Chapter 91: Consequences
[ Amon POV ]
He is here again…
How does he appear everywhere important and even at the right time?
It's as if he has omniscience or something. And, nothing can escape his notice.
If Herabergan finds out about this, he will be distraught.
And, I'll make sure he hears it.
Aucuses should have learned about my plans by now.
He shouldn't have disrupted it, though, as Adam didn't descend.
And I was correct. Something makes Aucuses uneasy. The Great Sun God is afraid of something!
After offending all of the outer gods, he even dismissed them.
But there is still something that could make him cautious.
Based on everything that has happened, I assume it is something related to my pathways.
What could it possibly be?
I smiled inwardly, watching Diana walk towards Aucuses after sparing me a glare, unable to refute my previous words.
That was unsurprising much for a little girl.
I started walking to Aucuses.
His fear...
I chuckled with anticipation.
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[ Aucuses POV ]
Diana walked up to me and bowed in a respectful manner.
The honorific. It didn't bother me as much as it had in the beginning. I've grown accustomed to it.
"Tell me what happened." I inquired, my gaze fixed on her.
She wanted to say something, but she seemed distracted by her soiled appearance, with her face and body covered in blood and mud.
While still bowing, she wiped the blood from her face and quickly cleaned herself with a wisp of wind she summoned.
"Milord, the siege was mostly successful." Looking up to me, she said solemnly. Then she cleared her throat and began to briefly explain the war.
"The Zaratul and Zoroast families anticipated and prepared for our assault."
"They fortified their homes and lands with a plethora of artefacts, creating a nearly impenetrable fortress."
Oh, Solomon seemed to be extremely generous to his subordinates. That's unexpected.
"We assumed the artefacts were the legacy of the black emperor. 'He' should have left it for 'His' faithful subordinates. The artefacts came from various paths, such as the door, fool, moon, and wheel of fortune."
"Some of the artefacts were not even angel level, but they cleverly used them from a defence and attack formation combining artefact power."
"They designed it so that the artefacts enhanced each other's power and compensated for their weakness. It was extremely well thought out." She said it with wonder, while I listened patiently, unsurprised.
"As I previously stated, their fortress was impenetrable to even angels. I concluded that it could even take me some time to completely break the formation. However, time is what we didn't have. It would end give those families a significant advantage over us."
"The empire's army has still not arrived. So Izrial decided to pray to his lord. We didn't object after considering our situation. Then, Lord of Storms delivered his divine punishment on both families."
"The effect was far superior to what I expected."
"Except for angels and archangels, almost everyone and everything in the lands was disintegrated almost instantly by the thunder bathing them. I believe Lord of Storms kept them alive for us to deal with."
"The empire's troops arrived just as the Lord of Storms' divine punishment ended." Her expression was subtle in that regard.
"Then, in accordance with the arrangement. The angels and archangels were besieged. Our angels were faced by angels from noble families. Amon and I besieged Pallez Zoroast, while Antigonus and Bethel besieged Zaratul."
"Everyone should have won by now, except us..." She drawled, bowed her head, and avoided looking at me.
I can see how she feels responsible for what happened, as she was partially responsible for the failure, as Amon stated.
"What occurred?" Despite knowing everything, I inquired.
"Amon." She returned her gaze to Amon, who was standing nearby, and he was just listening with interest, seemingly with no intention of interfering with their previous conversation.
"It was Amon. He used his power to give Pallez a chance to flee. Pallez didn't hesitate and seized the opportunity in desperation."
I said, glaring at Amon. "You really don't care about the consequences, do you?"
Then I noticed a flash of disappointment in his eyes, which, despite being hidden, did not escape my all-seeing eye.
'Disappointment?' I thought as the gears in my brain turned again, analysing the situation. 'Did he already expect me to find out about his plans?'
'Oh, inferring from it in this way, he should be very perplexed about subsequent actions...' I chuckled quietly to myself. According to Amon's character, he may have wanted to deduce the truth from my words and expressions.
However, I didn't even bother bringing up their plans. It was completely unnecessary after I decided not to interfere with them.
I can already guess their plans for manipulating Antigonus.
It should be an experiment. An experiment to determine the strength and status of the will of celestial worthy.
They are pushing Antigonus towards Godhood solely for that.
They are playing with fire. Even though this was just my speculation, it could very well be true because Amon and Adam really have the audacity to do something like that.
In the original timeline, I knew how this would end. However, because of my presence, things are changing now.
I finally sighed inwardly, my mind racing with the possibilities of what could happen.
'I'm going to meet Amanises anyway. It's better to decide on Antigonus' situation after discussing it with her,' I decided.
I continued, still peering at Amon. "Amon, your actions are considered traitorous to the empire."
"I have no such intentions, Aucuses." He gave a half-hearted smile. "You should know this better than anyone." He pointed out.
Still, I wasn't going to let him off the hook; he had to pay for what he had done.
I ignored him and pulled a scroll and a pen from thin air, signing his name on it. Then I threw it at Diana.
Diana caught the scroll and opened it to read it, her face finally showing a smile after reading the contents.
"As a citizen of the empire, you have harmed the empire for personal motives. Amon, you will be tried in the royal court in front of the entire empire." I declared and willed the "Order" to Amon.
The "Order" appeared in the form of brass chains and bound him.
Amon still smiled calmly, not resisting at all, as if he knew it was futile.
"I, invoking the authority of God, revoke your status as consul of the empire." I declared once more, but this time I made my voice heard throughout the empire.
"Now.." I dismissed him with a wave of my hand. "Get lost."
"Don't worry, Aucuses..." Amon smiled as the brass chain began teleporting him to the capital. "I will prove my innocence in the so-called court..."
"You, Blasphemer!" Diana charged and slashed her sword at his throat, her eyes filled with rage.
Amon looked at the charging sword, his monocle gleaming.
The twilight sword that slashed at Amon abruptly turned and pointed to a nearby mountain in an erroneous manner.
Boom!
Under the slash of twilight, the mountain crumbled and disintegrated.
"Goodbye, little girl." Amon smiled and waved at her before disappearing.
Diana stomped her feet on the ground in frustration, cracking the ground and trembling the mountains nearby.
"I'm sorry, Milord." She finally bowed to me. "I couldn't control my emotions."
"It's nothing. You don't have to be so concerned about him," I said. "If he gets on your nerves, just ignore him. You can get the better of him in that way. He hates being ignored."
Diana calmed down after taking my words to heart. Then, she approached him, holding a blue bag with various characteristics.
"We got these characteristics from the war."
"You can distribute it based on your wartime contributions." I gave the order while looking into the bag. "However, send the angel characteristics to my kingdom. We'll figure out what to do with it."
Diana nodded and slid the blue bag away.
"Diana, notify the legislature. That, I will be invading the southern continent," I went on. "Maybe Ombella and Badhiel will show up too. Simply inform them of this."
"Yes, Milord." Diana said, despite being taken aback by his words.
"Does the church have to take part in the invasion, Milord?" She inquired immediately.
"No." I replied with a shake of my head. "It's only me."
I went on, pulling out another document and handing it to her. "Finally, at all costs, let parliament pass this bill."
The document is a bill draft pertaining to pollution control and regulations.
After finishing everything on my agenda for this event, I teleported out of the ruins, heading to Trier for some respite and alone time.
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A/N:
How was this chapter?
To be honest, I've always preferred writing in the third person because it gives the story more flexibility. But, after reading a comment on the previous chapter, I decided to give it a shot.
I'm not sure if I'll continue to write in first person. It simply depends.
However, I decided to still do POVs in third person for some important characters.