CHAPTER 3

The duel

The first time she had seen him was on the night he had been summoned. He had walked past them, only sparing him a single short glance. Still he had somehow left a deep impression, if good or bad she still didn't fully know.

He seemed to have an everlasting scowl that did nothing to blemish his handsome looks. Deep brown eyes, which for some reason she was afraid of looking at. Those eyes seemed to be able to look at her very soul, which was rather unpleasant, not to mention scary. She somehow had the feeling that he and especially she wouldn't like what he would find in her soul, even if she could not think of a reason why.

Another deep impression was left behind by his orange hair, unheard and unseen in all the countries she had seen or heard about. Last of all where his clothes, which looked more expensive than any commoner could pay, but not of the fabric that the nobles would wear.

Her focused had still left him quickly in favor of looking at the one that had stolen her heart, Guiche. A person one could say was favored by the founder himself, beautiful and graceful, blond with beautiful light blue eyes, they all would perfectly describe him. He was a true noble, not like the other boys of the school. He was a year above her, but he had told her that such things could be overcome with the power of love. She had been overjoyed when he had stated the wish to taste her soufflé and had eagerly agreed to bake it for him. He had given her a charming smile and they had parted ways with one final goodbye.

Life couldn't be more perfect!

She regretted her own words the next morning.

She had backed her Soufflé the first thing in the morning after having prepared herself for the day. Leaving her soufflé to cool she had walked to the eating hall to receive her breakfast. There she had, for the second time, seen the familiar of Louise, the orange hair making him stand out, but still she had paid him no mind, she had other things to do. Quickly walking back, no running, it was no behavior for a noble such as herself, she had taken her soufflé out of the stove and had went in search of Guiche, exited on the prospect of him praising her soufflé and in connection her skills of backing.

She had found him standing on the fields with the other second years old students to bound with their familiar and had quicken her pace, exited by her thoughts. It started to slow however, when she saw another female second year student standing next to him. It was Montmorency Margarita la Fère de Montmorency, a blond noble with curly hair. Her family had contact with the water spirit and was known for its powerful water mage.

She still walked toward Guiche and stopped beside him. It was probably just poor coincident that Montmoreny was standing ride beside him. That hope quickly shattered however, when Montmoreny started to accuse him of two timing. Did that mean that he had already been in a relationship with Montmoreny and had just toyed with her? Her dream of Guiche the white knight and beautiful perfect noble shattered, like a mirror, breaking in thousands pieces. He had lied, he was not the boy she had fallen in love with. This two-timer couldn't possible be her Guiche. She wanted to cry, let her broken love fall be shed with her tears, but another emotion quickly overcame the first, rage. He had lied! He had lied to her!

The rage quickly changed to power and her arm swung, in perfect synchronization with Montmoreny's, and their palms hit their target, leaving red marks, showing their handprints, one on each cheek. The tears, after having used her powerful rage, had quickly started to fall. How dare he toy with her feelings?! Her first love, lost to such an idiot. Now that she had a closer look at him she could find so many flaws in the boy, not a noble, never a noble, that stood before her and she had ones thought of as perfect. He looked like a male prostitute. His shirts revealing to much of his chest and his blond hair and blue eyes not the right color after all, she had seen better. And he was, now that she thought about it, pretty short and this rose wand of his was pretty damn stupid looking, what would he do when he had used all his petals?! Nothing, he would be able to do nothing at all. He looked like a drag Queen, with his looks, his outfit and his wand, why hadn't she noticed it sooner?! She really had been a blind idiot. Now she knew what people meant with the rose colored glasses.

He had even started to accuse a totally unrelated maid, who had the bad fortune of standing near him, of having hurt her and Montmoreny, trying to find a black sheep for his own mistakes and wrongdoings. He was accusing a maid that wasn't even allowed and couldn't, even if she wanted to, protect herself. What a coward, he wasn't even able to accept the consequences of his own actions.

The maid stammered something about having done nothing but Guiche wasn't letting go. None of the nobles even tried to protect the maid, all probably thinking along the lines of their reputations. She couldn't fault them however, since she herself wasn't doing anything.

Guiche had raised his hand, about to deliver unfair punishment for the maid when something orange caught her attention. One second the maid had been about to be hit, the next second the orange haired familiar had stood between the maid and Guiche, looking furious. The familiar had caught the arm, before it had hit its intended target and the grip it, no he, had did not look comfortable in the slightest.

"Let go you commoner!" Guiche screamed trying to free his arm without succeed. She had of course heard the rumors about the familiar of zero, but she hadn't believed them. Who would when the familiar had claimed to be a god of death? They had all thought that the pressure had been a side effect of the summoning ritual, the same for the runes. Still, looking at his face right now, she wasn't so sure anymore.

"What did you think you were doing?" The familiar hissed. His voice started to distort with every spoken word and she thought that his eyes had flashed the color gold, even just for a second, it could have been a trick of light thought. She could see the fear flashing through Guiche's eyes before he hide it seconds later.

"I was about to punish her, for hurting the hearts of these two maidens." Guiche tried to explain while he gestured in our direction. I wanted to throttle him. My hand twitched for just a second.

The familiar's eyes focused on us for a second before refocusing on Guiche. I was glad that his attention was focused solely on Guiche. I would probably break down under his hard and cold gaze.

"I do not see how a maid, a maid who they probably have only ever met while she had served them, could have hurt their feelings. While looking at you, who wear the print of not one but two hands, do look like you have received their wrath. Do not think that even one of us would believe you when you, who wear the evidence right in your face, claim innocence while pointing your finger at an innocent maid, who by no means could have hurt the feelings of two noble women." The voice had gone back to normal, but that did not mean that the power and strength that it had possessed earlier had also disappeared. Some would later even state that it had strengthened in its intensity, making every listener shiver.

"How can you speak to a noble such as me, with such a tone? Do you know no manners, when a commoner like you is talking to a noble like me?" Guiche still tried to keep his face, but everyone and most importantly she knew that he had already lost. She wasn't sure how she knew, since Guiche's argument seemed to be in his favor, most commoners would back off by now, but something told her that Louise's familiar would not change his mind or back down.

"I do not see any noble, I only see a boy who can't accept the consequences of his wrongdoing and tried to clear his name by accusing a maid, a maid who can't defend herself against a noble, of having done his wrongdoings. In fact I have not seen any noble here at all!" he looked around him. I felt furious. What did he mean by that?

"I do believe that the definition of nobility does not only come from the title, passed down from the parents to the children, but also about what it entitles, meaning the protection of their subjects and taking care of them. I have not seen anyone here with us today that has even tried to raise his or her voice in defense of this maid, even thought every last one of them knew of her innocence." He now had his gaze focused on all of them and she for her part wanted to sink into the earth and die. They had all tried to protect their reputation and it was true that not even one of them had tried to raise their voice in her defense. Some of the nobles around her looked angry, some flushed with embarrassment and the ones left looked mortified, something she was feeling right now.

"How dare you accuse us of not being noble?" Guiche suddenly screamed, destroying the sudden silence and refocusing the familiar's attention back to him.

"I challenge you to a duel." Guiche stated with confidence she couldn't fathom where he had found.

"I see, we are trying to lay blame on the one that losses, very noble like, but still I accept. If I win you will personally apologize to the two, who you have hurt and to the maid you have unfairly accused. Am I understood?" Somehow his words left no place for arguments and Guiche had no choice but to agree.

"If I win you will apologize for your accusations toward my person and the nobles in generally." Guiche tried to hold his ground.

The familiar rolled his eyes and scoffed. She had no doubt that he would not even apologize if his life was on the line. It seemed out of character of him, even thought she didn't know where that thought had come from, she couldn't agree more. She was sure that he would never truly take back his words. He believed them to be the truth and nothing would change his opinion.

It didn't take long for the familiar and Guiche to stand opposite each other. Guiche had, after a longwinded speech, at which the familiar had scoffed again, drawn his wand and summoned one of his famous golems. The scowl seemed to deepen when the familiar sees the golem, why she doesn't know, but she believes the cause to be the form.

Then they finally started. On one hand she hopes that the familiar wins and punishes Guiche for hurting her feelings, on the other hand she really wishes for Guiche to win, since that would mean that she didn't have to live with the familiar's accusations.

Guiche lifts his wand and the golem runs straight toward the familiar. The familiar doesn't move. Was he suicidal? She wants to scream, to shout at him to jump to the side, but it is too late and she quickly covers her eyes with her hands, not wanting to see the familiar being pierced by the spear, not wanting to see the blood and death. Still when she hears no scream of pain and only surprised gasps she decides to look up again, only to see an unexplainable sight. The spear, instead of piercing the target like it was supposed to, stopped right after touching his skin, not even drawing blood. Guiche looks surprised as well, so she could conclude that he hadn't been the cause of such a miracle.

The familiar, now looking irritated, grabs the spear and throws the spear + golem attached into the air, lifting, for no apparent reason, his hand. Two fingers, the middle and forefinger pressed together and stretched out, the rest of the hand balled together into a fist, pointed upward toward the golem and with a short word that sounded like 'Zero' a blood red ball formed before said outstretched fingers and shot forward, destroying everything in its path. The golem was no more.

Guiche tried to create more golems, but before he even got the chance to lift his rose the familiar stood before him, the same hand that had destroyed his golem dangerously near his head. She somehow found it very satisfying and horrifying at the same time when Guiche fell to his knees and begged for mercy. This familiar had extracted her revenge, but much more important:

'This familiar had beaten a noble!'

Now she knew why he had left such a deep impression at their first meeting even thought she had only seen him for a second. This man, he was no boy, he was no noble, he was no human, was powerful and even she had felt, even unconsciously, that he would, as an enemy, be very dangerous and she was happy to note, that at least for now, he was on their side and not the unknown other.

He was powerful/graceful/judge/dangerous/monster and also warmth/save/stubborn/protector.

Hope you liked it, I hope you all know whose POV it was

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