The Innkeeper

Luthor was in a room with Gerard and two others, a Minotaur and an Elf. The two outsiders were the leaders of the two largest groups of troops who had chosen to join Luthor. Had the Midnight Battalion not thoroughly established itself as extraordinarily formidable, the two leaders, both from extremely proud races, would never have accepted Luthor's leadership, even while taking refuge in his impromptu fort as they were.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how they looked at it, both of them had already been humbled by the Midnight battalions unquestionable might. Even though they were of the human race, their strength rivaled that of the higher races.

They had gathered to discuss their plan of action, given their difficult situation. The fact that they had not faced a single adversary in so long did not put them at ease whatsoever. Before their retreat was ordered the entire planet seemed to be brimming with danger and death. Yet the moment they were stranded, with no sign of a rescue incoming any time soon, it became as silent as a grave.

Clearly, something was wrong. They had to determine what the threat was, and how to survive it.

Yet the room was silent. There was no discussion. All four of them stared at each other in silence as they struggled to come up with an explanation for what was happening. After all, nothing they had come up with so far made any sense.

The silence was eventually interrupted, not by one of them speaking, but by the door that suddenly opened. A child who looked like he was perhaps nine years old came strutting in, crumbs covering his face.

"I have a report," the child said, explaining his intrusion upon feeling the glares that fell on him.

"Alfonso, you've taken your face mask off again," said Luthor admonishingly. His eyes gleamed as saw the crumbs on his face, and then on his pocket.

Alfonso was one of the Inn workers who had awoken a unique power, but his ability was far was the most… unique and unnerving.

The first thing that happened when he unlocked his power was that his body deaged, going from that of an adult to that of a small child. If many had not seen it happen in person they would have found it hard to believe. Another was that Luthor felt like Alfonso was no longer human, but he had no proof of this theory, just his intuition.

There were a few other minor changes, but the most unusual were his abilities. At any given time, Alfonso had two abilities. The first was always fixed, which was that he could pull out a snack from his pocket.

The ability could be used unlimitedly, as far as anyone could tell. Moreover, the snack could be eaten by anyone and was extremely nourishing, not only for one's physique, but cultivation as well.

The second ability changed frequently, and without pattern. The reason why it was determined that Alfonso had two abilities, and not multiple abilities, was because he could only manifest two abilities at a time, the first always being pulling out snacks. The second, whatever it may be, could either be extremely useful or completely ordinary, and Alfonso had no control over when it would change.

He could not use a previous ability after it disappeared, though the ability may return at any time. The only good thing about this was that whenever a new ability appeared, he innately knew how to use it without having a learning curve.

Luthor had a few theories about why such a phenomenon was occurring, but it did not matter for now. No matter what his identity, ability or race, as long as he was a member of the Midnight Inn, none of them would discriminate against him.

"Oh, my bad!" he exclaimed, suddenly remembering that he intended to put the back on before Luthor saw so he could hide the fact that he had been munching again. "But, this is more important than that! When we got stranded on the Cursed Planet, big brother Z told me to treat this as my training arc, and to assume there was a grand conspiracy going on in the background. So I was secretly watching everyone's dreams in case there was a spy!"

Alfonso gave the elf and minotaur an accusatory glare, before continuing!

"It turns out, there were hundreds of demons hidden among those who followed our beacon! Just minutes ago, they all got an order to wake up and sabotage the camp! Although I took care of them, I think trouble is going to come soon."

Forgetting he was supposed to put on his mask, Alfonso pulled out another snack from his pocket and began munching, a proud look on his face.

"The soldiers turned into demons?" the elf repeated, his mind quickly processing the information. Despite his young appearance, the elf did not doubt the child. The Midnight Battalion was battle tested, so there was no reason to doubt their competence. Moreover, they were extremely united. Picking on one meant turning all 1000 of them into your enemy.

"Such a thing can only be done by a devil. Have the devils betrayed us? Have they partnered with the Fuegan?"

"The more important question is why have they not killed us yet. If they can destroy all the ships in space, they have enough firepower to wipe us out as well. There really may be some conspiracy going on," said Luthor, analyzing the situation himself. He immediately thought of the Innkeepers business card, but then shook his head. 

No, he needed to find out more about the situation before he jumped to conclusions. He could not disturb the Innkeeper if they could handle the situation themselves.

"Take us to the bodies," Gerard said. He was the most calm out of all of them. His bloodline had undergone a total of three mutations. Right now, he was so powerful that there were few enemies that could intimidate him. Even if there was a conspiracy, he merely needed to kill all the conspirators to get out of it.