The Oracle Paths

The aura around the cube man underwent a radical change and everyone perceived the monstrous energy fluctuations building up in the arm holding his sword.

Several mirages of gigantic cubes of various colors except green, and including both black and white, appeared behind him and emitted a thick beam of light of the same color that all converged on his body. Vexa's power began to surge in a totally incoherent manner and he slowly raised his sword as he walked towards the Gumdolite block.

In addition to his insanely refined Aether Control and all of his bloodline abilities and amplification spells, Jake also perceived the presence of a staggering and abnormally pure amount of Sharpening Aether flowing around his blade. No matter what would be slashed by this sword, even if it was just a scratch it would be fatal.

There was no hope of survival, even for a Gold Myrtharian like him, even if he had plenty of Aether Sun Cores to boost his regeneration. That was how powerful Vexa was at that moment. The idea that he could survive 3 Virtues, 37 Powers, and hundreds of Principalities didn't seem so far-fetched anymore.

"Keep your eyes wide open." The cube man couldn't help but let out a small laugh as he beheld their gaping faces.

His gaze grew cold and focused as his arm turned into a blur, his sword swinging down at the block of Gumdolite with the sole intention of cleaving it in half. For Jake and the others, the fate of this spongy block of metal, however renowned, was already sealed.

CLANG!

For a fleeting moment, they truly believed that Vexa had succeeded. The Gumdolite did indeed appear to split in two, until they realized that Vexa's blade had stopped 8cm from the ground. At that point, they realized that he hadn't cut anything at all. The elastic metal had just followed the motion of his sword, deforming to some extent until its elastic force counteracted its initial momentum.

BANG!

Like a bowstring whose arrow has just been released, Vexa's arms, congested from exertion, managed to defy the elastic force opposing his weapon for a moment, then the Gumdolite sprang back to its original form and he was catapulted in the opposite direction like a cannonball.

To save him from a grisly death, the energy shields in the training room activated in time and a force field magically stopped his soaring flight before the cube man could crash to dust against the ceiling. When Vexa levitated back down to the ground, his face haggard and his aura nonexistent, he looked quite miserable.

"As you can see, when I say that Gumdolite boasts infinite elasticity I mean it." The Mirror Vanguard leader coughed awkwardly. "Now you'll see the difference with True Will."

No formidable aura erupted from his body this time, nor any flashy technique, but a thin halo of silver energy enveloped his blade. In fact, Jake wasn't even sure there was such a halo. It looked more like his blade was sparkling a little more, as if it had been manually sharpened to perfection.

He didn't let himself be fooled though. Behind the man's cubic pupils, there was a pale, unwavering glimmer that wasn't there before.

Vexa walked back to the Gumdolite block, but this time he took no stance. He simply placed the edge of his blade against the top of the metal block and nonchalantly lowered his arm. The gesture was effortless. There was no Aether fluctuation and his muscles barely contracted.

But the Gumdolite block was silently sliced apart without showing any resistance. It was as if its previous infinite elasticity was a lie.

The pale fire shining in Vexa's eyes faded and he suddenly seemed exhausted. Not physically, but mentally. Stowing away his sword, he turned to them and smiled tiredly,

"This is True Will. Great Right? But True Will of what? Do you think my every dream from morning to night is about slicing Gumdolite or that all I aspire to is chopping things up?"

No one answered.

"Of course not. What I have shown you is a mere application of everything I have taught you before. It is the result of routine and repetition. If you do the same thing over and over again with the same intention, the Soul Power associated with it grows. If on top of that, it is associated with a rise in your understanding, a change of mindset on your part to the point that it becomes obsessive, then it could become the catalyst for awakening a Soul Class or your own True Will.

"That's why I say True Will has nothing to do with your will. Because the majority of the things you experienced, you had no control over. You just reacted to those events and many of your habits and thought processes, whether positive or negative, are a direct result of that.

"To quote one of your oldest philosophers on earth, we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

Jake and the others froze. That's it? The final highlight of his masterful lecture was a corny quote from Aristotle?

"Uh... S-so how do you get our True Will to awaken?" Tim raised his hand timidly.

Vexa and Prysm sighed in unison. It was really too exhausting to talk to these humans. Jake ruffled the teen's hair and answered,

"If I didn't misunderstand, just practice the same move or technique with the desired mindset until it becomes ingrained in you and you come to realize that you wouldn't see your life any other way." Then he stared again at the cube man seriously. "But I have a question. I once heard that Digestors all awaken their True Will of Destruction after a certain level of evolution. Does that mean that destroying us is more important than their own lives without anyone having instilled such zealotry in them?"

"You're... absolutely right." Prysm confirmed grimly. "Their thoughts at all times are driven by this underlying urge to destroy. Everything they live and experience, from eating to sleeping, is perceived through the filter of this destructive impulse. In this way, as soon as their Soul Strength is sufficient, this True Will naturally awakens when they become aware of it.

"What Vexa did not tell you is that once the True Will is awakened, it begins to dissociate from the rest of your Soul Power. Although you still cannot intentionally manipulate or even observe the Soul Power in your Soul with your own consciousness, you will be able to feel how the True Will-induced mental state overwhelms you. Very soon, it won't leave you at all.

"Unlike a Soul Class that can be changed under certain circumstances, True Will is permanent. To get rid of an ill-fitting True Will there is only one solution: to erase the memories, affects, and other physiological, psychological, and magical influences associated with it. That would mean destroying a part of who you are.

"Therefore, the type and power of a person's True Will tell you a lot about who they are and how they spend their time. An egoist will never be able to emit a True Will of Protection to defend his or her friends in the way that a truly altruistic person of the same level might."

Vexa clapped his hands again to regain their attention.

"Now you know everything. Last thing. True Will has several categories. The first type, the one most of you have, is True Will of Self. You can only use it in extreme circumstances when what matters most to you is directly threatened. It is the most powerful form of True Will, but also the least specific and the most difficult to control. To control it at will would mean that you have complete and utter understanding of yourself. Only the best Evolvers in the Mirror Universe are capable of this.

"The second type is True Will of Intent. If you force yourself to desire, to want the same things all the time, it will become second nature. The best example is killing intent. You must have realized that the more people you kill, the more it grows, especially if you deeply wanted your victims to die. This type of True Will takes time to develop, but it does make a difference at a high level. Some also call it True Will of Accomplishments, because they reflect the weight of your choices and actions.

"The third type is True Will of Enlightenment. Basically, as you begin to grasp a knowledge topic, you will derive new knowledge by inference, and the resulting understanding may be unique to you. The understanding resulting from all your knowledge, memories, experiences, and various True Wills accumulated over your life is a powerful catalyst capable of harnessing a large portion of your Soul Power and sometimes your entire Soul. In the second case, it means that you have reached Enlightenment of your True Self. You can then use your True Will of Self at will.

"Finally, the last type is True Will of Habit or Repetition and the one you will focus on. By practicing the same movement repeatedly, obsessively, you will develop an unalterable will to perform it as well as possible. This may sound like True Will of Intent or Enlightenment, but it is different. You don't have to be emotionally invested to get results. As long as you have no choice but to repeat a certain action or spell a million times, you will get a result if your Soul Power is sufficient. Just because this one action now represents, days, weeks, months, years of your life and just as much Soul Power."

"Any questions?" Vexa ended sternly. "No? Then get to work. Create your first Killing Move."