The Innkeeper
chapter-196

News of the newly crowned King of New York, Marlo, challenging the newly declared Supreme Emperor of Mars, Brandon, spread fast. Mostly because Marlo roared his challenge at Brandon as loud as he could without causing something to break.

Supreme Emperor Brandon was once again celebrating his honeymoon with the Supreme Empress Audrey, and so was in no mood to respond immediately. This gave enough time for news to spread across the Inn. Rorick, the acting ruler of Mars - as the title his parents had imparted upon him - was currently not at the Inn or else he may have tried to downplay this fight. But he had been gone for nearly a week, as the heir apparent - that would be the title Brandon gave to Alexander - had briefly returned to Earth since no one was supposed to know his location on Earth, and had returned with grave news.

Alexander's friend, Zeus, had managed to send him some extremely vital news at the risk of his own life. He had transmitted the identity of the traitor in the Morrison family, as well as some aspects of the council's plan to take over Mars as well. Though the news transmitted did not contain too many details, there was enough for them to ascertain that the plan was extremely thorough. Apparently, the council had tampered with all the atmospheric regulation formations on the planet, not to mention any other plans they may have.

Originally, this may have presented a problem for the Morrisons, as they were weak and exposed during transit from Earth to Mars, but with three Nascents in the family, now they could literally just destroy the council. Thus Rorick was currently on Earth, handling the situation as he saw fit, as Brandon had given him permission to do whatever he wanted. The family heads had also used this opportunity to return to Earth and test if their newfound strength could overcome the arrays trapping them.

Usually this was the kind of stuff Lex would worry about, since it might affect stability on Earth, but through spying on his guests Lex already knew that Fernanda, who was under a lot of pressure, had told the council that she would interfere if the situation deteriorated. All in all, the situation was so complex on Earth that Lex simply stopped following it. Should the situation get bad, he would return to rescue his family, otherwise he would just not care.

A result of this unusual situation caused a massive crowd to gather at the newly built arena. The environment was different from the coliseum, but that was a nice change as well. Marlo, of course, had arrived on stage. Behind him was his own group of supporters, including his mother and Larry. Sophia, predictably, had not deigned this important enough to leave her son's side and watched via hologram. Brandon had his own group of supporters, despite his current absence.

Even the pirates happened to find their way to the arena and had in no way been manipulated by Lex having his staff give them the wrong directions.

The crowd especially got excited when the Innkeeper himself showed up and sat beside him. Lex was extremely friendly and charismatic, and in no way let anyone know that the only reason he was here was because the Fruit knife was currently the only deterrent he had. In fact, Lex had even tried to upgrade the Fruit knife into the fabled Chef's knife, but unfortunately he lacked the key ingredient - 50 Millenium Crystal Watermelon. Only by slicing open this apparently legendary and rare fruit could the fruit knife be upgraded.

Eventually, Brandon finally appeared holding hands with his wife. He was wearing shorts and a white undershirt, showing off his various tattoos. Audrey, who now looked even younger than she had before, was wearing a long skirt and a random T-shirt. The two really did look like a couple of youngsters. In fact, if Lex stood beside Brandon, it would be tough to decide who was older.

"Brat, you better be ready to get your behind whopped. Don't you know not to disturb your elders."

"Shut up you old, irresponsible geezer, I've been wanting to beat you up from the moment I heard about how you raised Alexander. That's no way to raise a child."

"He's my grandchild, I can do what I want."

"Oh yeah, well, this is my leg and I can kick whoever I want with it."

The duo's pre-match trash-talk was truly… unique.

"Before you two begin," Lex interrupted, "I would just like to remind you not to push things too far. If I need to get involved… things will not end well."

'Things will not end well for me,' Lex silently completed his sentence.

They acknowledged the Innkeeper before Brandon stepped into the ring. The crowd hushed, and even the pirates stopped their chatter to pay attention.

This was the first time Lex would see a fight between two Nascent level cultivators, so naturally all his attention was on stage. The fight began and reached peak intensity immediately, without any warm up. With eyes wide open and bated breaths, everyone watched two old men fight each other.

During all the hubbub, though, Lex missed the fact that two new guests entered the Inn. One of them was Haris, the overly dramatic teenager who was in love with Ayesha. It just so happened that another guest appeared at the same time - a guest who was slightly older than Haris.

Lex would have recognized this second guest as Babur, the celebrity he read about on Tempest from the ancient Mughal family. The two guests who should not have had anything to do with each other locked eyes the moment they appeared, and then displayed animosity filled grimaces.

"I thought you died," Haris finally spat through gritted teeth. "I heard you got scammed by some girl on Tempest and beaten to death."

"And I heard your family made you dump your girlfriend. Must be nice, out there in the universe, being spoiled and pampered like some rich heir."

Haris immediately drew a sword and stared at Babur with eyes that screamed murder.