Following their visit to Hephaestus, Athena and Alex parted ways, the latter going back to Hermes' home.

"I'm so tired..." Alex yawned as he laid down on his bed.

However, before he could call it a day and recover from all of the tiresome events, he needed to do something.

Alex took out the beautiful obsidian glass gourd from his pocket.

________________________________

(Essence of Hephaestus)

Quality: Divine

State: Great

Additional Information: An invaluable elixir refined from Hephaestus' blood.

_________________________________

The pleasant interface greeted his eyes again and a dopamine rush hit Alex as he knew he was going to receive yet another power-up.

He opened up the gourd and instantly downed the Essence.

As usual, an unpleasant degree of pain hit him and subsided after a short while.

He didn't feel any differences and in any case, he would wait for another time to fully examine his changes. Now, was the time for rest.

As he put his head on the ever-comfortable pillow, Alex readied himself for wonderful dreams and closed his eyes.

*DING-DONG* *DING-DONG*

Suddenly, an omnipresent ringing sound reverberated in his ears, and he jumped out of the bed in anger.

"Why the f*ck is there a bell ringing!? I'm not in school anymore!!" Alex was furious that his visit to Hypnos(sleep) was interrupted.

All of a sudden, Hermes entered his room and exclaimed, "Well, Alexei-boy, I'm back!"

"Do I care? I just want to sleep. What is this ringing sound?!"

"Oh, the divine council has been called into a meeting by Father Zeus, and I'm now supposed to inform Hades, Persephone, Poseidon, Ares, and all of the other gods who are not currently in Olympus to come back." Hermes sighed.

"*Tsk* Just when I wanted to save up some Faith Energy. Well, Alex, how about you go see what this council is all about?" Hermes told him.

Alex was groggy and if he had to be fully honest, he didn't really give a damn about a so-called divine council, but it did sound interesting, and he wasn't going back to sleep anyways now, so at least he could see what this was all about.

Therefore, he nodded.

Hermes then said, "Well, Athena can take you there. As for me, I need to do my job as a messenger."

He then unfolded his large wings and left the house from the window.

'His speed is really something else.' Alex commented as Hermes could not even be seen as a little dot in the distance.

Alex shrugged and gave up on going back to sleep.

He left the house and made his way back to Athena's tower for the second time today.

Coincidentally, he crossed her path just as she was about to leave, and she said, "Let me guess, you want to see the council?"

Alex nodded and she seemed to hesitate before advising him, "You can come, but don't do anything carelessly, some of the gods there can reduce you to a crisp in seconds."

Alex nodded and although she looked unconvinced, she ended up telling him to follow her.

The council was organized in Zeus's palace, the biggest residence in all of Olympus. The road to the palace was quite straightforward, as anyone could see the glowing place in the distance anywhere from Olympus.

Looking at it from a distance was something, but as they were standing in front of it, the towering palace was something else.

Intimidating and thick pillars supported the structure, and the reflection of the sun on the gold that coated the entire house blinded Alex.

Under the stares of countless female and male servants, Alex and Athena entered the house.

It was even more extravagant inside, as murals depicting various scenes of Zeus encompassed the walls of the wide corridors, of which they were countless.

Athena led him through one of these corridors, at the end of which, there was a very large door.

She pushed the door open and hinted at him to come inside.

The place looked like a very large courtroom.

Two thrones overlooked the room from a high pedestal and in the lower echelons, smaller thrones made a circular formation, leaving a space in the center.

There were already quite a few people in here, some that Alex was very familiar with, and others that he didn't know.

As they entered, everyone's sight was on the two of them, but they were soon back to staring mindlessly.

Athena chose one of the seats, and told him, "I can't let you sit here, I apologize. The bunch of gods you'll see are very different from us, and they take formalities very seriously."

Alex waved his hand, it was alright, he could stand.

As they waited for a bit, the doors to the room opened and a few people entered through.

These people were very familiar to him, consisting of Hermes, Hades and Persephone, Poseidon, Ares, and...Achilles?

Hades and Persephone didn't look cheerful as usual, instead, they were frowning heavily as they chose random seats.

Hermes whispered, "Hi again, Alexei-boy and Athena." and sat next to Athena.

However, Ares didn't seem preoccupied with the formal atmosphere of the place and waved at him from a distance, with Achilles doing the same.

Alex waved back at Achilles, but he had to stop as the place suddenly got much, much quieter than it already was.

Four people entered through the door.

One of them was Zeus, who came in with a heavy-looking crown on his head and occupied one of the two VIP seats.

A woman followed behind him, and she wasn't someone Alex knew.

She had black hair and golden eyes that were similar to Zeus's own eyes. He recognized her, however, by the gorgeous bracelet on her wrist, that was clearly the one Hephaestus sent to his mother, Hera.

So that was Hera...

The goddess seemed to notice his stare and returned it back with a thin smile, that somehow gave Alex the chills.

'She reminds me of...Aphrodite...' Alex thought.

Speaking of Aphrodite, she was the third person to enter, as she stole glances at all of the people in the room and walked haughtily to a seat right under the one Zeus occupied.

The fourth person to enter was yet another stranger to Alex

She looked much younger than the other deities, looking like she was at most, in her later teens.

But her strong eyebrows and piercing hazel eyes weren't lacking in intimidation compared to the other gods, in any way.

She sat next to an unfamiliar god. He was skinny, and his features were almost the same as the young goddess, and they looked like twins.

As none of the seats remained vacant, Zeus stood up and spoke in a domineering voice, "I, your King, have ordered the divine council today to settle a dispute between two goddesses, Aphrodite and my daughter Artemis."

It seemed Artemis was the young girl, as she glared at Aphrodite when Zeus mentioned her name.

'Did Aphrodite do something again?' Alex was disappointed, but not surprised.

"Artemis, speak," Zeus ordered.

"Father, I have requested today's meeting because I believe Aphrodite has vastly overstepped her boundaries. As some of you may know, in the sacred forest I call home, I offer protection to young girls who have had men force themselves on. Recently, it has come to my knowledge that as a reward for following her orders, Aphrodite has promised to kidnap these girls and deliver them to her male puppets!"

This was more serious than Alex expected, as he looked on to Aphrodite.

She still had her characteristic raised eyebrows and arrogant demeanor, and he wondered what she would say in her defense.