The Innkeeper

Lex disabled the spatial formation which allowed the two deities to reconnect to the space of the entire realm. As they felt their connections reestablish, the two held hands and began channeling their powers.

At this proximity, Lex had to bear the full brunt of their power, which was far from easy. The only reason he didn't have to use Harden, and other abilities to resist the pressure was because he was a projection. If his clothes were normal, they would have been shredded under the weight of the two birds oppressive aura, yet since he was merely a projection, his clothes rippled softly as if they really were being buffed by the aura.

This close, other than the overwhelming oppressiveness of their aura, Lex could also distinctly feel how the divine power they channeled differed from spiritual energy. It was remarkably uniform, unlike spiritual energy which was actually a generic name for a broad range of energies that could be used for cultivation. He also felt like it would be difficult because it was about as pure as it could be, and it was also unlikely that the concentration could be increased either.

In fact, likely the only metric that changed in divine energy as one went from a certain level to a higher one was quantity. Of course, that was just Lex's guess. He could not confirm anything, as his experience with divinity was still too limited. He vaguely remembered that in the Origin realm there was a religion dedicated to the Butter Knife deity, a.k.a. Lex himself, and that the Inn was collecting accumulated divine energy on his behalf. Maybe he should try taking control of it back and see if he was able to use it.

The two birds began to emit a glow which combined together to form a white, holy light that seemed to encompass the world. The light suddenly grew in brightness, and passed through the walls of the tavern as if they were glass. Soon the entire building began to glow as the birds 'communicated with the realm', whatever that meant.

He turned to look at the others and found that each one was observing the birds with great intrigue, except for Edward whose skin seemed to be sparkling for some reason. He had a grimace on his face like he was constipated or something. Well, you couldn't ask a monster to be comfortable in so much light.

The light kept glowing for a few minutes, but just as it began to dim, another considerably powerful person entered the tavern. This should not have been a concern since many immortals would be attending the wedding, save for the fact that Lex recognized the person. It was Ezio, the Crystal race member who Lex visited in prison. Or, more likely his clone.

Lex frowned, then he sighed and teleported to him. Since he was here, he might as well be brought to the meeting as well.

By the time Lex returned, the birds had stopped glowing. But before getting into the matter, everyone looked at Lex who was now bringing a Crystal race member into the room.

"Everyone, this is Ezio. He happened to be there when Belmont tried to assassinate me. He also heard my revelation at the time. Since everyone wants to investigate thoroughly, we can ask Ezio what the crystal race has done about this issue in the time since they've learnt about it."

From his tone Ezio could tell that Lex's regard for him, as well as the Crystal race had dropped drastically, but all he could do was look smile wryly.

He was a little surprised by the dignitaries in the room, and did not need an introduction to recognize them all. After all, since his real body was stuck in prison, it had nothing better to do than keep up with current events.

"Although your argument was evidence based, the Crystal race cannot simply act on unverified information. Since then, they have begun investigating the phenomenon that you have claimed. It is only a matter of time before its veracity is verified."

"No need to bother," Firin said, his voice just barely more solemn than before. "I have already checked. The stability of the realm is greatly compromised. Due to the young nature of the realm, before the state of affairs reaches a level where the instability is obvious to the general public, the barrier on the edges of the realm will collapse and unfiltered chaos energy will destroy everything. I have never witnessed such a thing, so my calculations may be wrong, or may have overlooked certain important factors. Nonetheless, I estimate, within 70 years, the barriers will break and all life will end. The collapse of the realm itself should follow soon after."

Overwhelming shock gripped almost everyone in the room, followed quickly by extreme horror. Yet they did not exhibit their feelings in silence, as Sabr stumbled back until he hit the wall, mostly because Elena had lost control of herself and her size increased massively! The glass slipped out of Edwards hands and fell onto the floor, but no one other than Lex paid any attention to that.

70 years before the realm is destroyed! That's nothing!

"Lex, since your senior was able to identify the elixir, and explained the problem, he may have some knowledge on the matter. Is it possible to have him identify what is causing this problem?"

"My senior is busy opening up a new realm of his own," Lex said while shaking his head. "He won't be able to spare the time."

Everyone, Ezio especially, were startled upon hearing Lex's claim. Opening up his own realm? Did he mean a Minor realm and forget to say Minor? If not, they could not even imagine what level this senior was on.

Silence pervaded in the room once again. Based on what Lex could determine, many of them already seemed to have some idea of what caused the issue, but for whatever reason seemed hesitant to mention it. Even the all mighty and noble dive birds were silent.

It was Ezio, instead, who recovered the quickest from the news.

"Lex, I once told you that for every secret you share with me, I'll share one with you as well. Since the secret you shared was a big one, I'll likewise enlighten you with something significant. Many years ago, I decided that I wanted to erase from history all traces of a relationship the Crystal realm had with a certain entity."

Many in the room shivered, Cornelius included, as Ezio said those words.

"There are certain things… even I cannot say. But, to make a long story short, all my efforts were to erase reminders of a very shameful truth. The Crystal realm… is nothing but a big farm. How are farms taken care of? The soil is prepared with fertilizers and is tilled, and once the season is right, the crops are planted and the produce is allowed to grow."

For a moment he paused, as if he was having a tough time speaking, yet no one interrupted or corrected him.

"I've heard that a massive war has broken out. It seems the produce of the realm was lacking, and so special measures were taken for an especially ripe harvest this time around. Since the Kraven have arrived with countless immortals, and none of the nations seem fit to fight them off, it should soon be time for our 'heroes' to show up and save the day. Surely we will be extremely grateful for their efforts and build monuments to their achievements."

His last sentence was ripe with sarcasm, but his eyes only depicted pain and despondence.

"You know, if you tried really hard, you could manage to be even more vague than that," said Lex in a rare display of irritation. If he had crossed the entire realm to reach the Crystal nation, and all Ezio was going to reveal to him was the badly written blurb of a random fiction novel then his irritation was justified.

Before Ezio could answer, Sabr burst out in anger, "what the hell are you talking about? Don't spout nonsense about farming and harvesting. This is the fate of the realm we're talking about, so focus. Or are you Crystal race too noble to concern yourselves with this matter too? All anyone in the Crystal realm has done for the past few hundred years is fight with the Kraven! It's only the mortals who have time for things like farming!"

Many in the room exchanged looks, but no one answered Sabr.

"I think we should focus on the matter at hand instead of getting sidetracked," said Firin, suppressing the agitated Sabr with his aura. "Lex, you managed to bring everyone here, and spread this important news. Your merits are unquestionable. Still, since you were aware of such a problem already, you must have already spent some time looking for a solution, right? The time for exchanging and discussing secrets will come later."

"Naturally, I have already looked into how this problem can be fixed," said Lex. After all, he had to ensure he remained relevant to the meeting, or once he revealed the information, the various leaders might decide to continue the meeting elsewhere.