The Innkeeper

Chapter 1847: Weak

Two pairs of confused eyes looked upon the scene, trying to figure out if illusion had replaced reality. Giselle knew that Lex was strong, and that he hadn’t shown her the full extent of her strength yet. The difference, however, should not be that great, no?

The Defiler, however, was struggling to understand what was happening. Why was it confined to this humanoid form, and why did its face hurt so much?

Lex did not rush to approach the scene, and instead slowly descended, taking his time. Since the time for games was over, he completed the formation that they had designed to dispel the storm, and let it gradually weaken the storm. The results would not be instantaneous, but over the course of a day the storm should fade at the expected effectiveness. Of course, should something happen that could weaken the storm, the timeline would be cut short.

"Your role here today," said Lex firmly, as he stood behind Giselle and looked the Defiler in the eyes, "is to die. It is not to blab. Act accordingly, I’m on a time limit so I’d like to speed through all the corresponding emotional turmoil. Also, no Major tribulations for the Heaven Immortal realm. You never know what that might trigger."

With Lex himself on the verge of breaking into the Heaven Immortal realm, he didn’t want to risk being near any tribulations. The Defiler had absorbed a lot of energy from the storm, and that had brought it close to triggering a tribulation. Just to be safe, it would be better to snuff out all chances of a tribulation being triggered so... just for good measure, Lex deployed his Domain.

The Domain wasn’t large, just ten feet around him, but that successfully severed any connection between the Defiler and any universal laws besides the one Lex was controlling.

He learned something interesting by doing that - the Defiler’s Profane energy tried to corrupt the laws of his Domain as well. If they succeeded, his Domain would break immediately. This might be useful information for him if he encountered a Domain.

More importantly, the signs of the tribulation faded, since the Defiler was isolated from the laws related to tribulations.

The Defiler finally looked towards Lex, his expression becoming solemn as he understood that this human was responsible for what was happening.

"This is not a fight you want to interfere in, human," the Defiler said, his voice mildly threatening. "You do not know what you are getting mixed up in. I did not lie when I said those close to her are marked by us. Any she gets close to are destined to die. If you retreat now..."

Lex snorted.

"I have been marked for death by Angels, Demons, Immortals, Elders, Sages, Deities and Demi-Dao Lords and I ain’t dead yet. Who knows, if I add Defilers to the list I might be able to make a nice jingle out of it."

The sheer nonseriousness of what Lex said caused the Defiler to believe that Lex was messing with him, but Giselle knew better. After all, she had been there when he broke through the Earth immortal realm. She remembered what happened. His tribulation had been special, hadn’t it?

A light flickered in her eyes as she thought of something, but she pushed those thoughts away.

"Giselle, if you’d like to finish things off, now’s your chance. But if it’s too tough for you then I can..."

Now, it was Giselle’s turn to snort. She was being underestimated and she didn’t like it.

"Just, hold him for a minute..." she said as she activated her technique. Unfortunately, even with her expertise, powerful time techniques took a while to activate.

"You miserable little..." the Defiler began to speak, anger leaking into his voice, but Lex was not interested in him speaking.

"Shut up," Lex said, Supremacy leaking in.

So, bound and forced quiet by Lex’s words, the Defiler waited in silence as Giselle unleashed her strongest, and final attack. To prepare it... took 13 minutes. The scene almost became awkward as they kind of just stood there, or well, two stood while one kneeled. But Lex kept a straight face the entire time while Giselle was too focused to care.

When the final attack arrived, though, Lex’s pupils shrank as his instincts went absolutely wild. For the briefest of moments, so quick that even Lex barely registered it, Giselle exuded an aura so dangerous it basically screamed death at Lex. His instincts warned him that the incoming attack had the potential to kill even him if caught unprepared.

On absolute instinct, Lex surrounded himself in an invisible, incredibly powerful barrier, yet it was not needed. The target was the Defiler, who was glaring at Giselle with hate in his eyes.

One second he was there, the next second he ceased to exist entirely.

For a fraction of time so small, a second was akin to a century in front of it, the Defiler ceased to exist, his body, his aura, his everything disappearing completely.

Then the body reappeared, but it was empty. It had no soul, no energy, it was merely a replica of what the Defiler had once been.

"What... was that?" Lex asked as he held Giselle to keep her from falling, his gaze still fixed on the empty body.

"A very dangerous technique," Giselle whispered as she rubbed her nose, a streak of blood beginning to leak. "I stole a moment of his time, and in that moment, I was master of everything he was or ever had been. It was a terrible... terrible technique, but also necessary."

With every passing moment, Giselle became weaker and weaker, her expression becoming pale and her body weakening, relying more and more on Lex’s support to stay standing.

"As a result... I was able to take something that I really needed, and I sent the remainder of his energy, his essence, his soul, all of it into his core. I recall you needed the Defiler core, right? With that... you should also be able to get what you want... and we should have... avoided getting marked..."

Giselle was unable to finish her sentence as her eyes closed, falling asleep due to extreme overexertion.

Lex had no idea what technique she had used, but he was certain that it was not something a mere Earth Immortal should have been able to use. The fact that it felt so dangerous even to him was a testament to just how tremendously powerful the technique was.

This little, silver haired lady was making it harder and harder not to be curious about her past.

"I can’t believe you waited for everything to finish. How very polite of you," said Lex, looking up into the air. At a glance, there seemed to be nothing there, save the weakening storm. A few seconds later, though, a shadow appeared, wide and with no distinct shape. An aura of a Heaven Immortal exuded from it, yet the white eyes staring down at him did not seem to contain even a shred of arrogance.

"How can you resist my influence?" the second, Defiler asked - the one who had just revealed himself. "I have been corrupting your spirit this entire time. You should have already become a loyal Profanite under me, yet you seem hardly affected."

Lex shrugged.

"Guess I just have a stubborn streak. Anyway, I want to thank you for not interfering with Giselle’s hunt. Now, do you have anything to say before we begin?"

"Your arrogance is not amusing. The only reason I did not interfere... is because it has now given me an excuse to claim a fully saturated Defiler core without blame. You will submit yourself to me alongside the woman, and in exchange your lives will be spared. Continue to act above your station as a slave, and you will live to regret it."

Lex nodded, as he was done listening to him. He summoned a protective barrier around Giselle, leaving her body floating in air, protected by his barrier.

"As far as last words go, those were pretty pathetic," Lex said casually. "At least you didn’t beg for mercy. That just makes things awkward."

Lex summoned Naraka and appeared above the Defilers body. It had been a long time since his sword claimed a life, and a Defiler should do nicely. Besides, from his time in Abaddon, Lex knew that Defiler blood was extremely poisonous, but it was also good to temper certain metals if done with the right concentration of blood.

Lex also put on his Tyrants Mask, to tap into its divine energy reserves. He didn’t need them to fight the Defiler, no. He needed them to help temper Naraka. His tribulation was coming soon, so it was best to have his sword be in the best state possible.

This Defiler was much stronger than the previous one and attacked both Lex and Giselle, but even then, it could not cause Lex to feel even a shred of interest.

"Weak," he uttered, his voice distorted by the mask, causing the Defiler to feel fear. Before it could question why that was, Lex began the process of tempering his sword in Defiler blood. It was a long and arduous process.