Chapter 154: 154. Sacrifice – 1

William stood inside Grimlock’s office, his back rested lightly against the edge of the table, while his gaze remained unfocused.

The room was quiet, save for the faint hum of arrays and medical artifacts running in the background.

His thoughts moved restlessly, looping back again and again to everything that had unfolded over the past few days.

“I guess this is how it’s going to be,” William muttered under his breath. “Every time I deal with one problem, a bigger one shows up right after.”

The system’s voice answered inside his mind.

[That’s what I’ve been trying to make you understand, finally!!, It seems like Seraphine’s kisses had an upside, maybe she sucked all your brain fog.

William pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Fuck, can you talk normally for once?”

The system seemed ready to respond with another remark, but before it could, footsteps echoed in the corridor outside the office.

The door opened, and Grimlock entered.

William straightened slightly and looked at him.

“Have they departed?” he asked.

“Yes, Master,” Grimlock replied without hesitation.

“I instructed them to spread the story you prepared across every base. The individuals were scattered so that it wouldlook like they really escaped on the edge of their lives.”

“I have also injured a few so that their story sounds more believable,” Grimlock spoke with the antearter mask on.

The sight of his face disturbed william everytime, so he had told Grimlock to use the mask now.

William nodded, “No worries with the talent I have granted you all, there is less chance of getting caught.”

The mark of a slave allowed for lower versions of talents that william possesed.

William realized that it was time to use this ability, with this, he had granted everyone of the 250+ slaves lower versions of natural actor(S) and shapeshifter(SS).

William noticed that those degraded versions had similar effects but with more effective limitations.

Grimlock lifted his head a little, confidence evident in his voice.

“The cult will most likely order these bases to consolidate the newcomers internally. From their perspective, they will believe they are recovering scattered assets.”

William nodded slowly with an unreadable expression before asking, “When will you depart?” he asked.

“I will leave as soon as the altar is fully prepared, Master,” Grimlock answered.

William acknowledged the response with a short nod and dismissed him.

After a moment, William stepped out of the office and began walking through the underground base.

He passed a large chamber where thick glass tanks lined the walls. Inside them floated mutated corpses, their bodies were twisted beyond recognition, suspended in viscous liquid that shimmered faintly under the dim lights.

Their faces were frozen in expressions of agony, preserved exactly as they had been at the moment of death.

Further ahead, another section housed the living captives.

They lay unconscious on beds, their breathing was shallow but steady.

Tubes and seals were connected to potion-filled vessels to ensure they remained alive despite the damage done to their bodies.

William had given Grimlock explicit instructions.

All veil essence dosages were to be stopped immediately, and every surviving captive was to be stabilised to the best of their ability.

Out of all the captives, only Lia resisted the healing process.

Her body rejected potions and anything that could reverse the situation in her body.

Everyone else recovered slowly, much more slowly than in the case of normal injuries.

Grimlock had told him that those still alive were either individuals who had never been registered for a single dose veil essence yet or those who had somehow survived a single dose thanks to their strong and rigid DNA.

The veil essence, according to Grimlock, attacked the DNA of the person and tried to rewrite it forcefully, and in the process, it led to the destruction of their entire being.

The only exception Grimlock had seen till now was Lia.

The other, who had been subjected to repeated doses, had already died.

Those dead were preserved in the tanks exactly as they were.

Grimlock had wanted to dissect them, to extract data, to experiment further, but William had refused.

He ordered that no corpse be disturbed and that everything remain untouched.

When the rescue teams arrived, William wanted them to see the consequences of delay and negligence with their own eyes.

The living captives were kept unconscious through carefully measured sedatives.

Allowing them to wake prematurely would only create chaos, and William had neither the time nor the patience to manage panic-stricken survivors.

As he moved through the corridor, Barash appeared behind him and dropped to one knee.

“Master,” Barash said. “He has arrived.”

William’s lips curved into a faint smile.

“I hope Marcus controls his anger when his ego takes a hit,” he replied.

“More importantly, I hope he understands the lesson I want him to learn.”

Barash hesitated before speaking, “My Lord, may I ask what lesson you wish General Marcus to learn?”

William stopped walking and turned slightly to look at him.

“I want him to realise that he needs to up his game, William said calmly.

He resumed walking, Barash following a step behind.

“When he finds every base emptied and starts banging his head against the wall while realizing he arrived too late,” William continued,

“I want him to understand that there are people in this world who are always moving two steps ahead, and if the celestial army wants to remain relevant in this age, they need serious reforms.”

***

Rizwell Draconia had not rested since receiving the Eternal Sovereign’s message.

The promise of returning his heir burned relentlessly in his chest, driving him forward without pause.

Day and night blurred together as he led his forces across the southern lands, erasing cult bases one after another.

Under his command, the draconian cavalry moved with brutal efficiency. Although two of the ten bases revealed by Jaden were already destroyed.

The rest of the eight bases fell in rapid succession, each reduced to rubble and ash. Resistance was meaningless in the face of a Divine Spark cultivator.

Rizwell barely needed to lift his hand. A handful of spells was enough to collapse entire compounds, turning fortified structures into nothing more than scattered debris.

The purges themselves were quick.

What consumed time was collecting the heads. A thousand of them were needed in total.

Adam and Rizwell split their forces, hunting in parallel to accelerate the task.

By the time the sun of the second day dipped toward the horizon, their groups reunited.

Their expressions were grim and bloodstained, their objective was complete, but the tired expressions of soldiers said it all, yet they were the elite of Draconis.

Wherever their lord would point, they would march.

Now they rode toward the final destination marked on the map, the place where the river, the Titan Goddess Nera, wound through the land.

As the night sky arrived, the air grew cooler, and the moon became visible even though the sun was a few hours away from dipping.

Moist winds rustled through the forest, carrying the scent of water and soil.

The sound of hooves slowed as the cavalry reached the edge of a cliff.

Rizwell dismounted and stepped forward, his gaze fixed on the sight below.

Adam followed, standing silently beside him.

A circular, white, carved rock platform jutted out at the cliffs’ edge.

At its center stood an ancient altar, etched directly into the stone in pristine condition and untouched by any sort of decay.

Golden engravings glimmered faintly as the sun dipped lower.

Rizwell stepped closer and read the inscription aloud. “The Eternal Sovereign.”

Below the words rested a symbol above them, an infinity sign enclosed within the shape of a sun.

Rizwell frowned.

The design was unfamiliar, unlike anything he had encountered before.

It carried no resemblance to any familiar engraving that he could remember.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep