"So it’s a best of two out of three?" Gerard asked. "But what is the voting criteria? How will the performances be judged? There’s a lot of information we’re missing out on."

"The winner is decided by a popular vote," Lex said. "I had the newsroom look into the situation in the Origin realm regarding this Dance off. It seems that the Cold Brood Empire has held such competitions quite frequently. On that front, there is both good news and bad news.

"The good news is that the voting is live and very transparent, which ensures that there is no cheating involved. The bad news is that, of the records they found, while the Empire has records of losing individual segments, they’ve never lost a Dance Off before."

"In that case, do you have recordings of any previous challenge?" Gerard asked.

"Yeah, a few," Lex said, holding out some crystals. "I brought copies of the closest victories they had, so that we can get a chance to see for ourselves how they win, and what it takes to bring them close to a failure."

Everyone in the group sat together and watched the recordings, playing through them at an accelerated rate to save up on time. That didn’t mean that they weren’t critically analyzing each and every dance move and dance step.

Lex could not help but feel regretful about the fact that Giselle was not a member of the Midnight Inn, otherwise with her expertise in ballet, she would have been a shoo-in for the solo.

After watching all the recordings, they began their discussion. Each and everyone of them had their own ideas about what to do, and Lex didn’t lead the conversation. Instead, he let their plan form organically.

Sure, there was a lot at stake, but compared to everything he had been, it wasn’t nearly the most dire thing that had happened to him.

At the same time, in a matter of minutes, he collected a lot of information about KD and the Cold Brood Empire from the newsroom, the Infinity Emporium, and several other sources. With a greater understanding of his opponent, Lex no longer felt so threatened.

So, he let things play out.

"Are you sure about this plan?" Luthor asked, doubt in his voice. "I still think having Lex and I do the couples dance will give us the best chance. We have very good synergy, and the idea of choreographing a fight between us as a dance will perfectly capture the essence modern day masculinity in the cultivation-"

"Just give up buddy," said Z as he placed his hand on Luthor’s shoulder. "Fight scene choreography is so overdone. ’Fighting and dancing are just like one another’ is one of the most overused tropes to undermine dancing like, ever."

Lex looked up at the ceiling, trying to forget the fact that he himself had been thinking that just a short while ago. It seemed he had been overruled by a panel of his peers.

"So are we agreed?" Lex asked. "If so, then let’s call everyone and get started. We only have thirty minutes before the competition begins and we’ll need to choreograph and practice the dances at least once during that time."

After taking a look around the room and seeing that no one had any complaints, they finalised the line up. Since there was an unspoken rule that no dancer would be repeated between sections, all of them would only make one appearance each.

"Alright, stop brooding," said Z as he looked at Luthor. "That’s the other teams job."

Luthor gave Z a dirty look, before turning away.

"Gerard is just upset he can’t dance with Lilith I tell you, so he’s just lashing out and not letting me do my thing either," Luthor grumbled.

"You know it’s not like that," said Z. "Now come on, you’ve never used an ax before so you need to learn the basics before the group performance."

Luthor continued to grumble, though he at least paid attention to the lessons Z was giving him.

The others, too, all dispersed and quickly began to polish up their dance skills. Instead of feeling pressured or intimidated, all of them were actually looking forward to the competition - especially the solo dance considering who they had managed to rope in for that performance.

Meanwhile, the auction did not stop. One item every hour or so, the list of available items kept getting smaller. A number of those organizations, though, were successfully intrigued by the drama of the Dance Off.

They didn’t care about the Dance Off itself. Rather, they were curious about what the chameleon had to do with all this, for it was obvious to them in a glance that the chameleon was possessed.

Most, though, didn’t care at all. The Midnight Inn was an Inn, so obviously it couldn’t be too harsh to their guests, which they accepted all kinds of. They cared only for their items, and perhaps establishing a good relationship with the Inn.

"Are you really going to do this?" Fey asked Elesia.

Both the angels sat in their private auction rooms, watching both the auction and the impending Dance Off. Despite being Celestial Immortals, and Angels, they were not Valkyries - meaning that they had not been selected by seniors of their race to be trained as potential Dao Lords. That obviously did not mean they couldn’t become Dao Lords, just that no one thought they had the potential to do so.

"The Devils have already made the Inn all but their home, and only we Angels have been hesitating repeatedly. The Seraphim are repeatedly provoking us, and we are not yet in a position to take Eden from them. It’s about time we did things separately. Besides, what can they do to me? Not give me a promotion? Without becoming a Valkyrie, this is the highest position I’ll ever get anyway. It’s time I put myself first for once."

Fey sighed, and turned to look at the auction once more.

"The Inn is a neutral entity. Why do you think they can help you?" she eventually asked.

Elesia, for once, did not answer. The truth was, even she did not know.