Chapter 3 - The Sorcerer

Hey guys, here is chapter 3 of Zero's Dogma. I really appreciate the feedback that I got from you guys. Thanks. Anyways, onto some explaining. First of all, the spells used. The Repel Thrust one is nothing special, I just renamed the Magick Billow (heavy attack for sorcerers).

To explain Dragon's Dogma spells in FoZ terms,

Ingle and High Ingle is fire-wind (wind for the explosion on impact).

Levin is wind-wind-wind (wind friction causes electricity, also if I recall correctly, that is how Wardes does lightning if not let me know). High/Grand Levin is wind-wind-wind-wind

Frigor is water-water-wind, High/Grand Frigor would be water-water-water-wind

Comestion is fire-fire-earth, High Comestion would be fire-fire-fire-earth

Any further spells will be explained when they are used in the story.

Secondly, the Arisen will be considered a Hexagonal Mage by FoZ standards. He is much more than that, but that is what his official ranking according to the ranking system in Halkeginia will be in this story. Yes, he will be able to cast Void magic, heck there is a spell for Sorcerers actually called Voidspell. He won't be able to cast FoZ specific Void spells like Explosion or Dispel though, but what is Explosion to Grand Bolide and what is Dispel to High Silentium right? Anywho, please comment, review, criticize and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon's Dogma or Familiar of Zero

Vestri Court

"Are you ready to face the Slayer of Grigori, the World Dragon?"

It was at this moment that Guiche de Gramont knew that he made a grave mistake. This man was not just any simple man. He was not a commoner. He was not just any noble as well. This man was an extremely powerful mage. The ambient magic in the air's sudden increase in density made Guiche almost collapse to the ground. This man before him had a regal, authoritative aura radiating from him. It made Guiche feel like prostating before him just to get his glare off him. But backed by the foolishness and rebelliousness of the young, Guiche fought back his fears and roared, "CHARGE MY VALKYRIE!"

The Bronze Valkyrie exploded forward in a commendable burst of speed. It crossed the distance between it and Mikhail in the blink of an eye. It raised back its right fist and was about to let the white haired mage taste some bronze. And then it was pushed back. Rather, it was Repelled.

Mikhail watched as the Bronze Valkyrie surged towards him. It displayed inhuman speed. Impressive, but the Pawn had seen much faster creatures. As the bronze structure raised its fist back and began to deliver a punch aimed at his face, Mikhail shifted his head to the right, the bronze fist flying past his head over his left shoulder. Then, Mikhail thrust his left hand into the bronze female's abdomen, sending it flying back towards its master. When it landed, Mikhail noticed that his Repel Thrust did some nasty damage to it. The Bronze Valkyrie was cut in two horizontally where Mikhail's hand had been.

Mentally, Mikhail slapped himself on his forehead. The statue was made of bronze so he thought it would have been harder to destroy. He was surprised at the speed in which the young mage could conjure a golem. 'I guess he had to sacrifice durability for speed when conjuring the golem' thought Mikhail. The white haired man then looked at Guiche's face and found himself slightly disappointed. The blonde boy was on the verge of having a breakdown. It seems that he overestimated the magic users of this land, thinking that the magic users must have been superior to the ones back in Gransys. The ambient magic was way thicker here after all. 'I probably shouldn't judge the mages here based on a young apprentice though,' corrected Mikhail.

Guiche was shocked. His beautiful Valkyrie had been utterly destroyed with a single attack. It wasn't even a magical attack. Contrary to his thoughts, the Repel Thrust was a magical attack. Upon placing their palm on an opponent, the user would then cast a small Repel spell into their hand. Depending on the skill of the user, the spell could range from the likeness of a breeze to being slammed with the tail of dragon.

Panicking, Guiche waved his rose wand once more and four more petals fell, conjuring four Bronze Valkyries upon impact with the ground. This time, however, the golems each had a weapon. From left to right, they held a longsword, a mace, a halberd, and a battleaxe. Once more Mikhail was impressed with the sheer speed of conjuring the golems. A smile slowly crept across his face.

"It is great to see an apprentice of the magical arts so proficient in their craft," said Mikhail. 'It could use some more work on the durability though' he thought.

"Silence! I need not your compliments," retorted the blonde mage. At that, his golems charged forward.

"Very well, for the display you have shown me, I shall face you as a fellow user of the magical arts," replied Mikhail. He then casted High Ingle and another Ingle to knock back the golems. Another disappointment as all but one of the golems were destroyed on impact with the fire spell. The remaining golem, the halberd user, was knocked back and its chest was caved in. Mikhail unleashed a Levin spell to finish it off. Three lightning bolts utterly destroyed the grounded golem.

Guiche was shocked speechless. The man before him had just casted four Line-class fire spells rapidly and then ended it off with a Triangle-class wind spell. Whoever he was, the white haired mage was definitely a better mage than Guiche. In an act of desperation, the blonde repeatedly waved his wand back and forth, summoning a total of ten golems. However, with each additional one, their intricate design deteriorated. The last golem only vaguely resembled the female form.

Before the golems could charge, Mikhail quickly casted Comestion and a towering wall of flame erupted from underneath the golems. All of them were sent airborne. Not done yet, the Pawn then casted Levin upon the golems, destroying most of them while sending others straight back to the ground. Finally, a huge pillar of ice once again erupted from the ground as Mikhail casted Frigor. Guiche fell to his knees with a blank face.

"I y-y-yield," surrendered Guiche de Gramont. The ambient magic returned to normal levels as Mikhail relaxed.

The silence in the courtyard had gone unnoticed as everyone watched the duel with wide eyes. The so-called duel had only lasted about five minutes, with most of that just being the usual introduction speech between combatants.

Inside, Louise Francoise had been leaping and bounding with joy. She was at first disappointed to have summoned a fallen noble as a familiar, but was now grateful that she had summoned a fallen noble. Due to his fallen status, no one would care if he suddenly vanished, no political whiplash would occur, and best of all he was her familiar. A powerful Square-class mage was her familiar. Her familiar had just proven to everyone present that she, too was a powerful mage; for a familiar was, in a way, the physical representation of a mage's potential. She would no longer be called the Zero.

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The first adult to arrive at the scene was Professor Colbert, arriving when Guiche had just conjured four of his Bronze Valkyries. What he saw had amazed him. Normally, a mage was only able to cast one element expertly while sometimes able to cast a Line-class spell of a different element at most. This was because each mage had an elemental affinity that restricted their spells to a single element, at most to two. But what Louise's familiar had just done was cast all four elements. More than that, he had casted with almost no wait time in between each spell. Whoever this man was, he was potentially a very dangerous threat to the academy or a great ally should he prove to be friendly.

Keeping an incantation in mind just in case, Colbert approached the crowd of students to break it up. "Hey! What are you doing?" shouted Colbert. The students broke out of the silence with a gasp and quickly ran away. The only ones remaining were an ecstatic Louise, a depressed Guiche, Kirche with a dreamy look in her face, and Tabitha who feigned reading. The Pawn dismissed his archistaff and approached Louise.

"Master, I have done as you commanded. Anything else of need?" asked Mikhail. Before Louise could reply, the other professors arrived. The green haired secretary had also arrived.

"Headmaster Osmond has requested that Louise Francoise and her familiar as well as Guiche de Gramont report to his office at once," declared Miss Longueville. Turning her head to face Colbert, "You too Professor Colbert." With that, she turned around and departed.

Immediately, Louise's happy mood plummeted. Being called to the Headmaster's office after what just happened was definitely not a good thing. "Follow me familiar," she mumbled.

"Yes master."

Headmaster's Office

"Come in," said Osmond in response to a knock on the door. Although nobody knew, Osmond had seen the entire duel through the use of a spell. Louise, the white haired mage, Guiche, Colbert, and the secretary entered the room. The green haired woman sat in her desk to finish her paperwork, most of it actually belonging to the old headmaster. The rest stood in a line in front of the headmaster's desk. "I see nobody was hurt in this incident."

"Thankfully so," agreed Colbert. The bald professor was still thinking back on how the duel had played out. The sheer diversity of spells casted seemed to be impossible to have come from one man, but it had actually happened. He needed to know how to do it. This is a breakthrough in the magical world just waiting to happen.

"Now then, first of all, you're not in trouble Louise. And neither are you Guiche," said Osmond. "But I do expect this to never occur again, is that clear? Somebody could have been injured."

"Yes Headmaster Osmond," replied both students uniformly.

"Good. Both of you are dismissed. If you don't mind, Louise, I need to talk to your familiar privately."

Louise looked at her familiar who began to follow her out. She then looked at the headmaster. Then she nodded her head and stepped outside and closed the door.

Mikhail turned around to look at the old sage, noting that he looked just like how one would imagine an old and wise wizard. "You wanted to speak with me?"

Hallway

After speaking with the old sage, Louise and her Pawn returned to her room. Classes had been delayed. The duo grabbed Louise's books and headed to class.

"What did the headmaster talk to you about?" asked Louise. She had tried to listen in on the conversation but someone had casted a spell to prevent people from eavesdropping.

"The headmaster asked who I was. I told him that I am your Pawn. Afterwards, he had me promise not to harm any of the students in this academy," answered Mikhail. 'Honestly, who does he think I am? If I wanted to harm anyone, I would have done so already' he thought. Louise and Mikhail entered her classroom and all chatter stopped. Mikhail looked around the room and noticed several creatures. After repeatedly hearing the students talk about familiars and summoning, it wasn't too hard to put two and two together. Some of the creatures were normal: cats, dogs, birds, a snake. What really made the white haired man uneasy was the floating eye.

'I really hope that that is not a Vile Eye and just a similar looking creature.'

Louise ignored the silence and walked to a seat and sat down. The Pawn followed her and then stood beside his master. About a minute later, the teacher walked in. The teacher was a middle aged woman with brown hair and purple clothing.

"Hello class, my name is Mrs Chevreuse and I will be teaching you about Earth-based magic. I believe that the magic of Earth is intimately involved in everyone's lives for without it, we would not be able to produce or process necessary metals; raising buildings from large boulders and harvesting crops would also be more difficult without it." After finishing her little spiel about the superiority of Earth magic, she noticed Mikhail. "And who are you mister? You do not look like a student here," she asked while looking at the Pawn.

Before Mikhail could reply, Louise said smugly, "This here is my familiar Mrs. Chevreuse."

"Odd, I never thought that another human could be familiar. Huh."The teacher then went on with her lesson, starting with a review of the basics of magic. "Who can tell me what the elements of magic are?"

A student stood up and replied "The four elements of magic consists of Fire, Water, Wind, Earth and the lost element of the Void. With these five, they make up the Holy Pentagon of Magic. By combing, or stacking, them we can make other elements like Ice and Lightning."

"Excellent John. You may be seated."

Mikhail was confused. 'That's it? What about Holy and Dark? Well I guess the Void could be considered Dark, but that leaves the Holy element.' The teacher went on with the lesson and demonstrated transmutation magic. She took out a couple pebbles and then changed them to a golden metal.

"Is that gold?" blurted out Kirche.

"No," said the blue haired girl next to her.

"No, this is brass. Only Square-class mages can transmute gold. I am only a," Mrs Chevreuse paused for dramatic effect "Triangle- class Earth mage. Now, would somebody like to try it out? You there, Louise was it? Why don't you come here and try it out."

"NO!" practically the entire class shouted at the same time.

"It'd be best if she didn't," said one student.

In return, Louise turned around and replied back, "Shut up! I can do it." She continued her progress towards the front of class. Many of the students got out of their chairs and under their desks in preparation. The short blue haired mage, Tabitha simply walked out of the classroom.

Mikhail looked around uneasily again. The response from her schoolmates was worrying but stood his ground nonetheless. What could be so bad about his master casting a spell. Louise had arrived at the front desk by the time everyone had bunkered down. She raised her wand, pointing it at the pebbles on the front desk and started to incant something. The pebbles started to glow brightly, the spell working its magic, when suddenly Mikhail noticed the magic destabilizing. With a bright magic sigil over his head, he changed from Vocation: Sorcerer to Vocation: Mystic Knight. He then sprinted towards Louise and then stood in front of her. He took the magick shield off his back and used it to block the ensuing explosion. With a loud boom, the magic-infused pebbles exploded.

When all was clear, there was once again a magic sigil above Mikhail's head as he changed back to Vocation: Sorcerer. Louise opened her eyes and witnessed a charred classroom. Mrs Chevreuse was on the floor past out. Her classmates slowly emerged from hiding to inspect the damage. When they saw the room, they erupted in laughter.

"I guess she is still the Zero after all!" laughed a fat blonde student.

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After Mrs Chevreuse had been taken to the infirmary, Louise was required to clean up the classroom as punishment without using magic. Of course she couldn't use magic like that anyways. Mikhail had stayed behind to help out his master. Help out as in doing all of the cleaning while Louise just sat in a chair with a sad expression on her face. Afterwards, both of them returned to Louise's room.

Louise's Room

Louise couldn't understand it. How could her familiar be able to cast so many different elemental spells so easily while she still couldn't even cast a simple spell. With a frustrated shriek, she threw her pillow across her room and plopped down on her bed. Ever the diligent Pawn, Mikhail picked up the pillow and returned it to his master's bed. That was when Louise decided to speak up.

"How can you cast magic so easily?"

"What do you mean master?"

"Exactly what I just said, how can you cast spells so easily?"

"... I've had a lot of practice."

Heaving a great sigh, Louise decided to continue where they had left off last night. "What do you mean by 'changing classes.' "

"Changing classes, or officially Vocations is a type of magic in which I can invoke to assume a different type of combatant. As of right now, I am permanently in Vocation: Sorcerer, probably due to your wish for a magical Pawn. While I can still switch classes, I will automatically turn back to being a Sorcerer after a set period of time," explained the Pawn.

"Okaayy? So what... 'vocations' can you change into and what do they do?" asked Louise.

"There are the three basic ones Vocation: Fighter, Vocation: Strider and Vocation: Mage. The Fighter excels in swordsmanship and defense, using a sword and shield. The Strider excels in agility, their quick attacks with dual daggers quickly put down enemies while their short bow makes short work of enemies from afar. The Mage excels at striking down foes using the magical forces around us; they can attack with elemental magic, enchant allies' weapons, heal allies, and cure most debilitations using a magic staff.

Next are the advanced vocations, improvements upon the basic ones: Vocation: Warrior, Vocation: Ranger and Vocation: Sorcerer. The Warrior forgoes defense and focuses solely on earth-shattering strength, using either a two-handed sword or warhammer. The Ranger replaces the short bow with a large longbow; while still retaining most dagger skills of the Strider, the Ranger focuses more on long-range offensive, killing foes often with only one well-placed arrow. The Sorcerer, in exchange for being unable to heal, are granted the best in offensive magic, a single spell can change the outcome of a battle; they have to use an archistaff for a regular magic staff is unable to withstand the massive amount of magic a Sorcerer wields.

Finally, there are three other vocations, the hybrid vocations. These are a combination of two basic vocations: Vocation: Mystic Knight, Vocation: Magick Archer and Vocation: Assassin. The Mystic Knight is a combination of the Fighter and Mage vocations. Mystic Knights are, in effect a magic knight, using either a sword, a mace, or a staff along with a magick shield. The magick shield of a Mystic Knight can also be used offensively when enchanted with an element. They excel in defense and counterattacking. The Magick Archer is a combination of the Strider and Mage vocations. Magick Archers use either a staff or dual daggers along with a magick bow. They attack with swift magical strikes and magical homing arrows. They excel at dispatching many enemies swiftly. The Assassin is a combination of the Fighter and Strider vocations. Assassins can use either a sword and shield, dual daggers and short bow, or a combination of them. Assassins are masters at stealth, poisons, espionage, scouting, and assassinations." lectured Mikhail. 'Heh, there should also be Vocation: Professor as well after what I just went through.'

Mikhail then noticed that sometime during his lecture, Louise had started to take notes as if he really was a professor teaching a student. Louise looked up with wonder in her eyes. The young girl was really surprised at what her familiar could do. With this new information, the pink haired girl decided to call it a day and head to bed.

"Since I am a Sorcerer, I am knowledgeable in the magical arts. If you would like me to, we could work on helping you cast master," offered Mikhail. Louise suddenly felt wide awake again. She rushed over to her familiar and demanded an explanation.

"You could help me in casting spells?!" said Louise with hope easily detectable on her face.

"Of course, when observing your demonstration of magic earlier, I noticed that the only problem in your spellcraft was the magic destabilizing towards the end master. By solving that, it is highly probable that you can then successfully cast from then on," replied the white haired man. Louise then loudly yawned and Mikhail decided that working on her spellcraft could wait for tomorrow. Although stubborn, Louise finally gave in to the embrace of a deep slumber.

"Good night master."

Library

Once more, Professor Colbert is spending the night away in the library in pursuit of knowledge. Headmaster Osmond had him search up anything about Louise's mysterious familiar. A powerful mage by the title of the Seneschal was bound to have turned up somewhere before after all.

Headmaster's Office - 6 Hours Ago

"Very well, you may go," said Headmaster Osmond. Mikhail nodded his head and then left. His master had been waiting for him outside the office. When they were sure that he had left, Osmond signaled for Colbert to listen.

"I want you to dig up any information that you can about that man and then report back to me. He is not just any mage, that's for sure. We can't be sure if he will be a threat later on if he finds out that he just might be the Gandalfr. I recall him calling himself Mikhail Ecto Serolius and the runic name of the Seneschal," whispered the headmaster.

"Yes headmaster. Also have you noticed that he is the origin of that huge magical spike earlier today? And the things he can do with magic! His magical prowess is simply astounding! To have achieved so much while only being about half my age is amazing," chirped Professor Colbert.

"Yes, I have noticed. Feel free to utilize the Fenrir section of the library. That is where all the records of any Triangle-class and above mage in the country resides," said the old sage.

Library - Present Time

Colbert was getting worried. He couldn't find any records of a Square-class mage by the name of Mikhail Ecto Serolius. He also couldn't find any mage with the runic name of the Seneschal. What he did find, however, was what the Seneschal meant. In the old Brimiric language, seneschal was the title given to a royal officer in charge of justice and given control over southern provinces in a kingdom. In other words, if the Seneschal wasn't a runic name but a title, then that meant that Louise's familiar was in effect a ruler second only to the king.

Professor Colbert once more ran towards the headmaster's office at a late hour fully intending to inform Osmond of this important discovery.