My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 784: Chapter 785: Sin Of Envy

The stench of something burning filled the room. Thick black smoke drifted through the air as a figure stepped forward, his entire body blackened and scarred, skin peeling away to reveal raw layers beneath.

Its thick smoke seemed to smother his burnt lungs, overwhelming what was left of his senses with the stench of his burnt flesh.

He smiled indifferently, the pain was fleeting compared to his defiant spirit.

“Is this what I must endure? The punishment for all my sins before the trial ends. Is that it?”

This was a simple question, one he may not receive an answer to.

He let out a low chuckle, shoulders shaking despite the way charred flesh clung to his bones.

“The pain of burning is nothing. I experience it every day. Perhaps an immolating hell can break the mind, but this pain is one I inflict upon myself. I have grown used to fire.”

The Archivist did not show emotion, though something in his posture hinted at faint, reluctant respect. Still, he shook his head.

“You are wrong. This place is hell and the guilty shall be punished. It does not matter if you endure for a thousand years. It would be easier to give in and close your book.”

Damon slowly lifted his head. Even without skin on his face, his expression showed defiance. Matia and Lazarak would not be far. He could hold on.

“I would not put that much faith in others,” the Archivist replied as he adjusted his grip on his quill.

“This is a separate trial. They will not come here. They wander the library until you fail, and then one of them will succeed you and begin a new trial.”

A serene calm settled over Damon’s ruined features. That was fine. He was not relying on anyone. He was Damon Grey, and he would persist even if he stood alone.

“You lie even to yourself.” The Archivist dipped his quill, ink glistening as it touched the page.

“It is in your nature to do so. This is the crime of false witness.”

“For your whole life you have told many lies. False witness is the act of lying to harm others. This is the sin of envy, for envy poisons truth to wound those above or below us.”

Damon sneered, flakes of charred skin crumbling from his jaw.

“I lie often and have told far too many. Which one will you drag out this time, and what punishment will you choose to match it?”

The Archivist watched him silently. Damon lifted his hands slightly, burned fingers twitching.

“I understand. Each of my crimes ties to a deadly sin. You began with greed, then sloth, then wrath, now envy. Though this one is a stretch. I lie even when I do not need to. Calling that envy feels thin. After envy there is only lust, pride and gluttony.”

The Archivist leaned toward the book bearing Damon’s name.

“That is a lie. You envy. You always have.”

The air darkened. An image formed before Damon. A handsome young man with brown hair and blue eyes stood before him. Tall, wealthy and well regarded by his peers. A man who had everything Damon lacked. A man free to choose his morality.

“Are you not envious of Xander Ravenscroft?” the Archivist hissed.

Damon bit his lip hard enough to tear it open.

“He had everything I did not. I disliked him. I understood why. I simply did not care. But I hated how he looked down on me. I wanted to drag him into the dirt. All that honor, morality, and righteous posturing. But what lie ties to this? I only see envy. Explain the lie.”

The Archivist sighed, unimpressed by Damon’s attempt to dodge the truth.

The image shifted. Now it was Xander’s face but mere weeks ago, when he came to Damon seeking help. His brother had been murdered. He had wanted revenge.

The Archivist spoke quietly.

“Why did you not tell him?”

Shame rippled through Damon, a cold tremor running along the exposed muscle of his spine.

“I… it was for his own good.”

The quill scratched against parchment.

“You killed his brother. You could have told him revenge was pointless. You could have told him the truth about why you killed him. Yet you chose to lie.”

“Admit it.” The Archivist’s voice curled through the air like smoke.

“This was an opportunity to pull him into darkness. To watch him betray his morals in pursuit of a shadow he could never catch. You hated how honorable he was. You wanted to stain him.”

Damon drew a slow breath. His burnt fingers trembled. Was this truly why he had stayed silent? Why he had allowed Xander to fall?

The Archivist’s aura intensified.

“To secure your help you demanded he sign a contract. One that required he offer you his firstborn child.”

Damon lowered his head. His burned flesh reddened and split.

“For your sin of envy, your punishment is the tongue rack.”

“I did not. That is not true. I… I…” Damon tried to deny it, but the trial of sin had no patience for self-deception.

The floor cracked open beneath him. Damon fell, chains clattering as they followed him down. The trial had three more sins to judge.

He hit the ground hard. Skin peeled off in sheets, black and putrid blood smearing the stone. He tried to rise, but chains instantly coiled around him. A metal device forced his jaw open.

Damon’s tongue was stretched across a spiked rack.

The mechanism tightened.

Every lie he had ever spoken began to claw its way out of his mouth like worms.

Damon had told countless lies. The spikes pierced deeper as each lie whispered its memory back to him. Some he recognized. Some he had long forgotten. Some he wished he had forgotten.

Time dissolved. Damon endured the tongue rack in silent, shaking agony until finally the stream of lies slowed.

Four sins had passed. Damon’s body was close to breaking, but his mind remained defiantly clear.