The Innkeeper

All eyes were on the massive numbers above the coliseum as they counted down from 15. The guests, the soldiers, the beasts and the various agents, waiting to report back to their planets as soon as the event began, almost felt as if their heart beats synchronized with the countdown.

Loretta and the mysterious devil watched while sipping some green liquid. As casual as their demeanor seemed at first glance, the slightest increase in pressure as she clenched her teeth said otherwise. The sloth that had practically wrecked havoc back on Nibiru looking for eligible beasts, and for the first time made its presence known on the planet, sat extremely comfortably. It had forgotten that it still could not control its strength, and its very sight could destroy mountains back on Nibiru. It would go back and fix things later. Anthony was standing in his room surrounded by various recording and analysis equipment. He planned on recording each game for analysis and review later.

Lex was also patiently waiting, though he was no longer sitting alone. A couple of the guests he hadn't had the opportunity to meet before came and introduced themselves. To his left sat Akihiko Tanaka, a Japanese man in his fifties. Oddly, despite his apparent vast influence, he had decided not to cultivate. To his right sat a young man named Remy Lavern. He was an interesting person. He directly came up to Lex and informed him he wanted to use the Inn to host a meeting for a secret society and was wondering what kind of benefits Lex could provide, which as could be expected triggered a quest. Lex told him to come and ask him once the Midnight Games were over - he didn't want to focus on two long quests at the same time.

As the seconds passed and the numbers got lower and lower, the anticipation that filled the air was practically palpable. Alexander, adorn in a thin silver armor that only covered his chest, was completely still. His excitement, his anticipation, his anxiety and everything else that he was feeling were buried deep. A mistake he had made when he met RussianPrincess77 was overconfidence, and Alexander never repeated a mistake twice. Even though he was adamant about doing things his own way, he was treating this extremely seriously. So while everyone was looking in the air as the countdown went from 3, to 2, to 1, Alexander only looked forward and tightened his grip on the sword in his right hand and the briefcase in his left hand.

The next second a bright light flashed across the Inn, momentarily blinding even the strongest cultivator. All the Foundation level armies disappeared. The screens in the air turned on and a wild grassland appeared in view. The plains were vast with nothing but random shrubbery, trees, and tall grass.

The devil besides Loretta frowned as he recognized the area, but this was only the beginning. A massive horde consisting of tens of thousands of zombies of all shapes and sizes suddenly appeared right in the center. About 5 miles away from the zombies in three different directions, three different armies appeared.

The beasts and Earthling still had a moment to adjust, but for the soldiers of the Empire, the battle began immediately!

*****

Right as the event was about to begin, Ragnar had the entire planet under supervision, not only by the several Juggernaut class vessels that surrounded it, but with his own spiritual sense as well. He even had special spatial fluctuation detection devices installed planet wide so that he would know immediately when the various armies arrived on the planet.

But things did not play out according to the simplest and easiest prediction of teleporting the three armies onto the planet, which in a way is exactly what Ragnar expected. The spatial fluctuation devices started beeping, but before anyone had any time to investigate their results, Ragnar physically felt a change in the fabric of space around the planet.

He opened scans of the planet from the Juggernauts view and ten opaque domes became visible on various parts of the planet. He located the closest one and immediately dashed towards it to investigate. Completely ignoring the hordes of zombies that surrounded the dome, Ragnar approached it and tested it out using a device because he was doubtful of his suspicions. But the result corroborated what he thought.

The area within the dome had somehow been transformed into a pocket realm, without actually cutting off the space from the planet itself. How this was possible, Ragnar did not know, nor could he understand. What he was able to determine, though, was that, because the space was not cut off, the pocket dimension shared the same atmosphere and ecosystem as the planet instead of developing one itself. This also allowed the nodes to continue to function, as if they had been teleported away or moved into a pocket dimension cut off from the formation they were supposed to be running the formation would fail.

But that was not all. All zombies above the Golden core realm within the dome were being ejected outside. He suspected that likewise, all zombies above the Foundation realm were being ejected from whichever dome was hosting the current game.

Just as he was about to return, he noticed a particularly strong demon ejected from the dome. A demon of this level was not supposed to be on this planet - clearly it had been hiding near the node, protecting it, but how could it escape the sight of the Innkeeper? Ragnar was now thoroughly convinced that the Innkeeper was many levels above himself.

The General and the demon exchanged looks, but did not engage. Ragnar was still the stronger one, but a fight of their level would activate the formation surrounding this planet. He had no choice but to let the demon leave.

Ragnar returned to his command room and gave the order for an all out attack. While the games handled the destruction of the nodes, he would handle the rest of the planet.

*****

The moment the game began, various beasts and humans disappeared from the Inn. One particular beast reappeared in a jungle, face to face with a massive snake.

"The games have begun," the beast said, "and the sloth is preoccupied. It will not return to Nibiru for at least 12 hours while the games take place. I did not spot Igishima in the coliseum, but it is likely in its room. Considering a lack of response from Red Nation, I think it's still unaware of the situation. It likely won't return before the games end."

"You've done well," the snake replied, its voice much happier than its expression portrayed. "Pass down my orders, begin a full assault! We must take all of its territory before it returns. I'll have a nice surprise waiting for it when it comes back home."

"Yes sir," the beast replied, and immediately left.

*****

On Earth, a virtual meeting was once again taking place in the bunker under the Sahara. But no one was speaking, they were all waiting silently. Eventually, a person appeared in the room as if teleporting from somewhere.

"The games have begun, they will be occupied. But they'll likely return the moment they get news that something is happening, are you sure you want to do this? Why not wait till the Golden core soldiers are committed instead of the Foundation ones?"

"Cowardice will not ignite the flames of revolution," said a feminine voice. "We were preparing to take on their full strength anyway, the disappearance of a few thousand Foundation realm experts is already a great boon. Not to mention, the longer we wait, the longer there is a chance for a mistake. Since the preparations have been made, we will begin now. Pass down the orders. Everyone get into your marked positions and prepare the weapons. In two hours exactly, we'll strike all targets at the same time. Even if the family heads return, the moment we start, it'll be too late for them to do anything."

Without replying, the various holograms started disappearing. In two hours, the destiny of Earth would change.

*****

On the battlefield, Alexander quickly scanned the terrain for potential threats the moment he appeared. Seeing no immediate danger, he sent out a few scouts before kneeling to start the device that looked like a briefcase in his left hand.

It took him a few minutes, which was enough time for his soldiers to secure the surrounding area. Fortunately, there were no enemies nearby, so they would be uninterrupted in the short term. The rest of the human army separated from them, clearly acting under a different commander. Alexander did not mind.

When the device was ready, he took a few steps back and watched as a dozen mini-satellites were launched into the air. When they reached high enough and their rocket trails ended, the satellites activated their cloaking mechanism, hiding them from plain sight. They could still be detected using spiritual sense, they weren't completely covert, but this was good enough. In only a few minutes, Alexander obtained a live projection of the entire terrain. Identifying the location where the Empire's soldiers were clashing with the zombies that arrived with them, Alexander passed out orders and began moving.

Even if he wanted to test himself, he would do it in the smartest and most efficient way.