The Innkeeper



The fact that all the robots looked so different struck Lex as unusual, but he quickly noticed a pattern in their bodies despite the varying shapes. First, regardless of whether they were shaped like humanoids, tetrapods, floating orbs, small jets or whatever else, they all boasted a large torso, or central body.

It was not so evident when they were shaped like humans or animals, but the feature became more prominent when they took other shapes. Still, Lex would not have noticed this if it weren't for the fact that his soul sense could detect wisps of souls exactly in those spots. He did not know how significant this discovery was, but it could prove to be useful.

The second, more obvious thing that he noticed was that despite whatever form they took, they all seemed to be using laser weapons. Sure, the weapons had various forms, but all of them shot lasers - regardless of whether they were in the visible spectrum or not.

None of that mattered to Lex, who was not only impervious to their damage, but would punch through their bodies regardless of their shape or size. But before he left the Inn, Velma had sent forward a request to all workers dealing with the refugees to collect as much information about the invaders as possible.

Lex narrowed his eyes. The robots were finally reacting to his arrival, which was fine with him. The police would not have been able to hold them off much longer, especially since they had no weapons with which to shoot back! The only reason they had survived so long was because some of them turned out to be cultivators and were blocking the attacks with some spirit tech!

"Go get them," he said to Fenrir as he jumped off its back. He wanted to see how it handled being outnumbered so that he could understand what its capabilities were.

Fenrir only growled for a moment before leaping towards the robots, completely unafraid of their superior numbers.

Lex deployed an Imperial Shield in front of the underground entrance so they wouldn't suffer any collateral damage during the fight. The police, however, did not realize that.

They were desperately holding off the aliens, completely unable to divert their attention anywhere else, when they heard a loud growl. Before they could make sense of where that sound came from, a gray shield appeared in front of them, blocking their view of the outside world.

That did not reassure them, however, because while the shield blocked their view, and even trapped them inside, it did not block sounds.

The nerve-wracking sounds of metal literally being ripped into pieces echoed in the air, along with a symphony of crashing, explosions and deep, spine-chilling growls. An excruciating 10 minutes later, the shield disappeared. Revealed to them was a battleground littered with the scrapped remains of the aliens that had been attacking them just a few minutes prior.

There was no indication of… of the creature that had been growling earlier, as if it had vanished into the darkness.

"Is it safe?" one civilian asked, slowly approaching the stairs leading up.

"No!" the policeman exclaimed and hurriedly signaled everyone to retreat, with no desire to find out what actually happened. He didn't know why his life had become a horror story, but he knew not to tempt fate. Curiosity could kill a lot more than just a cat!

Lex was feeling pretty good about himself as he rode Fenrir away. Fenrir had taken care of all the robots completely on its own, completely surpassing Lex's expectations. In fact, it had done so without suffering a single hit! In that regard, it surpassed Lex!

His own evasive maneuvers weren't that great, though previously he used the excuse that he could not dodge lasers moving at the speed of light as his justification. But this little pup of his had brought out some kind of interference field as soon as it attacked, making it so the robots movements became slow and imprecise. Even as he completely ripped them apart with its claws, they remained unable to actually target him.

Lex even took his time observing their remains once the battle was over to see if he could learn anything new about them, before eventually returning.

So far, fighting the robots had been super easy. Marlo's original assessment of the robots may not have been wrong, the nearly indestructible owner of a universal establishment, riding a beast with the bloodline of a god thought to himself.

But the good feeling didn't last. With his sharp senses, it wasn't long before he identified another group of people struggling with the robots. This time, they weren't fighting. They had been tied up and detained.

Lex could 'hear' the robots speaking in their low frequencies, talking about the new slaves.

His stomach lurched, but as much as it killed him, he didn't divert his direction this time. If he had to stop every time he encountered such a situation, he'd never reach the facility. The best help he could provide, he was already giving through his Inn.

For now, he had to prioritize his own objectives. He had to.

As if sensing his distress, Fenrir sped up. They were heading away from the city, so soon Lex stopped detecting both the robots and the groups of people.

Far in the distance, towards the main city, Lex could see faint sparks of light filling the sky, as if fireworks. But he knew that they weren't fireworks. They were most likely guns, or other weapons since guns weren't as common here.

But soon, Lex could not see even those.

Riding Fenrir across the English countryside, feeling the cool winter wind in his face, Lex almost felt pleasant.

But Lex didn't allow himself to wallow in guilt for too long. He took control of his emotions and fixed his mindset.

It was alright to feel bad when he saw people in distress, but he couldn't let those emotions take hold. The universe was full of strife, and he wasn't responsible for fixing it all.

If enemies came his way, he wouldn't spare them. But that didn't mean his mind could be swayed into fighting every villain that someone encountered. It was difficult, but he had to be firm.