The Innkeeper

Between the endless avarice that consumed the knights very being, empowering him just as it enslaved him, between the madness of having one’s sanity broken by the endless flow of time, between the crushing agony that was being moulded by Abaddon into something so entirely foreign that it bore no real resemblance to who he once was, the knight felt a flicker of fear.

It was instinctual. The Dark Knight, whose very existence was dictated by Abaddon, undying and unrelenting, felt a flicker of fear as he looked in Lex’s eyes, and heard his command to kill himself. It was not death that frightened him.

No, he had died too many times for it to frighten him anymore. No, the source of his fear was not something in himself. Instead, the fear came from whatever Abaddon had done to him. It was, as if, in the moment that Lex commanded him, he had stolen authority over the knight – authority that previously belonged solely to Abaddon.

The lapse was too small to matter, too insignificant to be useful. But the very existence of that lapse, and what it represented, was what caused that fear.

The Knights fist, which was right in front of the Kun Pehng, frozen in midair, began to retreat slowly. The knight felt his body move, disregarding his will, as it began to gather its energy within a single point in his chest.

“When you come back to life, and I know that somehow you will do that,” said Lex calmly, “feel free to come find us again. Watching you locate us again and again is bound to give me some insight into Abaddon. Even if you don’t tell me your secrets yourself, I will extract them from you, one by one, each time you die.”

Indignation. Sheer, extreme indignation filled the knight, yet he could not utter a single word. Instead, he continued to gaze at the human as the energy within his chest destabilized, and began tearing his body apart.

His death was not swift, nor was it exposlive. He simply crumbled apart as Abaddon’s hunger satiated itself by feeding on his physical form.

Once the Dark Knight vanished, there were no other enemies within sight.

“Shall we continue?” Lex asked, turning towards Kaemon.

“Yes. Do you still want to find some ruins to explore?”

“Yeah.”

“Got it. In that case, we follow the plan.”

Lex nodded, and turned to Z who flew up to him and Little Blue.

“I think you have anger issues you should work on,” Z said with a tone of concern.

“Anger issues?” Lex repeated, dumbfounded by the sudden statement. Well, Z wasn’t wrong technically. Lex seemed to have no middle ground. He never got irritated or annoyed or just a little bit heated. He was either totally fine, or explosively angry. So, yeah, he should probably work on that. But the thing was… right now, Lex hadn’t shown the slightest hint of anger. He was feeling fine throughout. How could Z say he was angry?

“What are you talking about? I was completely fine throughout.”

“Exactly,” said Z. “You just told a man to go kill himself, and then watched as he did it. That’s the kind of stuff you should only do when you’re like, super angry or something. If you’re totally fine throughout, then the range of acceptable behavior for when you’re completely normal is way too wide. You should work on getting angry or something when you do crazy things.”

“You… you’re telling me I need to get angry more often?” Lex asked, amusement evident in his voice.

“Don’t blame me. Velma’s the one who told me you tried to date a terrorist or something, so you probably need a little guidance with emotional regulation.”

“What? That’s not what happened! Wait, when did she tell you that?” Lex asked, shocked.

“She sent me a letter before we left for Abaddon. The others got some too.”

“Why didn’t I get a letter?” Lex asked, feeling betrayed.

“Jealousy. Yes, that’s a normal emotion. I think once you get used to having normal emotions at normal times, you can probably start working on trying to pursue a stable and healthy life partner.”

Lex glared at Z.

“I don’t think you of all people should be giving me love advice,” said Lex. He was referring to the fact that Z had no experience in dating. Z, however, thought Lex was referring to the fact that… he had been thinking about Lex’s younger sister on and off, and had thought about asking her out. Too bad she was sleeping.

Z coughed, and looked away as if everything was normal. Lex snorted, and looked away too.

A moment later, though, he asked, “do you want to join the mech, or do you want to help Little Blue get accustomed to his new powers?”

“Naturally, I want to help Little Blue, but since you assigned me the duty to oversee the defense of the army, I’ll return to the mech.”

Lex merely nodded. Even now, despite there being people like Luthor who seemed to be stronger than Z, none could control the mech with the skill and finesse that Z could. Lex personally hadn’t tried either, nor did he intend to.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like the mech, but it was just that he already did and oversaw too much. If he got even more involved, he would become a micromanager, and that was never a good thing.

Z returned to the mech, fusing in with it, and they set off, led by the Reaving Dread. Lex and the members of the Inn weren’t the only ones who had benefited from the year-long rest, and the Reaving Dread had also managed to increase their strength.

So, it was with an eager heart that they quickly marched through the lands, constantly on the lookout for any locusts that might come their way. Their first step would be to get far enough away from the jungle that it was no longer visible. After that, they would go towards the ruins that had an entrance behind the waterfall.

Whether they did that by finding a waterfall, or creating one hardly mattered.

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