Bandits!

During their week-long trip, Robin wanted to talk to him.

"During my fight, I was able to use Arcthunder. I was wondering if you could help me with Wind and Fire."

Shane nodded. "For fire, Arcfire is different from Arcthunder in the amount and how you release it. Arcthunder you pushed your magic outwards in large amounts which caused it to clump together into three orbs. Arcfire however, doesn't need too much magic to activate. You just need to release the magic in a continuous stream. Obviously the more you use and the faster you expel magic can cause the size and speed of it to change." He explained. "Does that make sense?"

"Yes, it really does."

"For wind, Arcwind is vastly different. The closest thing would be a combination of both. You need to let out a quick stream of magic while letting out an amount around the same as Arcthunder. You then need to twist it into a spiral going up and back down in a continuous loop. Once the loop is closed, you then need to push the new vortex with magic to make it move after an opponent." He then waited to let her digest the information. "Would you like to try?"

She nodded and Shane brought her to a plain with some trees they could use for practice.

"Now, try to make Arcfire but point it in the air to avoid setting the plains on fire." Shane joked.

She pulled out her red tome and opened it, letting the fire magic course through her. She pointed her palm outwards into the sky. "Arcfire!"

The magic circles appeared before a small stream appeared from her palm as long as a stick. She pushed more magic through before it expanded as wide as a tree from the bottom-up.

"Arcwind!" A vortex of wind appeared and sucked all the fire into it before going in the air and dispersing, extinguishing the flames. "Not too bad for the first time. You noticed you needed more power but forgot to try and focus it like a stream. Let's try again."

For the next half hour, Robin would get her Arcfire longer and wider before Shane said she completed it.

"Now it will get stronger as your skill in magic increases so that means it can get more difficult to control."

"Alright! Arcwind next!" She then turned towards the trees.

"Woah woah, woah." Shane stopped her. "You might not feel it right now, but you've used a lot of your personal magic."

"Personal magic?"

"Yeah, every person capable of using magic is born with their own magic inside of them. If strong enough, you could theoretically use any of the spells we've been using without the tomes. But that would take years of training in only personal magic." Shane explained.

"Well, how long until I can try Arcwind?" She asked.

"It will be safe to try magic you're not used to yet when we get back to the capital for multiple reasons. There will be dummies we can safely practice with, your magic will be full, and I won't be the only one capable of explaining it to you."

"Fine." She grumbled, only to feel something on her head.

"Come on, our little tactician can't be pouting right now, could they?" Shane teased.

"I-I-I was not pouting! Just, upset that we have to stop." She muttered before realizing that his hand was on top of her head.

When he messed up her hair.

"Shane!" She exclaimed while he laughed.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" He could barely talk at the sight of their tactician being so mad.

She put her hair back how it was. "Tell you what, I'll make it up at the capital. How about that?"

"Like how?"

"How about dinner?"

"I'd be fine with that." She responded before heading back to the camp.

He waited a few minutes before pulling out his white tome.

He pointed his hand at a tree. "Repellunt!" The tree bark pushed inwards while the tree groaned in protest before settling again.

#Repellunt-B-Rank original magic. Uses a stream of magic to push an object away from the user. The more magic used increases the force.

Shane tsked. "Repellunt!"

He continued casting Repellunt until the tree broke and fell down. He pointed at a new tree. "Repellunt!" The tree this time immediately broke and got sent flying back onto another tree.

He nodded. "I've mastered Repellunt. This could be good to focus my magic into one area and use it as a force." He muttered. "Now I just need to master Gravitas and it's opposite, Traho."

He noticed pebbles near the edge of the plain. He pointed his hand at them.

"Traho!" The pebble shot through the air, causing Shane to duck as it soared over him and heard a cracking noise.

#Traho-B-rank original magic. Uses a stream of magic to pull an object towards the user. More magic used increases the attractive force.

He looked behind him and saw the pebble had gone into the tree and gotten stuck.

"Too much magic." He pointed at the pebbles again. "Traho!" This time, barely making it halfway. Shane growled, knowing this would take a while.

*2 hours later*

"Traho!" The pebble shot towards him before landing in his palm. "Finally! I just needed to use concentrated magic and push it towards me like an explosion while pushing a stream of magic against it before increasing the amount the closer it gets." Shane said aloud, glad he's mastered it.

Then he noticed how far the sun went down. "I hope I didn't worry them."

He then headed to where they decided to camp for the night.

He quickly pulled out his white tome. "Traho!" He held his hand out into the forest before hearing a cry. He then caught someone by the throat in his hand, revealing a bandit.

"There's more of you?" He wheezed.

"More? Explain before I get annoyed."

"We found a group of people and took them after taking their weapons and knocking out the people." The bandit struggled to say due to the grip Shane had getting tighter as he went on.

"Where." He growled out.

"T-three miles n-north of h-here."

Shane tightened his grip before the white tome flipped to a different page. "Repellunt."

The magical force shot out of his hand and straight into the bandit's neck, snapping it.

The tome changed to a different page. "Propero." Wind blasted outwards from him, violent enough to rip up the nearby trees.

Shane vanished from where he stood, leaving behind only uprooted trees and a dead bandit.

"We got ourselves a good catch taday." A bandit commented.

Robin wanted to burn them with Arcfire but they had taken anything that could be used as a weapon and she didn't have any 'personal' magic left according to Shane. The bandits appeared suddenly and quickly overwhelmed everyone before capturing them.

"Yea, we'll get plenty of money from the market for most of these people. Enough that we can get better equipment to make this job easier." His friend grunted. "Have you seen Frank?"

"He got sent back to make sure we didn't forget someone. He'll be back around an hour if he doesn't find someone, three at max."

"We have to get out of here." Chrom muttered.

"Unlikely. They have two in here at all times and I could see six more out there when the door was opened." Robin explained, not liking that she couldn't think of a way of getting out without someone getting killed.

Chrom softly growled. "There has to be a way."

Suddenly, the ground shook before everyone heard cries of pain.

"What was that?" Lissa muttered while Robin grinned, recognizing that ground shaking feeling from the only time he showed her his strongest fire spell.

"That....would be our missing Shepherd. And he doesn't sound happy."

Shane appeared in front of what he guessed where the bandits had made their base.

His white tome turned to a new page. "Designo: Bandit Camp." He held his hand down at the ground where it started drawing lines before showing the entire bandit camp.

#Designo-C-rank original magic. Used to create a map of a target nearby in the ground in front of the user.

He then pointed his finger at the entrance of the camp on the ground. "Now, Reperio: Robin."

#Reperio-B-rank original magic. Used in conjunction with Designo to create a line to show the best route to what the user is trying to find on the map.

A red path started at the entrance before going along the edge of the camp, turning left, right, straight, before going into a building with multiple small rooms and stopping in one of the small rooms.

"A makeshift prison." He put his hand on his chin. "Reperio: Falchion."

From the entrance, a blue line started before going the opposite direction as the red line before stopping in a building a few minutes walk from the Shepherds. "Reperio: Robin's tomes." He wanted to make sure their weapons were in the same place. Luckily, a green line followed the same path as the blue one and stopped in the same place.

"Erado." The map and routes then disappeared as if they were never there in the first place.

#Erado-C-rank original magic. Erases magic or objects based on the amount the user uses for the spell.

He then turned towards the camp again. "Time for them to learn not to screw with the Shepherds. Exorno." His arms started to glow white before fading to reveal his gauntlets.

#Exorno-C-rank original magic. Turns magic into a physical state by drawing out magic in the area the user wants it to appear.

#Diruo-C-rank original magic, magic that turns something physical into magic that is then absorbed by the user.

"Propero."

Shane appeared in front of three bandits, shocking them before they pointed their axes at him.

"I'll give you bandits one chance. Release the Shepherds, return their weapons, and maybe, maybe you can make it out of this alive." He offered.

"You think you can beat over 800 bandits? You're crazier than Gangrel." One commented.

"Over 800? How did so many of you organize without being noticed?"

"We're the combination of most of the bandits in the country and we're tired of being ignored. So we're going to attack the capital." Bandit #2 said.

Shane's aura changed immediately. "So you're saying that you're most of the bandits that we've been having troubles with? All in one area?"

"Yeah, now surrender and we might not kill you." The third taunted, using his own words.

Shane let out a loud laugh, surprising them. "You? Kill me? That's hilarious." He chuckled before turning serious. "None of you will escape alive today." He pulled out his red tome. "I'll help you burn in hell. Valflame!"

He pushed a lot more magic into the spell than needed, causing the magic circles to grow in size before an explosion destroyed a fourth of the entire camp.

He then opened his white and black tome. "Continui: Mire."

#Continui-B-rank original magic. Uses a spell multiple times based on how much magic is used. Downside-after a certain amount of uses, the spell being used grows unstable and has a chance of backfiring.

Shane could hear his spells hitting people after people, only stopping when Continui started slowing, indicating it growing unstable. He then put his tomes back up before drawing his red tome.

"Arcfire!" A stream of fire as tall as a tree and as wide as a house shot outwards where he proceeded to burn another fourth of the camp before he put his tome up, knowing his magic is pretty low due to using so many high level spells after another.

"Bastard!" A bandit threw his axe at him, only to be shocked when Shane grabbed the blade with his left gauntlet.

"You lost this." Shane then shifted it and threw it back, right into the head.

Shane continued through the camp, making his way to the prison.

Where almost all the bandits left were in front of.

"We know you want your friends but this has become a pride thing. It can't be known that the bandits of Ylisse were defeated by one man." Their leader said.

Half of them were wielding bows while the other half wielded swords and axes.

"Fire!" A volley of arrows were shot at Shane before he quickly pulled out his white tome.

"Gravitas extrico!"

#Gravitas-A-rank original magic. Can increase the gravity of an object up to twenty times. Amount used for Gravitas is said after the spell.

#Extrico-B-rank original magic. Can cancel magic affecting someone, used largely for Gravitas.

A burst of air happened before everyone, including the Shepherds still stuck in the prison, heard a loud bang before bandits started dropping like flies.

The leader looked around and by the time he realized his opponent was the reason why they were being killed, he stood alone.

Shane reappeared in front of the leader, holding out his gauntlets to his side, showing some blood running down them, indicating he used nothing but the gauntlets to kill his men.

"Gravitas Fifteen." Shane put his gravity restraint back on.

"H-h-hold on! I-I-I'll let your friends go!" The leader stuttered in fear. "And you'll never have to see me again!"

"Yeah, you see. I already know I won't see you again." Shane closed the distance between them and clawed his throat, killing him.

Shane grabbed the metal door before ripping it off the hinges, revealing himself to the Shepherds. "Sorry I'm late." He proceeded to rip off the bar doors and free them.

"Are you okay?!" Lissa exclaimed, confusing Shane.

"Yeah, why?"

"Shane, you're covered in blood!" Chrom explained.

Shane looked down and saw that he was correct. His robe and boots looked mainly red, he could now feel some on his face.

He sighed before pulling out his white tome. He held his hand palm upwards. "Traho."

Everyone looked surprised as all the blood on him went to his palm, becoming a ball of blood. "Erado." Then it disappeared before their eyes. "Come on. We still need to get your weapons." Shane then exited the now doorless room.

Robin quickly followed before the Shepherds followed not long after, only to see another sight shock them.

Half the camp they saw when they were dragged there is now destroyed, burning, or already ash.

And the bodies were everywhere.

"Shane. Who are you?" Chrom asked, causing him to look over his shoulder as they continued to the building.

"Someone who is an expert in magic and doesn't like their friends being threatened. And don't even think of feeling bad for these bandits. I ran into one and they said they were planning on attacking the capital. Thousands would have died before the mess got settled. Ylisse is trying it's best to be peaceful and kind. Unfortunately, that doesn't work all the time. That's where I come in. As Ylisse's Assassin." He heard a few gasps. "When violence becomes the best option, they send me in to finish the job quickly and quietly."

He then stopped outside a building. "We're here." He pulled the door off its hinges and revealed everyone's weapons.

He turned towards everyone. "Head towards the giant crater north of here. I'll meet up with you."

"What are you going to be doing?" Frederick asked.

"My job." Shane then moved faster than most had seen him before.

Everyone grew silent as they grabbed their weapons, made sure they had everything, and headed north.

"What'd he mean by his job?" Vaike asked.

"Ignoramus. He just told you he was Ylisse's Assassin, one of the most difficult and dangerous jobs in the country." Miriel told him. "He is likely checking if there are any bandits left."

"Oh. Right." Vaike muttered.

After that, everyone walked in silence, not only due to their friend's position coming to light, but also because they were beaten and captured by bandits. Bandits of all things.

They soon arrived at the crater and were, once again, shocked at the size of it.

"What kind of spell can cause this?" Lissa quietly asked the question on most of their minds.

"Valflame." Robin answered, getting their attention. "While he was teaching me Arc magic, he asked me if I wanted to see what this training could evolve to. He demonstrated Valflame by blowing a section of a tree up. He then told me that he was holding back almost all of his power but that Valflame is his strongest fire magic."

Chrom digested that information before staring at the crater again. "It's actually terrifying to think he has this much destructive power."

They stayed quiet for a minute before Robin realized something.

"Strongest fire magic." She muttered.

"What?" Stahl asked, confused.

"He specifically said that it was his strongest fire spell, not his strongest spell." She started before everyone realized what that meant. "That means…"

"That it's not my strongest spell." They heard, causing them to jump and spin around and see Shane. "While Valflame is one of my strongest spells, it ranks third in pure offensive power. Now, let's get to the capital." They then headed to the capital which is only a 5 hour walk from the camp.

"What were those spells you used earlier? 'Traho' and 'Erado.'" Miriel asked, wanting to know about them.

"Those are two of my original spells. Traho focuses on pulling something towards the point of origin of the spell, such as my hand." Everyone didn't really react, likely due to already being surprised multiple times today. "Erado can be used to erase spells or objects based on how much power is used. Erado has the potential to erase anything really." Shane thought aloud.

Miriel's eyes widened. "Do you even comprehend the research that could be completed and undone due to that kind of spell? Strong enough magic and you could theoretically erase a person!"

Shane shook his head. "It's not that simple Miriel. While true that is possible, that spell has the ability to drain a person of their magic instantly. I can use it nonchalantly because I created and mastered it. If you or Robin were to try and use it right now, you would lose all your magic in seconds."

"But even for you that amount must be huge, correct?" Frederick asked.

"No. It's similar to a workout routine. It's hard at the beginning but before you know it, you can do it without a sweat." He explained.

"What is your strongest magic?" Robin asked.

Shane slightly winced at that, already expecting their reactions.

"My strongest spell in pure power is the spell Goetia."

"Goetia! That's one of the highest black magic there is!" Miriel exclaimed. "Why do you know that!?"

"I wanted to learn as many spells as I could. I wanted to be prepared for anything." He explained.

Miriel was about to say something before stopping and thinking. "Your reason is more understandable due to my goal of knowledge of all magic."

"Besides," Sully put Shane in a headlock. "It just means that he has more ways of helping us now."

"H-hey! Let go!" Shane exclaimed, trying to get out of the headlock.

After that, the trip largely became quiet before they arrived at the gates.

Shane stopped and turned to the Shepherds.

"I need to see someone. If you need me, just tell the Exalt." Shane then headed down a road while the rest of the Shepherds headed to the palace.

"Max!" Shane called out, but didn't receive an answer vocally or through footsteps.

He grew worried quickly before stopping as he saw a note of the table.

'Went to Southtown with Silverfang for food. Likely be back in a week. -Max'

"Of course he did." He shook his head before his orb started flashing orange.

His orb is an artifact that he created a while ago that could connect with other versions of it and allow certain messages to be delivered no matter the distance through colors ranging from bright yellow-possible trouble, orange-trouble, blue-natural color, green-need to talk, and red-emergency.

The only downside to them is that they needed a lot of magic to act as a signal to connect with him. He used his own magic for that, but that only allowed them to connect to his.

He shook his head before heading to the palace, where the Exalt informed him that Maribelle had been kidnapped by Plegian bandits and King Gangrel claimed she invaded his country.