The Oracle Paths

Jake's mind immediately flashed back to the underhanded trick Syrbarun had used against him earlier to halt his pursuit.

"Don't tell me..." Jake muttered, his eyes widening abruptly, his head snapping towards a certain direction.

Syrbarun, in his naked Brain-Eater form, was still swimming placidly in his glass cage, while Saros was preparing to stoically face the wave of enemies blindly charging at him, oblivious to their imminent demise.

At first, Jake was relieved to find no trace of Hade, until he noticed that only Drakon was heading towards him. Epsilom had already split from his fellow disciple earlier to charge at the Oracle Guardian.

Sensing something amiss, Jake harrumphed in contempt. The black-silver vortex of his irises whirled as his Cosmic Sight activated, his gaze scanning the surroundings of Saros and his captive.

At first glance, he found nothing unusual, but when he extended his vision to encompass the entire electromagnetic spectrum, his expression turned icy as he spotted a certain Sinewshade that escaped his normal vision.

"Hade. And... Lyra?" Jake mused, noticing that this Sinewshade with a familiar aura was shrouded by a coating of electromagnetic radiation.

No, to be more precise, it was as if this coating of light beyond the visible spectrum had transmuted the creature it covered into the same type of light energy that composed it.

Reaching this conclusion, Jake was even more convinced that it was indeed Hade and Lyra. Of all the other disciples, apart from Epsilom, Lyra was the only one capable of such a feat.

'It's clever to leave Epsilom in plain sight as a diversion, but they underestimate me.' Jake sneered, almost thanking the Gorgonite for making his task easier.

Saros might not be able to see Hade and Lyra approaching him in their state of invisibility, but his perception was high enough to sense that something was off.

Instinctively, one of his arms wielding one of his heavy blades had risen, the latter enveloping itself in an overbearing halo of spiritual energy oozing with killing intent.

This kind of murderous aura blending spirit power and True Will of Killing Intent was a skill that all high-level Evolvers ended up possessing, given time and the chance to slay enough enemies.

The resulting energy had no specific attribute, but it had the merit of working on everyone as long as the targets were alive or at least possessed a soul and the ability to feel emotions.

There was no doubt that Saros would have no problem killing Hade and Lyra in their photon form if he swung his blade in the right direction. Apparently, the Oracle Guardian had a good nose because at that very moment his arm was oriented just right.

Seeing the alien's raised arm decisively beginning its descent, Jake warned him telepathically,

"Don't. I'll take care of them."

Saros promptly halted his motion, displaying an enlightened expression as he probed the empty space around him.

"I see, same tactic, eh?" The alien mocked, shaking the glass cage containing Syrbarun. "You two aren't both Brain-Eaters for nothing."

The trapped Brain-Eater pitifully bounced from one wall to another, trying all of them with his head to his great dismay. When Saros grew tired, the Digestor was sprawled on the ground, arms spread out, looking miserable.

Of course, neither Jake nor Saros felt the slightest ounce of pity for the vile creature.

Meanwhile, Saros was somewhat annoyed because even though he had agreed not to attack these enemies he couldn't see, it didn't mean they had given up their ambush. So, he had no choice but to drop Syrbarun's cage on the ground and preemptively take refuge under his Oracle Shield.

However, he grimaced immediately after discovering how fragile the energy shield he had just invoked seemed. Gone were the days when the Oracle Shield was nearly indestructible since Lure's death.

That's also why neither Jake nor Saros bothered to use it against the plasma storm. It would have been a waste of time and a squandering of their Aether points, which were now more precious than ever.

The Oracle Guardian expected to be attacked and was ready to defend himself in case his shield gave way, but he blinked dumbly behind his visor seeing Syrbarun's cage disappear before his eyes when one of their hitherto visible enemies vanished.

Jake, who was calmly slaughtering the Sinewshades daring to approach too close to him while keeping an eye on what was happening, clearly saw how the moment Hade-Lyra duo picked up the cage, Epsilom suddenly sped up by transmuting himself into light as well.

The only difference between Lyra and him was that his mastery of energy was not limited to light and his field of action was much larger. It was hard to see clearly, but with the clairvoyance offered by his Cosmic Sight, his focused eyes saw space warp at strategic points, forming surfaces as smooth as mirrors, which were conveniently oriented towards each other, except the last one pointing towards Rigel.

When Jake understood the enemy's plan, it was already too late. Transmuted into photons, Epsilom joined Hade, Lyra, and the cage in their hands like a beam of light, then after showering them with his light, the beam carried them away before bouncing off the mirror right behind them.

The rest happened almost instantaneously, at the speed of light. Epsilom and his burden zigzagged in the form of a dazzling flash from one mirror to another, weaving between the other Sinewshades with surgical precision. A single error in the positioning of the mirrors and the prediction of their allies' movements, and their escape would have ended abruptly.

'Is it just instinct, or does Epsilom still retain his cognitive abilities?' Jake frowned, seeing the beam of light strike Rigel and his mount in the distance before bouncing off a final mirror at the intersection that sent them all straight into a corridor out of his field of vision.

Still, Jake didn't get angry seeing Rigel's rescue plan work, even allowing himself an amused laugh.

'Why get upset when I already know where you're going.' He smirked.

ROARRR!

The scornful laughter on his face faded as his Drakonian fellow disciple finally reached him after he had torn apart another dozen Sinewshades just for sport.

Using only his Cosmic Force could quickly become boring.

[Given what I just told you, Jake, you shouldn't be taking your time...] Xi reminded him dryly.

Jake's expression darkened drastically upon receiving this reminder, but it wasn't as if he had forgotten. He might have seemed to be enjoying himself, but the Even if it meant letting the culprit escape with the Nexus, saving all these lives was surely what Cekt would have wanted him to do. Alas, Jake didn't have enough fairy spirits like Jeanie for that.

And if he based himself on Xi's hypothesis... These Sinewshades had been like this for so long that wanting to bring them back to normal was just... a fantasy.

Suppressing his feeling of depression and deep dejection in his heart, Jake sighed wearily as he saw the ruby and gold scaled tail of the dragon man lashing at him with the force of a mountain. The Draconian looked normal, but between his distorted scales, one could glimpse the putrid silver flesh oozing underneath.

Extending his arm nonchalantly, Jake expressionlessly grabbed the draconic Sinewshade's tail, then closing his grip on it, he used it to smash the creature against the ground several thousand times in a fraction of a second.

"Pretty tough." Jake raised an eyebrow, noticing that despite the broken scales scattered here and there on the deformed steel ground, the dragon-man's body was still in one piece.

From this, one could see Drakon had not stolen his title of Oracle Knight. It's a pity that his prowess extended only to his physique. If his immune system or even his mind were a little stronger, he wouldn't have ended up in such a pitiful state...

Fortunately for him, although Jake's mercy did not extend to the other Sinewshades, Cekt's infected disciples were an exception. After breaking his skull and pulverizing his brain enough times to make him a vegetable, Jake summoned another fairy spirit, Zephyr, who seemed most enthusiastic for his first mission.

Xi having already briefed his other familiars in the meantime, the little spirit imitated Jeanie without further delay, diving into Drakon's forehead to control his brain waves. Jake then placed the unconscious disciple in his Space Dimension with a well-practiced motion.

Next, he gave Saros a thumbs up to tell him he was done on his side, and the duo coolly flew off in the presumed direction of the Nexus, not where Epsilom and Rigel had fled.