Things weren't easy on Shane's side either.
The crimson longbow in his hands thrummed nonstop. Each shot was swift and lethal, but his rhythm kept getting dragged down—because he had to watch the whole battlefield. His arrows couldn't just kill; they had to knock down spells and keep the mage-soldiers' attacks from hitting anyone else.
"Down!" he snapped, loosing an arrow that split the air and burst a fireball headed straight for the crowd.
Fighting to protect others gutted his kill efficiency. The battle stalled into a deadlock.
The mage-soldiers noticed the hitch immediately. Their leader gave a cold order: "Take out the red-haired girl first."
The power the girl had shown moments ago unsettled him. A second mage was the last thing they could allow.
In an instant, at least three wands swung toward her.
"Hah… hah…" Erza had just carved out some space and was bracing on her sword to catch her breath. She looked up—and her pupils contracted.
Several streaks of magic had sealed every avenue of retreat.
"No way to dodge!" she realized at once. Even behind cover, a volley like that would crush her.
She tried to meet it with her blade as she had before, but the barrage was too dense; there was no way to answer it on so little notice.
"Not good!" Grandpa Rob, who'd been watching the whole time, went pale. He could see she couldn't get clear. He almost charged in on instinct—
—but a forearm flashed across his path.
"Don't," Shane said, brooking no refusal.
He'd sensed from the start that the old man carried a self-sacrificing streak, so he'd been keeping half an eye on him.
"B–but…" Rob's voice shook as he stared at Erza about to be swallowed by magic.
With that split-second hesitation, even a mage would be too late to save her—
"Relax."
Shane's voice was level, but it carried a steadiness that settled the heart.
As the words fell, the air around him seemed to lock.
As if an invisible loom were weaving in the dark, a foreign-style spirit garb flowed over his prison rags like light.
Deep red ribbons unfurled from his shoulders and billowed behind him without wind.
He stepped—and with no windup, no afterimage, he was suddenly at Erza's side.
He slid an arm around her waist and scooped her up as if she weighed nothing.
"Ah—" was all Erza managed before he'd swung her neatly up onto his shoulder.
A heartbeat later, the two of them had set down safely beside Rob.
Behind them, the three spells collided and burst like fireworks—as if celebrating the girl's escape.
"Sh-Shane… is that you?" Rob stared, stunned, at the figure who looked both familiar and not, disbelief written all over his face.
Erza's eyes were wide; she was too shocked to speak, even forgetting she was still slung over his shoulder.
Right now, Shane radiated a sun-bright heat and a hearth-warm calm in the same breath.
The contradiction was soothing. It made you feel that as long as you were near him, nothing was unsolvable.
It was warmth—and an undeniable might.
"Leave the rest to me," Shane said with a small smile, setting her down.
He hadn't intended to unleash the True Name so soon. Even though his "vessel" had grown stronger with his stats, stretching his release time from one minute to five, he was like any RPG player who won't spend a great consumable until the boss shows up.
He'd held back in case worse was coming.
But showing a Heroic Spirit's form now meant this would be over soon.
In the Book's stat system, each sub-tier covers a wide range.
At E–, the lower bound is as weak as pond scum, while the upper bound can match a sickly ordinary person.
E spans everything from average human fitness to top-athlete levels—a big spread.
E+ already moves beyond the normal human baseline.
Because each sub-tier is so distinct, the gap between major tiers is… outrageous.
And in Arash's Heroic Spirit form, Shane's stats were—
Strength B, Endurance A, Agility B+, Mana E…
"My combat power is five hundred and thirty thousand—hahahahaha!" he crowed.
Right now, in front of these small fry, he really could do anything—just like he'd said.
Vmmm—
Sensing a long-lost aura, the crimson greatbow thrummed in a tone unlike before.
Draw, nock, loose—the motion flowed as naturally as breathing.
Boom!
The arrow left the string—not a neat, surgical kill, but a shelling strike that ripped through the enemy like a cannon round.
The ground jumped, a crater yawned, and mage-soldiers burst apart—wands and bodies flung like chaff. One shot erased a swath of the line.
The survivors froze under the sudden firepower. Their charge stumbled; fear flooded their eyes.
"M-monster…!"
The slaves around them gaped. The troops that had been smothering them moments ago crumpled like paper in front of Shane.
He didn't speak. To save time, he moved like a tireless machine—draw, nock, loose, over and over.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
Arrows hammered down like falling meteors, tearing through ranks.
Each blast kicked the ground, and the line broke under the roar, like a missile barrage had hit.
In mere seconds, no one was left standing ahead—just wreckage.
As the dust settled, the comforting aura around Shane ebbed like a tide.
The spirit garb dissolved into points of light, revealing the ragged prison clothes beneath.
He exhaled softly, fatigue plain on his face.
The Heroic overlay strained the vessel hard. Not even a minute of release had burned more energy than the whole fight so far.
"Shane, you…" Erza stared, shaken. She wanted to know how he'd become so strong so fast—when he'd been weaker than her before.
"It's over," he said with a quick smile to her and Rob. He was about to give the short version when rapid footsteps cut him off.
Millianna skidded up, breathless, face chalk-white and voice edged with fear. "Shane! It's bad! Jellal—Jellal got grabbed by crazed guards and dragged to the interrogation room!"
Jellal—caught by guards?
The words didn't fit. With Jellal's skill, that shouldn't happen…
Shane's eyes went hard. He remembered the tower's suddenly "coordinated" discipline a few days back.
No more hesitation. "Erza, Simon, Grandpa Rob—this is yours. Rally everyone and seize the supply ship at the coast!"
"Got it. Leave it to me." After what she'd just seen, Erza didn't hesitate.
Shane nodded once and sprinted back the way he'd come.
~~~
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