The Heart of Sacrifice

2.0 Update: Rehashed, redone and rewritten. Characters have been changed, plot has been fixed and the outline has been completed. Originally, this story was inspired by a game called Soul Sacrifice (which you should totally check out) but after a while, I thought, why not just make it a crossover of some sort? Although there isn't a section for it, so I'll just have to make do. Hope you enjoy the story!

Summary: Summoning a rogue mage calling himself a Druid, Louise couldn't help but feel mesmerized as she witnessed his strange yet beautiful magic. But as time goes on, monsters never before seen begin to appear, forcing Louise down the only path that will end it all: Murder her familiar, or die trying. Zero no Tsukaima X Soul Sacrifice.

I do not own Soul Sacrifice, The Familiar of Zero, or any referenced franchises. I only own my Original character.

1.0 Update: Hey guys, this is a new fan fiction that I've been working on for a month now, and is also the reason my other work, Change My Destiny, has been delayed. With the start of school, things are going to be a lot busier, so I won't have time to work on my fanfiction as frequently as I would like. As of today, September 10, 2013, I will be updating my fanfics on a random basis. Sorry guys, but school is important. I hope you enjoy my new work!

...

The Sorcerer's Ordeal

Half of those who take the Sorcerer's Ordeal will die.

This was perhaps the only thing we knew for sure.

I knew the risks when I started, when I decided to follow the footsteps of my parents. My father was sacrificed by my mother during their ordeal together. He bore her no grudge, but holding his soul within her hands, absorbing his feelings and memories upon sacrificing him, was something she was never able to forgive herself for. As a result, she had tried to push me away from that kind of life, a life of nothing but violence and sacrifice.

When the moment came, I understood why.

"So this is it then...?" The woman across me whispered, her voice pained. Her red cowl hid her expression, but I knew that she was crying. It pulled at my heart, bringing back memories of the previous weeks. Weeks we would not have survived, had we not been together.

"Yes." I replied, keeping my voice cold, despite the tearing in my chest. "This is what it means to be a sorcerer. You and I both knew this time would come." I made a fist with my red, deformed right arm, filled with the souls of monsters that we had sacrificed. She wiped her eyes, steeling herself. I did the same. Our resolve was being tested. Our resolve to murder.

That is, after all, the business of the Sorcerer.

Her eyes met mine.

"Fighting against you... is so trying..." She said. I nodded, replying, "I must do this. I'm sorry..." Looking down at my arm, I felt the souls within swirl into raw power. My partner nodded as well. "I remember. No hard feelings?" she asked. I shook my head.

There was no more need for words. I pulled out a fragment of ice, and transformed it into a sword. My partner slit her wrists open, unleashing her blood. I charged at her, dodging to the side as she shot bullets of blood at me. They tore through the floor of the empty sanctuary, the foundation shaking as we clashed. Wisely keeping her distance, my partner forced me through a series of obstacles. When I dodged her blood, she would use flame tree roots to send waves of fire at me, homing in on my position and forcing me to jump back. When I was too far for either, she would launch firedrake eggs in an arc, which exploded fiercely on impact. I tried to match her at range, launching arrows of stone but it was a futile effort. She encased herself in stone armor, slowing her down but preventing me from knocking her off her feet. Gritting my teeth, I offered an ice fiend mask, transforming myself into a seven foot tall golem. Using my sheer mass, I rolled into a ball and bulldozed my way through, forcing her to sidestep.

Crashing into the wall, I deactivated my magic as she lost her footing, tripping to the floor. I followed her, empowering my legs with a falcon feather, making my movement as swift as lightning, and slashed her as I flitted across. Her plan ruined, she had no choice but to match me in melee combat. Still, she knew I was superior in that aspect, so she resorted to using her blood again, slashing at me with thin, crescent shaped blades that outreached my sword.

I took a few hits, feeling my skin tear under the dense pressure, but I forced the pain down, attacking her with a series of rapid and precise strikes. She dodged backwards hastily, taking a few hits but healing herself as she did so. Before I could approach again, she transformed the ground between us into poisonous liquid, forcing me to jump.

I had no choice but to take her next assault. I quickly dismissed my sword and took out another ice shard, transforming it this time into a shield. Her blood bullets made quick work of it, but it allowed me to get close to her.

With a flourish, I attacked, sending a rain of stone arrows into her armor, taking away a good section of it. My partner removed her armor spell, and I transmuted another sword.

Our duel raged all across the entire sanctuary, the walls around us crumbling under our assault. But it was only a matter of time before I claimed victory. There is a specific weakness of all blood users, that even though their attacks were extremely powerful, their blood did not last forever. They constantly needed to heal themselves as to not bleed dry. I wouldn't give her any more chances.

Soon enough, my partner's blood spells had taken their toll, and she began to slow down. More and more of my attacks would hit, but my stamina was reaching its limit as well. Her blood bullets pierced and bludgeoned my body, slowing down my swings just enough for her to dodge a lethal strike. My legs were heavy, my boots weighing down on them. My right arm was near exhausted of power, neither of us having a chance to renew our strength with sacrifice.

With another clash, we backed off each other and paused, our ragged breath the only sound in the cold, dark sanctuary. My eyes wandered down to my right arm, feeling very little power left. I could only make one more sword.

I tore away the scarf that protected my face, and transmuted my last sword. My partner readied her arm, her face pale and her knees shaking. We charged at each other. She lifted up her arm.

Her blood spell grazed my side, and I pushed through, plunging my sword into her chest.

….

The Soul

What is life, and what is death, but a never ending circle of suffering? To what end must we continue to live in this cruel and wicked chasm?

What I would do to take back what I had done.

She softly whimpered as she choked on her own blood, her breathing weak and painful as she fell backwards, her body collapsing into the floor. I stared at her body, knowing what I must do next, but my legs refused to move.

Her eyes fluttered, her lips trembled, and she reached out to me. I knelt down beside her, letting her cup my face.

"Please... don't... make that... face..." Her eyes met mine again, understanding changing her expression, as she resigned herself.

Pain. Guilt.

I stood over her, victorious, yet at the same time defeated. I had become a sorcerer, at the cost of the life… of my closest friend.

Was this how my mother felt, when she took my father's life all those years ago?

"Do it." She said, breaking my train thought.

I nodded, taking her hand in mine for a few moments, before standing up once more. I lifted my right arm, pointing the crooked Z carved into my palm at her heart, and clenched my fist. My partner screamed as a swirl of nebulous black emerged from underneath her, holding her down as she twisted and convulsed in pain. I didn't want her to suffer. I didn't want to hear her cry. So with all my strength, I pulled.

Her chest exploded open with a fountain of blood as I wrenched her soul from her body. The blood came together, forming the shape of a ball. Her soul.

Gently floating down towards me, her emotions and memories flowed into my mind as my right arm absorbed it. Her smile became clear in my mind, as the emotions churned within me, my thoughts and feelings becoming one with hers. Her love for me pulsing throughout my entire being.

To this day, that memory haunts me. To this day, I cannot forget the face she made in her final moments.

A few days later, I was officially registered as a Sorcerer for Avalon, the organization in charge of the business of murder; a necessary evil for a world filled with monsters.

No restraint. Their previous forms do not matter. Man, woman, child or friend; the monsters must perish. That is the code of the sorcerer.

Whether I liked it or not, I had to live with it.

...

Tristain Academy of Magic

Louise was nervous. To say that she had been expecting this kind of result, she could not. She had done it; she had cast the summoning spell without an explosion!

Her classmates around her gasped in surprised and shock as the pentagon of Brimir appeared on the ground in front of her, an orb of green light manifesting at the center of it. Jests at Louise stopped, whispers transformed into anticipation at what Louise the zero would summon. Louise's teacher and close friend professor Colbert, stood beside her in awe as well, not unaccustomed to her constant failures. Pride swelled within him as he laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, silently congratulating her. Louise's gaze turned from the portal to Colbert, a smile slowly spreading across her face. She had succeeded. Waiting with anticipation, Louise couldn't help but step closer to the portal.

But something was wrong.

The orb of light began to warp, twisting in a spiral. The color of the orb changed from a deep green, to a bloody red. Faster and faster the orb of light spun, until it became a vacuum of black and red.

"Get back, Miss Valliere! Something isn't right!" Shouted Colbert, reaching out to the girl. He managed to pull her back just in time as the portal let out an ethereal wave of energy, knocking all of the students off their feet. The other familiars began to cry out, their senses warning them of danger, fearing whatever lay on the other side. The source of the wave of energy, a ball of white light, began to swirl, becoming larger and larger, until it exploded.

The resulting bang was large, larger than any explosion that Louise ever managed herself. Everyone let out a loud shriek as the explosion deafened them all, the world shining white and their ears ringing. Smoke covered the premises, filling everyone's lungs with dust. They all coughed and wheezed, shouting and complaining all the while.

Louise however, to her surprise, was the least disoriented, feeling someone holding her close.

"Miss Valliere, are you alright?!" Professor Colbert called out to her. Standing protectively in front of her, Colbert lowered his staff and disabled the shield that he conjured over himself and others. But before she could reply, a terrible shriek pierced through the campus, shaking everyone to the bone. The smoke was blasted away with a massive current of wind, revealing a monster standing within Louise's summoning circle.

…

The New World

Several years have passed since I became a sorcerer.

I've met and worked with many sorcerers since the day I sacrificed my dear partner, and even murdered some of them who had turned into monsters. But each time I did so, I felt her soul cry from within my right arm, urging me to stop, urging me not to kill, to find another way. Even now, she speaks to me in a faint voice, guiding me, her emotions a strong moral compass for me.

It had put me into rather dangerous situations.

The code of the sorcerer is that all monsters must perish. For the people to have light, we must be the darkness. As Sorcerers, to yearn for the light was heretical.

Thus, saving monsters is not permitted.

But sorcerers are not wicked men, no—we were a necessary evil. Through the effects and indulgence of sorcery, the desires of man and beast alike overcome them, transforming them into perverse beings of desire. This gave rise to human like intelligence in beasts, and even greater greed in men. In exchange for, supposedly, something of great value to them, men and beast chased after their desire, twisting their forms and creating something new. Such is the origin of monsters.

This is why we murder them, because the monsters, through their own greed, willingly transformed themselves. It is believed saving them would be nothing but an appeasement to their desire, which they could very well fall into again.

I met a man once who convinced me otherwise, that there was no such thing as a necessary evil. I took his words to heart.

Driven by my urge to save, the desire left to me by my beloved partner, had forced Avalon to send several sorcerer's after me, a violator of the code. To them, I was no better than the monsters I killed. Though they tried to kill me, they failed, and I sacrificed them so they would not chase me again.

Why is this happening to me? Why are you urging me to save? I asked my arm after each sacrifice, trying to reach out to her. But she never answered.

Today was no different. I had received word from contacts that a letter arrived for me; my contractor wanted me to save a monster. I went to do so.

I had no idea just what had laid in store.

One moment I was fighting my target, a Cyclops. Standing at a hulking fifty feet, the Cyclops hunched over its trident spear, charging at me, the single eye on the head of the Cyclops and on the head of the trident locked on me. Spikes protruded from its back, dangerous and ready to impale. I quickly jumped out of the way as a laser of light shot forth from the trident eye, narrowly dodging the attack.

Next thing I knew, the world turned green, and I had found myself in the middle of a grassy field, at what seemed to be a coven of strangely dressed children along with animals and creatures of various kinds. But I had no time to focus on them. Wherever I was, the monster was brought with me.

The children screamed as their eyes set on the monster before us, their strange language definitely foreign. The animals and creatures began to cry out and wail as well, running for their lives. The children followed the creatures, much to my relief. At least I wouldn't have to worry about protecting them.

With a bone chilling roar, the monster, seemingly not noticing the change of location, jumped into the air and attempted to body slam me. Quickly offering a falcon feather, I empowered my legs, making my movement as swift as lightning. I dodged the attack, the earth shaking under me. I stumbled, tripping over my own feet as the ground shook. The beast gave me no time to retaliate, and curved up into a ball, rolling at me, its spikes becoming even longer.

I covered myself with stone armor just in time and raised my arms to create the largest stone shield I could. Although the shield took most of the damage and my armor helped me keep my footing, I felt my arms strain under the immense weight, my feet sinking into the ground as the monster collided with my shield. It bounced away harmlessly, crashing into a stone wall, and I charged forward, dismissing my shield.

With rapid sword strikes, I cut away at the beast as it sat to recover. The beast began roaring as it weakly tried to attack me, my sword severely damaging it. I dodged forward, rolling between its legs as it tried to swipe me, attacking the back of its legs. The beast stumbled.

I had planned to attack it with all the projectiles in my possession, only to be surprised as a hail of icicles and a wave of fire bombarded the beast. I turned to the source, seeing whom I assumed were three sorcerers. A tall, bespectacled bald man with a wooden staff and blue robes, a slightly shorter, tanned young woman with red hair, and a younger child with blue hair. The two girls were wearing the same strange clothing as the other children. The man in blue robes shouted something at me, gesturing for me to come to their side with a wave of his hand. They seemed to be on my side but… how is it they were casting spells without offerings?! And their arms were pure! Were they part of Sanctuarium? Surely not, I had never seen them before.

There was no time to question. I joined their side, dismissing my stone armor, and got ready to join them in the assault. I transmuted a bomb seed spell on the floor, feeding it by transforming the terrain underneath it into molten liquid. The bomb seed absorbed the lava, making the plant grow rapidly into a plant half the size of the monstrosity we fought. It began to shoot explosives from its flower-head at the beast, and I followed up, firing arrows of stone and ice. The beast took the onslaught, and in its pain used its Trident to dig into the floor, hiding below.

The four of us ran to the hole, and I thought to follow it but the man stopped me. He said something again in the strange language, and I tried to reply but he didn't seem to understand my language as well. We were cut off as ground shook, no doubt from the monster tunnelling through the ground.

"Move, now!" I shouted, shoving the three away from me. As I rolled backwards from the push, the Cyclops' spear burst through the ground we were in moments ago, attempts to impale me. I began climbing to high ground upon the broken walls and trees, hoping it would follow me. The monster did, however, the Cyclops seemed to predict my plan, and began uprooting the stones and trees I stood upon. I abandoned my tactics quickly, sprinting as fast as I could. My powers were waning; I needed to sacrifice something if I wanted to keep fighting.

The world went dark, and I searched my surroundings with my mind's eye. My eyes settled for a tree, though ordinary it was not. There was a mysterious and powerful magic within it, one that may attack me should I try to sacrifice it.

Still, the beast gave me not choice.

The Cyclops re-emerged from the ground, roaring as it did so, still bleeding from our previous assault. The other 'sorcerer's' brought away its attention from me, and I ran to the tree I saw earlier. Panting heavily, I pointed my right arm at the tree, and crouched, feeling the sensational pull within. The hairs on the back of my neck stood as my magic began to absorb the life within the object, and with all my strength I pulled. Raw and powerful magical energy rushed through my arm as the tree withered and died, my strength returning to me. I faced the beast again, seeing it fight on its last leg against the other sorcerers.

Good.

Empowering my legs once more, I rapidly dashed across the grounds, slashing at the beast's legs as the three other sorcerer's behind me attacked from long range. Unable to withstand the assault, the beast lost its footing, and fell on its face. With a loud cry, I jumped into the air and stabbed my sword into the beast's lower back, sprinting across its body towards its head. Abandoning my sword at the base of its neck, I prepared more Irondrake eggs, and fired with all the magic power I had left straight into the eye of the beast.

The Cyclops let out another wail, trying to push itself up, before falling to the floor with a loud thud. I clutched my drained arm close as I slowly back away from the beast, keeping an eye on its movements. It didn't transform into its previous form yet; the battle wasn't over.

To my awe at their stupidity, the three sorcerers that helped me walked up to the beast without so much as flinching.

"What are you doing you fools?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, but it was too late. The girls were quick, but the old man was swatted like a fly, the beast standing on its feet quickly. Another cry followed, and another girl with pink hair ran towards the man, trying to wake him up. The beast let out another roar, the blue haired girl using spells of wind and ice without offerings. Instead she seemed to be chanting, the spells appearing from thin air. What kind of sorcery was that? I couldn't help but be amazed.

The red haired girl added to the assault, blasting the Cyclops with a raging inferno. Whatever spells the girls used, they worked, and just in time as other sorcerer's of this land arrived. The Cyclops let out a final wail, trying to push itself up. But to our luck, the beast fell back down, unable to stand. Its form melted into a black, bubbling goo, shrinking back into the form of a human. He weakly twitched on the ground.

"Please… kill me… I can't bear it…!" said the man at my feet. I walked up to him, ignoring the surprised gasps of the onlookers.

"Your family requested that I save you." I replied. But the man shook his head.

"How can I return to them, after all that I did…? I don't deserve to live…"

Kneeling down, I placed my hand on the man's shoulder comfortingly.

"No one is beyond salvation. It is what you do from here on out that will decide what you become. It is only human to fall into desire… But if you can find something to live for, I have no doubt you'll resist the next time." I tried to heal the man, but he grasped my hand, tears streaming down his face.

"Please… I know, that this is cruel of me to ask… but please… take my life."

I remained silent, my eyes locking with the man. His resolve was sure.

"Very well."

…..

Louise was in a desperate panic.

She didn't know how, or why, but something with her summon had gone wrong. She had hoped that she had finally achieved something in her life, something to prove that she wasn't a failure but she was wrong. She was always wrong.

The monster that she summoned, she couldn't even begin to comprehend what it was, much less fight it or control it. She wanted to run, to scream to cry and to turn away from the hideous monstrosity that was to be her familiar but she couldn't. The moment that she locked eyes with the monster, she couldn't turn away.

Louise didn't fight against Colbert as he brought her to a safe distance, but she couldn't help but drop her jaw as a man with a blue scarf began to fight the monster head on. He was incredibly skilled, using the likes of magic she had never seen. Who was he? Did she summon him as well?!

It was strange, yet undeniable. The way he used his magic and the destructive properties of his spells reflected the way that her summoning had reacted. Was it perhaps the man's magic that had caused it to explode? Or perhaps it was the creature? Louise knew without a single doubt that she didn't want that thing, that monster, to be her familiar.

Louise kept a close eye on the man, watching the way he used his spells, taking note of how he didn't use a wand, and instead seemed to use his bandaged, right arm to transmute spells. At first she thought he was an elf; some of his spells were incredibly outlandish, especially when he used a spell to increase his speed drastically. He moved like lightning afterward, leaving a trail of red and white light along the path he moved until he stopped to attack. When the man grew a giant plant that began attacking the beast, she knew for sure he had to be from a far off land if he wasn't an elf.

Louise let out a sigh of relief as they defeated the monster, the beast falling on its face. She came out from her hiding spot, intent on getting a closer look at the man with the blue scarf. However, he shouted something in a strange, yet exotic language, waving his arms at Colbert, Tabitha and Kirche.

"NO! PROFESSOR!" Louise shouted as the man was swatted away by the beast. Tabitha and Kirche were quicker, and proceeded to pelt the beast with their most powerful spells, Tabitha using ice and Kirche using fire. Amidst the distraction, she ran up to Colbert, checking to see if he was alright.

Louise sighed with relief as the man pushed himself up, bruised but still alive. She gave the man a hug, her relief sagging her shoulders. Colbert, mildly surprised, returned the gesture.

"I'm all right Louise, but that beast caught me off guard. I should have been more careful…" he replied. Louise sniffled, nodding her head in his shoulder as she let her father figure go. Their attention was averted as the beast let out another roar, falling to the ground and melting into a black goo, making Louise feel sick. The shock of seeing it transform into a man, however, blew her away.

"Colbert, are you alright?" Shouted Osmond. The old principal rushed to the pair's side, along with the other secretaries, their gasps of surprise and fear shifting Louise's attention. The entire faculty gathered around the not-monster man and the man with the blue scarf, their wands lifted and aimed right at them. They seemed to go unnoticed, as the man and the beast-now-human exchanged words. Louise unconsciously began moving closer, wondering what they were saying. She heard the exotic language again, the bright green eyes of the blue scarfed man narrowing. His right hand clenched slowly, and he stood up.

The loud shouts and incantations of the teachers were cut shout as Louise dashed forward.

"No! Wait, that's my familiar!" Louise shouted out loud. Sprinting past the teachers and in front of the man, she stood protectively in front of him, her arms spread wide. Wild chatter began, the teachers debating on what to be done. But more cries of shock came, and Louise jumped as she heard a strange, bubbling noise behind her, as if water was boiling. She turned around to see the blue scarfed man doing something to the monster-human. The monster-human was trapped on the ground by black tendrils, his body writing in pain as he clenched his teeth to endure the pain. The blue scarfed man's right arm was up once more, like it was when he stood in front of the tree that withered.

"Wait, stop-!" Louise shouted, trying to stop the man. However, whatever magic he was doing, whatever strange spell he had cast, he succeeded. To everyone's horror, the man's chest exploded open like a fountain, the blood collecting into the air and forming a ball. The ball floated gently down towards the man, and his arm the did the impossible, and absorbed it.

Fear settling inside her heart once more, Louise stepped back with caution as the man turned to face the crowd, his face smeared with blood.

…..

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