"So you are absolutely sure the goods will be there?" Rikuo asked, as they hurried around a corner as several barriers of crystal started to form all over, initiating a sort of lockdown at all locations at once.

"Yes, so keep hurrying! We want to get through as many doors as possible before these barriers fully form and we have to use some serious magic to break through. To think they were not at max security yet, its going to be a pain to break back out".

Sora moved ahead, punching open the door ahead of them and getting them all through.

"Herra, I think its more likely they want to trap us inside, identify us and capture us, if not kill us outright".

"It would explain them holding back. They probably gave a kill order".

It was like a trap. Lure them in, make them think they would be able to escape, but once they were further in, trigger the real trap.

They didn't know all too much about this noble, but clearly he put great stock in his own security. Frankly speaking, without the power of two Reincarnators and a Dragon, not to mention Arila who seemed far more skilled then a normal person, getting this far might have been impossible.

"Enemies up ahead" Herra warned, as they broke through the next door and entered a large and great hall. At the far end, behind multiple barriers of various types, there was a large vault door, and there were multiple locks made of an Anti-Magic metal, Flusterite. It essentially flustered the mana of magic that was cast on it, so it didn't so much negate magic as disruption the mana used to form it upon contact.

However, their eyes were not on the vault, but instead Herra who used Shadow Magic to stop them from going forward, while Sora slashed at the air in front of them.

And yet, what fell suddenly were wires that had been invisible before.

"There are four of them" Herra warned.

"So there are four thieves....what a wonderful matchup" a voice said, appearing from thin air. "And you even saw through our invisibility, how interesting".

Immediately upon seeing them, Rikuo could tell. These guys were not normal, and not to be taken lightly. Although before he couldn't sense them, they now had an overwhelming aura.

And certainly, in front of them four enemies had appeared. However...

"Ice Lance".

Rikuo suddenly had a lance of ice shoot from the ground. It pierced the wall behind him with such extreme speed, that some blood appeared on the ice as another enemy appeared.

"You sure there are only four?" Rikuo asked.

"Yes. This must be some sort of illusion trick, to make us doubt their numbers. They told the truth before to make us think that was a lie...its a mind game".

"You sure have quite the free time to talk" he said, suddenly appearing in front of Rikuo.

"Master!"

"Rikuo!"

"Blood Ice Coffin".

Suddenly, the opponent was frozen in red ice right in front of Rikuo. The other three seemed quite calm.

"Yes, I can confirm now. There are...well, were four of them" Rikuo said, stepping out in front as the leader watched this.

They had attacked him as they realized instantly he was the weakest in close combat, and yet their subordinate was frozen in an instant.

"Let my words bring forth the tempest that will rip them asunder, and let them feel the wraith of the gods themselves with this great storm".

Herra immediately went and attacked the leader, with several Shadow Clones appearing with her. Sora meanwhile transformed his hands so hs Dragon claws were on them, and Arila had already drawn her sword and clashed blades with an enemy who also came after Rikuo at the same time.

Steel clashed and magic was fired, as no one was allowed a second of rest to process what Rikuo had done.

"Bring this storm down upon them, and let them rue the day. Regret and suffer for making the mistake of becoming our enemy".

Suddenly, the leader fired several flame magic bolts at the unprotected Rikuo, but several barriers stopped it. Not just one, but several.

And yet, an assailant different then the ones Herra, Sora, and Arila intercepted appeared behind him, a sword coming down on his head. And yet, instead of his head splattering, it was the sword that shattered on impact, as if it was an incredibly brittle thing.

"Tempest!"

And so the magic was cast. Rikuo immediately started moving once it was cast, heading a bit further away from the man that had attempted to kill him while chanting.

However, he had made a mistake this time, as suddenly his body became tangled in wires. The wires seemed to coil around him and tied him up, making him barely able to move as he fell to the ground. Sora had already cut them down, but somehow they appeared again to bind him. As for the man that tried to stab him, he went after him again, taking out a dagger.

"Push!"

Rikuo used a basic spacial magic to push himself across the floor,

"So you are the real one..."

The assassin said no remark, but just went for Rikuo with depraved eyes. Those eyes made him remember a past trauma of his second life. A rather traumatizing memory at that.

Rikuo couldn't move, but he was able to cast some magic. The wire was weakening him for sure, but he still was able to shoot an ice spike out of the ground. But the assassin was able to nimbly dodge it, only getting a cut.

And the assassin successfully reached Rikuo. As his blade went down though, it once again crumbled and shattered the moment it touched Rikuo's skin.

"What the hell!"

The assassin finally muttered something in rage, when suddenly he was doused in blood.

"There we go. You cleaned yourself a bit better then the other guy".

Wait, dont tell m...

"Blood Ice Coffin".

Before the assassin could finish his thought of reach Rikuo in time, he was also entombed in ice, leaving the remaining two or three.

No, the one Arila fighting is something similar to Herra's shadow clone. Its not a real person, but a conjuration. Its physical though for sure. As for Herra, she is facing the boss, and Sora is fighting the one who is likely the second in command...as for me...

Rikuo tried to use his magic to get out of the wires, but he was having some difficulties. The wires were cutting into him and his clothing the more he struggled or used magic, and they were all across his body. Since he already used quite a bit of it, it was already pretty bad, as the wires had gone through all of his clothes and were cutting right into the skin now. Even his regenerative abilities couldn't do much since the wires were still there.

However, Herra was having her own issues right now. As their blades clashed, she swung her second dagger around, knocking down multiple projectiles while also cutting through the wires that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"You seem weirdly talented for a thief".

"Well, I have quite the experience and training!"

Herra was thinking of her video game training though. After all, she is an expert at combo techniques. Even if combo moves and techniques was not actually a game mechanic, she would find ways to combo and chain abilities. And right now, that was proving useful in the fight, as she was able to switch from one more to another, even as the sword came down upon her.

Clank!

It was diverted away by her dagger, as shadow tendrils came from it and tried to wrap around her opponent. Her shadow clones came from the other side, but he burst upward suddenly to avoid them, while throwing a smoke grenade into the center of them.

"Hell Circle!"

As the magic was cast, a red circle went around the area covered by smoke, and following that the entire area within became filled with hellish flames.

But then he felt an attack come from behind, and barely avoided his back being cut open by Herra as he twisted his body mid-air. And yet, shadows came out of the ceiling to bind Herra in that moment, as if set up ahead of time.

But from the smoke and ash, Herra then appeared from below, something magic dissipating around her.

In mid air though,momentum turned him around from his dodge earlier, and a sword was in his hand and came down right at her head. Their blades clashed, but then he felt a blade stab his own magic barrier that was protecting his back, dissipating into magic particles as the blow was hard enough to destroy it.

But he had already made his next move, and swung his blade around. Herra blocked it while a shadow that emerged from her body drew the knife back, but then she was slashed with a serious cut on her right arm, not going to the bone but doing some serious damage. She had just barely dodged in time, when she noticed the shadow blade in his other hand.

And as they landed on the ground, both quickly jumped to their feet.

And then, all the lights in the room went out all at once.

"Flame inferno!"

That lasted for less then a second, as Sora unleashed a powerful flame attack that spread across the room and lit it all up. The fires rushed through the battlefield, but seemed to twist and turn.

This forced the assailants to dodge, which Rukio also barely managed to do when he realized one attack was coming for him. Even in the pitch blackness, he could never mistake their blades.

"Master, you okay?" Sora said, as he unleashed his powerful breath attack out of anger. It was only a quarter of the strength used against Teleka, but that still practically turned the attacker he was dealing with to ash.

That was when Sora noticed the situation, and released a wind blade, just managing to cut the wires without hitting Rikuo, whose clothes had now been cut to ribbons and his body was not looking so great either. He backtracked over to the now naked and embarrassed Rikuo, and quickly used his manipulation techniques to try and rebuild the clothes a little.

"Dont move. You have too many open wounds. I am also using mana to accelerate your regeneration abilities, but right now if you move at all, clothes will be the last thing you need to worry about".

Rikuo just nodded slightly, as the battle between Arila and the shadow clone came to a head. As a swordswoman, she had fought using mainly her sword and physical strength, while her opponent used many tricks, but they didn't seem to work all that well on her.

"Is that clone only able to use basic techniques?" Sora wondered out loud.

"Basic?"

"Yeah...I guess since it lacks real independence or soul, it has no ability to properly use complex spells or techniques. Well, that said, its still a very good and advanced clone for being able to use techniques and such at all".

"You should support Herra. That guy...he is a psychopath. They all are".

"What do you..."

"I can smell it. Their weapons, they are covered with the blood of hundreds of people, left on their black steel to dry. Its faint, but their blades, and even the black cloaks and clothes they wear, its covered in it".

It was why Rikuo could easily detect the attacks coming at him, and why he could target their weapons so effectively. To a vampire, their pressence was painfully obvious to him.

"But I cant leave you here..."

"Its fine. Just help Herra, you can help me afterwards. My regeneration is already kicking in, and im starting to feel normal again. If needs be, ill use that guy's corpse over there for blood, so go and help her! That guy...he still has something he hasn't used yet".

Even if his situation was rahter embarrassing, his loyalty and friendship with Herra was something he treasured with the deepness of his heart.

And then he noticed it...in the corner of his eye, he saw the cuts Herra had recieved.

Herra was his only real friend in his previous life. They were never romantic, although many people made jokes and fun that they were. But Herra was a friend he trusted and cared about completely.

She was there for him when everyone else had labeled him a weirdo or bullied him.

And seeing the blood of that friend, his emotions became filled with rage.

"...Sora, as your master, I demand you kick that guys ass completely!"

Sora felt the thoughts and emotions of his master, and turned towards his prey.

"Understood. Happy to!"

And at that moment, Sora transformed into a Dragon and unleashed his breath upon the enemy, a blast even stronger then before. As expected of the leader, he dodged it, but the breath attack turned on a dime and engulfed him in flames. No matter what he did, the flames got stronger and burned brighter.

"No, no! I will pay you anything! Please, let me live!"

The man realized he could not save himself, and begged for forgiveness.

"Dont bother" Rikuo mentioned, sitting up a bit, his tatted clothings falling to the sides as he glared in anger. "That man is without a doubt a sadist and a creep. I cant fathom any other reason he has not cleaned the blood off of his weapons and clothes. He keeps them all on, despite knowing this...without a doubt, he gets off on it probably".

"Ooooh, then maybe I will defile that young innocent body of yours!" the burning man said, leaping towards Rikuo with the remainder of his vitality.

However, his corpse dropped to the ground suddenly, and his head rolled away.

"Pervert" Arila commented, sheathing her sword. She then looked over at Rikuo, and confirming the situation, walked over to him and picked up one of the weapons that were not broken. She stretched the arm back a little, and then threw it full force into an Oculus Device that was spying on them.

That said, the doors were now fully encased in the crystals, and the vault looked rightly secured. Rikuo literally had nothing, and Sora returned to his human form, his clothes dropping to the ground so he put them on.

"Wait...your naked again? But your clothes are in tact?"

"Well yeah. Unlike a werewolf, which would destroy any clothes they were wearing when they transform into beast form, I temporarily turn into energy before assuming my Dragon Form. However, I still cant transform my clothes or equipment, since they are not a part of my body. That said, I can store them inside my body while in Dragon Form, so I can at least carry them and protect them with me".

"Can you fix Rikuo's clothes?"

"...the damage the wires did was extensive. Its easier then the hours it took me to reform those bandit clothes, but it would still require us to stay vulnerable in this room for quite a bit...well, there is one thing".

He went to look for a corpse with usable clothing, but....he had burned two of them, and the other two were encased in ice.

"...how did you freeze them exactly?"

"My skill, Blood Arts, lets me control blood that has left a body. I combined it with my Ice Magic to create a Blood Ice Prison. However, I can only do it without a chant at all if the opponent is covered in blood. It doesn't have to be wet fresh blood, dried blood is fine too, although I cant move or manipulate dried blood, just use it as a catalyst for my magic....now, maybe there are some clothes in that vault?"

Since there was literally no other alternatives, it was decided to do that. Thankfuly, with the Oculus destroyed and with them being an adventuring party, with Rikuo and Herra adhering to the cultural norms of this world, it was not as bad for Rikuo.

As for entering the vault, the lockdown hurt the security forces here, since while the barriers did start to deactivate, they could not dissipate immediately and therefore gave them time. Sora tore through the barriers, although he was pretty low on energy, and Herra disabled and broke through the locks themselves.

And with that, they managed to open the vault, which contained everything from secret files to gold coins. But what drew Rikuo's eye the most was a glowing aura he felt deeper within. His bare feet wandered closer to it, feeling a draw from it for some reason.

"Master...are you okay?" Sora asked, when he saw that there was a glowing light he was approaching. Not only that, but he recognized the light instantly. "Wait, Master, be careful, that is a..."

However, as Sora ran towards him, he was too late to stop Rikuo from picking up the crystal.

Seems like you had an embarassing incident occur. Here, consider this a gift from me for all your hard work. I expect great things from you!

The most lovely and divine boy's voice was heard in Rikuo's head, as he suddenly felt the divine energies wrap around his body. A great force could be felt from them, as the energy felt warm and nice like the hug of one's parent to a child.

And then, as the glowing energy took shape around him, it began to dissipate, revealing what used to be Rikuo's naked body, only now there were clothes on him. Not only that, but the clothes looked rather high quality for clothes of this world. He was wearing an orange sleeveless hooded jacket and a white sleeveless shirt. Additionally, he also had black shorts on as well. The orange jacket even had a zipper, and multiple pockets. The pockets were even bigger on the inside then the outside, and he also had black wristbands with their own secret pockets that were bigger on the inside then the outside.

He was still barefoot though, but ultimately it was a massive improvement.

"What...was that?" Rikuo asked.

"That was a divine shard. Its very rare for them to manifest into a physical form when one touches them, although iv heard of cases. It would mean though that one is favored by one of the gods, and they granted you a gift for completing a hard task or such...I guess this would count as one, but still, this is actually considered easy compared to one what normally has to do to be granted an entire set of clothes, aside from boots. It probably means the Divine Shard's power wont be as great, if all the clothing has effects. Well, it was a pretty big shard though, so im sure it will be fairly good at least".

"Hold on, everything I read about suggested this guy had no divine shard...did he secretly secure one?"

Herra seemed puzzled at something after Sora's explanation, but they didn't have much time to think about it. The doors began to have loud banging noises come from them, as the guards were trying to enter to fight and detain them.

As Rikuo was thinking something though, suddenly his glasses of all things, the only things the wires didn't touch, started to glow, and then so did his new clothes. After a bit they stopped, and suddenly, a HUD appeared in front of him, with a list of party members, and information about them. He could even look at their status in detail, as well as other things, but given the current situation he didn't have time for that.

However, they all had various things about their conditions. Sora was low on mana, Herra had some wounds that while she had bandaged herself, weakened her quite a bit. Rikuo himself was weakened from his injuries earlier, and the mana he used up. Arila was the only one among them with a condition near how they started.

Without a doubt, they could not fight an army of guards right now.

"We need to escape. We cant fight them" Rikuo warned.

"That bad?"

"If we fight them, we are probably going to die" Rikuo mentioned as they headed back into the hall. But there were only two doors. "What are the walls made of? Can we break them?"

"If I use the last of my magic, and if you help with the attack, I might be able to".

"Then lets do it...Storm Cataclysm!"

"Siege Breath!"

The two attacks hit, but then Arila jumped forward and smashed through the wall right afterwards, giving it the force needed to break. The group quickly jumped out, as a magic barrier formed a physical wall on the hole.

However, rather then falling to their deaths, Sora turned into his Dragon form and quickly flew them all down.

"...if someone can carry me back to the inn, that would be great..."

"Sora, dont pass out till we land!"

And although they recieved a bit of shock, the heist had successfully been completed, with tons of secret documents and gold in tow.