"And the winner of the familiar exhibition is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tabitha and her familiar Sylphid."
Louise sighed in disappointment whilst Mikoto smiled and clapped as Tabitha and Sylphid slowly made their way to the stage.
"Shame we didn't win" muttered Saito.
"I'm just glad we weren't laughed at" replied Louise as they walked away.
Mikoto stayed wanting to congratulate Tabitha and Sylphid on their win.
She quietly listened to Colbert's speech on how incredible Sylphid was.
Her smiled disappeared when she felt a ripple of power originate from the other side of the main tower.
The same direction Louise and Saito were headed.
Her eyes widened and she took off running.
She heard Saito yell and gathered a small ball of iron sand into her hand ready to fire at a moments notice.
Skidding to a halt next to Louise she fired her railgun with deadly precision easily piercing the golem's right shoulder causing its right arm to crumble.
Magnetising the iron sand from the crumbling arm she grabbed Saito and maneuvered him behind her.
She spied its wielder standing on top of it and was gathering more iron sand to shoot another railgun when Louise shouted "fireball."
Mikoto's eyebrow violently twitched as part of the tower exploded leaving a large hole.
Mechanically turning her head towards Louise whilst still keeping an eye on the golem in case it attacked, she muttered "you missed."
Louise turned to Mikoto confused "huh?"
"There's a 30 by 10 meter hunk of rock right in front of you at point blank range and you missed" Mikoto couldn't wrap her head around it, she didn't think anyone was THAT terrible a shot.
Louise blushed before shouting "shut up I just made a small error."
"I thank you for this" shouted the thief now carrying a rectangular box.
"Wait" shouted Louise as the golem stepped over the wall, "Mikoto do something!"
Mikoto was kneeling in front of Saito asking if he was alright.
"Y-Yeah I'm fine" stuttered Saito slightly shaken up.
Sylphid soon landed next to them and Tabitha got off.
She tilted her head at Mikoto "we're fine" she answered.
Tabitha nodded satisfied whilst Sylphid nuzzled her affectionately.
"Is everyone alright" asked Colbert as he rushed over followed by what appeared to be the rest of the school.
"We're fine, but Mikoto let the thief get away" grumbled Louise.
"Is that so" muttered Colbert as he glanced at Mikoto, considering what she did to Mott that was probably a good thing.
They were then ordered to wait in the courtyard whilst the staff and guards investigated.
Mikoto sat against a wall between Tabitha and Sylphid.
"Apparently it was Fouquet the Sculptor" said Kirche standing on the other side of Tabitha.
"Hey Tabitha did you see their face?" Tabitha shook her head, "she kept her hood up."
"What about you Mikoto?" Kirche was secretly slightly afraid of Mikoto but she hadn't acted aggressively towards them so decided to give her the benefit of the doubt.
"No."
Kirche sighed, "how boring" she thought for a minute debating whether or not to ask but decided to anyway, "Mikoto" her voice shook slightly in nervousness.
Mikoto hummed to show she was listening.
"Why did you let Fouquet get away?" It had been bugging her since Louise had said it.
"Saito and Valière were safe there was no reason to pursue."
Kirche was surprised before smiling softly glad she'd given her the benefit of the doubt.
After a good nights sleep and an early morning counselling session Mikoto found herself sitting next to Tabitha in study hall.
The teacher's were so busy with the Fouquet indecent they didn't have time to teach classes.
Mikoto thought the police or whatever their equivalent here was should be taking care of it along with the headmaster and maybe Colbert since he seemed to be the deputy headmaster, not the rest of the teachers.
Oh well it wasn't any of her businesses so decided to spend study hall reading over Tabitha's shoulder.
Half way through Colbert entered the classroom and asked for Louise her familiars and Tabitha to report to the headmasters office.
Standing in front of Osmond and the rest of the teachers Mikoto wondered what they wanted to know.
They'd all given their statements on what happened yesterday to the palace guard.
Even if she'd made her interviewer angry by letting Fouquet get away.
"Why are you here?" whispered Louise to a happy looking Kirche.
"Seemed interesting" replied Kirche much to Louise's annoyance.
"Upon questioning various folks around town we've obtained reports of a suspicious shadow entering and leaving a deserted shack in the woods" Said Longville.
Osmond smiled "you sure are quick with your work Miss Longville."
She nodded accepting the praise "from their testimonies I attempted to sketch Fouquet."
She handed a rolled up parchment to Osmond.
He then showed it to the 3 students and 2 familiars in his office.
Mikoto's eyes narrowed unnoticeably in suspicion.
"That's Fouquet no doubt about it" proclaimed Louise whilst Tabitha nodded.
Colbert suggested reporting this to the royal palace but Osmond turned him down saying it would take too long and then proclaiming they should retrieve the staff of destruction themselves to restore the academy's honour.
Mikoto rolled her eyes, mages and their pride.
"Now raise you wand if you're up for the task."
Osmond seemed surprised when no one volunteered, "are there no nobles who want to raise their fame by capturing Fouquet."
Mikoto glared at Louise when she raised her wand.
Even the other teachers seemed shocked, even more so when Kirche raised her wand and proclaimed she was going as well.
Tabitha also raised her staff and when questioned by Kirche said she was worried about them.
"Then we'll leave it to you" said Osmond before he started praising their lineage and abilities although he stumbled a bit when talking about Louise.
"In that case I shall serve as their guide" said Longville.
"Very well then Miss Valière, Miss Zerbst, Miss Tabitha and Miss Longville please get ready, Miss Mikoto if I could have a word before you leave."
Mikoto nodded as everyone else filed out the room.
"First off how was your counselling session this morning?"
"It was alright, she really just wanted to see where I was so she could plan our next session" she answered.
"Good good, it's just with you going after Fouquet" he trailed off.
Mikoto sighed "my main priority is to make sure my friends are safe and the easiest way to do that is to take out Fouquet" she turned to leave, "don't worry I'll only knock her out, what happens to her after that is none of my concern."
Osmond was both happy and relieved, despite it not being very long since the incident with Mott she was showing that she was trying to change.
Walking outside she saw the other's sitting in a horse drawn cart waiting.
Walking over to them Mikoto told them she would fly with Sylphid.
Tabitha nodded whilst everyone else tried asking why.
Getting on Sylphid they waited for the cart to leave academy grounds before following.
There was something Mikoto wanted to check and she couldn't do that from the ground.
10 minutes later she saw it, the giant earth mound left over by the golem yesterday.
5 minutes after that they landed.
"Through those trees is the shack Fouquet was last seen" whispered Longville the others nodded and quietly made their way in that direction.
Saito quietly snuck towards the shack and peered into the window.
"It's just an old coal burning shack" complained Kirche.
"It could be camouflage" muttered Louise.
"No one's there" called Saito a moment later.
Louise and Kirche breathed out a sigh of relief before they all made their way over to him.
Tabitha scanned the shack with her magic to make sure there weren't any traps before walking in quickly followed by Kirche and Saito.
"I'll stand guard outside" called Louise.
"Alright thanks" called Saito entering the shack.
"Then I will scout the surroundings" said Longville before leaving.
Mikoto attached some iron sand onto her shoes to keep track of her.
The only thing left to do now was wait for the golem to show up.
Mikoto and Louise heard their shouts of disbelief and Mikoto guessed they'd found the staff of destruction.
Seeing the ground move Mikoto quickly grabbed Louise and jumped back.
"W-What are you" Louise didn't get a chance to finish as a massive golem formed in front of them.
Louise screamed whilst Mikoto intercepted the golem's arm heading for the shack with her iron sand.
Saito, Kirche and Tabitha rushed out of the shack carrying the staff of destruction.
"Tabitha take everyone and go" Mikoto commanded.
Tabitha looked worried, "what about you?"
"I have a hunk of rock to take care of" she answered blocking a massive foot that was trying to crush them.
Tabitha nodded and called Sylphid.
"B-But" Louise tried to protest but Mikoto interupted, "your element."
"Huh?"
"When we get back to the academy I'll tell you your element but right now I need you to do as I say and keep whatever's in that box safe."
Louise nodded and climbed on Sylphid who then took off.
Now they were out of the way Mikoto could finally fight freely.
She gathered iron sand into a spear and fired it as a railgun easily piercing straight through the golem which crumbled to the ground.
Now the golem was out of the way she gathered iron sand around Fouquet's legs and torso pinning her arms to her body lifting her into the clearing.
Mikoto gestured for them to land and they quickly dismounted.
"M-Mikoto what are you doing, that's Miss Longville" shouted Louise.
"Longville is Fouquet" answered Mikoto.
"What?" Louise asked in disbelief.
Longville grit her teeth "how did you know?"
The others were shocked but Mikoto counted it with a question, "why did you go to all the trouble of bringing us here?"
Longville turned away not willing to answer.
"You went to all the trouble of stealing whatever's in that box, you could've gotten away easily but you came back and led us straight to it, why?"
Mikoto narrowed her eyes when Longville didn't answer.
"Kirche, the box" she demanded holding out her hand.
Kirche not really understanding what was going on passed it over.
Mikoto put it on the ground and opened it relieving a green metal cylinder.
Taking it out the box she examined it vaguely hearing Kirche say it didn't look like any staff they'd seen before.
"That's because it's not" Mikoto interrupted.
"What?" demanded Longville.
"What do you mean?" asked Kirche.
"This" she showed them the cylinder "is not a magic staff in fact there is nothing magical about it."
"If it's not a magic staff then what is it?" asked Saito.
"It's a rocket launcher."
Saito's eyes widened "t-then?"
Mikoto nodded passing it to him, "an M-72 LAW" he muttered as his runes glowed.
"I get it now, you didn't know how to use it so decided to lure people from the academy in the hopes they'd know" said Mikoto.
Longville grit her teeth but said nothing.
Mikoto nodded and a flash and crack later Longville was unconscious in the back of the cart ready to be transported back to the academy.
Mikoto didn't care about Longville as long as her friends were safe that was all that mattered.
Back at the academy after turning Longville over to the palace guards that arrived to retrieve Fouquet they gathered in Osmonds office.
"Well now that Fouquet has been arrested and the staff of destruction back in the vault that puts an end to that matter" began Osmond "you are all guests of honour at tonight's banquet".
"The palace thinks very highly of this and I'm sure they'll reward all three of you"
Kirche's eyes lit up "a reward from a palace, amazing."
Tabitha's eyebrows furrowed whilst Louise spoke out, "but that means that Mikoto and Saito..."
Osmond looked down "unfortunately since they're not nobles."
"I see" muttered Louise.
"Don't care" said Mikoto.
"I don't care about that either instead I'd like to ask you something" said Saito.
Osmond nodded "very well but before that, Mikoto how did you know that Longville was Fouquet?"
"Fouquet managed to infiltrate the academy despite palace guards stationed at the entrance and no one was seen flying over the wall, as your secretary she knew the staff of destruction was within the vault, her voice sounded similar to Fouquets, her drawing was perfect despite having never seen Fouquet before, she got Fouquet's location from eye witnesses but that shack was in the middle of nowhere with no one else around, the remains of the first golem was five minutes by cart away from Fouquet's alleged location and shed disappeared when we were attacked by another golem."
No one knew what to say, Fouquet's identity seemed so obvious when Mikoto put it like that.
Osmond cleared his throat with a light blush on his face, "I see, well that was all, you're dismissed."
The three mages bowed before leaving.
Mikoto followed Tabitha whilst Kirche exclaimed that she was going to dress up really nicely for the dance.
At the bottom of the stairs she turned to Louise, "Valière."
"Yes."
"Your element."
Louise immediately perked up and Kirche was interested as well, Tabitha slightly less so.
"I don't know what it's called but I can tell you what it does."
Louise nodded.
"Your magic rips reality apart."
"What do you mean?" asked Louise not understanding.
"Most magic here involves linking different elements together, yours does the opposite."
"Huh" Louise tilted her head still not understanding.
Mikoto decided to take a different approach, "what do the towers outside represent?"
"The magic elements" replied Louise instantly.
Mikoto nodded, "four are connected to the main tower one is not."
Louise nodded following.
"Your element is the one that isn't connected."
Louise's eyes widened in surprise.
"Hold on a minute your saying Louise's element is void?" interrupted Kirche full of disbelief.
"Yes" replied Mikoto as she started walking again.
"Y-You're sure" pressed Louise as she rushed after her.
"One hundred percent" replied Mikoto as she and Tabitha walked outside to kill time before the dance.
Louise couldn't stop smiling.
Now she knew what her element was all the explosions suddenly made sense but most importantly she wasn't a zero any more.
At the dance her great mood hadn't wavered and she even invited Saito to dance.
All the while Mikoto in her normal clothes was with Tabitha at the buffet table watching Tabitha cut a massive slice of beef before putting it on her plate.
They sat with their food at one of the tables pushed to the side of the room and ate.
"Tabitha" Mikoto spoke up after a few minutes.
She looked up from her steak.
"Are you alright?"
Tabitha nodded before tilting her head.
"It's just when I told Louise her element was void you flinched" she muttered lowly so no one else could hear them.
Tabitha looked surprised before looking down sadly.
"Valière isn't the first void mage you've encountered is she?" it was more a statement than a question.
Tabitha shook her head.
Mikoto nodded "I won't pry but if you ever want to talk about it..."
Tabitha smiled slightly in gratitude, "thank you."
Mikoto smiled back and they continued with their meal.
Don't forget to review and if you spot any spelling mistakes or if something doesn't make sense let me know.
Till next time.