The Innkeeper

Alexander and his troops regrouped while the Jotuns finished the zombies off. Other than Alexander, who was simply tired, all his troops looked beaten and battered. This was not to say that they were weak or inexperienced. Their equipment just didn’t match up to the standard of the Jotuns, and their techniques, while ingenious, did not have the same spirit energy efficiency.

But despite all that, Alexander was quite satisfied. This had been a quick skirmish after a long chase, which gave them little to no time to prepare. When they attacked the main zombie horde, they would have better preparations. The only regret that Alexander had, other than his few dead soldiers, was that they were not able to attack Pramod. He clearly had escaped with the other group of zombies. By now, he had already joined the main horde.

Once the last of the zombies were finally killed, Alexander ordered his soldiers to retrieve the bodies for their soldiers. They needed to understand how they died, in case it was something preventable. In the meantime, Alexander walked towards Crawford-41.

Over the past day, everyone had already gained some idea of who the commanders of each army was, which is why Alexander knew exactly who he needed to talk with.

On the other side, Crawford-41 looked at Alexander with a mix of amusement and respect. Though there were areas in which they were lacking, this was probably one of the best performances he had seen from someone belonging to a Sky level civilization (a civilization unable to leave their star system). Not to mention, their killing efficiency was very high and their losses, considering their limited resources, were very few. That was where his respect came from. His amusement originated when he heard a report saying that Alexander actually tried to compete with Cara. Alexander could not be blamed for not knowing about the Deathsworn family, he did not have the relevant exposure. Still, considering the crazy and suicidal antics of the Deathsworn, it was rare to see someone even be in a situation dangerous enough to compete with them, let alone have the frame of mind necessary to compete rather than survive.

“Crawford,” Alexander acknowledged the young man, approaching him. They were actually similar in age, with Crawford-41 being in his late 20s. One would think that with the background of the universe, cultivators would have already surpassed the Foundation realm by their late 20s, but that was not so. Unlike on Earth, where it was an amazing feat for Alexander to break into Foundation in 2 years, it was not considered impossible for the rest of the universe. They just simply didn’t, despite being able to, because there was no real advantage to rushing their cultivation. It was a difference in perspective brought about by a difference in environment.

“If you’re going to shorten my name, I prefer you call me 41,” the man replied. “Did you encounter the armored demon?”_.

“I tried to intercept him, but they broke off. He’s met up with the main horde by now.”

Crawford-41 frowned. They had already failed one objective, which was not a good start. Then he looked towards the teenager. His previous golden aura had disappeared, and he could see a bit of fatigue in his eyes. They were technically competitors for the prize, but the main objective was still to destroy the nodes and this teenager had already proved useful.

With all of that in mind, Crawford-41 said, “You should check up on your soldiers. These zombies have all been laced with a special poison that makes even the slightest of scratches lethal.”

Alexander grimaced and immediately passed on the news. All his soldiers who had been wounded were mostly suffering from blunt force trauma. The ones who had suffered scratches or bite were the ones that were dead.

He would have to change some of his plans, but that was for later. Currently, he came to Crawford-41 for only one reason.

“I don’t know if you know this already or not, but the main zombie horde is massive. We are gravely outnumbered. I’m not sure of the exact numbers, but they range anywhere from thirty to forty thousand zombies. This is not a fight we can engage in alone, especially now that there is a demon capable of planning in charge of them.”

Crawford-41 was not aware of this, but he only slightly frowned before his expression returned to normal.

“This is crucial information. We need to communicate with the other humans and beasts and plan an attack, but we can’t waste too much time either.”

“I have the means to communicate with the other Earthlings,” Alexander said. “We just need to contact the beasts and hope they listen.”

The two immediately started planning. Even though they were competitors, without each other’s help, neither of them would succeed. Like this, another hour passed by before they were ready to lay siege to the main force. Alexander’s army used this time to rest and recover their spent spirit energy. All was progressing smoothly, or smooth enough.

But as the two-hour mark approached and all the armies readied positioned themselves for the attack, something similar was happening on Earth.

*****

Zeus Leventis, a descendant of the Leventis family from New Las Vegas on the moon, stood nervously in the space carrier. Hovering silently over a mining facility on the dark side of the moon, the space carrier was one of many, each holding dozens of soldiers. The greatest irony of it all was that this particular mission was being overseen by one of Zeus’ great uncles. They were attacking this facility not for the benefits it would provide, but to arrest control from the forces that occupied it. This was a strategic resource, the absence of which would cripple the economy on the moon. This was…

Zeus was woken from his daydreaming when the speakers released a very determined voice saying, “all forces, attack!”

As if a switch had been flipped, the night went from calm and peaceful to immediately being extremely chaotic! All the carriers open fired, not only penetrating the oxygen dome formation surrounding the facility, but the various outposts as well. The doors opened, and the soldiers jumped out, a jetpack accelerating their descent that was slowed by the weak gravity. The craziest thing was that despite all the chaos, it was eerily silent due to the lack of atmosphere. Except for the tremors that could be felt on the surface of the moon and the occasional flashing light of a grenade, there was no evidence of the chaos taking place.

Zeus also jumped and followed his team as they descended. He needed to get to a computer still connected to the interplanetary network as soon as possible. Deep inside his heart, he already knew that the network was likely already shut down by whoever orchestrated this attack, but still, he hoped. He needed to communicate with Alexander. That was the only way either of them would have any hope of surviving. Little did he know, Alexander was nowhere near Earth to begin with.

On Earth itself, the situation was both extremely chaotic and extremely peaceful. Various soldiers positioned in strategic locations began an attack at the same exact time worldwide. For some unusual reason, there was little to no resistance to the attacks. Dams, solar power fields, nuclear reactors and basically any kind of power supply stations worldwide were taken over and shut down. Government buildings were invaded with an efficiency that should have been impossible.

The few islands of resistance that could be found worldwide were mostly independent groups, caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Quickly, though, they too surrendered.

Most, if not all, nuclear weapons facilities were overrun. All nuclear submarines lost contact with the surface.

Before any of the soldiers left behind by the five family heads could use their keys and report the situation, they were killed. The precision with which each person loyal to the family heads, in possession of a golden key, was killed, spoke volumes.

*****

In London, in a quaint little house, there was a young girl playing games on her phone when suddenly she disconnected from the internet. She groaned and got up to reset her internet router, but suddenly her house lost power. Confused by the sudden development, the girl’s mind had only just begun to think of possible reasons for why this could be happening, such as a broken wire to the main transformer or something, when one of her elder sisters barged into her room.

“Something is happening. I was on a call when I heard gunshots on the other side, and the phone disconnected. Then the electricity went out.”

“We need to contact mom and dad,” the younger girl was only beginning to say, when her second, and oldest sister walked into the room.

“No, in case of an unexpected development, we need to establish communication with the relay station and ask for instructions.” her voice was cold and commanding, just like her eyes.

“Belle, what about big brother?” the young girl reluctantly asked, slightly afraid of the answer.

“According to our surveillance, Lex’s location is unknown. He is most likely safe…” Belle frowned slightly. “He is most likely safe, but I’ll request the relay station to send down some security. Dad won’t like the interference, but if the situation is dangerous enough, he’ll allow it.”

“What about us?” the middle sister, Liz, asked.

“What about us?” Belle replied blandly. “First of all, we don’t even know if something serious is even happening in the first place. And even if something serious is happening, these bodies are just spirit clones – even if they die, nothing will happen to us. Not to mention, their purpose has already been fulfilled. We only need to contact the relay station and act according to their orders.”

Just as the younger girls were hoping everything was alright, the sudden sound of gunfire woke them to the truth. Then someone kicked down their house door and soldiers started pouring in.

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