"What do we have here? Interesting..."

The demonic-looking woman stared at Alex with great interest in her eyes.

Then, she turned to the dying man and took him by his head.

"Why did you take the ruby out?" She spoke softly but she emanated the impression of a slithering snake.

The man gagged as the woman's nails punctured into his already bleeding head, but he nonetheless still replied, "Goddess, I have found the greatest offering for you...."

The woman nodded and said, "It does seem to be the case. Well, as a reward, you will become part of me!"

The man's eyes widened as the demoness took the bright ruby in her hand and placed it upon his head.

Suddenly, the man's body melted until it turned into a black goop and the dark substance entered the ruby.

'What have I crossed paths with....?' Alex was starting to regret ever following the monster in the first place.

A bead of cold sweat dripped upon the ground and the demoness turned back to him.

She licked her lips and said flirtatiously, "Honey, I'm coming to you in a second, if you'd just wait~~"

Alex felt goosebumps rising upon his skin.

The demoness proceeded to place the ruby upon every monster corpse in the area, and they all turned into a black goop that made the ruby glow even brighter.

When she was done with that, she looked at him and said, "It's a shame that such a handsome fellow will melt into my ruby like the other abominations....."

She continued, "But, with an offering such as you, Lord Angra Mainyu will consider granting upon me Amrita and true immortality..."

Alex gulped and immediately incarnated into Hermes.

He unfolded his wings and with his greatest speed ever, he escaped the scene.

Strangely, even as he tried to escape, he stayed in the same area, reminiscent of running on a treadmill.

He heard the maniacal laugh of the demoness and she said, "The eye of the ruby locks you in place, honey, you can't escape."

Alex had understood that by now and landed on the ground, removing Incarnation.

"Let's get this over with, shall we?" Alex overcame his instinctual fear of the morbid actions of the demoness and got ready for battle.

"You want to die a painful and slow death? HAHAHAHAHA, great!" The red veins of the demoness glowed brighter and she moved her hand in the shape of a circle.

Suddenly, monsters similar to the ones from earlier appeared.

They were extremely numerous, and they all stampeded towards Alex. He didn't activate Incarnation this time, instead opting for his multitude of powers to overcome this challenge.

Whenever a monster came near him, he dodged with lightning speed and tore it down either cleanly or brutally.

By doing this, he was able to defeat every monster that came his way, but a problem soon arose.

The numbers of the monsters never decreased, and in fact, only seemed to increase as time went on.

Alex found himself in a difficult situation where he actually started consuming Faith Energy, which wasn't unlimited or aplenty in any regard, against a horde of monsters that never seemed to stop appearing.

'This is unsustainable!' Alex realized.

He had to think, and the best way of thinking fast was to incarnate into Athena.

Alex got on the defensive and immediately split his mind into fighting and thinking. He analyzed every single one of his memories, the deities he knew, their powers, their techniques, and only a single one seemed to be the most efficient right now.

He couldn't even make use of that ability without Incarnation, so he swiftly incarnated into another deity.

Accordingly, Alex's body turned more stout and buff, and his eyes became a bright orange.

When he looked at the monsters now, he felt like he could perceive their every weakness and fault as if they were steel machines.

That wasn't the ability he was looking for, however, as he instead put both of his hands on the ground.

In a flash, steaming lava sprouted from the ground around him and covered the entire perimeter.

Whenever the lava came into contact with a monster, it screeched in pain, and its entire body melted into the lava.

Alex also had to be careful, as even with Incarnation, the temperatures of the lava weren't exactly comfortable to him.

Soon enough, the lava consumed the entire stampede and only Alex and the demoness were left.

Alex cooled down the lava until it turned back to solid rock.

The demoness seemed astonished at his abilities and declared, "You really are a great offering...! I shall show you my most prized creations...the Azdaha dragons!"

Suddenly, two dragons came out of her ruby.

They had red scales and their bodies were long and as thick as an old tree.

'Two opponents, this is the best scenario..' Alex realized that the demoness was under the impression that he excelled in fights with many weaker monsters, when in fact, he was better at fights against few opponents.

The dragons had red eyes, and when those same eyes took sight of him, the lizard-like creatures charged at him, coiling and flying in his direction.

Alex removed Incarnation and got ready to show the prowess of the two deities of war, of which he both obtained a part.

The dragons were large and scary, but Alex finished the fight in a few dozen seconds, and the 'honorable' and 'divine' monsters were on the ground.

The demoness' eyes widened but she regained her composure and instead of summoning more monsters, she charged at him.

'Isn't she more specialized in long-distance battles? This should be easy....' Alex thought to himself and chuckled.

However, he soon noticed something strange.

His precognition was working very well, but the demoness' speed rendered any attempt at evasion useless.

And her nails dug deep into his skin, causing pain and injury.

Alex groaned in pain and realized he should go into a defensive mode.

However, this wasn't the last of his troubles.

The demoness attacked him next and hidden in her hand, the red ruby touched his hands. Instantly, they melted into a black goop and entered the ruby.

When this happened, the demoness exclaimed, "TRUE IMMORTALITY? You're an immortal?! What a great day!!!"

Alex barely evaded but every time she attacked, he lost a limb or a part of a limb.

He felt like his body was healing but at a slow enough speed that it was practically useless.

Soon enough, he lost his entire arm, a part of his lower torso, and a leg.

Athena had high healing powers, so he made the decision to consume his remaining Faith Energy into Incarnation.

However, even the goddess's incredible healing powers weren't fast enough to counter how many body parts he was losing.

Alex couldn't show much of his prowess anymore, and helplessness took hold of him.

'How is she so overpowered?! Is it the ruby?' Alex felt like she was not getting weaker, but stronger as the fight went on.

And he, was getting weaker.

'Is this going to be my end...?' Alex started having these thoughts.

'Oh my god, I never thought I'd die here, it's been but a short year....'

'I haven't yet finished this diplomatic trip with Hermes...'

'I haven't yet traveled with Crista...'

'I haven't yet defeated Athena in battle...'

Alex felt overwhelmed as his odds in battle were becoming lower and lower, and his body became more and more bloody.

'I don't want to die here...'

'If I die, will I wake up back on Earth? Or is nothingness the only thing awaiting me?'

Suddenly, just as he gave up, absolute darkness covered the entire battlefield.

"You dare disturb the night?" A voice very familiar to Alex came from all directions.