The Oracle Paths

The separated halves burst into flames, but did not regenerate. For this move, Jake had pulled out all the stops.

The huge saber in his hand was made of pure Adamantium and the Words of Power "Godslayer" had been engraved on its blade. It had been forged in the last few days by excreting the much needed Adamantium after digesting copious amounts of earth, metal, radiation and heat. A Fluid Core embedded in the pommel serving as Space Storage, and provided by Hade, allowed him to adjust the mass and length of his weapon at will.

With two new Soul Classes, his Silver Soul Glyph of Blacksmithing doubling the attributes of his craft, his current stats, and his recent progress as an Aetherist, Jake had just managed to produce a substandard Advanced Aether Weapon. He had also included some of his Blood Essence during the forging process, so the weapon was also upgradeable.

[God Slayer Myrtharian Katana(binded to Jake): A crudely forged weapon at the cost of exorbitant amounts of Adamantium and other precious magic metals. Aesthetically poor, it has only two redeeming qualities: hard and sharp. However, the Blood Essence, Words of Power and Aether Symbols added during its crafting have elevated this sword to a whole new level.

Attributes: All stats + 20%. Passive Skill 1: 100% more damage on Divinities and disrupts their faith energy gathering. Passive Skill 2: Amplifies all techniques used through the katana by 100%. Passive Skill 3 : Collects part of the soul and Aether of the defeated, heat, lightning, earth, steel and radiation from its environment to repair itself and evolve. Passive Skill 4: Its length and mass can be modified at will depending on the amount of metal available in the weapon's space storage.]

Definitely a godly weapon for the current Jake. He had the feeling that this weapon would accompany him for a very long time

However, he was not so naive as to believe that such a weapon would be enough to kill Shamash. To ensure his victory, he had combined his Gold Myrtharian Warrior Trance, Bloodline Ignition, Telekinesis, Gravity, Lightning, Heat, Aether Control and Aether Conversion for this attack.

This was extremely close to the maximum power he could achieve in a single strike without resorting to external assistance.

Hovering silently in the air, Jake glared down at the two burning halves of Shamash with a stifling intensity. He prayed that this attack was enough, but deep down he knew it was unlikely.

After all, Haynt and Kenway had been defeated in an instant. Not daring to take any chances, he fished out Kenway's bloody body with his telekinesis and entrusted it to the two sisters, who had not been able to resist following him. Ainsling was also there, staring hatefully at Shamash's corpse as if it might bring Haynt back to life.

"Esya, tend to his wounds please." Jake pleaded gently.

"That won't be necessary." The younger sister said, raising her voice so that Lysander among others could hear her. The poor fellow was so worried, he had morphed into a lion.

Indeed, Kenway, who was on his last breath a few seconds earlier, was already pretty much recovered. This was the advantage of being a powerful Digitized Alpha Werelion. His Vitality and Constitution were even greater than Jake's, except that he couldn't use any other elements to boost his regeneration.

His regeneration was not as absolute either. As a native unable to dissociate his Spirit Body from his physical body, if his brain was destroyed he would be in a crippled state. Relying on HP regen, survival was not impossible, but if he was already injured as he was here it was certain death.

Three seconds later, Kenway opened his eyes and met Esya's lovely almond-shaped pink eyes. Remembering where he was and what he was doing just before, he jumped to his feet and shouted,

"Run. He's not dead!"

"I know." Jake replied calmly.

As he had feared, Shamash was not dead. The two halves were unable to regenerate, but just then they faded like a mirage before vanishing.

Jake, Lucia, Wyatt, Kenway, and anyone else with keen Extrasensory Perception immediately felt a presence reappear a few hundred meters away from the place of his presumed death. Looking in that direction, they spotted a bare-chested elderly man with a short beard and dark skin.

"Shamash." Jake greeted cheerlessly.

"That's quite a weapon you've got there." The god praised with a hard-to-interpret poignancy in his eyes. "For a moment there, I thought I was done for."

"Too bad you couldn't believe it long enough to make it happen."

"Oh? It seems you now know a little more about what we are." Shamash smiled casually. "You're right, I am indeed a god."

"Where is Haynt?" Ainsling yelled curtly, barely holding back from charging at him.

The Player wore a baffled expression before his face lit up again,

"Ah, the Astral, you mean? Oh, he's alive. But in his condition, I doubt he'll dare show his face for a while."

Jake sensed a slight edge of annoyance in the enemy's voice. Shamash had definitely captured a black hole corresponding to Haynt's collapsed star body. For him to be frustrated like that, it could only mean one thing...

Recalling the explosion of light that preceded the appearance of the black hole and the strange Constellation Magic that the Astral had used to eliminate Vhoskaud's clone army, he thought he understood something.

"I see. So Haynt escaped. You gods sure seem to be more fallible than you'd like to be, don't you?" Jake jeered at him with a mock bow.

"But we don't break as easily as mortals like you." Shamash retorted with a stiff face, finally showing his hostility. "I could break Haynt and Kenway. I shall break you too."

Jake did not contradict him, nor did he ridicule him this time.

"You may be telling the truth. You'd probably be right if I were alone." He finally declared. "But I'm not alone. You have your Divinity, but I have my friends. With my entire faction by my side, I can temporarily outdo a god. They can too."

Understanding his intent, all the Myrtharian Nerds gathered behind Jake and he summoned his Purgatory Dream. The wrecked hall disappeared, replaced by a world of ash and lava, thunderstorms and magnetic tempests. An almost indestructible underground bunker was built for his allies, leaving only Lucia, Hade, Aisling and Peter at his side.

Wyatt, Kenway, Lysander and the other Vampires were taken to safety with the other Myrtharian Nerds. The explosion of Haynt's body had released unimaginable amounts of ultraviolet and gamma radiation.

With the exception of Wyatt, all of the Vampires were on the verge of death and in need of emergency care. With no better solution, the Myrmidians gave them some of their blood to revitalize them.

Meanwhile, Jake closed his eyes to feel the effects of United We Stand. His Aether stats had temporarily crossed the 50,000 point mark. In a world where the Aether density was only 1000, such a transformation was like a butterfly breaking out of its chrysalis.

Combined with his insane Body Stats, his strength had reached the standard of a Seventh or Eighth Ordeal Player. His mental sense could scan half the city of Laudarkvik and his Perception was such that he could almost see his chromosomes clearly, whereas before he could barely see the nucleus of his cells.

As for the Aether, his affinity for it had never been stronger and he could understand things he never thought possible. If he had forged his new Katana in this state, he could have definitely created a peak tier Advanced Aether Artifact.

But the most frightening thing... It was his Luck.

It was now more than a million times higher than that of a normal human. What Jake was sensing from the Aether told him that no matter what he did, he would succeed. His intent alone could influence the course of a battle.

And Shamash could feel it too.

"Together." Hade said in an emphatic tone, he too benefiting from that monumental stats boost.

Lucia pouted, but reluctantly agreed. Aisling did not answer anything but at the fierce expression on her face she dreamed to reduce in charpy the opposite god. As for Peter, he suppressed a yawn, but shamelessly ganking an enemy had never been a problem for him.

Jake twitched slightly, not a fan of the idea, but like Lucia he ultimately agreed to Hade's proposal.

"Fine, let's be the bad guys for once."

Shamash immediately sensed that the tide had turned. Immortal God or not he immediately activated his Oracle Teleportation Skill to get out of here.

[Teleportation impossible. The space you are in has been sealed.]

His heart sank as he received the notification. Looking up, he saw Jake's sneering smile. The Purgatory Dream could only be escaped by seizing control of the Artifact. Unlike his Third Ordeal, it was currently inside Jake.

To get out of here, Shamash would have to defeat him first.