Chapter 10: Oracle's Gambit – Threads of War and Want
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1. The Dream of Every Future
Kai stood at the edge of the Mirror Grove—a forest that did not reflect the present but every possible future. The air shimmered with visions: deaths that hadn't happened yet, loves not yet born, betrayals still brewing.
Beside him walked Nyxa, the Oracle of Ruin. Her eyes were like twin galaxies, each flickering with a thousand doomed timelines.
"Do you see now, Kai?" she said, voice both intimate and infinite. "In every timeline where you hesitate, you die. In every path where you fall in love… one of us becomes your executioner."
Kai shivered. "And in the ones where I win?"
Nyxa stepped closer.
"You become a god… and burn the system down."
She smiled. "And I fall in love with you anyway."
> [Bond Level Increased: Nyxa ♥ Kai – Ruinous Intimacy Unlocked]
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2. Echo of Time – The Skill That Shouldn't Exist
Nyxa placed a glowing seed into Kai's hand.
"This is a paradox fragment—compressed timelines. I shouldn't give this to anyone."
Kai absorbed it.
> [New Glitched Skill Acquired: Temporal Echo] – Can replicate the results of one failed timeline per day as a ghost skill.
He looked at Nyxa. "Why me?"
She touched his chest. "Because you make impossible futures feel real."
> System Emotion Matrix destabilizing... recalibrating... failed.
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3. First Assembly of the Rogue Pantheon
Back at the shattered temple, Kai called together his allies.
Yui, his first goddess and the System's rogue protocol
Velmaria, the demoness of fire and madness
Nyxa, Oracle of Ruin
Astel, a mortal champion imbued with glitchlight (now Kai's loyal right hand)
They stood around a throne made of broken command lines.
"This system is a godless lie," Kai said. "We make a new pantheon—bound not by code, but by desire, defiance, and freedom."
Velmaria grinned. "You want me to be a goddess again?"
"I want you to be what the system fears most."
> [Rogue Pantheon Founded – Initial Loyalty: 84%]
Nyxa raised a toast of starlight.
"To war. To chaos. To harem politics."
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4. First Counterattack – The Hunt Begins
As the group made their first move—spreading glitch seeds through a corrupted System Gateway—disaster struck.
> [Alert: Class-A System Hunters Deployed] [Target Priority: Kai – Glitched Origin Node]
Assassins appeared from fractured dimensions: beings wrapped in null-code, impossible geometry made flesh.
Yui fought with curved daggers forged from Kai's discarded skills.
Velmaria erupted in a storm of fire and cursed hymns.
Nyxa bent time around Kai, making him flicker between strikes.
> [Kill Count: 37 – First Wave Neutralized] [Skill Evolution Unlocked: Lust Engine Mk II]
After the battle, Yui pinned Kai to a stone pillar.
"You almost died," she hissed.
He touched her cheek. "But I didn't."
She kissed him. Hard.
> [Intimacy Upgrade – Yui's Blessing: Passion Surge +25% Combat Efficiency when Kai is near]
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5. The Prophecy of Ruin
Nyxa took Kai alone to a broken star above the world.
"This is what I saw."
The ruins shimmered and showed Kai three futures:
1. He dies. The system resets. The harem forgets.
2. He wins. Becomes the new system… and loses his humanity.
3. He breaks it. They all become something new. Divine. Wild. Free.
"You can still walk away," Nyxa whispered. "I'd still love you."
Kai kissed her instead.
"I walk forward."
> [Bond Complete – Nyxa ♥ Kai – Oracle's Heart Claimed] [New Passive Skill: Foresight Drift – +10% evasion from divine attacks]
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6. Endgame Trigger: Eirnys Awakens
Far above, in the Divine Executioner's Chamber, a chained goddess stirred.
> [Entity Reactivation: Eirnys – Goddess of Vengeance and Correction]
She opened her burning eyes.
"Kai... so you finally gathered your little harem of traitors."
> [System Order Issued: Purge the Glitch] [Executor Deployed: Eirnys – Arrival in T-minus 1 Chapter]
Back in the Rogue Realm, Kai turned to the sky.
"I don't know who's coming. But let them come."
> [End of Chapter 10: Oracle's Gambit – Threads of War and Want] Next: Chapter 11 – The Rogue God's Declaration