The Oracle Paths

Chapter 1191  The Crazed One Is Me

For an instant, silence reigned in the void, as if the cosmos itself had frozen in shock. The Moon Spirit's eyes widened, the blazing light in her gaze faltering. Her spectral army halted mid-attack, the warriors seemingly awaiting her reaction. She blinked, her celestial aura wavering.

"What... did you say?" she whispered, a mixture of disbelief and frustration flashing across her ethereal face. Her flawless composure cracked, if only for a split second.

Jake held her gaze, unflinching, his body still pulsating with the intense energies he had suppressed. His mouth twisted into a grin, equal parts exhaustion and triumph. "You heard me. You've lost. You can't break me, and you know it."

The Moon Spirit's face twisted, her radiant features contorting with a mixture of anger and—was it fear? She took a step back, the shimmering silver light around her form dimming.

"That attack... if you hadn't held back, what would have happened?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

Jake's eyes blazed, the galactic spark within them roaring to life like an unstoppable wildfire. He took a step forward, and the cosmic void seemed to bow to his presence, the lunar warriors dissipating like smoke under a storm wind.

"You don't want to find out. But it doesn't matter, I don't need to defeat you," Jake said, his voice calm yet filled with unyielding confidence. "I just needed to make you understand that no matter how strong you think you are, there's always someone who can stand up to you. Someone who won't bend, who won't break. Even if you were a hundred times stronger, I'd still fight you to the end."

The Moon Spirit clenched her jaw, her expression a storm of emotions. The full moon behind her flickered, its once overbearing light now reduced to a pale glow. The gravitational pressure eased, the heavy burden lifting from Jake's body as her power waned.

"Why... why won't you yield?" she finally demanded, her voice barely a murmur. "You could have perished. Why take such a risk?"

Jake's grin widened, a fierce determination shining through his exhaustion. "Because that's the price for surviving what the future holds. To defy the impossible. To rise above even when everything tells you to stay down. You challenged me to prove my worth. Now, I've shown you."

The Moon Spirit looked at him, her form trembling, her ethereal glow fading. For the first time, her gaze softened. She exhaled, a sigh that seemed to carry the weight of millennia.

"Perhaps... you are more than just another mortal," she admitted reluctantly, her voice almost a whisper.

Jake relaxed his stance, his breathing heavy but steady. He lowered his weapon, his body still thrumming with suppressed power. The lunar warriors faded completely, and the oppressive moonlight retreated, leaving only the serene glow of the stars around them.

"So what will it be?" Jake asked, his voice barely above a whisper, yet it echoed through the void. "Will you continue this fight to the bitter end, or will you see reason?"

The Moon Spirit hesitated, her eyes locked onto his. For a moment, neither of them moved, the silence stretching between them like an eternity.

Then, slowly, she nodded. The glow around her receded further, until only her silhouette remained, bathed in the soft, gentle light of the stars.

"You may have earned my respect... but that's just my respect," she said, a shadow of her previous arrogance returning, though tempered by something else—acceptance. "I still don't believe you have what it takes to accomplish what you aim to do. Blade... is different from the rest of us. Unlike Ray or me, his very nature is... built for combat."

Jake shivered at the chilling warning. It was something he had barely considered. A sun or a moon had no ambitions or sophisticated dreams. Their nature was simply 'to be.'

As the shattered chitin blade of a World Eater, their enemy was different. The spirit of a weapon... surely aspired to spill blood. Especially one that had belonged to such a terrifying Digestor.

"I understand your fears," Jake acknowledged gravely. "However... its nature is still that of a weapon. As long as there's no one to wield it, it can never manifest its full power."

"Oh? You understand even that." The Moon Spirit was surprised, before her demeanor turned serious again. "You should know then that once Twyluxia falls, Klayr's corpse will belong to it. It will then have a body to wield itself. Its nature will change, evolving from a mere broken weapon to that of an armed zombie. I shouldn't have to spell out what will happen if that scenario plays out..."

"No need..." Jake shuddered. "I promise you, though, that with your help, we'll have a much better chance of stopping it. If we fail, I pledge to save everything that can be saved from Twyluxia, including you and Ray. In return, all you have to do is help me a little. Given your strength, you can't seriously expect me to believe you're that afraid of death?"

"..." The Moon Spirit fell silent, lost in thought. "I had already planned to leave my orbit around Klayr of my own accord if things here became irretrievable. Drifting endlessly through the cosmos is a bleak prospect, but as long as I find a new star rich in Lumyst to bind to, I can continue the rest of my existence peacefully. My nature is to orbit a planet; the fate of the living beings of this world-plane has never mattered to me."

Jake's eyes lit up as he realized there was a misunderstanding. The Moon Spirit's ignorance—or rather, her overconfidence—was finally working to his advantage. He didn't even need to explain it himself, as Ray, who had heard everything, exclaimed in a know-it-all tone,

"But big sis... only Klayr's corpse can produce Lumyst from Aether."

How could the solar child forget this detail when Jake had patiently taken the time to explain on their way why losing Twyluxia would be detrimental to them even if they survived the calamity?

When the Moon Spirit understood that apart from here, the only infinitely abundant energy source was Aether, her face fell.

"This Aether is supposedly... everywhere? I can't sense it at all..." She confessed with a defeated sigh. "I suppose I have no choice then. I will have to fight alongside you. I can survive without Lumyst, but I can't resign myself to stagnation after cultivating for so long. If this Oracle System can really do what you say, it's worth the risk."

Jake cracked a victorious smile. He was finally done with this mission. Two World Spirits convinced out of two. It was the perfect outcome!

"Even if the Oracle System were to disappear, I'm already capable of converting Aether into Lumyst. Staying with me will only benefit you." He promised confidently before motioning for them to enter his Purgatory.

He was ready to superimpose it with his Inner Space at any moment. Once done, almost all of the Aether produced by his Energy Body would be dedicated to maintaining the Artifact Incarnation.

"Ray has no choice; his body is too destructive for Twyluxia and the living beings that inhabit it." The Moon Spirit cast a pitying glance at the child of flames.

She could reduce her mass to a minimum by converting most of it into Lumyst, but Ray couldn't completely stop the thermonuclear reactions taking place within him. All along, the Sun Spirit, despite his innocent demeanor, had continued to radiate with such force that the radiation alone would be enough to render the continent beneath them sterile.

"Sun or moon, your main Life Lumyst Core has the word 'life' in it," Jake reminded. "I'm sure there are Lifemancers in my Mirror Universe capable of helping you create an avatar compatible with life in society. If we survive all this, it's worth considering the idea." Nôv(el)B\\jnn

When Jake was about to transport them into his Purgatory, Ray suddenly asked,

"Hey Jake, I still don't know what your Plan A was."

The Moon Spirit also showed a curious expression upon hearing this, having a hard time believing he still had one last trick up his sleeve.

"Curious?" Jake chuckled.

"Hm, hm..." The solar child bobbed his head vigorously. The lunar young woman was more reserved, but her perked-up ears were all the hint he needed.

"Ahem... In that case, what do you think of this..."

Jake temporarily granted them permission to plunge their consciousness into the separate dimension of his Space Storage. When the two spirits saw the mountain of Grade 8, 9, and 10 Aether Cores of all attributes inside, they froze in horror.

"What kind of crazed god created such weapons of mass destruction!" The stone woman cried out in terror, even more frightened than she was of the Blade Spirit.

Jake stiffened.

"The crazed one is me." He pointed to himself with a sheepish look. "And these are not weapons of mass destruction, though they can certainly cause some serious damage in the wrong hands..."

The Moon Spirit stared at him as if she wanted to devour him with her gaze, then she sighed, "If you had used those 'bombs' from the beginning, I would have joined your cause immediately."

"..."