Seth drummed his fingers against the desk idly, taking in the sight of the various expressions of those at the table, all while a content smile danced upon his own lips. It felt kind of good to get this off his shoulders, to stop pretending to be someone else, at least around those he could trust. He would still maintain the persona for the public, it still had it's purpose to act as a scapegoat for hostile action towards him which was especially prevalent with recent events.

But when it came to these people around the table, those he entrusted with his life and him with theirs, it only made sense to finally take this weight from his shoulders. Plus it would stop the sneaking and suspicious looks he was getting from Erik that were distracting them from more important matters.

Speaking of, the expression of the aquamarine knight was... It was simply delectable. His face had completely paled, meaning that it turned the lightest shade of blue possible, and his mouth was completely open. His tongue flopped slightly, as if to reflect his brain struggling to process the words to speak, or even to think to explain to himself what he was witnessing.

His eyes were wide open, filled with a mixture of fear, confusion, surprise and utter disbelief. It was as if he was being presented with an alien for the first time and had also been told that the alien was his mother.

It made Seth almost sad that he didn't have a communication gift, because he would absolutely have loved to take a picture of that wonderful expression to show the knight later, or to simply enjoy at a later date himself.

It was taking a lot of his composure not to laugh and simply let the cogs whirl madly inside the aquamarine knights head.

Alfie's expression was equally as amusing, but for different reasons. While Erik was almost afraid of what this new revelation meant, Alfie was beyond excited. At least, in part.

Seth could see the joy and excitement in his eyes, that his friend and his idol had been the same person all along, but it also seemed to bring with it a complex well of emotions that he hid not so well behind a smile.

The person he had been looking up to for his strength, and the person he considered weak and his responsibility to protect, were the same person. Was he supposed to treat him like his superior and his Lord, or his friend?

In contrast, Fox's expression was... well it was disappointing to say the least. The man showed no hint of emotion, no sign that he was at all shocked by this reveal. Either he knew before it, having figured it out from some mirror based shenanigans, or he simply didn't care.

Or perhaps, like Astra, he wasn't very good at expressing his emotions and was freaking out inside. As nice of a thought as that was, he was probably only thinking something along the lines of 'I'm too old for this.'

In all honesty it made sense, Fox was the one Seth was least close to in either persona. He didn't seem to be all that bothered by respect or engulfed by the feudalism mindset that had swarmed over everyone as soon as the government collapsed.

Having someone a bit more level headed would probably do him good, in the long run.

He wasn't even the only one who was apathetic, as the Dragon beside Seth was looking utterly bored by everything that was unfolded. Why was she still here? He had no idea why she was hanging around like a bad smell, especially since she didn't seem like she was going to contribute anything.

At the very least, he could get the transformation spell out of her before ditching her again. Useless lizard.

Ophelia mostly looked confused, lacking the context for the true weight of the reveal, as did Alexandra. The stone amazon was leaning down, letting her little slime friend whisper to her an explanation of everything that was going on.

To his side, Astra was sitting a little taller with a soft smile on her face, undoubtedly smug that she had figured it out before this.

"But... How? Why? How?"

Erik finally managed to speak, his brain finally processing what he had seen. Or at least some of it, based on his question.

After drinking in all of their expressions, and growing a little more comfortable in Corvus' armour, Seth rapped his knuckles against the table as he sat up straight.

"Well, answer me this. What is my ability? What is the ability of Lord Corvus, hmm?"

Pensive frowns spread across the table, even for the uncaring Fox. All but Astra, who joined him in the expression drinking with a smile on her lips, and Cynthia who was too busy explaining to the utterly confused Alexandra.

Eventually, Erik spoke once again,

"He... I mean you, Control stone right? That's what I always thought with the statues and all. Some sort of elemental ability."

Seth smiled softly, answering by simply lifting his hand and pointing to the - very much not stone - mannequin standing behind him like an obedient butler. Erik followed his gesture and immediately frowned again, a frown that deepened further when Alfie crushed his theory even more.

"There's also what you did as yourself, as Seth I mean. All the arrows and spears and stuff. I mean you can fly! But there's no stone stuff there. You told me it was telekinesis."

Seth shrugged and gave him an apologetic look.

"I may have told a little lie. But it was still all due to my power."

"You bestow life to the lifeless. You're a soul user, the rarest breed of us all."

Fox spoke evenly, keeping his head held high as he addressed Seth without care for his percieved position. Seth smiled softly again, nodding his head.

"In a sense, yes. Every guard, every weapon I use. It is all me. So if someone wanted to kill the city..."

"They would only need to kill you. A single assassin would be our ruin, so you gave them a different target."

"Exactly."

Seth knocked on the table again, smiling warmly at the cunning Fox. Whether he had known previously or not didn't matter, he knew now and more than that he understood. And that was all that mattered.

"Now, onto more pressing matters. What to do about the Lightbringer and his people. I said I suspected spies, and Erik's prime suspects have been cleared. But we don't know about others. It seems war is inevitable, especially since he is already making the first moves.

So, how about we send in a spy of our own?"

He smirked as he lifted his hand, the armoured gauntlet retreating to reveal an intricately designed ring on his finger. A ring covered in so many runes that it looked like it belonged in a particular movie, and deserved to be tossed in a volcano.

The runes flashed on the ring, before a curt cry of pain echoed throughout the room as a figure manifested out of thin air. Or it was more accurate to say, that everyone finally noticed the figure that had been standing in the room, and had previously been ignored as if they were just another piece of furniture.

Tiff clutched at the metallic collar around her neck as it pulsed with pain, forcing her out of her usual perceptionless state and allowed everyone in the room to finally notice her presence. A presence that seemed to cause a heavy, almost murderous aura to ooze out of Astra for reasons unknown to Seth.

She whipped her head around to Seth, leaning close and whispering through clenched teeth.

"Are we sure we can trust this mad woman?"

"Don't worry, I've got this mutt well trained."

He whispered back, before addressing the rest of the room.

"Now, this is what I had in mind..."

***

After a few hours of thorough discussion, the rest of the party members eventually departed to take care of their assigned tasks, now armed with the full knowledge of who they were serving and why. The only one's remaining in the room were himself, Astra and the annoying lizard woman who was still sticking around and glowering at him.

Seth leaned back in his chair and let out an exhausted groan. Astra reached over, patting his shoulder gently, to which he gave her a soft and thankful smile, right up until she gave him a small shock.

"Ow, What was that for?"

"A little pick me up, works better than coffee."

He narrowed his eyes at her before shaking his head and chuckling to himself. He stood up from his chair, gesturing for her to follow. He didn't do the same for the dragon, but still she followed anyways, like a lost puppy.

He silently led Astra, and the lizard, to his bedroom and immediately opened the door to the secret lab before any misunderstandings could start cropping up in their heads, although he couldn't help but notice a slight blush on Astra's face as he ushered her inside the secret passage.

"Another secret, hmm? Will I ever know everything there is to you?"

"What can I say? Gotta keep some mystery about me, to keep things interesting. As for this time, I think I should introduce you to some people."

He smirked at her, leading her into the depths of the hillside until finally arriving at his secret little workshop, which had unceremoniously taken over by the crafting twins. Just to be certain, he sent them a mental message, just to make sure they were emotionally ready to receive visitors.

After all, he remembered that Julius was supposedly sensitive about his mouth, and he would hate to catch them in the middle of a meal again.