The Oracle Paths

Deimos' eyes twitched a couple of times and when they let go of each other's hand, the Spartan strode away without turning back. That left only Ashun, who grabbed Jake's freed hand with both hands and shook it energetically.

"Hey, handsome. Can I have your autograph?" The beauty fluttered her eyelashes as she made eyes at him, her breasts threatening to burst out of her dress with every move since her cleavage was so over the top.

While Jake and the others had no doubt that Ael and Felphi had damaged all their gear in the final battle, with this demoness they had a big doubt. And more importantly, this outgoing personality was not to everyone's liking.

By tacit agreement, Lucia, Enya and Aisling surrounded her. Wyatt also noticed uneasily that Carmin had also made a move. If she had been just a little bit faster, she would have acted with the trio.

The Myrmidian princess stepped between Jake and the fiery goddess to separate them, while the other two women grabbed Ashun firmly by the shoulders to keep her in place.

"Let go of me! I just want to get to know him a little better!" The goddess ranted as she threw a fit in front of everyone.

At that very moment, Enya let go of her, blushing, but Aisling snorted instead. She dispelled Ashun's Charm Spell and instead of gripping her shoulder gently, she dug her fingers into the hollow of her collarbone, pressing a nerve and eliciting a cry of pain.

"If you want us to tolerate your presence, first start acting like a human being." The Vampire-Succubus retorted with an annoyed scowl. "Look around you."

All the Myrtharian Nerds present, male or female, but also Deimos who hadn't gone far away, were glaring at her with a mixture of anger, humiliation and infatuation. The only exception was Ryne, Will and Jake whose mental abilities had recently shot through the roof. He couldn't feel anything.

Feeling all those hostile stares lock onto her, Ashun threw her hands up in surrender and hurriedly apologized, "Okay, okay, I was wrong. I won't do it again, fufu. We didn't really introduce ourselves. My Divinity has to do with Love, Seduction, Sexuality, but also Chivalry, and Adventure to a lesser extent. It's normal for me to behave like this, okay? Otherwise, I won't be the goddess that I am."

"Who asked?" Lucia rolled her eyes. "Just go look for love and adventure somewhere else. Look, Vhoskaud seemed to be single. He left the Ordeal, but I'm sure if you disappear now you have a chance to run into him outside the Red Cube."

Ashun was stumped by her rebuttal. Was she really advising her to go hit on a robot? A psychopathic necromancer like Vhoskaud? She'd rather die!

"Cough, anyway." The Love Goddess cleared her throat to diffuse her displeasure. "Like Deimos I will be at the Divine Academy for the one-year duration. I want to know my future allies and networking has always been my forte. Don't dismiss me too quickly. I am the kind of deity whose Divinity will never lack loyal believers or energy as long as love exists in this world. Did you really think that's all I can do? My real Divinity is stored away on my Floating Island. From the next Ordeal, I'll play seriously, so don't judge me too quickly. Besides, knowing a goddess like me has its advantages. I can even give you a helping hand in your relationships if you ask me nicely. Not a bad deal, right?"

The attitude of most of the people present changed dramatically. Lucia's icy façade melted instantly and a sly smile lit up her face. Taking Ashun's hand, she cheerfully declared, "I'll come see you often."

"Don't listen to her. She's a vixen." Aisling and her mother Xaverie both scolded her at the same time.

Ashun winked demurely at them, sticking out her tongue snidely. Alas, not discreetly enough. Unless it was intentional. With a fed-up face, Enya conjured a scarlet fireball in her hand and brought it close to the young woman's face.

"Final warning." She pronounced coldly.

When the goddess was about to promise to behave, a teardrop-shaped alien with thirteen eyes floated up to them, interrupting their conversation. Recognizing the intruder, everyone frowned, including Ashun.

"Psykow." She spat in an icy voice. "You've pulled a fast one on us this time. This will be reported to our higher-ups and don't think it won't have consequences in our next cooperations. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The fate of the Mirror Universe may be at stake, but I can tell you with absolute confidence that I, Ashun, shall never be your ally if we cross paths in a future Ordeal. If you and your faction want to be alone so badly, be prepared to face the consequences."

The Anti-Life leader gave her a disinterested glance, then turned to Jake.

"I knew it was possible to separate the two Digestor and human halves of a Digestor Trojan with my powers." He calmly confessed, taking everyone by surprise. "The rampage of this Ruby was part of my prediction. Neither Aurae nor the Oracle stopped me so I assumed it was allowed. What I didn't foresee was what happened next. I didn't predict that this Digestor had amassed so much energy. Its human half was keeping it on a much tighter leash than I had imagined."

The alien paused, then disclosed, "I saw it all. I didn't go into my building like the others when the Mana Storm swept through. The Mana Storm is dangerous for the other Players, but not for me. Though...not for you now either."

Jake's eyes narrowed in warning as he listened to Psykow's admission.

"Say what you have to say." He coldly beckoned him to continue. "I doubt you've come to talk to me to pour out your heart."

The alien cackled with his odd dolphin-like cry. "Indeed, that is not why I came. I wanted to heal your allies to make it up to you, but it seems you've already found a solution. I will go to Vexa later to apologize, although in my opinion you will owe him some explanations as well."

At that moment, his thirteen eyes roamed over his stomach and Jake understood what he hinted at.

"Don't worry, I'll apologize when the time comes." He retorted with poise, while trying not to let on that he was affected. In truth he was very apprehensive about his next encounter with the cube man.

He had thought that like Tootega and Ostrexora in his third Ordeal who had been devoured by Nylreg that being digested by a Digestor Trojan was the final end, but apparently Vexa was an exception to that rule. Reading his facial expression, Psykow elaborated,

"Every cubic cell in Vexa is like a copy of his soul. As long as he has energy to spare he can create as many interconnected clones and copies of himself as he wants. All his clones know what happened to him as if they had personally experienced it in real time. In some ways, Vexa never died, but on the other hand you can consider the death of this clone as an individual entity as final."

This clarified a lot of questionable points for everyone. More than Vexa, he also feared the vengeance of his companion Prysm.

'Did Ruby devour her too?' He suddenly worried as he combed through the genetic and Aetheric database stored in his mind.

If Vexa was alive and Prysm wasn't, this would be even worse! Fortunately, a floral scent suddenly wafted up to their nostrils and the flower woman materialized before them in a swirl of cherry blossom petals.

"You thought I was dead? I wanted to, but Vexa didn't give me a choice." She let out a bitter, resentful laugh at herself. "Ruby was too busy devouring others to care about a flower generator like me." Shooting Psykow an angry look, she added, "If that crazy Neri hadn't targeted me so relentlessly, Vexa wouldn't have needed to split his attention between Ruby and me and he wouldn't have been ambushed so easily."

"Are you talking about me?" A burst of clear laughter rang out above them.

Looking up, they recognized the black hole woman as the infamous Neri who had caused so much damage and carnage with her antimatter bombs. She was actually playing with one of those bugs in her hand as if it were a stress ball.

Prysm and Neri's gazes clashed, but when things looked like they were about to escalate, the sky warped kilometers above them and dozens of huge spaceships shot out of the wormhole.

These ships were grand and flashy, their external armor entirely painted with gold and silver. If Jake and his friends wondered who their owners were, how could Psykow, Prysm and Ashun not recognize them.

"Demiurges." Ashun sighed. "The great winners of this Ordeal."