Lex had not forgotten that Abaddon was a dangerous place. Even though the jungle was a mystery unto itself, seemingly defying the otherwise set rules of this land, that did not mean it was a friendly place. The jungle felt wrong, just in a different way than Abaddon.

But the odd sense of acceptance that the jungle gave him was likely what allowed Lex to avoid the dangers of it so far. That did not mean that the jungle wasn't a dangerous place. Just the barrier alone had nearly killed Lex in a way he still did not understand.

Lex looked towards the darkness in the jungle, trying to identify the threat. Oddly, he became hyper aware of his surroundings at that moment.

The jungle stretched endlessly in all directions. No rustle of wings. No chirp of crickets. Only plants: gnarled roots that coiled like veins across the moss-laden earth, trees that leaned too closely together, blotting out the sky in a tangle of silent judgment. A few thin streaks of light broke through the canopy in front of him, but deeper into the forest there was only darkness.

For a moment he saw a flash of light, maybe a reflection of some kind, yet he did not catch what it was. Tired of the games, Lex withdrew Naraka. Since when had he been afraid of danger? But it seemed that drawing his sword did the trick. Whatever hid in the darkness was provoked.

He felt it. A pressure. Like fingers curling slowly around his spine. The air grew heavier. Colder. He stared into the shadow beneath the canopy, scanning.

He heard the distinct sound of metal hitting metal, and something shimmered once more.

A glint of metal, small and deliberate, flashed once between the branches. Then it flashed again - closer now. Cold light dancing off polished steel.

He drew his sword, ready to meet the opponents weapons. But then his instincts spoke. This was a different kind of enemy, who wielded different kinds of weapons.

Then, from the darkness, it emerged.

A man - no, not a man - a figure stepped forward. Dressed in pristine white, untouched by the grime of the jungle. His eyes were obscured by the shadows of the trees, but his smile... it gleamed with unnatural precision. In one gloved hand, he held a mirror. In the other—a metal hook. A probe. A drill.

Lex knew what this abomination was. It was a dentist. No, not a dentist. A dentist in the dark.

"What in the bloody hell?" Lex exclaimed.

The tools clicked together in the figure's hand like bones snapping, and he took a step towards Lex, his smile growing unnaturally wide. The jungle seemed to hold its breath. Of course, that was because there were a bunch of ancient beings watching with anticipation, but Lex couldn't know that.

"You've been... neglecting your visits," the dentist said, his voice smooth, clinical, and empty of warmth.

"It's because my teeth are self-cleaning, and they grow back if they get knocked out," Lex said, not that he was in the mood for a conversation. The dentist was a Heaven Immortal, and not a weak one at that.

Now generally speaking, Lex wasn't one to stereotype people. As an Inn owner, that was a bad habit to have. But in this situation he felt pretty safe saying that the dentist was evil and needed to be put down.

"Oh really?" he said, turning on his drill, its high pitch squeal reminding Lex of memories he'd rather kept forgotten. "In that case, let me take a look."

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm not keen on having another guy poking around inside my mouth," Lex said, and swung his sword - he swung not at the dentist, but at the shadow of the tree beside him.

As it happened, just as he swung, the dentist emerged from that shadow, his drill aiming towards Lex's mouth.

Instead of Lex's teeth, the drill found Naraka's edge, ready and eager to cut down this accursed abomination.

This was Lex's first true clash with a Heaven Immortal, and it was against an incredibly strong one. Though Lex's strength did not lose out against the dentist, he fell to an immediate and immense disadvantage.

Lex jumped back, trying to gain a moment to gather himself. A single clash was enough for him to feel the difference.

It was not about strength. No, the advantage he held was of direct superiority in every way. The quality of his energy, the magnitude of his strength, the depth of his law control, they were all leagues apart.

Let alone a Heaven Immortal, even if Lex had the physical strength of a Celestial, in a proper fight, he would still be at a disadvantage against a Heaven Immortal.

The core reason for this, Lex gathered, was not all the other advantages that Heaven Immortals had. It came down to two things. Heaven Immortals could control stronger laws than Earth Immortals could even detect, and their tenets were much stronger.

It was these two simple things which made it nigh impossible for Immortals to usually fight above their realm. Usually.

Lex grinned.

"Do you want to know something? I always eat candy right before bed. Come see if that made a difference."

"Do you take dental hygiene as a joke?" the dentist roared, bringing out his Plaque blaster and shooting a highly pressurized jet of water at Lex. But that's exactly what Lex wanted. He wanted to fight. He wanted to hone himself. More importantly, he wanted to understand where this dentist came from, and why he came out now. Lex was certain that discovering this would be the key to discovering a way to enter inside the white hill. His instincts told him so.

Lex unleashed his Domain, and swung Naraka using his greatest strength, leveraging two of his abilities which surpassed the Earth realm, and entered the Heaven realm. If two were not enough, he'd use three. If three were not enough, then he'd use four.

If he ran out of advantages, then he'd just force his way into detecting the deeper laws - the ones that still hid from him. There was no way in hell - or in Abaddon - that he was going to let another dentist try to put braces on him. He just wasn't.