The Innkeeper

Chapter 1862: Commissioned for pest control

"You know, I had a bouncer at my tavern," Lex said as he looked down at the landscape that once held a Kraven city. Much of the city was underground, but that had not saved it from Lex’s wrath. Now, it was completely barren land, with not a single sign that it had once been inhabited by Kraven.

Even the absolute emptiness that usually accompanied the land once the Kraven ate and absorbed all the nutrients and energy it had to offer had abated. Fertilized by the very Kraven that once occupied this place, an abundant energy source was now buried in the ground, alongside dirt and ash which once belonged to Immortal flesh.

Suddenly, this was the most fertile land in all of the Crystal realm, primed to grow abundant treasures, though that was unlikely now. Looking far into the horizon, Lex could already see an angry mob of Hellions on the way to investigate what had happened here.

"His name was Big Ben. A decent fellow, if a bit of a lightweight when it came to drinking," Lex continued, his voice entirely casual. Belail, the Kraven whose limbs were tied up and body devoid of energy, floating behind Lex, was the only living soul around to listen to Lex speak.

"He got engaged to a nice little lady called Betty at the tavern. They were supposed to have a kid together. The day you attacked the tavern we lost a lot, including the baby Betty was carrying."

Lex turned to look at Belail, and though there was no real emotion present in his eyes, Belail suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine. His voice hadn’t changed, his expression hadn’t changed, his aura hadn’t changed, but through that lack of change, Belail glimpsed at a total and complete control - a perfect mask to hide even an apocalyptic storm.

"You know, generally, I don’t really let anyone know if I’m feeling down - have to keep up morale and all that. But man, did I carry the guilt for that for a long time. Still haven’t gotten over it, if I’m being honest. I just imagine how I would feel if I was about to have a kid, but because of an attack, my kids mother had a miscarriage. Oh man, there is no amount of time that could pass that could dull that fury.

"You can see it in Big Ben too. He acts normal, and his life has moved on. He has a happy family now, but he doesn’t drink the way he used to. One would think that’s a good thing, that maybe he’s doing it for the family. But I think... it’s because he’s afraid that if he drinks too much, he’ll show how he really feels."

There was no reason for Lex to talk to Belail, to be honest, The Kraven was his prisoner of war, and he had to move onto the next part of the plan. The relative stability of the laws of the realm told him that Vinei had probably completed his rebirth process, which meant they were ready to kick off the next stage of his performance.

Even so, he’d waited so long to capture Belail that now that he had done it, he was feeling a little sentimental. Everyone in cartoons and movies always said that revenge left them feeling empty, which didn’t make sense, because Lex felt pretty great. In his humble opinion, he should have done this a lot sooner. There was an invisible weight on his chest that he had always carried with him, and though it wasn’t gone, it had reduced considerably.

"But I won’t tell you too much about good old Big Ben. After all, I’ll be taking you to meet him pretty soon, so you guys can have a nice old reunion."

If Belail could speak, he would have adamantly expressed the lack of need for a reunion. Alas, he could not, for his body and soul were sealed in Heavens Furnace, the strongest barrier Lex was capable of creating.

No matter what happened next, Belail could not be hurt just yet.

Just as Lex finished speaking, a dozen or so Hellions showed up, surrounding him. Considering the lack of a Domain, since Lex had withdrawn it, surrounding him was pretty easy.

There were a few Iftrits, a couple of Asuras and the rest were all Hellspawn, all glaring and growling at Lex aggressively, yet they did not attack just yet.

"You are not of this realm!" an Asura declared boldly and with anger. "Do you realize that you are trespassing on Ventura property? Immediately submit yourself for detention and you may avoid full on retaliation!"

Lex raised an eyebrow, looking at them curiously.

"I think there has been some kind of misunderstanding..." Lex began, but a Hellspawn interrupted him.

"Shut up curr! Submit or die!" the creature roared, and then frozen. As it so happened, alongside him, all the other Hellions froze as well. The faint hope that had appeared in Belail’s eyes faded, though none could blame him. Once Lex revealed Domination, suppressing his surroundings with his aura alone, it was to be expected that all interruptions halted.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," said Lex, fixing his tie as he looked at the Hellspawn from the side of his eyes. "I think there has been some kind of misunderstanding. I was commissioned to help the owner of the Crystal realm - one Vinei Darklord - for a pest removal job before helping him relocate his realm."

As if to prove his words, Lex waved his hand and showed all the Hellions a contract that stated that Lex was being hired to remove a Kraven infestation to make the transmission of the Crystal realm to its newly designated area smoother.

What the Hellions in front of Lex did not know was that the scene in front of them was being projected across the entire Crystal realm. This time, it wasn’t Lex using karma to transmit what was happening. Rather, it was Vinei, who had hijacked the connection that all the Divine Birds had with the Crystal realm, to transmit the images. Moreover, that was the least of what he was doing.

The sacred temple, which could only be accessed by the Divine birds, was covered in a black barrier, and within the temple, all the statues of the birds, except the multicolored bird and the statue of Vinei himself, were covered in the remaining energy from the Defiler core, isolating them from the realm.

Deep within the temple, the black Phoenix, revealed a sly grin as it carried out its plan. It was not without reason that Vinei’s legacy in the Crystal realm was that of monsters, and it was time the other birds were reminded of that.