When we rematerialized in projected form, Antonias and I found ourselves in one of my grandfather’s laboratories. Even with all I had gained and even with Antonias at my side, Augustas Heraclides was still imposing.

Gigantic, even for an Imperator, his hair and beard bushy and tangled in a way that suggested he was more a force of nature than a man, power squeezed into humanoid shape.

As when I had last seen him, he was working over bodies on surgical tables, their full features and qualities hidden from me. An obscuring effect.

I knew what they were now. At least, what Nero had believed they were.

The two of us bore the Regent’s steely gaze as he examined us.

“You’ve done well, Adrias.” Augustas said. “Two disloyal hounds put to eternal rest and two lieutenants gained in their place. Even if your companion is flawed.”

“Antonias is strong.” I bristled.

“Superiority is as much purity as it is performance.” My grandfather replied.

That formed a well enough transition.

“And what is purity exactly?” I said, watching him closely.

“A lifeform’s similarity to an ideal humanity, a entity unhindered by physical or mental weakness without abandoning the human form. Antonias fails on many levels, though I am appreciative of his efforts thus far.” Augustas.

“He has some ugly wings-“

“Hey!” Toni cut in.

“He has some ugly wings and an unfortunate appetite, but he’s followed me this far to Gold and I consider him to be my brother.” I said.

“It was a good choice to pick Seraph.” Augustas said to Toni. “If this is what you look like with an angelic visage, I can guess at what your base form prior and what the other two were like. The Order of Afrits may have been manageable, but Archangel’s growth and increased stature would have mutated you further.”

“Would you say that Imperators are the most superior thing that could exist?” I asked casually.

Augustas eyed me skeptically.

“Boy, you are terrible at fishing for information. Speak clearly.” He said sternly.

“Nero tried to sway me to his side with the information that you were using titan blood to make something to replace the Imperators and all other Paths.” I said.

“What?” Toni said.

“And you believed him?” Augustas replied to me.

“Not entirely. His purpose was to persuade and deceive, but even liars must use some truth to convince a man. What I do know of my own accord regardless of his words is that you have been trading Kronos samples of your flesh for his blood.” I said.

“Go on.” Augustas said, not bothered in the slightest.

“I know that you’ve reach the peak of what is possible before Platinum or true godhood, and that if your flesh was lesser than his the King of the Titans would have no use for it, but if so you can’t be using it to advance yourself in any way. There is something further that you need it for. Something dramatic.” I said.

“That doesn’t add up to confirm Aezion’s words. There are innumerable purposes that a man such as I could do with the Dominium’s wealth of resources and scientific knowledge combined with Kronos’s ichor.” The Regent said, as if pushing me to think harder rather than simply arguing with me.

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I stepped over to one of the surgical tables and looked at the blurry body.

“I’ve long been your trustworthy dagger, Grandfather. If Nero is my enemy and if he has brought me half-truths, then be my ally and bring me clarity.” I said. “Have I not been everything you’ve asked for?”

“You have.” Augustas acknowledged. “You want the truth?”

He waved a giant hand and the distortions around the corpses disappeared, revealing the remains of human beings of an unnatural caliber, organic tissue sculpted not by mortal man or distant gods but by one who was both mortal and immortal himself.

“They’re.. beautiful.” I said. They were like works of art, mankind as it could have been before the Paths but without any of the flaws.

“These are our replacements.” Antonias said in horror. “How could they not be?”

He looked so sick that he forgot to be hungry.

“Yes. And no.” Augustas said. “Should I reach Platinum, there will be no need to uproot the Paths and supplant them.”

“I don’t understand.” I said. “Why does having the ability to do whatever you want make you do less of what you planned?”

“Platinum?” Toni said.

I shushed him.

I’ll tell you later. I mouthed to him.

“I’ve told you before that I need to draw the gods out of the heavens in order to kill Zeus.” Augustas said.

Toni’s eyes went wide. “Adrias, I really need you to explain to me-“

“For obvious reasons, the gods have no intention of ever putting themselves at risk. Have you ever wondered why the Olympians unleashed the Paths, expended their power to create bloodlines that only abstractly care about their gods?” Augustas said.

“I always assumed it was a show of power or a gift.” I said, shrugging.

“Do they feed on us?” Antonias said, the thought of feasting back in his mind. “Feed on our worship?”

“A good thought, little Leechling Imperator, but not quite. The Olympians made the Paths and directed their creations to spread across the universe to give themselves freedom. Eleutheromania, once again, Adrias.” Augustas said.

“They’re gods, how are they not free?” I said.

“In ancient times long before the Dominium or my own birth, Poseidon was the god of the oceans of Terra. And only Terra’s oceans. Just as Apollo ruled Terra’s sun and only that particular star. They were trapped on the homeworld, lords and ladies of forces and domains that they discovered were miniscule to the rest of the unending universe, masters of one habitable planet in a galaxy that possessed tens of billions of such worlds. I imagine it was galling.” Augustas said, with a bit of a smile.

“Like discovering your whole existence was in a sandbox.” I whispered.

“Exactly.”

“How did we change that for them?” Toni said.

“Everyone who bears a Path has a connection to the divinity that made that way of cultivation, all of us are like little pieces of the heavenly ones. Where we spread, so do the Olympians. One big family or one big contagion, depending on your viewpoint.” Augustas said.

“And your perfected people?” I said, trying to poke one corpse in the cheek but my illusory finger going through its cheek.

“A threat to call the Skyfather’s bluff. Unpathed but made superhuman with the blood of something that came before the gods. I do not wish to do so, but until he faces me or opens the gates of the heavens, I will begin to produce these replacements as Nero told you.” My grandfather said.

“Could you not just say you were going to do so?” Toni said.

“Zeus is many things, but he is not a fool in these matters regardless of his other weaknesses. My enemies must be convinced that I intend to destroy humanity and replace it, and so until I am engaged directly I must show that I am willing to exterminate that which grants them freedom.” Augustas said.

“You could be lying to us about changing your mind at this… Platinum Rank.” Toni said sceptically.

“At Platinum Rank I can just make you all into these if I wished to,” Augustas said. “There would be no need for something as crude as genocide for a man beyond the laws of heaven and earth.”

“What do their eyes look like?” I said, curiously.

My grandfather walked to the steel table I was next to and pulled back an eyelid of one.

The eye was entirely gold.

“I’m surprised you don’t look hungrier,” I said to Antonias.

“They’re dead.” Toni replied.

“They’re not dead.” Augustas said. “I removed the need for breathing or heartbeats from them, this one is merely unconscious.”

“And what are they called?” I said, a bit creeped out that the things I thought were corpses were just drugged.

“Regnators. They are perfected iterations of the human genome.” Augustas said proudly.

Can anything truly be perfect? I thought. On all levels, physically, mentally, spiritually, and morally?

“They’re slick looking,” Toni said. “But they’ll be fighting against Imperators thinking the end is coming for the entire Path.”

“The Regnators will be born into glory.” Augustas said. “They won’t fail me once they’ve been finished. And I’ll ensure that they will love you.”

“What?” I said.

“You are my favored scion, my truest heir, and are fated to hand me the spear to kill the Skyfather at the moment of his death. It will take you at least half a year for you to reach Terra if you leave immediately, but once you arrive there will be legions of these warriors who know your face better than their own.”