Well, this has to be a new record for me. Less than a day and a half since the last chapter was posted, and already the next one is out? I'm on fire!

Mathilda would have genuinely considered surrendering right about now, if she hadn't just sealed her own fate.

"You are going to die."

Tabitha's eyes had emptied of all emotion, save for the pair of tear tracks that streaked down her cheeks. Mathilda took an involuntary step backwards towards the flame, wincing slightly when the heat began burning into her back. A murderous girl backed by an equally murderous dragon, a pair of fire magic users, and a wall of flames… Mathilda was out of moves, and she was totally boxed in. Her only option now was to go down fighting, and hope her death would be quick.

With a deep breath to try and warm the blood that had been frozen in fear, Mathilda waved her wand and called on her golem once more, though she was only able to produce its arms and nothing else. One of those arms was relegated to making sweeping motions at Kirche and Colbert, meant to occupy them more than anything else. As long as she could keep herself out of their line of fire, Mathilda wouldn't need to worry about them.

It was Tabitha and Sylphiid that she needed to keep her main focus on. The moment an arm had been sent in their direction, it had been frozen over and ripped from the ground. Thankfully, Mathilda was able to regenerate the lost formation relatively quickly, fast enough that her enemies couldn't advance on her position.

It was a stalemate, better than the thief could have hoped for, but she knew it wouldn't last forever. Sooner or later, Louise would rejoin the fight, and then it would probably be all over for her. Given that she was still sobbing into the side of the rock Mathilda had used to bury her familiar, it was looking to be later rather than sooner, though that wasn't any real consolation.

Cursing the hole she'd dug herself into, Mathilda battled on, with images of a similar cottage in a similar clearing somewhere in the back of her mind.

Sorry, Tiffa. Looks like I won't be making it home after all…

On the other side of the clearing, Tabitha didn't quite understand what she was feeling. She knew it wasn't good, but she didn't particularly care. All she cared about at that moment was the death of the woman in front of her. Frustratingly, Fouquet wasn't making it easy. Her mastery over the earth element was great enough to counter her own ice magic, the might of her dragon, and two skilled fire mages.

Of course, she only had herself to blame for the stalemate. Sylphiid was a dragon, and could easily strike the enemy from above, but that would be too easy. Tabitha knew it was cruel and selfish, but she wanted to strike the killing blow herself, and so she reigned in Sylphiid's instinct to a defensive approach.

Dimly aware that the fight was dragging on too long, Tabitha's mind raced to try and find a solution to the stalemate that would still give her the final blow. A quick glance to the side told her that Louise was still in no condition to fight, and that the others had their hands full with a separate magic construction. With a desperate growl, Tabitha turned her attention back to the newly reformed construction in front of her, casting a wind spell around herself in preparation for the next move.

Once again, the earthen arm descended upon them. Just as before, Tabitha blasted it with a cone of frost, though it wasn't immediately ripped from the ground.

"Sylphiid," Tabitha hissed, magically commanding her dragon to stoop low. Climbing aboard, she set her familiar forward to clamp her jaw onto the frozen arm as she had before. Instead of destroying it, Tabitha used the momentum to leap from Sylphiid's head. Using the wind spell she'd prepared a moment before, Tabitha propelled herself down the frozen arm and directly into Fouquet's personal space, striking the thief in the gut directly with her staff.

Fouquet let out a retching sound, but held her composure long enough to dodge away from a series of staff strikes. It didn't help for very long, as Tabitha swept her staff under the thief's feet, robbing her of balance. As she fell to the ground with a thud, Tabitha primed a sharp icicle at the lower end of her staff, and thrust downward to spear Fouquet to the ground. The thief was able to roll out of the way of the attack in a panic, sweeping one leg over to take Tabitha's balance, sending her to the ground as well. The two rolled away from one another, both springing up from the ground, with Fouquet casting a spell to quickly transmute a staff of her own.

With Fouquet's focus squarely on Tabitha, her remaining earth construct ceased movement. Kirche and Colbert remained wary of it for a moment before realizing what had happened, charging past it to assist Tabitha in her direct fight against the thief, only to stop when the blue haired girl held out her arm.

From where they were standing, with the flames as a backdrop, Fouquet's and Tabitha's forms were clouded as silhouettes. Neither of their expressions could be made out through the hazy smoke, but there was no mistaking the hate in the normally silent girl's voice.

"Stay back," Tabitha hissed, drawing looks of surprise from her enemy and and allies. "She dies, by my hand. No one else's."

Kirche was stunned, but after what had happened already, she truly couldn't blame her best friend for feeling the way she did. Without a word, she turned and went to Louise's side, trying unsuccessfully to comfort the hysterical girl. Colbert resigned himself to the outcome, leaning against his staff as he watched his student and former coworker face off, resolving himself to step in before his student could actually kill the thief. He knew how she was feeling, that she needed to let the emotion out, but he had no intention of letting anyone else die that day.

It was a sense of overwhelming weight and the sound of sobbing that brought his awareness back from the edges of oblivion. When he opened his eyes, he could see nothing. When he strained his ears, he could barely hear the sobbing beyond his ken, as though it were muffled. He tried to move, but found that he couldn't, as though the overwhelming weight held him in place. Despite that, his fingers could spread apart in place, though that bought him a burning sensation in his hands. Focusing his mind, he found that same burning sensation ached throughout his entire body, though somewhat more dull.

"Please… you can't be…!"

That was Louise's voice. She was calling for him, but why?

He wracked his brain, trying to remember what had happened. There was… an explosion. One of Louise's? No, she'd been in the cabin…

He screwed his eyes shut as he forced his way through the memory. He remembered Colbert examining the LAW. Longueville was there too, but her interest was more focused than her colleague. Then he'd looked away, to keep watch for the thief Fouquet.

Fouquet…

After that was hazy. There was smoke, his skin felt like it was burning, and then there was stone coming down on him.

His eyes snapped open as realization dawned on him. Longueville was Fouquet, had used the LAW on him, then crushed him with her golem. If she'd taken him down that easily, what had she done to Louise? To Tabitha?

Get up…

A surge of emotion began bursting inside him, amplified by the sound of sobbing in the distance.

Get up!

He strained against the stone above him, groaning as he heaved, a groan that quickly amplified into a yell of effort and frustration. All at once, the sobbing was silenced, and the rock began to move above him. Light poured in from all sides, granting him vision at last, though he barely registered it through the adrenaline that pushed him higher still. His limbs began to right themselves from their deformed states, dead cells reviving as the burnt flakes fell away to reveal a healed sheet of skin.

"Get… the fuck… off of me!" Darrian roared, finally surging to his feet, heaving the boulder to his side with a massive thud. With the weight lifted, he took a weary step forward, then one more before falling to one knee. The last of his skin finally finished healing, taking the last of his pain with it, though a dull mental throb remained. With a groan, he pushed himself to his feet and took a look around.

"Darrian…?" squeaked a voice behind him, and he turned to see Louise staring at him with watery eyes and a hopeful expression. Still breathing heavily, he managed to muster the will to flash her a reassuring smile, before turning and rushing towards the wall of flames. Louise just watched him go before collapsing to her knees, sniffling as she wiped the tears from her eyes and cheeks. Kirche knelt by her side, rubbing her rival's back gently as the pink haired girl broke down a second time, though thankfully it was significantly less hysterical than before.

"Thank the Founder…"

Nearing the wall of flames, Darrian saw that Fouquet and Tabitha were locked in combat. The two of them traded blow after blow, barely using magic as they focused on their physical ability. Tabitha made a series of swipes with her staff, most of which Fouquet parried, and dodged the remaining. Off to the side, Colbert was shocked but relieved to see Darrian's return to the fight.

Anger at his enemy mixed with relief that no one else had been hurt during his absence. Keeping up his momentum, Darrian leapt into the air and sprouted his wings, calling on the Terraprisma and using it to summon an array of prismatic swords that hung in the air at his back. With a wave of the Terraprima, six prismatic swords shot forth. The first one landed between Tabitha and Fouquet, prompting them both to jump away from each other. The next five trailed towards Fouquet, embedding themselves in the ground in quick succession, forcing her to dodge away from each one in turn.

Letting his wings disappear, Darrian landed roughly in front of Tabitha, making a visible effort to keep himself upright as he leaned on his prismatic weapon. Behind him, Tabitha stared at his back with an expression of disbelief. She reached out tentatively, not daring to believe it was real, until…

Darrian turned to her and, upon seeing her outstretched hand, placed his own hand in hers for a brief moment. Reality returned to her mind as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. With a shaky breath, Tabitha stepped back, withdrawing her hand and holding it close to her chest, leaving the last of the fight to the one she thought she'd lost. Colbert stepped up beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, but she spared it no thought. Darrian was alive, and that was all that mattered to her in that moment.

Fouquet and Darrian stood across from each other, shifting the Terraprisma in his hand so that the prismatic swords rose from the ground and returned to his back.

"You're alive…" Fouquet breathed, eyes wide with shock and fear.

"No thanks to you," Darrian retorted, swaying somewhat as he struggled to stay standing.

The two squared off for a few moments more, before Darrian took the initiative and began walking towards the thief. Fouquet took a step back instinctively, fear written on her face, but stopped short with a panic as she put her back into the wall of flames behind her. Darrian continued his advance, his eyes boring into her, instilling a sense of hell in her mind.

Only when he was directly before her, toe to toe with her, did he stop. The flames behind her cast her shadow over him, silhouetting his form and leaving only the whites of his eyes visible, and his irises glowing from his normal brown to a bright neon cyan. A field of energy closed around her then, glowing brightly in the same neon cyan that filled Darrian's eyes. As that energy squeezed into her, it formed into a hand, then an arm, and eventually taking the form of the Stardust Guardian.

The Guardian squeezed Fouquet tightly in its grip, hoisting her into the air. With her arms pinned to her body, she kicked her legs around, groaning pitifully as she tried to escape its grip. The light began to fade as her vision went black, and then her body went limp, the earthen staff slipping from her hand and crumbling into dust as it hit the ground.

Darrian turned and took a few weary steps from the wall of flames before dismissing his Guardian, letting Fouquet fall to the ground in a heap.

"Is she…?" Colbert began, kneeling down beside the defeated thief and checking her pulse.

"She's alive," Darrian answered curtly, sagging somewhat as the fight finally came to an end. "What about you guys? Did anyone else get hurt?"

"I am fine," Colbert said, rising to his feet and leaning on his staff with a weary sigh. "Miss Zerbst was unharmed, I saw to that much. Miss Vallière, I believe, did not participate in the fighting."

Darrian glanced at Tabitha, who shook her head gently, as if to say that she wasn't hurt either.

"Good, good…" Darrian mumbled, smiling gently at the blue haired girl before sinking to his knees and falling flat on his face.

The sun was beginning to hang low in the sky when Darrian finally opened his eyes again. With a groan, he instinctively drew his hand up to cover his eyes, blocking out the intensity as he grew accustomed to the brightness. As he looked around blearily, he noted idly that Louise had his head in her lap and was gently running a hand through his hair, and that Tabitha had once again taken hold of his other hand. Colbert could be seen at the door to the cabin, examining the used Staff of Destruction once more, though he seemed much less enthusiastic than he had been previously.

"Good morning, sleepy head," Kirche said with a playful smile, earning a chuckle from Darrian as he struggled to push himself upright with only one hand available, prompting Tabitha to use her grip to pull him upright.

"How long was I out?" Darrian asked, crossing his legs and shooting Tabitha an appreciative look.

"Not long," Louise answered softly, scooting over to sit by Darrian's side. "We only finished putting out the fires a few minutes ago."

Darrian gave a hum of acknowledgment as he looked around the clearing, taking in the signs of the battle that had taken place. Fouquet was lying unconscious some distance away, her hands and legs now bound. Much of the grass was burnt from the wall of flames, as were much of the branches, but none of the tree stumps proper had been damaged. Overall, there hadn't been much to put out, it seemed.

"I'm glad to see you've recovered," Colbert said, flipping the lid closed on the Staff of Destruction and turning to approach the rest of the group. "I must admit, your situation seemed incredibly grim early on, when Fouquet used the Staff of Destruction on you. Headmaster Osmond told me once that he'd witnessed a soldier use one to fell a great dragon with a single strike. For you to survive, even with the wounds you endured… and then to survive Fouquet's attack directly after, is rather…"

"Unbelievable?" Darrian finished for him with a little chuckle, earning a sheepish nod from the older man. "I'm not really sure how to explain it… I guess I'll start by saying that I have enhanced healing, which is probably obvious, given what I looked like after I took those hits."

Darrian made to stand then, prompting Tabitha to stand quickly as well to help him up.

"I've probably mentioned somewhere before, but," Darrian started, withdrawing his hand from Tabitha's grip and taking a couple steps back. With a moment of concentration, a bright cyan light formed over his body, changing the appearance of his clothes. Instead of the common outfit he'd been wearing before, he was now wearing a blue robe and pants, with an open front half skirt that extended down to his ankles. A metal that hued somewhere between bronze and gold composed a chestplate, wrist guards, and boots, all of which were lined with a cyan crystal that matched the color of the Guardian he'd used in battle before. Overall, it was the kind of attire that would look right at home with a sorcerer or battlemage.

"I don't just have weapons and utility items, but armor as well."

"But, if you'd worn armor like that, you wouldn't have gotten hurt the way you did," Kirche pointed out with a confused expression, one that was shared by Colbert and Louise. Tabitha's face remained blank, but she did raise a questioning eyebrow at him.

"Well, that's the funny thing about my armor," Darrian sighed, switching back to his familiar attire. "I have two ways to change my appearance; armor and vanity. Armor is, obviously, armor. It offers protection from damage, and the better sets have various unique bonuses. Vanity on the other hand, is just stuff that looks cool, no bonuses involved."

"So then, you're wearing that armor right now, but also wearing a… 'vanity' that renders it invisible?" Colbert surmised, entering a thinking pose.

"Yes, exactly!" Darrian confirmed, pointing a finger in emphasis. "Back in Terraria, making my armor invisible like this didn't stop it from protecting me, and I wouldn't get hurt nearly as bad. I guess, now that I'm not in Terraria anymore, it doesn't quite work the same way. I think it'll still protect me, but I'll still feel the pain if I don't put on the armor properly."

"You didn't know it would affect you that way," Louise said with a sad expression, remembering clearly the state he'd been in after the initial attack. "By the time you figured it out, you were already hurt, and it was too late."

"...Yeah," Darrian said, looking rather subdued for a moment. "If it's any consolation, the armor still technically did its job. My health didn't take a very big hit from it, so I didn't even get close to dying, but… I guess it didn't look that way at the time. I'm sorry for worrying you."

Louise said nothing, opting instead to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his chest. Darrian returned the embrace, resting his chin on the top of her head.

The carriage ride back to the academy was uneventful. Darrian spent most of the ride nodding off, as did Louise, who had lodged herself directly into his side. Tabitha unsurprisingly took the opportunity to twine her fingers through Darrian's once more, something that Kirche immediately began teasing her over, much to the quiet girl's chagrin.

Agnès was waiting for them at the front gate of the academy, along with a small contingent of guards that hauled Fouquet away to be taken directly to the capital for incarceration. She'd been understandably skeptical at first, given that Fouquet had been disguised as the Headmaster's secretary, but Colbert's word and the presence of the lost artifact were enough to convince her.

They'd been led back up to the Headmaster's office to give their report to Osmond and Princess Henrietta, the former of whom expressed mild disappointment that his suspicion had been correct. Henrietta congratulated them all for their success and promised that they'd be sufficiently rewarded for their efforts. And then, just when they thought they'd be dismissed, Darrian and Louise were requested to stay for a private discussion.

"What did you want to discuss?" Louise asked nervously as Tabitha and Kirche stepped out, with Agnès closing the door to stand guard outside.

"Simply put, the nature of your relationship as Master and Familiar," Osmond stated, taking a puff from his pipe and blowing a ring of smoke before setting it aside. "As I'm certain you are aware, summoning a human familiar is unheard of in all of history."

"Except for one occasion," Colbert continued, holding a book that had been opened to a particular page, one side of which showed an unusual set of runes. "The only person in history to have summoned a human familiar is Founder Brimir himself."

"The Founder?" Louise quoted with wide eyes. "But then, that would mean that my alignment…"

"Could possibly be the lost, fifth element of Void," Colbert finished with a grave expression, and Louise nearly fell to her knees right then, only avoiding it by taking hold of Darrian's arm.

"B-but my magic, it wouldn't make any sense!" Louise babbled, her mind racing at the implication. She'd grown up hearing the stories, that the Founder's magic had been so radically different that it was almost mythical.

"I'm guessing this Founder is an important person?" Darrian asked with a mildly confused expression, putting an arm around Louise to help her steady herself.

"As his title suggests, he is the Founder of our society," Henrietta supplied. "After his death, his four sons went on to spread his teachings, and each became a founding king of the four Halkeginian nations."

"He is also the only mage in history to be aligned to the Void element," Osmond added, stroking his beard with a thoughtful expression. "There is no guarantee that Miss Vallière is actually aligned with the Void, however. There may be ways to know for certain, with enough time and research."

"There is one way to test this theory now," Colbert said, pointing to the runes shown in the book he'd been holding. "Miss Vallière, if you perform the binding ritual and these runes appear on Darrian's hand, it will be physical proof that you are a Void Mage."

The room fell silent as Louise gingerly took the book from Colbert, running a finger along the diagram of the runes with a forlorn expression. Darrian stepped up beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder, giving her an encouraging look.

"It might be worth it to try," Darrian said, earning a conflicted look from Louise. "You wouldn't be forcing it on me, you know. If this could be a way to figure out your magic problem, then-"

"No," Louise cut in, closing the book gently and handing it back to her teacher. Taking a deep breath, she turned to Darrian and took his hands in hers. "You chose to stay. Of your own free will. The binding ritual is a mind altering spell, meant to bind animals. To subject you to that, after you chose to stay, I… I won't do it. I can't."

"Louise…"

"I'm not going to taint our bond in this manner," Louise said sharply, staring up at Darrian imploringly. "If there is any merit to this theory, we'll find another way to determine the truth. That's the end of it."

"...Alright," Darrian sighed, sagging in defeat for a moment, before giving Louise an appreciative smile. Nodding triumphantly, Louise withdrew her hands and turned back to face her elders with a determined expression, basking somewhat in their shocked expressions. She couldn't rightly blame them; everything about the situation was far from traditional.

"Well then," Colbert coughed, before recovering and showing a bit of genuine pride for his student's decision. "If you would allow, Miss Vallière, I would like to assist in this matter. I seem to have taken an interest in this particular topic of research."

Louise nodded curtly, giving a word of appreciation to her teacher, before glancing over at Princess Henrietta. She'd remained quiet on the sidelines for the majority of the conversation, feeling that she didn't have much to add, but the two shared a warm smile regardless.

And then they were finally dismissed for the day. Darrian and Agnès shared a quick nod as the bodyguard stepped back into the office, and then the two of them set off in the direction of Louise's dorm. The trip was quiet, and Louise spent the time pondering the day's events. It had certainly been a ride, with ups and downs, but there was a sense of urgency in the back of her mind now. She almost didn't want to believe that she may finally have an answer to her magic problem, even if that answer potentially lay somewhere outside the scope of her imagination.

Somewhere in that line of thought, Louise's mind began to race, and she stopped in her tracks. Darrian noticed and turned back, shooting her a look that warped from inquisitive to worry as he saw the color draining from her face.

"How am I going to tell my mother?"

I have no idea why I was able to pound this out so quickly. I'm pretty satisfied overall with how it turned out, which feels odd considering the speed.

I do like how the fights turned out this time, though I feel I could have included Colbert and Kirche in a bit more during the warm up phase.

For the guest commenter on FF that actually thought I'd killed off Darrian, I'm sorry to have disappointed you, but at the same time, I have no idea why you'd think that would happen. It's almost a universal rule that a character isn't actually dead until the explicit statement of their death is made lmao

As for why Darrian got hurt the way he did, I feel like it's a natural quirk of Terraria's vanity system interacting with a physical world. Using the Familiar vanity set that essentially makes armor invisible seems like a good idea if the enemy is working off the same rules as you, I.e. damage numbers. On a technical level, the armor was there and did it's job, protecting his health bar and keeping him from dying. But without the protective plate to absorb the actual physical damage, he was still able to get hurt like a normal person. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense.