Arcanas

Conrad's training with Wilfred was mostly centered around the use of his Arcana Card, his abilities as a Diviner, and also the control of his Aura.

But because his Arcana was not responding to his commands for some reason, they only focused on improving his control over his given Avatar skills.

The first was his regeneration. It was pretty much automatic, and he had no control over it whatsoever. Reason why he didn't bother to give it a name. The best it could do was heal minor injuries like a stab or bludgeoning damage, it even worked well against sicknesses to some extent.

It did come with limits.

It didn't extend to decapitation of body parts or an instant death attack like being completely vaporized, or his head being cut off. Of course, he didn't test that out nor did he want to. It was just a theory at this point.

They did however test out the former by slicing off his arm and waited a bit to see what would happen.

The result was, the wound just closed itself and when they reattached the severed arm, it immediately knitted itself back together.

—It was odd considering how he practically died when that explosion gave him a fatal injury. In that moment he even felt body parts he couldn't feel growing back and functioning good as new.

It had its limits so Connie couldn't rely on it or leave himself open to life threatening attacks.

When it came to something offensive, it was the most difficult to learn as he was basically drawing from a blank slate.

Apparently, throughout history, he is the first one to be Marked by The Devil Arcana Card. There hasn't been any other Diviner before him and this made it difficult for him to improve faster.

The abilities and traits of all the other Arcana Cards were recorded and stored within the system of the State Court. So, most Diviners had some general idea of how their power is supposed to work, even if it tended to be different from each other.

With Connie, he had no previous user to take inspiration from. The best he got was his reference from his berserk self against Meliora in the dojo.

And that led to the training of manipulating his Aura in such as a fashion. At first it was difficult for him to use it on the same caliber as back then. He was able to manifest it, but it just wasn't the same.

Connie spent months of vigorous training before he could achieve it. The first time was because he was getting really frustrated that no matter what he did nothing seemed to work.

That often resulted in him losing control of himself and going berserk just like the first time with Mel. Through that, he figured that must have been the trigger.

—The power source of it aligned with negative emotions or negative karma.

The more stress, grief, anger or frustration he felt, the stronger he became. However, the more those negative emotions boiled over, he often lost control and aimed to eliminate the source.

Whenever he reached such a state, he was repeatedly put down by either Klein or Wilfred. And so, his visits to the medic room were frequent and also short to spend more than an hour after he had woken up.

But Mae forced him to stay over while telling him all sorts of useful information about this world of assassins. Looking back on it now, he didn't regret that as it has proven to came in handy now and then.

—He also preferred the company of Mae more than anyone else in the hotel.

As time went by, he began to understand it better. That led him to being able to channel and control it better than when he started. He dubbed this skill as…

—[Devil's Presence] or [Presence of The Devil].

A direct reference to his Arcana Card's name. It involved surrounding himself in its wretched coating. This amplified his physical and mental capabilities to supernatural levels on top of the ones he already had.

It heighted his senses, allowing him to perceive threats much faster than without it. His strength, speed and reflexes all went through the roof when the Aura had enveloped him, however, that was just the basic application of it.

Devil's Presence had more to offer. It had two additional abilities.

The second one to be displayed was —[Gluttonous Devil].

Connie's Avatar Aura possessed a natural affinity to devour and absorb everything composed out of Aura. It functioned by converting whatever it was he took into as part of his own power, adding to his already impressive physical capabilities. It even served to replenish the Aura he had lost.

In a hidden world where strength was reliant on one's own control over Aura. Having an ability to absorb one was essentially a cheat code in a way. Though it was a far cry from negating it which would have been much more useful.

But still it had the benefit of turning the enemy's power into strength. So that was the only key takeaway he could get from this ability. Although it was quite effective against Quill, it was barely useful against the old man.

—That highlighted its drawbacks.

The first was that the part of his body absorbing the attack had to be coated in the Aura of [Devil' Presence] or he would end up taking the full throttle of the attack.

Also, he couldn't absorb large volumes of Aura in an instant or quick enough. This was evident with his sessions with Wilfred. In other words, this ability would be almost totally useless against someone leagues above him in terms of fire power.

His main suspects were those who actually deserved to be Dragon Rank unlike himself who somehow was evaluated to be in such a level. Even Diviners like himself were those to be wary off.

Lastly, his pit wasn't bottomless. If overloaded, who knows, maybe he might even explode.

—The second ability was a drag to learn.

Connie took a deep breath, this allowed [Devil's Presence] to disperse from his body. Then followed to slightly lift his foot before stomping it into the ground.

This prompted a powerful wave of freezing wind to erupt from his foot and surged out like a tidal wave. It instantly smothered the flames that ravaged the room and continued its influence on the entirety of the building.

The freezing cold clashed with Quill's flames and immediately overwhelmed them. By this short span of time, the entire build should be frozen solid, with flames reduced to a thin layer of frost as the temperature dropped dramatically.

—The same couldn't be said for Quill though.

Before the cold had reached him, he countered by creating flames that pushed back against the freezing winds, showcased by the steam swirling around him.

For a moment, the latter seemed to have pushed past his limits.

_As expected of a Griffin Ranked Assassin_

However, that appeared to be the most he could do at this point. Quill struggled to hold his ground but still Connie did not want to be cocky.

That would be his downfall, as Klein instructed.

As it stood, from Connie's perspective. The room was now completely transformed. Ice coated the walls, floor and ceiling, leaving only a shimmering chill in the air. This was probably true for the rest of the building since that was his area of effect target.

Connie stood proud, satisfied with the result.

"You're still standing. You really are impressive"

"Petty tricks won't be enough to kill me. I'll protect Mr. Langley. I owe her that much"

Quill said while panting. Connie raised an eyebrow on that statement. Did he misgender his client or did he mean a different person? His exhaustion must have probably caused some sort of fatigue to his brain or thought process.

_I'm not planning to kill you, dumbass_

Connie sighed because this next part was going to be difficult.

_This is a good a time as any to test it out in the field_

He raised his hand before slamming it into the ground with a force that rattled the entire floor.

The concrete beneath his palm cracked and shattered as tendrils of dark red Aura shot outwards. The solid ground was transformed into actual writhing octopus tentacles. They lashed out in terrifying speeds and wrapped themselves around Quill as he attempted to leap away only to be caught mid-air.

"Yes! It worked"

Connie muttered under his breath, filled with excitement and satisfaction.

But almost immediately. The tentacles grew larger and thicker, bursting through the walls of the building with a sickening crack. The windows and ice shattered as debris rained down onto the streets below.

"Shit!"

Connie's eyes widened as he cursed when he heard the panicked screams of the crowd of people on the street.

"Damn it. I still don't have control over the output. Ah man, as if my problems aren't a hassle enough"

"Some assassin you are. Honestly, victory was at hand yet decided to do something over the top"

Quill chuckled despite his current predicament of being tightly bound by the twisting appendages.

"Shut up! I don't need a lecture from you. You aren't a first rate yourself"

Connie snapped and beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he fought to calm the raging pressure building up inside his body.

He forced himself to breathe slow, controlled breaths and concentrated. His Aura responded and he was able to sense that nobody had died. At least at the extent of his control on Aura Sensory.

_Phew…at least I can rest easy knowing I don't have the blood of innocents on my hands_

Connie thought as he was rubbing the back of his neck. He then turned his attention back to Quill, who was still trapped in the grasp of the grotesque tentacles. His face contorted in frustration as he struggled to set himself free, but the grip was too tight.

"I screwed up big time. Maybe I can still catch up with the target. He couldn't have gotten far. And besides, I have these powers now. But first… I'll have to take care of you"

As he stepped closer, something in the air shifted. An outburst of powerful Aura suddenly washed over him, causing him to instinctively turn his head towards the direction it came from.

_The hell? Could it? No, there's someone else here_

This Aura came from a different direction from where Mel was. He narrowed his eyes as he scanned the area.

It was close but did not appear to be heading for him. He clenched his fist as his body tensed up to prepare for another fight.

"There's no mistaking it. Whoever it is, they are no doubt a Diviner"