The Oracle Paths

The subtle quiver across the surface of his shadow was like the after- ripple of a stone plunging into a still pond. Silent, almost motionless, but distinctly altered. Most notably, it now harbored a presence it lacked before.

No one picked up on this-except for Jake. It was his shadow, after all.

"Hephais... Long time, no see," Jake said with an enigmatic smile, leaning against a section of the wall hidden from prying eyes. With all the smoke and surrounding chaos, it wasn't hard to go unnoticed.

Once sure that the only mental sense-less discreet than she'd like to believe-was Meribelle's, Jake scoffed sardonically and said to seemingly no one, "You can come out."

The Shadow Assassin needed no further invitation. Slowly rising from the pool of darkness, his hooded face was as stoic and grim as their last encounter. Both men sized each other up for a few seconds before Hephais acknowledged with a nod,

"Boss. I've come to report."

Jake wasn't offended by the Egaean's blunt and informal tone. Without pretending to know him well, it was typical for an assassin to be cold and sparing with words, if not downright introverted or antisocial.

And that suited Jake just fine. He had always appreciated people who got straight to the point.

Without wasting time on pointless pleasantries, Hephais extended his right wrist, and Jake, understanding his intent, synced his bracelet with his assassin's. The moment their forearms touched, he received a prompt to accept a data transfer, and Xi immediately downloaded the packet.

A nanosecond later, the transfer was complete, and Jake quickly scanned the compiled intel gathered by the assassin.

"I see... That answers quite a few of my questions," Jake said, closing his eyes briefly before reopening them, a newfound gravity darkening his gaze.

Not even the dominant Titans and Abyssal Revenants he had seen go berserk since the onset of the Ordeal had managed to elicit such an expression of deep solemnity from him.

Unlike Jake, Hephais had no fears about being detected when he moved through the shadows. Stealth and intel gathering were his specialities. When he chose to erase his presence, no average native could sense him. This went far beyond invisibility.

Like Jake, his operational window before the battle was limited, and he couldn't stay away for long without arousing suspicion. The sudden plan to reclaim Havocspire Citadel had shifted the playing field.

Jake's regiment had been cut in half just scaling a wall. Hephais, who had arrived 36 hours earlier, was just reaching the Ironsoul Rampart when the Soulmancer King got ambushed. By the time they'd returned, Havocspire Citadel was already a raging inferno, and like everyone else, they were greeted by Featherfall's omnidirectional steel rainstorm.

His entire regiment, commander included, had been wiped out. Hephais was the only survivor.

For many Players looking to keep a low profile, this would be disastrous, but for the Shadow Assassin, it was a golden opportunity. The anonymous recruit he portrayed was officially KIA, giving him the freedom to move as he pleased.

Still, he had the same agenda as Jake and didn't hesitate to join the impending siege of Havocspire. It was the perfect chance to rack up his first kills and scout out potential Players.

Besides Jake, he had definitively identified 22 Players fighting for their side and 39 in the enemy camp. All these Players were keeping their heads down, but through the 'darkness' of their shadows, he could easily differentiate them from the crowd.

Unfortunately, no other Myrtharian Nerds.

According to Hephais, considering the size of Twyluxia and the number of citadels like this one, they should count themselves lucky to have bumped into each other. Beyond troop numbers, it was because the only players who hadn't crossed the Ironsoul Rampart even once were at least Rank 13.

This meant the odds of encountering a heavy-hitter here were comparatively higher. Weaker Players could be found, but they were usually sidelined, shipped off the battlefield due to debilitating injuries.

As for Jake, according to the assassin, his shadow was especially 'deep. To someone with Hephais's senses, he stood out like a lighthouse in the dark.

'Xi, we need to find a way to slip under the radar of Shadow Users,' Jake noted mentally, realizing this could become a snag. If it had been someone other than Hephais, his cover would've been blown.

[No problem. I can use the Purgatory simulation to create an environment conducive to developing such an ability,] she assured him firmly before making another suggestion. [However, if I may, the simplest solution would be to consume Hephais's genetic and Aetheric material. You don't need his Blood Essence. With your bloodline, a single strand of hair would suffice.]

Jake shot a sheepish glance at the deadpan Egaean, but he'd be lying if he said it wasn't already part of his plan. He had intended to ask for a blood sample from each of the Myrtharian Nerds upon their return. If it was feasible, why not do it here?

His Cosmic D Starfeyrves Bloodline had the unique feature of letting him rearrange his genetic makeup like he was flipping through a wardrobe. High-quality Blood Essence was not required as long as he had their Aether Code. What really mattered was advancing his own bloodline to its peak potential.

Still, even if his power for adaptability and morphing made him more versatile than the one-way evolution of Digestors, his end goal was the same: crafting the ultimate bloodline. Not everything was fair game; there was a finite number of Aether Runes that his Aether Code and body could accommodate.

If he wanted to go beyond that limit and make room for additional lines of code, his only option was to level up his bloodline. Accumulating energy the right way would allow him to slightly condense it with each level-up. When that was no longer possible, all that remained was to condense his Aether Code to the next Grade.

But right now, that was the least of his worries. Something far more pressing was on his mind.

"So you can't use your Oracle Skills either, except for the functions tied to your bracelet?" Jake asked the assassin for confirmation, again.

"I hate to say it, but yeah," Hephais nodded grimly. "All the Oracle Skills linked to our access levels are completely fucked right now. It's like the Aether Network's been given a digital lobotomy. The Oracle System's archives? Sealed tighter than a drum. We can still use Oracle Paths, but without the Oracle Cloaking and Promotion Skills, we're basically sitting ducks. The other side's Players will have us outgunned. As for whether our enemies are dealing with the same crap or if it's just us getting the shaft? Your guess is as good as mine."

"Does this mean Aas has run out of APs to spend?" Jake frowned. "Or for some godforsaken reason, he's decided to renege on his commitments. I don't like this."

"Or an external interference," Hephais added. "Either the other Mirror Universe is playing dirty tricks or-"

"Digestor. Fucking hell, I hope not," Jake spat, his voice dripping with contempt. Just as he did, he looked up to see the twilight sky erupt in a hailstorm of flames and arrows.

Swoooosh!!

BOOOOM!

The bombardment, which had initially targeted only the upper ramparts where they had just been, had adjusted its trajectory. Now, the ground itself was in the crosshairs, along with the soldiers fighting for their own side.

Barely recovering from the initial shock, the ground troops were instantly riddled with arrows, like pincushions. Explosions stole the lives of many more. In a few seconds of slackening focus, another two-thirds of their remaining half-regiment were obliterated.

It was only then that Jake and the other survivors observed the enemy soldiers they thought they had seen from atop the walls were nowhere to be found. The bloody scuffle at the base of the wall, which they could vaguely make out through the fog, had evidently reached its conclusion.

The Dusken Throne was going to win this scrap.

Except that implied there were hardly any Light Warriors from the Lustra Plains left standing.

The few who remained had dropped their weapons and started bolting into the foggy depths as if they knew the grim fate that awaited them if they stayed.

"CHARGE FORWARD!" Sank-Uk roared, pointing his glaive at the fleeing enemies.

Everyone wasn't stupid, and most immediately grasped his intent. The enemy wouldn't dare shoot their own, so following them was the best bet to escape the kill zone.

What they hadn't yet realized was that it was like jumping from the frying pan into the fire. A vast, well-formed army awaited them at the end of their path.

Leaning casually against the wall, Jake sighed after peering into the fog. Breaking into a run to catch up with the regiment, he uttered apologetically to Hephais,

"We'll pick this up later. For now, follow me."

Unsurprisingly, after a few hundred meters of frantic sprinting, they escaped the death zone. The hailstorm of projectiles ceased, but soon after, the disorganized group of survivors skidded to a halt.

Before them, a far larger army of blood-soaked Light Warriors stood in eerie silence, forming a wall of shields. Behind them, hundreds of archers awaited their signal, arrows already nocked.

The battle they had feared was about to kick off for real.