. Since freeing the hostages, they hadn't uttered a word, too shaken by his prompt and merciless way of sentencing his compatriots to death by disintegration.

The vixen was already completely charmed by him, but for the Archive Keeper, who still had her wits about her, it was undoubtedly eye-opening. If they hadn't been on opposing sides, she surely would have wanted to learn more about him. That was the case here too, but her quest for information about the foreigner would solely be to defeat him or, at least, neutralize him until the end of their 'Ordeal'.

"What will happen to Faye once we leave?" She asked nonetheless, not out of concern for the seductress, but out of professional principle in case the Lustra Plains faced foreigners with similar abilities.

Jake could have kept this information to himself to advantage his side, but this data could easily be obtained from the foreigners fighting for the Radiant Conclave. A bit of honesty in this case would cost him nothing and leave a good impression.

"Assuming I don't unleash my natural charm every time she crosses paths with me and she takes time to wean off all that oxytocin rush and who knows what other neurotransmitters have short-circuited her brain... With her vitality, I'd say the effects of the crush will be flushed out of her system in a few minutes. The memory and the impact it had on her psyche and soul, though, won't fade anytime soon. You, natives of the Lustra Plains, have vigorous physiques, but comparatively weak minds. It depends on her."

The answer was not as optimistic as Lyria had hoped, but not entirely negative either. If what Faye experienced was comparable to an exponentially multiplied orgasm, then indeed, even physically weaned off the side effects, the mental traces of such a memory would likely affect her for a long time.

If she had been the one to experience it, such a significant event would surely have become an indelible memory, one that shapes a human being's mind like a favorite meal or first love. At least, Faye wasn't a victim of trauma...

Or was she? A cruel smile twisted the blonde woman's face once Jake and the freed prisoners were out of her sight.

She was anxious to see how the detestable vixen would react when the euphoria of limerence gave way to the horror of having willingly donated her entire fortune to an enemy. Just thinking about it, she subconsciously began to giggle.

"Hey, what's making you laugh, Lyr?" Faye's question, in a naughty, mock concerned voice, instantly turned the Archive Keeper's timid giggle into uproarious laughter.

"Hahahahahaha!"

Even after returning to Lustris, she refrained from explaining to the young woman. One thing was certain: she wasn't the only one laughing heartily that night.

The three men seated on their gleaming golden thrones were chuckling in the same manner, but their stiffened features and pupils burning with a sinister glow signaled their forced laughter masked other intentions. While they were more than happy to see the bitch ruined, it didn't change the fact that many of her treasures gifted to the enemy had once belonged to them or their ancestors.

As soon as circumstances allowed, they would make Faye pay dearly. For now, though, they still needed her until the end of this war.

If there were two people laughing even more bitterly than the three Radiant Conclave members present, it was the two Rank 17 Players still stoically waiting in the throne room. Kaelum was still being pecked at by Featherfall's brood, but Weiss and Shadrex had waited all along, wishing for a miracle.

That miracle hadn't happened… Though maintaining a serene appearance, their telepathic conversation was far more animated.

'He charmed one of the 5 Radiant Conclave members, swiped all her fortune, freed the prisoners, and left Lustris as if he were strolling in his own garden,' Weiss summarized gloomily. 'Compared to him, Cho Min Ho is almost a harmless pup.'

'Cho Min Ho has strength in numbers,' Shadrex clarified, speaking normally rather than in riddles – a sign he was taking the situation very seriously. 'But I agree with you. Our Oracle Paths don't work as they should on him or his companions. Only my divination powers have shown some effectiveness, but the backlash was disproportionate to previous times.'

He was not exaggerating about the failure of their Oracle Paths concerning Jake's companions. The case of Hephais was one thing, but their operations targeting numerous members of the Myrtharian Nerds had also gone horribly awry.

Every second, they received a barrage of notifications from Doomhorn informing them of the failure of one or more of these assassination missions. It was bearable when the dispatched Players managed to return home unscathed or with minor injuries, but several of their elites had perished at the hands of the prey they were supposed to hunt.

That night had truly turned into a nightmare...

*****

"Our fate... brightens," Nyx declared anew, a field of corpses stretching as far as the eye could see, the forest's topography they had been treading completely transformed.

With hundreds of Myrtharian Nerds by their side, only a few had regrettably lost their lives during the surprise assault by the enemy. The thousands of corpses belonged to Players from the other Mirror Universe. Ironically, they were the attackers.

Anyway. Providence had smiled upon them as always. As long as the two twins were with them, everything appeared to go their way.

"Alright. Let's get back on the road to find our hubby~," Eris sang out, clapping her hands cheerfully.

The survivors nearly fainted upon hearing this, but knowing that convincing the two sisters to change their minds was almost as futile as trying to extinguish the sun with a glass of water, they sighed resignedly, gritted their teeth, and set off again laboriously towards an unknown destination...

*****

Millions of kilometers away, at the extreme south of Twyluxia, a gigantic crater filled with lava had replaced the tranquil Lumyst Water tributary that once meandered through these lands. The area for tens of kilometers around had been completely ravaged, with hot clouds of ash constantly blowing over the entire zone, rendering it uninhabitable for human life.

At the center of this hell of embers and evaporated black ash, a muscular giant covered in wounds struggling to regenerate still brandished his heavy, glowing greatsword overhead in a victory pose. The watery corpse of the Player supposed to be his nemesis, who had been guided here by his Oracle Path, was nowhere to be seen.

"You were a worthy opponent. Rest in peace," Gerulf declared in his deep voice, eventually sheathing his sword.

The gladiator champion had once again defended his title!