Finding Kayne

Yolden's theory of frozen time wasn't impossible. Kan'na felt that with a bit of experimenting she could directly replicate this theory with her own magic. It held simple conditions, first only effect living things, second freeze time for those living things, third allow other living things to interact with the area.

The last condition would prove to be the largest headache. However with her vast amounts of knowledge regarding magic and mana, there was this huge flaw in the theory. Having such a spell last for longer than a few hours would require an incredible amount of mana for just one instance!

This was because of the "World Law"! Anything out of order would naturally be fixed over time. To prevent this you would need to constantly refresh the spell and reapply its effects. There's no feasible way to provide enough mana to do that for the hundreds of victims over the course of weeks if not months! Even Kan'na, with her third dimensional magic and ascension to Godhood, was incapable of such a feat. 

Magic required mana to activate! Some spells might not require more mana to maintain its effects, but over time these spells would wear down. For the crime scenes of the disappearances to have no changes whatsoever would require the spell to be refreshed every one to two hours!

If by chance the spell was manipulating time, and perhaps utilized some method to reverse time to maintain the effects, then perhaps this could be possible. However such a powerful method would undoubtedly have obvious signs. This sort of anomaly in time was far too difficult and complex to hide. So much so that doing it for hundreds of different instances was nigh impossible and completely pointless!

As a Goddess, and a Sage, Kan'na was undoubtedly the most knowledgeable that came to magic. With her capabilities, she wouldn't be able to replicate this feat. Not when the costs were so high.

Yolden's expression shifted to fury, disbelief, and back to confidence, "It's the result of an Artifact. These things have always been mysterious and hard to understand. Seemingly breaking what we believe to be iron rules."

Kan'na felt a bit disappointed with the answer, "Even such abilities often have a cost, or a condition. Even the powerful Truths have their restrictions. To chalk up my point as the result of an Artifact we haven't seen is taking a shortcut. You're simply trying to take credit while leaving a path for you to retreat if you're wrong."

"As if your claims that there would be signs in the mana wasn't ridiculous itself! Who are you to belittle me when you're shamming others?"

"Shamming? As if, I've been locking onto the King's location this entire time.", Kan'na was now no longer interested in conversation.

Disbelief immediately showed in both Yolden's and Hala's expressions. Pointing a finger Yolden argued, "You expect me to believe that?! To have faith in such baseless claims?!"

"Baseless faith?", Kan'na smiled, "Not at all. To have faith in me is to have faith in reality."

Kan'na released her suppression of Godhood. Fully revealing herself to be a Goddess. The engraved magic circles on her body twisted and turned, a faint pulse of glowing light underneath them. Immediately Hala and Yolden's heads were lowered. 

Sweat formed to a bead and fell to the floor. The reactions were varied between the two. Hala felt terrified. To think that the Six Lights they had requested a while ago had grown to such an extent. They had a Dragon among their ranks, and now a Goddess? This level of might almost surpassed their Kingdom if it wasn't for the fact that there wasn't any apparent Fourth Stages!

Yolden was panicking, he had directly argued and called a Goddess both a quack and a fraud! Why in the world was a Goddess concerning herself with something like this? Had this matter grown to such a scale?! He shouldn't have concerned himself!

Tilia silently sighed. At this point Kan'na was just showing off. Or was this some sort of start to her gathering faith as a Goddess?

"You found Kayne?", Tilia ignored everything and asked simply.

Yolden and Hala tossed sharp glances towards Tilia. How dare she speak so candidly with a Goddess? However Hala was quick to realize a fact. Tilia had known Kan'na from the start, was Kan'na always a Goddess? Or was this a newly ascended Goddess? If it was the latter it was no surprise that Tilia was unfazed and on such friendly terms. 

Meanwhile Yolden was all too terrified to speak further. 

"Found is too specific for what I've done. If not for the fact that he sits on his throne a lot I wouldn't have been able to track his mana signature.", Kan'na explained.

"His mana signature?", Tilia echoed to have Kan'na explain.

"Mana can recognize and hold information of certain things it comes into contact with constantly. Since his throne is made of many precious materials it gathered the attraction of nearby mana. Since Kayne sat on this throne a lot, the mana was capable of remembering his signature."

"Mana can recognize the signatures of individuals?"

"Well ambient and inner mana are still mana.", Kan'na provided a simple explanation.

Extending a hand Kan'na formed a small magic circle, "With the signature I've asked the mana to try and find where else they can find it. It took a bit, but it's tracked it down."

"Y-You asked mana?", Yolden stammered.

"Of course. I am the Goddess of Mana after all."

"I. . . I see. . .", Yolden visibly gulped.

The small magic circle formed a compass needle and it pointed in a certain direction. Kan'na let the magic circle float and looked towards Hala, "Well, I take it there's certain preparations to be made?"

Naturally Hala wished to mobilize the entire army to retrieve the King. However under the gaze of a Goddess she did not wish to keep such a figure waiting. With a glance towards Tilia she answered, "I believe the three of us make a good force. . . if matters are out of our control I can contact our Fourth Stage power."

"Very well, let us go.", Kan'na snapped her fingers.

The three were teleported away towards a rocky canyon. Kan'na tilted her head and listened to something before explaining, "Unfortunately I could not obtain specific coordinates. Givale isn't here either so I can't necessarily mimic the direct portal."

"Direct portal?", Tilia once again echoed.

"An experiment I had Givale perform with me. Using a mana signature I had her use it as an endpoint for the portal, directly bypassing the need for coordinates. Such a thing was only possible due to her incredible space mastery.", Kan'na sighed regretfully.

"Even now you can't replicate the effects?"

"I wish! Unfortunately the Dragon's authority over their inherit element isn't something easily replicated. The equivalent of a bloodline ability. I'd need to thoroughly study space and its properties before being able to attempt it."

Reaching her arm into the subspace Kan'na continued her ramble, "The subspace theory I made a few years back was something I've only recently been able to complete. It required me to make third dimensional magic, completely alter my body, and ascend to Godhood before I could complete it. Givale got it first try after I corrected a single mistake."

"The talent of a Dragon.", Tilia mused. 

"It's not just her being a Dragon. She's naturally talented, Akiol's made a comment about how quickly she learns before too. Her being a Dragon is just an S tier bonus on top.", Kan'na suddenly frowned and repeated herself, "S tier bonus. . . I blame Torch for that choice of words."

Hala felt like she shouldn't interrupt the talk of a Goddess, however a name caught her interest, "Torch, are you referring to the Artificer?"

"Artificer?", Kan'na pondered the question, "I suppose you could call him that."

Hala suppressed her urge to hiss. From their research Torch was a powerful force capable of creating thousands of mechanical soldiers. To think that Six Lights had a friendly connection with this mysterious power! What else were they capable of?!

Tilia chuckled, "He one to use descriptions like 'S-tier'?"

"Apparently he's a gacha player, refers to a lot of things with letter grades. Got to know a bit during our work together."

As she spoke Kan'na was forming several magic circles and collecting calculations. As they worked Kan'na rhythmically snapped her fingers out of habit while she watched, "Right so theory time. This supposed magic device is randomly selecting people to kidnap, causing space to freeze around them. Any questions before I continue?"

"You said it wasn't random.", Tilia pointed out.

"It's easier to say random than it is to say selected via predefined algorithm."

"Sure. In that case what should we expect?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Hidden organization who's artifact went out of control? Maybe a bit of rogue magic? Perhaps someone's spell failed and they met a tragic fate before they could stop it?"

"Fantastic, unfortunately neither of us are geared for this. Except for Hala over here.", Tilia looked towards Hala.

She then did a double take. For Hala had entirely disappeared!