Sin Collector Cultivator

10. Shadow Behind the World Tree

The gray mist on the slopes of the Silent Mountains crept slowly, coiling around giant roots that protruded from the ground like the bones of ancient giants. In the midst of that haunting silence, a magnificent tree towered, piercing the clouds with glowing golden leaves—a painful contrast in the middle of a decaying forest. The locals called it Little Yggdrasil or the World Tree, but to Arion, it was just another monument to hypocrisy.

"System, provide a karmic radiation report on this tree structure."

[System Report: Subject—World Tree (Pseudo-Cosmic).]

[Status: Energy Parasite. Siphons 80% of soil nutrients from a 50-kilometer radius to produce 'Fortune Leaves'.]

[Malice Content: Hidden in the root core. Squeezed earth's hatred detected at 200,000 Units.]

Arion stopped right in front of a root as tall as a human house. "Just an energy pump coated in gold paint."

"You really have no sense of wonder at the miracles of nature, do you?" Lyra let out a long sigh, sheathing her sword roughly. "A long time ago, my teacher said this tree was a blessing from the Sky Gods to maintain the fertility of this continent."

"Your teacher was a liar, Lyra. Just like Caspian," Arion replied without looking back.

"Hey! I know that now, but could you not say it with such a flat tone? It feels like you're reading a grocery list!"

"Reality often lacks an interesting tone," Arion glanced toward Serafina, who was kneeling near a moss-covered root. "Healer, what have you found?"

Serafina touched the bark of the tree with her fingertips, her face looking pale under the golden light descending from the branches. "This tree is crying, Arion. Its regret... is much older than mine. It was forced to grow to become a symbol of purity, while it knows that its presence kills thousands of hectares of forest around it."

"Can you 'heal' its regret, Serafina?" Lyra asked, approaching with a curious expression.

"Heal? No. This regret has already frozen into the wood core," Serafina withdrew her hand, a remnant of silver vapor escaping from her palm. "I can only feel the vibrations of death within it. This tree will die within a hundred years, and when it falls, these entire mountains will become a dead desert."

"Good," Arion said coldly. "The sooner this fake miracle crumbles, the sooner humans will learn to rely on themselves."

[Warning: Spiritual Anomaly Detected.]

[Radius: 100 meters. Location: Shadow of the branch at two o'clock.]

[Status: Emotions undetected (Neutral Zero).]

Arion's steps stopped instantly. "System, reconfirm. Is it a monster or a human?"

[Analysis Continuing... Subject is not a monster. Human, but heartbeat is abnormally steady. No emotional color on radar. 'Void Presence' detected.]

"Lyra, draw your sword. A guest without a conscience is observing us."

Lyra swiftly unsheathed her black blade, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the giant branches above them. "Conscience? You're joking, right? In this world, almost no one has one. Who are they?"

"I don't know who, but I know what," Arion held out his hand, black energy beginning to swirl in his palm. "She radiates no regret, anger, or despair. She is... empty."

"Empty? Impossible," Serafina stood up, her hands beginning to glow with a thin silver light for protection. "Even a corpse has lingering emotions attached to it. How can a living person have no emotional color?"

"That is the problem," Arion shouted toward the darkness of the branches above them. "Come out. You are wasting our time. I have known you were there since we crossed the outermost root boundary."

Silence enveloped the forest for a few seconds. Only the sound of the wind hissing through the golden leaves remained. Suddenly, a shadow glided down without a single sound, landing on a low branch with a movement lighter than a feather.

A woman in sleek black armor, wearing an expressionless white porcelain mask. Her black hair was tied in a high ponytail, and in her hand, she held a short dagger that seemed to suck the light around it.

"This sector is forbidden to strangers," the woman's voice was flat, toneless, completely hollow. "Die in three seconds or be corrected."

"Corrected? You're using my terms?" Arion smiled thinly. "Very interesting. System, report her power level."

[Report: Elara (Status: Unknown Assassin). Realm: Golden Core Level 2 (Sealed).]

[Anomaly: 'Empathy Void' technique. Subject suppresses all emotions into a soul seal.]

"Who sent you, Masked Girl?" Lyra stepped forward, letting the black mist from her sword creep toward the branch. "The Sky Sword Sect? The Order of Light?"

"Order-receivers do not need reasons from senders," Elara replied softly. "Your time is up. Initiation: Shadow Needle Rain."

Without any clear arm movement, thousands of tiny, pitch-black needles shot from the shadows of the tree branches toward Arion and his companions.

"Lyra, protect Serafina!" Arion shouted.

Arion stomped his foot onto the ground, releasing a pulse of Shadow-Sin energy. "Domain of Despair: Partial!"

A dark purple dome exploded from Arion's body, freezing the shadow needles in mid-air. The needles fell to pieces as if they had just struck a steel wall.

"Shadow Blade: Moonlight Decapitation!" Lyra lunged upward, her blade cutting the branch where Elara stood.

The tree shook violently, its golden leaves falling like expensive snow. Elara spun in the air with impossible agility, landing back on another branch as if gravity were an optional suggestion for her.

"You're fast for a sect traitor," Elara said. Her eyes, visible behind the mask's holes, looked cold and dead.

"Traitor? That's an old title," Lyra attacked again with a series of chained slashes. "Now, I am the storm that will tear down your master's precious tree!"

"No need for this tree," Elara whispered. Her hands formed a mysterious seal. "Forbidden Technique: Still Water Heart."

Suddenly, the energy around Elara turned terrifyingly calm. Lyra's fiery attacks suddenly lost their momentum, as if she were cutting through deep, still water. Every one of Lyra's movements felt heavy and slow.

"What... what is this?! My feet feel like they're being pulled into mud!" Lyra complained, her movements slowing down drastically.

"Serafina, now!" Arion called out.

Serafina raised both hands toward Elara. "Essence Conversion: Ocean of Regrets!"

Thick silver vapor erupted from Serafina's palms, enveloping Elara's position. Normally, this attack would force the target to see the most miserable moments of their lives, paralyzing their soul instantly. However, Elara just stood still in the middle of the puff of vapor.

"Target... is not reacting?!" Serafina's eyes widened in horror. "There isn't a single regret I can grasp! Her soul... her soul is like an octopus in the middle of a desert. Dry. Empty."

"You mean she really has no emotions?" Lyra jumped back to Arion's side, her breath coming in gasps. "She's a monster more terrifying than you, Arion!"

[Warning: 'Truth Anomaly' Detected.]

[Logic: Subject Elara uses a 'Temporary Soul Erasure' system. Malice cannot be absorbed because there is no emotional 'input'.]

"So that's the secret," Arion stepped forward, the chain seal on his forehead glowing brightly. "She locked her soul inside a spiritual coffin so that emotion-based attacks are useless."

"Your analysis is precise," Elara descended from the branch, standing ten meters in front of them. Her dagger spun in her fingers. "Without emotions, I have no weak points. Regret is a burden for the living. I am merely a tool to prune pests."

"Coward," Arion hissed. "You threw away your humanity just so you could kill without pain. But you forgot one thing, assassin. My system doesn't just work based on what is in your soul... but also what is in your environment."

Arion placed his hand on the rough bark of the World Tree.

"This tree... it has hundreds of years of suppressed hatred," Arion stared at Elara with purple eyes that flashed cruelly. "System, activate Override: Forced Extraction."

[Command Received. Absorbing 10,000 Units of Latent Hatred from the World Tree Roots.]

[Cost: 10% Physical Damage to User.]

Arion's body jolted. Black veins bulged on his neck. From the roots of the giant tree, a flow of black energy as thick as oil poured into Arion's hand. The golden tree above them began to lose its glow, its leaves turning into ashen gray.

"What are you doing?! You're killing this Holy Tree!" Elara showed her first reaction—a small tremor in her voice. Not fear, but chaos within her mission.

"This tree is my largest battery reserve," Arion growled. "Serafina, help me balance it!"

Serafina immediately placed her hands on Arion's back, channeling her silver vapor to dampen the shock of the wild energy. "Arion! It's too much! This tree has been holding karmic trash for thousands of years! If you force it out, you will be destroyed!"

"Let it... be destroyed!" Arion roared.

The black energy exploded from Arion's body, forming a giant shadow dragon as tall as the World Tree. The dragon stared at Elara with millions of tiny pairs of eyes representing the souls sacrificed to the tree.

"Look at this, Elara! Does your soul remain calm while facing hundreds of thousands of people whose lives were sucked dry by this 'miracle'?!"

For the first time, Elara took a step back. Her mask cracked slightly at the corner. "This... this violates the parameters. This noise... what is this?"

"This is the truth you locked in the basement of your soul!" Arion shouted.

The shadow dragon slammed into the ground where Elara stood. An explosion of sin energy swept through the entire area, tearing apart the giant roots and making the gray mist in the forest vanish instantly, replaced by thick black vapor.

As the smoke began to thin, Elara was seen kneeling. Her porcelain mask was shattered, revealing a beautiful but stiff face, yet her dark eyes were now filled with purple specks—a sign of Arion's energy contamination.

"You... infiltrated my soul seal," Elara whispered, her hand holding the dagger trembling.

"I didn't infiltrate," Arion walked closer with heavy, steady steps. "I tore down the door."

[Notice: Target Elara experiencing 'Breakthrough of Pride'. Detected as Potential Sixth Vessel—Discarded Pride.]

"Don't kill her, Arion!" Serafina shouted. "The system detects something valuable!"

"I know," Arion replied shortly.

Lyra landed her feet in front of Elara, pointing her sword directly at her neck. "How does it feel now, Miss Emotionless? Still want to call us pests?"

Elara looked up at Arion. There were no tears, but the trembling in her pupils told of all the despair beginning to overflow after decades of being locked away. "Why do you not kill me? I failed this protocol."

"Because you are too expensive to simply become fertilizer for this tree," Arion leaned down, staring at the woman's face from a close distance. "You have a Pride that you turned into nothingness because you were ashamed of being human. Join me, or let this soul I just opened be torn apart by the sudden return of your emotions."

Elara looked down, seeing the ground that was now completely black from Arion's energy. "My world was always dark... I thought that by feeling nothing, the darkness would disappear. It turns out, your darkness is more honest."

[Notice: Faction Transfer Will Detected.]

[Fourth Vessel Sync Progress: Waiting for despair requirements to be met.]

"Save the drama for later, Assassin," Lyra lowered her sword with a cynical smirk. "You still owe me for that surprise attack earlier."

"Bring her, Lyra," Arion ordered.

The World Tree behind them had now become a giant, charred, and dry trunk. Its golden light was gone, replaced by the sight of a suffering old tree—its true form that had been covered by an illusion of holy light all this time.

"This tree..." Serafina turned to look at the remains of the giant ruin. "It's so beautiful now that it's honest about its rot."

"This entire world will look just as beautiful when I am finished with all of them," Arion began walking back through the forest, which now felt more real without the illusion of light energy.

[Total Malice Energy Collected: 55,000 Units.]

[Level Up Detected: 4.]

[New Skill Unlocked: Shadow Assimilation (Absorb opponent's techniques after being struck by chain slashes).]

Elara walked haltingly behind them, closely monitored by Lyra. For the first time in her life's history, Elara felt a weight on her shoulders. Not the physical weight of armor, but the weight of emotions that had just been forced back into her body.

"Is your name Elara?" Serafina asked softly while offering a recovery potion to her.

Elara stared at the potion with a confused look, as if seeing a pure act of kindness for the first time. "...Elara. That is all that remains."

"Save the rest for the journey to Isadora's palace," Arion stared straight at the western horizon, which was beginning to show heavy black clouds. "There, you will learn that feeling pain is far more useful than being a stone statue."

They continued walking, leaving behind the remains of the 'World Tree' which was slowly collapsing, becoming the first silent proof that the celestial power system had begun to develop holes. The shadows behind the World Tree no longer chased them; those shadows were now part of a new army that would tear the horizon apart.

[System: Journey toward the Kingdom of the Setting Sun continues. Target: Princess Isadora. Time remaining until 'Eternal Night': 12 days.]

Arion gripped the spiritual chain in his heart, feeling four heartbeats now moving in one synchronized frequency of sin.

"Welcome to the real world, Elara," Arion thought while staring at the stars beginning to appear in the dark sky. "I hope you enjoy your pain."