Heist 4

[Divine Blood Consumed]

[The strength of your light magic has increased!]

C- ---> C

[The strength of your light magic has increased!]

C ---> C+

[The strength of your light magic has increased!]

C+ ---> B-

[The strength of your light magic has increased!]

B- ---> B

[The strength of your light magic has increased!]

B ---> B+

[The strength of your light magic has increased!]

B+ ---> A-

[Your Strength has increased!

D+ ---> C+

[Your Vitality has increased!]

D+ ---> C+

[Your Agility has increased!]

C- ---> B-

[The blood of a God has entered your body...]

[Cursed Affliction has been removed!]

[The quality of your mana has increased!]

[For one minute, your body has been supercharged! All regular stats as well as light magic have been raised to SSS+!]

Immediately, a dozen screens appeared around me, and I mentally closed all of them.

I looked at my hands, feeling infinite strength inside of them.

"You foolish child! Do you have any idea what you've done!"

The enemy mage screamed at me, a massive blue magic circle appearing in his hand as well as below my feet.

"Ultimate Art : Downfall!"

A huge pillar of flames washed down on me, but for some strange reason, I couldn't feel it.

My mind felt clear, and my body felt as if I were floating.

The armor I was wearing was not at the level where it could prevent such an attack, and it was quickly turned to ash.

My clothes were incinerated, yet my body did not have a single trace of an injury.

"Hmmm....."

At this moment, I felt like a god.

"Light blast."

I whispered the name of my most basic attack, and a huge ball of light gathered in my hand.

The entire hall was lit up instantly.

I launched the ball towards the mage.

"Shit! Shit! Earth Wall!" 

A giant earth wall burst from the ground, only to be smashed through by the ball of light.

The mage was knocked back into the auction hall seats, and Ragan wasted no time, running towards the stunned man.

"W-wait! Shit!"

"Sunlight Thrust!"

The aura blade was stabbed into the mage's thigh, causing the man to let out a scream.

I flew over to their position, yes, flew, as apparently I could do that temporarily.

"Alright, from now on, you answer all my questions, otherwise I execute you on the spot!"

The commander shouted at the mage and the mage began laughing.

"Who are you?! I would recognize most mages who have opened their third mind in the empire, but you're a mystery."

Ignoring the laughter, Ragan interrogated the decrepit old mage.

"Well, that's not surprising... This body died over a hundred years ago. I guess from that information, you should know who I am?"

I quietly muttered my thoughts at that moment.

"...A demon."

A powerful demon had been puppeteering the deceased mage's body, temporarily brought back to life.

"You...what was your goal with our lord's blood!?"

"...Isn't it obvious? The blood of a god is no joke... Hell, just look at that kid over there! The wimp went from being a weakling to whatever the hell he is now!"

"What is your name! Your true name!"

The old possessed man began laughing.

"You think I'll tell you that? You dumb bastard... Listen, I'll accept defeat, sure... But we'll remember you.. I'll make sure to destroy your division personally."

The mage, snarling in anger, looked over at me.

"And you.. the thief that stole the divine blood... I'll remember your face."

"Alright, I've heard enough of this!"

Ragan raised his sword into the air.

"Ultimate Art : Dawnbreaker."

The manifested sword glowed brightly, and I flew backwards as a massive beam of light surrounded Radan, burning the body of the demon-mage to a crisp.

[Supercharge has ended]

I fell to the floor, quickly recovering and moving to Ragan.

"Commander, are you alright?"

Ragan was injured, breathing heavily.

I healed him up with my improved light magic, bettering his condition.

"Heh... The fight isn't over... I have to report this back to the church.. The demonic forces have begun moving in earnest... And that demon, we only weakened him... I'm sure his true body is elsewhere."

Everything he had said was true.

'But wait, this is great news for me, right? If the church begins moving against the demons, I'll have a massive ally.'

"Oh, and good job, Ares. You truly are favored by his grace... If you ever need help in such a task again, I'll help without hesitation."

I smiled at him, before we both began moving towards the various other inquisition forces.

It seemed that most of the fighting had ended, the guards of the Vepar Auction House were either dead or arrested, and many powerful attendees had voluntarily surrendered, unable to make an enemy of the church.

Several nobles had also been arrested.

"I doubt you'll be able to arrest the majority of them. They'll just claim that they had no idea that the divine blood would be auctioned. A lot of people here are influential nobles and mages."

Ragan agreed with my words with a nod, before giving a small retort.

"That's true... but they'll at the very least face heavy fines, and they'll think twice before doing something of this sort again.

"Hmm.... Yeah."

"Anyways, Ares, you've done your part here. I'll get someone to escort you back to the academy. By the way, I'm sure I don't need to tell you this... but what happened here tonight is classified. I'm sure the Saintess will ask you about this, in which case you can reveal some information."

"Ah, right, of course."

It was strange that Cassenia was uninvolved with the mission. I suppose the Church and Ragan did not want to send her on such a dangerous escapade.

Well, considering her status was still a secret, it was not such a surprise.

"Oh... and also, wear this.."

Ah. Right.

I was naked.

The inferno magic had incinerated my clothes.

Ragan gave me a cloak to cover myself for the time being.

Later on, I stole some clothing from a knocked out guard.

My body at this point felt completely exhausted, I said my goodbyes to Ragan and some of the other captains before boarding a carriage and leaving back to the academy.

---------------

Whilst on the carriage, I began reviewing the status screens that popped up earlier.

The strength of my light magic had increased by an absurd amount.

'Solan's blood... I guess it makes sense.'

Outside of that, my physical attributes had increased by an entire grade, and my cursed affliction was removed.

It was a great boon, considering I had originally planned to acquire several items to cure myself of it, but now it had been immediately removed.

My mana had also undergone an improvement, it now had a certain intensity and purity that it lacked before.

After reviewing the various changes, I lay my head back and dozed off.