Seraphine’s eyes flickered open slowly.
The first thing she felt was the heaviness in her chest, as if she had been dragged out of deep water after staying under for too long.
Her breath came out in a sharp gasp as though her body was relearning how to breathe.
"William!!!"
The name escaped her lips without thought. Her voice cracked, and her hands instinctively clenched as if reaching for something that was no longer there.
"My baby!!"
A familiar voice cut through her confusion.
Her vision was still blurred, but a shape rushed into focus, trembling and wet with tears.
Selena’s face appeared above her, distorted by emotion, eyes red and swollen; it was apparent that she had been crying for far too long.
For a moment, Sera couldn’t understand what she was seeing.
Her thoughts felt scattered, disconnected, floating somewhere between dream and reality.
The last thing she remembered was being in William’s embrace and the long journey she had endured with her friends.
Then suddenly, as she blinked slowly, her awareness sharpened.
She realized she wasn’t lying on a bed.
There was no ceiling above her.
Instead, there was open sky.
Her eyes widened as she noticed the rough texture beneath her and the strange openness around her.
She was lying in the open, held tightly in her mother’s arms, surrounded by unfamiliar presences and tense air.
Selena noticed the change instantly.
She wrapped her arms around Seraphine with sudden force, hugging her so tightly that Sera felt the tremble running through her mother’s body.
Selena buried her face against her daughter’s hair, her shoulders shaking as suppressed sobs finally escaped.
Sera remained frozen for a second, overwhelmed by the intensity of the embrace.
Then slowly, she lifted her arms and returned the hug.
Her gaze drifted past her mother’s shoulder.
The world around her came into focus piece by piece.
Warriors stood scattered across the clearing.
Some were stained with blood; their expressions were grim. Beyond them were figures she recognized: Andrea and some leaders.
Her eyes moved again.
In the distance, she saw them.
Ethan, Leila, Katherine, Desmond, Kara, and Galeion.
They stood beside their parents or guardians. Some were relieved, some tense, looking as though they were bracing for punishment that had not yet come.
A knot formed in Sera’s chest.
A sharp, unsettling thought rose in her mind.
Had they been caught?
Is this the end of our mission?
What about Lia?
Her fingers tightened unconsciously against her mother’s clothing.
Far from the reunion, perched casually on Yue’s shoulder, Tamasya sat in her cat form.
Her expression was anything but casual.
"I am going to kill her!!" she muttered, her voice low but sharp with hostility.
"Calm down, Tamasya."
Shadow’s voice echoed inside her mind.
Tamasya’s eyes narrowed.
"You are telling me to calm down?" she snapped mentally. "For the past hour, this girl has been taking Will’s name and moaning in her dreams. Do you seriously think I can calm down?!!"
Shadow did not immediately reply and chose to ignore her comments.
Nearby, the interrogation had reached its end.
A restrained cultist screamed hoarsely as pain finally broke what remained of his resistance.
What was left of his body shook violently, blood pooling beneath him as his willpower gave out.
With trembling hands, he pointed toward the map spread on the ground.
A finger pressed down.
Blood smeared across parchment.
A red mark bloomed far to the south.
Blood Rose stepped forward calmly; her expression was detached from the man suffering in front of her.
She folded the map carefully and walked toward Marcus, holding it out.
"General," she reported evenly, "we have extracted eight locations."
"These individuals were responsible for abducting and transporting victims to separate bases. Each cultist was assigned one base and knew nothing of the others."
"But these cultists have reported that there were two more like them who used to kidnap and transport victims, but they haven’t appeared here in a while."
She paused briefly before continuing.
"Based on this pattern, we estimate ten bases in total."
"One base has already been discovered by Empress Vivianne and was presumably destroyed by the White Raven."
"That leaves one remaining location unaccounted for."
Marcus nodded slowly, absorbing the information.
"Proceed with the next stage," he said. "Launch simultaneous attacks on all eight confirmed bases."
"Interrogate the base leaders and extract further intelligence."
He turned toward Damian, Andrea, and the other leaders.
"We split into eight groups and regroup here."
He marked a point on the map.
No one objected.
The leaders present were separated efficiently into eight groups.
Only Selena shook her head.
"I will take the children back to the academy," she said firmly.
No one argued.
The decision was accepted without hesitation.
Preparations moved swiftly.
But then...
"Mom!!"
Selena turned sharply.
Seraphine was running toward her; her steps were hurried and uneven, and panic was written clearly across her face.
The other first-years followed close behind.
Sera stopped in front of her mother, breathing hard.
"What is it?" Selena asked; her voice became immediately tense.
"Mom!!" Sera said urgently, "Maximus ran away!!"
"We can’t find him anywhere!!"
The words hit everyone like a blow.
Selena’s expression froze.
She turned slowly toward Andrea.
"What?" Andrea reacted, already feeling another problem settle onto her shoulders.
***
Far away, in the southern reaches of the continent, William stood before a gathered crowd.
More than two hundred and fifty people faced him.
They stood unevenly, some with lowered heads, some staring blankly ahead, and others trembling faintly under the weight of the slave marks binding them.
William wore his raven mask.
From the makeshift stage they had constructed for him, he looked down at them in silence.
[Congrats!! You have a small army of slaves now!!]
William exhaled quietly.
"Ugh," he muttered. "At least I won’t have to use cheesy lines to motivate them."
[I advise you to say something. Pure cold orders won’t land well in their minds.]
William sighed and stepped forward.
"Fine."
He took a breath and spoke loudly.
"Dear slaves!!"
[What the hell!!]
His voice echoed across the hall, but more importantly, his will echoed directly inside their minds through the slave marks.
"Even though you have betrayed your own motherland, Aris," William continued, before his tone turned steady,
"You have been given a chance at redemption."
"Under the gracious blessing of the Eternal Sovereign."
The words pressed down on them with undeniable weight.
"Prove your devotion."
"Infiltrate the Clayman Cult using your previous identities."
"Gather information."
"Report everything to your seniors standing behind me."
He gestured subtly towards Grimlock, Barash, Ronin, and Benson.
They stood rigidly behind him, silent and imposing.
"Every servant of the Eternal Sovereign is connected through the slave mark," William continued.
"You will receive missions, submit reports, and transmit critical information through the mental link."
"There will be no misunderstandings."
He paused briefly.
"From today onward, you will have to abandon your old names."
"You will be identified by numbers."
"Benson is 0001."
"Each of you will be assigned a number according to your seniority and merit."
"As you earn merit, exclusive IDs may be granted."
"If promoted, you may reclaim your names and bear those like Grimlock, Barash, and Ronin."
William continued, explaining the hierarchy, the structure, and the rules governing them. It was something the system had come up with, but there was only one downside to it.
The mental link would cost SP, a lot of SP.
The system advised William to establish a permanent hive of these mental links.
But the cost of such a hive was astronomical, so William decided to get it from the next month’s free purchase. Until then, he could just pay for every money transfer separately.
He explicitly told the slave to only report the most important information till a hive is established.
William smiled as his speech and instructions concluded.
He would have a strong network of spies eventually, with this kind of setup, thinking about which excited him and tingled his mind.