A rotten stench seeped out from the basement.
The putrid smell of decaying flesh and blood, mixed with mold, stabbed at the nose.
Most people would gag and recoil from the overwhelming stench, yet Elia walked in unfazed.
“To think something like this was in the house. Your taste is horrendous.”
“You already know I’m not exactly the model student, so why the surprise?”
Inside the basement stood a tree.
A tree with dozens of branches stretching out.
No.
That wasn’t a tree—it was made of people.
Men, women, the elderly—it was a grotesque fusion of human bodies, pieced together to resemble a tree.
Numerous legs stretched downward like roots, anchoring the structure, while arms spread out in various directions, mimicking branches.
Even this alone was far beyond normal, but the most disturbing part was yet to come.
“Mmmph…! Mmmph…!”
The heads.
Dozens of heads turned their eyes toward me and Elia.
Their mouths were all sewn shut, preventing them from speaking, but muffled, agonized moans reverberated from within.
“Their eyes are still full of life. You must have deliberately manipulated their minds to keep them from going insane.”
“That’s right.”
She stared straight at me.
“Your reaction is pretty normal, huh?”
“What did you expect me to do?”
“I thought you’d either yell at me for playing with human lives or cut my head off on the spot. This isn’t something a person should do.”
That’s true.
This wasn’t a pile of corpses.
It was a living Christmas tree made of people.
No sane person would ever do such a thing.
Anyone who saw this scene would either foam at the mouth and faint or vomit from sheer disgust.
As for me—I had simply grown used to witnessing horrors like this.
“These are the ones.”
Seeing that I wasn’t saying much, Elia turned to look at the human tree.
“They’re the ones who sold my family’s souls.”
She began recounting the past of the Belmore family.
Belmore was a renowned noble house of magicians, celebrated not only for their exceptional skills and achievements but also for their kindness and generosity.
They provided jobs to the poor, giving them a chance at a new life.
Regardless of status, anyone with talent was taught magic.
Countless successful magicians emerged from Belmore, proving that effort and skill alone could carve out a future, free from the chains of birth and social class.
It was a long-standing source of pride for this land.
But one day, a mysterious figure appeared in a neighboring domain.
Apostle Belphegor.
A being who had transcended human limits, wandering the world, offering his immense power to those who sought it.
Some became intrigued.
One day, Belmore’s apprentices posed a question to their lord.
“My lord, that apostle has promised us great power. We wish to take this deal and ascend to greater heights.”
It was an exciting prospect.
Surpassing one’s limitations and reaching new heights—this was a dream for any mage.
But the head of Belmore refused.
“The apostle will take your souls in exchange for his magic. Do not make such a foolish deal.”
That was when the trouble began.
The apprentices—lowborns with talent and ambition—desired to climb higher.
They became blinded by the apostle’s limitless power and soon came to a realization.
“Belmore is suppressing our potential. They fear we will surpass them, so they block our path.”
“Even if it means selling our souls, we must claim greater power.”
Unable to suppress their desires, they sought out the apostle and begged for a trade.
As expected, the apostle demanded souls.
But not theirs—he wanted souls of higher value.
“Your souls are worthless. If you wish to balance the scales, bring me something valuable—such as the lives of those within the lord’s castle.”
What do you think the apprentices thought when they heard this?
That they should stop?
That it was too dangerous?
No.
The disciples of Belmore rejoiced.
After all, it wasn’t their own souls they had to sacrifice—it was someone else’s.
And so, on a late night, the contract was carried out.
Using the magic they had learned at Belmore, the disciples offered up the souls of everyone in the mansion.
The apostle took the souls of the Belmore family.
The next morning, when Elia returned to the mansion, what greeted her was the empty husks of her family.
She screamed.
She screamed until her voice was completely hoarse, until blood-streaked tears ran down her cheeks.
Her heart shattered beyond repair.
“Ah, there you are.”
One of the disciples approached her amid the chaos.
“I was wondering why my share felt a little short. Turns out, you were missing. Well, now that we’ve found you, everything’s fine. Welcome back, my lady.”
“By the time I came to my senses, I had twisted their limbs and stitched them all together.”
Elia recalled the memory in a flat, emotionless tone.
“Everyone who remained in the territory was locked in the basement that day. The ones who fled were quickly captured and brought back. I suppose they thought they could get away with it.”
“So you kept them alive all this time because death would’ve been too easy for them.”
“Exactly. At first, they begged me to spare them. But after turning into this, they started begging me to kill them instead. They’re so selfish.”
She gently stroked one of the many heads.
Though they were fused into one mass, they still trembled, their tear-streaked eyes silently pleading with me.
“I used to work with wooden dolls and stuffed toys. But from that day on, I started working with people instead.”
“I see.”
“Just so there’s no misunderstanding, I didn’t have a choice. Too many people were involved in that incident. Over time, I just realized I had a knack for it.”
Elia gestured toward the human tree as if admiring a piece of art in a gallery. She pointed at each face and explained.
“This man lied to me, claiming he could find my family’s souls. He took my money, saying he would form a crusade against the apostle, then disappeared without a trace.”
The man trembled violently and squeezed his eyes shut.
“This woman was the one who dragged me into the underworld. She convinced me that if I worked in this world, I’d find a clue to reclaiming my family’s souls. She kept forcing me to do dirty work. But in the end, I found out it was all a lie.”
The woman sobbed, snot and tears running down her face as she desperately avoided my gaze.
Elia turned her back to the human tree and spread her arms toward me.
“So? What do you think? This is what I wanted to show you. My past, my sins, and what became of my family… You understand everything now, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I get it. I feel it completely.”
“Do you want to see more? There are a few others besides this one.”
“This is more than enough.”
I stepped past Elia and approached the human tree.
Hundreds of eyes stared at me.
Swish.
Thud.
I severed a head.
The severed head tumbled from the tree, eyes widening as it stared up at me.
Then, as it realized its fate, its eyelids slowly drooped shut.
“What are you doing?”
Elia’s voice came from behind, but I ignored her.
I continued to swing my blade.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Heads fell like ripe apples to the ground.
“What are you doing?! What the hell are you doing?!”
“Don’t interfere.”
Elia grabbed my shoulder, but I shook off her hand.
Elia, still too weak to recover, lost her balance and collapsed onto the floor.
She had no choice but to watch in silence as I continued.
I beheaded every single one of them.
“Are you trying to show them mercy?”
Elia screamed bitterly.
“You can’t just let them die so easily! They were supposed to rot here for the rest of their lives!”
“Who do you think you are to forgive them? I’m the biggest victim here, and I haven’t forgiven them. If I had known this would happen, I wouldn’t have brought you here.”
“Forgiveness? This isn’t about that.”
“Then why?! You don’t even understand how much I’ve suffered! Are you pitying them?”
Fwoosh.
I set the corpses on fire.
“Stop. Stop it. If you stop now, I can put them back together.”
“Please… Please, stop. These are the people I’ve painstakingly gathered all this time. Every time my thirst for revenge weakened, every time I felt happiness creeping in, they were the only thing keeping me grounded!”
Elia begged.
But it was already too late.
Severed limbs, torsos, and heads were engulfed in flames.
The stench of burning flesh filled the air.
Bones cracked, skin split, and the sound of rupturing echoed through the basement.
I watched the flames for a while before handing Elia a handkerchief.
She took it and wiped her eyes.
“Elia.”
“…Yes?”
“You’ll be seeing your family soon. The beloved daughter of the Belmore family can’t have such strange hobbies, now can she?”
“The vengeful spirit and the murderer died here in this fire.”
We faced the next day as if nothing had happened.
Not that we cleaned up the mess from last night.
The mansion grounds were in ruins, the aftermath of battle.
Everywhere outside the protected barriers looked as if it had been hit by a magical bombardment.
Elia was supposed to handle the cleanup, but the moment she saw the remains of the bodies turn to ash, she collapsed into unconsciousness.
“Quite the mess, huh?”
“At least the damage didn’t spread.”
Kalian and Evelyne reacted indifferently.
They must have noticed last night’s battle.
They probably weren’t aware that Elia had been a brutal killer, but after all that commotion, they must have sensed something was off.
Of course, Victoria had caught on as well.
“Last night was quite entertaining.”
“Did you stay up watching the fight? Peeping on people without their knowledge is a bad habit, you know.”
“Making a racket in the middle of the night is the real problem.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
The barrier should have blocked her vision too, yet somehow Victoria managed to see through it.
Not that it mattered much.
Everyone here already knew my true abilities.
There was nothing left to hide.
“Did everyone sleep well?”
As we gathered in front of the mansion, Elia finally emerged.
Despite having been in tatters last night, she looked perfectly composed, as if nothing had happened.
“You seem fine.”
“My whole body still hurts.”
“If it’s too much, we can wait. We still have time.”
“No. I can’t wait any longer. I won’t let anything hold me back—so don’t worry.”
“That so? Alright, then. Everyone’s here, let’s get going.”
“Wait, hold on.”
As I rummaged through my pocket, Elia quickly leaned in and whispered in my ear.
“I thought it was just the two of us going to retrieve the souls? These people are just guests.”
“What are you talking about? This weekend’s mission is to hunt down the apostle. Everyone knew that from the start.”
“But we spent all of yesterday just playing around.”
“That was just because we had the time. All three of them already know what happened to your family and what needs to be done.”
“Oh…”
“And don’t worry—I didn’t tell them how much of a psychopath you are.”
“You… You really knew everything about me, didn’t you?”
“Does that even matter now?”
Grinning, I tossed a black orb into the air.
It expanded endlessly, its gaping mouth opening wide before swallowing us whole.