For a moment the crowd hushed as everyone whispered to one another. They waited for a while, but when nothing else happened the Beasts finally relaxed. The Beasts slowly formed into small clusters, gathering with those they knew and were on good terms with. They whispered amongst themselves, discussing what they thought was happening. Some of them were gravely intimidated by the 6 Beasts getting suppressed, as they themselves were weaker than them. Others smugly gloated over their stupidity.
A very few of them silently observed the gathering. In the history of Nibiru there had never been an incident where so many top tiered cultivators gathered together. This was not only because the planet was divided into multiple continents that were kept apart by the ocean, it was also because Beasts were generally territorial. This meant that not only would they stay in their own lands to protect them if other powerful Beasts entered their territory, even if only to travel, they would view it with hostility.
Eventually the clusters started breaking apart, as some of the Beasts headed towards the Coliseum while others roamed about to explore the Inn. Noticing this, and realizing the variable sizes of the Beasts, Lex quickly opened the Event management panel and quickly rented the Size Regulator for 20,000 MP! With this, once any Beast tries to approach any building their size would automatically be reduced to a maximum of 7 feet without affecting their strength of abilities. This feature was actually quite expensive to buy, fortunately to rent for a single event it was relatively cheap. This left Lex with 125,106 MP in total.
This was cutting his budget a little close, as he wanted to spend a lot of souvenirs for his new guests to buy. Basic souvenirs would be cheap, less than 10,000 MP for enough to last the whole event in fact, but Lex wanted ones that had some use or ability. After a moment's consideration, Lex decided to take a risk. He wanted to save MP in case of emergencies, but retail was an excellent way to earn back some of what he spent. Lex spent 50,000 MP to purchase commemorative golden coins..
On one side of the coin was an image of the Midnight manor, with the initials M.I. on it. On the other side was a giant number 1. The initials as well as the number weren't written in English, but were written using a special crafting technique so that they would change so that whoever viewed the coin would always see and understand those initials and number. The coin served no purpose, but simply acted as a commemorative souvenir to celebrate the first ever Midnight Games. Another thing to note, the coin was golden in color but was not made of actual gold. It was made from a much tougher, much rarer metal and more durable metal. The engravings would not fade as a result of time and the coin was extremely resistant to any kind of damage. Maybe, after a long time once the Inn became more popular, these coins would be worth a lot to collectors.
Each coin could be purchased for 500 MP, from either the gift shop or through the assistants, for now. If he made enough MP and he could add more stuff to sell, he would place stalls near the coliseum.
Lex had stopped viewing the statuses for his guests as they were just too many coming in now. There were already over 500 Beasts, and more coming.
Alexander, Helen, Will, Hera, Jimmy, Chen and Lily all watched the gathering from the lobby of Midnight manor. Even knowing that the Inn would protect them, looking at the massive Beasts roaming around some of them felt intimidated.
Since Lex had stopped viewing statuses, he missed out on a single sloth that stood alone in the crowd. It had no followers, and no one interacted with it. The sloth simply stood amongst the crowd, looking around with interest. The world did not seem to distort under its gaze, and even if it moved around the ground would not crack. A small, innocent smile grew out on the sloth's face. Slowly, as slowly as it could physically manage, the sloth moved a single claw on its foot and its position changed. The sloth was no longer in the crowd, but in a strange little building. It looked at a human who had been startled by its appearance, and its smile grew even wider. The human did not die under its gaze. The rules of this world protected the human. The human, who finally gathered himself, smiled and said, "Welcome to Harry's barber shop. Would you like a makeover?"
To be clear, the rules of the Inn weren't protecting Harry from an attack by the sloth. The sloth naturally released an aura that was harmful to those around it if they were not of a certain cultivation level. Since this was not an active act, the system deemed it acceptable to curb the aura so that others would not be affected by it. This was similar to how Chen and Blane were unaffected by Falak's natural aura when they were talking to him, whereas should they have tried on Earth without Falak actively withdrawing his aura, they would have immediately died. The difference here was that the sloth was incapable of withdrawing its aura.
"Go ahead," the sloth answered, amused by the human.
"Please, take a seat," Harry instructed as he turned the chair for the sloth. He had no idea of the sloths' cultivation and normally should not know how to groom a Beast. But his Sorcery heritage was extremely thorough, and the species of his target was irrelevant as he was not grooming the physical body, but the soul and spirit directly. The physical changes that appeared after his grooming were an indirect result of that.
Once the sloth was seated Harry's eyes started to glow purple again and a pair of flying scissors appeared beside him. After careful consideration of what to do, Harry proceeded to cut the sloth's hair.
That is when something unexpected happened. After a single cut, Harry collapsed on the floor, fainting due to exhaustion. The scissors that he used had also snapped. On the sloth's body, the top 1 mm of a single hair had changed color from its natural light brown to a much deeper brown.
The sloth was not alarmed by this, but in fact marveled at the change it felt in its single hair. It was the most pleasant sensation it had felt in a long, long time. A holographic sloth appeared before it and said, "Don't forget to pay when you leave. You can pay me directly, and I will transfer the money."
The sloth smiled and summoned a single, glowing spirit stone. "Keep the change and tip the little human. I enjoyed the 'makeover' very much."
The spirit stone disappeared from its hand, along with the hologram. The sloth was now very curious about the Inn. It moved another claw and suddenly appeared in a forest. Once it entered, the sloth got completely lost and was unable to exit at all. Eventually it decided to climb one of the trees and take a nap. Someone would wake it up once the meeting started.
*****
As Lex was overlooking his some 700 + guests, Mary informed him that Harry had collapsed due to overconsumption of his soul power, and Mary had transferred him to the Recovery room. Harry would fully recover, but it was unlikely that he would wake up today. After making sure that Harry had not been attacked, Lex turned his attention back to his guests. Despite his earlier warning, the newer Beasts who entered had no prior knowledge of it and so a few more fights broke out.
Fortunately all the fights were handled quickly and safely, without anyone getting hurt. Since none of the offenders were repeat offenders, Lex could not ban them from the Inn for violating his rules since they did not know them. To fix this issue he made a little change. He arranged his 10 most powerful guards, who he had decided to call his Tier 7 guards since he did not know their cultivation level, at the entrance and had them blast their spirit senses in full. All new guests would undergo a single, quick wave of pressure from his guards before a hologram would appear and tell them the no combat rule of the Inn. This seemed to solve the issue.
As for why the guards were called Tier 7? He numbered it according to the cultivation realm. Mortals was Tier 1, Body Tempering was Tier 2, Qi Training was Tier 3, Foundation was Tier 4, Golden Core was Tier 5, Nascent was Tier 6 and the unknown was Tier 7. This division also intimidated Lex a bit. He never thought about it so he never realized how far he really was in terms of cultivation levels, but dividing it in terms of numbers made it a lot more obvious. Yet he put that thought out of his mind. Just because he was not there yet did not mean he would not get there eventually. His focus returned to the Inn.
It had been exactly 3 minutes since a new Beast entered the Inn, and at a total of 798 Beasts, it seemed that would most likely be all the guests he would get from Nibiru. Soon, guests from Earth would start to arrive. Having humans and Beasts mix together might cause some problems initially so he needed to be focused to solve them.
Speaking of which, Blood Fang had just made its way to the Midnight manor and was about to encounter his other guests. He silently transferred some guards nearby to handle any potential issues.
A holographic wolf was giving Blood Fang a tour and was leading it to the Midnight manor when it halted in its steps. It saw humans standing in the building, looking out at it. These humans were clearly different from the so-called 'guards'. It suspected that they were also guests. Truth be told, Blood Fang has great trouble adjusting to the fact that these humans were so powerful. On its planet they were nothing more than insects. In fact, since insects could also cultivate, calling them insects was a compliment. They were simply humans, the name an insult unto itself.
Yet now in this mysterious place it encountered countless humans who were ridiculously strong, some even stronger than itself. This enraged Blood Fang, yet it dared not do anything lest he upset its host. Blood Fang firmly decided to vent his anger on the humans back on its own planet once it returned. For now, it would adapt.
As the wolf walked towards the manor it felt its height shrink, until it was no more than 7 feet. Even its guards were suppressed to seven feet, though nothing else seemed to change. This made Blood Fang uncomfortable, but it understood that the buildings here weren't designed for Beasts and thus some changes were needed.
"Greetings…humans," Blood Fang said in a low, throaty voice. Perhaps it tried to be friendly, but his voice was too full of disdain. Yet none of the humans reacted to it. The Beast was clearly extremely powerful, and had a right to be disdainful towards them.
"Greetings, sir," Alexander responded with a slight, respectful bow. "You must be from the planet called Nibiru, I assume. I look forward to your participation in the Midnight Games.".
"Yes…the planet Nibiru," the wolf responded. It was still struggling with the concept of a planet and had never heard the name Nibiru before, but how could it say that to a measly human?
"What…planet…do you humans come from?"
"We come from Earth," Alexander said simply.
"And we come from Vegus Minima," replied Lily.
'Two different planets…' the wolf contemplated. It had difficult accepting this new change, but it considered the possibility. Should such planets exist, its path would open exponentially. It only needed to find a planet with weaker beings and conquer it. The wolf was on a journey to replace the bloodline it was born with with one of its own design. Such an endeavour required countless resources, but the wolf only had a limited supply in its territory. It could not expand further because it controlled an entire continent, albeit a small one, and could not venture out to the sea. Not to mention, the deer had strongly threatened it: should the wolf start a senseless massacre the deer would not sit still. How could the wolf conquer more land without exhibiting its might? Yet the deer was stronger, so the wolf had to obey.
The exchange ended there. The wolf said nothing more, and the humans did not question it. The hologram continued to give the tour, and Blood Fang continued to follow it. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief that there was no conflict, and everyone mentally prepared themselves for more such encounters in the future. Lex simply accepted it. Even if there was a conflict he could handle it. Everything was in his control.
Ten minutes had passed since the last portal opened, bringing a Beast, when finally new portals started opening. They did not open one by one, but simultaneously, as if they had been orchestrated as such. Dozens of humans stepped forth, entering the Inn for the first time. These humans had a much lower cultivation compared to the Beasts, mostly belonging to the late Foundation realm, with one or two Golden Core cultivators here and there. Yet even so, with prior experience the guards took no risk, and a wave of spiritual force passed over all of them before a hologram appeared in front of each guest, welcoming them and giving them instructions about fighting.
Lex kept an eye on the people from Earth to see if he recognized anyone. Most of the people were strangers but he managed to see a few familiar faces belonging to popular Tempest profiles.
If it could be said that the Beasts from Nibiru had him on guard, the people from Earth only provided him with entertainment. Firstly, everyone was dressed strangely. He expected a lot of suits, but it seemed everyone wore very traditional attire. It seemed that Lex still didn't fully understand the cultivation culture of Earth. He saw everything from kimonos to plated armors to quilts to skirts to this one particular hairy lad who was wearing uncomfortably short shorts. As in, Lex had never seen a man wear such short shorts. Who the hell was he and how did he get here?
Lex decided to look away. He wanted to forget the image the very next moment. The next thing that amused me was that the humans did not realize that they could communicate without utilizing their spirit sense. This caused a small verbal argument when an Estonian man passed a comment on an Arabic woman to one of his followers. Almost the entire crowd surrounding him froze when they realized they could understand him. This was followed by a very aggressive argument that would no doubt have turned into a fight had they been anywhere else other than the Inn. In the Estonian man's defense, he was only admiring her thick mustache.
Fortunately the embarrassment the humans were causing themselves was lost on all the Beasts otherwise Lex would have been ashamed to associate with Earthlings. A few moments later, more leaders arrived and the situation finally took a more formal tone. This was because, amongst the newest arrivals was The Queen. The one true monarch widely recognized on Earth. Of course, although recognition did not mean approval as there were a few people who gave her frustrated looks. But that was the extent of what they did. Who had the guts to go against her?
Even Lex recognized her, and was surprised to realize that it never occurred to him that she was a cultivator. While Lex was undergoing his own epiphany, the Queen and her followers were undergoing a realization of their own. Brandon's claims about being able to cultivate here were real. This was ground breaking news!
This would drastically affect the power dynamics of Earth. They had to be sure to maintain their lead in utilizing this new resource over the rest of Earth.
"You may begin the tour," The Queen said to her hologram, ignoring the crowd of Beasts staring at them from a distance. Even though they were powerful, the humans from Earth had never been afraid of Beasts.
*****
On Earth it was early morning, and all seemed normal. Everyone was going about their day, no one realizing that some of the top leadership on all of Earth had almost simultaneously disappeared. Well, almost no one.
After waiting thirty minutes and ensuring that enough time had passed, in a bunker under the Sahara a meeting was started.
"We have official confirmation, wherever they have gone they do not have access to communication. Immediately begin the operation," said a hoarse voice. "Begin moving all units into place. However, only move the units into place. No one, I repeat, no one is to start any action right now!
"Establish reconnaissance on the five families and start repositioning troops worldwide. Make sure everything looks official and there are no loopholes. This opportunity is too good to miss!"
All the members of the meeting turned off their holograms and began taking actions personally. This opportunity was heaven sent, they could not mess this up. Troops started to be repositioned all over Earth, under the guise of drills, or practice, or some reassignment. Various companies started relocating valuable resources, many banks raised their interest rates on loans, various currencies strengthened and many others weakened. No pattern or correlation could be seen between these seemingly separate incidents. Only very few people knew what they signified.
One of those people was a soldier, following his troops' repositioning. Only, these troops weren't on Earth – they were on the moon. A few hours after leaving their original base, they arrived at an underground base full of various kinds of jets and ships.
Under orders from their superiors, some of the soldiers started climbing into the ships. Others started loading supplies. The only soldier here who knew what was actually happening stood quietly as he waited his turn to board a ship. His actions seemed completely normal, and no one could tell something was amiss, so it was fortunate that he was wearing a helmet that covered his face otherwise someone would see the nervous eyes of a teenager. Even as he climbed onto the ship and the doors closed behind him, he said or did nothing suspicious. But in his mind, he only hoped that what he was doing would redeem him, and that he lived long enough to go back and tell his friend Alexander that he, Zeus Levintis, was not a coward. As the ship lifted off Zeus' knees trembled. Well, he was mostly not a coward.
Unaware of the silent changes happening on Earth, the leaders of the various factions on Earth began to tour the Inn guided by their holograms. All of the leaders had already been identified by the five families in the days leading up to the meeting, and had been given a non-interference order. They could do as they wished as individuals, but only the five families would represent Earth and make appropriate decisions. This may seem like bullying, but the fact that they were allowed to come to such a place at all was generous in the eyes of the five families. Besides, as Brandon put it, 'I'm a bully, what can you do about it?'. The answer was nothing. They could do nothing about it, so they all accepted.
So they all simply toured the place. Honestly, even if there was nothing here and it was a barren land, just based on the premise that it could aid their cultivation they would consider it a holy land. Yet even as the humans spread out in small clusters, they avoided the Beasts. None of them wanted to be the first to experiment by talking to them, and since none of them were the main characters here anyway why should they take a risk? Soon the other members of the five families arrived as well. There was a stark difference between the Morrison family and the rest, however. While the other families only came with two followers each, the Morrison family which had access to the golden keys appeared with over twenty Golden Core cultivators, not including Rorick and Audrey.
"Show off," the fat man – the only fat Nascent cultivator in sight – muttered.
Instead of getting offended, Brandon grinned at the remark. Yes, he did in fact like showing off. In fact, in the 1970s Brandon traveled the Earth as the world's most successful underwear model. His youthful looks and well sculpted body drew admiration and praise everywhere he went, not to mention various sponsorships. Yet he decided to stop when Audrey, following in his footsteps, also became a model. Alass, while Brandon listened to his wife dutifully, she herself didn't give a rats behind what anyone told her and did as she pleased, and only gave up the career when she grew bored of it. Those were some of the darkest days of Rorick Morrisons life.
"Shall we head to the coliseum?" asked Sam, ignoring the gloating narcissist..
"Wait for my grandson. I sent him here a few days in advance, he will update us on the matters here."
Richard, the fat man and Sam only nodded, and patiently waited for Alexander. The Queen had not bothered waiting for them as she had another objective. One of her two designated followers was someone sent by the lady in the hologram that the five Nascents had reported to. His only job was to observe everything so that he could report back once he returned. The Queen had volunteered for the job and the rest decided to keep their distance. Even though they knew it was a fundamental truth, none of the Nascents liked being reminded that they reported to someone higher up. On Earth they were without equal, but in the vast universe that meant little.
It did not take long before Alexander found the group. Helen had to stay back at the manor this time, as they may need to discuss sensitive matters and her presence might be inappropriate. No one asked it of her, she volunteered on her own, but the effect was the same.
"Little man, you're growing up so fast. When I was your age, I hadn't even embarked on the path of cultivation. Ahh, those summer days, working in the city, flirting with girls…" the fat man seemed to be reminiscing but his casual musings were cut short by Audery who said, "Are you telling my grandson to go around flirting with girls? I suppose you have a few candidates in mind?"
The fat man froze, feeling awkward. Compared to the rest, the fat man had a very casual attitude and almost behaved like a mortal. In his views, there was nothing wrong with a teenager flirting with some girls, right? However, for some reason he didn't understand, everyone of the other Nascent families assumed he was always trying to set up his daughters or granddaughters to their families. Please, he couldn't be bothered with such old fashioned thoughts, yet somehow that was the impression everyone had of him.
"Little Alexander, tell grandpa, has anything interesting happened so far?"
Alexander quickly briefed everyone on his encounter with Slag, and shared the information that he got from him. He was observing everyone else's reactions, hoping to learn something. They were curious, and asked many questions about the Empire, but none of them seemed surprised by the talk of galaxies of empires. Alexander said nothing, countless thoughts were running through his head.
After asking Alexander a few more questions, Sam said, "So only representatives from two planets have made it here so far? The third planet, this Vegus Minima, must be next then. We should wait and see what they look like."
The rest were about to nod at his suggestion but then, just as he finished speaking, 200 portals opened simultaneously. The timing was oddly coincidental, and not at all purposeful the work of mystical forces that did not want to waste more time on idle conversations.
In true military fashion, 600 uniformed men and women stepped through the portal at the exact same time. Most of them were Golden Core cultivators, but there were at least 80 Nascent realm cultivators and at least a couple above that realm.
Lex focused all his attention on this new incoming force, as their strength was by far the biggest and most dangerous. It was clear that these newcomers were a part of an army, and Lex did not even need to guess to know that they must be from the same Battalion as Slag. The army underwent the same pressure of the Tier 7 guards as well as the warning and welcome from the hologram, but had the smallest reaction. Quickly, the 600 men started arranging themselves in small teams that they had probably agreed upon beforehand. They did not take combat stances and appeared only to be standing together in small groups of ten, yet Lex could feel that not a single one of these soldiers had their guards down. They were ready to fight to the death at a moment's notice.
General Ragnar, who stood with an entourage of nine people behind him, looked at the various guests at the Inn. He noticed all the Beasts in the vicinity eyeing them, as well as oddly dressed humans that were from a different planet.
Before he could do anything, Slag marched as quickly as he could without breaking into a run and appeared before the General and saluted him.
"Lieutenant Slag of the 7th Forward Battalion, reporting for dirty, sir!" he said in a very robotic fashion.
"Authenticate," Ragnar said, and one of his followers stepped forward with a machine that he placed in front of Slags eye. The machine scanned not only his face and eye, but his brain directly. A green light lit up on the machine, along with details about Slag.
"Lieutenant Slag, according to reports, you went M.I.A. a few days ago. What are you doing here?" Ragnar asked, directly using his spirit sense to speak into Slags mind.
"I stumbled through a Golden door while escaping enemy combatants and arrived here, sir! I thought it would be more useful if I collect data about the Midnight Inn than return immediately. I have compiled a report of my findings."
"Alright, fall into line," Ragnar said, indicating that Slag should join his personal entourage. "Tell the soldiers to disperse and act according to their directives. We will regroup at the coliseum."
His orders were passed down and the soldiers had just started to move around when the remaining 100 portals opened up simultaneously as well. The latest arrivals did not come in the uniform style of the military, and walked through the portals one by one, yet the impact of their arrival was the biggest so far! The Beasts, the humans from Earth and especially the soldiers of the empire all tensed up when they saw zombies walking through.
In fact, unseen by everyone, it was Lex who was shocked the most! Zombies? How could they come? He had made sure in his selection parameters for the silver keys to enter that the leaders should be sentient and intelligent. These zombies, that ranged all the way from Tier 2 to Tier 5 definitely should have not entered. Although immediately he noticed that the zombies at Tier 5 showed a remarkable level of intelligence, for a zombie that is.
Finally, out of the last few portals stepped a few more guests who looked human at first glance. Yet it was only limited to the first glance, as one would quickly notice the various horns and tails these guests so proudly brandished.
"Devils," Ragnar muttered through gritted teeth.
Even though Ragnar was not loud, as Lex was paying extra attention he clearly heard the term 'Devil'. Were these the leaders of the zombies? Did they get the keys? That was the only explanation.
The atmosphere was extremely tense as the 600 Jotun soldiers immediately got in position for battle. The humans from Earth were dumbstruck watching these supposed fictional horror story creations appear. When they noticed the soldiers gearing up for a battle they started backing away quickly, so as not to get caught in the crossfire. Unexpectedly it was the Beasts who had no affiliation with the humans and should not have known the demons who showed the greatest hostility. In fact, were it not for the quick reminder by a few smart Beasts about the Inns non-combat rules, they may have already attacked.
The Devil did not seem to notice the ridiculous hostility pointed at them, and took a look around the Inn as if they were truly admiring their latest vacation destination. They were amused by the holograms that took on the shape of the kind of Devil they were, as they did not believe real Devils would ever work here.
Lex did not make any early announcements or reminders. After he calmed down from his initial shock, he did not panic either. He was still in a state of flow, and his mind and body were reacting perfectly to his intentions. His guards seemed insufficient to handle the situation should a battle arise, simply because he had not planned for them to deal with a battle. They were supposed to stop random fights and minor incidents. Individually or even in small groups, his guards could handle most situations that could arise. However, an organized fight between hundreds of soldiers and demons that not only outnumbered them but were also stronger than them overall was not something they could face.
Yet what allowed Lex to remain calm was the knowledge that his bodyguard should be able to handle any of the leaders here. He did not need to fight the entire army, simply intimidate the leaders. Yet while intimidating them, he still had to maintain the facade of the strong yet mysterious Innkeeper. If he reacted preemptively to prevent a fight it could be viewed as him acting out of fear for the situation to deteriorate. He had to wait for someone to take the first step, and then he would react. He was very grateful he hadn't been a miser and spent lavishly on his bodyguard.
Yet it was not as if Lex did nothing at all. He identified the Devil as well as the man that looked like leaders of the two armies and checked their statuses.
Name: Ragnar Asulf
Age: 3574
Sex: Male.
Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view)
Species: Human
Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1
Condition:
Remarks: *Knock knock* Who's there? It doesn't matter, because Hells Butcher does not crack jokes, he cracks his enemies' will to fight!
Name: Loretta Pendal Val Kilger
Age: 971
Sex: Female
Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view)
Species: Devil
Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1
Remarks: Don't look into her eyes, she's very shy. She may just blush and kill you!
Lex's flow almost collapsed and the strict control he had on his twitchy lip almost broke when he read Loretta's status. That was because while the status clearly stated Loretta was a female, and even had a femanine name…sort of…he was clearly looking at a man! Or maybe the difference was curtailed in Devils, he was not sure, but if Lex had to guess he would have clearly guessed that this was a man wearing cosplay horns! Even the black, leathery wings behind his…her back looked like a mans…eh, looked masculine? Maybe Loretta was just wearing a disguise. Yes, that must be it.
Not that he needed any new reasons to discriminate against Devils, but seriously if that's how female Devils looked he knew a lot of anime crazed humans who would be seriously disappointed.
The silence was going on for too long. Lex decided to proceed with the event as planned and deal with any situation that arises as it happens.
The holograms for all the guests appeared simultaneously and said, "Now that all the guests are here, the event will begin shortly. Please make your way to the coliseum."
Somewhere on the other side of the Inn in a forest a sloth was woken up from its slumber, only to see a whale staring at it directly in the eye. Holding onto the whale's tie was a turtle that seemed to be whispering something to one of the trees nearby.
Back at the Inns entrance the tension could be cut with a knife, yet no one dared to be the first one to act. It was one of the Devil's who finally chuckled and said, "Oh children, why don't you take a seat while papa goes for a round with the boys. Don't do anything naughty while I'm gone."
The zombie's, as if taking his instructions very seriously, sat down on the ground – taking a seat on the dirt.
Lex looked at this Devil's information, curious to see if he could get any information on how he ordered the zombies. Was it something all Devils could do, or this specific one?
Name: Warheil Heil Fendal
Age: 12100
Sex: Male
Cultivation Details: ???(Too high for host to view)
Species: Devil
Midnight Inn Prestige Level: 1
Remarks: Don't be fooled by appearances, the clothes he's wearing are worth more MP than you've ever collected! Quick, offer him some cake!
This was by far the oldest guest Lex ever had so he naturally assumed he was probably very strong. For a moment, he started feeling doubtful – would his bodyguard be enough? But the doubt was momentary. He spent 1 million on a single individual. Whatever his realm was, Lex was sure that it would be enough.
Warheil may have started first, but he was careful to stay one step behind Loretta – something that everyone noticed. Ragnar was struggling with a decision. His instinct was to immediately take this opportunity to kill the Devils, yet logic told him that they would not have appeared in public unprepared for an assault. Furthermore, he had yet to learn anything about the Midnight Inn. If the owner of the Inn was able to contact him directly, as well as others all over the world without leaving a trace he was not a simple man. Not to mention, even the Jotun Empire did not lightly use interplanetary teleportation, yet here it was being used casually to teleport random Beasts and people over.
But Ragnar was not an indecisive man. He hesitated but for a few moments, before he ordered his troops to march towards the coliseum. The holograms guided everyone, but the building was massive and clearly visible so they really didn't need any help.
Seeing that both the Devils as well as the soldiers were moving without incident, the Beasts as well as the Earthlings decided to do the same.
"Alexander, listen to me," said Brandon seriously. "Go call Marlo, tell him to come to me immediately. Once that is done, you and Helen both return to Earth immediately. Once there, I want you to seal yourself in the safety bunker, don't let anyone know you're back. I will summon you out once I return to Earth."
"Marlo's in the meditation room, I don't think I'll be able to go in," he replied.
"Do what you can. He's faced zombies before in combat, his experience will guide us if things take a turn for the worse. Not to mention, it isn't only for us. If something were to happen and he was meditating then he would be gravely injured."
"I'll see what I can do," Alexander said, and started sprinting towards the manor. He planned on getting Helen first, then going to fetch Marlo.
Everyone moved towards the coliseum, the original jovial mood changed drastically. Even Will and Hera, who originally planned on attending the meeting, returned back to Earth. Will briefly considered sending Hugo, but then decided that to be safe he would wait until tomorrow. At that time he could directly ask the Innkeeper or some of the staff the details for the event.
Soon, nearly 2700 guests were seated in the coliseum, leaving large empty gaps between each group. Even with this many people, most of the seats were empty so it wasn't really a problem to find a suitable seat. Sam was filling the Queen in on what she missed, and her follower who had been sent to observe was greatly shocked to hear about the Devils. It appeared as though he knew of them. The five Nascants naturally noticed his reaction, and looked towards him, waiting for an explanation.
The follower, noticing this, cleared his throat and said, "You don't need to know much. Just know, the Devils are our enemies. The weakest Devil is still far beyond what your planet can handle, so it is in your best interest to turn the other way should you ever encounter one. If something happens here, don't wait to see how things turn out. Escape back to Earth directly."
Before anyone could ask him any questions, a man finally appeared on center stage. His casual smile and relaxed demeanor did not match the tense atmosphere at all.
"Welcome guests to the Midnight Inn."