Enigma of Sin

Kayn decided to take care of the drug dealer first as she wouldn't attract much attention and it would be easy to find her. The rapist would be easy to find as the contract stated he spent most of his time at a particular bar, and since he would require a bit more time, Kayn left him for second.

The guard would be the last target as once his body was discovered, security and guard presence would increase in the southern parts of the outer ring. That wouldn't normally be a problem, but all three contracts were located there.

It took Kayn three entire hours just to reach the outer ring, fortunately, the night lasted a bit longer as it was currently winter. He followed the directions on a map that came with the contract for the drug dealer and made his way towards the area she usually sold in.

She was supposed to have bright purple hair and wear an audaciously bright purple dress as well. Apparently, everything about her was purple and she would put makeup on her face the same way one would frost a cake. She would always put two beauty marks just under the corner of each eye as well. Kayn didn't think he would make a mistake in identifying her once he was in the area.

Once he was within the territory she sold in, he extended his Mana Sense as far as he could in order to listen in to the multiple conversations or other such sounds in the area. He immediately regretted that decision as he got feedback that made him shudder, but he did succeed in finding someone selling something called lumiez,

Kayn decided to check it out as he wasn't exactly sure what the drug was called that this lady was supposed to be selling. Once he arrived at the scene, he saw a line of people that looked like beggars standing one after the other that led into a secluded alley.

Apparently, his target's business was doing quite well as if like a machine she would accept a few coins, then toss a small baggie towards the person before moving onto the next. She only asked how much they wanted and stated a price, it was the customers who would sometimes ask if this is where they get lumiez or not.

Kayn remained on top of the buildings, hidden with his stealth skills. He enabled his Eagle Eye skill and confirmed that this drug dealer indeed had an appearance that matched his target. Her dealer name was supposed to be Violet, so he immediately came up with a plan.

Standing directly above her on the roof of the building, Kayn sent down a Mana Thread that he wrapped around her neck, creating a noose of sorts that hadn't touched her yet.

He then shouted "Violet!" and she immediately moved her head towards the sound, but as soon as she did, her body was slightly lifted off of the ground before her head cleanly separated from her body flying up and over the roof's edge.

Kayn had used the same Mana Thread to wrap around her head in order to retrieve it. After he had secured her head, he placed it into a bag that wouldn't leak fluids and put it into the spatial sash.

Meanwhile, the drug addicts who were all standing in line and watched as their dealer's head was suddenly separated from her body stood in shock.

That was until the first person snapped out of their daze and charged forward to take whatever drugs were left behind, only to discover that the bag Violet was pulling them out of had disappeared as well! Some of them even searched Violet's headless body, but they could only be disappointed that there were no drugs, the money was still there though!

…

Kayn paused as he arrived in the proximity of the bar his next target was said to frequent. He stared at the sack of drugs in his hand before annihilating them with Extinction Flames. He wasn't sure if there were any fumes that would come off if he used regular flames, so he played it safe and directly obliterated them completely.

He then sat on the roof of the bar and used his Mana Sense only on the building below him, trying to listen for or sense if his target was inside. The detailed section of the description of the man said he had a very high voice that was easy to notice and hard to not snicker at. This was one of the reasons the man had targeted the sister and mother trio.

As if past events were playing out, Kayn heard a woman's boisterous laughter before she stated "Who would want to sleep with a guy who sounds like a squeak toy that children play with?" as she continued laughing.

The man then whispered something under his breath, but Kayn was able to hear it. "Just you wait until you leave bitch, then we will see who is laughing last."

Kayn couldn't help but think that this guy was a walking stereotype that he'd heard about back on Earth. The serial rapists and killers loved to target people after being emasculated by them.

Now all Kayn had to do was remain on the roof while resting until he saw the guy coming out as the description was quite detailed so he wouldn't mistake the guy. Plus, it was most likely going to be the only guy trying to be low key while following a woman out of the bar.

Fortunately, Kayn didn't have to wait long and it was still dark when he watched as a beastkin woman that had hooves for feet, floppy sheep ears, and a small tail with curly hair on it exit the bar alone. He could only shake his head at this as surely she had heard some kind of rumors about someone violating women, why was she walking alone in the dark?

Not even half a minute later, Kayn saw his target exit the bar. It was another beastkin, and his appearance was exactly as described. Long rat tail, gangly clawed fingers, large round ears, round all black eyes, and a face that was almost triangular in shape.

'This is definitely him.' Kayn thought to himself as he prepared to follow the guy until he was a little more secluded.

A few blocks later, when the woman had reached an area where the night life wasn't nearly as active, the rat man swiftly caught up to her before placing his hand over her mouth and dragging her into a decrepit building that was most definitely empty.

'Willingly entering an empty place for me, how kind of him!' Kayn thought as he followed them inside. The man made quick work of the woman, having her tied up in the minute it took Kayn to follow them inside.

Kayn sighed as he walked behind the man who was just about to tear the blouse off of the woman in front of him with his claws. But before the rat man had the chance, he was suddenly lifted up into the air by the back of his neck.

An even more horrified look appeared on the woman's face, but a moment later the ropes that were binding her were cut clean off as she watched a black figure with a creepy smiling face mask appear behind the rat man.

Still holding the guy up who was trying to scream but couldn't as Kayn was drawing the air out of his lungs, Kayn spoke one word. "Leave."

The woman scrambled out of the building as quickly as she could, not looking back even for a second. Once Kayn sensed that she was far enough away, he turned his attention to the rat that was trying to squeal and break free of his hold.

Kayn slammed him down on the ground face first, instantly breaking the nasal bones of the rat man. "Now Mr. Rat, I don't know your name, but I do know you have drawn quite the target on your back. At the request of one Yeria, you are about to experience something very unpleasant."

Kayn released the wind spell that was restricting the rat man's breathing, and he quickly began begging for his life, even offering a few silvers to be released. Kayn only scoffed before using a Mana Thread to grab a section of metal bar that was exposed in the walls.

For the next couple hours, loud wailing cries of a pitiful rat were heard in the secluded area of the slums. Some had heard the cries, but they directly avoided the area as they didn't want to experience whatever was happening there.

When the sun started peaking over the walls of Palatine, Kayn walked out of the building and sprinted away before daylight set in. He moved swiftly as he placed a severed hand containing a ring with a rat design into his spatial sash.

After he made enough distance with the southern slums, Kayn set up the Villa on the roof of a building in the western outer ring. It had taken him an hour to get to the border of the western area, so the sun was already peaking well over the walls of the city.

He had already paid for a few days at the inn back in the middle ring, so he wasn't worried that they would check his room or anything to ensure he was checking out. However, as Kayn walked inside and removed his mask, a frown was apparent on his face.

'Did I go too far? While he definitely deserved it, I still don't like that I could do all of that without feeling even the slightest amount of remorse for my actions while torturing the man.' Kayn thought to himself as he sat down to meditate and clear his head a little bit.

He was quite positive that the authorities would have heard about the screaming from someone by morning, and what he actually felt bad about was the scene the first responders would walk into. Some of them may even feel sick as Kayn had left the man impaled from rear to mouth on the metal bar before standing it upright in the ground.

Kayn had even carved the words rapist and murderer onto the man's back. It would clearly be seen as an act of revenge by one of his victims or their family, such as a grieving husband.

Kayn wasn't completely unbothered by his own actions though, which reassured himself that he wasn't just some sociopath that didn't feel any emotion. However, he did know that something influenced his emotions at certain times, and he could only come to the conclusion that it was the sway that Wrath had over him, even if it was mostly under control these days.

He had to vow to himself that he wouldn't become a cold-blooded torturer after this experience as he knew it was within his capabilities. If he didn't have Lara, didn't wind up with Horace and Est, or find Kinzie again, he knew that things would have certainly turned out different than they had.

While he would probably be fine without meeting Kinzie again, she definitely helped to bring some warmth back to his heart. However, if Lara had died but he lived, he would probably be a being that was solely dedicated to revenge. As for Horace and Est, they helped him to continue seeing the good in people and realize there were still people he could trust.

Sighing, he stood up and removed his gear before retrieving Lara and heading to the bath. He wanted to relax for a while, and Lara enjoyed bubble baths. Kayn warmed the water in the tub and threw in some bubble soap before sitting Lara inside to play with some floating toys. He then lowered himself into the water with just his head sticking out and rested it on the edge of the tub.

He closed his eyes and blocked out any noise, only keeping his Mana Sense on Lara to make sure she didn't drown or hurt herself somehow. He had one more target before he could report the results of his mission thus far to Charlotte, but he needed to once more wait for the sun to drop and darkness to settle in before beginning to seek his prey.