It had been a long time since Lex last came to the Crystal realm, though the amount of time that had passed in the Crystal realm itself was not as great. Even so, the very air of the realm had changed. The underlying laws that governed the realm had loosened considerably, and were changing more and more to become a frozen hellscape.

What was once a rich and vibrant land, even in the midst of a centuries long war, was now becoming a land of ice and snow. Treasures and resources, once found of all varieties, now took on the form of colder elements.

The changes were not too much of a surprise, as the last time he had visited the realm he had discovered the Hellions from Ventura were attempting to terraform the realm into something more suitable for their own individual races. He had informed Cornelius about the changes, but it seemed the human king was unsuccessful in preventing the changes.

One could not blame him either. His ambitions had been to take control of his home realm using the official authority of Ventura, but instead had been fighting for survival, sacrificing any chance of growth or personal development even in the meantime.

Lex took a few minutes to continue observing the laws of the realm, understanding the condition of the Crystal realm.

Its size seemed to have grown another 20%, as far as Lex could tell based on how stretched the laws felt. Moreover, the foundation of the realm seemed even weaker than the Midnight Realm now. Instead of having a firm and systematic set of laws to govern the realm, the existing laws had been pushed and prodded, barely able to hold the realm together.

If it weren't for the fact that the realm had been nourished by the death of tens of thousands of immortals in the past few years, giving some support to the realm, the realm itself may have been destroyed. Time and time again, Lex received assurances that Ventura wouldn't let the realm be destroyed as that would reflect poorly upon it as a school, but it seemed letting the realm go to hell - quite literally - was not an issue.

Lex sighed, and then teleported to the darkest, coldest corner of the realm within reach of his spirit sense. As expected, within the darkness hid monsters, many of them too dumb to have any awareness, but some who could do Lex's bidding.

"Inform Vinei that Lex from the Midnight Inn has come to see him," Lex said, cutting right to the chase. The monsters shivered, dropping to their knees, almost losing their minds in horror upon hearing the name of their commander uttered so casually.

Vinei was not just a Deity, he was the one who commanded every monster in the Crystal realm, and the one responsible for the law that created monsters from the darkness. His power was as absolute as the realm was old, so even his name held power in the Crystal realm. Now, when all other original laws of the realm seemed to have been weakened, it was solely the laws of darkness which had strengthened under Vinei's careful calculations.

"No need, I am here," Vinei said, stepping out of the darkness. Just a moment ago, he had not been there, but the mere utterance of his name had attracted his attention. Lex raised his eyebrow as he studied the Deity and former phoenix. He had grown stronger, of that Lex was sure.

Vinei, too, observed Lex, noticing the immense contrast in strength from the last time they had met. Now, even Vinei himself felt a subtle sense of deterrence from Lex, as if his divine instincts were warning him against picking a fight against him.

The lord of the Crystal realm's darkness suddenly smiled, seeming extremely pleased at Lex's progress.

"I knew... I knew that the Midnight Inn was the place that would aid my growth," Vinei said, a deep pleasure seeping into his voice. "Now, seeing your progress, I am more certain than ever! Come, let us talk business elsewhere. There is much to discuss, I am sure."

Vinei controlled the darkness around them, teleporting himself and Lex to the temple that could only be accessed by the five original Deities. This was a sacred place in the Crystal realm, though now it was clear that even this place was suffering from the consequences of the war.

"Things aren't looking great for your realm," Lex commented as he observed how fragmented the laws protecting the temple were.

"Appearances can be deceiving," said Vinei, appearing nonchalant about the clear damage done to his realm. "The last time we met, I told you that the Crystal realm has its own secrets. Well, soon it will be time to unveil those secrets, and when that happens, the situation will quickly reverse itself. Whether Ventura can even retain control of this realm or not will become uncertain at that point.

"But, I don't think you're here to talk about that, are you? Tell me, have you found a Defiler? I can teach you the best way to deal with..." Vinei stopped talking when Lex pulled out a Defiler core - the core from the Earth Immortal - and showed it to the black bird in front of him.

"You could say I found a Defiler," Lex said casually as he threw the core up in the air and caught it, as if he was playing with a ball. "I think this core should sufficiently meet your needs. I believe, in exchange, I'm owed a couple of Phoenix feathers and some blood. But before we get to that, there's a couple of

other things we need to discuss."

Vinei, who was still stunned, did not respond to Lex's words, his eyes stuck onto the core. He had waited... so long, and now, the last ingredient he needed to rid himself of this accursed status as a Deity. So close...

Yet eventually, he tore his gaze away from the core and looked towards Lex. Something about his expression told Vinei that the dark deity might need to change its plans.