Enigma of Sin

Kayn stretched his body out much like a cat would as he yawned. That was the best sleep he had in years and he really wanted to return to his slumber, but now that he was awake, he probably wasn't going to get another good rest for a while.

However, as he looked around, he wasn't in the temple anymore. He was in a small metal box and he had his arms and legs cuffed and in chains, but his stretch broke them without him realizing it. Because of his loud yawn, even the noise the chains made as they broke didn't register to him.

It's not like whoever took him would be able to take any samples from him or remove his clothing as it was all mana activated for fit. Unless they could disable the mana, they wouldn't be able to take anything. Even the knives on the bandolier were secured using mana.

However, looking at his hands, there were a couple things missing. Both his family array ring and the Void Loop were gone, oddly so was his $20 watch. His ear clip was still fashioned in place though as it was similar to the clothing. The rings adjusted their fit as well, but with a bit of force, one could probably pull them off.

If they didn't think imprisoning him would piss him off, taking his rings definitely made him mad. He punched straight through the two-meter-thick metal box he was enclosed in and jumped out to view his surroundings.

It appeared that he was in an airplane somewhere in the middle of the sky. The sound from him escaping alerted the guards and they were pointing guns at him within seconds of him emerging from his imprisonment.

Kayn felt an inexplicable desire to forgive and forget and just leave the plane to search for his rings, but he wasn't that nice. Ignoring the annoying thought in the back of his mind, he snapped his fingers and the heads of every single guard exploded as Kayn summoned small, but quickly expanding air bubbles inside of them.

He then used his Mana Sense to examine everything inside of the plane, but he didn't see his rings anywhere, which meant they were being transported separately.

Kayn ripped a hole directly in the side of the plane before jumping out and flying away as the plane lost its ability to maintain flight and started plummeting down to the ground.

Sighing at the itch at the back of his mind, Kayn made sure that the pilots were able to deploy their parachutes properly before he left the area. Maybe they didn't know what they were transporting, or maybe they did, but the nagging feeling of being merciful to them was almost too much when it came to the pilots.

Before the pilots knew it, all three of them were slowly falling to the ground with their parachutes launched, but one was now missing his phone. Kayn noticed they had UNTA uniforms, so he knew who he needed to call.

Dialing the number that he was given in the off chance he would actually call her, the other side picked up shortly after. "Hello? How did you get this number?"

"You gave it to me. Where are my rings?" Kayn spoke as his anger seethed into his words.

"Sigh, I told them it wasn't a good idea to bother you. They assumed you had something to do with the temples as you were found inside of it, and since you didn't respond to stimuli, they took you. They were frustrated they couldn't remove your clothing and weapons, or take samples from your body, but your rings came off with a bit of effort. I tried to secure them, but they declined my request and even kicked me off of the project for not wanting to disturb you in the first place.

"However, they should be transporting your rings to a black site in the United States. Most likely the one located under the Rocky Mountains of Montana. I can get you exact coordinates for that base, but it'll be quite risky."

"Rockies of Montana. Got it. Don't bother getting a location. I'll find it myself. I'll be in touch if that's not the right place." The call then disconnected before Dr. Elaine could say anything else or even offer up an apology for being unable to help him.

Without wasting time, Kayn sped off at his absolute top speed, which was now somewhere around Mach 8. From his estimation, they were transporting him to somewhere in Antarctica as he was currently over an ocean. He only knew which one and his exact location due to the phone he stole having a location feature.

Within a few hours he was flying above the Rocky Mountains of Montana with has Mana Sense fully extended below the ground.

Kayn sighed in relief as he could sense the mana from his rings and the unique aura each carried that only he could sense since they were bound to him. Apparently, they placed his rings on a much quicker transport as they seemed to be settled inside, already being poked and prodded while he was still traveling.

Upon thinking about it, it probably took a good amount of time to actually move his body after they removed the rings since his weight would have skyrocketed in their hands after the ring his mother gave him was removed.

Kayn didn't bother to put on his mask or hide his presence, he directly blasted into the underground base and set off all of the alarms. He ignored all the gunshots coming his way as he sped through the facility, blasting down doors, walls, and floors alike.

Finally, he arrived in front of his rings which were currently being examined by several researchers holding various tools and instruments.

Kayn held out his hand to them with a displeased expression visible on his face. The lead researcher grabbed both rings with a shaking body and hesitatingly approached Kayn where he placed each ring gently into Kayn's hand before slowly backing away.

He placed each ring onto their proper finger before turning around to leave, but on second thought he faced the researchers once again and looked at all of their wrists before pointing at one of them and then his own wrist. The scared scientist quickly took his watch off and handed it over to Kayn.

Kayn chose the simplest of the bunch that displayed the time and date, nothing else. Almost all of the other watches looked to be some sort of fancy smart watch. Those were only just starting to become a thing when he died here originally, but he'd seen a few of them when he was shopping around.

Leaving the way he entered, Kayn decided to start here in the Americas for his new mission to take care of every temple.

He noticed it over the last few months, but some temples that were of the same element as one he had previously visited were underwhelming. For example, any of the god's temples that focused on just the water element usually fell flat when compared to Danu's temple.

A few of the insights he gained were different, but overall, he didn't gain much so he was able to breeze through them. He assumed that this was because of the difference in the strengths of the individuals from which the temple's originated, but also because of how he was simply absorbing the knowledge without fully learning it now.

However, just as he was crossing over the middle of the United States in search of one of the North American temples, he watched as several missiles fired from a few silos located in the flat plains of the country.

Kayn could instantly tell that these were definitely the type of thing he had said to not launch. He couldn't exactly cover the entire Unites States with his Mana Sense, but from the portion he could cover, he noticed several other sites launching similar missiles.

The silos were secluded and far away from any cities or towns, so rather than letting the missiles get very far, he launched precisely aimed lightning bolts at every single missile. Even the ones a thousand kilometers away or more were hit without exception.

The explosions of several exploding nuclear missiles rocked the earth below and sky above. The backlash from the explosions even reached the launch sites which started a chain reaction in the rest of their warheads. Explosions reverberated through the area for several minutes before the chain reaction ended.

Entire plots of land had turned into massive craters and the launching silos as well as their bases were completely wiped from existence. 

Sighing, he changed his course to the capital of the nation in order to find the top brass of the military and the president who should be the one holding the final key and say when it came to launching warheads.

Upon arrival, he concealed himself in order to infiltrate without being detected. He wanted to listen in for a while in order to determine if everyone present was truly guilty before he slaughtered them.

If it was before he received the Virtue of Kindness, maybe he would have just blasted the entire area without care in order to save time, but since he had, it seemed that a part of him needed some type of rationality to commit such an act. It was almost as if he gained back part of his principles and morality from his time as a human.

After weaving through several security doors as people entered and exited them, he finally arrived at a large room where multiple old men and women were sitting around a table while looking at the large screens placed all over the wall.

Listening in, they were in an uproar about all of their bases being blown up as well as the information they just received about the rings they had taken being stolen back by the seemingly invincible individual who was supposed to be in Antarctica.

Most were trying to yell over someone else, but they all were wondering how they would set up a defensive grid to stop any retaliatory strikes once their enemies learned that they launched and subsequently suffered from nuclear explosions. They also wanted to launch more missiles from their submarines and begin deploying bombers.

Some of them were even adamant about punishing the scientists that didn't put up a fight and gave away precious research material, and they also wanted to get their special forces teams on top of retrieval right away.

Kayn sneered as he listened in on all of these people. There was only a single middle-aged woman sitting quietly, seemingly contemplating on what had just occurred. She also looked to have a frown on her face, but she wasn't angry, she was worried about something.

"Everyone quiet please, what do we do about our citizens? There were surely some injuries due to the explosions. Our first priority should be our people, not some trinkets or launching more missiles! That worked so well last time after all." The woman sarcastically stated after getting the attention of the people in the room.

"Quiet! You're not even important to this conversation! We need to assess the threat and strike back! Not wait quietly on the sidelines. If we don't show our power now, they'll think we are pushovers! I advise we enter DEFCON 1." An older man wearing a military uniform adorned with medals said aloud as he faced a man dressed in a nice suit.

The president pondered for a couple of minutes as the room went silent. "I agree with the general, initiate protocols for DEFCON 1 and launch nuclear ordinance from our submarines. Initiate all anti-air defensive measures for our secure sites."

"But Mr. President! What about the American people?!" The woman shouted as she was becoming infuriated by all the stupidity filling the room.

"I am America! Losing a few people and some land doesn't matter to me! As long as I am in power, there is no room for argument!"

Suddenly, a condescending voice echoed out in the room, filling the people inside with surprise and then fear, "Good thing you won't be in power for much longer."

They all turned to see Kayn standing there with his arms folding in front of his body. The armed personnel in the room immediately began to fire at him. Kayn stood there with an unamused expression until they emptied their clips at him.

All of the bullets had shattered upon coming into contact with him, even the ones aimed at his head shattered. The people who fired the guns all started stepping back in fear, but a few reloaded and started shooting again.

"Okay, I'm done with this." Kayn spoke before pointing a finger gun at one of the guards and firing off a lightning bolt that passed through his skull and proceeded to chain to one of guard after the other.

"Not only did you people try to abduct and lock me up while I was sleeping, you stole my rings. Just now, you even had the audacity to say that I just stole them from you? I warned you all not to use weapons of mass destruction, and look what happened. It's time for the consequences of your actions."

After Kayn spoke, he directed the still floating bolt of lightning to pass through every single person's head in the room but one.

"You seem like a voice of reason, you're in charge now." Kayn said with his eyes pinned on the single living person in the room. It was the middle-aged woman in the corner who was more concerned with the citizens than anything else. Then Kayn vanished as abruptly as he appeared.