Enigma of Sin

Kayn's Demonic Dragon Heart greedily absorbed the mana in the formation and palace, but before Kayn could fully immerse himself in the process, a chastising voice filled the large hall.

"Arrogant of you to sit on my throne." Kayn's eyes opened wide when he heard this and he immediately tried to vacate the throne, but his body wasn't listening to him.

Kayn wasn't even able to open his mouth to speak and plead his case. He felt a foreign mana quickly enter into his body and mind. Kayn's mental defenses crumbled like a castle made of sand in front of the invading force as he wasn't well versed in trying to defend his mind.

"Impressive. Truly. Impressing me is something most can only dream of in this universe, so be proud. As a reward I will answer a few of the questions on your mind.

"Yes, I am Odin. I can see anywhere I have left a trace or anywhere in my own world, Valhalla, hence why I am communicating with you and knew you were trying to take this place's power. However, do not be alarmed as that was always the intended purpose of this place. It's just I intended for whoever entered to understand the tapestries and bow down before my throne, not sit on it…"

Kayn gulped as he may have made a major mistake that could cost his life, but then again, Odin did say not to worry. It was at this moment that Kayn felt the restrictions on at least his head disperse, so he immediately opened his mouth to apologize.

"My apologies All-Father. I meant no disrespect, I only knew that the formation here was centered on the throne. This meant that it would be the optimal place to meditate in hopes of gaining even a fraction of the knowledge you hold." Kayn lowered his head in an attempt to give a slight bow even with no one in front of him.

"All-Father, I haven't heard that name in ages. While you are nothing but an ant in my eyes right now, I can see the potential you hold. I always intended for the one who received this place's blessing to become subservient to me, but I can tell that you won't do that.

"Instead, I will give you three options. You must choose one of them to gain anything from me. Now listen closely because I will not repeat myself, but I may answer a question or two as long as it's not repetitive."

Odin spoke as any ruler did, with authority. Even the aura pressing down on Kayn at the moment felt that any rebelliousness would not be tolerated, so he nodded and paid close attention to the next words spoken.

"One: You pledge yourself to me for life until either you die or I do. In this case I will immediately retrieve you from that desolate world with the single use authority I am allowed on that planet. Once you are in Valhalla, I will assign the best of the best to train you in whatever you desire and personally pass down much of my knowledge to you. I will forge you into a warrior praised for eternity.

"Two: I will use my single use of authority to bestow upon you something that can only be dreamed about, even by my own people. In order to gain what I bestow and use it properly, you will go through extreme pain not only body and mind, but also your spirit. If you fail to absorb it properly, you will perish. If in the extraordinary event that you succeed, I will consider it as fate and ask nothing further of you other than to maybe visit me when you are able.

"Third: You may absorb whatever you can from this place in whatever way you were about to and that will be the end of it. However, I can guarantee that you will gain next to nothing as compared with the other two options.

"Any questions before you make your decision?" Odin asked as he finished his stating the options he was willing to give Kayn.

"For the second option, by spirit, you are talking about experiencing pain in my soul, correct?"

"That's correct."

"And what is it that you would be bestowing upon me?" Odin's answer worried him, but if what he gained was something significant, he felt that maybe he could withstand some pain as pain was an old friend.

"I will not answer that, it is for you to find out should you select that path." Odin replied.

"When you say you have a single use of authority on this planet, what do you mean?" Kayn asked out of curiosity since it was mentioned in both the first and second options.

"Heh, you pay attention. I will also not answer that question, just know that there are some worlds where interference is met with severe punishment." Kayn could almost hear the fear in his voice as he spoke, which was odd coming from someone so powerful.

"How long would the bestowal take for the second option?" Kayn asked as this important to know as he really did want to waste too much time here.

"That depends on how strong you are in body, mind, and spirit. However, do know it is mostly dependent upon the strength and durability of the soul. It could take days, months, years, decades, or even a century. I cannot give you an accurate answer to that question." Odin's reply definitely disappointed Kayn as he couldn't spend a hundred years or more here, much less a decade. Even a year was almost too long in Kayn's eyes.

"Lastly, if I choose the second option and succeed, that means you will leave me alone from here on out and will not target me to retrieve it later on, right?"

"Cautious too huh? But yes, I will not retrieve it later on. Not that I could even if I wanted to. Once it is in your possession, no matter where you are, even if you're on Valhalla, I will not be able to see you unless you are standing before me." Odin spoke with a serious tone to his voice.

Kayn's eyes opened wide as Odin was supposed to be all seeing and even admitted to being able to see everything that happened in his world. If whatever he would gain would make him invisible to Odin's sight, it had to be something extremely powerful.

The choice in front of Kayn wasn't as easy as he thought it would be. The first option would guarantee him the power and opportunity to eventually seek revenge, but Odin said nothing about him being able to bring anyone with him.

Power was good and all, but if Kayn couldn't use it for the purposes that he wanted, what was the point? So, even though it was tempting, he ruled out the first option.

This left him with the last two choices. One would grant him some wisdom and perhaps even help him finally rank up his mind again while most likely regressing his mana core back to the beginning of the 2nd stage.

The other choice had the possibility to grant him something that even the most powerful beings in the universe wanted to acquire according to Odin. However, from the way the All-Father spoke, there was an extremely high chance he would die.

This offer was even more tempting for him than the first, but he simply couldn't risk death right now, not to mention the unknown amount of time he would have to spend here during the bestowal. Being greedy was okay sometimes, but greedy enough to risk his life?

Sighing, his only option was to take the lesser gains with the possibility that it may give him some insight on how to get home.

"Hmmm, before you decide, I'll give you an answer to another question I saw in your mind. Yes, I have ways that could take you back to your home world. But, you would not be able to use any of them with your current skill and power. There is one that has a similar place to this on this planet that may be of help to you though, I cannot say who it is though or I risk my own life."

After Odin spoke, Kayn could only sigh deeper as now he wasn't very hopeful that he would gain something useful from Odin's inheritance other than what he was told and an increase in his mana's potency maybe.

Right as he opened his mouth to answer he would be taking the third option, a single word from the second option was brought to the forefront of his mind.

Fate.

Before he could continue speaking about taking the third option…"I choose option number two, bestow upon me what even the gods covet."

Kayn's mouth may have spoken but inwardly he was screaming in his mind as that's not what he was going to say!

"So be it, I'll be borrowing these for a little while." Odin spoke as if he was pleased with Kayn's choice.

Kayn couldn't even say that he meant the third choice before he felt extreme pain physically as his eyeballs were ripped out of his skull. The pain that assaulted him afterwards inside of his mind caused him to start convulsing on the throne as his consciousness faded to black.