Enigma of Sin

The clawed hand of the elf quickly approached Kayn's neck, but Kayn was one step faster and created an ice shield that floated in the air to block the hand. The elf's hand sliced cleanly through the shield before continuing to where Kayn should have been.

However, the elf noticed that Kayn had quickly moved to distance himself and was preparing to fight. Lara had woken up by this point and was not happy about it, so she was screaming. Kayn really wanted to soothe her, but he didn't have any spells for that and he couldn't do it physically at the moment.

Kayn's movements during this fight were going to be severely restricted since he had Lara strapped to his front. He had to prioritize keeping his distance and launching spells while maintaining it.

The crazed elf just laughed as he saw Kayn preparing to fight and launched himself forward without preparing any defenses. Kayn first stomped the ground to create a bog, then launched lightning from his hands at the elf.

The elf just laughed even more as the bog didn't slow him at all and he was essentially gliding over it. The lightning didn't slow him down one bit either as he just slapped it away with one of his hands.

Kayn started to get nervous seeing the elf slap away his lightning like a toy. The only being he had fought so far that his lightning had zero effect on so far was the A-class gorilla, and he was more handicapped now than he was then with his movements restricted by keeping Lara safe.

Rather than worrying about it anymore, he just started launching one spell after another while even charging up different types of Magic Bullets and intermittently casting them in between other spells.

As Kayn retreated at a quicker and quicker pace, the elf was following along just as fast without even being hindered by Kayn's spells. Ice spears were thrown, earth spikes launched out from the ground, wind bullets broke the sound barrier, and both lightning and fire rained down, but nothing slowed the elf.

Kayn gave up at that point and decided to make some sacrifices. He instantly protracted his wings which ripped the straps on his bag, dropping it to the ground. Luckily, he had designed Lara's carrier just for these circumstances so the straps holding it to him didn't interfere with his wings at all.

Kayn launched himself into the air a second later. He wanted to use Mana Threads, but he didn't have enough control over them to use them from a distance yet. Thus, he moved on to one of his two most powerful elements, Extinction Lightning.

Kayn had learned how to use both Extinction Lightning and Flames, but his control and versatility were not very practiced yet. This change only came about after he had formed his Demonic Dragon Heart, and Kayn could only attribute his ability to feel these elements after the mana from his core fused with his tissues.

Black lightning started gathering on his palms as he flew up into the canopy of the forest. However, it dissipated just as quickly because the elf suddenly appeared out of thin air right behind him and was already swiping down with his arm which would most assuredly cut his wing off.

Kayn quickly rotated his body and connected Mana Threads between both of his hands. The elf smiled in glee at this because in his eyes Kayn had only turned around and spread his arms apart in surprise. This gave him the perfect opportunity to kill both of his prey in one swing.

To the elf's surprise though, his clawed fingers came to a stop in mid air on seemly nothing. It felt like he was trying to push against several thin strings, but he couldn't see them or sense their existence.

Sadly for Kayn, the force behind the elf's attack was massive. As he was using purely his wings to control his movement in the air, he was sent flying back after stopping the elf's slicing motion. Kayn could only thank his lucky stars that his Mana Threads were strong enough to stop the elf's hand, even as he slammed into a tree.

Before the impact, he used a good portion of his concentration in order to coat Lara in a massive pillow of wind mana in order to cushion her from the impact. After stabilizing himself, he once again started to focus black lightning to both of his hands. He would be able to launch two strikes in quick succession with this, hopefully with some success.

Once the elf appeared in front of him again, he threw a massive bolt of black lightning at the elf's face before tossing the second at his body. The elf was quick enough to dodge his head to the side for the first one, but he had to block the second with his arms.

"Ahhhhh!!!" The elf screamed out as he looked down at his left arm that was directly hit by the lightning. The middle part of his forearm vanished which caused his hand to start falling down to the ground.

The aura of bloodlust around the elf suddenly skyrocketed, "Now I'm going to torture you before eating that infant in front of your eyes!"

Seeing that his Extinction Lightning was effective against the elf, Kayn grew more confident and started to gather more of it in order to both defend and attack. He was also gathering a blast of Extinction Flames behind his body in order to hide it from the elf's vision.

It wasn't necessary to only cast from his hands or feet, one of the benefits to his procedure was that he could launch even powerful spells from anywhere around his body, not just simple tier 1 spells like Magic Bullet.

The next second, both Kayn and the Elf were flattened into the earth, both of them trying to resist the invisible pressure that was threatening to flatten them. Kayn's only thought when he felt this pressure was that he needed to run and protect Lara, even if he had to sacrifice parts of himself to keep her safe.

"Who dares disturb my slumber by striking me with lightning?!" A loud and deep rumbling voice reverberated through the land as the dreadful pressure increased even more.

Half a second later, the voice spoke up again. "Oh, what do we have here? A freshly 5th stage devil? Disgusting."

Without any other warning, the earth shook. Kayn was just barely able to glance to the side and noticed that instead of the crazy elf that should be less than 10 meters from him, a gargantuan claw was stabbed into the ground.

The world above Kayn had turned dark as he could no longer see the stars. The trees that were once surrounding him were gone and he could only see a glimpse of the horrifying creature in front of him. Only now did he realize the mountain he had been following was the thing that moved.

Kayn struggled to keep his head up as a massive eye suddenly lowered in front of him. The yellowish-orange eye with slit pupils gazed at Kayn and his sister before the pressure suddenly eased up.

Noticing the wings on Kayn's back, its pupils narrowed even more. "A young dragon? But hmm, you only have our wings so you must only be a half-dragon. Tell me young one, why did you hit me with that lightning just now? I can tell you're only in the 3rd stage still, but surprisingly, that stung a bit. My scale even became a bit black."

With the pressure that was threatening to turn him into paste gone, Kayn first made sure Lara was okay before dropping to his knees and bowing down toward the eye in front of him.

"I'm sorry great Elder! I was only trying to defend myself from that elf that was attacking me and threatening to eat my sister and I! I didn't know you were even here! Please forgive us!"

Kayn was trying to keep his calm as best he could, but only he truly knew how close he was to peeing himself. The feeling he was getting from this being was otherworldly, and he knew that he could be killed faster than the blink of an eye if it so desired.

"Ah yes, devils are quite annoying beings, especially his sort. I do apologize for almost killing you though. You see a few years ago I only responded with words to being hit by a stray lightning bolt that was thrown during a fight between a crimson haired man and a three-headed fire wolf.

"That irritable man didn't even apologize, he just collected the core stone, stuck his tongue out and held up his middle fingers before launching into the distance. Before I could squash him like a bug, he was too far away and I didn't feel like chasing him since he woke me up from a centuries long sleep.

"Now, just as I fell asleep again, another lightning bolt hits me. You can understand my anger."

The voice was no longer as pressuring and even sounded a bit gentle, but inwardly Kayn was sweating bullets. 'Damnit Dad! Thank Mom that I ended up with her hair and personality!'

Kayn knew for sure that if this beast knew he was related to the red-haired man that disrespected it, he would die without another thought.

Instead, Kayn inquired about what was really on his mind. "A devil? What's that elder? Also how do you know I have dragon blood just from my wings?"

"Hmmm, I'll tell you about devils here in a bit, but of course I knew you were of dragon lineage! I'm a dragon myself after all! I'm one of the few of the Earth Dragons that decided to remain in this world after all. I mostly sleep while I store my mana in order to ascend to the Celestial world. But it's taking far longer than expected to accumulate that much mana and I'm beginning to believe I don't have the fate to ascend."

Kayn remained bowing on his knees as he replied, "Thank you once again great elder dragon. I owe you a debt for saving not only my life but my sister's as well."

"No payment needed young one. We dragons need to stick together, in this world at least. My name is Yvaris Earthborn. Tell me, what is your name and which dragon clan do you hail from?" The mountain that seemed to be covering the sky shrunk down in less than a second and an older looking man with a long beard appeared in front of Kayn.

"Elder Earthborn, my name is Kayn and this is Lara. As for our clan…" Kayn hesitated as his mother had once told him to never, under any circumstance, reveal his race to anyone.

"It's okay young Kayn, I can swear upon the heavens above us that I mean you no harm. Earth Dragons like myself are known for being passive, not that I'm convincing you, but just know I won't harm you or your sister even if you're from a clan that is seen as bloodthirsty and aggressive."

It wasn't that Kayn trusted Yvaris Earthborn's words, but he couldn't sense any malice coming from him, only genuine curiosity. His aura even felt gentle and caring, like a grandparent looking at and caring for their grandchildren.

Plus, he had just been saved by this dragon when he could have been killed just as easily for his offense.

Sighing, Kayn resolved himself. "My sister and I are both Obsidian Void Dragons."

Upon hearing this, the old dragon's eyes narrowed slightly, "What did you just say?"