- Resonance -


A week and few more explosions later Louise's situation began to improve, the students had developed a healthy if somewhat wary respect for Louise, as her backfiring spells turned from an object of ridicule to a weapon of reprisal. When word got back to Osmond he was dismayed, foreseeing further explosions in the future now that she was more than willing to brandish them against those who ridiculed her, not to mention the higher damage costs.

In class Nemo showed some degree of interest as the teacher glossed over the facts regarding the combining of elements and how they determined a mages rank. Dot = one element, line = two elements, triangle = three, Square = four and so on and so forth. On a positive note Kirche's teasing manner had been replaced by a more thoughtful one, no doubt due to Louise's change in tact, so the number of verbal barbs sent in Lousie's direction were surprising few.


On the day of the Void, Louise was in such high spirits, she treated herself to day on the town. In Tristain's capital Louise moving from stall to stall checking out all the latest fashions and jewellery, buying herself a few treats along the way. However it didn't last, while walking down Bourdonné Street Nemo paused suddenly examining the runes which had begun to pulse on the back of her left hand.

"What's this? A resonance?" Nemo wondered. She turned to Louise, "We should identify the source." Louise was somewhat annoyed at having her outing interrupted for a detour, but deep down she too was curious as to what would cause Nemo runes to react. With Nemo leading the way they traveled down an alley and entered a store with a bronze sword-shaped sign.

Seeing Louise the store owner greeted her. "My lady! My noble lady! All of my wares here are real and reasonably priced! There's nothing criminal here!" Nemo ignored him and continued to follow the resonance to its source with Louise right behind her, leading her to stack of barrels filled with rusted swords.

Guided by the resonance once more Nemo singled out one of the blade, "that one."Grabbing one of the hilts Louise yanked it out of the pile.

"So you two know what a good blade is when you see one, huh?" The sword noted.

Both Louise and Nemo were surprised, firstly because the source of the resonance was a sword of all things, which could apparently talk and secondly it could somehow detect Nemo's presence. "Two? Hey Derf! Are you going cross-eyed or something there's only one customer." The store owner demanded.

"You're the one who needs to get his eyes checked." The sword - Derf - retorted.

"How dare you, you rusted piece of scrape! I ought to melt you down."

"Bring it you buck-toothed, red nosed racketeer!"

"Louise, we should purchase this sword." Nemo informed her, "The fact that he can see me and his ties to these runes is worthwhile investigating."

Derf then noticed the runes on Nemo left hand. "Hmmm. So you're my partner this time."

"It recognizes the runes?" Nemo remarked, "All the more reason to obtain it."

Louise wasn't enthusiastic about buying it, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't curious. "This sword, how much?" She asked the merchant.

"Huh? That sword...? 100 Ecus."

"50 Ecus," Nemo advised. "Make it sound like you'd be doing him favor."

"50 Ecus." Louise didn't take no for an answer, "I'm only taking it because it would make a good research subject."


Back at the Academy, Tabitha was reading one of her favorite books; the best thing about the day of the Void was that she could read all day without any distractions. Today however she had company in the form of her close friend Kirche, the buxom redhead was one of the few people she counted as a friend.

A known philander, Kirche normally spent her free days pursuing her latest interest, but lately her focus had shifted to the sudden change in her rival Vallière. Ever since that outburst three days ago Louise had become a force to be reckoned with, the explosions caused by failing spells had been funny at first, but now that she was brandishing them as a weapon, she didn't like the prospect of the next border skirmish between their two families should Louise succeed at turning her explosions into something resembling a viable combat spell.

There was also the matter of the entity that Louise had been talking to prior the incident, considering the possibility of it been Vallière's familiar she had enlisted Tabitha's help in identifying it, but alas Tabitha couldn't detect any magical or physical presence. Attempts to listen in on Vallière's conversation with the entity had failed for the most part as they could only pickup one side of the conversation, Kirche needed to understand what was going on, the next confrontation between the Vallières and the Zerbsts depended on it. Since subtlety wasn't working, that left the direct approach.


"Remind me again why bought this piece of scrape." Louise grumbled. They had returned to the academy some ago and night had fallen.

"Because it may help us in the future."

"How can it help us?"

"With these runes." Showing the runes on the back of her hand Nemo continued, "I've noticed that most, if not, all familiars have only one rune engraved on them and yet for some reason I have a sequence of runes. Don't you think it's strange?"

"Now that you mention it."

"Also the sword recognizes and identifies any familiar bearing these runes as his wielder and considering its age, this leads to conclusion that this combination of runes has appeared repeatedly before in the past. If we can discover the sword's connection and its history with these runes, runes that you engraved on me with your magic-"

"-We might be able to figure out why my spells aren't working!"

"Precisely."

It was at that moment that Kirche barged into her room followed by Tabitha. "Hello Vallière!"

Louise's good mood evaporated into thin air. "What do you want, Zerbst?"

"Now, now, Vallière. We just wanted to see how your little familiar was doing." Kirche had assumed that the entity Louise was talking to was present in her room. Unseen and unheard, Nemo made a rude noise but otherwise said nothing.

"It's none of your concern, Zerbst." Louise's replied curtly, after that the conversation between the two became heated. All the while Tabitha made herself at home seating herself on Louise's bed, continuing to read her book as she covertly monitored both the room and the bickering pair, there was no sign of any other inhabitants.

When the argument escalated to the point where they brandished their wands, she confiscated them a wave of her staff. "Indoors." She admonished them.

"Tabitha is right, we'll take this outside." With that Kirche turned on her heel and left, followed by Louise, Tabitha was the last one out. Just as she was about to follow she thought she sensed a presence behind her, but when she turned to look there was nothing, she closed the door and followed after the others.

"That one has sharp instincts." Derf commented.

"Indeed." Nemo mused, "She sensed my presence, despite been unable to perceive me." With a grin on her face, Nemo phased through the door as if she were an illusion.


Louise grimaced as she considered her options, standing opposite to her a short distance away Kirche waited, the pair had opted to settle their matter in Vestri Court, in the traditional manner - a duel - while Tabitha stood off to the side to observe. While dueling was indeed forbidden on school grounds, that wasn't what concerned Louise, what concerned her was that her magic, while destructive wasn't very accurate, Louise was worried that she'd miss, something that Kirche didn't have to worry about.

"Don't worry about fighting with magic this time, I'll take care of this." Nemo informed. Louise was about to protest but Nemo cut her off. "I think it's time that you understood what we're capable of."

"What's the matter Vallière? Lose your nerve?" Kirche mocked.

"That bimbo sure has a big mouth, time to shut it." Suddenly purple lightning arched around them as Nemo merged her consciousness with Louise's. Kirche's eyes widened when a large pair of arms erupted from the ground, either side of Louise gaining purchase on the ground in around it, it pulled its body up from the ground. To Kirche's surprise, Louise seemingly merged with golem's body as the rest of it emerged from the ground, standing up to its full height it was somewhat over five meters tall.

'Not good! Golems are resistant to fire spells, especially large ones.' Realizing that she was in trouble Kirche raised her wand and chanted. Inside the Mark Nemo, Louise's/Nemo's left eye glowed as her Geass flashed into existence for the first time. Looking through the knightmare's monitor, Louise's Geass analyzed Kirche's spell, runes appeared in her vision identifying the spell's makeup, alignment and rank.

As Kirche launched a fireball at her, Nemo smirked not even bothering to dodge, after all, it was so... "Weak."

The spell splashed against the Mark Nemo's face causing no damage, not even marring its surface. Seeing this Kirche added more willpower into her spell and launched another fireball which the Mark Nemo nimbly evaded it, not because the spell could harm it but merely to show that it could. Kirche gritted her teeth, the golem was more agile than she expected, and she'd have to up the ante in order to win.

Once again Louise's/Nemo's Geass identified the spell, "a line class fire spell? You must be feeling the pressure to resort to that, Zerbst." The Mark Nemo charged just as Kirche launched her spell, ducking under the spell the fireball flew overhead before turning in pursuit. Louise despite been poor at casting spell was well verse in magical theory allowing her not only to easily identify the spell, but also to define the spell's properties. First of all unlike Kirche's previous spell, the line class equivalent had the ability to change direction in flight, allowing it to track and home in its target.

Caught in a tail chase the spell slowly closed the distance, but before it could hit the Mark Nemo leaped, the spell splashed harmlessly against the ground. Kirche could only gape in surprise as golems weren't known for their high jumping ability; she staggered under the impact when it nearly landed on top of her. "Blonde knife..." Nemo uttered as it flicked it head forward; the spear tipped tendrils embedded into the ground surrounding her, trapping Kirche among them like a cage.

Near the main building Guiche along with his familiar was watching the battle unfold, earlier he'd intended paying a visit to the girl's dormitory in an attempt to regain favor with Montmorency when he overheard the squabble between Vallière and Zerbst, curious he'd followed them to Vestri Court and was surprised when Louise summoned the large golem that had appeared a few days ago. It was when Kirche became ensnared by the golem that his familiar - a giant mole he'd named Verdandi - pawed at his trousers.

"Verdandi? What is it?" Using the familiar link the mole conveyed its warning to Guiche. With a gasp he screamed a warning. "Kirche! Look out! Beneath you!"

But his warning came too late, tendrils exploded from the ground, their bladed tips slashing her from all sides. The golem then snapped its head back, pulling the earth out from under Kirche's feet, sending the bloodied red head tumbling through the air.

Concerned for her friend Tabitha intervened raining circles down on the golem to no effect, unlike Kirche, Tabitha relied on precision rather than raw power, however the golem's sturdy exterior was as problematic for her as it was for Kirche. Tabitha fired another barrage which the golem swatted aside as it turned to face her.

"A triangle spell, combining wind and water? I'm impressed." Nemo commented having analyzed the spell with her Geass. "Too bad they're so weak!"

Nemo rushed Tabitha intent on crushing her under the Mark Nemo's fist, only for Tabitha to evade with surprising speed, such that Nemo had trouble keeping up with her as Tabitha used hit and run tactics to attack her from different directions.


Guiche meanwhile had rushed to the injured Kirche's side, "Kirche! Are you all right?"

"Goodness, she really did a number on me. Didn't expect it to move... so fast." Kirche murmured, it hurt to speak. "What's happening?"

"Tabitha's distracting the golem," he explained, "We need to move you to the infirmary."

"I'd very much like to go, but I'm afraid I am unable to walk at the moment and I doubt that you can carry me." She pointed out. Indeed Guiche was far from the fittest among the boys attending the Academy and he dare not employ his golems or levitation considering the severity of Kirche's wounds, as a dot mage he didn't have the control necessary to move her safely and though he wasn't much of a healer he set to work stabilizing her with a basic recovery spell.


Back at the battle, Tabitha was starting to tire from the constant spell casting, her opponent seemingly having no weak-points for her to strike. There were only a handful of ways to defeat a golem: a) use your own golem b) reduce it to nothing with alchemy c) high ranking spells.

Unfortunately being a wind mage, golems and alchemy were out of the question and willpower depletion ruled out Tabitha's strongest spells, even so she began to chant. Evading the golem's lightning fast tendrils, Tabitha waved her staff and counterattacked with the strongest spell she could muster. "Air Hammer."

Cutting the chant short due to low willpower the triangle spell's output was only two thirds of its full strength, still it was enough to send the golem flying, colliding with the inside of the Academy's outer defensive wall. The golem lay there unmoving seemingly knocked out; having bought herself some time she retreated back to Kirche's location only to find that she was still unable to be moved.

"I've gotten us into serious trouble this time, haven't I Tabitha." Kirche asked rhetorically as she smiled weakly up at her friend. She silently agreed, Tabitha feared for her friends safety believing that Vallière's familiar was beyond Louise's control or the history between the Zerbsts and the Vallières had caused the situation to escalate beyond a mere duel, henceforth her intervention.

"Umm, guys. It's moving." Guiche warned.

Tabitha turned to see that the golem was slowly righting itself; unfortunately Kirche's condition made a rapid retreat impossible. They would have to make one last stand and for that she'd have to enlist Guiche's help.


"Owe... my head. She's going to pay for that." Nemo muttered angrily as she got the Mark Nemo back on its feet, her Geass caught a glimpse of a spell. "Now what's she up too?"

However it wasn't just Tabitha, that skirt-chaser Guiche was also casting. "When did he get here?" Nemo wondered. Suddenly she was blinded by a storm of rose petals.

"What are they? What is this?" She demanded, as the Mark Nemo became covered head to toe in rose petals, they suddenly transformed into oil. Through her blurred optics she made out another spell being formed, but poor vision made it hard to identify it. Suddenly there was a flash of light and then the whole screen lit up blinding her once again.

"Curse them! They've set me on fire!" Nemo swore, unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it, but wait until burned out. She couldn't de-materialize the Mark Nemo otherwise Louise would be covered in the flaming oil and killed. All she could do was wait until the flames burnt themselves out.


The trio watched as the burning golem flailed about for a bit before it ceased moving altogether, certain that it would no longer pursue them Tabitha turned to Guiche, "Help me." Together they lifted Kirche and the three headed towards the main building.

- Chapter 3 end -