Benar, ras Gon itu kuat. Mereka punya pengaruh, dan telah membuktikan diri di panggung universal. Itu tak mengubah fakta bahwa Gon-Gon yang ditemui Lex adalah budak.
Mereka bahkan Heaven Immortal, jadi pembatasan memori pada mereka terlalu berat untuk dibobol Lex dalam waktu singkat. Tentu, kalau diberi waktu cukup, dia bisa melakukannya - mungkin. Tapi terlepas dari bisa nanti atau tidak, fakta tetap: di tengah pertempuran, kemampuan Lex terbatas.
Dia hampir tak baca memori kritis apa pun dari Jeziah, meski tidak terlalu kecewa. Lewat memorinya, dia tahu Jeziah budak, tapi tak tahu detail sang pemilik budak.
Entah kenapa, Lex mengira pemiliknya juga dari ras Gon - kemungkinan besar karena di memori awal Jeziah, dia dijadikan budak oleh sesama rasnya. Itu tak meniadakan kemungkinan ada hal lain yang terjadi.
Lex menyerap paksa seluruh energi ledakan bunuh diri ke dalam dirinya, menghapus cahaya putih dan mengungkapkan pascanya. Lembah itu hilang, begitu pula banyak gunung di sekitarnya.
Di tempatnya, ada lubang raksasa tanpa dasar yang penuh kegelapan. Faktanya, Lex merasa Abaddon sengaja memperdalam dan mempergelap lubang itu lebih dari perlu, dan menghubungkannya ke jenis abominasi baru.
Meski menarik, Lex justru melihat ke tempat lain. Di langit, tepat di atas lokasi pertempuran semula, berdiri makhluk ras lain di kerita melayang.
Lex tak tahu kenapa dia tidak melihat atau merasakannya tadi, tapi sekarang jelas makhluk itu sudah di sini dari awal. Bahkan, karena pemahaman Lex tentang hukum drastis meningkat dalam keadaan ini, dia bisa membaca garis-garis karma antara makhluk itu dan para Gon.
Sekilas jelas mereka semua budaknya. Dia mengendalikan mereka dari atas, niatnya tidak diketahui. Satu-satunya hal yang terlihat Lex selain kendali atas Gon, dia terluka parah.
"Kau bisa melihatku," kata makhluk itu, berbentuk humanoid kurus tinggi. Kulitnya hijau tua, tapi armor yang dipakainya biru tua dengan nuansa ungu. Rambutnya juga biru tua, cocok dengan armor.
Dia tidak berdarah, tampak tak terluka, tapi Lex merasakan kebenarannya. Makhluk ini, siapa atau apa pun, terluka parah.
"Mau jelaskan kenapa kau coba bunuh kita semua, atau kuharap interogasinya?" tanya Lex.
"Kata-kata berani, manusia, mengingat kau yang menyerang duluan," kata dia, memandang Lex dengan campuran gegar dan merendahkan.
"Mungkin kalau kau memperlihatkan diri, kita tak akan. Kita kira Gon akan menyerang, jadi kita bereaksi duluan," kata Lex. Makhluk ini... kuat. Bahkan dalam bentuk lotus Lex yang diberdayakan, dan meski lemah, Lex merasa bahaya besar. Yang gila... dia Earth Immortal!
"Untuk jujur, penilaianmu tak salah. Sejak kau masuk penglihatanku, takdirmu ditulis ulang. Lututkan lutut, manusia, dan sambut tuan barumu. Aku Kreel, tuan barumu," kata makhluk itu, mengangkat tangan, menunjuk ke Lex.
Gelombang tak terlihat kekuatan misterius menyerang Lex, mencoba mengubah pikirannya, menanamkan status budak di dalamnya.
Pikiran Lex sangat kuat. Bahkan, sekencang tubuh dan jiwanya, jadi menolak manipulasi mental tak pernah sulit, apalagi sekarang bentuk lotus.
Meski begitu, saat ledakan mental awal itu mengenai, Lex tak terhindar tersandung keterkejutan sulitnya menolaknya.
Kreel, siapa atau apa pun, jelas sangat kuat dalam manipulasi mental dan mempengaruhi pikiran. Kalau tidak, dia tak akan tersembunyi dari Lex dan yang lain meski di udara di atas mereka. Atau mungkin dia pakai harta untuk sembunyi, bukan kemampuan aslinya.
Tapi Lex tidak akan pernah menerima jadi budak orang lain. Bukan cuma pemberontakan di dragonheart-nya yang mencegah - rasa harga diri dan kekuatannya sendiri tak akan mengizinkan, siapa pun lawan. Dalam bentuk lotus, yang bisa menyerap semua jenis energi yang mengenai Lex, mustahil dia jadi korban gerakan seperti itu.
Yang lain... apakah mereka bisa bertahan wajib dipertanyakan.
"Tidak, kurasa tidak," jawab Lex, menunjuk balik ke Kreel. "Kenapa kau yang tidak lutut saja?"
Lex menyertakan Supremacy dalam suaranya, menyerang balik Kreel di domain keahliannya.
Pemberontakan dan serangan balik Lex mengejutkan Kreel. Terkena Supremacy Lex, dia batuk darah dan hampir lutut, tapi berhasil menahan.
Tapi tak penting. Dalam separuh detik Kreel fokus menahan, Lex melakukan gerakan aslinya.
Lanskap berubah, Kreel menemukan dirinya berdiri di tanah, bukan di keretanya. Wajah dan tangan dari tanah dan liat bangkit dari bawah, menangis, meratap meminta kebebasan.
"Selamat datang di Abaddon Inn," kata Lex, mendekat. "Kurasa kau akan menikmati layanan kami jauh lebih banyak."
Kreel mengertakkan gigi marah, langsung menyerang balik. Dia terputus dari hukum, dan Lex bisa menyerap semua energi, tapi identitas Kreel jelas tak biasa.
Kuatan mental kuat bergetar dari tubuhnya, membiarkan kendali atas dirinya, bahkan dalam ilusi Abaddon Inn.
Saat itu tepatnya, sebuah bulatan putih muncul di papan Go di benaknya.
It’s true, the Gon race was strong. They had influence, and they had proven themselves on the universal stage. That did not change the fact that these Gon that Lex had met were slaves.
They were Heaven Immortals to boot, so the memory restrictions on them were too much for Lex to break through in a short while. Of course, if given enough time, he could do it - probably. But regardless of whether he could do it later or not, it didn’t change the fact that in the middle of a battle, what Lex could do was limited.
He’d barely read any critical memories from Jeziah, though he wasn’t too disappointed by that. Through his memories, he’d learned that Jeziah was a slave, but didn’t know details of the slave owner.
For some reason, Lex had assumed that the owner was also from the Gon race - likely because in Jeziah’s earlier memories he had been taken as a slave by one of his own race. That didn’t change the fact that there was a possibility that there was something else going on.
Lex absorbed all the energy from the suicide blast within himself forcefully, clearing up the white light and revealing the aftermath. The valley was gone, and so were many of the surrounding mountains.
In their place, instead, was a massive, bottomless pit filled with darkness. In fact, Lex could feel that Abaddon had leaned into the consequences of the blast, purposefully making the hole deeper and darker than it needed to be, and linking it to some new kind of abomination.
As interesting as that was, Lex instead was looking elsewhere. In the sky, right above where the fight had originally been taking place, stood some other race in a floating chariot.
Lex didn’t know how he hadn’t seen or sensed him before, but it was obvious to him now that this being had been here all along. In fact, since Lex’s comprehension of laws had drastically improved while in this state, he could read the karmic lines between this being and the Gon.
It was obvious at a glance that they had all been slaves to it. He had been controlling them from up above, his intentions unknown. The only thing that Lex could see or tell about it, besides that it controlled the Gon, was that he seemed to be gravely wounded.
"You can see me," said the being, which had a thin, long humanoid build. Its skin was deep green, though the armor he wore was deep blue with traces of purples. Its hair, too, was deep blue, matching the armor.
He was not bleeding, nor did he look wounded, but Lex could sense the truth. This being, whoever or whatever it was, was severely injured.
"Would you care to explain why you tried to kill us all, or should I wait for the interrogation?" Lex asked.
"Mighty bold words, human, considering you attacked first," he said, looking at Lex with a mix of amusement and disdain.
"Perhaps if you revealed yourself, we might not have. We were under the impression that the Gon would attack us, so we reacted first," Lex said. This thing... it was powerful. Even empowered in his lotus form, and even with it weakened, Lex could feel a grave danger from it. The crazy thing was... it was an Earth Immortal!
"To be entirely fair, your judgment was not wrong. From the moment you fell into my sight, your destiny was rewritten. Bend the knee, human, and greet your new lord. I am Kreel, your new master," the being said, and raised its hand, pointing towards Lex.
An invisible wave of some mysterious force hit Lex, trying to alter his mind, embedding within him his status as a slave.
Lex’s mind was particularly strong. In fact, it was just as strong as his body and soul, so resisting mental manipulation had never been a difficult task for him, let alone now that he was in his lotus form.
Even so, when that initial mental blast hit him, Lex couldn’t help but stumble at the surprising difficulty of resisting it.
Kreel, whatever or whoever he was, was clearly extremely powerful at mental manipulation and affecting the mind. If that weren’t true, he would not have stayed hidden from Lex and the others despite being in the air above them. Or maybe he had used some treasure to stay hidden instead of his true abilities.
Regardless, Lex was never going to accept being another’s slave. It wasn’t just the defiance in his dragonheart that would prevent it - his own pride and strength would never allow it, regardless of the others identity. In his lotus form, which could literally absorb every kind of energy that hit Lex, it was entirely impossible for him to fall victim to such a move.
The others, though... whether they could survive at all would be a good question.
"No, I don’t think I will," responded Lex, and pointed back at Kreel. " Why don’t you kneel instead ?"
Lex tinged his voice with Supremacy, attacking Kreel back in the domain he used best.
Lex’s defiance, and then retaliation took Kreel by surprise. When he was hit by Lex’s Supremacy, he coughed out blood and nearly fell to his knees, but managed to resist.
Not that it mattered. In the split second where Kreel was focused on resisting the attack, Lex made his true move.
The landscape changed, and Kreel found himself standing on the ground, instead of on his flying chariot. Faces and hands of earth and clay rose out from the ground, crying, wailing for freedom.
"Welcome to the Abaddon Inn," Lex said, stepping closer to him. "I feel like you will enjoy our services a lot more."
Kreel grit his teeth in anger, and immediately retaliated. He was cut off from laws, and Lex could absorb all energy, but Kreel’s own identity was clearly far from ordinary.
Strong mental power rippled from his body, allowing him to take control of his figure, even within the illusion that was the Abaddon Inn.
As it happened, at that exact moment, a white bead appeared on the Go board in his mind.
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