The Innkeeper

The coliseum was silent - each group for their own reasons. The Beasts, despite having very strong representation, were the most confused. They did not understand a lot of the concepts that were being discussed, not because they were stupid, but because they focused their society on individual growth, and not the growth of the whole.

They formed and stayed in their own territories, and the only exchange they had with their neighbors was defending from expansion, or expanding themselves. This caused their growth as a civilization to stagnate, and their individual power levels weren't high enough to leave the planet, so their knowledge base existed only up to a certain point.

The Beasts technically could not be blamed for this, as the term 'Beasts' was a generic term. For example, humans treated feline Beasts and avian Beasts both as if they were under the same category, but were they really? That Beasts treated those of the same species kindly, but were mostly hostile to other species. Looking at it from this point of view, it made sense that they were not eager to share their knowledge and progress with other Beasts. After all, even on Earth, despite all the humans' technological progress, did they share any of it with the Beasts? They were both sentient beings so technically they could, but the species barrier was a difficult one to overcome.

The Earthlings were silent, not because they couldn't understand what was happening, but because they were clearly the weakest ones here. They were ready to participate in the Midnight Games, but if participating in them meant provoking the Devils as enemies, they would need to run a cost-benefit analysis.

For the Jotun soldiers, it was even simpler. They were there to fill the numbers and act as soldiers. Only Ragnar and his entourage had the authority to speak here. As for why Ragnar was silent? Some of it was because of the weight of what the Innkeeper said, but mostly because he was staring at the Devil the Innkeeper called Loretta. He did not know the identity of this Devil, but he knew very well that there was a high importance target amongst the Devils called Loretta. Could this really be the same one? And if so, how did the Innkeeper know? Despite the empire's best efforts, they were not able to get a lot of details about this 'Loretta'.

The Devil's, of course, were filled with a hostile silence. They were ready to attack at their leader's order. It was true that the Innkeepers attitude depicted him as an extremely strong individual who treated an entire planet as nothing more than a plaything, but then again, were they as Devils any weaker? Their might was feared by even the strongest across the universe, and their influence undeniable.

Yet the reason Loretta herself was silent was because of the shock! How did the Innkeeper know her identity? It was impossible! Her disguise was perfect, and even those stronger than her should not have been able to determine who she was. Unless, of course, the Innkeeper was even stronger than they had first suspected.

"Speaking of an itch," Lex continued, deciding this was the perfect time to complete the latest quest he had just received.

"Since I was in the middle of my introduction for the Midnight Games, I did not bother addressing this. But you have interrupted to address grievances, so this will have to serve as an opportune moment. My Inn has some rules, not too many, and I don't need to share them because it is considered common sense. Yet I understand that there are many species across the universe, and they have a unique concept for what entails common sense. So I will take this time to elaborate on some of the rules.

"All guests are welcome, regardless of their age, background, species, affiliation, or anything else. Yet what is not welcome is a hostile attitude. Attacking, threatening or harming any guest or employee of the Inn is completely unacceptable. On three separate incidents, your zombies have found their way to my Inn and directly attacked me! But I do not blame you for others' actions, so that is fine. Yet now, in my presence, your fellow Devil has been planting tracers on a number of my guests. Tell me, Loretta, should I now hold all your Devils accountable for his actions, since you came together? Or just that single delinquent?"

Suddenly all the guests besides the Devils froze, and started sweeping themselves for the so-called tracers. Instantly, the coliseum was filled with hundreds of spirit senses, yet none of them were able to locate the tracers. How could it be that easy? After all, the Devil's cultivation was much higher than the rest, and even Lex himself, with access to knowledge of everything happening in the Inn, didn't notice until the quest.

The quest stated that one of the Devil's had been planting tracers on various guests in order to trace them back to their planets, and that as the Innkeeper he could not allow such hostile behavior to go unnoticed! He not only had to eliminate the tracers, he had to punish the Devil in question.

The guests were beginning to get confused, as none of them were able to find the tracers. Lex did not break his eye contact with Loretta during this time, and was able to pick up the surprise in her eyes. Yet before she responded, one of the Devils made a move! He was too fast for Lex to even spot, let alone react to. One moment he was sitting behind Loretta, the next he was in front of Lex with a dagger pointed towards Lex's skull.

In fact, the Devil did not mean to stop or slow down enough to be seen. He was aiming to stab Lex through the skull, but right as he was exactly one foot away from Lex, he froze! None of the guests were able to see the Devil make a move, other than Ragnar and a particular sloth.

Without flinching or reacting at all, Lex turned to look casually from Loretta towards the black dagger that was pointed towards him. He could physically feel the sinister intent planted within that dagger, and let alone a stab, Lex knew that if the dagger had even touched him, he would have died. So why had the demon stopped? Because behind him stood Lex's bodyguard, with his hand placed on the Devil's shoulder.

Several audible gasps could be heard from the audience as people came to realize what had just happened. Someone had tried to attack the Innkeeper so quickly they were not even able to notice! A wave of fear filled the guests as they looked at the Devils, who were still sitting there casually. Some members of the audience, however, were staring at the bodyguard in absolute horror!

'A Celestial!' John screamed in his mind as he did his best to stop himself from trembling. What kind of insane maniac was he working for, that also had a Celestial working for him? What ridiculous kind of existence could even convince those arrogant freaks to work for him?

"It appears as though the punishment shall go to the delinquent alone," Lex said, looking at Loretta. "When you dispose of him, please do so neatly. It would be a shame to waste excellent fertilizer," Lex told the bodyguard.

The bodyguard chuckled despite himself, as he could not believe the Innkeeper had the guts to kill a devil? But what did it matter to him? Indeed, as John had guessed, this bodyguard was from a race known as Celestials. There was no one in the universe they feared! He performed no visible action, but the Devil fell down, dead. As soon as the corpse hit the ground, Lex received the quest complete notification. For now, he ignored the notification and sent the body to the greenhouse.

He smiled at Loretta, as if he did not just order the death of her companion, and said, "Please don't think this means that you are not welcome here. So long as you follow the rules, you're more than welcome to stay. You may even participate in the Games though, unfortunately, I will not be able to change the conditions of the Games for you so you will still be fighting zombies."

But how could Loretta be in the mood to stay here any longer? The Innkeeper had a freaking Celestial working for him! Not to mention, he looked right through her disguise. Despite arranging for the Devil's to attend this meeting along with a small army of zombies, it seemed that they had underestimated the Midnight Inn.

They may need to rethink the kind of relationship they wanted to have with this newly encountered organization. Not that they feared the Inn, but they would suffer more than they would gain by being enemies. Moreover, she now needed to deal with the aftermath of the death of a Devil under her command. The Jotum Empire would serve as an adequate scapegoat - especially since Ragnar was here. Even with her status and power, she did not consider assigning blame to the Celestial that did the deed, or the anomaly that could casually order one around.