2 years…
It had been two years since he had embarked on his quest for revenge.
And there he lay… in a pool of his own blood.
But not just his blood; it was also the blood of the subject of his revenge.
The one who caused all the misery he, and everyone around him, had suffered.
He was there too, lying next to each other… dying.
As the world around him darkened his last thoughts ran through his head.
The entirety of his short life, all the choices he made, his friends, family… her.
Everything was normal.
What happened?
"Well, is that everyone?" the professor called out. Though he was a professor he look more the part of a monk.
The group of students he was addressing looked around at each other, everyone knew that there was only one person left they all knew, but no one in their right mind would say it… they were afraid.
One student wasn't however.
"No, there's still Ms. Valliére" called out a very seductive looking redhead kneeling next to a similarly red lizard the size of a large dog.
The young lady in question was trying her best to hide behind the other students but with her being called out by name there was no point.
The girl stepped out from the crowd, her strawberry blond hair swaying in the slight breeze.
She stood there trying her best to gather her nerve, it was hard though, she could hear the other students whispering.
"It's Louise the Zero."
"What is she going to summon?"
"There's no way she'll summon anything. Another explosion and it'll be done."
The same redhead from before called out to her "Since you put such display of vanity, I'm sure you'll summon something more amazing than this one," she said gesturing her lizard "right Louise?"
"Of course!" the pink haired girl named Louise quickly retorted.
Damn them she thought, I'll show them
But she was desperate, all her spells ended in failure.
If she couldn't pull off this summoning then… she didn't want to think about it.
Instead she held her confident façade as she prepared to begin.
Please… she wished to herself.
"To my servant that exists somewhere within the ends of the Universe!" she began her spell
"What kind of spell is that?" whispered a blond girl in the crowd
"Well, well, at least it has some individuality…" responded a scrawny boy with equally blond hair.
Louise continued "To the holy, beautiful, and above most powerful familiar,"
The spell drew the attention of a short blue haired girl whose had previously had her nose in a book.
"I appeal to you from my heart as I chant, Answer my guidance!" Louise finished her spell then quickly flicked her raise wand down in front of her.
…
…
*BOOM*
A large explosion rocked the courtyard they were standing in.
As the smoke was clearing one boy grumbled to himself "So, it will come to this after all…"
The blond boy from earlier let out a cough then kneeled down to check on the blond girl
"Are you all right, Montmorency?" he asked
The girl, Montmorency, just stared blankly away from him.
"What's the matter?" he asked confused at why she was ignoring him.
She silently raised her hand and pointed toward Louise.
Louise was standing silently above a figure lying on the ground at her feet.
"A human?!" someone called out. Indeed the figure was a human, a human boy to be precise.
He appeared to be unconscious.
"No matter how you look at it, he's just a commoner" Someone else mentioned.
"Yes, a commoner, no doubt" another said.
Louise, with an almost painful expression mixed with disgust, whispered to herself "This… this… is my holy, beautiful, and above most powerful…"
Then she notice that his eyes with partially open, staring blankly at her.
It felt weird and she was going to mention it, then she saw the blood; and the open wounds covering his body releasing more of the life essence.
"MR. COLBERT!" she screamed.
Mr. Colbert, the professor running the summoning, ran over to see what was going on.
When he saw the blood he yelled out at the students "EVERYBODY GO BACK TO YOUR DORMS NOW!" he cast a quick levitation spell on the boy's body, then turned to Louise "You, come with me to the nurse's wing immediately!"
To say it was a close one would be an understatement.
It took all of the medical staff and many of the student water mages working all of three days, but they did it, they saved her familiar.
Louise was sitting in the headmaster's office waiting silently.
God, she blew it didn't she?
She summoned a commoner as a familiar, and worse yet she'd nearly killed it.
She was a terrible excuse for a mage.
She looked up at the headmaster who sat just as silently with his eyes closed and his elbows resting on the edge of his desk, hands covering his mouth.
The headmaster's secretary stood next to him with a stern expression on her face.
She looked over at Mr. Colbert who was standing in the corner of the office with an equally stern expression.
This was it, she was expelled. Failed to be sent home to her angry family. Her career as a mage over just as it was beginning.
She held her breath when the headmaster's eyes suddenly opened and locked on hers, holding her gaze.
"Mr. Colbert" he said in his aged voice.
"Yes Mr. Osman?" he answered.
"The wounds on the boy's body, they were fatal were they not?" Osman asked.
"Yes sir" he answered.
"I see, it's a miracle he survived. Still proper action must be taken for this incident."
Louise flinched.
"However, according to the nurse's report, the wounds were caused by burns. Tell me, do Louise's explosions include flames Mr. Colbert?"
"N-no sir"
"Ms. Longueville?" the headmaster addressed his secretary.
"I'm new here sir and do not know Ms Valliére well, however from what I understand, no. Her accidents do not cause flame." She answered.
"I see…" Osman let out a sigh. "Ms Valliére,"
Louise jerked to attention. "Y-yes s-sir?"
"Lucky you are that he survived, it seems that his injuries were not cause by your summoning spell. It seems that you will not be expelled."
Louise let out a sigh and visibly relaxed.
"However!" Osman continued strictly "You will continue to attend class as scheduled until your familiar awakes. You will then ensure the recovery of your familiar, and take care of him; during this time you will be exempt from class. When he has made a full recovery you will then complete the familiar ceremony. Understood?"
"Y-yes sir" Louise answered.
"Good, you may return to your dorm."
She stood up and walked toward the door, her body shaking from the stress she just went through. Just as she was about to leave the office.
"Oh, and Ms. Valliére." The headmaster called out.
"Yes Mr. Osman?"
"Lighten up a bit, at least you didn't fail at summoning a familiar." He said, letting out a large smile from under his long white beard.
A small smile appeared on Louise's face, "Yeah" she said.
For the first time in her life one of her spells didn't fail, even if the result was almost dead.
The next day was the second worse day in her life.
The first of which was when her sister, Eleonore, had tried to take her magical training into her own hands before Lousie was sent to Tristain's Magical Academy.
God, those memories still gave her nightmares, not that she'd tell anyone.
Still this came close, with all the glares and jeers she was getting from her fellow students.
Everyone was asking her if she'd really killed her familiar.
Of course she told them all she didn't, but they kept whispering.
The rumors were spreading like a fire to rival-
"Louise, did you really almost kill your familiar?!"
Speak of the devil.
The same redhead from the summoning ceremony shouted out as she entered the classroom.
"For the last time Kirche, I did not kill nor cause harm to my familiar. The headmaster determined that it's injuries were not caused by my summoning spell." Louise answered back with annoyance.
"Really… hmm, well you had better get things under control, the whole school thinks you kill him." Kirche said before returning to her seat.
Louise sighed, she really hated that Zerbst girl. She just couldn't leave her alone, ever since she'd entered this school it seemed that Kirche and her had been rivals.
And boy did she know how to push her buttons, now all the effort she went through to get the class to stop talking about her familiar was wasted as the conversations started up anew.
Damn it.
Well, if one good thing came out of this it was that students had stopped calling her Zero, though it was mostly out of fear. How long it would last she didn't know, but she owed the headmaster a thank you for letting everyone know that she had succeeded at one spell.
But was it worth it?
AN:
Dear Readers,
Being my first time I don't know what to think of this.
I've always wanted to take up writing but school life gets in the way.
Me and my friends are really into anime and this anime is my favorite, so I decided to write a story for this as practice.
Let me know what you think, any tips and suggestions will be helpful.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Blegh