After Aadityapal's victory against Ranya, the competition was supposedly over.

However, the approaching commotion stirred up curiosity in the audience.

Apprehension painted Ashoka's face and Alex frowned.

The stomping sound was getting closer and closer, and then, a gigantic white elephant appeared in the skies above the venue.

Numerous winged horses orbited the elephant, and strange, dwarf-like creatures sat upon them.

The creatures were carrying giant war drums and chanting praises, "King of the Devas, the ever-merciful, Lord Indra!

"King of the devas, the ever-powerful, Lord Indra!"

Ashoka was less than pleased at the incoming guest, and a tall man jumped out of the elephant, and into the arena.

The man was the god Indra.

He had an indifferent expression to his face and his curved and thin eyebrows emanated an exalted aura.

Indra looked around and his eyes fixated on the Vajra, that had fallen in a corner of the arena.

He then stared at his disciple Ranya, who laid down on the ground with various injuries on her body.

The next target of his attention was Aadityapal and his weapon.

From the sights in the arena, it seemed he had formed a conclusion internally, and he turned to Ashoka, who was standing in a high seat.

The stadium was completely silent, as most of the mortal spectators left the venue the moment they recognized the white elephant and its owner.

Mortals didn't like to get involved in the affairs of the fickle and powerful gods.

"Ashoka, I believe my disciple has lost to this young man...?" Indra asked in a slow tone of speech.

Ashoka didn't retreat and nodded in response.

Indra chuckled and turned to Aadityapal.

"Mortal, you took upon you the blood of the gods..?" Indra had a domineering expression on his face.

Aadityapal was completely puzzled by these words, but Alex felt a storm brewing when he understood the god's words.

"Preposterous!" Indra exclaimed.

Then, Ranya sluggishly stood up and faced Indra.

"But, Master, you also gave me-

"Silence, disciple," Indra interrupted Ranya's words.

Suddenly, his attention turned elsewhere.

Somewhere in the seating area of the stadium, a young man sat.

He emanated a dark and hateful demeanor, and his red irises menacingly reflected the orange hue of the setting sun.

It was Ayush.

Earlier, when he had lost, the medics tried to take him to a hospital, but he refused and wished to watch the end of the competition despite his injuries.

Today was the worst day he had ever endured.

When Ayush perceived Indra's attention on him, his shoulders and body retreated inwards in fear.

"Blood of the Asuras? Did you go to that extent to win a simple competition? I'll deal with you later," Indra frowned in distaste.

Ayush's breath turned extremely heavy, and he tried to stand up and escape.

*Rumble*

However, a lightning bolt landed on an area close to the prince, and an entire part of the seats ignited into a large fire.

The sound of thunder followed the lightning bolt, and everyone felt as if an earthquake occurred.

'Ranya is nothing compared to her master...' Alex gulped at the prowess of Indra.

Indra dryly chuckled at the terrorized prince and diverted his attention to Aadityapal.

"Any mortal who exploits the blood of the gods should receive judgment," Indra stated with a stoic face.

Large white flames appeared in his hands, and he launched those flames in the direction of the prince.

Aadityapal didn't understand anything of the current events, and as he saw the blindingly bright flames coming his way, he couldn't even move.

However, a wide back suddenly appeared in front of him.

A hand took the silver longsword from him, and that very same longsword transformed into a shield and spear in front of everyone.

The flames came into contact with the gorgeous silver shield, and they disappeared.

Indra frowned when he saw the man who had stopped his attack.

Blue hair and navy blue eyes. 

A golden armor covered his entire body, and he masterfully wielded the shield and spear around.

In the instant before Indra's attack landed on Aadityapal, Alex bolted in front of his disciple and Incarnated into Athena.

Accordingly, Prometheus turned into a shield and a spear, and he used the former to block the flames.

"Aadit, did any harm befall you?" Alex twisted his head back and inquired to his disciple.

"No, master,"

Alex nodded and glared at Indra.

"What do you think you're doing?" Alex didn't back down in front of the powerful god.

Indra suddenly started laughing and remarked, "So you're the foreign god who thinks he can interfere with the dharma of the mortal world?"

"You gave your disciple a weapon and some blood, and you thought that could make him Emperor,"

Indra suddenly raised his head and stared at the sky.

He then spoke nonchalantly, "I am the king of the Devas, and my disciple shall, of course, be Queen of the mortals, those are simple truths of the world, just as the syllable of Lord Brahman is the 'Aum',"

"With that, I'll take it upon myself to teach you some other lessons," 

The Vajra, which was on the ground far away, suddenly levitated and flew into Indra's right hand.

Indra rotated the Vajra, and the clear skies above the city of Patliputra suddenly turned turbid and gray.

Lightning bolts were brewing within the gray sky, and water droplets suddenly dropped on the ground.

At first, it was a small drizzle, but then, the rain turned heavy and the droplets composed a hammering orchestra.

Alex bit his lips as he realized the tactic that Indra was using.

It was similar to Ranya's tactic of exploiting water vapor to conduct electricity, but with the sheer volume of the rain, it was impossible to use Prometheus' superconductive abilities to divert the lightning away.

Densely-packed white bolts zigzagged around Indra's arms, and with a wave of his hand, they launched towards Alex.

Alex was helpless, and in a split second, he launched Aadityapal far away to avoid involving him in a fight, magnitudes above anything he's ever seen.

Ashoka was rapidly climbing down into the arena, but he wasn't fast enough.

Suddenly, a winged man seemed to teleport in front of Alex.

His large wings were still unfolded, and the lightning landed on his body.

The man's hair and wings started twitching, but he stood in place and turned to Alex.

"Am I too late?" Hermes asked him, as his eyebrows burned away from the powerful electric currents.

Alex was about to respond, but Hermes placed a finger over his mouth and then continued.

"Remember when I promised you were under my protection?"

"And then, I wasn't able to protect you when you fought with that demoness in Ctesiphon?"

"I broke my promise there, but could you let me keep my words this time?"

Hermes asked questions, but he didn't expect, nor want any responses, as he turned back to face Indra.

"You'll only get to Alex on my dead...immortal....body..." Hermes rubbed his head when he saw the lack of logic in his sentence, but he didn't give that any heed.

Indra chuckled and remarked, "You'll both regret ever defending that mortal,"