The Innkeeper

"Ancestor what-"

"Don't speak and just listen to me," William interrupted Belle, his mood extremely solemn. "The situation at Polebitvy is extremely dire. Not just the entire planet, but the entire star system, as well as all star systems nearby are being evacuated. In fact, the empire may even give up on the entire Pendal galaxy depending on what happens next.

"What I'm about to tell you is beyond confidential, to the utmost degree, and is perhaps the most important news you will hear in your entire life."

William paused, though only for the briefest of moments, giving Belle enough time to process everything he had just said.

"The news I'm giving you is the same news I would give to any of my descendants if they were in your situation, understand? What you're about to hear is not a reward for your talent or your newfound strength, it's an opportunity independent of everything else. Whether you take it or not is up to you, and whether you survive or not is also completely up to chance."

Williams' exasperation and frustration as he said those words was quite evident, but she could not understand why. What she did understand was that she was in a situation much more serious than she had ever faced before, and perhaps it was not the time to be willful. Of course, that would never prevent her from being willful if she truly wanted to. She could not control the universe, that was something she learnt at a very early age. She could only control her own actions.

"Jeffery, the terrorist you were hunting, seems to have a much bigger background than anyone expected or anticipated. What he just pulled off at Polebitvy has interrupted plans that are billions of years in the making, and he has angered some tremendously powerful people. As we speak, almost every single powerful entity in the entire Origin realm is surely making their way to the Pendal galaxy to hunt for his traces. What you have is an advantage everyone else lacks, which is that you're the closest to him.

"If you can hunt him down, whether you catch him alive or kill him, the rewards you will get surpass anything you can imagine. I'm forwarding you a live link to the same information the emperor himself is receiving at this very moment. What you do next… is completely up to you."

The call ended, and the world around Belle seemed to slow down. Although a lot of extremely critical information was shared, due to their cultivation their speed of communicating was extremely fast. Not even a complete second had passed since she picked up the call, and it had already ended.

Countless thoughts swam through her head. Her personal goals, her family's struggles, the grudges against her parents she had nursed in her heart for so many years, the fates of the soldiers under her command, the fate of her two sisters, Liz who had run away and had yet to be found and Moon who had spent most of her life imprisoned, her brother Lex who vanished off earth with no trace, and countless others. With this opportunity in front of her, she felt like her, she felt like her character was truly being tested.

After all, right at her doorstep five immortals were banging, waiting to come in and kill them all. Moreover, there was only one immortal stationed in the Jotun stronghold. Without Belle's help he probably would not survive long against five foes. That meant everyone at the stronghold would similarly die.

She closed her eyes and sighed. Since when had she cared about others? She would do whatever she wanted, as she had always done. A bright light burst out of her skin, passing through all walls and obstructions, and her aura began to rise.

*****

Gisele slowly lowered the sword in her hand. It seemed that she would not need it, at least for now.

Her eyes were fixed on Lex who stood at the bow of the ship, his feet planted firmly and his posture perfect, he did not seem to be fighting a dire fight, but instead orchestrating a grand work of art. A very bloody and brutal piece of art.

The arrays he used summoned countless small spikes of ice, barely as large as her finger, and that's it. The arrays did not even launch the spikes, no Lex did that personally using his spirit sense.

At first a couple, then a few, then a dozen, and then a few dozen, until it reached the point where she could no longer count, insects swarmed them to attack. Yet each insect that came close was pierced with a single ice spike, and fell to the ground. Not all insects died. Some were only crippled, while others were merely paralyzed while others still, those who were stronger, were merely wounded seriously.

He was extremely accurate in his aim, and precise in targeting only those that targeted them first. She did not know how long he could keep this up, but in her mind that was much too powerful. No one at the Golden core realm should be this good at killing, yet when she thought about it, all he really did was use some arrays and his spirit sense. Theoretically speaking, it shouldn't even be very spirit energy intensive. Was this a display of… not being good at long range fighting?

Once, a nascent level insect seemed to have blocked the spikes and came close to attacking them. Gisele prepared to counter so that Lex could continue fighting the rest, but then Lex merely looked towards the insects, and it began screaming as if its very soul had been ripped to shreds.

In a few minutes, they passed through the insect rain and came out the other side. The experience was completely surreal, and Gisele kept looking back as if to ensure they really had managed to cross so easily.

But just as she was beginning to feel the relief of a close escape, Lex cursed.

"Crap!"