Enigma of Sin

Kayn glanced around the room and looked at each individual that was staring at him, trying to find the face he was looking for. To Kayn's fortune, he saw the guy sitting in a corner booth talking loudly while bragging about the success of his latest job.

The others inside the tavern were still staring at him, but Kayn ignored them as he had a job to do. However, one of the 4th stage core individuals stood up and stood about a meter away directly in front of Kayn. Although the man couldn't see it, Kayn was raising one of his eyebrows wondering what this guy was up to.

"Oi! If it isn't the Master of Puppets!" The man spoke as he waved his hands around in an exaggerated manner while mentioning Kayn's new title. Now, Kayn understood what was going on and he couldn't help but chuckle as the words he expected next came out of the man's mouth.

"You did some fine work on my boys, even caused one of my few 3rd stagers to want to reform and work a 'normal' job." The man made air quotes with his fingers as he said normal. "I believe you owe me some compensation for that."

The man stared at Kayn while smirking. He didn't think Kayn had more than a new 4th stage core at most, so he was quite confident in confronting him like this, not to mention all the people around him who also knew about the bounty he placed on Kayn's head.

"Oh? From what I witnessed they were all fighting each other. I had nothing to do with it! So, if you'll kindly move, I'll be on my way with my business."

The man's eyes twitched when Kayn claimed he did nothing to his men. Apparently, this was only going to go down one way, and that was by force. "500 gold coins to anyone who brings me this fucks head!"

The man screamed out as he drew a one-handed axe from his waistband. However, before anyone could start fighting, Kayn yelled out. "Hey barkeep! I'm assuming you'd prefer for no blood to be staining your floors or any of your furniture to be broken, how about I just do what I came here for and leave quietly?"

All of the people who had drawn weapons or were beginning to cast spells paused as they all feared the man behind the counter to a certain extent. Disobeying his rules would result in a severe punishment or death for them.

The large bearded man standing behind the counter gave Kayn an amused look. That was one way to try and get out of dying he thought to himself. "Take it outside. As he said, I don't want a mess in my bar. You know what though, curiosity has the best of me, what's your business in my fine establishment?"

Kayn didn't speak, but he pointed at the man sitting in the corner who was still oblivious to what was happening around him, even if the other people at his table were no longer listening to him. Noticing that the Puppet Master was pointing his finger their way, they all scattered from the table, leaving the lone drunk.

When Kayn's finger remained pointing in the same direction rather than following one of the people who left the table, the barkeeper nodded his head. "If you can somehow make it back in here alive, he'll be waiting for you. I don't like getting on the bad side of people who can potentially kill me, and if you live, it means you can. Now, take it outside!"

Kayn shrugged at the man's attitude and turned around to walk outside. There were two large wooden pillars that made up the base of an archway that led into the establishment, and without anyone behind him noticing, he flicked his fingers, casting several Mana Threads that wrapped one of the two pillars with a spacing of a few centimeters in between each thread.

Kayn continued walking until he was a good distance away from the tavern. He turned around to glance at the group of people who had followed him outside, hoping to claim his head for the 500 gold coins.

Kayn couldn't help but laugh out loud as four of the five 4th stage people inside of the bar, aside from the barkeeper, were in the group. There was also a good mix of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd stage people too. He didn't want to slaughter wantonly, so he decided to offer them one last chance to live.

"I'll give you all one last chance to back out, otherwise, you will definitely not live to see another day. I'm not particularly forgiving to those that threaten my life you see. Most of you are too weak to leave a speck of dust on me from your attacks." Kayn spoke with arrogance, but it was well placed as he truly was far stronger than most of these people.

It seemed that a few of the weaker individuals valued their lives as they raised their hands up and walked back to the tavern, waiting to see the outcome of the battle. Lastly, a woman with blazing red hair shrugged before turning around and walking away, she was one of the 4th stage individuals.

"Sorry Garth, you don't have decent information on this guy's strength or abilities, and I'm not one to risk my life when the money isn't guaranteed. Good luck." She raised her hand up and waved, not caring one bit about backing out.

No one else was making a move to leave, so Kayn confirmed one more time before he started, "Everyone else is determined to see this through?"

The man who started this whole thing and the leader of the High Rollers mercenary group began charging at Kayn with his axe raised and fire gathering around it. "Enough talking, die!"

"So be it." Kayn shook his head as he made quick circular motions with both hands. The group was immediately wrapped in several Mana Threads that were spaced out from head to foot by a few centimeters each.

Kayn then pulled with all of his strength. The people on the outsides of the group were immediately severed into several meat slabs, including Garth and his weapon that was broken into several pieces. A 4th stage magic warrior had died just like that, with little to no struggle.

As the Mana Threads were tightening in on the rest of the group to dismember them like the others, a few of the stronger people in the group directly jumped out of the entrapment after using whatever spells they could to make enough room for them to move.

Kayn watched as several of the people he caught in his trap jumped into the air and out of the enclosing circle of Mana Threads, this included the remaining two 4th stage experts. One of them directly tried to flee while the other charged directly towards Kayn.

"Not so fast," Kayn spoke as he yanked both of his hands as hard as he could, instantly severing the remainder of the group caught in his Tether's trap. He then quickly grabbed the knives in his bandolier and began to throw them at the escaping individuals, infusing them with darkness mana.

None of the people who were fleeing for their lives realized something was coming for them, nor could they sense or see it until it dug into their head or heart. Most fell dead before they could regret deciding to stay in the first place.

The only two people alive now besides Kayn were the 4th stage individuals. The one who was fleeing had stopped and turned around just in time to put their arm in front of the knife that was thrown at them.

Feeling that his arm was decaying and being corrupted by the darkness mana at a ridiculous rate, he decided to directly chop his arm off with the sword in the other hand. Knowing that this was definitely a do or die situation, and seeing that Kayn wasn't attacking again momentarily, the two 4th stage mages grouped up.

One was a magic warrior of the earth element and the other a caster of water and wind. As they were both experienced in fighting in groups, they immediately went into action. The magic warrior would play defense, while the caster would function as their offense.

Kayn waved his hand, utilizing the unique recall spell for the knives, and they all reappeared back into his bandolier. The two who were preparing to go against him couldn't help but curse the dead Garth and themselves for their foolishness.

Clearly, the Master of Puppets was not someone that they could have or should have messed with. Hindsight was 20-20 though and they had to go all in now or risk being turned into meat slabs like the rest.

Seeing that they were about to go into action again, Kayn withdrew one knife for each hand, holding them both with a reverse grip. He then infused his body with wind and lightning mana, drastically increasing his already ridiculous top speed.

To the eyes of his opponents, Kayn had teleported between them. Kayn's opponents were only about a meter and a half from each other, meaning he would be able to attack both with his knives at the same time.

Just as the two tried to turn and send their attacks at Kayn, they heard the last words their ears would ever listen to, "Futile." Kayn spoke as he quickly stabbed both individuals twice in the torso before stabbing into their necks.

When Kayn retracted his hands, both bodies fell to the ground simultaneously, blood beginning to pool underneath them on the ground. Kayn sighed as he used some water mana to clean off the blood from his outfit and the knives before looking around at the carnage he had created.

There were a few bodies spread about here and there with single wounds placed on their body and flesh decaying outward from those spots. But the majority were all grouped up into piles of flesh slabs in a single area.

The amount of blood and flesh wasn't anything new to Kayn as he had fought off the rune beast tide, but it definitely felt different as these were all living, breathing, intelligent beings until only a few moments ago.

It made him a little disconcerted at his lack of emotion towards killing people he knew nothing about. For all he knew the only crime they committed was trying to come for his life.

He could have probably avoided the situation entirely if he just took out the man called Garth quickly back in the tavern, but a part of him didn't want to let anyone who came after his life remain alive. This should also work as a phenomenal deterrent for people who were thinking about hunting him down.

His overwhelming strength would be publicized in the underworld and people would probably try to avoid him at all costs. Most wouldn't know what his limit or core stage was though as he had toyed with 4th stage mages, so unless they could determine that, going after him wouldn't be worth it.

Kayn glanced at the pile of flesh once more and caught sight of a fiery red orb sitting half buried under blood and guts. He walked over and picked it up, only to realize that it was the mana core of that man called Garth.

He struggled for a few minutes, trying to decide what he wanted to do, but in the end, he put the mana core into his spatial sash before retrieving the other two 4th stage mana cores. Once they were collected, he collected all of the bodies and threw them into one large pile.

Just before he walked back into the tavern, he lit the pile on fire creating a massive pyre of flame and polluting the air with the smell of burning flesh.