A few days passed after the attempted assassination attempt and talk about it quickly faded away.
Louise, for her part never got her question truly answered but she didn't need even need Henrietta's sad smile to understand that no one would be able to answer that question.
"Master? Why are you sad?" Came Ikaros' unexpected question. They were alone in Tabitha's room, who was gone out to take care of Sylphid.
"That's a stupid question, how can I not be after what happened?" Louise said, not bothering to move from her position on the bed.
"It doesn't make sense, master. Over the last few days, I went over possible scenarios on how the confrontation with Longville could have gone." Ikaros explained in all her monotone glory. "In 76% of the confrontations some who you value would have died, the other 24% would end in either Longueville's death or imprisonment and following execution. There was no way to save her, and princess Henrietta was the better choice when incorporating all available variables. So, why are you sad when you made the right choice?" Ikaros asked with finality.
Louise let the words run through her mind. Three days ago she would have simply screamed at Ikaros, swearing that she was honored to help the princess and was feeling perfectly fine.
It's funny how big of a difference a few days could make.
Not to mention that, now that she thought about it, Ikaros was right. There was nothing she could have done. Ikaros' time power was disabled, so no going back. But, even so, just catching Longville would have changed nothing.
Attempted assault on royalty equals death and, as such, the result would have been the same.
"Master?" Ikaros leaned over Louise's face, expecting some answers.
"You're right, it makes no sense at all. Why do I feel bad about this when she was an enemy?" Louise thought about it some more. "Maybe it's because she had no choice. After all, she simply tried to protect someone."
"Is a life really that valuable?" Ikaros asked back.
"Yes, it's more valuable than anything." Louise said thinking about her older sister. "Because you never know when it ends."
Ikaros thought on this before answering. "I don't really understand what is so precious about life, or why humans try to preserve it so badly, but if it's what my master values, then I will protect it."
Louise smiled at that. "For now, that will be enough."
The moment was interrupted by Tabitha entering the room with a letter in her hand. "Louise, I need to talk to you." She stated.
"About what?" Louise asked back.
"You'll need to move back to your room for a while." That statement stung and made Louise happy at the same time. For one, Tabitha knew that she was postponed her departure from her room and had no problem with her company, but also meant that she needed to end the fun they had.
"Ah, so you noticed." Tabitha noded. "Well, sorry for using you for so long then." Louise said meekly. Tabitha replied with a book to Louise's head. "Ouch!"
"I'm leaving the academy for a while." Tabitha explained while Louise rubbed her sore head. "I'm not throwing you out."
"Oh." Now Louise was blushing. "S-Sorry, I-I was just..." Again, Louise was silenced by the book, this time a bit more softly.
Tabitha went to her nightstand and put the letter into the drawer. "I have a mission from the Galian King, after I finish it, we can go back to pretend I'm your stuffed plush." Louise went even more red.
Tabitha was enjoying teasing her new friend. She never knew that she had that kind of side but that was hard to test when your company consisted of someone like Kirche.
"What kind of mission?" Louise asked trying to get over her embarrassment. "Maybe I can help you! After all, you helped me so much over the course of this last few days that it would stain my honor as a Vallière to, at least, not offer my help!"
She simply explained. "The water spirit of the Lagdorian lake is flooding the surrounding area, and my mission is to stop it."
Louise simply stared blankly at her."You are off to stop a water spirit?" Then she did a double take. "ON YOUR OWN!?" At that point she was in Tabitha's face. "Do you have any idea how dangerous spirits can be?!" She now was shaking Tabitha, who was probably the only person who Louise could do this with.
"I intend to do some research before my departure, and I'll not be alone. Kirche will very likely accompany me." Louise now was torn between being happy that her friend was not alone, and anger at who the friend was.
"I'll come with you." Louise said resolutely.
Tabitha thought of refusing, considering that it was her own duty. But then remember that she already revealed that Kirche would come with her anyway, as she always does.
Then she thought about how Louise would be left behind in studies, then she remembered that Louise was on the top in the theoretical parts.
After that she thought about arguing that she didn't really do anything, then she remembered that she helped to stop the attack of a giant golem, which included saving the princess of Tristain.
She tried to think about any other argument, but all of them instantly fell apart when she remembers how she practically forced said princess to comply with her wishes.
At that point, she gave up trying to find a way of stopping Louise and simply agreed.
Unknown to all but Ikaros, who simply didn't care, they weren't alone. Outside of the door, Guiche was listened and smiled, before promptly running off with joy in his steps.
"My fair angel!" Guiche said. "I bring news to you."
Right behind him, Nymph appeared. He would never admit that it spooked him a bit.
"Really?" She asked with a faked childish joy. "What kind of news?"
"In a few day Louise and her stolen angel will leave the academy with a few friends on a mission." Guiche flashed a smile. "They will be alone and you'll have the perfect opportunity to get your friend back."
"Really? This is perfect!" Nymph said while turning around.
"I am gladly of being of help to you, my angel!" Guiche said while bowing.
Nymph turned around with a confused look on her face. "Why…?" She turned around and walked again. "Dispose of the insect."
Then he saw a flash. Two bodies, one yellow, the other green. Then he felt sharp pain. Then nothing.
Two days later
Louise, Tabitha, Kirche and their familiars all met up at dawn and readied themselves for the journey. The humans were riding on Sylphid's back while Ikaros carried Flame, who made his displeasure known by not staying still for even a second. Not that Ikaros cared about that, as she was holding him like a giant plush toy without showing any sign of strain.
Kirche was looking apologetic towards him while saying, "Sorry Flame, I know you don't like her very much, but it's either that or you staying behind." Flame calmed down a bit at that.
With that, they took to the skies with Tabitha up front and Louise sandwiched between her and Kirche.
"So, do you all know the plan?" Louise asked while throwing a pointed look at Kirche.
"Come on now, Louise. I have been in more missions with Tabitha then you." Kirche threw back.
"And I'm still questioning how you are both alive." Louise replied. "Maybe you pulled all the attention at you, leaving Tabitha free to get something actually done. Beyond that, I can't imagine you doing anything besides setting things on fire."
"Aw, what's wrong Zero? Are you jealous that I am not 'distracting' you?" She said while poking Louise in the cheek.
Louise had the most deadpan look on her face that history ever recorded while answering. "If we weren't this high up, I would throw you off right now." Then she developed a smirk. "Also, I didn't hear you denying it."
Kirche was going to respond with something slutty and witty, but then remembered that actually held some true for all the little adventures she had with Tabitha."That's because I wasn't."
Tabitha, for her part, was enjoying having the company even when they were a tiny bit annoying. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by her dragons uneasiness. "What's wrong Sylphid?" She asked, mentally kicking herself because she remembered she had ordered Sylphid not to talk back when with company.
Any answer the dragon might have given, was drowned out when she suddenly did a sharp dive to the side to avoid a magical beam. Instantly, all her senses were fully alert and searching the sky for their aggressor. "Ikaros!" She heard Louise crying out and her eyes instantly went to where she was expecting the angel to be flying, only to see her falling with Flame still in her arms and with a hole in her left wing. That was when she realized that they weren't the main targets of that attack.
To everyone's surprise, Ikaros reacted to Louise's scream and adjusted her flight path just enough to dodge the follow up attack. Tabitha looked where the attack was coming from and spotted three shapes in the sky. Her pupils narrowed to the size of pins as she saw the unmistakable form of angeloids with two of them holding what looked like cannons.
"Gomo, you idiot! I told you to aim for her center of mass!" The short-haired one said.
"It's not that easy to aim that thing at something so small without targeting assistance." The now named Gomo responded while pouting. "Why do you always have to be so angry Nymph?"
"Because I'm surrounded by airheads like you who can't even calculate the millionth decimal of ?!" The blue haired one screamed.
"Will you two shut up? We're fighting right now, if you didn't notice." The yet unnamed yellow haired one screamed at the other two.
For Tabitha, it was just enough time to finish an icicle storm spell and launch it at them.
They didn't even bother dodging as the cold daggers shattered uselessly against their bodies. "So what, Kuru? Are you saying that we can actually lose this against a broken model and a few bugs? There is no doubt by now that the she can do nothing compared to the power she held before." Or even acknowledging that they were under attack, for the matter.
"You always think yourself so much superior, Beta." Said the now named Kuru. "Just shut up, we can argue when we finish business here." With that said, all 3 of them turned their gaze to them.
"What do you want?" Louise screamed at them. "What reason do you have to attack us?!"
"Don't take it personally pinky, just doing our jobs." Gomo said cheerfully before aiming her arm-gun again and firing with a smile on her face.
The beam pierced the air where Louise's head had been just a second ago. "Master, are you alright?" Ikaros asked Louise who was now secure in the arms of her familiar, with flame deposited on Sylphids back.
"Ikaros, your wing!" Louise was close to tears as she looked at the gaping hole in it.
"It's ok master, this damage only incapacitates my flying capability by 2%." Ikaros replied not even batting an eyelash.
"But that has to hurt." Louise retorted thinking about the aftereffects of the stab wound she received. "How do you still fly without even flinching."
While that was going on, the angeloids had another debate. "Oy, Nymph give me an analysis on what the hell just happened." Kuru asked her companion.
"Nearly mach one speed under 0,12 seconds with unhindered maneuverability." Nymph replied with one eye twitching. "And no, your sensors are alright, I just checked them."
"We only have one angeloid in the database that can match that, and she isn't even finished yet! How the hell can a model that wasn't upgraded for six-thousand years be that fast and maneuverable?" The green haired one asked back.
"No idea, but so far we still haven't seen any real offensive capability. So, yes, she's fast but we still have the clear advantage."
"This sucks, why didn't master give us her all her data files?" Gomo said, inserting herself into the conversation.
"Something about a risk to our systems that includes the reason why she went insane." Nymph responded.
Tabitha and Kirche landed while that was going on, as Tabitha had decided that they were hopelessly outclassed in the sky. Ikaros landed next to them.
"What's your objective?" Tabitha asked the trio repeating Louise's question. Normally, she would never be heard at the distance, but that was no problem with the hearing of the angeloids who decided to also land on the ground.
"Are we really holding a conversation with bugs?" Nymph asked her companions.
Gomo turned her head to her with a sly smile."Are you really the one to talk after you charmed the blonde that badly?"
"Shut it, that was a necessary sacrifice for information." Nymph restored with an angry snarl.
"What do you mean with blonde, are you talking about Guiche?" Kirche asked worried as the blond was missing for a few days now.
"Yea, I think that was his name." Gomo laughed out as if someone just told her a joke. "You should have seen how quickly betrayed a fellow human, and Nymph just had to ask him." At this point, she was roaring with Laughter.
"That bastard selling his fellow noble out like that." Louise said through her teeth.
"Well you won't have to worry about him anymore." Gomo said keeping her smile. "He loved angels so much we sent him to them."
"Enough of that!" Kuru screamed out while pointing her weapon at them. "We're here to take the missing alpha angeloid with the designation Ikaros with us, and seeing that she has found herself a new master, also to eliminate said master." Her eyes narrowed "Surrender and make this easier for us."
"Never!" Louise screamed out while pointing her wand at them in rage.
No one expected the massive explosion that shook the entire forest and obscured everyone's vision. Tabitha used that chance to pull Kirche and Louise towards her and spoke quickly. "Retreat! They are after Louise and Ikaros. She's wounded. Sylphid, take Kirche with you and fly after them, you have better offense than I do. I'll stay and distract them. We will meet up at the academy in the evening, shake them of and prevent direct confrontation"
Louise looked at her in panic."That is suicide! They sweated away your icicles like it was nothing and will do the same to you!"
"Trust me, this isn't the first time I've deal with things stronger than me."
"But..." Louise was about to retort something else, but Tabitha interrupted her.
"Ikaros, they want to kill your master. Take her and fly away or she will die." That got to the angeloid as she took Louise into a hug from behind and, with a sonic boom, was gone with Kirche going right behind her on Sylphid's back. That didn't go unnoticed by the other party and, with a strong flap of many wings, the smoke was cleared.
"I WILL RIP YOU INTO BLOODY PIECES YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Nymph screamed out in anger, her face and body covered in dirt. The other angeloids were in similar shape, but were physically stronger than her and soon took to the air with two similar booms.
Nymph was about to take off after them but those precious seconds that she needed to curse was what, at the end, cost her right wing.
Tabitha, for her part, couldn't quite believe the damage she had caused, after all, all what she did was encasing the wing in a solid block of ice that she anchor into the ground. It was Nymphs' own carelessness at not noticing that what produced enough force to rip it off.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed, feeling pain such as she had never known. To her misfortune her companions were already many Kilometers out so no one heard her except for the blue haired mage.
Absolute and primal rage was in Nymphs eyes when she stood up and for the first time after so long, Tabitha feared for her live.
Many kilometers out, Sylphid was having a huge trouble keeping up with Ikaros. Naturally this hurt her pride badly considering that she was supposed to be one of the fastest things in the sky and the angeloid had a hole in her wing.
Suddenly there was a gust of wind and Kirche and Sylphid saw two of the angeloids rush past them. "That is just not fair!" Kirche screamed out and Sylphid agreed.
Louise couldn't believe the speed she was going at. The world was rushing past her so quickly that that the only thing her eyes could see was a blur that made her quite dizi in the head. Another oddity she noticed was that she wasn't feeling the wind on her skin. It made her felt quite strange.
"I am detecting a high energy radiation, and metallic echoes, coming from the magnetic north." Ikaros suddenly said, green eyes spinning. "Calculations say that we have a high chance of losing our pursuers due to the effects it'll have on their sensors. Changing curse."
With that, she did a sharp turn and Louise world started spinning. When she looked forward again, she had to question her sanity, because right in front of her was the floating Island of Albion. It was at least one hour away from Tristain even when flying nonstop on a wind dragon, and Ikaros was rushing right at it.
It took only a few minutes to reach it but, to Louise shock, they didn't go up but under the country. That was also the first time Louise noticed the energy beams that were rushing past them as they impacted the rocky mass in front of them.
She looked back and, to her horror, she saw the two bigger Angeloids in hot pursuit. Suddenly, the world around Louise went dark and, as she looked up, she only saw the shadows of Albion's underside. For a short moment she wondered if anyone had ever seen the country from that angle.
"Master, I suggest using your explosives on the rocks above us." Ikaros said as she started to gain attitude and closed the distance between herself and the country. "It should further distract them from reaching us." Another turn followed by a dodge to evade more incoming shots.
Louise, shakily, pulled out her wand and aimed it upwards as the spiky formations began to get visible over the bottom and, for a second, Louise feared that they would impale themselves.
"Now." Ikaros said tearing Louise back into reality.
"Fireball!" Louise screamed out and, as expected, an explosion created a dust cloud. Ikaros flew right through it.
Louise risked a look forward. She shouldn't have, because the spikes were rushing past her at such a speed that it filled her with a whole new sense of terror. "Master, I suggest you continue firing upwards." Ikaros said and Louise complied.
"Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!" One after another, dust, rocks, and other things fell from the giant island. Another blast of energy flew past her and Louise doubled her efforts, this time pointing backwards.
It seemed to be working as the number of beams fired at them seemed to lessen.
Suddenly, Ikaros abruptly stopped and for a fraction of a second Louise world seemed to stand still, as she found herself barely two meters away from the yellow-haired angeloid who had the gun pointed at her face. Louise, at the same time, had her wand pointed at the angeloid.
When the word resumed its course, it did it with smoke, darkness and thunder
Another second later Ikaros was again flying at top speed with Louise barely staying conscious.
"Damn it!" Gomo screamed out as she cleared the smoke. "I can't detect them, my sensors are all messed up."
"Hey, sister?" Kuru asked. "The Prometheus guns are built to withstand a force equals to double of the one that they fire, right?"
"Yes, why are you ask..." Gomo's voice drifted off as she saw the broken and shredded remains of her sister's Prometheus cannon. "What in the master's name?"
"Are we still alive?" Louise said as Ikaros let her down after the most adrenaline-filled flight she ever had. "We are alive!"
"That is correct master." However Louise didn't hear her because her knees gave in and she emptied her stomach on Albionesse soil. "Master, are you alright?"
After a well-deserved break, Louise was feeling well enough to travel again, but had Ikaros swear to not go at that high speed.
When they reached the academy and Tabitha's room half an hour later, Louise's heart leaped with joy at seeing her friends uninjured and just sitting there. "Tabitha! Are you ok, they didn't hurt you, did they?" She asked while hugging her blue-haired friend.
"I am uninjured. And you?" Tabitha asked back.
"A bit shaken but, otherwise, ok" Louise threw a worried look back. "Ikaros still has a hole in her wing, but she said that it will be fine."
"Is no one concerned about me?" Kirche threw in.
"When you can complain, then that means you are fine." Louise threw back. "How did you escape? Those two hunted us to the bottom of Albion before we lost them."
"It is a bit of a long story." Tabitha said averting her eyes. "I will tell you tomorrow. I am really tired, do you mind if I have the room for myself tonight?"
"Of course not." Louise said. "But tomorrow we need to talk about what in the founder's name happened today."
"I second that." Kirche said. "I mean, they made pretty clear what they wanted, but, why and who were they?" She said as she started to leave the room. "Good night Tabitha."
"Good night." Louise said leaving the room.
"Good night." The bluenette answered softly.
After Kirche and Louise left, the room felt in silence. A strange thing considering how loud her life had been lately. She walked to her bed and let herself drop onto it, her staff still in an iron grip.
"My, my." The air around Tabitha began to bend in a strange way. "How naughty!" A shape that was slightly larger than Tabitha began to appear around her. "Lying to your friends like that." A fully visible Nymph had her arms and legs gripping Tabitha as she whispered into her ear. "My Master."
