As he spoke these words, Alex felt Hermes tug at his clothes.

"Alexei-boy, don't be rash." He whispered coldly.

Alex nodded and halted, as he awaited the reaction of Marduk before he would speak any other word.

Surprisingly, Marduk just sighed and closed his eyes.

Suddenly, another figure entered the hall. It was a man, he had a similar headdress and features to Marduk but a trait of his stood out.

He glowed and illuminated the perimeter around the place he was standing.

'A bit on the nose, for a god to glow...' Alex remarked internally and wondered who the newcomer was.

The glowing man looked at Marduk, then took a glance at Alex and Hermes.

He then spoke, "You accuse Marduk of moral degradation. Yet, what do you have to back up your words?"

Marduk heard this and objected, "Shamash, don-

"Marduk, our pantheon has fallen from what it once was, but we haven't sunk to the level of taking unwanted criticism from foreign gods."

When Marduk heard this, his mouth twitched as if he wanted to speak, though no words came out.

Hermes murmured, "Alexei-boy, be careful of that man. He is very stubborn and eccentric."

Alex nodded and heard Shamash continue his speech.

"In the olden times, we brought down on the king Hammurabi a code of law for the mortals. One such of these laws was disrespect to the gods. If you were a mortal, we'd have already cut your tongue and ears, but considering we're equals, you have to prove your statement."

Alex replied with a frown, "You don't have to look very far to see what I'-

Shamash interrupted him, "I do not care about words or mortals for that matter. You, a foreign god, dared to frame Marduk without any knowledge of our past or current happenings. That can only be resolved through fists, like true gods."

Marduk fervently replied, "Shamash, we don't have to do that!"

"Marduk, this is a fair proposal. If he loses, we shall cut off all alliance with Olympus and resolve our issues our own way. If he wins....we'll take the matter to...Sky Father Anu.."

Marduk's eyes widened and he sighed, "He will be so disappointed to see what has become of our land."

While the two were reminiscing, Hermes scolded Alex.

"Alex, you should have never engaged in any discussion with that man. Shamash is their god of the sun and equality. He will not let this end without a fight now." Hermes glared at him.

'Hermes never calls me directly by my first name...' Alex knew he landed himself in some big trouble as he heard Hermes' tone of speech.

"Normally, I would have got you out of this situation with some persuasion. But, Alex, you need to learn, and I can't have you doing this in front of the Jade Emperor, who stands at the level of Father Zeus and even the titans..."

Alex understood, he had to face the consequences for his actions.

"Shamash, I accept your proposal. However, If I win, I wish for all of the gods to resolve their problems without implicating any mortals." Alex stated with a determination and confidence that came from god-knows-where.

"Very well, Marduk, show this Olympian our unextinguished glory." Shamas turned to Marduk.

Marduk nodded and stood up.

Shamash gave him a strong-looking spade. It looked to be made of bronze, but Alex knew from his forging instincts that it was stronger than its components.

Hermes informed him, "Marduk should be at the level of Athena in terms of strength. You won't win without maneuvering around. Be smart and don't show all of your cards at once."

Alex nodded.

The first thing he did was to temporarily bless the Spear of Victory with a blessing from Hephaestus. The golden spear glowed even brighter now.

Marduk didn't know any of the powers Alex had and that was the latter's advantage.

However, Alex also did not know what powers Marduk held.

Hermes only told him, "He controls vegetation and water. He must have other powers but I am not aware of those."

Alex nodded.

As the two opponents faced each other, Shamash exclaimed, "A fair fight between gods shall start!"

Marduk bolted in his direction and his bronze spade targeted Alex's lower abdomen.

'Bad choice.' The combination of Alex's precognition and incredible speed allowed him to easily dodge it, propelling his body towards a pillar.

Alex used his weight to accrue momentum and jumped from the pillar, somersaulting in Marduk's direction.

He wanted to land a three-move feint attack like the one that almost landed an attack on Athena.

First, he pointed the spear at Marduk's neck and the latter blocked the attack with his spade, producing a clanking sound.

Alex chuckled as Marduk thought he threw him out of balance but he sent a kick towards the latter's torso, which he successfully dodged by turning his body into the angle of a bow.

'This is going to be hard...' Alex descended upon the ground and didn't have any more accumulated inertia to launch a deadly attack.

Instead, he instantly augmented his strength with Faith Energy and his long spear attacked in a 180-degree field.

Just when his attack almost landed, Marduk produced an armor of wet soil on his body that negated the force of Alex's attack.

'Sh*t!' Alex cursed out. Marduk seemed to realize Alex had an advantage in close combat and distanced himself, putting a wall of water at every back step he made to slow down Alex's pursuit.

When he was far enough, he moved his hands and the water gathered around Alex.

The latter tried to escape but his speed wasn't great enough in the aquatic bubble to exit it and Marduk simply moved it wherever Alex went.

'WHAT TO DO?!' Alex didn't want to lose through being encased by water.

Out of a sudden, roots started forming inside of the water bubble and restricted Alex's movement. They tangled around his body in such a way that every time he tried to break one of the flexible roots, the other ones would simply get a tight grasp on him.

'Ughhhhhh...!' Alex felt the urgency of this situation and found that none of the techniques he's used in the past could solve this.

He breathed heavily and bubbles floated from his mouth.

Alex thought for a bit before he remembered a scene from the past.

When Athena fought Poseidon, the latter's last move was sending a water dragon in her way.

Miraculously, Athena literally cut the water using her spear and her strength and ultimately changed the outcome of the battle.

'The strength Athena can show isn't limited by common sense.' Alex knew what to do.

He activated Incarnation and diverted all of his Faith Energy waterfalls into Athena's pond.

A battle armor grew on his body and his hair and eyes changed color. As he held the Spear of Victory in his hand, he felt an unprecedented sense of familiarity with the weapon.

He had to move his hands that were tightly holding the spear in such a way that it could move at a fast enough speed to cut some of the roots and therefore, allow him to cut the rest.

Alex clenched his fists around the spear and struggled to increase his range of motion.

All of his Faith Energy went into his right hand, which was wielding the spear, and he put it all in one movement.

Immediately, the spear turned in a 360-degree field vertically and any roots in its way were obliterated.

Before they could grow back, Alex instantly cut the rest of the roots and when he could finally move, he cut the water bubble in half and landed on the wet floor.

Hermes looked on at the armored Alex with astonishment and interest.

Shamash had an emotionless expression and Marduk seemed very surprised that he freed himself.

Alex chuckled and saw an after shadow of Marduk moving towards him.

However, Alex knew it wasn't an after shadow, but simply his enhanced precognition showing him his opponent's next moves.

Marduk was going to use his water powers again, which were very troublesome.

Alex currently operated at an insane cognitive speed and thought of a solution.

He then removed Incarnation and then activated it again. His black hair turned a platinum blonde and his eyes, a light blue.

Most interestingly, he gained a certain charisma to his appearance, but that wasn't the important part.

Alex waited for Marduk to approach him and let him attack him on purpose.

Though the force from the spade and the water jets from the side were painful and likely injured him, Alex tried to forget it and put his hand on the man's head, before cursing his fertility.

This was just a hypothesis on his part, but Marduk's vegetation powers could perhaps be rendered temporarily useless using Aphrodite's control on fertility.

Marduk distanced himself and tried to produce a wall of soil to protect him.

However, as soon as the soil gained shape, it instantly turned into ash. Marduk seemed puzzled at this, but Alex wasn't going to let this chance pass.

He incarnated into Athena and mustered the strongest attack he could possibly do.

Athena's spear hit the god's body and it was consequently thrown into a pillar, breaking it and falling into a garden below the palace.

Shamash seemed astonished by this and stated, "I recognize when a fight is over, and I think this is one of those situations."

Alex, however, couldn't think of anything right now, he had difficulty balancing his body, but Hermes, fortunately, helped him stay standing.

"Good job, Alexei-boy." He whispered.

Shamash then jumped to where Marduk fell and returned with the god on his back.