With that, they decided on making their first move on the rebel's stronghold in the city of Kabura.

Alex was curious about one fact.

"Should we keep a low profile or can we use brute force?"

As gods, they both had an immense advantage over most mortals in terms of strength, and that could allow them to easily take back the city without any strategic planning.

"I....don't think I should say this, as you two Lords are gods, but the rebel armies are really strong, unusually so for any mortals, you should just be careful."

Hermes shrugged and swiftly left the underground base.

Alex said, "We'll keep that in mind, thank you."

He followed behind Hermes, and they both unfolded their wings and shot into the sky.

"Nephis said that their fort should be the largest building in the city and that we should be able to easily find it," Alex stated as he probed Kabura.

Their destination was quite clear.

In the center of the city, next to the statue of the Buddha, a large blue palace surmounted the city.

The palace was originally a spare palace of the royals, but following the rebellion, the rebels took over it to show their dominance over the kingdom symbolically.

Otherwise, it was just extremely large and comfortable.

Alex and Hermes slowly hovered over the palace, and they examined the surroundings.

There was an unusually high number of guards around the palace, and they all seemed stronger than the ones that Nephis employed.

'For rebels that already control the place, they sure are insecure...' Alex remarked.

Hermes told him, "Alex, let's split in two, that will be faster."

Alex approved of the idea.

"Alright, just, don't be too slow~"

Hermes ignored him and flew over in the direction of the back entrance to the palace.

Alex giggled and darted in his respective direction.

'Let's be quick...' Alex landed in the front. The guards instantly saw him and sprinted in his direction but he induced sleep to get this over with very fast.

Alex closed his eyes and expected the fight to already be over.

*Whoosh*

Unexpectedly, Alex sensed the wind of sharp blade grazing by his body and dodged at the last millisecond.

"What the-

The guards were still very well conscious, and they coordinated another attack.

Alex was perplexed.

Sharp swords grazed his body and he dodged, but his mind wasn't present in the battle.

'How are they still awake?!' Alex rapidly moved his eyes, looking for a reason for this unexpected phenomenon.

Unfortunately, the guards didn't give him the time to think or look around, as they charged at him.

'What's wrong with their eyes and their movements?' Alex noticed something strange.

The guards' pupils and irises were unmoving and there was a very slight tint to their black pupils.

They had very strong physiques, but after a minute or so of fighting, their movements started looking repetitive and almost instinctual, lacking any sort of spontaneity.

At the back of his mind, he had a sudden déjà vu, but he cast that theory right out.

'That wouldn't make any sense?!' Alex got on the offensive.

It only took a few moves to incapacitate all of the guards, and he hastily entered the palace.

The interior was amply decorated and deserved a visit, but the troops wouldn't allow for that.

Dozens of rebels surrounded him and started their attacks.

'They have the same aura to them...it's disgusting...' Alex thought as he eliminated some of the guards.

Since he thoroughly grasped their movement patterns, their physique didn't pose any threat to him, and he easily bulldozed all of the crowd.

'I can see how they would cause problems for a mortal army...'

Their occupation of the palace was clean, efficient, and deadly.

Hermes had defeated all of the guards from the other half of the palace even faster, and he and Alex reunited in front of a large gate that led to the only room they both haven't entered yet.

"A bit overkill for the both of us to be here, no?" Alex chuckled, concealing his thoughts from earlier.

"You were slower, Alexei-boy." Hermes glared at him, making his comeback from Alex's earlier mockery.

"C'mon, I was just kidding." Alex pushed open the gate while facing Hermes.

The room was quite strange.

The paint was black and there weren't any windows. Instead, candles emitted a warm light.

A slight intoxicating fragrance spread inside the room, and an extremely large bed occupied most of the room.

'Is this place...soundproof?' Alex heard the sound of his footsteps echo from within the room.

On the bed, a man laid down with a muscular torso revealed.

He was surrounded by women from all sides, and they had the same strange glint in their eyes as the guards.

The women were sitting around the man.

When the man saw them enter, he frowned and said, "Who's there? I'm pretty sure I told all of you that I would be busy."

However, when the man saw them, he broke out into loud laughter, "With your looks, I presume you are one of Nephis' servants?"

"Call me Mar. Anyways, tell me, how did you get through the guards?" He winked.

He continued, "Well, no matter, let's get this over with, I would love a queen on my bed too."

The man had a disgusting lustful face when he spoke out his last sentence, and Alex frowned.

Mar then jumped out of the bed and charged at Alex.

Suddenly, Hermes bolted into his passage and held him by the neck.

Mar tried to struggle out of Hermes' clutches but as he visibly couldn't, he began gasping for breath.

Then, he disappeared abruptly.

From under the clutches of Hermes, he literally disappeared into thin air.

Alex heard Hermes whisper, "He reminded me of someone that I really hate, so I sent him somewhere where he will be punished properly."

The moment Mar disappeared, the women in the room lost the strange glint in their eyes and looked around with confusion.

"He manipulated the women to serve him," Hermes informed him.

"What disgusting vermin."

Hermes informed the confused women and led them out.

'I should search for proof of our victory.' Alex looked around.

However, something caught his eye. It was a simple letter, on top of a bedside cabinet.

It reminded Alex of something, and as he held it in his hands, fearsome words appeared on his retina.

__________________________________

(Letter Blessed by Aphrodite)

Quality: Divine

State: Used

Additional Information: A letter that contains the blessings of the goddess of love.

________________________________

'WHAT'