Alex's senses were dulled, but after dark mist covered the place, he felt a hand gently place itself upon his back.

With the little strength he had left, he turned around.

There she was, a goddess very familiar to him.

Long black hair ornamented with stars.

A hazy black dress.

It was Nyx.

However, Alex perceived her true facial features for the very first time.

Her irises and pupils looked like a spiral galaxy and black and strong eyebrows folded into her glabella, forming a frown.

She looked at him and she said, "Rest well, my child."

Suddenly an even darker mist than the one that surrounded them formed around his severed body parts.

When the mist dissipated, newly-formed bones were visible, and with his skeletal system in place, his body could slowly heal.

Alex wasn't, however, in any state to focus on anything other than recovery, as he collapsed and fainted.

When Alex had lost consciousness, the mist that covered the entire battlefield disappeared.

The demoness frowned at the arrival of this unfamiliar woman, and she said, "Who are you?"

Nyx didn't reply to her question and instead commented, "Selling yourself to a demon god for false immortality and strength? What a coward."

The demoness gritted her teeth when she heard that and exclaimed, "And what do you know?!"

She then summoned a horde of monsters from her ruby and they all charged at Nyx.

However, when they attacked her, their attacks simply passed through her body, and she stood there, stoic and divine.

Nyx asked, "Your true being is that of the ruby? Why would you willingly become a cursed object?"

The demoness seemed angrier the more Nyx spoke, and she shouted, "You don't know anything! Lord Angra Mainyu promised us the world if we give him the strength to finally defeat Ahura Mazda and we will be spared from his rampage!"

Nyx didn't offer any reaction and simply moved her hands.

Instantly, a dark smoke formed into similar monsters to the one the demoness summoned. The shadow monsters attacked the chimeras and it was clear to whom the victory would belong.

The shadows obliterated the monsters in a one-sided massacre.

The demoness groaned inhumanly and charged by herself at Nyx.

Only when she was about to dig her nails into Nyx did the latter react and halted all of the movements of the demoness with a simple palm.

The demoness couldn't move even as Nyx seemed to grasp her loosely, and in a desperate attempt to escape, she summoned a monster that charged at Nyx.

Yet, when the monster attacked Nyx, the attack passed through the goddess's body and ended up landing on the summoner herself, who was thrown back and screamed in pain.

"Arghhhhh, why are you so strong!? No one should be able to counter the power that Lord granted me!!!" The demoness screeched.

Suddenly, Nyx turned invisible.

Darkness unlike any other surrounded the demoness and helpless screams could be heard from inside the darkness.

"But Lord murdered my entire village....I had no choice..."

"He promised me I'd get back all of my relatives when I give him enough offerings for him to become invincible...."

"I gave my all to Lord....."

Soon, the sound of sobbing emanated from the sphere of darkness.

The darkness then moved away from the demoness and formed back into Nyx's body.

The demoness was on the ground, and she was weeping endlessly.

Nyx frowned and with a move of her finger, dark mist reformed into a thousand sharp arrows.

The arrows surrounded the demoness from all directions, and at the speed of light, they punctured her instantly, turning her into a porcupine.

When the arrows dissipated, there wasn't even a body left and only a bright ruby stood as a testament to the one-sided fight.

Out of a sudden, a fleet of black vultures appeared.

The vultures then strangely, collided with each other and formed the figure of a man.

The man had dark skin and his eyes were completely black, even the sclera didn't reflect any light.

His hair and clothes formed the only contrast, as they were both white.

The man had an emotionless expression, and he looked at the ruby before turning his attention to Nyx.

"It didn't seem like you needed any help, in the end." The man's voice was unusual.

Nyx replied with a neutral face, "No, Erebus, I don't need your help."

"Fine," Erebus responded.

He continued, "Why do you go to such great lengths for that boy?"

Nyx answered him, "Before, I could feel the eyes of Chaos on Alex occasionally, but now, it's like they're observing him at all times. I'm worried, Alex isn't ready to meet our parent yet..."

Erebus didn't offer any reply, and instead, he turned back into a fleet of vultures and flew away.

Nyx sighed and looked at Alex.

His body had mostly reformed his muscles and nervous system, and only his skin was left.

She approached him and placed her hand on his body.

Mist gathered around the exposed body parts and new, baby-like skin formed.

Alex's eyelashes twitched and his eyes slowly opened. The first thing he saw was Nyx's face and he suddenly remembered he had collapsed in the middle of a fight, and then she appeared.

However, as he looked to his own fully intact and healed body, and the empty surroundings, a realization started to form.

"Nyx, did you save me...?" Alex asked softly.

"That woman only disturbed the night, that is the only reason I have come here, child."

Alex grew more and more thankful and couldn't find the words to describe his gratitude.

Nyx sensed his emotions and placed a finger over her mouth to tell him that he didn't need to say anything. Then, she opened his palms and laid a red ruby on them.

Alex instantly recognized it as the ruby that was in the ownership of the demoness.

Nyx warned him, "That woman, to obtain strength, gave up her very existence to become this ruby. She might have seemed strong, but that was only a desperate attempt to consume you and gain your immortality, that she didn't have."

"Their kinds of fake gods prey upon mortals to steal their life and obtain incredible power in the process."

Nyx asked him, "If you break this ruby, she shall never awaken again. However, I believe she has a stronger superior that would cause you, and perhaps me, a lot of trouble if you were to break it. I shall give you the right to make the decision."

Alex listened attentively.

'To break or not to break?'

Alex ultimately decided to not break it, because he didn't want to cause any trouble for Nyx anymore, as she had already done too much for him.

The system gave him this information about the ruby.

__________________________________

(Ruby)

Quality: Divine

State: Great

Additional Information: A ruby that contains all of the evils of the world.

___________________________________

'What a chilling description.' Alex thought to himself.

"Nyx, I won't break it, but what if she awakens again?" Alex asked.

Nyx replied comprehensively, "This ruby is a living being. You do have Athena's powers?"

Alex nodded and understood what she hinted at.

He instantly incarnated into Athena, and with the ruby in his hand, he cursed it repeatedly.

"Curse it frequently so it shall never have enough wisdom to awaken back into that monster," Nyx advised him.

She continued, "I have made it so that the events of this night shall be made unknown to all but us."

"Can I really thank you enough, Nyx?"