Enigma of Sin

"I simply want to go home, but in order to do that, I first have to figure out how." Kayn stated once again.

"If I can help you figure out how to achieve that, will you leave me a sample of that energy you called mana?" Dr Elaine asked hopefully.

"Haha, I apologize doctor, but I don't think you'd be able to help me. As I also said before, mana doesn't belong here, so why would I leave any behind intentionally to be misused once I'm gone?" Kayn rebutted.

After a few seconds though, Kayn thought of something else. "However, I am willing to 'play god' a little bit as you said in order to reduce casualties from this war if you do something for me."

"What would that be?" Dr Elaine had a scrunched-up frown as she didn't like the way Kayn rejected her proposal. He may have offered to help with the war, but that predicated on her being able to do what he wanted. Not to mention, she really, really wanted a sample of mana to study.

"I would like you to find someone for me. The name is Carl Vasquez, he was a police officer 20 or so years ago in the United States. He should be around 55 to 60 years of age. To make it easier to find him, a little over 21 years ago he should have been the responding officer to a motor vehicle accident involving a drunk driver and two fatalities."

"That's all you have? What about the city or state? And why?" Dr Elaine asked. However, Kayn only shook his head since he had no intentions of revealing that.

He was partly doing this to see her sincerity and the capabilities of her resources. He was going to threaten the world about their usage of larger capability warheads regardless of her success or failure. This was so that he could go back to draining the temples of their inheritances without feeling guilty that he was destroying the only place the regular denizens of Earth were safe.

"Give me a day and I'll find the information, three days at most. How do I contact you?" Dr Elaine asked.

"I'll meet you back here in three days then." Kayn responded and walked out of the tent before she could say anything. When she gathered herself enough to see where he was going, he was already gone from the area when she opened the door to follow him.

Sighing, she made a call to one of her friends in an information gathering department in order to discover who this Carl Vasquez was.

Meanwhile, Kayn was relaxing a little bit on the couch inside of the Wanderer's Villa. He planned to rest for two days, and make his announcement to the world on the third. The only issue was how to issue his command and threat to the world.

He had to somehow impose his will on them by showing them that they couldn't resist his command. He wasn't strong enough to cover the entire Earth with his words, even if they were imbued with mana. He would need to fly around and state his intentions from several different areas to make sure all involved in the war heard him.

Scratching his head, he decided that he would need to start moving on the second day rather than the third and then he could follow up with his threats on the end of the third if they still dared to launch nuclear missiles or otherwise.

Thus, Kayn made himself a decently large meal and decided to sleep for at least half of a day before meditating a little and beginning his work.

…

At the start of the second day, Kayn flew at his top speed to the United States of America where he imbued his voice with mana to project it and yelled out his demands.

"Leadership of the countries on Earth! If you continue to use powerful ordinance on your allies and enemies alike, you will be met with destruction. You have half a day to comply."

Kayn then began flying to different points around the world as fast as he could while shouting the same thing at every stop, ending his journey just above Europe.

He didn't plan to completely destroy an entire country, but he would definitely target their military bases and the buildings of government leadership. Sure, one could argue that the soldiers are just following orders, but someone had to be the example.

While he didn't necessarily want to become a mass murderer, he felt oddly at ease when he thought about it. Just like when he first killed people, the part of his morals that would have stopped him on Earth was no longer there. Maybe it was because of how Wrath influenced him. He didn't know nor did he really care at this point.

He still wouldn't cross certain lines, but those in the military were prepared to die for their country and leadership, so they could only put their faith in those same leaders to not do anything stupid.

…

Nothing happened during the next day as Kayn kept a close watch on the happenings of the world by travel and technology. There were small land and air skirmishes that occurred during the latter half of the third day, but he didn't say that they couldn't do that, just no large bombs.

When Dr Elaine came back to her makeshift home for the day, she noticed Kayn sitting in the same chair he had when they first talked. It startled her quite a bit as the place was supposed to be securely locked, but somehow there he was.

"So, have you located the person I asked you to? I held up my end." Kayn said before the doctor could say anything.

"I'll admit that it wasn't easy with the small amount of information you gave me, but yes, I do believe so." Dr Elaine stated.

Kayn signaled for her to continue and she did, "Carl Vesquez, aged 58, previously a sergeant of the police force turned officer for the United States Army after the start of the war. Currently, he is on his deathbed after sustaining wounds from an explosion. His injuries include the loss of his right arm and leg as well as severe shrapnel injuries and burns to most of his body.

"Surprisingly, he is still awake, albeit heavily sedated most of the time as his pain levels are extreme. However, according to the records, he doesn't wish to be put in a medically induced coma as he wants to wait for his family to arrive and say his goodbyes. The most recent evaluations say he will probably make it past no more than two days maximum.

"He is currently in a military hospital situated in Maryland. Is there anything else you wanted to know?" Dr Elaine asked as she felt the information gathered was what he wanted.

"Maryland, you say? Is there only the one military hospital there?" Kayn asked.

"Yes, since the war started, all resources were diverted to a single military hospital per state."

"Thank you for the information, Doctor Elaine. I would suggest you take your closer colleagues and evacuate the area within the next week as this place will lose its protection. I won't tolerate any country disobeying my orders, but that doesn't mean someone won't test my patience before they learn what will happen." Kayn stated before once again leaving before she could ask him anything.

…

Kayn once again brought out the Wanderer's Villa in a secluded area so that he could change back to the Shadow Phoenix set. Once he did this and reactivated his concealment methods, he entered into the temple in order to fill up his mana core from the past few days of flying and using mana to enhance his voice.

He didn't intend to absorb the temple quite yet as he had an urgent matter to attend now, so once his core was back to full, he launched into the sky under the cover of darkness and set his direction for Maryland, United States.

...

Carl Vasquez laid in a stupor as the pain medications were making him feel both tired and euphoric. He recognized some of his family members visiting but couldn't really remember much about their conversations or any details of the visit really. He could tell that his time was nearing, but he was trying to hold out, just for a day or two more so that the rest of his family members could see him alive one last time.

Now that he was in this state, he started to wonder what he was truly fighting for overseas. Was joining the army really the best choice, or should he have just stayed at home as a sergeant in the police force? It was too late to regret anything now, but he at least wanted to see his family members one last time.

He could only look forward to whatever awaited him in the afterlife at this point. He was always a very religious man, so he firmly believed that he would end up in Heaven once God called his soul, and it was described as a truly marvelous place.

However, he had to make it one more day as he was told his last daughter would be able to make it the next day with her family. One more sleep was all he had to survive before he could sleep eternally.

Suddenly, he felt a draft in his room which was refreshing but also shouldn't be possible. Shifting his head towards the window of the room and with quite a bit of effort and pain, he saw him. Someone was approaching him, but this individual had snow white hair, bright crimson and golden eyes, and even pointed ears.

With his muddled mind, he couldn't help but come to the conclusion that Kayn was probably the Devil who came to tempt him with a deal which would definitely not end well for him with his bright red eyes shining ominously through the dark.

As fear started to take over, the Devil spoke, "Hello Officer Vasquez. No need to look so worried, I'm not here to hurt you."