Lex had not used his Lotus form back since his fight with Jeffrey - mainly because there hadn’t been a need for it. His Lotus form was not one he could enter whenever he wished, and using it put a severe strain on his body, even when he became an Earth Immortal.

An ability such as that was best saved for truly critical moments. Even now, it was only up against almost a hundred Heaven Immortals who, incidentally, had racial superiority. He had to admit, he was somewhat looking forward to using the ability.

Since Lex was bonded to Lotus, their connection was very deep. That is why Lotus could benefit from Lex’s Paladin power, as unusual as it was, and why Lex could rely on Lotus during a critical moment.

Lotus’ original ability was to be able to turn energy into matter - an incredibly broken ability by any standard, and still far beyond what Lex could do. Lotus could literally manifest treasures out of pure energy, which was several levels above even what the Crystal alligator and Goldilocks did.

When Lex entered his Lotus form, he temporarily gained that ability - though the last time he had tried, he did not have enough energy in his body to actually transform anything. Moreover, his body could not bear the burden of the form for long.

On the plus side, his position on the Cosmic Ascendance Spectrum shot through the roof while he was in that form, and he gained the ability to rapidly absorb all energy to fuel his form, including the energy within any attacks coming his way.

His physical strength also reached such a state that even now, he could not match up. Lex had literally slapped a guy so hard his tenets broke. That was an actual thing that happened. Lex wasn’t even close to being that strong now, despite being in a much higher realm.

Honestly, just that was all Lex had been able to do in his Lotus form because the ability had only lasted a few seconds. Now that he was much stronger, and Lotus was slightly more mature, he was hoping that he’d be able to hold out for a whole minute.

Lex and Kaemon went their separate ways. Kaemon went to prepare his mercenary army for the fight ahead, while Lex went to see what the situation was like with those from the Inn. As it turned out, when Kaemon had approached Lex, they had been on the move through a series of mountains made entirely of gems. They were inside one of the valleys, and had spotted the Gon fighting inside another valley behind one of the mountains.

While they too were fighting off locusts, after years and years of fighting, both the mercenaries and the people from the Inn had become extremely adept at dealing with locusts.

Most of the people from the Inn were in the mech, with only Luthor and Leonidas fighting independently. With Z leading the mech, Leonidas could fight on his own, despite being the leader of the Midnight Battalion. After all, he had perfected his team combat, now it was just a matter of perfecting his individual combat.

Little Blue, Fenrir and Sunny were naturally also fighting on their own.

Even so, Lex used his spirit sense to delve into the mech, observing each and every individual member that made it up. To say that the mortals had aged would technically be correct, since so much time had passed. Yet as peak Nascent soul cultivators, their lifespans were so long that a couple of decades was hardly enough to change their appearances.

Even so, the long time spent within Abaddon, practicing their hospitality under the constant threat of death, and using the mech on a daily basis, had caused subtle changes to their appearances and personalities.

They were all more mature, and had the aura of war veterans. Their cultivation realms also seemed far more solid, as if they could initiate a tribulation to cross their realm at any moment.

Naturally they could, but they had been withholding that so that they wouldn’t encounter any freaky Abaddon tribulations. Just because Lex had a tendency to do the insane didn’t mean everyone else did.

"Lex, you’re here," said Luthor, his voice grim. "I take it you heard the news about the Gon. So what are we doing?"

"Oh my. Am I really seeing the day that Luthor is resisting the urge to attack and capture prisoners for interrogation?" Lex teased.

"Yes, yes you are," said Luthor. "The suppression from the Gon corpses was nowhere near what the living ones exude. As much as I love a good interrogation, I don’t think we can take on a hundred Heaven Immortals who had an additional advantage."

"Well, what if we don’t take them on? What if we plant the castle in front of their faces, and only resist while taking longshots? Kaemon seems to believe that he can take them all on his own."

Luthor frowned for a moment, as if considering the possibility.

"This is also a good opportunity to face the Gon head on. I don’t know what their suppression is going to be like in battle, which is why if we face it now that we have reliable allies, we can prepare for it in case we need to face them in the future."

Luthor was still hesitant.

"I don’t know. If it was one or two, that would still be fine. But fighting nearly a hundred Heaven Immortals is really pushing it. The strongest of us is still an Earth Immortal. Even having the advantage of numbers on our side is not enough to overturn such a huge disadvantage."

Lex really wanted to fight, but then again, it wouldn’t hurt to err on the side of precaution. Luthor was right - a hundred Heaven Immortals might be too much for them.

"The Condottiere has given Kaemon something to allow him to fight those above his realm. It should be fine. If nothing else, I can at least assure you that we will be able to escape safe and sound - my meditation on the laws of Abaddon haven’t been for nothing these past few years. How did we spot them without getting spotted in the first place?" Lex asked.

"Little Blue was flying up above and spotted them from afar," Luthor explained.

"Of course. Little Blue spotted a bunch of Heaven Immortals and didn’t get spotted. Makes perfect sense," said Lex, although it really didn’t. Kun Peng were not known for their stealth - or at least, Lex had never heard of their stealth abilities. Then again, he’d been meditating for a long time so maybe he missed something.

Lex extended his spirit sense to Kaemon and informed him that they would be ready, but the members of the Inn had their doubts about the mission, so they would take a safety first approach. If things took an unexpected turn, they would retreat.

Luthor didn’t think facing so many Heaven Immortals was a good idea, but since they were going to be doing exactly that, he would not shy away from it either. After all, it was important to get intel on the enemy.

To be entirely honest, Lex was a little nervous too. But this was the second time he’d encountered the Gon race in Abaddon. He wanted to know what they were up to, and if they had any leads on the chalice.

The Midnight mech followed the mercenaries, fighting off locusts as they went, as they climbed over a gem mountain and came into view of the fight on the other side.

The scale of it was much smaller. There were only a few Heaven Immortals compared to their group of thousands. The danger involved, however, was much greater.

"You all set up the castle halfway down the mountain and attack from there," said Kaemon, showing a rare side of himself as he commanded Lex. "We will charge down the mountain and use the locusts’ pressure on them to strike hard and strike fast. Since we’re not really Heaven Immortals, I believe that if we avoid harming any locusts, they won’t target us either."

"What if the locusts target you too?" Lex asked.

"Then we’ll handle it," said Kaemon, posing like a complete badass as he began his charge down the mountain.

The Magma Lion had clearly spent too much time with Z and had been influenced by his anime. There was no turning back now, for the Gon had noticed the army, and much more importantly, noticed the humans.

Even from hundreds of miles away, Lex could feel their gaze on him, and he could feel the circulation of his energy slow down just a bit. Even being spotted by them was enough to weaken him. He could only imagine what the others must be going through.

Even so, not one of them showed a hint of fear or hesitation as they too began their charge.

History had decided that humans would be prey for the Gon race. Their actions this day would make them predators instead.