Chapter 147: Pawn
Aucuses looked at the unconscious Amelia Jacob, looking into all of her memories to get a better understanding of the situation with the Jacob family.
After a few seconds of sniffing through twisted memoirs of her, he waved at her figure, sending her to the headquarters of his church with a message for Blaise.
The situation of the Jacob family…Well, it was just Amon being Amon again. His senses swept the entire Tudor Empire in an instant. The sky and sun are his domains. Under them, nothing can escape his gaze, not even the reticent darkness.
There Amon was, sitting on a throne in a mansion in Trier, City of the Sun. The Angel of Time looked up, smiling, as though he had noticed his gaze. Aucuses didn't bother to hide it, anyway.
Aucuses walked. The scenery around him, the order of space, alerted with each step, modifying the concept of "distance" to his will.
Ten years passed. Experiencing time, at his level, was very different from the perspective of humans. A passage of ten years is nothing to him. Though he remained the same as before, spending most, if not all, of his time with Lilith and the rest of his time planning and preparing for the approaching fight with Death, much had changed around him.
The War. The Dance of the Living and Death, as it is now famously known, was an utter disaster despite all their involvement in it. The dead know no fear, no caution, no emotion, and unlike the living, they rise and rise again at each of their falls, while the living fall into their cold and still embrace, only to rise again as one of the ranks among the dead.
The Death himself used his authority for it, unleashing a disaster on the frontlines at the start of the war. Though not all was lost, despite how it may appear, he and other gods also intervened, using their authorities to help their angels. They captured an absolute advantage.
Then, it was shattered by Sasrir, who sent the entire red army that was once led by Medici, but now by Ouroboros, Angel of Destiny, into the battlefield.
In response to this, Alitsa Tudor ordered Amon, Angel of Time, to enter the war, as he was the only available king of angels on their side. Diana was already deep into her research and preparation for the apotheosis ritual.
It was utter chaos. He, like all the gods, sat at the edge of his chair, watching the developments of the ready to enter the battlefield at a moment's notice. And it almost erupted one time when Amon nearly managed to kill Azik Eggers, only to be stopped by Ouroboros.
The battle of the living and the dead continues on the frontlines; the canals connecting the Northern and Southern Continents, which were nearly destroyed and tainted.
While the war is going on the frontlines, the situation in the Tudor Empire is taking a bad turn since Alitsa didn't recognise Diana's religion as Orthodox and kept silent about it.
Crown and Faith. Two distinct concepts, which were the foundation of the empire, were slowly cracking and starting to oppose each other.
A bloody civil war is not far off if nothing is to be done about the situation. Even though his faith may triumph in the end, it will be bloody nonetheless.
And he's going to put an end to it before it even starts.
With a ripple of space in his footsteps, subsiding, Aucuses descended before the Angel of Time, who was standing up from his throne and walking towards him slowly, a smile permeating his lips.
"Congratulations, Aucuses." He toasted, passing a glass of wine to him while holding another high at him.
"Save it." Aucuses said, not partaking in his toast and leaving him hanging.
Seemly unaffected by rudeness, Amon merely chuckled, before gulping both glasses of wine down right before him.
"So?" He drawled, raising his brows. "Why has the sun god graced his presence before me?"
"Stop with these pretences, Amon." Aucuses said, furrowing his brows. "It's getting annoying. Trust me, the last thing you want to do is to annoy me more."
Amon walked near him, looked at him in the eyes, before answering. "Okay. I will leave them alone."
Aucuses said, narrowing his eyes. "You will not only do that. If you are to stay within my empire, you are to follow my rules and order like everyone else. You are not above it, so tuck your tails."
"If not?" Amon asked defiantly, his head raised high, his monocle gleaming.
Aucuses' indifferent countenance collapsed to form a slight smirk, "You are gravely mistaken about something, Amon." His smirk faded, as his golden eyes darkened with a haze, like a brewing cataclysmic storm. "I will kill you. And your brother and your father won't be able to save you this time unless 'They' wish to pay a heavy price."
He cocked his head. "A price in the end, 'They' will not pay for you. Do you think you are really that important?"
Amon's smile faded at his words, while he continued, his words laced with indifference.
"From the beginning to the end, you are nothing more than a by-product, a thing which the Creator didn't intend in the first place. You were naught but anything in 'His' eyes. And the funny thing is, you always knew the truth deep in your heart, yet never tried to face it."
"Huh! So much for the most courageous and defiant Blasphemer."
Amon's lips thinned into a line, but his gaze at him never flinched from his eyes.
He finally spoke in a neutral voice. "I will follow your order with all my heart, your excellency."
It was a ruse. Aucuses knew it. Even if his half-truth remarks managed to get through the Angel of Time, it wouldn't change who he was in essence. Now it was just Amon putting up an act in front of him to save himself.
Amon, the Angel of Time, will not fall by his hand. And the problems with the pathways of mysteries also completely sealed any fate of Amon becoming a god in this epoch. So, honestly, he didn't really care much about Amon, as there was already a lot on his plate that needed to be dealt with.
His previous remarks were indeed half-truths. The Creator didn't really care for the existence of Amon in the beginning. Hell, 'He' didn't even trust him with the secrets of Rose Redemption. But it changed or it would change, as Aucuses knew that in the original timeline, the Creator actually stood on the side of Amon against Klein for the final battle for the Lord of Mysteries.
Aucuses snorted dismissively. "Enough with that. You shall return all the characteristics that you stole from the Jacob family to them."
He raised his hand. A ripple spread out, sweeping the entire Tudor Empire. He purified all the still alive members of the Jacob family from the parasites of Amon.
Amon just nodded at his order, his head hung low, his face covered in his own shadow.
Aucuses finally ordered, ripples erupting from the soles of his feet. "You are not to participate in the upcoming war between Alitsa and Solomon."
"Yes, your excellency." Amon said equivocally.
The figure of Aucuses faded away into particles of light, as the ripples in reality subsided.
However, the voice of Aucuses still lingered in the air, carrying sharp words.
"Don't think I don't know the plans already brewing in your head! If any of that succeeds in the end, it is only because I allowed it. You are still a pawn in my hand. You never escaped. And you would do well to remember that, Amon."
Hearing that, Amon looked up, a grin forming on his lips, his eyes darkening as he adjusted his monocle.
"We will see about that."
Then, he too was gone, leaving the room in an eerie silence.
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