The Innkeeper

Lex's brain went into overdrive. Within less than a single second, he tried to find various solutions. He tried blocking the devils from entering, simply because it was the easiest solution. Yet before he began the event, he had to decide on its rules and format. Everything that happened was based on those rules. Let alone Lex, even the system could not randomly change the rules once the event had started. Since the parameters of 'anyone from that planet' had been defined - albeit a loose definition - Lex could do nothing to prevent their participation.

As a developer himself, Lex understood the logic behind it. Often a client would ask him to 'simply remove something' or to create a magic button that simply performed a certain action. Yet, as simple as these requests sounded conceptually, the complexity behind even the tiniest of details was not to be underestimated.

Then Lex tried to identify them as a separate entity and give them a separate quota of soldiers, but that didn't work either. He tried adding them as a part of the original zombies that were defending the node, but it could not work. He tried a dozen other solutions, but none of them bore fruit. Eventually, Lex was only left with one option that Lex had wanted to avoid.

After checking if his last solution would work, Lex looked at Creel and said, "I thought the answer was fairly obvious. But I guess it was an oversight of mine, considering the kind of relationship you have with each other. Since you both share the planet, you can fill half the quota for participants each. If you two can come to a compromise on your own then you can decide the split, otherwise each will get exactly fifty percent."

Creel grinned at the answer. Truthfully, the devils knew that the moment the nodes underwent any interference, fluctuations in their protection formation would give away their location. It was only a matter of time before the devils lost control of Vegus Minima because, to them, it was only another farm. They weren't putting any serious effort into protecting it. But at the same time, there was no reason to make it too easy for the humans to reclaim their planet.

"That is splendid," the devil answered. "We will begin preparations immediately."

"Good luck," Lex said, and teleported away.

He felt a little bad for the Jotuns, but he was literally the one that said participants could sabotage one another. When he said that, he simply thought that the planets would at most kill-steal from each other to deprive points, since it was still in their best interest to destroy the nodes. Yet now, there was another element of complexity to the games.

The previous favorites to win, the Jotun Empire, were suddenly at a great disadvantage. The beasts might have the greatest chances of winning now. At the same time, all three of them were at a greater disadvantage now as well.

"I suppose I should let the Jotuns know as well," Lex thought. It was too bad. He was looking forward to their army's performance the next day. They looked so impressive just standing and posing, he was sure they would have given a phenomenal performance at full force.

Back at the makeshift Jotun Empire operations camp, which was nothing more than a room that Anthony had rented, a meeting was taking place between Anthony and the Earthlings.

"Listen here, pal," Brandon said, frustration and anger evident in his voice. "We are here offering an alliance, not begging for scraps. We came to you first because of the sincerity that Ragnar showed us. That does not mean you are our only option. We can just as easily go to the beasts from Nibiru. I'm sure they're interested in the prize as well by now."

Anthony looked at the five dangerously. His personality was very different from that of Ragnar.

Ragnar, despite his brutal and savage nature, was very softhearted when it came to humans. He always wanted to nurture them and help them grow. Perhaps this is what happened after thousands of years of fighting a war, liberating humans from the demons' control. Anthony, on the other hand, was ingrained with the arrogance not only of his noble birth but also that of coming from a superior civilization. His usual complicity came from the fact that Ragnar was a man who had proved himself time and time again, and was worthy of commanding him.

These plebeians, on the other hand, had not yet earned his respect. It was not that he was against accepting their alliance, but that they were clearly asking for too much! The massive amounts of resources required to raise three Nascants all the way to the peak of the realm were honestly not so much to Anthony. It was the damned cultivation techniques that the other two requested that were absurd!

They had very specific requirements for the cultivation techniques, which were not impossible for the Empire to fulfill. It was the caliber of the techniques that was the problem. This was not mentioning the instructors they requested, as well as the various banks of knowledge of medicine and advanced technology! A few demands were acceptable, but they were asking for too much!

"If you find us lacking, then feel free to go and cooperate with those animals. It is of no consequence to me if you wish to put your forces in harm's way. If they really do accept your proposals and decide to cooperate with you, I wish you the best of luck. How the distinct lack of discipline and engineered precision of an experienced army will put your own forces in greater risk is no concern of mine."

"We would not consider cooperating with someone else if you at least negotiated! You have not changed your initial offer even a single time!"

"You should be grateful," Anthony finally said, no longer having the patience to hide what he was thinking, "that you are even allowed an opportunity to fight alongside a Jotun army. The battle experience your soldiers will gain will be invaluable. It is not something you can gain with working from beasts. You…" Anthony was going to continue his tirade but was interrupted when his personal attendant appeared and mentally passed a message from the Innkeeper.

The revelation that their number of participants was cut in half disturbed Anthony greatly, but was not enough to demoralize him. Just as the announcements for the details of the game were announced, Ragnar told Anthony to take charge of their deployment and strategy during the games.

Ragnar would return to Vegus Minima and begin a planet wide assault. He needed to be present on the planet to launch their attack as soon as the formation protecting the spawning portal revealed itself. He also needed to make sure the devils didn't do anything desperate, just as they were about to lose the planet. Due to certain precedents, it was unlikely they would forcefully destroy the planet before abandoning it, but they could do a various number of frustrating things.

That left Anthony to decide on his own what his objectives were and how he wanted to achieve them. Winning the competition was a greatly attractive opportunity, but much more important than that was ensuring that each of the nodes was destroyed. Even if they had to purposefully give up on winning the prize, their first priority must always be that.

After deciding how he wanted to proceed, he turned his attention back to the Earthlings. Truthfully, he still disdained them. Yet his training did not let him ignore any potential useful tool in war.

"I will inform you of two things, and that will conclude our meeting. What you decide to do after you hear those things is up to you, but I will not waste more time explaining myself.

"First, the devils will also be participating in the Midnight Games. Their participation has cut down the number of recruits we can send to half. This was something you would learn eventually, so there was no point in hiding this from you.

"The second thing I want to tell you is that 'negotiations' take place between two equals. When one is in a superior position than the other, they do not negotiate, they dictate the terms. Even with our forces cut in half, I personally don't think that you will be our equal. I think that despite our disadvantage, Earth will still perform the weakest out of everyone.

"But, considering the situation, I will give you an opportunity. I will give you the chance to prove if you are my equal, and deserve to negotiate with us. If, during the first game, Earth is able to accumulate points even remotely close to that of the Jotun Empire, then you can negotiate with me. If not, then you can fall in line and take what you're given, or you can choose to see if the beasts give you a better offer."

With his piece said, Anthony invited them to leave. Though not something he enjoyed, Anthony could also play a few mind games. By making their performance the foundation for further cooperation, he would prompt them to do their absolute best. Had they been promised rewards before the battle even began, their soldiers still would have fought, but would have kept more of a survival mentality.

Regardless of the outcome, the Earthlings would achieve their goals, so they would do what they could while being safe. But by making the reward based on performance, their soldiers would have to fight with everything and take more risks. Going forward, they would need to continue that level of performance to assure successful cooperation.

At that point, whether the Earthlings decided to help the Empire or the Beasts, it would not change the fact that they would be fighting their hardest.

Anthony was busy with his own schemes while the five Nascants held another meeting to decide their future line of action. Unfortunately for all of them, Alexander Morrison was going to be the one participating in the games, and he had plans of his own.