The Oracle Paths

The old perfumer stood transfixed for a fleeting second, his HP regen trying to compensate for the hole in his chest, but the bleeding and lack of oxygen overcame him and his vision blurred until it plunged into an eternal abyss.

Thud.

The night breeze blew and the old man's inert corpse toppled backwards, collapsing to everyone's dismay. Jake and Ruby looked on in flustered solemnity as they stared not at the steaming heart, but at the bloody hand grasping it.

That speed... it wasn't something they could easily replicate. In this Ordeal, it was the first time they had encountered such a fast native. When this Vampire had attacked, Jake had not been able to keep track of him with his eyes. To onlookers with less keen senses, the murderer hadn't moved at all.

"If anyone else has anything to say, you are free to speak up." The murderer smiled kindly as he gave the crowd a sympathetic look. "After all, even though you will die, we will all be colleagues in the future."

The refugees and Wengols were taken aback by his friendly words. The tone seemed genial, almost enthusiastic, but then why did they suddenly develop goosebumps?

Of course, Urzul and the other veterans showed a very different reaction. A glance at the Undeads behind them, standing patiently at a distance, made it very clear what kind of collaboration the arrogant Vampire was talking about.

They were going to die, that was for sure.

"Let's go." The female Vampire bearing a resemblance to him motioned with her hand and all the Vampires turned back to the coach they had mysteriously emerged from.

As for the Vampire in the pink shirt, he glanced at one of the three hooded individuals at the back of the group and said,

"Your mission may resume."

The individual nodded silently and suddenly the standing Undeads began to trudge in unison toward them, this apocalyptic vision stirring the refugees' worst traumas.

"Did I give you permission to leave?"

A thunderous voice abruptly echoed in their heads, its vocal force so preposterous that their entire skeleton began to vibrate.

"Who?!"

These Vampires had obviously spotted Jake and Ruby all along, but they hadn't seen fit to take out these two Mutants. As long as they knew their place, they didn't care about these underdogs. If they had any sense at all, they'd better leave their doomed faction and join the soon-to-be-winners!

At no time had they considered the prospect of these Mutants going up against them. The Vampire siblings leading the pack gave him a scowling look and sneered darkly.

"And who am I speaking with?" The Vampire in the pink shirt cracked a smile that wasn't quite one.

"The one who's going to kill you." Jake declared cruelly, glaring at him from his full height.

It wasn't just empty words. Jake might be powerless against all the scheming of those Demons and Undeads, but these Vampires... Even if they were twice as numerous he could settle them with a mere snap of his finger.

Back then, even a Vampire Progenitor like Wyatt had been forced to flee from them. Actually, Jake didn't need to kill them. Just detaining them here for a few seconds would be enough. Once Norton arrived, it would no longer be in his hands.

"Really?" The Vampires waiting to enter the vehicle turned to face him, and a stifling, solemn atmosphere pervaded the procession.

Urzul and the other refugees held their breath as they sensed this Mutant's confidence. His presence was not nearly enough to take on these Vampires. Especially the two siblings leading the group. It was nice to be confident, but this arrogant statement felt more like suicide.

Without realizing it, they had already forgotten the "sunburn" that this overconfident Mutant had inflicted on them. It was easy to forget that a moment earlier the dark night had been momentarily replaced by the zenith of noon.

Reading the contempt on those Vampires' faces, Jake didn't try to explain himself. Decisively, he activated Bloodline Ignition, and his body burst into flames. Realizing what this Mutant was about to do, Urzul's eyes widened and he yelled in panic,

" HIDE!"

Having seen him use this technique in the previous battle, the refugees rushed to their vehicles. Those who didn't had any, didn't hesitate to empty their water supply onto a blanket before throwing themselves under it.

The group of Vampires became increasingly bewildered as they watched the panicked reaction of these human and Wengol warriors, but the torch man above them didn't look so scary. Did he really think that flames of such a substandard temperature would be enough to defeat them?

Of course, Jake had no intention of charring them to death. If that was what would eventually happen, it certainly wouldn't be because of the temperature, but because of the radiation.

In order not to alarm them too soon, he had chosen to only raise his body temperature and energy levels, filtering out the ultraviolet radiation threatening to burst forth from his body. From the perspective of these Vampires, Jake was conjuring some sort of Fire Magic, when in fact he was concocting the ultimate Anti-Vampire Spell.

By the time even Jake began to find the heat burning inside him intolerable, Ruby had long since moved away, positioning herself on the other side of the Vampires, as if to block their path.

Suddenly, a laser beam of extreme brilliance shot out of Jake's pupils, shining down on the Vampires, and in that instant, for the first time, a sense of immeasurable danger threatened to engulf their minds.

The Sun.

A sun magically materialized behind Jake, the latter melting into it like the moon during an eclipse. Its radiance was such that for a moment they thought they were looking at a god. A Sun God.

"AAAAAARRRRGGH!!!"

Then the ultraviolet light struck. An electromagnetic radiation so concentrated and powerful that the temperature on the ground rose by several tens of degrees in an instant. Jake, who was taking the full force of the radiation from his Aether Sun Core before aiming it back at the enemy, had as much of an agonized expression as those Vampires, but unlike them the determination in his eyes was unwavering.

The Vampire siblings below who were overseeing this operation also began to scream in pain, their pale, unblemished skin blistering. Their hair, clothes and robes flared, their skin melted, exposing muscle and then bone, but at a much slower rate than their fellow vamps.

In contrast, the weakest Vampires in this squadron were immolated instantly, turning into human torches. Their glistening white skeletons turned black and began to wither before disintegrating completely.

The young men and women they carried on their shoulders fell heavily to the ground, rolling around in utter disregard. Although their vulnerability to ultraviolet radiation was not as pronounced as that of the Vampires, such highly concentrated radiation would eventually be just as lethal to them.

Their skin was already starting to redden in a worrisome way and the roasting sensation even managed to bring some of these victims out of their unintended coma. The daze and confusion on their faces was plain to see, but in this kind of predicament the survival instinct took over.

Against all odds, Urzul and his troops undertook to brave the radiation to save them. The aliens were sweating out all the flame-retardant oil in their bodies, but even with this precaution, the stench of fried squid soon spread across the plain, whetting the appetites of some of the starving refugees.

Stunned, those who had regained consciousness let themselves be carried out of danger like sacks of flour by the huge aliens, while those still passed out would likely have to thank them later. A few more seconds and they would have suffered torment when they woke up because of the Digitalization.

"Help me!" The enraged cry of the now stark naked pink-shirted Vampire drowned out the sizzling and wailing in agony, his red eyes settling with a pleading expression on the three individuals waiting motionless in front of the carriage.

The three hooded individuals ignored her pleas, a mocking smile almost spreading across their faces. Then sensing several auras approaching, their mirth disappeared and one of them reluctantly nodded, a deep relief loosening the Vampire's muscles.

The man in question took a step toward the charred Vampire, then in the same way those Vampires had kidnapped those humans, he knocked out the two siblings with a swift slap of his hand, then tossed them into the carriage.

Leaving the remaining Vampires to be consumed in utter apathy, their moans of suffering music to his ears, the siblings' savior tore off the cloak covering his body with a firm grip, the cloak being swept away by the wind.

As his cloak was sucked away by an updraft, a deafening roll of thunder blasted their eardrums. A flash of pale blue light followed and a bolt of lightning as thick as a baobab tree's trunk struck the figure. Somehow, the sound of thunder had reached them before the lightning struck, which was completely counterintuitive.

As soon as the lightning struck the individual, the huge bolt of lightning branched out into several hundred thinner bolts of lightning, but still as thick as an adult anaconda. The fireworks of electricity took everyone by surprise, including Jake and Ruby.

Like light, lightning was one of those unbelievably difficult things to avoid. A lightning bolt was 7.5 times slower than light, but at that speed it made no difference. Jake and Ruby were hit by one of these lightning bolts instantly before they could even think of reacting.

Not even a tenth of a thousandth of a second had passed between the start and the end of his attack, but the entire crowd, humans, Wengols and Mutants included, had been electrocuted to death.