The Oracle Paths

Chapter 1189  The Moon Strikes Back

To make sense of what just went down, one had to witness the sheer insanity of Jake's violent outburst. That punch was the peak of his power and skill—the best he could deliver at that moment. Sure, maybe he could hit harder, but not by much—and definitely not without pushing past his limits or using some of his trump cards.

From the continent, the moon's explosion seemed instantaneous to those who witnessed it. But before that, Jake clearly saw how the avatar was blasted into its own moon, building up a ridiculous amount of kinetic energy.

On impact, the shockwave formed a plasma blast, splintering the satellite down to its core. Cracks spread all the way to the moon's dense nucleus, which barely held together. Moments later, the rest started falling apart as the avatar faded away, annihilated in an instant.

A second massive shockwave tore through space, lunar debris scattering like shooting stars but not drifting too far apart, as if tethered by invisible strings. That's the explosion and shattering those lucky—or unlucky—onlookers on the ground witnessed, leaving them to gape in awe as the celestial body gradually fell apart.

But for Jake, this was just the beginning. The moon's surface was in tatters, but its deeper layers were still holding together.

Cracks continued to spiderweb out, drawing chaotic paths that all converged ominously toward the core. Jake watched as the fissures deepened, feeling the energy pulsing inside.

Jake never underestimated his opponent. This was a Moon Spirit with an insane cultivation level; no way she'd go down in such an anticlimactic fashion. And he was right—the Moon Spirit hadn't played all her cards yet.

The moon's dense core, which had stubbornly resisted, suddenly pulsed with a blinding silver glow, accompanied by a gut-wrenching bass rumble like distorted electric guitar. From this magical surge, the massive drifting moon fragments froze in space, then started to glow before evaporating into a dense, shimmering mist of Moon Lumyst. For a fleeting moment, the moon's debris was replaced by a radiance that could give the Sun Spirit a run for its money.

After that surreal spectacle, the massive nebula of Moon Lumyst was sucked back into the core almost instantly—though to Jake, it felt like ages. Then the undamaged core vanished too, revealing a new avatar identical to the one he'd just obliterated.

Well, at least on the outside. Inside, it was a whole different story. Jake had never truly experienced the raw power of a Lumyst Cultivator beyond the Celestial Stage, but a little voice told him he was about to learn the hard way.

"You dare challenge the moon... Very well. Whether you survive or perish, know that your life wasn't in vain," she whispered, her voice laced with an ancient echo that resonated in his skull despite the emptiness between them.

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Jake raised a cautious eyebrow. "So it's serious this time..." he murmured, a spark of excitement flickering in his eyes.

His energy buzzed, the Fate Slayer Aura—whose impact he hadn't fully grasped in his earlier punch—now threatening to erupt. That could only mean one thing: right now, the Moon Spirit was stronger than he was. So much so that he'd have to defy destiny itself to claim victory.

"You don't intend to surrender?" the young woman asked, frowning—not with irritation, but curiosity.

"Quitting's not really my thing." Jake grinned without a hint of fear. "And not to toot my own horn, but I'm tougher than a cockroach. Even when I lose, I always manage to crawl back and make my enemies' lives a living hell."

The Moon Spirit paused, perhaps acknowledging his insanity, then stated flatly, "I hope you'll still wave that claim around so confidently after our fight. Let me show you how a moon that cultivates truly battles..."

There was nothing sinister or menacing in her words, yet Jake felt his heart drop into his stomach.

At that moment, the shimmering silver halo that gently encircled the Moon Spirit ignited, becoming blinding. A biting cold spread everywhere, giving him goosebumps and forming frost on his armor. As he wondered what she was up to, she waved her hand toward him, and an irresistible gravitational pull yanked him violently toward her like a magnet.

"A moon's first asset..." the Moon Spirit's voice echoed in his mind, distant. "Its mass. From mass comes gravity, and such mass lets me easily feel how my body influences this force. Needless to say, my Moon Lumyst encompasses these aspects of who I am."

Slapped by the sudden shift in gravity, Jake didn't have the luxury of being annoyed that her tone had turned into that of an adult schooling a kid. Instead, he started resisting the gravitational pull with his own cosmic mastery.

"A futile effort," the avatar remarked. She waved her hand again, and the pull intensified, like before the gravity she'd exerted was spread out, unfocused.

Jake's throat was instantly yanked into her open palm as her grip closed around it. Realizing the danger, he activated Bloodline Ignition, his skin cloaking itself in multiple layers of black chitinous scales. The Horizon Combat Suit, its spirituality freshly awakened, reacted as well—its mesh tightening to fully shield its wearer from external forces.

He tried to fight back, but the Moon Spirit, not forgetting that trauma, was a step ahead and chanted, "Let your mass increase."

Jake, who was gearing up for an even more apocalyptic blow than the one that had shattered the moon earlier, suddenly lost control of his limbs—they dropped like rocks. He could barely keep his eyelids open; they felt like lead. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"You think that's enough to slow me down?" he chuckled through gritted teeth. His body was under such strain that his adaptive powers had kicked into overdrive.

With a force far exceeding his own gravity manipulation, the increase in his mass slowed, then reversed in the blink of an eye, causing the Moon Spirit's eyes to widen in disbelief for the first time.

"Your confidence isn't baseless," she admitted, deadly serious. Her expression hardened, and she said, "In that case, let me show you the pinnacle of what a moon like me can do with gravity manipulation. Lunar Singularity!"

She slowly pointed a graceful finger at his chest, and from its tip Jake watched in horror as a brilliant silver sphere, the size of a tennis ball, condensed. It looked like a miniature moon—which wasn't far off. This monstrosity shared its mass.

Returning his earlier punch, she then struck him with speed and force using just her finger, and Jake knew instantly that the dense telekinetic barrier he'd enveloped himself in wouldn't hold. Sure enough, it burst like a helpless soap bubble.

The impact was silent in the vacuum of space, but the vibration that rippled through his armor and the mind-numbing acceleration that followed made him feel like he was diving into a wormhole, his vision warping. In a blink, the corpse of Klayr, whose contours he'd only barely noticed before, came into full view, then kept shrinking as he sped away.

"Absolutely insane..." Jake muttered, surprised to find himself unscathed.

He congratulated himself for pouring his heart into this armor. Horizon Hardstone lived up to its reputation as a material that could survive the heart of a black hole.

That single blow showcased the power gap between them, but he couldn't admit defeat just yet. So he calmly teleported back in front of the Moon Spirit, who waited with a pensive look on her face.

"You're alive."

Jake should have felt proud at that remark, but strangely, he felt wretched. Maybe because she was looking at him with a determined expression—the opposite of what he'd hoped to see. It was like his survival only reinforced her choice not to join his cause.

He couldn't stand leaving things at such a half-baked defeat. Clenching his teeth, he raised his head and taunted,

"An armor I whipped up in a few hours can handle your full power, and you dare act all high and mighty. If that's all you've got, consider me unimpressed."

The young woman snapped out of her gloomy spiral, her eyes widening as she looked at him like it was the first time.

"You still haven't given up?"

"I've seen worse." Jake's lips twisted into a smirk. "And besides, the moon—it's just a rock. If you think a lump of silver dust is enough to stop me, then maybe I'm overestimating you."

Her gaze hardened, a flicker of genuine irritation breaking through her ethereal calm. "Bold words. Let's see how long you can keep them."

Jake chuckled, his eyes glowing with challenge. "Oh, trust me, princess. I'm just getting started. The real fun begins now."