The dreams of Seswatha are quite a strange thing to be honest. Part of his soul must be trapped in his mummified heart.

Like the Amiolas? Seswatha did wear the thing three times and I believe he commented that the information he learned was invaluable (don't recall the exact phrasing). Initially this 'information' comes across as being related to retrieving the Heron Spear, but perhaps it's true value was from some understanding of the principles of the Amiolas that allowed the creation of the Heart. Still unsure what all the implications would be if so...

It's funny because though it's apparent that Ajokli seems to possess Cnaiur, I don't actually attribute that dialogue to Ajokli. I'm quibbly, of course - though as far as I'm concerned much less than others are with other thinkenearing and finagling.

Though, isn't it interesting that Kelmomas as No-God hanging above Ajokli exactly mirrors Ajokli's Idol above Kelmomas in TJE prologue?

I can see your stance on the Cnaiur dialogue (monologue?). He easily could have said and meant that himself and it would be consistent with both his character and speech that we've seen so far. After a quick browse through the relevant section, I think the speaker switches from Cnaiur -> Ajokli during the paragraph describing his horns appearing. That is also when the Sranc horde are described as starting to part away from him. Then very next line says he "roared with no human voice". Looks like as good a point as any for the point of full possession and a speaker switch.

And I hadn't considered the mirrored imagery with Kelmomas and the Ajokli idol, but I like that a lot. I had even reconsidered the idol scene after the No-God reveal, all I put together was that Ajokli would have had no clue Kelmomas was there talking to him! Just a beetle randomly losing legs and making circles (if he was paying attention to that at all).

I have to throw my hat in the 'Kellhus is not dead' camp with the explanation that he wasn't "wearing" his head at the time he was salted. Also with the outside chance that this was somewhat close to Kellhus's intended outcome.

While I don't have strong direct evidence, I feel a Cui Bono argument somewhat supports this. With Ajokli possessing Cnaiur we get insight that Ajokli doesn't know where Kellhus is. And Ajokli is pissed. Very pissed. Enough so that it appears Ajokli is now waging war against the No-God. With that in mind, who benefits from this outcome? Especially if you think that the No-God rising again is inevitable.

That line of thinking had me consider that the Kellhus "illusion" obfuscating the No-God initially could have been Kellhus's doing all along. This would be to trick Ajokli into thinking he is the No-God so that Ajokli would wage war against it. Although this conflicts with what I feel is a more supported argument that the illusion was from the Dunsult (foreshadowed by the Shauriatas 'hologram') but I guess that could be a red herring. And I also can't remember anything suggesting Kellhus would have the ability to create such an illusion which would be another strike against it (unless it's similar enough to how a sorcerer can alter dreams, except this requires it for EVERYONE watching). It also starts to get a little too far into the "Kellhus is in complete control" field for my tastes. I do think the guy is fallible, but maybe this isn't an example of his failure? Surely he's done extensive planning for this moment, no? Although I'm not sure how he could easily plot against Ajokli while also being somewhat possessed by him...so that is another potential problem with this hypothesis. Maybe when his own head is disconnected from his own body he can plot without Ajokli being aware?