Within the tavern castle, a gravely injured Magma Lion weakly looked up into the sky. He had survived, barely, not because of any strength of his own, but because of the enchantments the Condottiere had put on them, making it exceptionally hard for them to die - beyond what should normally be possible.

Within his chest was a glass orb, cracked as if it was ready to fall apart at the slightest gust of wind. Within that orb were the rest of the mercenaries, frozen solid in a state of protected stasis.

Even then, the price they would pay for this survival was not small. That is, if they lived long enough to pay it to begin with.

The self-destruction of so many Heaven Immortals was bound to be devastating, and it was only made worse by the fact that the Gon had gone all out to develop special techniques to ensure maximum damage whenever they self-destructed. After all, this was standard practice among their slave armies.

Despite how critical the situation was, Kaemon held out hope. If the Condottiere had taken so many precautions for them, then it only made sense for the Innkeeper to take precautions for the group from the Inn as well.

Hopefully, there was some kind of protective technique or treasure they could employ. Kaemon looked up, hoping to find hope. All he saw instead was an endless canvas of white, with but a single figure visible against the backdrop.

Kaemon could not see Lex, but he felt in that moment the immense confidence his figure was giving off, reassuring everyone who looked at him. His shoulders were firm and strong, his back straight and unbending. It was as if his tiny figure could support the weight of the world all alone. Right now, that is exactly what he needed to do.

As he stepped forward, braving against the purposefully engineered force of destruction, Z, who remained invisible to everyone, raised his baton, and created music.

When the white light came, it was accompanied by a hush so profound it cast every echo into oblivion. It filled the air with a silence so absolute it exiled all sound as though it were blasphemy. But just as Lex took his first steps, intruding upon that sacred silence came the deep, resonant pulse of a bass guitar.

Deep and primal, like a war chant of defiance, the guitar strummed, its rhythm quick and energetic, as if rising to the impossible challenge.

Z knew there was no time for a build up or a beat drop, so immediately the music became more complex, adding layers of power, all of which concentrated on Lex, empowering him.

It wasn’t like Z believed Lex needed help or anything. But for too long, the Inn had been protected by individuals. By the Innkeeper. By Lex. By any who stepped forward to rise up to an impossible challenge.

But no more. This was a declaration, not just to the universe, but just as much as to himself. Even if their protectors had all the power in the world, they would not protect the Inn alone.

To the beat of the drum, Leonidus beat his chest. No one could see him. No one could hear him. Yet even without communication, the Midnight Battalion started to do the same.

Seated within the Great Hall, Luthor could observe everything a lot more clearly, so he did the one thing he had learned from Lex. He took out a camera and prepared to take cool pictures.

In the face of absolute, unbridled destructive power, all the mortals of the Inn looked up to Lex, absolute confidence in their eyes. Fenrir howled. Little Blue spread his wings and observed from the sky, a Kun Peng in full form, looking at one of its first ever heroes.

Sunny did not have as much of a history with Lex, but the trust was infectious, so it too decided to observe in silence.

All of this happened behind Lex, and blinded by the white light he should have been unable to sense any of it. Yet as he fused deeper with the powers of Lotus, his power approached a new threshold he had never touched before.

Many laws suddenly became like childsplay to him, easy to understand, easy to control. Others still remained hidden and esoteric, but at least they were clearer and simpler to use.

Karma was one of them. He could feel, through his Karma, the absolute faith and trust everyone had in him.

Initially, he had just been giddy for a chance to use his Lotus form, but as he felt the immense weight of everyone’s trust on his shoulders, Lex couldn’t help but tone down his smile.

Yes, Lex had the inner child in him that he displayed through Jack, filled with wanderlust and overflowing excitement. But he also had in him the heart of a protector. The Inn had become more his family than his actual family, and while he wanted to enjoy himself, there was nothing more important to him than the safety of his new family.

Lex reached out to the lotus, to its power, and discovered that he was still unable to use its true, core ability. He still could not create matter from pure energy. That said, he was still a lot stronger now, so he could sustain this form a lot longer, and he could bear the burden of this power longer.

Also, just because he couldn’t create something from pure energy didn’t mean he couldn’t use that energy at all.

Lex held out his hand, as if about to use Talk to the Hand, and actually disengaged his protective barrier, allowing the devastating attack to land on him. More specifically, he allowed it to land on his palm, from where his lotus form began to rapidly absorb all the energy.

It didn’t matter what intent was hidden inside the energy, what laws, what secrets. In front of the absolute power of the lotus, which could absorb even pure chaos energy, and use it for itself, the force of destruction was naught but fuel.

Lex could not help but think how fortunate it was that the Word Seed Lotus’ weren’t very active plants, and that their entire purpose in life was to create a world before dying. If this particular race was a combative race, eager to fight and conquer, they may have long taken over the universe.

That was because not only did Lex not find the entirety of the destructive force difficult to absorb, he concluded that it could only fuel his form for a dozen minutes or so. This is probably what true supremacy felt like.

Speaking of which, Lex narrowed his eyes. In this form, he could sense a lot more than he could previously, and so he saw something that he had missed before. The Gon race... were not alone!