Children of the Pyramid.
That was how the CZE referred to the people kneeling in front of their "sanctuary".
The pyramid shape of the building might have given the building a certain religious taste, but it didn't change the fact that this was an office building.
Corporate headquarters.
'But people in desperation will cling onto anything that might give them hope,' Nick thought as he looked at the devoted followers.
Nick couldn't help but make a comparison to Aegis and the Champion of Light.
'Except that the Champion of Light actually wants to help the people and doesn't just want to line his own pockets.'
"Sow kindness and harvest kindness!" the old woman shouted with an elated smile. "Reciprocate kindness and receive kindness!"
Up until now, Nick could empathize with the message somewhat. After all, he also was a big fan of giving kindness to others.
"Unless they are followers of gluttony!" she shouted.
'Gluttony?' Nick thought as his eyes narrowed. 'That's one of Famine's servants. How is this suddenly related to Gluttony?'
Death, the Trio of Destruction, and the Seven Corruptors were all known to basically everyone in Aegis.
Death was the leader of the Trio of Destruction, and it was humanity's biggest enemy since it actively tried to destroy Aegis.
The Trio of Destruction were Death's servants.
As its name suggested, Death's goal was to turn the world into a wasteland with no life, and the way it wanted to achieve that goal was by using its three servants and their unique ways.
Famine was one of Death's servants. It was a Mid Adversary that gained power by starving people.
Pestilence was also one of Death's servants. It was an Early Adversary that gained power by spreading disease and suffering related to one's health.
War was Death's last servant. It was a Late Adversary that gained power through generating conflict between humans. Despite what one might think when hearing its name, War was not some powerful and brutal warrior but a covert and subtle manipulator.
After all, openly attacking someone would just make them attack you instead of attacking each other.
Luckily, while the Trio of Destruction was seen as a single unit, nothing could be further from the truth.
All three of their desired goals led to death, which was why Death could work with them, but none of their goals aligned with each other.
When hungry people became sick, they died very quickly, which would be a waste.
Hungry and sick people also avoided going to war due to severe exhaustion.
Under normal circumstances, the Trio of Destruction would be each other's enemies and would even actively try to destroy each other since there were only so many humans in the world.
However, Death's overwhelming power kept them at bay.
Although, that also wasn't a certainty.
Death was the only Adversary that had other Adversaries as servants.
Every other Adversary only had Fallen or weaker as servants.
The reason was that Adversaries were extremely resourceful with diverse powers.
It was supremely difficult to kill or capture them, evident by the fact that Aegis had not managed to capture even a single one while having seven Shields.
The only Adversary they had access to was here voluntarily.
Death had a unique power over its namesake, and that power also extended to Specters.
When it came to killing and fighting other Specters, Death was probably the most powerful Specter out there, proportional to its power.
So, even though it was just a little stronger in level than War, it was still much stronger.
Yet, suppressing something was more difficult than killing it.
War had already become a Late Adversary, and while it couldn't fight Death on its own, it wasn't helpless.
If, somehow, the three of them managed to put their differences aside to deal with Death, they might be able to win.
The chances of that happening were not low since all three of them had a common enemy.
They wanted to kill each other the most, but they couldn't kill each other while Death existed.
Even more, Death was stuck near Aegis' headquarters, and it couldn't micromanage the Trio of Destruction.
All in all, the alliance between the Trio of Destruction was shaky at best.
However, that didn't extend to their servants.
Between their servants, there was no alliance at all.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
They hated each other almost more than they hated humanity.
Each of the Trio of Destruction had several Fallen as their servants, but their most powerful servants were the Seven Corruptors.
All seven of them were Peak Fallen and could potentially become Adversaries at any moment. Aegis wasn't sure what the Seven Corruptors needed to do to become Adversaries.
Envy and Gluttony were servants of Famine.
Wrath and Pride were servants of War.
Sloth and Lust were servants of Pestilence.
Greed was the only free Specter.
The reason for that was simple.
Greed was very, very good at escaping.
It might not be powerful enough to fight any of the Trio, but it was still very difficult for any of them to find it and successfully kill it.
Greed belonged to the few Specters that basically couldn't be forced into servitude.
Another one of these Specters was the Eternal Hunger, the Specter that created the black blobs all over the world that tried to eradicate all life.
That Specter was basically unkillable, and trying to kill it would cost Death more than it was worth, making the Eternal Hunger a free Specter as well.
Funnily enough, the Eternal Hunger used to be Famine's servant, but it grew too powerful to be controlled by it anymore.
It was just too efficient at what it was doing and grew far too quickly.
'Do I have some kind of connection with Famine?' Nick thought after he heard the CZE of the Priesthood talking about Gluttony. 'I've basically come into contact with both of Famine's main servants now.'
The CZE kept talking about the followers of Gluttony, and that bestowing kindness upon them was equal to self-harm.
The people kept agreeing, and soon, the positive atmosphere was completely replaced with rage and hatred.
"Down with Gluttony! Down with Gluttony! Down with Gluttony!" the people echoed.
Nick wasn't sure what this was all about.
He wouldn't have expected that a bunch of normal humans would dare to be this openly hostile to a Peak Fallen.
"Servant of Gluttony!"
Suddenly, an extremely loud shout reverberated from someone in the crowd, and the people jumped to the side, isolating the shouting person.
There, in the middle of the crowd, was a man holding up the arm of a figure wearing a cowl.
In the figure's hand was a bundle of credits.
The figure tried with all of its power to pull itself away, but the man's grip was too strong.
BANG!
Then, the figure kicked the man in the balls and tore itself away.
"Servant of Gluttony!"
The crowd shouted in rage and swarmed upon the figure.
In an instant, the figure was drowned by enraged people.
The cowl and the clothing were torn off the figure, revealing a now naked older lady.
The crowd punched and kicked the woman before lifting her and throwing her onto the stage, severely injured.
The woman looked up in despair and confusion.
Her eyes met with the CZE's eyes.
The CZE's eyes were filled with disdain.
"Servant of Gluttony," she reprimanded with a cold voice.
The next moment, a city guard arrived in front of the injured woman and pulled her into the pyramid.
Undoubtedly, she would become a prayer slave.
While all of this was happening, the crowd was shouting in rage, hatred, and bloodlust.
"Gluttony's servants will never win!" the CZE shouted.
The crowd echoed with an uplifting battle cry.
"While righteous indignation is justified when dealing with Gluttony's servants, let us not forget that we must still give kindness to our kin," the CZE spoke with a much calmer voice.
In less than ten seconds, the crowd calmed down before kneeling again.
People were closing their eyes with peaceful smiles as they listened to the CZE.
'Servants of Gluttony?' Nick thought with a raised eyebrow. 'That was just a normal woman that tried to pickpocket someone. Pretty sure a servant of Gluttony would be a Specter.'
'Is the Gluttony she is talking about actually referring to the servant of Famine, or is she referring to gluttony as a concept?'
Nick frowned.
'So, is this just a misunderstanding?'
Nick scratched his head a bit.
'That would be annoying.'
Then, his gaze went to the entrance of the pyramid.
'But that's a bit strange. As far as I know, the Priesthood is only the second-strongest Manufacturer in the city. Yet, the city guards seem to follow the CZE's instructions. Something like that only happens in cities where the strongest Manufacturer is basically the unofficial leader of the city.'
'I've never seen a mere Peak Specialist ordering guards around this casually.'
'Something strange is going on.'