Bandit Bane.

When morning came around Mordred got dressed and draped her jacket over her shoulder. Atlas once again was on her head as she walked into the dining room. It was neither too early nor too late so most of the Bulls were already gathering. Yami included as he ended up getting hungry early so here he was.

"Morning everyone."

Mordred greeted the rest of the squad as she put on her jacket. Charmy happily served her a big breakfast as Mordred was a big eater.

"Morning, have as many nums as you need la."

Mordred began to dig in as Atlas flew to one of the plates and chopped on the large piece of meat. The lion was always hungry and despite only being a few days old he was already a little bigger.

Asta greeted her with as much energy as he always had.

"Good morning."

Noelle admonished him because his mouth was full of food.

"Don't speak with your mouth full. It is rude."

"Sorry."

Mordred turned to Yami who seemed quite eager to eat.

"Hey, can I get those bandit logs or whatever they are called? I plan to hit a few today."

Yami reached into his pocket and pulled out the folded list.

"Take it, I was going to go myself, but if you want it so bad their all yours."

Mordred caught the list and unfolded it to see a total of 28 different bandit groups and where they liked to gather.

"Yami, why are there so many? I would think they would be a pretty big target to take out with how much damage they cause."

Yami explained why they were still active.

"Actually there used to be more before the current Wizard King took over. He took a heavy stance on bandits so the ones who are still operating are remnants of the truly giant groups of the past. The ones we see now operate in the forsaken realm where they are almost free to act."

That made Asta stop eating.

"Because they only attack commoners right?"

Yami nodded.

"It's not fair, but that is just how it goes. This is why the bigger Magic Knight squads prefer to operate in the Common and Noble Realm. The base is currently situated in the Common Realm with that in mind."

Noelle thought back to the little girl who begged her for help at the village she helped save.

"So they are given free rein because they only go after those who can't defend themselves?"

Magna smashed his fist into the table which.

"It is not fair. The people of the forsaken realm have thier own dreams and hopes. Why do they have to be left to the mercy of bandits?"

Yami stood up as he lit a new cigarette.

"I never said it was fair. Just so you know you all have the day off. Mordred, you can hold off if you want. You just went yesterday after that big one yesterday."

She waved him off.

"I am good, I am used to this anyway and I find it fun. Finral, we head off to the Forsaken Realm today."

Knowing he had a day off he did not want to do it.

"Can I say no?"

Mordred curled her hand into a claw shape and smiled at him.

"What was that?"

"NOTHING!"

Yami laughed at that interaction.

"Come on Finral, do it for the people."

"Yes sir."

Venessa waved him goodbye.

"Guess I will just fly to the capital with Asta and Noelle then."

The rest of the Bulls also had their own interests so they began to scatter and fly off. Mordred's armor formed around her body as she looked at the first bandit group.

"The Sabertooth gang operates on the border of the Common and Forsaken realm. Where is the closet place you got around there Finral."

Finral thought about it and remembered.

"Oh yeah, there is a pretty lake near there where It is perfect for dates."

Mordred nodded.

"I see. And do you actually get these women to agree to go with you or do you just kinda them?"

"Rude. I actually havent gotten anyone to agree to go with me."

Mordred laughed as he opened a portal.

"I don't blame them, come on then. We got a long day ahead of us. I will even give you 30% of the bonus for this."

That made it more worth it so they both walked through the portal. When they appeared next to the lake Mordred looked at the map that had the bandit group's general area. Mordred's three swords appeared around her so she grabbed Clarent and stepped on it.

She wrapped her feet with mana and used the sword as a hoverboard.

"Finral, wait here. I got bandits to find."

Before he could speak she had already flown off leaving him alone. He sighed as he sat down looking at the lake.

'She didn't even leave me to guard Atlas.'

He laid down and simply decided to peacefully recover his mana while Mordred went on to do the brutal bandit butchery. He almost felt bad for the bandits as he saw how he left the first group. Just piles of gore and missing limbs were all that remained after she got done with them.

He closed his eyes and dozed off to sleep as Mordred hunted down the bandits. When she did find them she showed them no mercy. They would not show their victims mercy so she only gave them a brutal death.

---

"Hey, wake up."

Finral opened his eyes and looked up to see Mordred's bloody face. Her face was entirely caked in blood and even her blonde hair was dyed red which made Finral sick. He got up only to notice that it was not just her face that was bloody.

Her whole armor and body were covered in blood that was dried in some places. The Sabertooth gang was twice the size of the last one and seemed a little more organized. What was even worse was that they had many young boys and girls in cages.

She found out they sold the children to wealthy nobles so had a sick taste for them. As such, she took more time to torture the bandits and even got several names of nobles who backed them.

Mordred walked to the lake and picked up some water to wash her face.

"Finral, this one was even worse than last time. The gang specialized in kidnapping young boys and girls to sell. I got several names of nobles who have bought from them in the past."

Finral paused as he was also a noble.

"Really?"

She nodded.

"I took the liberty of torturing them all to make sure of what they told me was true. You can ask him if he is still alive."

She pointed at the ground where the bandit leader was. His face was ash white and so was his hair as Atlas was currently chewing on his knee. Only now did Finral notice that the rest of the limbs had been chewed off in this matter.

Finral looked almost sick when he saw the state of the bandit. However when he heard about the things he had done he no longer took it that way.

"We will need to report all of this to the Wizard King. He will take care of this."

"Well as this is not an official mission from the wizard king the white-robed mages won't show up. We should go back and call them so they can do the hard part."

She reached down and grabbed Atlas from the bandit.

"Come on."

She jumped on Clarent again and grabbed Finral by his Black Bulls robe. She pushed mana into Clarent and blasted west to arrive at the base. All the while Finral regretted not bringing his own broom. They arrived at the base in a couple of minutes as she could move fast.

"Here we are."

When they arrived she placed Finral down and jumped to the ground as well. She grabbed Clarent and placed it on her back. Just then Finral bent over and puked his breakfast out at the sight in front of him. The 80 bandits had been torn to shreds and their body parts littered the camp.

Broken heads, severed limbs, spilled organs and worst of all one of the bandits had ben crucified with his own ribs as nails.

"WHY?!"

Mordred shook her head.

"We are in a slaver camp with children, what do you think he was doing? Call the white-robed mages."

"Right."

He decided to see this all as justified as they were the worst kind of bandit. As for the children that Mordred had saved they all had not left their cages despite the fact she had already freed them.

Finral did not want to see what state they were in so he contacted the authorities. He tried to avoid looking at the devastation Mordred had caused, but once again Atlas was eating bodies. He focused in the little lion which seemed to have gotten a little bigger.

"Is he growing larger?"

"He is a magic beast so his growth is rapid. I think I helped because he has access to the bodies of mages."

Once again the white-robed mages Mordred met the other day arrived. They quickly noticed how this bandit group was left in a similar state as the last one. Mordred approached them and handed them the list.

"This was a bandit group backed by nobles. They would enslave young boys and girls who are all still inside the base. I think the Wizard King should be informed."

The first mage paused as he took the letter. He opened it and saw a rather extensive list of smaller nobles and even some higher-ranked ones.

"This is most serious and will be handled swiftly. Well done."

Mordred nodded as she called back Atlas.

"Come on Finral, we got 22 more Bandit groups to deal with."

Finral looked at the map and known location of the second group.

"I got it."

The White Robed mages began to do thier job.

"Good hunting."

They both gave the magic knight salute which Mordred had no idea about as no one taught her about it. However, it must be important so she returned it.

"Right."

She stepped through the portal that Finral opened and went on to the next group and when she finished with them the next. She barely took a break that day as she had Finral to shorten the travel distance. The less time she gave for the bandits to know about her hunting them the better.

---

Mordred swung down Excalibur and cleaved a giant bandit in half from head to groin. She threw Arondight like a spear that embedded itself in the heart of a female bandit. She extended her hand and drew Clarent back from a body on the ground and raised it to the sky.

A storm of red lightning snaked and raged through the bandits causing several to die. She weaved and dodged their magic attacks and continued to swap out between her three swords. With a mana burst, she charged toward a bandit and hit his face with her armored knee.

This caused his brain to burst, as she waved her hands causing her three swords to spin and kill. She spread her senses out and made sure that not a single bandit was left.

"Great."

She reached into her pocket and crossed off the 15th bandit group from the list. She would pick this up tomorrow as it was already late at night and Finral was dead tired. While she did all the fighting he did not have her vast mana pool. Much less her Magic Core and three powerful swords that boosted her abilities.

"FINRAL!"

He flew in on a tree branch he shaped into a broom dead tired.

"Are we done?"

"For today, we got 8 more of them to hunt tomorrow. Imagine the raise I will get."

Atlas flew off Finral''s head and once again rushed to feast. He was always hungry as he was in his growth faze. He had already grown today from the abundance of food available. Finral looked at Mordred and realized he could have died when he flirted with her earlier.

He swore to never piss her off again, but he was almost sure she was related to Yami. That happy smile on her bloody face was just not normal. Finral sighed and called another set of white-robed mages who were the Wizard King's personal task force.

They knew what they were doing and they fully supported it and Mordred was still not done. She had 8 more groups to hunt down, but it was better to do it when Finral was barely staying awake from mana exhaustion.

She decided to wait for his mana to recover before she asked him to take them home. It would give Atlas more time to eat as he was growing even now. From the look of it, he was already an inch bigger than he was a few hours ago.

She turned her armor into spirit form which caused the blood to fall straight to the ground around her. She had a bit of blood on her body, but luckily it was not that much. Atlas stopped eating at that point and jumped on her shoulder to rest.

"Well, today was a fun day. Minus the whole finding broken people."

She rubbed Atlas' chin who closed his eyes to enjoy the attention.

Finral sighed as he did nothing besides taken her around.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why do you seem so unaffected by all this? Even most magic knights can't do this that often. How are you so unaffected?"

"Because it is what I have always known. My life was just one battlefield to the next, but it is different now. I am not fighting for someone else or because I feel I have a duty. I am doing it because I want to. Simple as that. Changing how I am is not going to happen so I might as well embrace who I am."

Finral thought about himself and all the issues he had. Maybe he should take an example from Mordred. He was running away from his responsibilities so maybe he should man up and take charge of himself.

"Do you think I can help you in the fighting tomorrow? I was pretty much not helpful besides taking you around."

"If you want to I guess."

'Not sure how much help he will be without attack magic though.'

She stood up and placed Arondight on her shoulder.

"You got enough mana now?"

He nodded.

"Yup, come on."

He opened a portal so they could return to the Black Bulls base after a long day of bandit hunting. Either way, Mordred had her fun, Atlas got to eat and Finral trained his mana recovery.