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"You may begin the ceremony. Miss Valliere"
Louis was anxious and terrified, not knowing for sure if this spell will be become another disaster like before. She glanced around and saw the students watching in anticipation. Louis knew what it meant; those weren't looks of appreciation, but of ridicule and pity. She knew she was an everyday amusement for the students to distract themselves from their boring daily lives at the academy.
Even her best friends made fun of her as well. Kirche who being being naturally endowed with the biggest bosoms on campus, flaunted her assets to constantly tease Louise.
Well she had enough of this egotistical group! She was determined to prove them wrong!
She took a moment to gather her breath and started to chant.
"My name is Louise Francoise Le Blanc de La Vallière … "
...A signal. It has begun..
"My slave who lives somewhere in the universe!"
..it's coming stronger...
"Heed my call!"
...Yes just a moment more...
"Oh sacred, beautiful and strong familliar spirit!"
"I desire here and pledge from my heart!"
...wait... what are you doing Bob?
"Answer to my guidance!"
Oh SHI-
A blinding flash blasted from the center of the summing circle, followed by an explosive boom that knocked the half the students off their feet. Those that stood their ground were coughing and fanning away the billowing smoke that obscured their vision.
"Yet again cough, another tally to add.. Louise the Zero."
"s,SHUT UP Montromercy! I didn't fail! " retorted Louise.
Colbert, muttering a few words summoned a gust of wind so it could the dark smoke that permeated and obscured everyone's vision. As the smoke settled, Louise's face turned from being distressed out of failure to being shockingly disappointed at the results. What was left of the summoning circle was filled by a small crater, with a humanoid figure trying to orient himself from falling over. As Louis observed more carefully, the familiar was actually a hooded man in armor clutching his head in a dazed manner. The armor looked battered and worn as if was crudely made by daft hands. The armor looked simple enough in its construction but Louise couldn't help but feel an ominous presence coming from it. She shivered slightly. The clothes underneath were black and the short cloak on his back and loincloth that draped beneath his belt was so tattered it could only pass off as a washing rag. His face was obscured by a black shadow perpetrated under a stitched red hood. The shadow was so dark as if the very light was being sucked into it. All that she could see as face was a pair of glowing eyes that flickered and squinted underneath the hood. It looked as if this man had never seen daylight before. It was creepy as hell.
"HAHAHAHahha~ As expected of the Zero. Not only did she fail, but Louis summoned a commoner!" Yelled one student as the rest burst into laughter. Louise's face was in a furious shade of red trying to hold herself from running away from the jeering crowd.
Meanwhile, Colbert was trying his best to calm the student but to no avail."Please settle down class, the ritual is still under way!"
Kirche gave a sigh of disappointment while stroking her salamander. Tabitha was ,well, expressionless as always.
"SHUT UP! ALL of YOU!" Louise was barely keeping a straight composure while being enraged at her peer's accusations. But what if they were right? WHAT IF SHE DID FAIL?
" P,Professor! I want to try the summoning again! This thing can't be my familiar!"Cried Louise.
"Now now Louise. You know fully well that the summoning ritual can't be performed twice. And as far i can tell, the summoning has been performed successfully without complications." Chided Colbert.
"B,but professor.."
" No BUTS Miss Valliere, the Springtime Servant Summoning ritual is a sacred rite, Louise. You must complete it."
"...alright then. I'll finish it." Louise gave a defeated sigh before walking slowly towards the unsuspecting creature.
Meanwhile the Overlord, still in a daze, was trying to adjust to the brightness of his surroundings. It's been almost a century since he last felt the sunlight, and he was beginning to hate it when it hurt every time he opened his eyes. He was horrified when he couldn't find his Infernal sword. He must have dropped it during the deportation. Why did the punkins had chase Bob the farmer right at that moment? Sigh..so much for a grand entrance for evil, thought the Overlord. He wasn't even sure if the beacon performed successfully, and so far he heard the laughter of teenage children and and the screams of a very angry annoying girl. For all he knew, the slightest mistake in the beacon could have landed him in a completely different world, filled with pixies. AND HE HATED PIXIES.
But his introverted thoughts stopped when he felt a hard tap on his stomach. The Overlord looked down to see a pink haired girl who was two heads too short of his own height staring up a him, wearing a strange skirted outfit with a black cloak wrapped around her shoulders. The girl looked no more than 12, giving him the notion that despite her age, she had performed a complicated spell. A noteworthy effort. She looked angry and embarrassed as the Overlord titled slightly to look closer with his piercing gaze. Then he noticed the pentagon marking on her brooch, He compare and saw the symbol exact as the same markings the mages wore in Helkaginia.
The beacon was a success! He gave a relieved sigh when he felt the tug on his hood when the pink haired made effort to bring his face down to hers. Then the girl whispered something that the overlord didn't understand at all.
"You should count yourself lucky commoner. Normally you'd go your whole life without a noble doing this to you."
The Overlord went rigid as his victims were when he felt a warm touch to his lips. Something he had not felt for a long time. It was the touch of another flesh. The little cheeky brat had kissed him! He was about to backhand her and show her place without thinking the consequence, but before he knew it, a burning sensation shot forth from his left hand. It didn't feel like the searing heat of the infernal abyss, or the raging napalm burns he received at the claws of fire beetles. this was something a lot more painful. The Overlord grunted in pain as the heat from his hand climbed up him arm then through his whole body.
Then it all stopped.
The overlord felt cold sweat coming down his brow, breathing in heavy. When he checked his left hand for any significant change, all he saw were runes glowing through the back of his gloved hand. Then notice subtle changes coming over him, something binding him.. He observed the familiar rituals in his observing sphere checking for any deviations or unexpected unintentional reprisals but even this was not what he had anticipated .
He slowly began to understand the language of the Helkaginians as the indescribable gibberish of the teenagers slowly changed to comprehensible sentences. The students were in excited chatter on what they had just witnessed. Then he saw a balding man with a worried look on his face approaching him. The overlord tensed a bit as he was used to being notified by his minions of someone's apporach, let alone approving a meeting before entering a two mile border line. But the professor put his hands up in a universal gesture of non-aggression.
"It's all right. I just want to look at your hand."
"Well? what are you waiting for familiar? Show him your hand" Barked Louis.
The overlord glared balefully at Louise. It was absolutely ridiculous that this little girl thought she had sway over the Lord of the Infernal Abyss, but he had to comply. He couldn't blow his cover in the first few minutes of his arrival. He reluctantly put out his hand as Colbert studied the runes with an intense look.
"Hmmmm.. how interesting...it looks so familiar but where have i seen it before?"
" Well, now we can all know who' this commoner belongs to. A useless familiar for a useless mage!" Sang Montromercy. The students gave one more round of cheers and laughter before dispersing.
Louise had had enough of this event. She gave a hard slap on the Overlord's chest plate before walking back to her dormitory. The Overlord stood his ground in puzzlement, then Louise turned around and commanded in a haughty tone.
"Come familiar!"
The overlord was absolutely livid.
Despite her talent, this little girl has an ego bigger than three Khans.
Well, this mage needs a hard lesson in reality. Overlord Style.
He would have to break her, but he knew now was not the right time.
Instead he would need to learn more about these strange runes first before he could put his plans in action. Or if things come to worse, it could be a hindrance to the whole scheme of things.
Back in her quarters, Louis fell down on top of her bed in exhaustion, her face buried in the mounds of soft goose feathered pillows. Of all the things that happened today, she had finally been able to perform a spell right for the very first time. But she didn't know whether or not she should be happy at successfully summoning something or whether she should be disappointed that she had summoned a commoner. But was he really a commoner as the students said so?
She glanced from the cracks of the pillow and saw the Overlord entering the room, barely missing door from his head by an inch. The shoulders however, were too broad for the for the door so he had to sidestep before guessing in. The man wasn't fat, instead looked lean despite having huge muscles. Louise's attention trailed down his arm, catching heavy shaped muscles lining underneath the unarmored clothes. Then her eyes were fixed on his gauntlet hands, noticing faint and exotic markings that decorated all around it. And it was HUGE as the rest of him was. A yellow glowing orb was encrusted on the back of his right hand while the other was etched with runes he had received during the summoning claws fixed on the tips of each finger. She realized that such hands could wrap and cover her head easily, and perhaps with muscles like those he could crush her head like a rotten fruit. She had to admit, that familiar was the biggest human Louise had ever seen in her life.
So, a warrior perhaps? Thought Louise. But if he was a knight, then were was his sword? And lets not think it's possible for him to be mage since I don't see any wands on him. LITERALLY SPEAKING. Or maybe he wasn't even human, with those glowing eyes that gave her the willies whenever it looked at her. But she was too tired to think any further; might as well see how useful this creature might be.
"Familiar Fetch my fresh clothes and clean the dirty ones." Grumbled Louise as the words leaked from her pillow. But the Overlord gave no sign of response. Instead he was looking out the window, slowing grazing the view of Tristain Academy.
"Hey are you even listening!" The Overlord turned his head toward Louise.
Louise was now sitting upright in her bed, "Fetch my fresh clothes and clean the dirty ones."
The overlord was silent, standing in a lazed posture with arms crossed.
"Do you even KNOW what i am saying?" The overlord tilted his head sideways, suggesting a gesture of confusion.
Louise gave an annoyed sigh before trying again. This time she articulated each word with hand gestures. "GO . FETCH. ME. CLEAN. CLOTHES."
Then, a low rumbling chuckle seeped from under the hood.
Louise's face burned with rage. "So You do understand? Then go do your job you lowly dog."
Then the chuckle was suddenly replaced by a glare filled with malice. Before she knew anything, the Overlord was dangling Louise by the back of her clothes.
"How dare you treat a noble like that! You may look tough but a common warrior no matter how good they are CANNOT defeat a noble mage! PUT ME DOWN YOU BARBARIAN!" Louise thrashed about, giving a flurry of kicks and punches. The only response she revived were loud clangs from hitting his breastplate, and numbing pain from her knuckles. She saw her familiar was raising his free hand, curling up the fingers into a tight fist and cocking back . She realized in that moment that she was going to die.
In her desperation she blurted out"A familiar should obey his master's orders!"
She was scrunching her eyes tightly in preparation for the incoming fist of death, but it never came. Instead she landed on the bottom floor butt first.
She winced in pain while rubbing her bottom. I knew a familiar can't hit a master! But then she saw the Overlord kneeling down in front of her, putting his face barely an inch from hers. Then he whispered the very first word ever since she had met him.
"NEVER."
The Overlord turned his back to her and walked out of the room.
Louise was dumbstruck. Can this be real? Am i alive? I know I'm alive because of my contract as a master! But, how can a familiar defy her orders! Even more, the vermin had tried to hit me!
Louise quickly turned to anger once more, and pulled out her wand in the confidence that with magic she could place the familiar in it's place. She darted out of the room and looked down both sides of the corridor, but her creature was nowhere to be seen.
To go undercover was discomforting enough, having a preteen girl who thought she owned him was something he could not tolerate. But he knew well spending one more second in that room may have resulted him pounding the feeble witch to a meaty pulp. So why didn't he?Something nagged at the back of his brain, but for the moment he was grateful enough that he didn't go farther than he would have wanted to.
Instead, the Overlord took note of his surroundings once . He walking down the open archways at the bottom of the academy while occasionally students passed by and gave the towering warrior glancing looks before hurrying on to their destinations. If Gnarl was here right now, he would have wretched vomit from the all the pleasant scenery, then suggest him to lay waste to the academy with a healthy dose of meteoric magic fire. But unlike the blistering fires of the Infernal Abyss, the bright sunlight toasted his armor warmly while the breeze of summer wind tickled his face. It felt refreshing, making him remind of all the other things he had lost before his imprisonment in the Infernal Abyss.
This might make a good Dark Tower if it weren't for these pompous teenagers. But he noted daintily that all is possible in the future. Once he has enough power, putting the school out of it's misery will be easy as killing a baby seal on land.
His thoughts were interrupted once more when he felt a bump on his side. A loud shattering of porcelain filled the hallways. The overlord sprang back in surprise, cursing himself for another blunder.
But instead of some imminent attack, the overlord saw a main frantic trying to pick up the shattered remains of a tea porcelain set into a decorated silver tray. She wasn't even paying attention to whom she bumped into, which piqued the Overlord's amusement.
When she realized what she was doing, she quickly looked up to see a huge armored warrior looking down at her with a curious look, Her face paled to milky white before she started bowing furiously.
"I'm so sorry!" Cried the maid in hopeless despair.
The overlord was trying hard not to double over with laughter.
She was keeping head low eyes pinned to the ground. If it was a minion who doing it he would have thought no further, but as a human it was kind cute in his eyes in a weird way. When she heard no response, she slowly lifted her her and observed a little more carefully.
"Wait. Aren't you Miss Valliere's familiar?"
The Overlord tensed while narrowing his eyes. The maid shrunk back in fear of reprisal, but the overlord saw what he was doing and drooped his shoulders in an abject manner. The only answer received was a tired nod. The maid brightened up, but still wary of her strange customer.
"Might I have a pleasure of, um, knowing your name?" The maid asked cautiously.
The overlord was taken back by the request. Nobody save for Rose and Gnarl ever knew his real name. And even then, they addressed him with titles and monikers out of reverence and respect. This gave the Overlord some pause, but then he thought it might not be such a bad idea. Besides, he can always silence her later, if she gets any ideas.
The maid was worried if she had made a mistake but the Overlord relaxed and replied in a gentle tone.
"Ren."
"Ah, like short for Renois am I right?" quipped the maid.
The overlord gave her a puzzled look, which made the maid blush in embarrassment. An awkward silence filled he hallway which made the Overlord scratch his head.
"OH where are my manners, My name is Siesta of Tarbes, and I serve as a maid for the students of this academy." The maid gave a formal bow as she introduced herself.
Overlord was well pleased at the manners of this girl. He guessed that this maid was a real commoner of Helkeginia, serving under the crushing yoke of her tyrants. But unlike the peasant girls of Spree village who were coarse and self centred, Siesta was polite and kind, not to mention such a likeable personality complimented a well endowed figure and a small but beautiful face.
Such kindness can only be repaid a generous reward.
The overlord gave courteous knightly bow to Siesta which was replied with a giggle and her cheeks blushing even redder.
"Ehe, that's kind of you Sir Ren.."
She glanced again at the tray once more and remembered her previous duties.
" Oooh! my head's just not working properly today! I'm sorry I can't stay and chat Sir Ren, but really need to get a replacement for Sir Gramont quickly. I hope we can talk more later on though!"
Siesta gave one last bow before running off with the tray.
The Overlord was left alone once more, but felt a little more hopeful for himself. With an ally like her, things could run a little more smoother in the grand plan for world domination.
Without realizing it, Siesta had gained the respect of the Overlord of the Infernal abyss.
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WHEW! It's bit of work but I think I'm starting to enjoy writing.
Thanks to KelThuzad and Imperial90 for their helpful responses. I hope i am doing a little better, now that i'm getting the grasp of things.
For Kelthuzad, I'll fix the prologue page of mistakes once i have more time ,and once i can figure out the whole upload age...
For Imperial90, i do agree that having the Overlord appear in Arcanium Armor would be awesome, but it also defeats the purpose of initial conflict with characters. I do like to see characters go through a trial of running through a mile of shit rather getting the upper hand in the first place. You agree with me don't you?(pardon for language btw)
it's hard enough without minions to do anything. plus they provided all dialogue and story for the overlord character..
Honestly, i didn't expect anyone to review this, but I'm most grateful for your support.
OH MY GOD I CAN FEEL THE POWER FLOWING THROGUH ME~ I WILL EMBRACE THE WOOOOORRRRLDDDD~!
Now that i got that out of my system, I hope you are enjoying the humor as much as i do.