Bittersweet heist

My friends call me Doze. I've been working in this mansion for a few years now and I can't say that it's not enjoyable. There are many people here with me and the pay is not bad, not to mention that nobody would dare to infiltrate this place.

However, lately I've been getting kind of a weird feeling, it's like I'm being watched. Eh, I'm sure it's not anything, we have one of the best protection systems after all! It will detect any person that tries to get through, without fail!

Unless they're on the third step or higher, of course. That is a very serious fault of this system… Pfft, haha, what would a mage like that need with a small noble? Okay, that's an understatement, medium size.

Anyway, today I am on duty with the young lady! I cannot wait to see her again, she's just so lovely…. Sigh, if only it weren't for the difference in rank, if only I wasn't a mere aspirant…. Dammit, I know that they have the awakening plant in the vault, why can't they spa-

Uoooh! SMACK

Ouch, I hope nobody saw me fall. Hm, oh, is that a snail over there? Hello friend, don't tell anyone, will you? Haha, hah, haah.

Sigh.

…

Kaian stared at the guard who just slipped and awkwardly looked around on the ground before running away while pursing his lips. This had to be a method to make potential robbers underestimate them.

He had been snooping around the estate in various forms to plan out his heist. Despite getting a lot of information from Ann, Kaian had to verify it for himself. It seemed that she didn't lie, there indeed was a barrier that alerted the guards when anyone came through it.

Normally, this would be a terrible thing, but Kaian noticed that animals were able to pass through it without alerting the system. Of course, there were people patrolling and if an animal behaved suspiciously, they would either chase it out or straight up kill it.

Thankfully, Expecting someone that can change into an octopus with a magical liquid that makes you invisible was a bit much.

Kaian managed to think of two ways to infiltrate this place. Both had their pros and cons and it would be quite a difficult choice.

The first option was very risky, relying on the fact that nobody would manage to see him through the ink. He would first coat himself and pass through the alarm undetected, then he would get inside the house and plan further from there.

Among the few pros, there was the fact that he would only be dependent on his own ability and that he would be more stealthy. They can't pay attention to him if he doesn't exist in their eyes.

Unfortunately the negatives were pretty brutal. The chance for something to go wrong was huge and he would have to stay there and figure out where exactly the valuables were while hiding.

As for the second option, it was humiliating. He would change into a cute form that he unlocked earlier and try to catch the attention of the young lady who's fond of animals.

This meant that he would be as safe as he could be in a mansion full of enemies. Though, full of enemies that could decide his fate on a whim. Nobody would care that much if a capybara went missing.

Speaking of which, he had to remind himself of all his forms, so that he wouldn't have to think about them if a tricky situation arose.

First off were the ones for 1VP - the snail and the frog. Despite both costing the same, the difference was huge. He had an extremely hard shell as one and nothing as the other.

Following that was his fish form for 5VP, which was quite useless too.

Immediately after that, the 10VP tier followed, bringing the best forms so far. They were the lizard which can shoot water balls, an octopus which can turn invisible, a scorpion with deadly poison and his most recent addition - a manta.

A manta was an animal completely unique to Kecralon. If there had to be a comparison to one from earth, it would be a manta ray, the cutie it shared its namesake with. However, there was a small difference. A manta could fly and had a shimmering, iridescent appearance.

Honestly, it was pretty useless to Kaian right now. The animal was best at gliding and if he wanted to get some altitude, he had to focus on making some sort of energy move him upwards which left him mentally drained.

And although a manta was pretty hard to spot, it was far from invisible. He hadn't seen any around here so it would be suspicious to have one just appear and fly into a noble's mansion.

Putting that aside, the last level of his form pyramid was the 100VP tier. It consisted of the wolf that could form temporary clones and a capybara. The second animal was his latest addition and a crucial element for his plan.

He tested its powers briefly and found out that it could control water around itself. Unfortunately, the area was not that big and he couldn't move it with enough force to actually do some real damage.

Maybe it would be stronger when fully submerged.

Giving it more thought now that he recapped all his forms, he realized that he didn't have a choice. None of his forms had the ability to cause damage straight up or even escape. It was a sobering moment, neither of his plans were safe.

Though, what did Kaian expect? That robbing a prominent member of society would be easy? No. This was completely normal. There was no gain without risk.

Steeling his resolve further, Kaian slid off the house he was observing from and by the time he hit the ground, there was a capybara there. He knew that the young lady was going to go outside soon - it was the perfect opportunity.

And sure, after a few minutes of waiting, there she was, accompanied by guards. Kaian didn't hesitate and jumped through the barrier. It didn't make any noise, yet, the guards noticed him and tensed up, relaxing upon noticing that he's just an animal.

The captain of the guards whispered something to his colleague and started walking to Kaian, seemingly wanting to dispose of him. Thankfully, his plan worked and the young lady ran to the capybara, petting Kaian and defending him.

"Noooo, don't hurt it!" she shrieked.

Extremely embarrassed, Kaian tried to hide himself. The guards stopped and appeared to consider what to do with him.

"Look, it's afraid, go away! Don't worry, I, Luna, will protect you, Cuddles!" Luna added, threatening the men with her small fist.

There was not a moment where Kaian felt more like disappearing on the spot like right now. A small girl was defending him from guards that he could take on without much trouble. She even named him Cuddles!

Persevere, he had to persevere. It was all for the sake of his power and he wasn't so weak-willed to not last through a small obstacle like this. Despite that, he wouldn't mind meeting a normal woman for once. Did mana have some weird influence on the people in this world?

While he was deep in his theories, the situation resolved itself. Luna managed to save him and she'd keep him in her room. Perfect, hopefully he would have enough control to be able to walk around freely.

…

He didn't. What he got instead were 4 days of suffering and mental torture. He couldn't do anything except be around Luna, who, despite being cute, was annoying as hell. Kaian did get to walk around the mansion a bit and he scouted some places out. That was it.

Dammit, this wasn't going the way it was supposed to. No matter, he would break out today. Everyone in the mansion already knew him so even if he got caught, it wouldn't be that bad.

After waiting patiently, the night came and Kaian found himself in the bed with Luna. He slowly stood up and left the room, hiding in the shadows. Once outside, he ran to where Luna's father had his office. Surely, it would be around there somewhere.

Though, it was his first time going into that room, he knew where it was. That was exactly the reason why he was extremely surprised when he immediately noticed a passage that led to an iron vault door. They didn't even try to hide it at all.

[Well that was quick, route secured.] Kaian thought.

Now the last thing to consider would be how to get inside. Hmm, he could probably just wait here while invisible as the octopus and come in at the same time as someone else. Yeah, that sounded good while be-

"Cuddles, so this is where you were." A creepy voice resounded behind him.

Kaian slowly turned around and noticed the source, Luna. She was smiling like always, but something was wrong. Her smile was unnatural and the changer could've sworn he saw some orange flashes.

As if this wasn't enough, a dark voice started whispering in his mind.

[Kill her, she knows. Remember how much she tortured you, she deserves it.]

The sane Kaian responded sharply, hiding his indecisiveness.

[Shut up, I can't do it. Not now. We have no idea if she actually knows and doing it would ruin the plans!]

Amidst his battle with himself, Luna picked him up and started taking him to her room. Her blonde hair tickling him.

[See? She has no idea, we're safe. Plus, we're going to leave with the loot tomorrow anyway. We can't be any safer.] He spoke, trying to reassure himself and *himself*.

The way to the room took longer than he expected and when they returned, Kaian got carefully placed on the bed. Luna laid down next to him and embraced him with a hug.

Everything was fine, he thought.

"I know you can hear me, Kaian."

Kaian froze, sheer fear overwhelming him. He made it obvious that he wouldn't act so his other personality took over. It was all or nothing.

[VEXI, HUMAN!]

The moment he started growing, he grabbed for his dagger. In the split second he noticed a surprised expression crawling on Luna's face. Not paying it any mind, his hand flashed and the dagger struck her on her chin.

CRACK

Kaian completely ignored the feeling of his arm shattering and managed to grab her clothes to avoid getting blasted off. They both flew to the window and slammed into it. Somehow it didn't break and they fell on the floor. Quickly changing into a scorpion, Kaian stabbed his stinger into her and he felt the item that protected her break.

Luna finally managed to get it together and shoved energy at him, blasting Kaian off again. He knew that he wouldn't get closer like this and transformed into a wolf, triggering the clone.

He sent his clone around and ran straight at her with his true body. She clearly didn't expect him to be that stupid and attacked the clone with some stone arrows. The clone popped like a water balloon and Kaian jumped, taking a bite out of her leg.

She shrieked and wildly blasted mana again. Unfortunately for her, it only worsened the bite since it made Kaian slide and tear off more than he would've.

Kaian took advantage of that and changed into a scorpion again, putting the venom in her blood flow. Luna bent over and started crying, but Kaian didn't budge. Instead he changed into a capybara and tried to control the blood so it would spread even faster. His success was limited, however she still passed out, dying quickly.

It made even the insane Kaian feel bad and he quickly left the room, aiming for the vault. There was no time to feel ashamed, there was no time to consider his feelings. The only thing he could do was finish this heist so it wouldn't be wasted.

The smarter Kaian was given control, as if even the crazy one wanted to escape and his capybara self shed a tear. For power….