The Sins

by Pegaz A

  His Scan picked up the whole mission hub. It was nearly empty. There were no guards and only a few people working the counters at the end of the wall. The mission hub was only a few feet underground; through the ceiling, he could see that the sect was almost a ghost town.

  Has Jeremy sent everybody in the sect to kill for Life Stones? Why is it this deserted?

  John saw a person walking above ground and noticed his Rogue Sect’s robes were a little different. A realisation struck him.

  While I was a member of the Rogue Sect, I was too busy reading in the library. I wanted to go on my first mission as soon as possible. I never learned the Rogue Sect’s chain of command system!

  Sword Sect has Sect Master, Honoured Elder, Grand Elder, Elder, Elite Disciple, Inner Disciple, and the last on the chain is Outer Disciple. What does the Rogue Sect have? I only know the Sect Master and the Grand Elders. There are regular Elders and Disciples, too, but I don’t know how they dress. I never paid attention to that kind of thing back then… Ugh, I was so stupid…

  John sighed. Taking a gander, he made his clothes change to the same clothes the person he saw on the surface was wearing before teleporting above ground. He then walked without a goal. His eyes took in his surroundings and once he was satisfied, he turned Life Vision and Immortal Eye on. He glanced around as discreetly as possible.

  Jeremy May

  Rank: 9

  Level: 9

  Sin: 163,634,174

  Status: Memory Manipulated

  WHAT?! He’s manipulated, too? Then who’s the real mastermind? Nobody inside this sect is free of manipulation!

  Either way, Jeremy still had to die. He killed John’s master. That wasn’t something John could resolve peacefully. At any rate, Jeremy should still have the technique that John sought. The real mastermind couldn’t have stripped him off it, right?

  John looked around the sect one last time with Life Vision and Immortal Eye for anybody who could surprise him. When it was clear, he teleported to a location just a few miles away from Jeremy. Gritting his teeth, John took out both his nano swords and unsheathed them.

  Taking a long and steady breath, John swung his sword horizontally while pushing out Toxin Power for extra speed. In a rush, he teleported behind Jeremy, making sure Jeremy’s neck was in the path of his blade’s swing.

  A second later, Jeremy’s disembodied head flew up in the air.

  John put his nano swords away, hiding them with as much speed as he swung them. Eyes darting, he saw no one in the direct vicinity and lowered his guard somewhat. He placed his left hand on Jeremy’s lifeless body, quickly placing it into his Storage Space so there was no chance for a comeback.

  Eyes falling onto the head that simply landed on the floor with a small patter, John was stunned.

  “This... is a little anticlimactic, right?”

  Chapter 12

  Attacked

  John stood there, dazed. It was only eight years ago that this man killed his master. Last time they fought, John used everything he had, only to leave a mere scar on Jeremy’s right arm.

  Inside Jeremy’s home—where he now stood—was complete silence. John reminisced about his master Jamie, all the while forcing himself to search through the parchments on a nearby table for any information he could use.

  If only Jeremy had waited another eight years before making his move, I could have stopped him from killing my master.

  No, that’s being optimistic. Changing the past would do nothing for me. I’ve gone through so much, all for the sake of revenge. I’m stronger now because of what he did to me. In a way, Jeremy made me who I am today.

  “Who are you?”

  John’s blood froze in his veins. The voice came from… behind him?

  He jumped in fright and swung around in an absolute flurry. Flustered as he’d never been before, he misstepped and fell onto the table he was rummaging through, causing it to collapse. The whole thing was quite a sight as John tumbled onto the ground, stray parchment flying in all directions.

  The loud sound of the table being knocked over onto the floor would have attracted people, but John recalled that there was no one in the vicinity to hear him. The thought brought a little comfort to his racing heart, but not much. Did someone slip by his Scan? What powerful being was capable of that?

  Still shaken, John used his Scan and saw nobody in the room. He turned Life Vision and Immortal Eye back on and stood up, but still couldn’t find anybody in the area. His heart pounded.

  “You going to answer me?”

  John turned towards the source of the voice.

  The only thing nearby was... Jeremy’s head?

  Jeremy’s eyes stared up at John, eyebrows twitching quizzically.

  “You’re still alive?” The panic in John’s throat subsided, blossoming into somewhat of a chuckle. “No wonder it’s much harder to kill a Rank 9. Even being beheaded isn’t enough.”

  Wait… If Jeremy’s body was still here, could he telepathically tell it to place his head back on top of it? Or is his head going to bite me and turn me into a zombie? Damn, I watched too many movies in my past life...

  John was going to ask the head, but Jeremy’s head knitted its brows.

  “You still haven’t answered me!”

  John looked under the head and saw blood still gushing out of it. This wasn’t an illusion. He turned around and found a chair to sit on. He didn’t want to be too close in case his zombie theory was right. As he walked over to the chair, he turned off Life Vision and Immortal Eye and spoke.

  “You know me, at least you think you do.” He sneered down over his shoulder at the head. “You tried to get me to join you with Michael years ago. Back then, I was much weaker and I have to admit, I was a little flattered you wanted me to join you.”

  Jeremy’s face remained unchanged, and John took his seat with somewhat of a condescending glare.

  “But you only tried to get me to join you because of my identity. With all these clues, can you guess who I am?”

  Jeremy snarled back. “No, I don’t know you! Answer me!”

  Almost annoyed at this point, John removed his disguise ever so slowly.

  There was a strangled rasp as Jeremy figured it out.

  “It’s you!” the dead man screeched. “I saw you die by my attack! How are you alive?!”

  His voice was so loud John had to put his index fingers in his ears.

  “Shut up!”

  A hush fell over the room.

  “You thought I died, that’s because I let you see an illusion, a trick.” John spat the words out with a roll of his eyes. “Your attack would have killed me if I didn’t have my skills. You know I’m a Sider. Siders get stronger much faster than regular people. That’s why you invited me to join you all those years ago, isn’t it?”

  Jeremy went even paler as an expression of pure horror fell upon him.

  “How did you find out about me?” John’s gaze was piercing. “You’ve probably got a blood oath about keeping the information secret, but I will not ask you for the information that will activate the blood oath so don’t worry. I want your answers more than I want your death at the moment, which is a refreshing change of pace.”

  John could sense a tinge of relief in Jeremy’s demeanour. He needed to change that.

  “Normally, people in this situation would torture you for information, but because I’ve realised a way to extract memories from people, I don’t need to torture you.” John let a sickeningly sweet smile cross his lips, teeth peeking out from behind. “Nope, you don’t have to worry about that, either. I’m only going to torture you because I want the pleasure of giving you the pain you deserve after killing my master. No matter what you say or don’t say, it won’t stop.”

  There was a pause while John smugly looked down at Jeremy’s panicked expression.

  “The only downside is that you have to die for the memory extraction to work.” John pouted playfully, scowling in disappointment. “Otherwise I wou
ld have loved to torture you for countless millenniums. I think you’re getting off easy this way.”

  Before Jeremy could speak, John used his wood element to change the wooden floor into moving branches. In a flash, he commanded the branches to pierce through Jeremy’s eyes and voice box. Blood splashed outward from the new wounds, but not much; most of the dead man’s blood had already drained through his disembodied neck.

  Underneath the wood was stone so using his earthen element, John formed a furnace. The moving branches placed Jeremy’s head in the middle of the furnace, where John continued to enhance his creation. He used nano metal to construct metal spikes and placed them underneath Jeremy’s head. Every time Jeremy voicelessly screamed, a metal spike would pierce his chin or throat.

  John used his fire element to start a black fire underneath Jeremy’s head. While it wouldn’t hurt a Rank 9 in small portions, it was different when being burned alive for long periods of time. To further draw out this torture, John made a giant funnel above the furnace and filled it using his water element. The funnel would only allow one drop of water to fall every second, landing on Jeremy’s head.

  Finally, John built stone walls at least three feet thick inside the room, making it more secure. He wanted this to go on for as long as possible. He gazed around at his handiwork.

  These types of torture are for the long run. The water is almost at freezing temperatures and while Jeremy doesn’t feel it now, he soon will. The fire is the same; it could only burn his skin a little last time I used it against him. But this time, the fire is constantly burning him and will get worse over time.

  I can keep this up until somebody comes and looks for Jeremy. If he’s lucky, that could be a few months, but if he’s unlucky, it could be years.

  Satisfied, John teleported away.

  He arrived at his old house that his master had gifted him. Over the years, it had gathered layers of dust and debris, but John paid them no heed. With a deep breath, he sat down on his chair on the round patch of grass. From his storage space, he took out Jeremy’s headless, fat body.

  Going through the bags tied up to the robes, he found a few parchments with mission details on them. Opening the robes a little to get to the inside pockets, John found a small bag. Within it was a booklet with a worn out cover, only a few pages thick.

  The book was a guide to performing the memory manipulation technique. John poured over the text immediately. Though it was only a few pages thick, it still took him a few hours to understand it all.

  As John reached a full understanding of the technique, he heard a familiar chime from the system.

  ‘Ding!’

  Sider’s mind attack is ineffective on the user.

  Chapter 13

  The Memory Manipulation Technique

  Huh? Where did that come from?

  John got off his chair and looked around with Life Vision and Immortal Eye. His Scan was still on, too, but still, he found nothing at all.

  After making sure the coast was all clear, he sat back down on his chair.

  Lowering his head and looking at the book, he thought about the situation.

  That attack is from this book, I’m sure of it! This technique is special.

  Usually, the memory manipulation techniques were like blockades made of Life Power inside the mind. These blockades stopped the person from accessing their memories. To get rid of the technique, you needed to know where these blockades were placed and the weaknesses of said blockade.

  I read about most of the manipulation techniques back in the library while doing my first long distance mission. That’s why I thought I could help my master break the technique.

  But this technique was about brainwaves. You’d plant a tiny amount of Life Power inside peoples’ minds and then it would stealthily attach to a random neuron. The Life Power enhanced neuron would then emit the brainwaves at a certain frequency, completely undetected.

  The brainwaves would interfere with the electric signals the brain produces, so while the infected person could still access their memories, their thought process would change depending on the person using the technique. Something the victim was proud of today could change into something they were ashamed of tomorrow. It depended solely on the user of the technique. Even if they had completely different values or priorities in life, the infected would change over time to fit the user’s will.

  The only difference between each victim was the time required for each person to give in to the technique. If the victim had completely opposing values and a strong mind, then it could take months or years depending on how good the user was at the technique. But if they had similar values and the victim had a weak mind, then the technique could take over the whole brain within a matter of minutes.

  The only way to undo this specific technique was to know the frequency of the brainwaves. You would then need to plant another tiny amount of Life Power inside the infected person to clash against the first Life Power’s frequency. The two frequencies would cancel each other out. The body’s defensive system would then attack and destroy both of the infected neurons soon after.

  The drawback of this solution was that the victim could no longer be manipulated using the same technique. So once they had broken the technique and had been set free, they’d become immune to it completely. It was for this reason that John depended on the loophole in this technique. If the first user of the technique died, then John could potentially take over the already infected people.

  This means that if I kill Jeremy, I can take over the people Jeremy has control over. It will take time for those people to change their values to mine, but it shouldn’t be that long since they’ve been under the technique for years.

  John concluded that the technique in question was definitely the product of a Sider. Upon learning the technique, there was a backlash of Life Power that caused the technique to be used on you. Immortals couldn’t do that for more than a few days, which was why a Sider had to be responsible. This book was with Jeremy for hundreds of years already; only a law-defying system could do that.

  If I didn’t have my system and the immunity to these kinds of techniques, then there would be a piece of Life Power inside my head throwing out the frequency right now without me knowing about it.

  But John was struck by another conundrum. Why did Jeremy not have the manipulated status eight years ago? Could it have something to do with the distance of the user and the target? Or how often it was used?

  Jeremy’s use of the technique on people he was in direct proximity to was a stronger signal than that of a Sider who could be on the other side of the universe. Maybe the Sider had no way of knowing that Jeremy was infected by their technique without coming here themselves. That would explain why it took so much longer to come into effect. This also explained why it took so long for Jeremy to take over the entire sect. He couldn’t use the technique that well, and he had to come into physical contact with the person he wanted to use it on. Combined with the mental fortitude of the assassins who were his targets, it all just made sense.

  I’m able to use this technique now, too, but it will be as slow as when Jeremy used it. The only difference is that when I master the technique, I’ll be able to use my threads to touch my targets from 100 feet away. If my system creates a skill from this knowledge, then I could use it as perfectly as the other Sider.

  System, that’s your cue to go ding with a pop-up saying you’ve created the skill!

  Nothing happened. John sighed out of disappointment.

  If I’m going to use this technique with the threads, then I will need years, decades, or maybe centuries of practice to perfect it. Sarah has 350 years before she dies of old age, but I can’t wait that long, either.

  It’s too bad, I wanted to torture Jeremy for years but circumstances have changed.

  John put the technique inside his Storage Space.

  ‘Ding!’

  Scanning...

  It surprised John that the system was scannin
g a technique. He had books inside the Storage Space before, yet nothing happened then. Was it because a Sider created this technique? John felt some excitement bubble within him.

  However, when the system finished scanning, nothing happened. John’s excitement fell flat.

  I have to admit, having too many skills is counterproductive, especially when you have to spend time and effort to train the skill. But what is it about this rank’s version of the system? It hasn’t given me any skills at all since updating from version 4.9! Is the system broken? Gone on vacation? System malfunction?

  All I want is a skill that will wake Sarah up. Is that too much to ask?

  John sighed dejectedly then walked through the sect’s area and back towards Jeremy’s house.

  When he entered, Jeremy’s head was still in the furnace. His torture device seemed lacklustre now that John was feeling a little down. With slow movements, John removed his creations one by one and put the house back to how it was before he came. He used a tree branch to wrap around Jeremy’s mouth and place him on top of the table.

  “No need for you to speak, just listen.” John took a seat once more, nonchalantly tipping the chair back and forth with all the attitude of a pouting child. “The game has changed, so I’m just going to kill you. I read the memory manipulation technique you used and guess what? You were under it, buddy.”

  Jeremy’s blistered face contorted into a hideous expression that John guessed had to be shock.

  “That’s right, you buffoon. When you first read this technique, which a Sider made, the technique had a Life Power attack embedded inside. You’ve been under its effects since.” John played with his nails a bit, seemingly bored out of his mind but mildly smug that he got to explain all of this in detail. “Your life’s work has amounted to being the poorest sect master in the universe’s history—becoming a puppet of a Sider, getting killed by a Sider and... having your soul destroyed by a Sider.”

  Finally, the fun part.