The Oracle Paths

"Not good." Lucia grumbled with a grimace. The other Myrtharian Nerds present didn't look very good either.

Vexa landed covered in blood in front of Jake a few seconds later and Jake teleported him temporarily inside the ice fortress to give him time to recover. The fortress was already beginning to break apart, black lightning permeating through it.

With time running out, Jake and Gerulf teleported inside to discuss what they had just seen with the others. When they reappeared, the first thing they saw was their companions crowding around the cube man panting like an ox.

"We have a problem." Jake said stoically.

"No shit!" Maeve huffed, her gaze riveted on the black lightning cracking the ice fortress enclosing them at a frightening rate.

"We need to find a way to reduce the number of enemies under 10,000 as soon as possible." Vexa declared after catching his breath, but most of his wounds were struggling to heal. His haggard, sweaty face spoke volumes about his condition.

Clearly, there was something special about Neri's attacks. Where he had been wounded, his flesh seemed to collapse in on itself as if a black hole was devouring him from the inside. But looking closely Jake detected nothing unusual.

"Ugh... Don't worry about me. It takes more than that to kill me." The cube man forced himself to smile, but he was definitely in pain.

"They were merging those translucent dice things earlier." Gerulf grumbled sheepishly. "Too bad we only have one."

Jake's and Vexa's eyes lit up at his well-timed remark.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" The cube man coughed.

"How many Codexes do you have?" Jake asked directly. "Don't let me down. I'm sure a faction as illustrious and reputable as Mirror Vanguard has at least one or two."

"Ahem, I'm afraid I'll disappoint you." Vexa rolled his eyes as he scratched his ear. "I only have two, but Anti Life and Replicators only have 15 out of 26. Including yours, there are still 8 more. Even merging mine and yours won't give us any edge. Especially since I know for a fact that Demiurges had 4 last time I checked and their Ordeal is not set on Quanoth but far away in outer space.

Jake was disappointed, but he didn't show it.

"Let's merge these three already." He decreed decisively as he saw the ice around them cracking faster and faster.

He feared that Vexa would insist that he lend him his, but the cube man must have been aware of his dire circumstances, for he took out both of his own without hesitation. "Hurry, we don't have much time."

Jake nodded gravely and immediately used his telekinesis to collide the three Codexes he was holding. Sparks flew as they made contact, but the fusion did not take place.

"Fuck! What am I supposed to do to make them merge?" He cursed as he stared at his failure.

At the same time, a black lightning bolt pierced the ice and Azeus stepped in. The lightning expert barbarian was instantly charred black, the lower half of his body turning to dust after he channeled the destructive energy into his legs. For the first time, he mobilized the Divinity lent by his former faction to regenerate his wounds, but black sparks continued to damage his body long after.

"Jake, I'm not going to be able to repeat this feat many times." Azeus sighed in a weak voice a few seconds later as he finished shaking off the remaining energy.

"I know." Jake darkened as he saw Azeus' sacrifice. Despite his distrust of the former Lost Divinity member, he had at least proven that he was dependable in hard times.

"Pour your blood on the three Codexes and connect your mind to the three artifacts." Vexa instructed him as he spoke hastily. "Focus on the idea of merging them so that you and these Codexes become one."

Jake didn't argue and immediately followed his instructions. He pricked his fingertip with his claw and Wyatt, who was standing next to him, nervously extracted the drop of blood without asking for his opinion and sprinkled it on the Codexes.

"Hmm? Those weird dice... I think I have something similar." Galadin, the SS-Rank Adventurer they had saved blurted out suddenly as he pulled a translucent dice from his pocket.

At the same time, someone crashed into their ice fortress. Asfrid squinted her eyes as she deployed her mental sense and said, "A female player is trying to get in. She also has a Codex."

Jake didn't even think for a second and ran an Oracle Scan. He immediately recognized the female alien capable of altering her physiology to suit her environment.

"Let her in."

Ruby disappeared, then reappeared right after with the naked woman. Right now, she was pitch black, her long hair waving and the surface of her skin looking like a concentrated mass of dark clouds streaked with black lightning. It was her adaptive response to the dark clouds but with the smell of burning flesh wafting from her body it did have its limits.

"Your Codex." Jake held out his hand with no explanation.

The female Player quickly read the atmosphere as she felt the threatening stares coming her way. She frowned, but did not flinch. With a flick of her wrist, she threw her Codex towards the other four merging Codexes.

Fortunately, she had not formed a true blood bond with the artifact and Jake's blood formed a connection between him and this Codex unimpeded.

The fusion finally took place and Jake could feel the difference immediately. This time he could distinctly feel that he was able to substantially influence the behavior of the black clouds raging around them. He was far from understanding Quanoth's physical laws, but on an instinctive level he was not totally powerless.

His eyes opened wide and he mentally commanded, 'Avoid that ice fortress.'

The result was not as spectacularly effective as Psykow's performance with his 15 Codexes, but the dense masses of black rolling clouds swirling around them slowed to a crawl, almost grinding to a halt. The black lightning demolishing the walls of eternal ice protecting them became scarce, the remainder circulating through without damaging anything just like electricity flowing through a copper wire.

"Not bad." Jake smiled.

"Good job, Jake." Vexa congratulated him, his face visibly relaxing.

The other survivors present also breathed a sigh of relief.

" Wow! I thought we were screwed." Tim exclaimed as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"That should hold for a while, but not indefinitely." Alef, the old instructor from Ruby's team, spoke up for the first time. "The density of these clouds is still increasing. If we do nothing, the previous situation will happen again sooner or later."

He had a point.

"Mmm." Jake frowned as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.

At that moment, he and Ruby simultaneously glanced in the direction of Azeus who was nearly healed but pallid. The electricity constantly produced by the barbarian's body was now tinged with black as if it had slightly infused itself with that of the dark clouds.

"This might work." Jake said.

"Not much choice." Ruby nodded.

"Anyone here who can feed on lightning, step forward. Jake informed those present. "We must harness the power of these dark clouds while they are still under our control.

The expressions of those concerned changed dramatically. A second later, Jake, Gerulf, Tim, Rogen, Azeus, Enya, Haynt, Lord Phenix, Jen (in Jake's guise), Ruby and the female alien appeared outside. All looked nervous but resolute.

"I have a feeling I'm going to regret this." Jen, his Mimic slave, shuddered involuntarily as Jake gently directed a cluster of black clouds and lightning toward the group.

"Enya, Rogen, Lord Phenix and Gerulf are you sure about this?" Jake hesitated with an uneasy tone.

"Lightning is just plasma at very high temperatures after all." Enya shook her head. "If I treat it like heat I can surely absorb it. Probably. Possibly. Hopefully..."

"I hope from the bottom of my heart you're right." Tim winced.

The only one who was fearless was Lord Phenix. He had absolute confidence in his immortality. Maybe too much so.

Conversely, Jake and the others were painfully aware that they were about to go through some serious shit. But that was the price they had to pay for a tiny chance of survival.