Alex gulped and went to see who was there.
Unfortunately, it was the person they least needed to see, Hera.
She was wearing a golden toga, and her golden eyes seemed as arrogant as they always did.
"Greetings, Step Grandmother." Alex bowed lightly.
Hera seemed a bit astonished when she saw him but a glint passed through her eyes.
"You're....Athena's son?" She asked
Alex nodded.
"I heard you built yourself a nice small following around this place." On the surface, it was praise, but Alex felt like she was mocking him.
Theoserfos was behind the altar, and Alex sneakily wrote to him on the paper to not come out.
The children that were in the church before seemed scared by Hera and all left the premises.
"May I ask what business you have in my humble church, Grandmother?" Alex politely asked her, even though he knew.
"I had other plans, but it's fate that we met here."
She continued, "I heard you're blessing marriages and everything. Well, that's kind of my thing, so do less of that?"
Alex gulped at the thinly-veiled threat and decided to never bless any couples ever again.
She giggled and then coughed.
"Well, in reality, I'm searching for a mortal woman."
"She DARED seduce my husband, and that deserves death." Hera smiled brightly even as she threatened to kill a mortal.
"She has blonde hair and green eyes, would you perhaps know her?" She asked Alex.
Alex shook his head and laughed dryly, "Those features are pretty rare around here, no? I wouldn't know...."
Hera put a finger to her mouth and said, "What about the mortal behind the altar, would he know?"
A bead of sweat came down Alex's face.
The aura of the spacious hall was chilly.
Theoserfos came out of hiding and kowtowed before saying, "Lady Hera, I have no knowledge that would pertain to your search. Please forgive me."
'Nice doing!' Alex praised him in his mind.
Hera nodded and unexpectedly said, "Would the woman in the altar know?"
'F*CK' Alex cursed in his mind.
He had to think fast, but nothing came to mind to avoid being found out by Hera.
Fortunately, Theoserfos once again saved the day.
"Lady Hera, that woman sacrificed herself as a tribute to Lord Alex."
Hera frowned before turning back to Alex.
She spoke, "You do human sacrifice? Old-fashioned."
"Well, she does seem pretty dead to me..." Hera frowned.
Alex was glad he made her go to sleep.
"On that, I'll leave and search somewhere else." Hera smiled.
"I'm sure you wouldn't hide a devil's spawn from me, would you, dear grandson?" Hera giggled.
"Of course not, grandmother." Alex relied on his diplomacy and scheming to cover up for his lie.
She seemed convinced and left the church, "Well, see you soon~~"
They waited until she was undetectable and Alex almost fainted.
Theoserfos actually fainted, though.
Alex woke the man up using his powers and praised him, "You saved the day..."
He wouldn't let his achievement go unrewarded.
Alex used Incarnation and focused on Athena's pond this time.
His hair turned a deep shade of blue, and his eyes were now a navy blue color.
He also grew a golden armor that covered his entire body. Alex put his hand on the man and blessed him.
The latter seemed to feel the blessing and kowtowed.
After that, they got the woman out of the altar and Alex woke her up. They told her what happened, and she bowed deeply to the two of them.
"I just wish I wasn't this...beautiful, it has only ever brought me problems..." The woman sighed.
It was true that she had very beautiful features.
When he heard this, Alex asked her, "And you would prefer having more ordinary features?"
The woman fervently nodded and said, "I'd do anything for an ordinary face and an ordinary life."
Alex had an idea and once again insisted, "Are you sure?"
"Yes, Lord."
He didn't need Incarnation for this, as he wasn't trying to make the woman a goblin.
He wanted to curse her using Aphrodite's powers, which would subsequently make her less beautiful.
He's never performed any curses, but he figured it would be the same process as blessings.
He put his hand on the woman's body and tried to curse her.
It worked and the woman's face lost that indescribable charisma she had before, and she now had an average and ordinary appearance.
Theoserfos looked surprised by the change.
He asked him to get the woman a mirror, and he came back with a small mirror in his hand.
"See how you look now."
The woman looked at herself and suddenly began tearing up.
"Finally...."
She was sobbing.
The two left the room to give her some space.
A while later, she came by and kowtowed, "Lord, I cannot thank you enough. Now, I will go back to my homeland, in Macedonia, and I swear to spread the word of your glorious name to everyone."
"It's fine, stand up."
With that, this was now over.
Alex left the church and the crowded city center. When he was in an empty plaza, he incarnated into Hermes and flew in the direction of Olympus.
He made an unusual turn and instead, went to Athena's tower.
He entered through one of the windows and found her writing some stuff down with the typewriter.
She looked astonished when she saw his appearance and asked, "New power?"
Alex nodded.
"You have a smile on your face, did you do something?" Athena remarked.
Alex shrugged and said, "Not really."
"Do you want to train?"
"Yes."
The two went to the training hall.
This was different from their first fight.
Alex charged at Athena.
She successfully dodged his fist attack, but a kick made its way to her abdomen.
Athena thought the first attack was a feint and dodged this one.
Little did she know, the kick was also a feint, and using his swiftness and martial arts, he twisted his body into a strange angle and threw a punch to her neck, that was full of openings because she clenched her body to avoid his kick.
Unfortunately, her precognition took the edge and she did a backflip, removing her body from his field of attack.
"Good one, you improved, Alex."