Nyx glared at Alex with an extreme hatred after spending more than a year sealed in the jewel, with her arms and legs still bound by the magic circles he placed on her. He awkwardly looked at the restraints and asked,
"You weren't like awake or anything the entire time you were in there, were you?" As the only person who had been sealed in the jewels that he had talked to after was Serafall, who had only been in it for a few minutes, Alex was mostly unaware of what it was like to be sealed and had no intention to experience it firsthand. Nyx's glare intensified and she spat out,
"Yes, and I haven't been able to move my arms and legs since before I was sealed." Alex waved his hand and dispelled the restraints, not worrying about her possibly causing havoc after being released since he drained most of her godly powers before sealing her. Though Nyx was still powerful in her own right, it would only be at the level of a demigod which meant she was no threat to those gathered. She started moving her now freed limbs with a look of extreme relief before turning back towards Alex and the others and asking smuggly.
"So what is it? Did my brother or someone convince you to free me? I knew it only a matter of time." Knowing that there was no way the other gods of the world would allow one their own to be sealed and in the hands of a mortal, Nyx smirked as she waited for this moment patiently, though admittedly it took longer than she thought. Her smirk soon disappeared as Alex smiled widely and said,
"Nope, I freed you to use as test subject for a power I acquired a while back. Depending on the results you'll either stay out and have some freedom to an extent, or be resealed until I can think of another use for you and Hades, maybe as batteries or something?" Nyx was filled with a small sense of distress as she pictured being stuck in that hell again, just existing in consciousness as time went on with no way of knowing if a year passed or a hundred, while being unable to even more her arms or legs the whole time. She then realized the other thing Alex said.
Alex felt a small sense of satisfaction from seeing her reaction, as she seemed to take his threat seriously. There were several reasons he decided to start with Nyx for testing this ability, first being that she was an enemy of his and would therefore resist as much as possible. This would help him ensure that once someone was marked by his enslavement they would be unable to escape it. Another reason was that even after he drained her powers she was still in fact a goddess tier existence and if his powers worked on her then it would work on others easily. Hades could have been used instead for this experiment instead, but if Alex had to choose which he'd have around he'd pick the pretty girl over the asshole skeleton any day.
"So what is it that you wanted to test?" Nyx asked testily. Alex smiled nastily and explained,
"I have the power to bind and enslave beings to my will, I want to use you to test how powerful this new ability is." The small sense of distress Nyx felt at being sealed once more turned into real terror at the prospect of being enslaved instead. She then stated,
"You can't! The other gods would ever allow one of their own to be enslaved to an inferior being like a devil, no matter what they've done!" Alex's nasty smile grew while the three girls behind him started giggling at how clueless Nyx was. He then said,
"There are no other gods to help you." Nyx stalled at his words, before she demanded,
"What do you mean there's no other gods?!" Alex didn't answer her question but instead said,
"I'll give you a hint, what was Rizevim researching?" Nyx was confused for a few moments until understanding dawned on her.
"No..." She barely whispered as she fell back on her butt in shock, trying to deny the possibility of the conclusion she arrived at. Using the chance while Nyx was too stunned to react, Alex stepped forward and grabbed her hand to inscribe the mark of slavery on the back of it.
"Aaaannd done!" Alex declared, causing Nyx to look up from her stupor, while he turned his attention to the notification he received stating that the number of his slaves went up by one. She then realized that Alex had taken advantage of her denial to mark her hand. She frowned as rage bubbled up within her, and even knowing that she was weaker than Alex to begin with while she was now weaker than before and he'd only grown stronger, Nyx gathered the power of darkness and fired at Alex. He simply stood there without taking any stance to defend himself from her attack, which dispersed even before it hit him. Nyx had a look of incredulity on her face before crying out,
"KYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!" As her face contorted to show the extreme pain she was feeling. Alex didn't show any reaction to what happened to Nyx, as he and the three girls calmly watched Nyx's suffering for several minutes. As the pain subsided from her Nyx panted while demanding,
"Haa, haa, haa, what did you do to me?!" Alex shrugged and said,
"As I said I made you my slave and now you are unable to raise your hand against me, your master." Nyx's heart sunk in despair as she started trying to figure a way out of this current situation, before Alex said,
"Your first order is that every time I give you an order I want you to say 'yes master' to indicate you understand, do you?" At Alex's words Nyx felt an overwhelming compulsion to do as he said, and against every fiber of her being she bowed and said,
"Yes... master... I understand what you said." Seeing that his power worked on even a god tier being(even if they were a weakened one), Alex smiled. They then spent the next few hours testing the limits of Alex's enslavement and just how much control he had over those he had enslaved. After running a few tests with Nyx he marked the three crime bosses as well and was delighted to learn that there was no difference between the two, meaning that Nyx's status as a goddess didn't lessen the effects of the enslavement compared to normal men. First he verified that by ordering them to take orders from Grayfia and Ravel as if they were him they still had to follow the orders, and that by calling those he had marked they would be forcefully summoned to his side. The biggest hiccup they had though was how much Nyx was trying to fight her orders, attacking Alex, or lying about anything in general that resulted in her getting punished. Ravel narrowed her eyes at this, and said while looking at Alex,
"It seems like her pride is going to be a bit of a problem, perhaps we should find a way to break it?" Alex arched an eyebrow at her words, while Nyx showed an expression of fear once more, as the way to break a woman's pride was pretty standard. Alex said lazily,
"I don't know what you have in mind, but I'm gonna say now I'm not gonna use my enslavement to use force on women regardless of what they've done. It'll also be rude to the women around me if I have to use such a method to satisfy myself. I'll just wait until the Stockholm syndrome kicks in." Nyx sighed in relief while Ravel nodded in understanding with a small look of relief on her face as well, leading Alex to believe part of this was just a test to see if he'd taken advantage of the situation. She then said,
"But she still needs to be taught a lesson... How about this, Nyx I order you to start stripping." The goddess's face had a look of pure horror as, thanks to the fact Alex ordered her to follow Ravel and Grayfia's commands, her own hands started moving towards her clothes against her will.
"No, please!" Nyx pleaded as her hands continued moving to remove her clothing. Even though Alex said he wouldn't use his authority to take advantage of her, she still didn't like the idea of him being able to peruse her body while she was made to do shameful things. Everyone present held no sympathy for the goddess of night as bit by bit her clothes were piled on the floor, before soon she removed the last piece on her upper body and revealed her impressive breasts. Alex had a look of appreciation on his face as he said,
"Her face looks quite youthful, but on the contrary her breasts are pretty impressive." When she heard Alex's praise Nyx's face turned Crimson from a combination of both fury and shame as a mortals eyes perverted her body for the first time in her long life. She tried to cover her breasts and resist the order she was given, but was only rewarded with the pain each time she disobeyed her orders. Then to add to her shame Ravel spoke once more,
"Now the bottoms." The goddess's despair only grew as her hands automatically moved to undo her her skirt, then as it fell to the ground she grabbed the edge of her black panties, and with a small sob escaping her lips, they joined her skirt on the floor, displaying her complete nakedness for all to see. Even when she was defeated by Alex, Nyx had never felt so humiliated, he then asked while still appreciating the view she provided them,
"Think she's got the message yet Ravel?" Ravel didn't say anything yet as if she was pondering something, before saying,
"No, let's make sure she learns a lasting message. Nyx, I order you to put on a show for us."
***
Several hours after they started experimenting Alex returned to Tortus with Grayfia and Kuroka, having left the crime bosses with the Grigori as human experiments with orders to never resist anything they tried; and Nyx with Ravel to act as a maid in Misty Manor unless he called her for something. After she finished the show Ravel ordered her to put on, Nyx's attitude was a lot more subdued compared to before, though it seemed she didn't lose all of her will. As they walked down the streets of Furhen to return to the inn Grayfia asked,
"So do you plan to use your enslavement magic more often now?" Kuroka's ears perked up at her question while Alex shrugged, and answered,
"I have a few ideas, but it'll be awhile before I test it some more. For example one is to use it to tame monsters, but one of the age of gods magics we're going after will also let us do that as well as make them stronger so I'm gonna wait until we get it to experiment." When he said that one of the age of gods magics would allow them to tame monsters both Grayfia and Kuroka looked interested in the prospect, especially since Alex said they could use it to make the monsters stronger. After returning to the inn Alex increased his number of slaves from four to five with Tio, before finally turning in for the night.
They then spent the next couple of days relaxing in the city with the threat of the crime rings removed, and with Ilwa using their name to explain the lack of criminal activity there were quite a few people looking them in awe. Outside this the only excitement that happened while staying in Furhen was when Hajime went to explore the city, and part of the aquarium coincidently exploded while he was out, though he denied any involvement Alex knew better. After a few days of relaxation they finally left, and headed to a destination Hajime was very eager to go to, Horlad, the home of the Orcus Great Labyrinth.