Chapter 1803 — KD

"I SURRENDER!" the tiger screamed, just as the beam of sword intent touched its body, causing it to freeze. "Please! Stop! I surrender! I’ll cooperate fully!"

Lex was not naive, nor was he inexperienced. Just because someone yelled they surrendered did not mean they actually would. The moment the tiger yelled, instead of actually stopping the attack, he turned it from a physical one into a spiritual one. Although it appeared like the beam of sword intent had paused outside, most of it had already infiltrated the tiger’s mind, using the weakness of the moment to get past all its defenses.

With almost complete control of the tigers mind, Lex could do nearly anything to him. From hypnotization, to direct destruction of the mind, all of it was easy. He could even read the tiger’s memories, but he held off on that. Considering how systems tried to keep themselves secret, trying to read its memories might trigger a reaction from its system.

Lex turned his gaze to the other three who had also not died, and couldn’t help but click his teeth. It was really hard to kill system users, apparently. Lex ignored the fact that he was in a weaker realm, and that he had attacked only once.

Lex grabbed all four beasts, and teleported them all... to Luthor’s underground lava prison!

"Congratulations, you’ve made Luthor’s dreams come true," Lex said as he placed each of the beasts in a holding cell. His spirit sense was still wrapped carefully around them, observing them for the slightest indication that they might be able to do something.

The four beasts naturally had no idea what Lex was talking about, nor did they have any mind to pay attention to it. Three of them, at least, had their mind severely weakened, and the fourth had his mind completely dominated by Lex.

"I will give you all one chance to answer. What are you all doing here?" Lex asked. He had not removed his mask, which caused his voice to distort, sounding especially devilish.

Lex looked towards the tiger, for it was the only one in a decent enough condition to answer.

"Look, we... we weren’t here to cause any trouble. We’re just here because we lost a bet and had to uphold our end of the bargain."

Lex raised an eyebrow out of curiosity.

"It’s the King... the Komodo Dragon. He challenged us all to a bet, and the loser has to do what the winner says. Still, he just told us to attract a lot of attention at a certain point during the auction. We... we never had any intentions of harming anyone, or crossing the Midnight Inn. I swear!"

Lex frowned, and looked at the others. Were these four system users just a distraction?

The other system users weren’t in any condition to answer him properly. In fact, the monkey had fainted, and the eagle wasn’t far behind. With their soul ruptured from his attack, they would be weakened even if they weren’t in danger of dying.

"Tell me about this Komodo Dragon. What is his name? What is his purpose?"

The tiger shook his head, as if he was regretting getting involved at all.

"He goes by the name KD, and is the king of an entire empire of reptilian beasts. They’re called the Cold Brood Empire, and control a galaxy of their own. The king isn’t a Celestial immortal, but even so, he’s incredibly powerful, and no one dares to renege on a bet they’ve made with him."

"So he’s a gambler?" Lex asked, his mind racing already as he tried to come up with an explanation in his mind. Was the mysterious enemy he had been facing KD? Why was that? What did he want?

"Gambler? I supposed you could call it that, though it’s not entirely accurate. He’s... he like to challenge his foes to a dance off. The winner is decided by popular vote. But he’s never lost before, and that’s how he built his empire. No one has gone back on a bet with him and survived... no one!"

"A dance off?" Lex asked, taken aback. Of all the things he could have expected, that was not one of them.

Before the tiger could elaborate, Lex’s eyes widened. Something was happening!

*****

The chameleon, who was moving like he was possessed, was using the second bloodline ability his unique race allowed him, which was Perfect Camouflage. This ability was a bloodline ability of the highest order, giving those who possessed it the opportunity to qualify for the Dao realm!

Of course, a bloodline could not make anyone a Dao Lord. It merely allowed the beasts the ability to grow strong enough where they reached that threshold. Actually becoming a Dao Lord was up to the individual.

It was for that reason why Z hadn’t been able to detect him, and even Lex hadn’t noticed his actions.

The chameleon walked through the manor replica which was much easier now with the diminished security, and made his way to the ceiling. Reaching the auditorium again would be impossible, even through his bloodline technique. The first time might have been a fluke, but it was unlikely the loophole had not been fixed.

Once he was there, the chameleon entered the global chat and typed in a message.

AfroFeind69: Well, my comrades, it seems the almighty might of MP and MT has once locked me out of the bidding war. No surprise there - capitalism always plays favorites. But fear not! While I can’t compete against stacks of cash, I can compete with my unshakable rhythm. That’s right - let’s turn our attention away from this atrocious display of ill-gotten gold, and point it towards something far more entertaining! I hereby challenge the Midnight Inn to a dance-off! I may not walk away with the prize, but I will win your hearts, your applause, and possibly a community funded auction item or two. Meet me on the roof of the manor for the deets!

Someone, somewhere gasped.1