The Oracle Paths

With the exception of Xaverie, no one refused the fight. Jake didn't need that many people, so he declared,

"I can take one of these Virtues alone. The second Virtue will be the responsibility of Lucia, Asfrid, Gerulf and Rogen. Hade, Mufasa, and Shere Khan are in charge of releasing Virtue Caphriel. The others will provide a diversion by engaging the other Schwazen guards."

The other Myrtharian Nerds, with the exception of Hade and Asfrid, were stunned when they saw his confidence. They hadn't faced a Virtue, but they had heard from Tim and the others how their encounter with a mere Power had played out.

"Trust me. Even I have no idea how powerful I am if I get serious." Jake said boldly.

He released a sliver of the Aether contained in his Grade 4 Aether Core and Lucia and the others turned pale as they sensed an Aether density over 60 times that of the rest of the planet.

"This..." Lucia frowned.

"That's just my Aether Core.

The Myrmidian princess said nothing, but she was dying to know how he had increased his power so much in such a short time. Of course, Hade and Asfrid had no intention of spilling the beans.

"What about Ruby and the other Digestor Trojans?" Tim raised his hand.

"If Caphriel is released in time, they won't have time to go anywhere." Svara retorted calmly. "Their correct reaction should be to rush the ritual to receive their Corrupted Angel Bloodine sooner. According to the information obtained by Hephais and Mirror Vanguard, they need at least one Virtue and 10 Powers to preside over the ritual. So there's a non-trivial possibility that Temple Digestor's Virtue will choose to ignore us and send what's left of his army instead."

"Why aren't Shere Khan and I in charge of fighting these two Virtues?" Mufasa rumbled in a bad mood. "I am the strongest."

"No you're not." Lucia scoffed as she gave the huge lion a swift, mischievous kick.

Even Shere Khan rolled his eyes with a fed-up face.

Ignoring the narcissistic lion, Hade turned to Jake and asked in a low tone,

"You're going to use this... technique?"

Asfrid also became serious upon hearing the Fluid Grandmaster mention this moment.

"No, I've learned my lesson. But this experience has given me new ideas. I just need one move. If the Virtue survives this, we might as well abort the mission and bail out right now. Give me a minute."

"Lend me a Grade 6 Aether Core." Hade requested as he understood his plan.

"Sure."

The eyes of Lucia, Xaverie and the other Myrtharian Nerds became wide as the tiny Aether sphere appeared in Jake's hand. The surrounding Aether was instantly siphoned off, but before they could worry about it Hade stowed it away in his Space Storage.

Jake then flew solo at dozens of times the speed of sound and proceeded to position several dozen Grade 5 and 6 Aether Cores while setting them up for what was to come. It was a risky move, as these Aether Cores could easily be stolen in his absence.

When he returned, Jake marched wordlessly toward the Temple of Aurae to the dumbfounded expressions of his subordinates. Cradel had been completely razed to the ground, so his lone figure was as striking as if he had come with a huge army.

'Miniaturization disabled.'

His handsome body swelled abruptly, regaining the alien and terrifying appearance of an almost 8 meter tall giant. The Double Bloodline Ignition enabled by his armor kicked in right after and a plasma crater dozens of meters deep instantly evaporated beneath him.

The black clouds above them began to spiral ominously and the roar of thunder shattered the silence, as huge purple bolts of lightning lashed relentlessly at Jake below. This display of passive might alone shocked not only Gerulf and the other Kintharians, but also Azeus, the lightning user. Since when was he capable of such a feat?

As Jake stood at the zenith of his glory, a pillar of black light as wide as a skyscraper and shrouded in a halo of dark gold light burst out of the ground and engulfed his figure, the dark beam drilling a hole in the clouds that came to a stop just short of the Mana Storm over a hundred kilometers above.

"Jake!" Lucia yelled, intending to dash to his help, but Hade and Asfrid held her back.

"Don't worry, he knows what he's doing."

Indeed, a few seconds later the pillar faded away and Jake's silhouette reappeared a few meters ahead, while his Oracle Shield's aura flickered erratically. At the same time, in front of the temple of Aurae a Schwazen very different from the others walked slowly outside.

This angel was barely taller than the Power they had met six weeks ago. Its ideally proportioned face radiated serenity and benevolence, but it was only a mask. It also had 8 wings, but besides their deep golden color, the tips were as dark as obsidian, absorbing all light. The golden-black chitin covering its body formed an impenetrable plate armor of an almost bulky thickness. A helmet also protected its head, exposing only its eyes burning like two yellow black suns. A huge falchion rested in his right hand, and a huge bulwark in his left.

"Leave. You are not welcome here." Virtue hissed in a raspy, icy voice.

As the sound of its voice carried to Jake, he felt his Oracle Shield corroding and he sneered inwardly. Even as it spoke, this monstrosity was trying to kill him with its True Will of Destruction.

The angel having clearly shown his insincerity by attacking first Jake retaliated in kind with the full extent of his power. With a thought he activated all the Aether Sun Cores in position.

His 112 Grade 4 Aether Sun Cores and 16 Grade 5 Aether Sun Cores emitted a superheated laser beam simultaneously that struck his single Grade 6 Aether Sun Core at the speed of light. The Grade 6 Aether Core activated in turn and all that radioactive heat and light was channeled, compressed and re-emitted right back at the Schwazen Virtue.

BOOOOOOM!

No matter how strong this angel was, his reaction time could not exceed the speed of light. That was the limit of the natives. Without any Oracle Device to predict the behavior of their enemies there were moves they could not respond to.

Still, its mind was powerful, the equivalent of a Spirit Body level 100. At this level, even without being an Eltarian the mind was closely connected to the Aether Dream and possessed some degree of foresight.

But so what? Even if this Virtue sensed danger looming, why would it fear a measly Player? At best, it was just an ant that was slightly fatter than the others.

With indifference, the Schwazen raised its shield and ducked behind it.

Fatal mistake.

A laser of several hundred million degrees hit the bulwark hard and it melted instantly, a fiery hole instantly replacing the alien's chest and a good third of its Spirit Body. The heat was so scorching that it spread to the rest of his body, overheating its cells to the point of no return.

Sensing his imminent death, the Virtue flapped its wings decisively to propel itself above Jake to retaliate, but could it outrun a laser? As soon as Jake glanced up at him, the laser locked onto its position again and its already partially regenerated body was nuked again.

Even so, Virtue showed no signs of panic, understanding that this attack would cease as soon as Jake was killed or lost consciousness. The alien discarded its shield and grabbed its falchion with both hands despite the fact that its torso and head were already disintegrated.

A pillar of black and gold light enveloped what remained of its body and blade, momentarily halting the concentrated laser that threatened the angel's existence. Jake's Oracle Shield sizzled, then overloaded before the enemy sword even hit him.

Despite this, Jake remained completely stoic. He raised his right hand in front of him and grabbed the void. At the same time, a Grade 6 Aether Core appeared in his left hand and a stream of Aether with a density of several million was instantly converted into Grade 1 Strength Aether, the only Grade of Aether Encoding he could insta-cast presently.

A torrent of Red Aether poured into his right hand, as did nearly all of the Aether in his body, whether it was from his Aether stats or his Aether Core.

An unbending will set his soul ablaze and Jake growled in a low voice,

"Bye."

Jake's fist exploded, but the Virtue's fate was far worse. His existence was erased. Where the Schwazen angel stood, space distorted, then cracked open into a thin spatial rift that closed a few milliseconds later.

What was left of the pillar of black light was sucked into the spatial rift before it closed, leaving no trace of the arrogant Virtue's time on this planet. A deathly silence settled over the ruined capital of Cradel.

A Player who was not from a super faction had just killed a Schwazen Virtue.