The implications of that fact numbed the gathering into silence yet again.

"There's a larger game being played," the Holy Son said quietly. "And right now, we're simply chess pieces moving according to predictable patterns."

Those words landed with far more ominous weight than similar statements earlier. Because now they understood… truly understood, the scale of forces manipulating events. Gods acting in concert. Secrets buried within secrets. Millennia-old entities making moves for the first time in ages.

The Holy Son watched their faces carefully, seeing the grim realization beginning to creep in, the sense of fear and helplessness before such overwhelming conspiracy.

Perfect.

He struck while the iron was hot.

"To stop being pawns," he said with a voice carrying renewed strength, "we must make a move that breaks the pattern. Something unexpected. Something that goes outside the box entirely."

The Head Champion's expression shifted, wariness replacing his fear. He had the look of someone who knew he wasn't going to like what came next.

The Holy Son continued. "We will create a union between the Shadow God's authority and the Goddess Luna. A physical union. Between myself, the Holy Son, and Luna's incarnation."

The Head Champion surged to his feet, his chair scraping violently against the hard floor. "You mean to bring the authority of Shadows under the umbrella of the Moon Mother?!"

The traditionalists erupted. The young Champion who'd spoken earlier looked utterly scandalized. The two older men were on their feet as well, voices raised in protest.

Even the neutral Champions showed shock, though some of them, the more pragmatic ones, had calculating looks beginning to form.

The Holy Son continued as if no one had objected at all.

"The Moon Mother practically controls the path of darkness already," he said calmly. "She is the progenitor of our Shadow path. Without Her light, there would be no shadows cast. I am simply returning what belongs to Her, strengthening it in the process rather than leaving it fragmented and vulnerable."

The Head Champion looked ready to attack. "This is blasphemy— "

"Furthermore," the Holy Son interrupted, raising his voice as he pushed on, "the same will be done for the Storm Goddess. Union through her Holy Daughter as well. Both Storm and Shadow will be brought into the body of the Moon Mother."

That drew absolute silence. Even the traditionalists seemed too shocked to continue protesting.

The Holy Son leaned forward, and this time, his voice was tinged with real passion, as if telling a juicy secret.

"The Moon Mother will never assign the violent aspects of Storm to a woman. Those aspects, along with other incompatible energies that cannot merge with Her three daughter-goddesses, will be assigned to me. The first male God born from the Moon Mother's divine essence."

The atmosphere in the room shifted noticeably. Several Champions' expressions changed from outrage to calculation. Greed. Recognition of an opportunity.

The Holy Son smiled, seeing the shift. "Now you see it, don't you?"

He stood, gesturing as he spoke. "The Moon Mother has six aspects. Three mellow, three ferocious. Three cold, three hot… The three feminine aspects have already manifested as three daughter-goddesses"

"Luna controls the soft light of the calm moon, the peace it brings to troubled hearts." He gestured toward Luna's incarnate. "Her sister Selene governs the silver roads, the paths between places, the gentle guidance through darkness." Another gesture. "And Nyx holds dominion over restful sleep, over dreams and the quiet surrender to night's embrace."

He paused, letting them process that.

"But the other three aspects, the violent, masculine energies, have never manifested as separate Gods. They remain fully under the Moon Mother's direct control. Waiting. Dormant."

The implications were staggering.

The Holy Son could become the Moon Mother's only masculine God. He would control not just the Shadow God's remaining authority and the violent aspects of the Storm Goddess, but three entirely unprecedented divine domains that had never before been wielded by any entity other than the Moon Mother Herself.

Their church wouldn't just survive. It would evolve and transform into something entirely new.

The Holy Son himself would ascend to full Godhood as the Moon Mother's masculine counterpart, controlling enough of her to practically become her equal.

And because he was the Holy Son, the one who could control the Shadow God's remaining divinity, when he chose to cede that authority to the Moon Mother, he would immediately bring all the Shadow God's faithful under her unified divine umbrella.

But was that really so terrible?

With the power he would gain, they themselves would become stronger. Champions of a fully whole God with multiple authorities, rather than merely Champions blessed by a God — a God that was practically dead now. The distinction was enormous.

And the conflict of interest of that thought was visible on every face.

Greed warred with tradition. Pragmatism battled loyalty. Survival instinct clashed with dignity and pride.

Only the Head Champion remained staunchly opposed. Even his two older traditionalist supporters had gone quiet, their expressions clouded with thoughts they didn't speak aloud. The young Champion looked torn, his earlier outrage had been mellowed by the obvious temptation before him.

A smile curved on the Holy Son's lips. He exchanged a glance with Luna's incarnate, and a look passed between them. Satisfaction, perhaps, or shared understanding of a plan proceeding exactly as they intended.

Times were changing. A new dawn approached — or perhaps more accurately, a new dusk. If other forces were playing secret games, manipulating Gods like pieces on a board, then they would play their own game. Make their own moves.

No one would see this coming.

The Holy Son reached under the table and found Luna's incarnate's hand, squeezing it gently.

She blushed and looked down meekly, struggling to meet the Holy Son's eyes, which were on her.

In that moment, the stoic facade of the Holy Son, his usual nonchalance, it all came apart in that brief moment. Anyone watching would see that he was truly and thoroughly smitten with Luna's incarnate. He simply knew how to control himself when necessary.

The Holy Son smiled lightly and looked forward, meeting the Head Champion's gaze as he tried to rally for another attempt at resistance.

The middle aged champion yelled with spittle flying around as he pointed accusingly at their joined hands, voice rising in denunciation of this "unholy union."

But very unexpectedly, the Holy Son found his mind unfocused on the present, and instead wandering back to the market. To that figure he'd glimpsed before Luna's incarnate had distracted him.

The one who'd vanished from his sight so completely.

He frowned slightly, trying to recall any specific features. Hair color? Height? Build?

Nothing came. The memory itself seemed to have dissolved, leaving only the vague impression that something had been there.

Strange.

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