Author Notes:
Okay, first chapter of my new pet project! I probably shouldn't be writing this, considering there's a lot of other things I wanted to get at first, but ideas kept multiplying. This was a weird story genesis. I started off with the idea of this character first, and the story kind of started building up around it. And in case you're wondering, I do have a few more ideas for the story rather then just "copy the light novels." ... Probably. Hopefully. We'll see. Anyway, we're about done here. See you next time.
Chapter 1
"And just who are you supposed to be?" I hear the voice before I see who it belongs too. Might be because I'm facedown in the grass. Just a hunch.
To cure that terrible predicament, I roll over and sit up. Whoa, what's with the crowd? Some kind of party, cult gathering or LARP happening? The wizard capes everyone's wearing leads me to believe the latter, but I'll wait to pass judgment. First thing's first.
"Damn, got some dirt on my glasses," I mutter as I take them off and use my shirt to clean them up a bit.
"Are you ignoring me?" The voice from earlier asks me.
"That's just like the zero, she can't even be bothered to someone a commoner with manners!"
Then laughter was had. Must be some kind of in-joke, 'cause I don't get it. Either way, considering the only other person not laughing was this pink haired girl standing roughly in front of me and this other guy who was looking rather teacherly with his staff and glass and shaved head, I'ma assume the girl's this so called, "Zero." Neat.
"Well," I say as I put my glasses back on and spring to my feet. "Nice to meet 'cha!" I say as I extend my hand and offer a smile. "What the hell am I doing here?"
"If you'll excuse me for speaking up," Mr. Teacher says. "We were just holding our summoning ritual. And... Well, it appears that Ms. Valliere summoned you."
...
"So this is a LARP gathering!" I exclaim as I pound my fist into my palm.
"Wh-what in the founder's name is a larp?" Ms. Valliere asks, clearly annoyed at me. "The summoning ritual is a sacred and longstanding tradition! Don't desecrate it with your... Ridiculous terminology!"
"Geez, some people just take this too seriously," I say as I put my hands behind my head.
"In any case, Ms. Valliere. You did summon her. Please complete the ritual."
At that, Ms. Valliere blushes. "Wi-with her? You can't be serious! That's indecent!"
"Sounds fun! Wait," I say with a frown. "We're not having a mana transfer ritual are we? That's definitely a little weird out here with everyone watching."
"Wh-whatever!" Ms. Valliere says. "Just... Just hold still for a second."
"Why?"
"Just do it!"
The yell makes me stand still. Scary.
Ms. Valliere sighs and raises her small stick. "My name is Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Valliere. In the name of the pentagon of the elemental powers, please bless this being and make her my familiar."
... That's the first time I've ever been "blessed." Normally it's the opposite. I... I don't know what to think about that.
Ignoring my state of not being cursed for once, Ms. Valliere, no, wait. She said her name was Louise. Much easier. Louise then proceeds to lean in and give me a quick peck on the lips. She breaks contact before I could, so it's all cool.
"... I-I'm sorry, but... Well I like to think I'm as curious as the next girl, but now is hardly the time" I tell her, trying to will my blushing to go away.
"I-It's not like I wanted to do it either!" Louise protests. "It's necessary to finish the contract!"
Before I can ask what she means by contract, I feel an ever so slight tingling on my left hand. A quick inspection reveals a set of runes being engraved. ... Well they've got a budget for this, I'll give 'em that.
"It's complete," Louise says with a sigh of both anger and relief.
The teacher dude from slightly earlier then grabs my hand gently and inspects my new tattoo.
"Interesting," he muses. "I've never seen this kind of rune before."
To be fair, neither have I, so maybe he's on to something here.
"In any case," he says after letting go of my hand, "Congratulations to everyone for succeeding in your summoning ritual. You are dismissed, and may go back to your rooms."
And so they walked away. Most of them. A few of them kind of floated away. Literally floated. ... Hmph. How about that?
"Holy hell they're flying away," I note, shock making me unable to emote as much as I'd like. "That's... that's freaking awesome."
"Of course they're flying," Louise grumbles to herself. How else would mages get around?" Jetpacks? "Bunch of showoffs."
"Showoffs, eh? I guess you aren't capable of that then?" I ask out of curiosity.
"... No. Now let's go, familiar," Louise says before stomping off.
"... mages huh?" I must as I look at the sky. "Heh. He would have loved this."
Either way, now's not the time to be reminiscing. If I don't follow her, I'll probably lose her and have no idea what to do next.
*Scene Break*
"Now, familiar," Louise says as she plops down onto her bed. "You still never answered me. Who exactly are you, anyway?"
"Me? Jocelyn."
"That's it? No family name or anything? Is your status that low?" She asks in a mix of anger and annoyance.
"No, no. I just don't see a need to say anything beyond that. Makes it so that people are forced to refer to me by my first name, thus making relationships closer. Or something like that."
"Hmph. Whatever," Louise says.
"So, exactly what's going on?" I ask. "I'm a little... iffy on what just happened today."
"Founder, she doesn't even know the basics? All commoners should at least have heard the familiar ritual! What backwoods area did you come from anyway?"
"New York, now please fill me in on details."
That confuses Louise. "New... York? Where's that? I've never heard of it."
"... You're kidding, right? You know what? Doesn't matter. Just... Just explain, please?" Being in the dark frightens me. Not, the actual dark, I mean not having the proper amount of information.
Louise dismisses the prior conversation, and assumes a lecture pose. "You are currently at the Tristain Academy of Magic. You were summoned to be my familiar-"
"Question!" I say as I raise my hand. "Should I have heard of Tristain?"
"O-of course! That's where you are!" Louise yells at me.
"Nnnnnnnnope. Can't say I have."
... "Anyway," Louise dismisses my idiocy and continues on with her lecture. "The purpose of a familiar is as follows. Whatever the familiar sees, the master is also supposed to be able to see."
That worries me. "You aren't seeing through my eyes, are you?"
Louise shakes her head. "No. For some reason it doesn't work with you. Why not?"
I sigh in relief, something that Louise notices.
"What's with that?" She asks, suspicion obvious in her voice.
"Well, I'd hate to be going to the bathroom or something and you take a peak or something," I tell her, sidestepping the real reason.
Louise blushes. "L-like I would ever even think of doing that!"
That's what they all say at first. "Right, of course. Continue the lecture, please."
Louise takes a deep breath and calms down. "Right. Second, familiars are supposed to find reagents for their master's spells or potion crafting."
"Yeah, of course I can do that," I say, laying the sarcasm on thick. "Not like I'm an idiot when it comes to magic." Hell, I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that it apparently exists at all.
"I expected as much," Louise says with a nod. "Thirdly, a familiar exists to protect it's master! Even at the cost of it's own life if necessary!" She says with much bravado.
I chuckle a little. "Finally, something easy!"
Louise seems stunned. "What do you mean?"
"Easy. Point me in the direction of something you don't like and tell me to kill it and it should be done with no difficulty."
"Y-you barely look like you could handle a crow!" Louise exclaims. "What if I was attacked by a dragon or something similar?"
"Let me make one thing perfectly clear," I say as I take off my glasses and spin them around a bit. "I can kill anything that exists. Even if it's a god."
There's a silence as Louise let's that sink in. Then she bursts into laughter.
"I get that a lot," I say as I put my glasses back on. "Never get anyone to believe me until I can prove it."
"Because it's ridiculous!" Louise says, barely managing to stop her laughter. "You think you can claim to kill gods and be taken seriously?"
"Well hand me a knife and we'll see who can't kill everything," I remark offhandedly. "On second thought let's not. You break it you buy it after all."
"Whatever," Louise says. "You're a familiar, so get to work. There's a pile of laundry that needs washing. Get to it."
And with that she strips down, gets in her pajamas and goes to sleep, leaving me to do all the work. Yay? I'd normally question the idea of stripping down in front of others, but we're both girls. Locker room mentality or something. Either way, there was something I needed/really wanted to do, and this is a good chance to do it. I grab the pile of laundry that Louise specified and head out to find a good place to wash it.
It turns out that searching an area you're completely unfamiliar with for an area you've only ever heard of isn't such a hot idea. Go figure.
After about an hour of meandering about with no luck, I give a dejected sigh, drop the clothes and lie down on the grassy area where I was first summoned and just stare at the sky and notice the blue and pink moons in the sky. It's that late already. Either way, that does answer one question.
"A different world, huh?" I chuckle to myself. "I'll make sure to tell the pinkhead tomorrow."
Of course, no one responds.
"So what do you think I should do?" I ask no one. "A new world I know nothing about, magic exists, and I gotta help a little pink haired girl. You'd be all over this, wouldn't you?"
After that, I shut up a bit and wait for a response I know won't come. Then I feel a sharp pain as something plants itself firmly into my gut.
"Damn, that hurts!" I manage to get out before the object leaves my stomach.
"Ah! So sorry!" A girl's voice says. "I didn't see you there!"
Oh, so I was stepped on. Another mystery solved! A painful mystery, but a mystery nonetheless!
"That's okay," I tell her as I sit up. "I've been hit by worse."
"Let me help," the girl says as she helps pull me up.
"Thanks."
I take the time to examine the girl. Ooh! Black haired maid! Ah, nothing quite like the classics. Only the best of the best!
"Ah! You're the girl that Ms. Valliere summoned today, aren't you?" The maid asks me.
"So I've been told. Name's Jocelyn," I tell her as I offer a handshake.
"Siesta," She says with a smile as she returns the handshake.
"Nice to meetcha," I tell her.
"Likewise. What are you doing out here so late at night?" Siesta asks me.
"Well, the pink haired one asked," read: commanded. "Me to do her laundry for her. Turns out, I'm new here and have no idea where anything is."
"I can help," Siesta tells me. "It's the least I can do for accidentally stepping on you."
"If you insist. Lead the way Siesta!"
Siesta led me to some kind of wash basin on the other end of the castle and showed me the proper way to wash clothes. After all, the most I know how to do is turn the washing machine on, and even then the thing tends to explode when I so much as walk past, so that's not overly reliable either.
"Thanks Siesta," I tell her as I grab the pile of freshly folded clothes. "Hey, I was wondering something. You know where the kitchen is?"
Siesta seems confused. "Yes, of course, but why do you ask?"
"For future reference, would you mind showing me where it is? Just in case I need something from there?"
"Sure. You just..."
Wow. Siesta can give some really detailed instructions. Can all maids give the exact directions to someplace down to the number of steps?
"I've worked here a while," Siesta admits bashfully.
"Well thanks," I tell her before going on my way.
"Okay," I mutter to myself. "Thirty steps east, past the courtyard..."
Eventually I do wind up right where I was told I would. Just one thing was wrong.
"Hmm. One step off. Well, maybe our stride count is slightly different."
Either way, I make my way past the food stuffs, past the pots and pans and straight to the utensils. As I start going through the things, I start muttering to myself.
"Alright, where do you think the knives'd be?" I ask no one. "Well, here's the spoons and stuff. Ladles. Spatulas. Tenderizer? Neat. Ah! Knives!"
Whew. Such a huge selection! Let's see.
"Well, what do you think? Which one seems the sharpest?"
"That'd be the one on the far left."
"Wah!" I say instinctively, grabbing the leftest knife and pointing it at the voice. "Oh. Hi Siesta."
"Miss Jocelyn, what are you doing, going through our knives?" Siesta asks, completely indifferent, as if this was a completely normal occurrence.
"I'd ask how I knew you knew I'd be here, but I wasn't exactly subtle, was I?" I ask.
"No. As such, I gave you the directions for the long way so I could get here first and unlock the door. I'd hate for your to break the lock just to get in," Siesta says.
"Yeah, then I'd probably have to pay with money I don't have," I admit as I nervously rub the back of my head. "To answer your question, I was here to take a knife to properly defend myself. You see, back home I always had a knife on hand, just in case. Since I was just sort of resting back home when I was brought here, I didn't have a knife when I came here. That makes me a little nervous, so I thought I'd grab something to keep myself calm."
"Why would you carry a knife with you?" Siesta asks.
I shrug. "Just in case. You never know. I live a very dangerous life," I say that last part rather dryly.
"Yes, I can tell by your manner of dress. It just screams 'danger,'" Siesta informs me.
I look down at my current clothing. Denim skirt. Red jacket. Sneakers. Gotta agree with the maid here. I don't really dress the part. Ah! That does remind me though! I reach into my skirt pocket and pull out a hair thingie and tie my brownish hair in a ponytail.
"There. Much better," I say to myself. "I like ponytails," I inform the maid.
"I understand. And do go ahead and keep the knife. As you can see, we have a surplus as it is. Just one missing won't cause an uproar."
"Thanks," I say as I twirl the knife around a bit before strapping it to my skirt.
"May I ask one more thing?" Siesta asks.
"Shoot."
"Who were you talking too when I walked in?"
"..."
"A-ah! For-forget I asked," Siesta says in a hurry, noting my expression.
"It's fine. I might share that information one day. Maybe not. For now just assume I had an imaginary friend when I was 11 and never got rid of him."
"U-Understood. Good night Miss Jocelyn."
"Night Siesta."
*The Next Day*
Then next day I was sitting with Louise in her classroom. While there wasn't any particular argument like:
"I should go to class to learn about stuff!"
"Fine! Just don't annoy me!"
It was a sort of unstated agreement with Louise that I should accompany her. Considering everyone else had their familiars with them, I guess that's just how it goes.
Oh yeah, I did bring up the fact that I'm from another world with Louise. She laughed at me. Not really sure what I expected. Oh, and I met one of Louise's friend, Kirche. Nice girl. Busty girl. Honestly it makes me feel a little inadequate being around her. ... Still bigger then Louise.
Louise and Kirche apparently hate each other (Well, Louise hates Kirche and Kirche loves trolling Louise). Some "Romeo and Juliet" thing about the families hating each other for so long that they just kind of know they hate each other. They're be best friends in no time, that much is obvious. Maybe a little more if that Romeo and Juliet comparison holds true. ... Are girls allowed to think girl-on-girl is hot without actually going that way? I may need to ask someone about this later.
Going back to the class I was currently sitting in, I was bored out of my skull. Even in other world, class is still soooooooo boring. About thirty minutes in I start just sort of twirling my knife around and doing some tricks with it, much the same way you'd sort of spin a pen. Louise caught me and made me put the knife away before I was caught and yelled at. Luckily I wasn't, but now I'm just sort of bored. It'd be nicer if I was interested in the technicalities of the world, but I'm kind of not. Fire, earth, water, wind, void, la di dah. Unlike stuff at schools in my world that I just find boring, this is boring and completely useless to me.
Luckily the next period was a free period for students to get to know their familiars, then it's lunch time so even more free time! I love it!
"Alright, so how's this increase bonding between familiar and master going to work out?" I ask Louise as we stepped out into the courtyard.
"I don't know!" Louise complains. "If it'd been an animal like a dragon, of something then I'd just see what it was capable of. It's abilities, it's limitations, it's weakness, it's strengths, things like that. What am I supposed to do with a human that claims she can kill gods!"
"Ask the human how she intends to follow up on that, perhaps?" I offer.
Louise seems genuinely stunned. "... I never thought about that."
"Very few ever do," I point out.
"Very well. How do you intend to follow through on you claim?" Louise asks. "And, please tell me it's more elaborate then 'take the knife and kill them with it.'"
"Well that's technically accurate. Obviously there's more to it then just that. You see... Terribly sorry, I just got distracted. Is that guy over there usually getting yelled at by two girls?"
I imagine Louise would be upset by the sudden change in conversation, but she turns around and check what I'm talking about anyway. She then turns back to me as if it were nothing. Yes, ignore the scrawny blonde guy, and the blonde girl yelling at the brunette.
"Ah, it's just Guiche. Probably got caught two timing again," Louise says offhandedly.
"I dunno. That seems a little heated over something as simple as getting caught two timing. Is that blonde girl getting ready to hit the brunette?"
On close inspection, that does appear to be the case! How... stupid. Well, let's go investigate. I get up and start walking over. Louise follows me. Not closely, but she is going in the same direction, which is nice.
"Why you little-" Instead of completing her sentence, the blonde girl goes in for the slap, and the brunette cringes in fear of the approaching slap. Well, sorry to say, that slap isn't coming.
"Well, what's going on here?" I ask, as I hold onto the blonde girl's wrist. "Now is neither the time nor place for a catfight. Those should only be held when there's a pool of water or a vat of gelatin to fall into."
"What are you talking about?" The blonde girl yells at me. "Let me go!"
"Well, you still haven't answered my question."
"This first year is busy trying to seduce Guiche!" The blonde yells at me.
"Th-that's not true!" The first year says. "I was bringing the soufflé I was asked about and-"
"Liar!"
"L-Ladies, there's a simple explanation for this," Guiche says, trying to defuse the situation.
"Yeah!" I say. "Let's just go over the facts. First year brunette!"
"M-My name is Katie."
"Katie! What's this about a soufflé?"
"Well... Well last night I was talking with Mr. Guiche and he asked to try one of my soufflés, so I made one and was coming to bring it to him."
"A'ight. Blondie!"
"It's Montmorency!"
"Montmorency! Your side of the story!"
"I was coming to see Guiche and I find this girl trying to seduce him with promises of pastries and cakes!"
To be fair, promises of cake from anyone would probably be for me, but let's not get into that.
"I'll have you know that Guiche is my boyfriend!" Montmorency yells at Katie.
"B-But Guiche said the only one he held in his heart was me!" Katie claims.
Montmorency stops. "That's what he said to me."
At that, as the final piece of the puzzle clicked into place, the two girls turn to Guiche, looks of uncontrollable anger on their faces.
"Guiche, duck!" I yell at him.
"What?"
*SMASH*
"Well, can't say I didn't try," I lament as the combined force of Montmorency's and Katie's punch to the face send Guiche straight to the ground.
"Hmph. And good riddance," Montmorency says before turning to Katie. "I'm sorry for falsely accusing you."
"Th-that's okay. Let's just go somewhere else," Katie says with a smile. "Oh, and Ms.?"
"Who, me?" I ask, pointing to myself.
"Thank you for helping clear this whole mess up."
"I didn't do much of anything. You're still welcome, though. See you two around."
And with that, Katie and Montmorency walked off, a new friendship blowing in the breeze. Ah, how beautiful. The lovely scene is marred only by the mangled thing that was once known as Guiche struggle to pull himself up.
"Well. I've seen worse attempts at building a harem," I remark to the poor kid. "... Wait, scratch that. I haven't. That was honestly pathetic. Using the same line on both girls? At least put some effort into it!"
"Jocelyn, don't provoke him," Louise says with a jab to my side.
"Well it was pathetic!" I say. Besides, provoking people is fun!
"You," Guiche says as he gets up and points a rose at me. "You dare to insult a noble such as me? Know your place commoner!"
"Yes, the mighty and noble Guiche, proudly picking his face out of the dirt after two girls knocked him out!"
"Hold your tongue!"
"Geez, some people just have such a hard time accepting insults disguised as jokes."
"Did you just admit to insulting me?" Guiche asks.
"Not in so many words, but pretty much."
"Fine then. What was your name?"
"Jocelyn," how many more times will I need to say that?
"Well then, Ms. Jocelyn. Your stains against nobility's honor cannot go unpunished."
"Your stains against humanity can't go unpunished, but you don't see me complaining," I remark.
"Can you shut up for five seconds?" Louise hisses at me.
"No, not really."
"I challenge you to a duel!" Guiche tells me.
Louise gasps. "You can't do that! That's against the rules!"
"Bah, I've always played outside the rules anyway!" I tell her. "I'm sure we can come up with a loophole eventually."
"Indeed. Very well. I will see you at Vestri Court. I do hope you not show up though. I'd hate to almost kill someone such as yourself."
Good luck with that.
"I will see you at Vestri Court Ms Joc."
!
He's lucky Louise was there. Otherwise there wouldn't have been anyone to grab my arm and keep the knife from plunging into his throat. As it stands, only the tip is barely touching his neck.
"Wh-what are you doing!" Louise yells as she pulls on my arm.
"Don't you ever call me that," I snarl at Guiche. "Do that one more time and I don't care if Louise is hanging on. I'll kill you."
Guiche doesn't respond. He just gulps in fear.
"Tch."
I lower the knife, but Louise doesn't let go of my arm.
"Go," I tell him. "Get to that Vestri Court. I hope that magic of yours can really help you. I'd hate for it to be too quick."
Having said my piece, I give Guiche a push, and he falls back to the ground. He crawls back to his feet then scrambles away.
"Jocelyn, what was that about?" Louise asks me.
"Nothing incredibly important, as long as no one calls me that," I tell her.
"You're not really going to fight him, are you?" Louise asks me. "A commoner can never hope to beat a noble."
"And no one here can ever hope to beat me. Where's Vestri court?" I ask.
Louise still seams nervous, but she starts dragging me off anyway. I can't wait till we get there. Maybe she'll finally let go of my arm.
And it turns out my hope was not misplaced! Louise let go of my arm once we arrived at the destination. Turns out a crowd showed up. The fact that there's a crowd, plus the slight time lag must have given Guiche a chance to work up his bravado, as he's back to his usual show offy self.
"So you decided to show up," he remarks.
"That's my line. And don't worry. I've calmed down a bit so I probably won't kill you. How's this gonna go down? First to yield?"
"But of course," Guiche says with a nod.
Well I've already won because of that, so that's fun. Guiche waves his rose once and a petal comes off. The petal hits the ground, which then lights up, and a stone valkyrie rises up in its place.
"This golem shall be your opponent," Guiche tells me. "If you wish to concede the fight, simply apologize for insulting nobility-"
"You kidding? Let's get this party started!" I say as I draw my knife, spin it around a bit then point it at the golem.
Guiche seems confused, but brushes it off. "Proceed, my valkyrie."
"Bring it, stone head!"
Words exchanged, the golem charges me. It goes for an overhead, but I dodge, and put myself behind the golem.
Okay. This knife's made for cutting meat, not steel. This thing's basically an animated hunk of armor, where are the chinks? Okay. First the arms. Disable it's main method of attack. Seems a little too top heavy to try kicks. As such, priority target. Then go in for the kill. Cut the head off. Aim for the neck, then sever. I'll start once it swings for me again. Gotta move fast though, this thing's got some swing behind it's punch.
Let's get started. Just bide my time and wait for a chance. The golem swings a right hook at me. I leap back, dodging the blow. It charges me, so I toss myself to the right, roll and and get back to my feet. The golem charges me one last time, and throws a flurry of punches. Dodge. Dodge. Dodge.
"Are you only capable of dodging?" Guiche asks. "This can all be over if you simply apologize and concede defeat."
Dodge.
The golem swings one more time.
Chance!
I duck the punch, and before the golem gets a chance to recover, I stick my blade into the chink between arm and torso. I work the blade, and the arm comes right off, hitting the floor with a thud.
Chance!
While the golem's still stunned, I stick the knife right into where the other arm connects to the body. I slice through, and the arm comes right off again, leaving the golem armless.
Chance!
I complete the combo by plunging the knife into the golem's neck, then put a hand on the golem's shoulder.
"Endgame."
I push the golem to spin it and start cutting all that keeps the golem's head connected to his body. I grab the golem's shoulder to stop the spinning. There's a brief second where nothing happens, right before the golem's head simple rolls off from it's perch and hits the floor, before melting into the ground. I push the golem and push it right to the ground. It lies there for a while before it melts into the ground, just like the arms and head. I look at Guiche.
"You better have more then that if you want to stand even a chance," I let him know.
Guiche briefly startles, then waves his rose a bit more. A bunch of petals hit the ground, and a total of 8 new valkyries rise from the ground. I grin.
"Now that's more like it," I say as a put a hand to my glasses and reverse my grip on the knife. "Better. Still not enough. Still, I guess I can afford to show off a bit."
"What are you talking about!" Louise yells at me from the crowd.
"Valkyries! Attack!" Guiche yells, before the golems go for me.
"This'll be good," I say as I close my eyes, still holding onto the frame of my glasses. I take my glasses off and throw them into the air. "I'll make it quick."
I open my eyes, and observe the world. The surrounding area is blue, with Louise being a slightly lighter shade of blue, as I thought she'd be. The golems are the familiar red aura indicating enemies, but that's not what I look at. I observe the dark violet lines grafted onto the world. I focus on the lines going across the golems. I grin and charge the golems.
The first one was easy. The lines were right across it's chest, making it an easy target. I tighten my grip on the knife and stab it into the first line. I drag the knife and cut along the line, before plunging it into the next line. I cut across one line, then the next, then the next. Eventually the golem falls to the ground in 17 pieces.
"First!"
Then next was trickier. It's lines we centered more on the arms, which were being used to swing a sword. Unfortunately for the golem, the sword has it's own lines. Sparks fly as the two blades meet. I remove my knife from the deadlock, and swing it 3 times. Cuts appear on the blade, as it falls apart in 4 pieces. I swing and cut the golems arms to pieces as it falls to the ground, dead.
"Come on!"
I start work on the third one by slicing through it's legs. It hits the ground and finish by slicing into it's head a few times. The fourth one tries to take an advantage and swings it's mace at me. I cut the mace apart then slice the golem itself into pieces.
"NEXT!"
The fifth one aims a punch for my head. I tilt my head, and the fist stops a few inches to the side of my head. I cut his arm into 4 pieces, then his torso into another 7 pieces. The sixth one swings an axe at me horizontally, I duck under it, then cut off the golem's hand. I catch the axe before it hits the ground and slice the golem in half at the waist. I didn't even bother aiming for the lines.
"BRING IT!"
The seventh one tries to cut me off at the knees. I jump up and land on the sword. I stick my knife into it's helm, and vault over it. The golem falls to the ground, it's helmet having been cut in half. I land right in front of the eighth golem, and cut him up into 7 pieces. He falls apart.
"Damn. Over already."
I hold my hand out, catch my glasses and put them back on. I blink, and the world is back to it's technicolor glory. I point my knife at Guiche, who falls to his knees in shock.
"You done yet?" I ask. "I can always aim for you next, you know?"
"I... I concede defeat," Guiche says sullenly.
"Awesome!" I saw as I walk over to him and offer him a hand up. "Need help?"
"Huh?" Guiche asks incredulously.
"Well, it's over, I won, we're all good now, I'm asking if you need a hand getting up out of the dirt."
Since he doesn't seem to be responding yet, I just grab his hand and pull him to his feet.
"There. I think we're about done here."
I turn around and walk off, grabbing the incredulous Louise and drag her off to her room.
*Scene Break*
"What was that out there?" Louise asks me, as I lied down on her bed and got ready for another night time exposition talk.
"Think of it as a demonstration," I say as I stare up at the ceiling. "I did say I could kill anything, right?"
"But those were bronze golems!" Louise exclaims. "A simple kitchen knife shouldn't be able to cut them into pieces like you did!"
"I have that ability."
Louise pauses for a second. "What do you mean?"
"My senses are better then most," I tell her. "I can easily identify friends and enemies, and I can see the lines keeping things connected to life. I just sort of cut along those lines, and the thing dies."
I take off my glasses and turn on Death Perception. ... That's a stupid name.
"Like there, on the ceiling," I tell her as I lazily point at the ceiling and trace along the lines up there. "There. There. And there."
"Your eyes changed color," Louise notes.
"Yeah, they do that. Brown when I'm not killing things, A vibrant blue when something needs to die. I don't like keeping it on too long though. The longest I've ever held it on was five minutes or so. I felt like my head was being cut in half afterwards."
"Is that why you were happy I couldn't see through your eyes?" Louise asks.
"Yeah. I mean, I've got these naturally, have had 'em for five years, and I'm worried they'll kill me. Imagine what'll happen if you see through them."
"Do those glasses of yours stop you from seeing the lines?"
I chuckle. "Hardly. They're not even prescription. I just wear them more for peace of mind. I mean, the makers claim that the glass could stop a cannonball. Just peace of mind is all. I can see the lines just fine with 'em on. Well, obviously the glasses have lines, and that gets in the way a bit."
"So... So you could kill me at any point if you wanted?" Louise asks in a hushed voice.
"Could. Not gonna. No need. Besides, you're an ally. I wouldn't want to kill you."
"So, you can see the lines that kill me?" Louise asks.
"Yep."
I look at Louise, touch my finger to her face and start tracing.
"Here."
I trace my finger down her face and to her neck.
"Here."
I trace the line down past her chest and to her stomach.
"A few here."
"C-can you stop, please?" Louise asks, her face red for one reason or another.
"Sure. About time for bed anyway."
Louise nods, then changes into her pajamas. I put my glasses on the nightstand, and take off my skirt and toss it into a corner of the room. We lie down on the bed and close our eyes.
"Jocelyn."
"Yes, Louise?"
"Why are you in the bed with me?"
"Not really anywhere else to sleep."
"Right. Good night Jocelyn."
"Good night Louise."