The statues stood still.
The atmosphere changed, and the air thickened, decreasing visibility. It made him feel the consequences of his actions.
A thick mist started forming close to the statues, not to conceal the statues but to hide the true form of their messengers and prevent them from attacking each other.
Slowly, the messengers formed to the point where they could be observed clearly. It was hard to believe that they were human due to the kind of form they had.
Everyone had realized it at this point; no one could be trusted in this room. For Seraphina and Valerius, this was a battle for authority, and they were ants stuck in it.
All the messengers had appeared, but there was one messenger that caught Aurelion's attention: Identity. He wondered who could be there beside him; still, he was pleased to see it.
The feeling was the same for identity, and why wouldn't it be? Happy to see him, Aurelion had done what no other apostle had in multiple centuries.
If done perfectly, this could change everything. Not only would they weaken every god in the room, but they would also gain the dynarch. Aurelion found this concerning because he feared the possibility of Kaelen completely trusting him, which could lead to Kaelen being replaced by Aurelion.
It was much simpler and easier for others to call Aurelion corrupted rather than accept that he had surpassed them all for a moment—the only moment that matters.
Aurelion had gained too much authority too quickly. It was clear that he would have to face this, but no one had expected him to use it as an advantage. After stopping the ritual, he had lost his stability. Multiple identities of his were released at once, making him almost impossible to defeat. No one could fully understand every identity, and before someone did, more identities would form.
That was how he killed the guards in the corridor. How could they deceive someone who had no fixed identity? Even if they deceived one identity, Aurelion could just shed it.
The door opened.
Everyone shifted their gaze towards the entrance. Zephyr entered with two guards, holding Kaelen hostage. Maybe they were going to threaten him, Aurelion thought.
The boy looked worse than the last time he saw him in the theater—paler and much more rigid. His body was weighed down by the extreme amount of suffering he had undergone in such a short time that he hadn't even had time to process it.
He was still observing the room. His face showed clear fear after he saw Aurelion. This was what made Aurelion sure that he could control him. He knew the others did not know about this method.
He didn't waste any time asking questions or engaging in idle chit-chat. He used his identity manipulation to overlap each other's identities. Under this situation, Kaelen was unable to act on his own. What the average thought of all of Aurelion's identities and Kaelen decided his actions.
Kaelen moved towards Aurelion, creating a gap between them and the others. While they were in the center, everyone who came close would be within hand-to-hand combat range—something in which they could never defeat Aurelion.
Watching this, Seraphina and Valerius felt a cold bitterness settle deep in their chests. Seraphina said, "No matter how much advantage you have over them, we can still deceive the kid. It would be better to stop this before all of us lose something."
Aurelion smirked. "You think I don't know the consequences of my actions? I always knew the risks, and I am ready to die if you bastards lose more."
Zephyr, with his usual going-to-fix-it-all tone, bluffed, "We have fear over the kid, and you don't have much time either." It would be a fair trade if we handed the kid over and you left."
Aurelion didn't reply; he was worried about it. Even though they did not have enough authority right now, they might gain it before he was done.
The gods weren't just standing idle, but there was no hole they could find to attack him. Just before they could gain authority over all his identities, he merged them with Kaelen, who neglected everything they did.
The gods knew that Kaelen feared Seraphina, Valerius, and Zephyr, so if they had enough authority, they could oppose Aurelion's control over Kaelen by deceiving him. But that would mean making one of them an apostle, and none of them were trustworthy; this was proven by the fact that they were inside the room.
Using Kaelen, Aurelion could release all of his cursed and corrupted identities. They would steal the identity of everyone in that room. The gods were giving their authority instead of losing their identity. If it went like this, then according to Aurelion's calculations, most gods could sustain this for 3 minutes, and the identities would last more than 4 minutes.
If the gods were going to do something, they had to do it quickly.
Deception was forced to make one of them an apostle: Seraphina. The decision was quick, maybe the worst choice, but he was the one with the best chance to do something in this situation.
Deception sent a message using Identity's help to conceal it, giving Seraphina instructions for his ascent to apostleship. Aurelion had expected this; it was just that the message was delivered only now. Everyone had been expecting this form of betrayal. This didn't mean that their ties were now broken; it was to prevent Aurelion from getting too much power in his corrupted state.
To keep eyes on them and waste time, Aurelion asked, "Do you really think the trade you gave was fair?" With a big gap, he said, "For you."
The room was silent; none of them knew how to talk to someone so powerful. Whenever he spoke, they froze till he was done.
After a while Zephyr broke the silence. "Why is it that you want the child so bad?"
Aurelion started walking, slow but loud steps. "You were going to know about it later, but I will tell you anyway." After he was done walking towards the end of the center, he turned back and started walking again. "Do you ever wonder why people like you are at the top while some who are better than you in every sense stay at the bottom?"
The three of them felt that some sort of big truth was coming to them, and they weren't ready for it.
"Well, you see, there is something called an 'authority level.' It is divided into seven stages, and you all currently stand at various points within them. Stage 4 is just below stage 5, where most apostles reside. This authority level indicates how much control you have over your powers. It is not determined solely by the power your god grants you. Our Kaelen is at stage 0 because he ranks above every god present. People like him are called dynarchs. His authority allows him to negate everything the gods try to do."
Their skin paled, and their eyes opened in shock at what he had said. Silence engulfed them both as the impact of his words broke down everything they ever thought about control.