The Oracle Paths

Atop the tallest skyscraper in a city as future-looking as it was magnificent, two aliens stood side by side. The sky was inky black, the clouds so low they could almost touch them with their fingertips when they raised their hands.

This city was somewhat odd. Its size was that of a small town, but the buildings had very random shapes and volumes. Periodically, after the death of a certain number of individuals, the city would reconfigure itself, the buildings changing in architecture and size.

A room that looked like a small cave just large enough to house a dwarf or a gnome could suddenly turn into a gigantic tree house capable of catering to the most whimsical dryad.

Each of these buildings had its own setting and size at any given time. It could be an anti-matter sphere, a vacuum zone, a star core or even the most ordinary brick and concrete mansion.

The key point was that there were exactly 10,000 buildings. This place was known as the Celestial City.

For the natives, this place was their Noah's Ark, their only hope. The environmental eccentricities of this place did not matter to them. But these two aliens, as Anti-Life Players, knew a lot more.

Just by looking at these buildings, they could easily determine who had the best chance of surviving to the end. For each of these buildings represented a future winner!

For someone like Aurae with an Oracle Rank many times higher than them, predicting who the final winners would be was child's play. And yet, the appearance and configuration of these buildings changed regularly, as if to remind them that nothing was yet decided.

In the heart of the city, there was a 10001st building that never changed in appearance or location. It was a gigantic fairy-tale castle with long, pointed towers, just like in fantasy stories.

The structure was protected by a domed force field that was absolutely impregnable. Even if an asteroid the size of a planet crashed into it at half the speed of light, the shield would hold.

Inside, one could discern green lawns and fields of colorful flowers, but also hear and glimpse people laughing and joking happily. It was as if the chaos raging outside did not exist.

This fairytale castle was the renowned Divine Academy, the place where Ulfar, the King of Beskyr had landed since the very first second of the Ordeal.

In front of the two aliens standing stoically atop the skyscraper, at the far end of their line of sight a curtain of frightfully dense stormy clouds of smoke was rapidly drawing closer to them, destroying everything in its path. Millions of animals, aliens and Players fled in their direction in an attempt to outrun it, but many were caught again and again. The unfortunate ones swallowed up by the black veil would utter a brief, gut-wrenching scream, then fall silent forever, never to surface again.

From time to time, a purple lightning bolt as large as the skyscraper on which the two aliens were standing would shoot out of the curtain of dark clouds, arbitrarily striking whatever had the misfortune to stand in their way. When a building was hit, it would instantly be vaporized. When it was a native or a Player, not only their bodies, but their souls would also be shattered.

For the natives, it was the end of the journey. For the Players, it was the end of a long Ordeal, but this one lethal electrocution guaranteed that most of their reward credits would be consumed by their healing costs.

For the Oracle, saving them from total annihilation was already a gesture of mercy. After this Ordeal, no one would come to save them from certain death...

To the west of the skyscraper where the two aliens were standing, a colossal robot resembling Optimus Prime but a thousand times more terrifying was watching all these people die with the same sadistic indifference that a child would have when flooding an anthill. Watching those ants flailing around desperately without being aware of their own insignificance was his favorite hobby.

The android had already claimed the steel building that he felt was rightfully his.

"The black curtain will be upon us in less than thirty minutes but still no sign of Lost Divinities and Mirror Vanguard." One of the two aliens suddenly broke the silence with his dolphin-like inhuman voice.

This alien was an alien creature with the appearance of a large turquoise blob of water, cute autonomous tentacles serving as its prehensile and sensory organs. Twelve black eyes without sclera were arranged in a circle in the center of the drop, in the center of which a thirteenth eye reminiscent of the primordial light of the big bang was overseeing everything that was happening. The psychic fluctuations emanating from this creature were absolutely breathtaking.

"Shall I use the Antimatter Bug to flush them out, Psykow?" Its comrade frowned in a feminine voice as she lovingly stroked the metal box wedged under her elbow.

This second alien was a humanoid creature with a vaguely feminine silhouette. Vaguely, because it looked like a Black Hole in human form. Her body absorbed all light and reflected nothing. The air distorted around her, the particles of Aether and Mana decaying as she approached.

"Let's wait a little longer." The so-called Psykow shrieked in irritation as it swept its gaze over the few dangerous creatures that had claimed their own building in Celestial City.

Because their auras were dangerous and the time to fight had not yet come, it was willing to spare them for the moment. It knew that fighting now would only benefit their enemies.

Minutes passed and all of the slow-moving natives and Players who were fleeing the black cloud had long since been swallowed up. Those who remained were the elite of the elite. If Jake were present, he would have recognized several faces among them, such as Abbikesh, the leader of the Human Faction of Laudarkvik, or Laudar Vikien, the Baron of Lodunvals.

Right now, they were not as arrogant as before, running as if their lives depended on it with fear in their bellies. They had long since abandoned their subordinates and even their families. The Emperor of Ret'Asi whom they were supposed to serve with loyalty had long since been overtaken by the black curtain.

The catch was that as powerful as they were, there was only so much room inside the Celestial City and its environs. As the curtain of clouds approached at breakneck speed, the millions of creatures, warriors and elite players camped at the edge of the city threw away their hesitation and prepared to storm into the city.

Those further out were suddenly attacked by the millions of desperate fugitives willing to do anything to survive. Abbikesh and Laudar, accompanied by his faithful carnivorous pegasus Actalaus, threw themselves into the fray, decapitating hundreds of Drurs stationed there with one swing of their swords.

The giants with Quanoth's most advanced technology immediately opened fire and a barrage of Psionic energy rained down on them, forming a blinding beam of light that instantly blasted Laudar's head. Abbikesh held out a little longer, dodging a few bursts of gunfire as he slalomed between his enemies, but a fearsome Drur general hacked him in half with his light saber. The light saber in question was the size of a three-story house and could even slice through a whole mountain of steel, let alone a despicable High Human. Laudar's pegasus suffered the same fate a split second later.

"Retreat to Celestial City. I'll take care of defending your rear." The veteran Drur ordered calmly as he stopped hundreds of thousands of enemies single-handedly.

Deploying all sorts of futuristic gadgets, he slaughtered tens of thousands of enemies, but soon he hit a snag. A huge golden western dragon the size of a small mountain swatted away all the Drurs and fugitives in its path with a violent wing sweep, and the general became the only obstacle in its path.

Undaunted, the Drur warrior brandished his light saber and charged his formidable opponent, but suddenly the golden dragon opened its mouth and spat out a torrent of condensed molten metal which, as it cooled, split into billions of sharp golden blades.

BANG!

The clash lasted only half a second, then the valiant Drur general was riddled with holes, then his body was quickly torn into bloody dust. This kind of scene was happening all around the Celestial City.

"Good job, Jinlong." Will, who was standing on his head could not help but praise him.

Behind him and Jinlong, dozens of equally terrifying dragons accompanied him. At that moment, a flash of lightning flashed through the black curtain behind them and the silhouette of a gigantic eastern dragon was outlined for a split second before disappearing.

Shenron's voice echoed in Will's head.

"I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. I can't go any further with you. Jinlong, Charizard and the others, protect the Dragon Soulspeaker."

The dragons protecting Will bowed deeply to the cloud curtain with wet eyes, but their Dragon King had already returned to his lair.