The Oracle Paths

And like any mortal about to die, he exploded with his full potential.

His movements became suddenly cold and calculated and his concentration reached its peak. A mysterious energy even more refined than the one enveloping Lucia's sword began to radiate from his giant saw and his aura became comparable to that of a renowned master of arms.

For the first time since his debut in the Mirror Universe, he began to use the body and bloodline he had obtained as rewards for his previous Ordeals instead of relying on his divine powers.

The Black Minotaur shrank in size, becoming more compact and lean to achieve greater mobility, and in a few strides sprinted to Lucia, whom he had sent flying into the wall. A miniature sun appeared in his hand, which immediately merged with his body and his weapon, transforming him into an incarnation of the Sun God. Shamash brought his blazing saw down on the struggling young woman and she hastily blocked it.

The Myrmidian princess's eyes widened in shock as she parried the stroke, her legs buckling under her weight and her knees smashing into the ground, forming two mini-craters. Her skin began to scald and if she didn't have the Myrtharian Body passive she would have been cremated on the spot.

Her Myrmidian Sword emitted a shrill sound of anguish and Lucia was horrified to find that the blade was already half sawn.

'Oh no!' She freaked out as she decisively recalled her sword.

With bare hands, she lunged forward and rammed her elbow into Shamash's plexus. Or so she tried. Having realized that he had only one life left, the god had also discovered fear and instead of taking it condescendingly, he deflected Lucia's elbow with a palm strike.

The young woman winced with pain as she saw the smoke coming out of her charred elbow. She summoned a pair of gauntlets and began a beautiful and deadly martial dance with the fallen god.

Jake and Hade were shocked by both Shamash's and Lucia's martial prowess. Jake in particular realized that he was practically a novice at it compared to them. If the Minotaur had used these techniques from the beginning, perhaps he wouldn't have been hurt even once.

"But Lucia is losing." Hade sighed as he dashed to her rescue.

Jake nodded silently and teleported directly between the princess and Shamash.

After all, Lucia not only had to fight the enemy, but also endure the point-blank radiation of a mini sun. Her entire skin was charred and she had long since closed her eyes to preserve her sight for the fateful moment.

"That's enough." Jake and Hade shouted at the same time as they struck without mercy.

Jake's katana met Shamash's glowing saw while Shamash deftly tilted his head to block Hade's lightsaber with his horn. This time the horn held, and Hade felt a terrific surge of heat transfer from the horn to his weapon, then to his entire body.

Stifling a grunt of pain, the former Fluid Master leapt back to regenerate with a healing spell before immediately attacking again. Conversely, Jake felt the same heat flowing through his body, but was shocked when it began to vaporize his flesh.

Like Hade the moment before, he had no choice but to step back momentarily before counterattacking. The three of them began to harass Shamash relentlessly, and he soon made his first mistake.

Lucia's Myrmidian Sword sliced lightly into his thigh, but not enough to cut a tendon and incapacitate him. The intangible energy Shamash was using to hurt them with every move he made erupted from his body and the trio scrambled backwards, their melted skin and muscles revealing their bones beneath.

'What's this?' He questioned Xi during the fight with a grim look on his face. This was the first time in a long time that ordinary heat had managed to burn him so badly.

[I'm not sure, but it must be a manifestation of his True Will combined with other techniques and an advanced understanding of physical laws. There is a similar martial concept in the older Systems called Mandate of Heaven. By understanding a Mandate, they can infuse the corresponding intention into each of their techniques. By understanding the Sun Mandate, one can use Sun Force and make the most ordinary ice object more scorching than a star. The beauty of these Mandates is that they override the opponent's characteristics, attributes and defenses and can even attack your Spirit Body directly.

[At high levels, they can even ignore your stats and affect you as if you were an ordinary human. This leaves you with only your own True Will to defend yourself. This can be seen as an evolution of Intent, which itself is qualitatively below True Will. Of course, what Shamash uses is obviously inferior, but mostly mixed with other intents and energies that characterize his Divinity.]

"I understand." Jake spoke aloud, promising himself to look into the subject once the battle was over.

Lucia could already use several Intents, including her True Will of Victory. He hadn't asked Hade, but he was pretty sure Hade was using a similar ability to allow his lightsaber to slice through the unsliceable.

But until then, Shamash had to die.

Even if he was burning, so what? This Sun Force had not reached a level where it could nullify his stats. Once his skin was burned, he began to excrete Adamantium and his formidable Vitality came into play, continually repairing his body.

Tougher physically than Hade and Lucia, Jake gritted his teeth and charged toward the enemy.

"True Will is it? I just want to slay you!" Jake roared as he lashed out with his God Slayer Katana at full force.

When one had Jake's mental stats, sometimes to succeed one just had to try. His True Will, which he had previously only known how to use through his Rune Engraver Soul Class, seamlessly infused his blade and collided with Shamash's saw.

BOOOOM!

The god's mismatched figure slid backwards, leaving deep furrows in the ground, a persistent gash across his chest despite his Sun Minotaur state. He immediately reverted to human form and belched a gush of blood onto the ground.

"Tsk! That didn't work." Jake sighed as he thought about what had just happened.

Apparently, the thought wasn't enough.

[Of course it wasn't enough!] Xi exclaimed in an exasperated voice. [I mean, yes, but it's going to take a lot more dedication than that to get a result. Your True Will is everything you stand for, but it's simply who you are. That's why Soul Classes change you so deeply. Right now, yours is just what we would call a True Will of Self. What you fear most is that you will not be yourself anymore and betray your values. But your Bloodlines and Soul Classes affect you too. Give your Spirit Body time to grow and it will take care of itself. If you want to speed up the process of developing a particular True Will, there is no secret. Repetition until it becomes second nature.]

Still... As Xi lectured him, Shamash was taking this unhealing wound seriously. Deprived of the thread linking him to his main Divinity on B842, the god could feel his life slip through his fingers after being slashed by that God Slayer Katana. Every wound to his Divinity was a wound to his soul and he had already lost his mind.

Seizing the opportunity, Aisling appeared out of nowhere and unleashed her Succubus charm at full power. The already confused god was suddenly enthralled by her, with hearts in his eyes. By the time he pulled himself together, it was too late.

Lucia stood before him and stabbed his heart with her Myrtharian Sword. Undaunted, Hade teleported behind him and chopped off his head without hesitation. As for Jake, he teleported nine meters to his left and caught an invisible speck of light in his hands.

What little remained of his Divinity was sucked into Jake's body and the god lost most of his powers and memories. All that was left was an overwhelming sense of resentment.

"YOU can't kill me!" Shamash shrieked as he abruptly released all of his spiritual energy in a huge blast.

Jake, Hade and Lucia didn't expect anything special in this area from an agonizing Player, but how wrong they were...