The Oracle Paths

Chapter 1230: Twice the Jake, Twice the Doom

Under the vast canopy of the Titan Tree Anthace—its crown blotting out the sky—a nondescript trio stood motionless on a high branch, watching the chaos tearing through Lustris directly below.

The capital had long since turned into a flaming hellscape. The monstrous tide erupting from the depths had overwhelmed what little remained of its elite defenders.

Buildings once gleaming with Lumyst light now lay in molten ruins. Corpses littered the streets like broken dolls, some still twitching, half-eaten, abandoned mid-meal by distracted predators. Entire districts had been swallowed by flesh and fire. From above, the city looked like a dying organism—arteries of flame, spasms of violence, its final heartbeat stuttering.

The screams of the civilians were enough to make your skin crawl—infants still swaddled in their blankets, terrified mothers, and half-dead elders all cried out in a death-choir of horror. Nobles and commoners alike had shed their façades, regressing to raw survival instinct—screaming, running, flailing like the helpless prey they were. Their predators, grotesque and nightmarish abominations, couldn’t even decide where to start, so spoiled they were by the buffet of panic and blood.

The monsters expressed their delight through high-pitched clicks, ear-splitting shrieks, or guttural vibrations that rumbled in the chest like the growl of some ancient beast—every sound more unnerving than the last.

Light Paladins and Corebearers, usually more numerous here than anywhere else, were barely keeping themselves alive. For the civilians, this alien invasion was nothing short of a living nightmare.

Except in this one, there was no waking up.

Under normal circumstances, the Celestial, the only permanent member of the Radiant Conclave, or even a Titan, would’ve taken command of the defense. But something about this situation was off. None of them had shown up so far. Those in the know were aware the capital currently housed only a single Celestial and the Titan Anthace. That might explain the others’ absence, but what the hell were the two actually present doing?

The defense system of the colossal tree—reliable until now—had mysteriously gone dead silent. And their supreme leader, who should’ve been tearing through enemies on the front line, was instead engaged in what looked like a casual chat with some stranger whose presence rivaled—hell, maybe even eclipsed—his own.

That thought alone was pure nightmare fuel.

But while the common folk saw only chaos and horror, the three Oracle Knights sent to protect the White City had an entirely different read on this apocalyptic scene.

Jake, who was supposed to be far from here and on the verge of walking into their trap, was already here—alive and unscathed. And Cho Min Ho, who should’ve arrived earlier, had shown up too late and missed the ambush signal they had agreed upon.

With the Celestial as the main combatant, Anthace in support, and four Oracle Knights backing them up, they should have been able to take Jake down. It wouldn’t have been easy, but it would’ve been doable.

Of course, they’d never actually intended to rely on Cho Min Ho or his faction. He was a Player from the opposing camp. He couldn’t knowingly help set up and participate in an ambush to take out one of his ”allies.” His Ordeal Rating would tank.

Nobody was fooled. Everyone knew they were using each other—but that was fine. Each side believed they were the one pulling the strings, that they’d come out on top when the game ended.

For example, had Cho Min Ho managed to corner Jake elsewhere, he would’ve been the one getting gangbanged by the three Oracle Knights. And honestly, maybe that’s what he was hoping for? Who the hell knew with him.

In the end, it was all a mess. First, the Celestial hadn’t engaged Jake on sight and instead had launched into a lively conversation with their most dangerous enemy. Second, these monsters, born of that foul Black Lumyst, had suddenly burst from the ground in numbers, rendering all their carefully planned scenarios useless.

And third... Cho Min Ho was now completely unable to help set up their so-called ambush—or even act as a decoy in Jake’s place. Their ”ally” had tried to play smart, deciding to sit back and watch the madness unfold. But with the growing number of monsters, the chaos had forced his hand.

They didn’t know the full extent of the carnage happening beneath the surface, but Rogen and the other Myrtharian Nerds were still locked in battle far below. From what little they could sense, it seemed even those monsters had finally reached their limit.

The first wave of creatures had been a threat only to ordinary Players and locals. But both their numbers and strength had since skyrocketed—and their spawn zones had expanded with them. Cho Min Ho and his men had thought they were safe on the outskirts of the capital. Turns out, the invasion zone didn’t care for boundaries or consent.

Perched on their branch high above the city, the three Oracle Knights from the other Mirror Universe could only watch these wild plot twists unfold, their faces darkening with concern.

And beneath their outward calm, something else was building—raw tension. Their composure was cracking. Even Shadrex, normally aloof and cryptic, had gone dead quiet. Caelum’s jaw clenched so hard it creaked. Weiss was fidgeting—something she never did.

”Shadrex,” Weiss muttered, her voice laced with annoyance as she exhaled sharply. ”Looks like your predictions aren’t what they used to be. Lustris is clearly under an existential threat that could derail our Main Mission entirely. But you said there was a chance of victory if we followed your plan, didn’t you? Didn’t you have a vision of Jake getting ambushed and swallowed by a horde of warriors—including us and the Celestial?”

Shrouded beneath the leafy shadow of the canopy, the mysterious seer let out a rare sigh that betrayed mental fatigue. At their level, sleep and rest were obsolete concepts. Any sign of weariness was deeply abnormal.

”I never claimed to know how it would end,” Shadrex grumbled. ”I only see possible futures. They’re never clear-cut. Everything’s up for interpretation, and everything stays in flux until it’s set in stone.”

The man nicknamed the Bipolar Seer now felt nothing but pure exhaustion. He’d never known himself to feel this defeated before. Hell, he hadn’t even bothered to speak in cryptic rhymes for a while now—a clear sign of how far he’d fallen.

”Still... I’m confident we’ll be the ones smiling when all’s said and done. Jake may throw off the reliability of my visions, but that’s exactly why we built a rock-solid backup plan. They lost their Oracle Hacker—we still have ours. And honestly, even these out-of-nowhere monsters work in our favor. If Jake wants a total win, he won’t just have to conquer Lustris—he’ll have to protect it. What good is taking a ruined capital if every inhabitant’s been devoured?”

Nothing about this Ordeal had gone as expected. They’d gone from setbacks to disasters.But sometimes, buried in catastrophe, was opportunity.

Even years after awakening his gift, Shadrex was still amazed at how fate always found a way to twist his visions into reality, even when all signs pointed in the opposite direction.

Normally, their Oracle Paths gave him little wiggle room. But thanks to their Oracle Hacker, he’d finally been able to use his powers to the fullest. And for what? For this moment.

’The vision might’ve gone fuzzy, but we still managed to corner Jake. Sure, we didn’t expect a clone, but the other one should be out of play soon with what we’ve got lined up. My gut’s telling me the real Jake is the one right in front of us. Because this—Lustris—is where our Global Main Mission is decided. Not on the central battlefield. And as long as he’s alone, he’s not getting out.’

Beside him, Caelum, the Titan of Vrax, was sharing the exact same bleak optimism. He’d even burned their ultimate Faction Skill—”Protector”—to reclaim his honor and quietly conquer Dusken solo. But his clone had ended up helping the enemy defend the capital instead.

The irony burned. This whole Ordeal was a sick joke—and he was the damn punchline.

Grinding his teeth, the belligerent colossus snapped bitterly,

”Great. He’s right in front of us. Whoop-de-fucking-doo. And what are we supposed to do with that? As long as the Celestial and Anthace are just standing there playing patty-cake, we’re stuck in limbo.”

The trio had been deployed to prevent the capture of Lustris. Yet the supposed enemy hadn’t lifted a finger, while a third party was a hair’s breadth away from wiping the city off the map. The real threat was clear, but acknowledging it would blow their cover—and nuke the last chance they had of ambushing their original target.

And just when they thought things couldn’t possibly get worse... Weiss’s expression twisted. Her abyssal eyes widened with a look of raw terror.

Weiss—the most composed and calculating among them. Her over-the-top reaction scared the hell out of the others.

”I-It can’t be...” the blue-skinned alien stammered, visibly shaken.

Shadrex and Caelum locked eyes—and instantly recognized the same dread.Anything that could shatter her composure, the Mind Weaver, wasn’t just a problem. It was the stuff of nightmares. A normal failure wouldn’t have fazed her.

Weiss had left a particularly nasty gift for the Jake fighting on the other front.

”What now? Don’t tell me he broke the ceasefire and launched an attack on th—”

Too stunned to answer, she simply raised two of her jellyfish-like tails and pressed them to her companions’ foreheads, injecting them with a burst of Spirit Power packed with a tsunami of data.

”See for yourselves.”

For beings at their level, digesting that info took less than a heartbeat.Their expressions, however, froze instantly—drained pale like corpses left to rot underground for a thousand years.

”...Holy fu—”

Shadrex didn’t even register Caelum screaming bloody murder in his ear, nor the barrage of spit splattering his face. His world had collapsed into tunnel vision, his chest constricted, breath gone.

Where had they screwed up? He saw it now.

They’d made one fatal mistake: They had dismissed certain possibilities... Because deep down, they thought them impossible.

Which Jake was the real one, and which the clone? Didn’t matter anymore.

Reality had already punched them in the face:

Both Jakes were insanely strong. Stronger than any of them.