Hmmhmm… Yes. Interesting.

That makes it four actives and one passive… Heart relocation, and an item that lets him quickly restart cancelled channelings. Considering its speed… S rank mana heart probably. Stats heavily skewed towards mana. Higher regen than he should for what he has.

Sofia was waiting for the next attack, but it took more time than usual.

Starting to get suspicious? Fine, let’s switch the roles, then. Let me have go at your defenses.

Her eyes still closed, and without moving, Sofia quickly cast a weak piercing bolt, aimed at the Oracle’s chest.

The bolt harmlessly crashed into a layer of mana that enveloped the attack like a veil, dissipating it.

Noted. Let’s see how much this can handle.

Scales with the mana of the attack, I see. Like [Heat death], then. I can easily overwhelm it. Oh. That’s new… Looked like a passive activation. Another curse? Oh, my thoughts feel… Slower. That’s one nasty Processing debuff. Good to know. Could he not do that before I attacked, or was he keeping it in reserve?

That’s all I’ll be able to get without getting serious, it looks like…

The Oracle’s continuous rain of debuffs and attacks had managed to take Sofia to almost 40% of her health, since she did not defend whatsoever, so now she needed to change tactics before her racial started to activate and lock her in place.

Refusing to open her eyes, Sofia started walking toward the Oracle, slowly. The various curses he laid on her, she accepted without flinching. The attacks he sent her way, she all dispelled with [Heat Death].

The Oracle tried to say something. Sofia stabbed her ears with bone spikes. She would not listen to a single word.

More attacks came her way, the stronger ones disappearing long before reaching her, and the weaker lot curving around her and crashing into the dirt behind her.

What a disappointment.

Since the Oracle was frantically casting, he was not moving, Sofia slowly inched closer, until she felt she was close enough. The Oracle in her field aura, she applied what little control she could on his bones to slow him, and jumped in his direction.

She was stopped just shy of having the Oracle in her close aura, some kind of runic bond forming around her left ankle.

That’s new. Good.

Stepping on air with her other foot, Sofia forced on her bound leg, shattering the magic bindings.

More came. And Sofia had more of an opportunity to observe the spellcast. It was instant, cheap, and could apparently be used several times a second. Just like that, all of Sofia’s limbs were bound in place mid air.

Wait… This is also impairing my mana circuits… It’s sealing my active skills. And It looks like the essence if feeding them? These probably won’t dissipate in a hundred years if they’re not broken.

Your signature skill is disgusting, huh. Just like you.

Bound, Sofia squirmed and pretended to struggle.

Come on, show me what else you’re still hiding.

The Oracle jumped back and started to channel something new, something Sofia felt was nauseating. She recognized similar mana structures to [Holy Smite]. In other words, the Oracle was trying to open a direct link to Scripture’s domain.

Sofia spoke, unable to even hear her own voice.

“I’m sorry Jeffrey. I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”

The admin’s dagger pierced through Sofia’s back from the inside, held by a bone hand made of her own spine. On a flexible strand of bone, the hand quickly moved around, slashing all of the Oracle’s runic bonds.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The Oracle hastily dual-cast some more bonds toward Sofia but it was too late, she was no longer there. A maximum range [Summon Self] had sent her right behind him.

His body starting morphing horribly. His bones instantly grew and twisted inside of him, transforming him into a spiraling long-limbed abomination, his skin tearing from the excessive strain. He screamed, but Sofia could not hear it, and yet, despite the pain, his spellcasting continued.

“You force my hand.”

Sofia turned around, grabbing the dagger with her real hand, and masterfully carved out a large chunk of the Oracle’s side. This, Sofia could tell, was were the essence he held was. Losing that body-part certainly would not make him lose the essence, but it was enough to disrupt the spell. Already mangled beyond recognition, the Oracle suffered from the mana backlash.

“Still not dead? Hmm. Oracles are quite tough after all. That’s perfect. Here, please don’t move.” Sofia summoned a bunch of bone around the Oracle, it closed around him like a sarcophagus, letting only an opening for his face and an opening on the left side of his chest.

Carefully, Sofia controlled the man’s bones to extract his heart through his back. She could do it with mana hearts, after all, a real heart wasn’t any harder. Still connected to its arteries, a beating heart made its way out of the Oracle’s back, preceded by sharp bone cutting through the muscle and skin.

“Poor man, I see you struggle, no need to keep screaming, no god will come help you here in the trial. You’re all out of mana. It’s the end of the road. But don’t worry, this is all according to your plan? Right?” Sofia said. “I’m just following the instructions of the book you gave me. You’re a willing sacrifice? Right? All for your god, right?!”

Sofia ripped out the man’s heart and threw it to the ground, blasting it into oblivion with an explosive bolt.

“Sorrow deserves better than your shitty heart.”

Realigning the essence cores inside of her, Sofia draw a divine rune that was perfectly matched to this situation. Just like the oracle’s limbs at the moment, it was a beautiful spiral. [Mockery of the divine], Dread.

Like struck by lightning, the Oracle spasmed even more inside of his prison of bones. Whatever sounds he might have been making, Sofia was thankful she needed not hear. The shock, apparently, was too much, as the Oracle’s body horrendously kept spinning on itself inside of the bone prison, even without Sofia’s influence. His mana heart shattered.

[ROUND 7/13 - WIN]

“Already over…” Sofia mumbled, washing her hands with some summoned blood. She looked at the sky, unsure of where the public was watching her from.

“You’re watching, right, Jeffrey? Or should I say, scripture, now? To think even your own Oracle of hundreds of years you would kill without any remorse… I put on this show especially for you! I hoped you liked it… I really do! After all, next time, it will be you.”

With a wide smile on her face, Sofia disappeared, transported to the next waiting room.

“W- Well…” Love cleared her throat, “So, uh… Sun, you gave her a fifth of your essence, right? Are you suuuUuure you really know what you’re doing? I- I’m just asking as a friend... And you disgusting thing in the back, stop clapping! Are you her grandfather or what? It wouldn’t shock me at this point if she had a Kleptran heritage but come on! Wait, no, we actually have her like great-great-great-grandfather here… And shockingly enough he’s human. So… What’d you think about your grandkid? I’m sure everybody here is curious…”

[H] has opened a request for ‘Emergency chatroom’.

Request pending…

[E] has accepted request.

[D] has accepted request.

Loading language matrix…

‘Emergency chatroom’ is now in session.

[H] - Is everything ready for

exception J0T6-2?

[D] - Data ready to pre-load.

[E] - Reagents intact and stable.

[E] - Requesting exception use probability analysis.

[D] - Players ‘Sofia Aphenoreth’ and ‘Pareth’, exception J0T6-2… 99.9% use probability, low error margin.

[H] - Requesting success probability in exception J0T6-2.

[D] - Unable to calculate.

[H] - Requesting mana heart awakening probability with current matchmaking assuming failure in exception.

[D] - For given parameters; awakening probability… ‘Pareth’ 100%; ‘Sofia Aphenoreth’ 0%, no error margin.

[H] - Requesting permission to alter matchmaking following attached file. ‘Brackets.csv’

[E] - Granted.

[D] - For altered matchmaking, awakening probability… ‘Sofia Aphenoreth’ 73%. Exception use probability… 62%. Low error margins. Exception data unstable, will be lost if pre-loaded and unused. Are you sure you want to proceed?

[H] - This is what he would have done.

[D] - Granted.

Matchmaking has been altered.

Beginning pre-loading of E.J0T6-2.

‘Emergency chatroom’ is now closed.