Zero no Tsukaima is the property of Noboru Yamaguchi and Media Factory.

Fate/Zero is the property of NitroPlus and TYPE-MOON.

I claim no ownership of the characters featured in this story. This is a work of fan-fiction.


Alexandriad: The Song of Fire

Chapter Two


Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière was, to put it succinctly, exhausted. Bone weary did not even come close to defining how thoroughly tired and spent she felt as she collapsed herself into her bed still dressed in her school uniform, cape and all. Hugging her pillow tightly to herself she went over the day's events in her head and found herself unable to decide whether she should grin foolishly or groan in frustration.

The day, she finally decided, could have gone much worse. Even if she had not summoned a dragon or a griffin like she had originally wanted, she had surely summoned an impressive familiar and not something humiliating like she had originally feared. On the positive side of things, the barbarian warlord was a HUGE and imposing man. His strange clothes, his muscular physique and his towering height had immediately caught everyone's attention almost as fully Tabitha's own dragon had. In addition, there was also a strange air about him, a quality to his presence, which reeked of power even when he stood perfectly still. Louise didn't doubt for a second that he could wrestle into submission the one dragon that did get summoned.

...Well, maybe not quite that much. Dragons were extremely powerful and she doubted barbarians could easily fight them when mages had such respect and fear of the beasts, even if the rest of the barbarians were as massive and muscular as her familiar was. Maybe a bear? Yes, definitely a bear. Her familiar would certainly have no problem wrestling a bear, she decided. Come to think of it, those brutal looking scars on his massive arms probably came from bear wrestling or some other equally barbaric pursuit. That would be quite an amazing sight, wouldn't it? She stowed that thought away in a corner of her mind as a possibility for the upcoming Familiar's Fair.

Yes, her familiar was certainly quite impressive. The rest of the class had reacted with amazement and awe, and the pink haired girl felt herself very pleased with such a reaction. Maybe it wasn't quite "respect" or even "friendship" like she so desperately wanted, but if she could trade in the jeers and sneers she usually got for gawks and squawks of astonishment then she would gladly accept that trade. Still, despite the positive points that her familiar had accrued in his favor, her thoughts found themselves none the less drifting to the reason for her current state of complete and total burnout, and her exuberant mood turned sour.

Simply put, Rider, as her familiar professed to call himself, was without a doubt insane.

Very, very insane.

Louise had thought he couldn't possibly get any crazier after he had declared himself a "King of Conquerors" with delusions of world conquest in front of the entire second year class, but she had been wrong.

Extremely wrong.

She hadn't been at all prepared for their discussion in the dimly lit library and the mad dream that he called "The Holy Grail War".

The idea of a holy, wish granting relic that no one had heard about in nearly six thousand years of history? Absolutely preposterous. The church would know and, by extension, so would the faithful. That there existed a secret war between seven nobles to decide who would claim ownership of said relic? Highly unlikely as any noble involved in such a struggle would surely bring in their own armies and retainers to fight for them rather than risk their own life in secret. That he was, somehow, the reincarnated spirit of a long dead hero summoned forth to protect one of the chosen nobles in exchange for a chance at said wish? Laughable if not for the fact that the entire concept was so ridiculously absurd to begin with. That she was one of the nobles chosen for said secret war and that she would have to risk her life in the struggle for an imaginary relic? Louise had received no letter of invitation and even if she had, she was certain her parents would absolutely not agree with her participation. Not that she wanted to participate or anything!

Louise sighed despondently into her pillow and rolled in her bed from side to side, crumpling the sheets. For all of Rider's impressive physical presence, the moment he opened his mouth she had only been able to feel anger and frustration at his words and fantasies. Next the brute would be telling her that he was actually from another world or that he owned a flying chariot or something equally demented. She snorted derisively at the thought. He was physically imposing and had done a good job of amazing those gathered for the summoning ritual, but if she allowed him to speak any word of his ridiculous fantasies then she would never be able to live down the humiliation. Louise grumbled something that was muffled by her pillow and raised her eyes to the huge man hunched over her desk with a pile of books so tall that it nearly overshadowed his massive frame.

Her familiar was pouring over various tomes that they had picked up from the library during the course of his children's tale and he was currently going over all of them rapidly while muttering under his breath. Louise thought she could hear him saying "not normal" and she wondered if he was going to go on another spiel about his fantasy war. After all, the first spiel had been as a result of his own abnormal runes. But he didn't turn around to face her to give another rant and instead she saw him take another book in a large hand, quickly page through it, and close it with an angry sounding snort. He seemed increasingly frustrated.

The pink haired girl worried her lips with her teeth as she watched her familiar go through the increasingly disorderly pile of books. He couldn't be reading them. He was barely glancing at the pages before closing the tome and moving on. Maybe, she thought, he couldn't read? She knew most commoners couldn't but she honestly had no idea if barbarians from beyond Rub'al Khali would know to read at all. Did they even speak the same language? Louise shook her head at the ridiculous thought. He obviously knew the language and he had picked out the books himself so he had certainly expected to be able to read them. Perhaps whoever had taught him his letters had done a poor job of teaching him? Had he unwittingly learned the letters for another land? Louise watched with a growing morbid fascination as he took yet another book in his hands.

Once again, he skimmed through it quickly and slammed it shut. The giant's hands trembled and for a moment she thought he was going to tear the tome in half before the trembling stopped and he gently placed the book amongst the other ones. He sighed and glanced over to the pile of untouched books but did not reach out for a new one. Her familiar seemed greatly aggravated and deep in thought. Something ugly and petty reared its head within Louise and she felt a strange sense of satisfaction as she watched him struggle futilely. Confident and overbearing, he had humiliated her in front of the rest of her classmates by manhandling her and breaking her foot. It was strangely gratifying to see him out of his depth.

Still, not even this perverse enjoyment would last, as something nagged at her in the back of her mind as she watched her familiar struggle against the unyielding pages and letters. Louise was reminded of how a familiar reflects the magical aptitude of the summoning mage and she anxiously began to consider what summoning an insane familiar implied about her own abilities. Rider was impressive to look at but that was merely a thin veneer over the madness that lurked within him. A lunatic pretending at normalcy. Was he somehow a reflection of Louise's own considerable lineage covering for the frightful inability that was her shame to bear? Was his own failure to accomplish a simple task such as reading a dark mirror to Louise's own powerlessness to cast even the simplest spells?

Was she a... she shuddered at the thought not wanting to finish it lest she burst into tears. But discipline was in her blood and she found herself completing it against her will... Was she a commoner merely pretending at nobility?

No, never that!

Impossible!

These thoughts made her shiver in her bed-sheets and hug her pillow even tighter than before. No, that couldn't be it. Her familiar was impressive. She had certainly amazed the rest of the class with her summoning. Rider was merely the first step towards the greatness that was rightfully hers. But... what if...? Inwardly, she cursed her own fatalistic pessimism as her exhaustion and anxiety slowly lulled her into a restless sleep still unable to decide whether she was elated or disappointed with her summoning.

Rider, hearing the evened breathing that signaled the departure of his tiny master into the realm of Hypnos, stood up with an unreadable expression on his face. Moving away from the messy desk, he headed in the direction of the windows to look out towards the dark night sky.

Two moons hung in the heavens, large and blue and red. He had noticed them before while they were walking through the castle and dismissed them. The girl had been quite thoroughly ignorant about the Holy Grail War and, moreover, seemed honestly disturbed by the idea of the secret struggle. The idea that the man she had summoned was not of this world might have pushed her over the edge and so he had, on a whim, chosen to remain silent. Now, observing the two moons, he pondered their significance, their meaning, and what they changed for him.

They changed nothing.

Earth or not, Holy Grail War or not, Servant or not, abnormal summoning or not, they all changed absolutely nothing. His way of kingship drove him forward towards conquest. Where and when it did not matter. That he had received scant knowledge of his current location or time from his summoning and bizarrely lost the ability to read did not matter. This new and alien world where magic was once more common place would be his, just as the entire Earth had once been his. It would be an entertaining challenge. Rider's grin turned feral at the thought and he headed back to the desk where the inexplicably unreadable books waited for him, his steps as certain and as purposeful as ever. One way or another he was going to learn more about the culture and history of this new world. Information, as much as waiting and fighting, was also an integral part of war.

Unawares, Louise snuggled tighter against her pillow and slept and dreamed. Normally her dreams were of magical success and acceptance, of playing with her older sister or of childhood games and joys but tonight... tonight, her dreams were different.

Tonight her dreams were overwhelmed by the roar of waves lapping against a foreign shore.

She was at a beach, dawn barely breaking, the sun a small red disk barely peeking above the horizon. The water at the far edge of the horizon was sparkling like a million rubies, like a sea of fire stretching across the darkness towards her.

The sandy beach beneath her feet stretched endlessly towards both her left and right. There was no end in sight. The dark surface of the sea broke against the shore and foamed across her feet. She looked across the landscape before her eyes and could see no opposite shore. Was there land across that faraway horizon? Or, was there absolutely nothing beyond the sea?

The waves roared once more and besides their restless sounds there was only absolute silence. The crashing of the waves against the pristine beach obliterated all other sound.

Besides the sound of the waves there was nothing else.

Not even the whisper of stray breeze blew across this desolate shore.

The dark sky, barely beginning to be tinged with crimson, had no clouds. Not a single gust blew across this shore and there was no sign of human activities anywhere nearby.

The sky reflected the perfect stillness of the distant sea and there was nothing else.

How could anyone have ever found such a place of beauty? A place immaculate, untouched, unsullied and perfectly beautiful? Crimson and black and white, sky and sea and earth mixed together so perfectly, so exquisitely? Going forward continuously, going forward continuously further, further and further away, leaving every single thing in this world behind; only in that manner could one ever hope to reach this desolate, empty coast.

That is why surely, at the other side of the horizon, there was absolutely nothing.

She realized that this was the sea at the end of the world.

If she only closed her eyes, the foam at her feet, the roar of the waves would take her and reduce her to nothingness as well, leaving only memories behind. Because...

There was nothing else.

Nothing but the sky, and the sand, and the endless sea before her...

The entire scene brought tears to her eyes. Such... magnificence. The splendor before her made something swell and ignite within her heart. Who would be permitted to reach such a scene? Who could reach the extreme end of the world? Beyond Germania, beyond Rub'al Khali, and beyond even the lands uncharted? A place where no person had stepped in living memory? She wanted to bask in the majesty of this perfect scene forever.

The roaring serenade of the sea reached deep within her...

But dreams, as is their wont to do, are not meant to last.

The melody of the roaring sea became distant...

And she tumbled out of bed.

Crash.

"Owie!"

Louise, a cursing tangle of limbs and cape and bed-sheets, struggled to free herself, her irritation superceding her usual morning bleariness. The small pink haired noble was perfectly lucid as she finally managed to extricate herself from the seemingly inescapable bed-sheets and turned her gaze to her room. Judging by the amount of light pouring in it was already early morning. And, also, there was a strange man sitting at her desk.

Who the-!

Oh, wait. Spring-time Familiar Summoning Ritual. That was her familiar, Rider, the slightly (Alright, very) crazy barbarian from beyond Rub'al Khali. He was still hunched over her desk, his massive shoulders obscuring the contents of her desk, while pouring over the various tomes. This time, however, he was carefully going over each page rather than simply paging through the books though he still had an air of frustration about him. Had he stayed up all night attempting to read? Louise was not sure whether she found this admirable or annoying.

"You're noisy, Louise. Do you usually wake up with such a racket?"

How rude! Without even turning to look her way, he was already poking fun at her? He should have been helping her get untangled! Uncultured savage!

"Sh-shut up! I was just having a strange dream, that's all!" Dream? What had she been dreaming about? Louise's expression was quizzical as she tried to recall. It had been majestic, of that she was convinced, and dominated by a roaring sound that consumed everything around her. Had she been dreaming of dragons?

The huge man just snorted at her from his place at the desk and closed the book he had been slowly paging through. He turned around to face her sitting on the floor, still wrapped in her blanket, looking a frightful mess.

"Dreams, huh?" he said in a curious tone, "You sure are carefree, girl. Aren't you a student? Don't you have lessons to attend?"

Louise grumbled but nodded her head causing Rider to turn back to the books. He was right, she did have lessons to attend and better ways to spend her time than arguing with a man prone to delusions. Letting loose a loud yawn, the pink haired noble stretched and stood up from the messy tangle of her bed-sheets. A quick dip in the tub in the small alcove that functioned as her bathroom helped to remove the last few cobwebs from her mind, even if she was still addled by some degree of morning lethargy. Lazily, she sauntered over to her drawers and fished out a new and unwrinkled uniform to wear. Idly she considered asking her familiar to dress her and finally decided against it. Judging by his strange clothes, he was probably unfamiliar with the fashion of her garments and, with those huge hands of his, he would quite likely bowl her over trying to button up her blouse. Louise snorted in an unladylike fashion at that thought as she finished dressing herself.

She was about to call for her familiar to carry her so that she would not strain her foot when she found herself suddenly lifted off her feet once again. Apparently, while she was focused on dressing herself, her familiar had somehow managed to walk up to her in near perfect silence despite his enormous size. Rider grinned impudently at her and she glared defiantly at him, daring him to say something. He dared.

"What? No girlish shriek this time?"

Louise bristled and swatted at his head with her hand, causing Rider to chuckle as he strode towards the door.

"S-shut up!" she said as a slight blush colored her cheeks a rosy color. It's just that she didn't want to injure her foot and not that she was enjoying being so high up or anything of the sort! "S-s-since you're my familiar this is perfectly n-normal! You're just aiding me while I'm injured, like a loyal familiar should!"

"You really do have a loud voice for such a tiny girl," Rider noted, ignoring her tirade, "We're going to have to work on that stutter, however. It's cute but not very becoming."

Instantaneous reaction!

"WHAT? How dare y-"

This time her rant was interrupted by her familiar opening the door leading out of her room and into the main hallway of the dormitory tower. However, it was not the act itself that startled her enough to suddenly become quiet, but rather the small crowd that had gathered outside of her very door. A wide-eyed crowd composed primarily of first year students who had not been present at the summoning ritual the previous day, she noted.

"Uwah," a young looking student in a brown cape said, "it was true after all!"

Similar excited murmurs and exclamations of surprise made their way through the small gathering in front of her room and Louise had to fight hard not to preen from her vantage point at Rider's shoulder.

The deluge of questions was inevitable and soon, right outside her room, a scene similar to the one that had taken the previous day in the fields was taking place, frantic questions pointed by her familiar's booming laughter. Despite his failings, Louise thought haughtily as she looked down at the gathered crowd, he does have certain benefits.

However, the impromptu gathering did not last long at all as the increasingly rowdy students and the noise attracted a very bedraggled looking Professor Colbert. He had dark bags under his eyes and a weary expression to his face. Under his arms he carried several large tomes. Clicking his staff against the stone floor of the hallway, he quickly set about dispersing the throng of students.

"Everyone, I'm sure you'll all get your chance to ask Ms. Vallière's familiar as many questions as you wish throughout the school year," the bespectacled man said in a bland tone devoid of any energy, "now, however, you're all obstructing the hallway and running late for your breakfast."

Louise and Rider both shot identical disappointed looks at the professor as the gathered crowd sullenly dispersed. The balding man, however, ignored their stares in favor of focusing on the red runes on the back of the bronze skinned man's left hand. His eyes narrowed momentarily but then he sighed dejectedly and shook his head before walking off in the direction of the headmaster's office. Louise thought she heard him mumble something that sounded strangely like "not normal" but chalked it up to nothing more than her imagination.

It was then that she noticed that where the crowd had been just moments prior, only two people were left: her nemesis Kirche and the blue haired girl from Gallia, Tabitha. The shorter of the two had a book out and was reading from it while ignoring her surroundings. Kirche, for her part, had a scowl on her face and her arms were placed defiantly at her hips. Her salamander was off to the side, curled up and napping, the flame at the tip of its tail burning lazily.

"Is this some sort of trick, Vallière?" Kirche asked hotly looking up at Louise on her perch at the shoulder of the much larger man, "or perhaps a carefully arranged personal insult?"

"Huh?" Louise intoned, thoroughly flabbergasted. That was completely unexpected. Kirche had even dispensed with the morning pleasantries and had even addressed her by last name. The taller girl sounded quite angry and, amazingly enough, somewhat hurt too.

"The barbarian!" Kirche snapped peevishly causing her salamander to swish its tail nervously in its sleep, "how did you sneak him in without anyone noticing? And did you choose him as a personal insult to me?"

"What? First of all," the pink haired girl retorted angrily, "I snuck no one in to school. This is my familiar that I summoned with 'Summon Servant', the same as everybody else." Whatever worries she might have had on the subject were carefully concealed behind her usual bluster as she finished in a smug note while looking down at Kirche (That felt surprisingly good!) before continuing, "And, secondly, I have no idea what 'insult' you're talking about."

The bronze skinned young woman drew herself angrily at those words. Tabitha turned a page mechanically. Rider stared.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about, Louise," Kirche said in an unexpectedly even voice at odds with her increasingly furious expression, "How the rest of this prudish little country thinks that we're nothing more than savages and louts. I do not normally care for the words and actions of others but for you to purposefully sabotage your own summoning to arrange something so petty and cruel and what are you staring at?"

Louise opened her mouth to reply and closed it with a nearly audible click. What? She turned to face her familiar and found him staring downwards in rapt attention. Was he staring at Kirche's breasts? Louise's face flushed a bright, angry red color and she prepared to slap Rider before she noticed that he was not even paying attention to Kirche at all but was, instead, focused entirely on Tabitha. Tabitha turned a page unaware or uncaring of having suddenly become the center of attention.

"Huh," the huge man said, sounding perplexed as he stretched a heavily muscled arm and raised Tabitha by the neck of her cape almost as if he were lifting some puppy or kitten by the scruff of their neck. Tabitha, for her part, continued reading her book as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened at all. Louise and Kirche were stunned silent, their argument forgotten, as Rider scrutinized the blue haired girl for several seconds before announcing, "Girls sure are tiny in this land. Is it something in the water? Or maybe this one is actually some sort of magical doll?"

Something hurt and angry flashed in the young girl's blue eyes for a moment but was quickly replaced by her normal aloof gaze. Neither Louise nor Kirche noticed it.

"Not a doll," Tabitha corrected coolly as she nonchalantly turned a page of her book while suspended in midair, more offended by the offhand comment than by being manhandled by a complete stranger.

"Is that so? Are you sure?" Rider asked as he grinned broadly at the diminutive girl he was currently holding by her cape.

Tabitha, for only a moment, raised her gaze from her book to the widely grinning face of the strange man before once again returning to her book and turning to the next page.

"Certain," she replied in her usual soft voice.

Rider let loose a rumbling chuckle as he carefully placed the reading girl back on the ground. She did not say thanks but merely gave a simple glance of acknowledgement before turning her attention fully to her book once more. He ruffled her short hair with one huge hand that easily enveloped her entire head. Louise and Kirche merely blinked at the exchange, looking quite lost. Before they had a chance to voice their confusion or retake their argument, Rider was already purposefully moving away, taking Louise with him. This time Louise did shriek at the sudden displacement.

"Wait! Wait! Where are you going now, you brute?" she said sternly as they began to rapidly move away from the dormitories thanks to her familiar's long strides. She could hear Kirche's shouts fading fast behind them and soon they were out of earshot. "Take me back! I'm not done talking to Kirche!"

"Isn't it obvious? It's morning so we're going to the kitchens," Rider said reasonably while sniffing theatrically, as if he were a bloodhound, completely ignoring her request to turn back as he navigated through the stone hallways of the school towers, "Can't start a campaign on an empty stomach. The troops would rebel."

"What? No! Stop! STOP!" Louise yelled in his ear, "I don't particularly care if you want to sneak food from the kitchens but why am I getting dragged along too? We nobles eat in our own dining hall!"

"Oh? Isn't it obvious?" he replied cheerfully, "My Master must be someone willing to stand beside me, even against the gates of hell!"

"...Gates of hell? You just want to go to the kitchens, you idiot!'

"All the same!"

He was laughing again and Louise seethed as she was dragged along by her familiar. Why couldn't she have summoned an obedient familiar? Instead she had to get an insufferable one that was out of touch with reality. At least the rest of the school only knew about his impressive physique and hadn't had the chance to listen to his delusions in depth. If that were the case then she would've really been mortified. Her thoughts were interrupted as her familiar suddenly stopped, a quizzical expression on his face. She was amazed to find that he had actually been going in the right direction for the dining halls and the kitchens, but what could have caused him to stop was not readily apparent until she saw the small gathering in the hallway ahead.

Guiche and a gaggle of his friends were loitering outside the open doors of the Alivss Dining Hall, talking about girls. Louise rolled her eyes in exasperation at their posturing and pomposity. Suddenly, she felt Rider's huge hand around her waist, steadying her on his shoulder as he leaned down to pick up something from the stone floors. He was carrying a small purple vial in his previously free hand, she noted.

"Hey, boy, you dropped this," Rider said as he tapped Guiche on the shoulder with the small vial.

They continued talking as if no one had spoken up or tried to butt in on their conversation. Louise was about to tell Rider to forget about the vial and drop her at the Dining Hall when Rider suddenly let loose a booming shout.

"HEY, FRILLY SHIRT! YOU DROPPED THIS!"

Apparently, she noted, he could easily ignore others but didn't like being ignored. She could see the startled expressions on the faces of Guiche and his friends. The shout had taken them as unawares as it had her. The young Gramont, his eyes wide, turned to face them looking increasingly nervous.

"That is not mine," he said in a slightly uneasy tone, backing away from the purple vial held in front of him. One of the young men that had been crowding him, a rather more corpulent member of the gender, however, spoke up.

"Say, that perfume, isn't that Montmorency's?" the young man asked, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he examined the proffered vial, "The perfume that Montmorency mixes only for herself is a vivid purple, right?"

"Ah, you're right," another chimed in his face bright with new found understanding, "So to have something like that fall from your person means that you're going out with Montmorency now, doesn't it, Guiche?"

"No wait, you misunderstand," the accused young man said, panic clearly written on his face as he waved his arms protectively in front of himself, "lower your voices, Founder damn you! I was only holding it for her! Let me explain..."

Before he could get further in his supposed explanation he was interrupted by the sudden appearance of young girl in a brown cloak. Louise couldn't help the grin that bloomed on her face as she watched Guiche squirm uncomfortably. For his part, Rider was watching the developments with an expression of mild curiosity.

"K-katie!" Guiche yelped in a high pitched voice, "They're blowing things out of proportion! It's not like that at all! Katie, listen, the only person I hold in my heart is..."

He did not get a chance to say anymore as the cute young girl with the long chestnut colored hair slapped him as hard as she could, tears streaming down her face.

"Lord Guiche, you're a liar!"

Sobbing uncontrollably, she ran away from the dining hall. The spot she had so suddenly vacated was immediately occupied by another young girl, this one dressed in a dark purple cape and with her long blonde hair combed in elaborate ringlet curls. Rider recognized her as the mage that had healed Louise's foot the previous day. Her features were set in a severe frown and her delicate eyebrows were twitching.

"Montmorency, this is all a misunderstanding," Guiche pleaded. His face had turned from panic into full-blown dread and sweat was beginning to dot his brow, "I can explain everything, you see? All I did was accompany her..."

He was interrupted as Montmorency stomped violently on his foot and then slapped him with all her might. Louise flinched slightly at the resounding crack of the impact while Rider whistled appreciatively.

"You cheater!" Monmorency shouted. With a disdainful shake of her head, she turned around and stormed away, departing with the words, "Go die!"

Guiche moaned piteously as he tried to rub at his swollen cheek with one hand while gingerly standing on one foot. Louise very carefully did not giggle at the sorry sight that he painted. Everyone else, the crowd of students that had surrounded Guiche and the rest of the students inside the dining hall, were stunned silent. That is, until Rider spoke up again.

"That is pathetic, boy," he said in an amused tone while looking down at the golden haired young man, "Deceiving and misleading to try and bed two girls? If you wanted two lovers that badly you should have simply approached them both directly as a true man would instead of being a coward about it."

Chuckles broke out among the young men that surrounded him as Guiche's face flushed an angry scarlet, the noble quickly forgetting his aches and pains. He angrily whirled around to face the much taller man, his cape billowing dramatically behind him.

"First you ruin the reputations of two ladies by carelessly picking up some bottle of perfume and then you presume to insult me?" Guiche said in an even tone, "Truly, the familiar of Louise the Zero is nothing more than an ill-mannered brute. Someone should teach you the proper respect you should have for your betters."

The murmuring crowd went silent once more and Louise paled slightly at the threat implied in those words. Rider, however, only grinned down impudently at the younger man.

"Oh?" he asked nonchalantly, "Are you offering lessons now?"

Guiche shook his head and smiled a thin smile at the much taller man.

"Don't be stupid," the young noble said like a man addressing a dullard, "I couldn't possibly taint the hallowed halls of our school with the unclean blood of some filthy savage, could I? Have your master guide you to the Vestri Court. We shall teach you your proper place there, oaf."

Without another word, Guiche stalked off, his small group of followers tailing after him excitedly. Many of them were speaking enthusiastically about the arranged match, though one expressed apprehension.

"H-hey, Guiche," a chubby student in a purple cape stuttered as they moved away, "are you sure about this? That man is huge! He looks like he could tear you in half!"

Guiche merely snorted derisively and shook his head, waving his rose wand dramatically for emphasis.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall," he said with a sneer of supreme arrogance painted on his handsome features, "there is no way an uncultured savage could ever defeat a mage in a duel. "

Louise found herself agreeing with the retreating back of the young man. She was about to berate her familiar and order him to withdraw from the duel as no barbarian could ever hope to overcome a mage, no matter how tall or muscular they were, but when she turned to look at him the words died on her lips.

Rider was smiling, a sight which sent a cold shiver down Louise's spine as she was uncomfortably reminded only civilized humans ever smiled as a show of friendliness. Animals bared their teeth too, but only a challenge before it tore out the throat of some prey...

'Is a barbarian more human...or animal?'

She didn't know, and that terrified her.


The right spark can cause anything to burn.


Author's notes: Three weeks this time. Not too bad though I was hoping I could get this out faster. Truth is, I wrote too much and when I sent the chapter to my pre-readers they agreed the chapter felt bloated and it lost focus so I decided to trim it a bit and move some scenes to Chapter Three. Thanks to alfheimwanderer, DreamsRequiem, and Leopardbear for pre-reading. alfheimwanderer kindly did some slight editing duties as well. Thank you! With the scenes that were cut I'm already two thousand words into Chapter Three so that should be out sooner, provided that work decides to cooperate. No promises though.