Chapter 156: 156. Bearer of Broken Faith – 1

William’s spaceship tore through space with a sharp, continuous swish, its hull cut cleanly through the dark expanse as it headed north toward the World Academy ground station.

The stars outside the viewing screen stretched into thin streaks of light, bending and shifting as the spacecraft maintained its speed.

He had already decided that he would not approach within 100 miles of the academy’s territory and draw unnecessary attention.

Instead, he planned to stop several hundred miles away and complete the remaining distance on foot, keeping his return quiet and unremarkable.

William leaned slightly forward and pulled out the mission slip he had issued from the mission hall before leaving.

The thin sheet rested lightly between his fingers.

As his eyes scanned the contents again, a faint bitterness surfaced in his chest.

The man mentioned in the mission slip was already dead, long before William had even reached the experimentation base.

The mission, in its original form, had effectively been meaningless by the time it reached his hands.

With a quiet sigh, he folded the slip carefully and placed it back into his inventory.

There was no anger, just quiet acceptance.

His gaze drifted back to the screen, where the world beyond the ship continued to slip past in silence.

He leaned back into the seat, letting his shoulders sink as he allowed himself a brief moment of rest.

The last week had been chaotic in a way that even he had not fully anticipated.

Still, when he thought about it more carefully, he could not deny that the gains had been significant.

He had secured an oath from the Elven Empress, something that would help him significantly in the future.

He had gained the loyalty of the House of Draconia, binding a proud and ancient bloodline into his growing web of influence.

More than two hundred and fifty slaves had been redirected back into the Clayman Cult as spies.

His own organization, which had once existed only as a vague concept in his mind, was now taking a tangible shape.

At the beginning, when he had first heard about the situation unfolding in the south, his instinct had been to influence others to go there while he himself remained reluctant to move.

He had seen it as a troublesome deviation from the plan he originally intended to execute.

But in the end, his curiosity toward the experiments had outweighed his hesitation.

Something about the situation had felt off, and that feeling alone had been enough to pull him south.

From the very start, his plan for the operation had been clear in his mind.

He would get kidnapped and move through the scheme as an abducted individual, observing everything from within while keeping his true identity concealed.

He would not reveal himself until the very end, when the full picture was clear, and escape was no longer a question.

To ensure that things did not spiral completely out of control, he had also deliberately given a hint to the Celestial Army regarding the case.

He had anticipated opponents with a cultivation level high enough to pose a real threat to him, like the demon Dahek, who was hunting him down, and the demon lord Amon’s orders, and he had prepared accordingly for such situations.

Yet throughout the entire mission, he had not encountered even a single individual above the Ascension Realm.

That absence had stood out sharply. It had forced him to adjust his plans mid-operation, abandoning subtlety and just going full-on assault.

Once he stepped in openly, the resistance had collapsed almost instantly, leaving no room for the adversaries to regroup or retaliate.

Even now, as the spaceship carried him steadily north, that detail continued to bother him.

It made no sense that a project of such importance would be guarded only by personnel at or below the Ascension Realm.

When he had finally taken control of Grimlock and gained access to internal information, William had confronted him about it directly.

Grimlock’s response had been confused rather than evasive.

He had insisted that there were indeed individuals above the Ascension Realm assigned to protect the base, but that several months earlier, they had all been called back by headquarters.

Grimlock himself had no idea why the cult had made that decision.

Barash had later confirmed something similar, explaining that he too had been transferred only a few months back.

According to him, the previous supervisor and all other high-ranking personnel under that supervisor had been recalled. It was not an isolated case either.

The same pattern had repeated across multiple bases in the south.

At the time, William’s expression had darkened as he took in the information, but he had chosen not to dwell on it then.

There had been too many immediate matters demanding his attention. Now that the mission was over and he was on his way back, the thought resurfaced with renewed weight.

“What happened that the Clayman Cult had to call back all their high-ranked personnel from the south?” he muttered quietly, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at the screen.

The thought lingered, refusing to settle.

If the cult had withdrawn powerful personnel from a top-tier project, then something else must have demanded their attention.

That something was clearly a crisis, and it was one he knew nothing about.

“If they were called back from something like that,” William continued.

“Then there must be a crisis going on somewhere else, something I am completely unaware of. What do you think, system?”

The system’s response came after a brief pause, its tone neutral as ever.

[No idea. I am as clueless as you. The Clayman Cult had not even appeared in the novel at this point in time. Their first appearance was when Alfred Draconis became the lord of the House of Draconia, and Jaden betrayed him and attacked the noble house with an army of cultists. The cult behind that incident was the same Clayman Cult.]

William frowned slightly at that.

“Yeah, I never heard of any crisis happening in the novel at this point,” he said slowly.

“And I highly doubt that some major struggle is going on between factions on Aris. If it were, I would have known in one way or another. The academy might be involved, or maybe I am just overestimating myself. Who knows?”

The system responded without hesitation.

[I would advise you to focus ahead. The spies you planted will soon mix back in and start sending intelligence. We might get some clues from that.]

William nodded. “Yeah, you are right. I guess we will just wait and let the mental hive set up next month.”

As that thought settled, another concern surfaced in his mind.

“I hope Seraphine is safe now and has returned to the academy,” he said quietly. “The main cast as well.”

The system replied promptly.

[Want me to track them?]

“Yes, please do,” William answered without hesitation.

[ding!! tracking individual Seraphine, Ethan, Leila, Katherine, Kara, Desmond, Galeion, Maximus]

William remained still as the system worked. His thoughts drifted briefly to the early days at the academy.

During the first week, he had already fed his blood to everyone in the group.

They had asked for a treat from him after he defeated the second-year dragon-kin and drained all his academy points.

William had accepted without any hesitation, mixing his blood into the food that Galeion, Kara, and Desmond consumed.

When this scheme had worked, he had briefly entertained the idea of mixing his blood into the academy’s entire water supply.

The system, however, had warned him against it. Vampires were sensitive to blood, and the security formations scattered throughout the academy would almost certainly detect something so blatant.

Another set of notifications followed.

[Ding!! Individual Seraphine, Ethan, Leila, Katherine, Galeion, Desmond, and Kara are traced to the academy.]

William released a breath he had not realized he was holding. A warm sense of relief spread through him.

Then the next notification arrived.

[ding!! Individual Maximus has been traced to the southern No Man’s Land.]

A splash of cold water came on his warm relief as he heard the next notification.

“What the hell!!” William shouted; his voice echoed slightly within the cockpit.

[I am not surprised at all, host. Imagine if Seraphine were Lia and you were Maximus. You would be running around those forests screaming yourself.]

William clenched his jaw. “I get it, system, but he needs to come back. Lia is not even there.”

[Yeah. I guess you will need to do something about it.]

William’s fingers pressed against his scalp as irritation built. “I am out of ideas at this point.”

The system paused briefly before speaking again.

[You should give him a sense of direction and some hope.]

[Maximus has a strong, unutilized talent. Try to get him to come back and use it. Try to manipulate him into getting stronger and make him a weapon against demons. It is easy to control people when you know their weaknesses.]

William’s eyes sharpened. “So you think Maximus’s weakness is Lia.”

[No. His weakness is his regret.]

[He blames himself for what happened to Lia and also for what happened to his mother. He is the bearer of broken faith, and the title given to him in the novel was not for show.]

William leaned back, staring at the ceiling of the cockpit as the ship continued its steady flight north.

System’s words made him think again about Maximus and his character.

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