Compared to the fading, dissipating aura of the werewolf-centaur, this second aura was a whole lot stronger and stable as well. The Innkeeper looked towards it to find that it was a Celestial Immortal.

The Celestial did not act against the werewolf-centaur, though he looked like he wanted to. Instead, he looked towards the Innkeeper first.

"My sincerest regards, Innkeeper. Please allow me permission to ’take care’ of this abomination. The Celestial race, Humanoid Alliance, and a number of other organisations have signed a resolution to eliminate these rogue threats. Not only have they caused the deaths of innumerable beings from across the universe, their very existence is an abomination to life itself."

The Innkeeper turned from the Celestial to the werewolf-centaur, and saw that it had been temporarily suppressed by the aura of the Celestial, much as it had been when Lex summoned his Butter Knife. If he was right, the creature would attack at any moment.

"I bet the necromancers aren’t happy about that agreement," the Innkeeper muttered to himself, and then shook his head. "If he attacks or breaks a rule of the Inn, you may act against him, but not before."

The Celestial nodded, understanding that saying that was the same as giving him permission. Everyone knew that these creatures were entirely unstable, and would go on a rampage right before they descended into madness.

As if to prove him right, the Inn staff began teleporting all the guests away from the edge of the tavern. The beast seemed to take that action quite personally, and finally snapped out of his hesitant state, unleashing its aura as it sought to destroy everything!

For the Demi-Dao Celestial, however, the gap between getting permission and the creature’s attack was plenty of time to prepare. Instead of continuing the fight in the tavern, and risking destroying the tavern or hurting the people, the Celestial simply pushed the werewolf-centaur into the Dream realm to continue the fight.

The interlude of the two Demi-Dao Lords was brief, barely reaching a total of 10 seconds. Yet it was not the duration of the event itself that was of concern, but the frequency of it. In a relatively short time, the tavern had been attacked twice.

Being connected to the Dream realm was a double edged sword and it wasn’t going to be easy to stay here if events like this continued.

Lex hadn’t even properly finished thinking about what had just happened when he sensed that two delegations had urgently entered the Midnight Inn, carrying Letters of Intent - one from the Henali, and one from the Humanoid Alliance via Velma’s tavern.

The timing was too coincidental, causing Lex to think that there was more to the matter related to the werewolf-centaurs, but for once he was off the mark entirely. Both the letters wanted to discuss forming a long-term agreement to use the Midnight Inn, and subsequently the Dream tavern, to enter the Dream realm!

The letters did not go into detail, simply stating that a representative was waiting for his response.

Lex narrowed his eyes and thought about this for a moment. Usually, letting his taverns become a means to travel to other realms and planets was something Lex wanted to avoid. The potential for chaos was too great.

The taverns normally, at most, connected to the Midnight realm or each other, but guests weren’t allowed to go beyond. The Dream realm was the sole exception, and he had good reason for that.

The Innkeeper had publicly claimed that since the Dream realm had targeted the Inn, stealing its guests and workers, then he would not hold back against it. That was the reason why he let his guests enter the Dream realm.

He was not too keen on forming long term agreements, however, since he wasn’t sure what Dao Lords considered long term. What if things changed during that time? More importantly, he was still suspicious about the timing.

If it wasn’t because of the appearance of two Demi-Dao Lords, could it be because of the unusual event that had recently occurred in the Dream realm? That was the only thing that made sense.

He was lacking information, which made it hard for him to accurately judge this situation, and would put him at a disadvantage during the negotiations. There was only one solution to this.

The Innkeeper responded to both the letters by inviting both Dao Lords to discuss the matter further... at the same time!

From the Origin realm, the Dao Lord that came for the discussion was Hiran Kokan, the Governor of the Origin realm. However, the one representing the Humanoid Alliance was not Weiss. Instead, it was a Giant!

Lex was not too familiar with the Giant race, mainly because their population was incredibly low. They weren’t anything special to look at - they were identical to humans in appearance, but had varying heights, though even the shortest ones were well over 20 feet (6 meters) tall.

Oh, they also seemed to have a natural affinity towards Anchor - though that was Lex’s own deduction because they were known to focus more on physical strength.

Among the many humanoid races that Lex was aware of, Giants were one of the most overlooked, which was quite ironic because they weren’t easy to overlook in person. Of course, within the Inn itself, the Giant representative’s height had automatically been adjusted.

Hiran and the Giant were clearly surprised to sense one another’s presence inside the Inn, but quickly surmised what was about to happen. They gave each other a wary look, and only nodded to one another, before they started to head towards the Innkeepers office.

This was going to be an important meeting, so they were going to remain somewhat reserved in their reaction to one another - at least for now. They needed to see what the Innkeeper had in mind.

The two arrived at the office together, and found the Innkeeper waiting for them, sipping a cup of coffee.

"Welcome, my dear guests." the Innkeeper said with a warm smile as he got up from his seat. "How coincidental that the both of you reached out to me at the same time, and for the exact same purpose. I thought that since it was so, we might as well have this discussion all at the same time."

The Giant responded as expected to such an invitation - appreciatively and warmly. Hiran, however, had a sudden flashback of the Tea Party as he looked at the Innkeeper. This was the man who could look Eclipse in the eye and stay calm - the suspected Dao King.

If he knew what had happened in the Dream realm, and he obviously did, then the price for this exchange wasn’t going to be cheap.

Instead of trying to save costs, it would serve Hiran more to pay a better amount now and build a positive, cooperative relationship with the Innkeeper. Who knew? Maybe he was even privy to the secret behind what was actually going on in the Drealm realm.

"Innkeeper, it’s good to see you, as always," said Hiran in a very mild mannered tone. "I’d like to say, regardless of how these negotiations go, the Henali will vow to help the Midnight Inn search for its missing staff and guests. I will pass the order as soon as I return."

Lex was pleasantly surprised. This wasn’t something he had been expecting. It was very welcome, though.

The Giant took note, and realised that he had fallen to a disadvantage. Unfortunately, he was not at liberty to promise the cooperation of the Humanoid Alliance like that.

While this meeting was ongoing in the Midnight Realm, while Fenrir was closing in on his childhood enemy within the Dream realm, while Lex was searching for Almira and Qawain, the next step of Daekol’s plan was being carried out.

One of the Celestials working underneath him had reached the public headquarter of the HOA, and announced that he was working on behalf of the Path of Chaos. While the HOA didn’t strictly align with the Chaos faction, they did have a working relationship.

He handed over a single letter, and waited. A few hours later, he was brought a sealed container that looked almost like a coffin.

The Celestial Immortal opened the contained, and looked at the clone inside. It was a clone of Damian, complete with his genuine bloodline and cultivation realm, making him a very convincing tool in Daekol’s plan.

The Immortal sealed the container once more, hiding all fluctuations of the clone’s existence, and then returned to the dream realm. Soon enough, the container was brought, and then just left inside a certain area within the Dream realm.

Elsewhere in the Dream realm, Marlo walked with two Drama-cats sitting upon his shoulders, unwilling to leave. Once the formation had been destroyed, the Dream realm had kicked them out of that area.

Marlo couldn’t help but feel like he was being used by someone, but he could not tell by whom, and for what purpose.