The Sins

by Pegaz A

  The second divination was about me destroying the Rogue Sect. Sarah told me her ex-master explained to her that the billions of lives for the Rogue Sect’s destruction wasn’t good enough. He made a deal with Sarah and sent her to capture me instead. Her ex-master wanted to know Rogue Sect’s location so he could be the one to destroy the Rogue Sect.

  Their knowledge of the future and the actions they took caused the divination to come true. All because he didn’t know Sarah was a Sider.

  Billions of people have died, but most of that number was made up of the people living on the Anti-Assassin Sect’s home planet. I’ve also technically destroyed the Rogue Sect by changing its name. The two divinations came true, just not the way anybody would have thought.

  John saw four people walking towards him with his Scan. They had stopped outside the door and were about to knock. Before they could, John pushed Toxin Power into his throat and called out to them.

  “Come in.”

  Through his Scan, John could see their surprised faces, which made him laugh a little. When I first entered this house, my master must have had a really good laugh when he did that to me. Those four people were only a little surprised, but I’m sure I almost jumped out of my skin.

  The four people walked down the long corridor and stood a dozen feet away from John. They dipped low in a respectful bow. When they stood up straight, they introduced themselves one at a time, starting with the man on the far left.

  “My name is Patrick Williams and I am the head of the spying department.” The man looked like he was in his eighties. He was half bald, had a short speckled beard, and a bumpy nose. His green eyes sparkled true to their colour, half buried under a sinking brow. His thin, white eyebrows were arched. He stood about 6 feet and had a slim build.

  “I am the head of the investigators, Ryan Moloney.” Standing at about 5 feet and 11 inches with a slim build, the man who spoke was younger looking, appearing to be in his late thirties or early forties. He had short wavy brown hair, a large forehead, long ears, and a straight nose. John was amused by his bushy eyebrows, but not for long as the next in line introduced himself.

  “My department makes contracts with all the information gathered. My name is Milton Mitchell.” Milton looked even younger still, in his late teens or early twenties. He had short brown hair that cascaded across his brows. He had brown eyes, big ears, a crooked nose, and was incredibly clean shaven. He stood at about 6 feet and 2 inches with an average build.

  “I am in charge of verifying that the right target is dead and that payment is delivered to sect members after completing the contract. My name is Sadie Burks.” The last person was the only woman in the group. Sadie stood at 5 feet and 5 inches, with a slim build and a stern face. She looked to be in her late twenties, straight light brown hair reaching past her shoulders neatly. Her thin lips were a little turned down, as if in a semi-permanent frown.

  John smiled warmly and welcomed them all.

  “Nice to meet you all.” He reached out his hand to each of them, going down the line. “My name is John Allen, and like I said, I’m the only disciple of the late sect master, Jamie Cooper.”

  He then checked them all with his Immortal Eye.

  Patrick Williams

  Rank: 7

  Level: 9

  Sin: 9

  Status: Memory Manipulated

  Ryan Moloney

  Rank: 5

  Level: 9

  Sin: 2

  Status: Memory Manipulated

  Milton Mitchell

  Rank: 5

  Level: 8

  Sin: 29

  Status: Memory Manipulated

  Sadie Burks

  Rank: 5

  Level: 3

  Sin: 0

  Status: Memory Manipulated

  It makes sense these people were manipulated by Jeremy since they’re the people in charge of things inside the sect. It also makes sense their sin is so low because they don’t do the contracts to kill people.

  “I asked you here today so we can change things back to how they were when my master was running things. I was going to have you meet with Luke so you can get to know each other, but something came up which will keep him busy for a few days.” John offered them each a seat so they could begin the meeting.

  He explained that the information department would need to work closely with some of them, while others would only need to talk with Luke every now and then. There were also a few more tasks he wanted them to perform, in addition to their assigned duties.

  He wanted investigators to update a target’s known strength with each passing year, keeping their system up to date until an assassin accepted the contract. That way, there wouldn’t be any surprises; the contracted assassin would have a much better chance of surviving and completing the contract, which gave the sect a higher rate of success.

  “While I’m at it...” John looked at Patrick. “Do we have any spies inside the Adventurers Guild? I need somebody high in the rankings, and maybe the plan I have in mind will help get them promoted.”

  His question surprised Patrick, but after thinking for a while, he nodded.

  “We have a few spies in the Adventurers Guild,” he remarked. “And one person is in the position you’ve spoken about. If he gets promoted because of what you have planned, then we will have access to more sensitive and secret information from them, too.”

  John smiled and took out a blank parchment, rolled it flat on the table, and thought about what to write for a few minutes. He took out a writing brush and ink, then wrote something.

  When he finished, John brought out an empty envelope and placed the parchment inside, then sealed it using his Toxin Power. He gave the letter to Patrick.

  “Keep this on you for now,” he instructed. “When I give the word, give it to the spy inside the Adventurers Guild about two months before their annual auction. It could be a few years before I ask, though.”

  Patrick took the letter and placed it in his bag.

  “Now,” John said, addressing all four people. “Do we have a prison in this sect?”

  Chapter 30

  New Blood Oath

  “We do,” Patrick answered quickly. “We have a prison for people who betray our sect in any way, as well as for those who commit any other jail-worthy crimes.”

  “Betrayal, huh?” John tilted his head at Patrick. “How did they betray our sect with the blood oath in place?”

  Milton answered before Patrick.

  “Things like telling their target they had been contracted to kill the person.” The frown on Milton’s face said it all. “Unless he or she pays the same price as the contract to live deal, this results in a loss for the sect.”

  “I see.” John nodded back at Patrick. “I need you to fetch fifteen people from the prison, then. Tell them they can get their freedom back if they join another sect to spy for us. We need volunteers for the Sword Sect, Dual Cultivation Sect, and the Death Sect. We need five people for each sect.”

  There was a pause, then John’s face twisted darkly.

  “What you’re not going to tell them is that they are sacrificial pawns. The Sword Sect and Dual Cultivation Sect knows about the Rogue Sect. They are weeding spies out by using our blood oath against us.”

  “But… Sir…”

  “The five prisoners in each sect will be killed.” John’s expression was calm and collected, but there was something dark glinting in the hollows of his eyes. “We need the sects to believe they’re accomplishing something great. The Sword and Dual Cultivation Sects will detect the spies instantly, but I’m not certain of what the Death Sect knows of us.”

  John went on to suggest that Patrick withdraw his current spies if there were any on the Death Sect’s planet. He was instructed to make sure all spies were present to take the new blood oath, or else they would most likely perish.

  “Especially that spy you’ve told me about inside the Adventurers Guild.” John leaned back in his chair, making it seem mo
re and more like an iron throne with his calm yet menacing aura. “Both he and the letter I’ve given you are now a big part of my plan in the future.”

  John hypothesized that when the Death Sect found out about the Rogue Sect, they would use the blood oath to weed people out, too. That was where the five prisoners would come in to act as decoys. If the blood oath didn’t work on anyone, the Death Sect would still remain suspicious.

  “And finally, the other thing I’ve asked you to come here for is to help me make the new blood oath.” John crossed his legs casually as he addressed the four before him. “As sect master, I can remove the blood oath from members by using the sect master token. But without a new blood oath to replace it, I won’t remove it. Something simple but to the point would work best. Something like ‘I will not betray the sect in any way or alert others of its presence, name, plans, and members.’ What’s your take?”

  There was a brief spell of silence, but Sadie was the first to reply.

  “We need something about not trying to scam the sect.” Her words were stern, and she seemed completely unbothered by John’s underlying attitude. “Some of those prisoners killed innocent people and brought their heads to try and redeem their contract’s pay.”

  “We also need something about giving false information,” Milton jutted in. “If it came from investigators, then it isn’t their fault. However, if they find out a piece of information and then report it to us without verifying whether it is true, then that could cause other members’ deaths.”

  “Perhaps a bit unrelated,” Patrick chimed in, “but we also need to keep the symbol of our oath the same so the teleport room doesn’t attack the members.”

  John nodded and considered their ideas.

  I also need to put something in there to make the assassins only kill for payment. I want to fuel their greed so I can earn more sin points from them.

  They spent the next few days inside the house, ironing out the clauses.

  Luke came back after three days to report that he’d become a Rank 2 Level 8, which surprised John. The younger Sider re-introduced himself to Patrick, Ryan, Milton, and Sadie. They then worked out the rest of the details for the new department and how it would work with the other departments.

  After another two days, it was all settled. They concluded that it would cost a huge amount of Life Stones to get it all set up, but it would be well worth it. John paid for the whole thing using the Grade 9 Life Stones that he’d stolen from the Anti-Assassin vault.

  With Luke’s help, they finished the new blood oath, making it as airtight as it could be. The members with this blood oath could not scam, betray, or identify the Nobody Sect’s name, location, or members in any way. However, they were still able to say things like ‘Rogue Sect’, and the word ‘nobody’ without it activating. There was a clause, though, where they could only use these terms while either distracting someone or misdirecting people with regards to Nobody Sect.

  Now that they had the blood oath sorted out, it was time to have every member take it. But for them to take the new blood oath, John needed to get rid of the old one first.

  John, Luke, and the others teleported, then walked towards the admin building. There was a small building near the main building that they used as the place to do the blood oaths. The group created two teleport runes and placed one on each side for the entrance and exit.

  Members would come in through one teleport one at a time, have the old blood oath removed, pledge to the new blood oath, and then exit by the other teleport rune. For this to work, the five department heads were to stand guard at the entrance and exit runes. They each received a communication device from John that would vibrate when John pressed the button on his, notifying them when the next person was to come through.

  The first person to come through the teleport rune was Patrick. He walked up to John, who took out the sect master token, placed his fingers on its rune in the correct position, and pushed Toxin Power inside it in a particular order. When John was acknowledged as the sect master by all members of the sect, the token showed him the technique to use. With John using Toxin Power rather than Life Power, the rune would remove the sect’s blood oath much faster.

  The sect master token lit up with a blood-red glow, so John pointed it towards Patrick. The rune shot a sphere towards Patrick’s forehead and then entered his brain. After a few seconds, drops of blood came out from all over Patrick’s head; it turned what hair he had left into a dark red colour.

  Patrick wiped the blood off his forehead so it wouldn’t get in his eyes, then he took out a dagger. John placed a leather parchment with a rune design onto the floor. This would be the foundation for the new blood oath. Patrick walked over and used the dagger to slice his finger open. When a drop of blood landed on the parchment, the rune lit up.

  John gave Patrick another parchment with the wording of the new blood oath. The latter read the blood oath word by word; John made sure he missed not one word.

  While Patrick said the new blood oath, John used the Memory Manipulation skill with a thread that touched Patrick’s head. Even though Patrick was already manipulated from Jeremy, John wasn’t sure if it would last.

  When his final Memory Manipulation skill was completed, it would change to a new frequency. It worried him that when his technique changed frequency, the people who Jeremy manipulated would be out of his control. And so, he decided to use his skill on the people he came into contact with inside the sect.

  After Patrick finished the new blood oath, he went back through the same teleport he came through since he was the person standing guard. Ryan, Milton, Sadie, and Luke followed suit and took the new blood oath. After them, a steady flow of people went through the same process.

  A whole day of this went by and John was somewhat annoyed. The process was too slow! On the following day, he instructed more people to come in at a time. He would remove the blood oath of one person while another made the new pledge. This way seemed a bit faster, but it was still tedious.

  Over the course of the next few days, the process developed and sped up. By the end, it took less than a second for the old blood oath to be destroyed and the new blood oath to be put in place. As cultivators, their thought, speech, and movements were hundreds of times faster than those of a mortal. Each member was pressured to step up to this expectation.

  All 15 million people—each taking one second to get inside the room, one second for the old blood oath to get destroyed, and one more second for them to generate the new blood oath and exit the room—would have taken eighteen months to finish. John was going out of his mind with the repetitiveness.

  Finally, John pinned up the parchment with the new blood oath up on the wall. As soon as they placed a drop of their blood on the parchment, they could read from the wall.

  After a few hundred thousand people, the blood oath parchment needed replacing, so he got two hundred of them made to make sure he didn’t run out and that they’d be ready for him to use when needed.

  With all the efficiency of John and the five department heads combined, they finished the new blood oath for all 15 million people in a mere seven months.

  Chapter 31

  Combine

  About three months into mass-performing the blood oath ceremony, the Memory Manipulation’s Voice skill reached completion. The moment it did, John asked Luke to come inside the small building for a nonspecific task. He just wanted to discreetly check if the younger Sider was still under the Memory Manipulation skill.

  To John’s delight, he was. The only difference John could tell was the frequency had changed. John had continued using his threads to place the Memory Manipulation onto people as they poured through the building. He had noticed that the frequency only changed on the people he used the skill on; those whose Memory Manipulation stemmed from Jeremy had no change prior to John’s intervening.

  The fact that John was able to infect so many people manually this way made the whole new oath system worth it.

/>   After John completed the Memory Manipulation skill, he put all Idlers into Atom Defence and completed that skill after another 20d 12h. When that skill was completed, John took out his nano sword and tried slicing his palm with it. The sword easily ripped apart the invisible veil from the Defence skill, but when it touched John’s palm, he could feel his skin tightening up to resist the sharp edge. No matter how much strength John used, the nano sword could not cut him. So John lifted the sword up and swung it at the speed of sound, aimed at his arm.

  The sword hit his arm but still could not cut his skin. The force of the blow sent his arm hurtling backwards, though.

  It took another 20d 12h for the unique skill ‘Creation’s Oxygen’ to complete. After it finished, John stopped breathing altogether to test it. After five hours of not breathing, John had the urge to take a deep breath. Even though his lungs now created oxygen rather than consumed it, John still had the primal instinct to breathe.

  It took weeks of not breathing to get used to it. Even then, if he wasn’t concentrating, he would naturally breathe. What surprised him was while he wasn’t breathing, the absorbing technique did not alter in any way. That meant that he had one more part of his mind freed since he didn’t need to use it for the breathing technique to pair with his absorbing technique.

  John thought maybe the Creating skill was making oxygen at the same tempo as the breathing technique he was using, since another skill of his created it. It made sense that the System’s skills would all work together.

  It took another 1mo 13d for the unique Creation’s Combine skill to complete, but because John was doing the blood oaths, he didn’t have time to test it.

  The only skills left to level up in the system were Max Idlers, Max Workers, and Neuron Storage. John put all Idlers into the Neuron Storage slot because spending months for a level in Max Idlers was not worth it at this point.