The Oracle Paths

Shatug Empire, in a remote coniferous valley a few hundred kilometers south of Celestial City.

Over the past months and years, the landscape had changed beyond recognition. The once lush forest of giant pines had given way to a complex of futuristic factories constantly spewing clouds of unsettling black smoke.

The mountains surrounding the valley had been almost entirely mined, turning the former valley into a flat plain before evolving into a mile-deep pit that kept growing deeper every day.

Millions of androids were working like worker ants to run these factories, expand the base, build, reinforce the existing structures and defenses, deforest and mine... There were androids of all sizes, shapes and hues and most of them were over six meters tall and possessed energy levels incomparable to those that Lucia and the others had faced.

The materials that made them up were also much more valuable. There were no more ordinary metals used in their design and in addition to the local Adamantium, Mithril and Orichalcum, there were many extraordinary materials not found on Quanoth.

At the center of this factory complex stood the most gigantic and majestic android the planet had ever harbored. If Jake and the other Myrtharian Nerds had been present, they would have recognized Vhoskaud's features on this robot.

But this one was very different from the clones Jake and his faction had eliminated so far. This android was an unprecedented machine of war and destruction, both offensively and defensively invulnerable.

Nearly 100 meters tall, its armor was several meters thick and made of an alloy of Adamantium and Oranium, a metal almost unheard of before the Sixth Ordeal. This technological monster looked vaguely like a carbon-gray Optimus Prime, with its long vibrating sword plugged into its back by a powerful magnet.

The surface of its body seemed to be constantly recombining, adopting the shape of various tools, weapons and structures as the need arose. On its shoulders, six large laser cannons as wide as a frigate were constantly monitoring the valley, ready to destroy any threat at the slightest incursion. Its arms, knees, heels, elbows, chest and even its head were not to be outdone, each one sporting various plasma cannons, missile launchers and other ultra advanced gadgets.

If that wasn't terrifying enough, its robotic eyes were like two black holes slightly distorting the space around them and the body of this huge android was enveloped in a thin halo of dark energy, so dense that anything that inadvertently came in contact with it was instantly disintegrated as if millions of years had passed in the blink of an eye.

Suddenly, its two black eyes flickered several times before stabilizing again. The titanic android woke up, a slight frown appearing on its metallic face.

"Hmmm... The android WX896, series 7 is dead and the Laudarkvik mission is a failure. How unexpected." The real Vhoskaud commented deadpan.

Its personality seemed very different from that of its clone. There was a deep apathy in this huge robot and an analytical rationality pushed to the extreme that prevented it from feeling any emotion.

Its only real motivation was its will to grow, to proliferate. Compared to the clones that Jake and his companions had defeated, which were emotional and temperamental, this one behaved more like an artificial intelligence devoid of feelings.

And no doubt that made this Vhoskaud much more dangerous.

At that moment, when the android was considering satisfying its curiosity by contacting Lost Divinities to find out how it turned out, it received a communication request.

"Lost Divinities? What do they want from me? Don't tell me..."

The robot accepted the call and the giant hologram of a hooded man appeared in front of him. The only distinguishing features of this individual were his black robe and his light blue skin, streaked with darker blue stripes.

"Nullifyer, to what do I owe the honor of this call?" Vhoskaud asked in an amused tone, cutting straight to the point.

A deep, chill-inducing voice reverberated throughout the valley,

"Shamash is dead. Lost Divinities is withdrawing from Laudarkvik."

Vhoskaud's eyebrows rose slightly in surprise. That its clone had been defeated was not such a big deal, but an entire subfaction of Lost Divinities was there, along with three of their senior officers and several extremely dangerous free agents. Shamash was one of those free agents who was known to be infallible.

"I assume that you are not just contacting me to inform me of your decision. After all, Laudarkvik's fate is no longer my concern." The android finally replied, knowing full well that the Nullifyer was not the kind of person to waste its own or anyone else's time.

"Of course not." The man shook his head. "Our clash in Celestial City is inevitable, but I would like us to temporarily collaborate in order to exterminate our common enemy, what do you say?"

Vhoskaud was really taken aback this time.

"You want to make an alliance with me to wipe out ordinary Players? Can't you kill them yourself? Laudarkvik's failure is a minor setback, but it doesn't change the big picture. If they don't attack me directly, I don't care about these humans. However, if our paths cross in the Celestial City then be sure I won't give them any quarter."

"That's all I wanted to hear." The Nullifyer's hologram snorted before disappearing.

Finding itself alone in the valley, the android's gaze faded and the silence fell, leaving only the rumble of factories and workers toiling away.

"The final day promises to be exciting." The robot murmured before becoming still again.

Simultaneously, the millions of hard-working androids suddenly increased their work intensity and deforestation accelerated in leaps and bounds, while brand new robots were churned out of the factories nonstop.

*****

A new sun rose over Laudarkvik, but the sky remained inky black. The fire had finally been brought under control after two whole districts had burned down.

The Myrtharian Nerds did not immediately take control of Laudarkvik after most of the demons had left, choosing to ignore Xaverie and Seskel, the two remaining leaders of the enemy coalition.

They had won the battle, but the casualty figures were devastating for Jake and Wyatt. Wyatt had lost all of his comrades except Seren, while Jake had lost nearly half of the Myrtharian Nerds accompanying him.

Svara, who could bring the souls of dead heroes back to life and stabilize their condition with her Valkyrie Bloodline, managed to save several dozen of them, bringing the death ratio down to 37%.

In the end, nearly 500 Myrmidians had lost their lives, as well as about forty ordinary Players. That was more than 20% of their faction in total.

In addition to the official Players, Lucia had lost most of the Knights and Dragonids she had recruited. Unfortunately, that was before she invited them to join the Myrtharian Nerds. These short-lived allies could not be saved and had died irreparably.

As for Haynt, he had managed to survive. Once the battle was over, he reported to their headquarters on his own.

The once powerful and feared Astral was now a shadow of his former self, his body barely bigger than the flame of a candle. The native assured them that his life was not in danger and that he would recover sooner or later by relying on his Constellation, but it would surely take decades.

Jake couldn't wait that long and invited him into his underground cavern and placed him in the center of an Aether Sun Cores formation. The Astral was so shocked and surprised by the stream of revitalizing energy that poured into his heart that he immediately let out an involuntary moan of pleasure.

With a timid "Thank you", he began his meteoric recovery. But even so it would probably take him several weeks to recover. After all he had lost 98% of the energy accumulated in more than 900 years. It couldn't be made up in such a short time.

Jake had no intention of taking any more unnecessary risks and decided to wait for the remaining members to arrive at his fortified camp outside the city.

The afternoon after the night battle, Drastan, the Versing Troll Hunter, arrived with thousands of trolls of all sizes and varieties. There were mountain trolls as tall as houses, forest trolls as tall as trees and covered with bark and moss, and even stranger trolls covered with fur, scales or a carapace.

The arrival of these heavy monsters armed with gigantic clubs suddenly woke up the mourning camp, but they relaxed when they recognized the muscular ebony. Seeing their mournful expressions he knew at once that something serious had happened. Familiar with Hephais and Svara, he asked them what had happened and sighed with relief after hearing everything,

"Sigh... If I had arrived even a few hours earlier my troll army would have been exterminated. Their regeneration is monstrous, but their minds are their biggest weakness. They would have made short work of the Undeads and Androids, but the soul attack of this Shamash would have been lethal. I'll have to find a way to deal with this issue before we face them again."

They discussed for a while the possible solutions, namely the adamantium helmet, but Drastan knew at once that it would be expensive to equip his whole army of trolls.