The Oracle Paths

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The robot remained impassive after losing its arm. A new articulated arm popped out of nowhere and connected to its empty shoulder. In the process, the components of its armor fell away one by one, its body changing structure to form a human-sized android whose surface looked like liquid lead.

A long blade vibrating at a very high frequency and covered with blue-black flame was brandished by one of his empty hands, emitting a shrill sound that made most of his opponents' eardrums explode. Concurrently barrels rattled from his shoulders, locking and opening fire on each target with surgical precision.

The shadow at the robot's feet was suddenly punctured by a dark blue laser as if the android had eyes in the back. Hephais' forehead, enshrouded in a haze of shadows that were about to burst forth to assassinate him, was blasted through and through. The Egaean assassin beat a hasty retreat, sinking half unconscious into the puddle of shadow from which he had emerged.

Many other attackers suffered the same fate, but were not so lucky. Pictorus, the Myrmidian who could conjure anything with his brush was also killed before he could draw anything while standing at a distance. Hasta, the Myrmidian known for his ultra fast movement did not escape the enemy either. He was headshot while being as helpless as Svara and Hephais.

Jen, the Mimic, crashed to the ground, resuming the form of a badly damaged chest, its long tongue hanging out of its vessel.

Aisling, her mother Xaverie, and Maeve were killed in the same manner, but dispersed in black smoke before recondensing their bodies a split second later, their faces pale.

The tragic reality was that absolutely no one was able to avoid the barrage of fire. Vhoskaud's laser fire was as deadly as it was unstoppable. Whatever their speed, reflexes or fighting skills, they were like helpless babies in front of this counter-offensive.

Lucia, Gerulf, Rogen, Jake, Crunch, absolutely no one was able to dodge this counterattack.

Several Vampires from Pureblood were also riddled with holes before they could even get close to the android, with Arnold and Jett being blown to bits. Carmin was also targeted, but Wyatt stepped in angrily, erecting a wall of Blood Energy several meters thick.

The blood barrier was shattered in a single shot, punching a hole an inch in diameter in both Wyatt's and Carmin's foreheads. The only ones who miraculously escaped were Asfrid and the Eltarians, who were already safe under their Oracle Shields. Their precognitive powers had saved them.

Those who survived either had exceptional regeneration abilities or were already on guard before the attack. Mufasa, Shere Khan, Crunch and Lord Phenix survived by virtue of their constitution and vitality, while Enya survived only by virtue of the fact that Haynt was in front of her at the time of the attack. The laser had been completely absorbed by his astral body, but his body had turned into an unstable mass of light energy after this feat.

The round of fire lasted only a split millionth of a second, but most of the attackers were already out of the fight. The battlefield seemingly froze in place due to the victims' stupor, but soon time resumed and the survivors resumed their offensive with renewed fury.

"GO TO HELL!" Gerulf roared as he compressed a huge ball of lava inside his maw, the hole between his two eyes having already closed.

Rogen responded in kind, long stalactites of eternal ice shooting up from the ground all around the android and converging viciously on him to tear him apart.

Vhoskaud sneered, slicing the stalactites horizontally with his blade, but at that moment a mixture of ice and metal suddenly condensed all around him with a precision and control far superior to Rogen's. His arm was immobilized and the stalactites came to a halt. His arm was immobilized and the stalactics collided with his armor. As he turned, he saw a beauty with long silver and golden hair smiling cutely at him.

At the same time, Gerulf's ultra-condensed lava orb shot out of his mouth, exploding at point-blank range on the immobilized android.

"Well play-"

BOOOM!

A metallic figure sprang from the firestorm, mercilessly chopping off the perpetrator's head. Gerulf barely managed to throw his head back, but his throat was cut deeply, his head hanging from his neck by a strip of flesh. Rogen's icy heart was pierced a millisecond later.

"Fuck! He's fast!"

Lucia exhaled nervously as she threw off her smoking helmet, thanking her lucky stars for investing in such equipment. This one could cheat death once, no matter what the cause.

She immediately wanted to jump up to reinforce Gerulf, but the muzzle of the barrels on Vhoskaud's shoulders lit up again. Without thinking, she and the other survivors activated their Oracle Shields and charged forward.

A huge bolt of lightning struck Vhoskaud, momentarily paralyzing his body like an EMP bomb. Azeus turned into a multicolored lightning bolt, seeping into the robot's circuits.

"I can't hold him for long! Attack now!" The barbarian's voice echoed from inside Vhoskaud.

The android's body shook imperceptibly, but immediately afterwards the lightning surrounding it began to weaken, while the heart serving as its battery converted Azeus' very existence into mechanical energy.

He did, however, give his allies the distraction they needed to return the favor. Aurum, the Myrmidian capable of enriching or impoverishing his allies and enemies in both the literal and metaphorical sense of the word, pressed both palms against the robot's chest, his skin suddenly withering as if he had aged centuries in one fell swoop.

"Midas Touch."

Vhoskaud's gleaming, seemingly indestructible armor decayed by several tiers, as if the most precious diamond had been demoted to a scrap of glass. The robot tore the Myrmidian's body in half with both hands and staggered backwards, its joints rattling with rust.

"What on earth is..." Vhoskaud bellowed in a robotic voice that was no longer devoid of emotion. "Okay, you provoked me."

Before he could make good on his threats, a blinding slash capable of slicing through even the Mana Storm came at him from behind, but a huge metal giant with an equally huge energy bulwark appeared behind him. Guns like the ones on his shoulders appeared by the thousands all around him, all kinds of weapons, shields and robots floating in the air to form an impenetrable mechanical tide.

Millions of Undeads poured onto the battlefield, most of them being directly obliterated by the dark clouds trapped in the Purple Hell and Purgatory. Even so, their numbers were staggering and their sacrifices consumed the surrounding black lightning, allowing the troops summoned after them to have more and more space to spread out.

At that very moment, Jake, who had been standing silently above the battlefield, grabbed the air before him and space distorted at Vhoskaud's location just as the android thought he was out of the woods. Jake envisioned an implosion, followed by the apparition of a spatial rift, but nothing happened.

He frowned. Scanning the enemy with his mental sense, it passed through it without detecting its presence. It was as if the robot was no longer there. The next round of attacks by his companions confirmed his suspicions.

Mufasa's claw reappeared behind Vhoskaud as if he had passed through a dimensional portal. Azeus, who was still in Vhoskaud's circuitry, could not escape and the lightning that constituted him continued to weaken until it died out completely.

"Impossible." Lucia cried out in shock as her sword loaded with True Will also went through it.

No matter what attacks were thrown at it, they were unable to penetrate this area.

"What kind of energy shield is that?!" Drastan growled as he frantically pounded the android to no avail.

In response, Vhoskaud, who had remained rather silent and impassive until now, gave an evil grin. The next moment, the tide of Undeads and robots swept over them, swallowing up the few dozen survivors.