The Innkeeper

877 Torn shirt

"Huddle yourself within the blazer," Lex said to Z through his spirit sense, though his gaze was still locked onto the deity he had captured. Without his blazer, the defense of the remainder of his suit was compromised, but that hardly mattered. After all, the suit still did not reach the level his own body was at.

A second later, the zealot finally caught up to him and delivered a devastating blow to Lex, careful not to harm Ra. Unlike the punch he had blocked, this blow was more than enough to launch the 700+ lbs (317 kgs) Lex off the ground and into the demons around them.

But with his unrelenting grip, Lex brought Ra with him even as he was hurled across the field. In fact, Lex's smile widened just a bit as this happened. It was not because he was hurt, but because…

"NOOOO! MY LORD! UNHAND HIM YOU FIEND!" the zealot wailed, his voice filled with anguish at realizing he had contributed to the harm of his lord!

But Lex did no such thing. He did not even respond. His focus was solely on digging his hand deeper into Ra's body, as he knew this state of weakness he was in was ephemeral. Even as he reached for the core hidden deep within the deities' body, Lex could feel it growing stronger. The divine energy constantly being fed to it was slowly making the body stronger. As soon as the deity had just enough spare energy, it could retaliate with something more than its feeble brute force. Lex was actually a little lucky that Ra had chosen to attack him directly in its anger, instead of biding his time till it gained some strength.

It was a race against the clock, for Lex could see the weakness of the deity was the core within its chest. If his hand could reach it, his victory was secure!

Since his demands were being ignored, the zealot went mad and began launching nonstop attacks on Lex! Divine energy fell onto his body in the form of weapons, energy beams, curses and more, yet they could do nothing to him. The curses could not even cross the region where his Domination was in effect, let alone harm him. The rest felt like the soft touch of a very young child trying to massage the shoulders of a grown man - barely noticeable.

The devils caught up and were about to resume pummeling the zealot when they noticed the unusual situation. From Ra, they could feel immense pressure. The truth was, weak as he may be, it was nigh impossible for someone ordinary to lay hands upon even the weakest Deity.

But Lex, who was forcefully climbing the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum using his cultivation technique, and literally absorbing Dragons Might of a Heavenly immortal dragon to bolster his own Domination, was one of the few who could. The rejection and repulsion, alongside the aura of superiority that a Deity was supposed to exude, could cow enemies even stronger than the Deity itself. But against Lex, who had tempered his body, mind and soul against a foe many cultivation levels higher, it was futile.

The zealot immediately noticed the devils and his frenzied, desperate mind came up with an idea!

"He- he is from the Midnight Inn! Help me kill him and I'll send you all out of this world! If not, he will kill us all!"

The devils hesitated, as they tried to judge the situation themselves. This was far beyond the scope of the mission they had been given, though it was true that their initial target was the Midnight Inn.

Perhaps if the situation had been different, they may not have listened to the zealot, but at the moment Lex just seemed too intimidating. In his hands he forcefully held down a Deity! If, by some miracle, he dealt with the deity, they would be next. The thought of facing such a truly devilish foe… made them give up their initial reluctance.

The seventeen devils surrounded Lex and sent out a few probing attacks while the zealot hurled attacks from atop.

The landscape changed. The ground quaked. Space itself once again began to moan. But Lex remained undeterred.

Seeing how their attacks had no effect, and how Lex was not retaliating, the devils became a little more bold with their attacks. The prior issue of the enfeebled space which prevented them from using their full force was gone, for now, so they did not hold back. Soon, they were throwing their strongest attacks at him, some of the more confident devils even coming close to attack him physically. Yet nothing worked.

The more Lex remained undeterred, the more the devils felt afraid. They began coordinating their attacks, unleashing power that was impossible to do on their own.

Like salvation coming just as they teetered on the edge of oblivion, there was finally a change. Lex's shirt began to tear!

"It's working! His defensive equipment is giving way! Keep at it."

Noticing the situation, even the infuriated Ra saw some hope, and looked at Lex with eyes filled with nefarious anticipation. The moment it was free, it would teach this feeble rat what it meant to cross a Deity! It would imprison his soul and torture him for all eternity!

Ignoring the gloating eyes of Ra, Lex continued to dig his hand into his chest. It was a touch process because each second, Ra's body was becoming stronger and more challenging to pierce through. But he was almost there.

Far off, Z continued to read the manual hurriedly, ignored by everyone. Huddled as he was in the blazer, no one had noticed him at all. With Lex's body being thrown away by the first attack, the battle had actually moved far away from him. But on a battlefield of this scale, the only contribution he could make was to quickly figure out a way to reach the space where he felt the connection.