Here is chapter 3. I hope it is up to par with what I normally write. Now if anyone thinks the fight with Guiche was a bit too one-sided or anything like that, please let me know. Once, again my previous offer for a beta reader still stands. Enjoy!
The walk to the Vestri court was the hardest of her life… And Louise knew that dragging her feet would only prolong the inevitable. For she was- unfortunately- used to walks such these. It came with not being able to use magic. Having to endure lecture after lecture from her Mother and eldest sister.
Why did she have to step up for that maid? She wanted to stop herself but it felt like something else was in control of her body. Like it was acting on instinct or something like that. And she was just taken along for the ride.
No matter. What's done is done. Now she just has to find a way to-
"Are you even listening to me Louise?!" Kirche's voice interrupted her musings, and made her shake her head a few times before looking up at her.
"Huh, you were saying?"
Kirche couldn't believe it. She had been ranting to Louise for the past few minutes and Louise just ignores her! It infuriated her to no end but then again, she has seen that look once before. And it meant that she was probably thinking or remembering something. Either way, she still felt a little insulted.
"I was saying, what were you thinking about when you accepted Guiche's challenge like that!" Kirche's voice was calm but with a hint of unease about it. "I mean, he did deserve what came to him but, well you know…"
"I know what Kirche?" Louise raised an eyebrow at that. She had a good idea of where she was going with this, but she wanted to hear it just to make sure.
"Your magic isn't exactly all that good." Kirche took on a tone that quite surprised Louise. "It's powerful don't get me wrong but it's unpredictable and unstable. If you tried to fight Guiche with it, you could very well kill him or yourself."
This was strange… Kirche was showing concern… for her? What just happened? Did a cataclysmic event just take place and someone forgot to tell her? But she did have a point. Her explosions could be very violent sometimes. And she shuddered at the thought of Guiche either losing an arm or his life. It actually made her a little sick just thinking about it.
"It's true Miss Louise." Siesta agreed with Kirche on this matter. She heard the rumor's floating around the staff and the gossip from the students, to know what happens when Louise tries magic. "I've heard stories from the fellow staff about your magic. They all say that it's very potent but very dangerous as well."
Louise felt like she was being ganged up on. And what's worse the maid that Louise helped was also against her! She felt a little betrayed that the person that she helped would turn her back on her at such a critical moment.
Turning to Tabitha, who had her face in her book again she just asked one simple question in her usual tone. "Do you have anything to add?"
Tabitha just nodded once then turned the page. She waited a few seconds to memorise the sentence she was on before pointing her staff towards Kirche and Siesta. "I agree."
Louise almost did a face-fall right there. She couldn't believe it! It was a one-sided argument!
"Fine, then I'll beat him without using magic!" Louise practically shouted and then increased her pace to put some distance between herself and them.
That little outburst caught Kirche, Siesta and Tabitha completely off guard. Tabitha was the first to recover, already caught up, then Siesta. The last person was Kirche who was still trying to comprehend what just happened.
"Be careful Louise…" She said more to herself than anybody else, before she ran to catch up with them.
(end scene)
In the main office located in the Tristain Magic Academy. The Headmaster Osmond, was trying to relax. But whenever he wanted to take a puff from his pipe, his- very sexy- secretary would take it from him. Then when he would try to reclaim it, she would often blame him for groping her!
Why would she blame him for that! It's not his fault that he's becoming all senile in his old age. But then again, he could agree that maybe his hand "slipped" and the resulting "accident" let him grope her. Either way, it was nobody's fault.
Hearing the all too familiar squeak from his familiar Chuchu, he bent down and held his left hand parallel to the floor so he could climb onto it. After Chuchu climbed on, Osmond stood up straight, as the little mouse climbed onto his shoulder to whisper in his ear.
"Ah, so its cotton white today?" A few squeaks from Chuchu confirmed it.
"Well that's a shame, I think Miss Longueville would look much better in lacy black… What do you think?" A few squeaks was his only reply.
"Oh, I agree that would be much better. What a clever little mouse you are." Before Osmond could go any further into his wild fantasies about what would be appropriate for Miss Longueville to wear. He felt the all too familiar sting of her sandal hitting the side of his face.
The look of anger and embarrassment on her face almost made his fantasies not worth it… Almost.
But Miss Longueville was furious! This was the tenth time this week she's caught Old man Osmond sneaking a peak at her undergarments. If only the pay wasn't as good, she would've quit by now. But alas the pay was too good to pass up. But had she known she would have to put up with this… Well she would've walked away before she sat down.
"Mister Osmond," Her face was dripping with rage. "I have told you time and time again, will you stop looking at my panties!"
Right before she could give Old man Osmond his well-deserved punishment, there was a knock at the door.
"Headmaster Osmond! May I come in, it's very urgent!" Came the all too familiar voice of Professor Colbert.
Miss Longville gave Osmond one last hateful glare before returning to her desk and sitting down. Like-wise Osmond got up and returned to his chair as well. Giving Chuchu a peanut he called to the door. "You may come in."
Opening the door as quickly as he could, Professor Colbert entered the Headmaster's office and quickly shut the door. After practically throwing himself at Osmond's desk, he stood up straight and took a breath to steady himself.
"What is to today Professor Colbert? Do you need another research grant for an expedition or for one your crazy inventions?" This is usually why he was in the office for, but before he could reach into his desk to pull out the necessary papers, Professor Colbert shook his head.
"Not today headmaster. Instead there is a fight that's about to go on in the Vestri court and many members of the staff request to use the Bell of Slumber."
"Ah, to use such an object for a scuffle between kids. No, they will work it out themselves." Osmond wasn't the least bit concerned. This usually happens once every now and again. Some kid wants to prove his superiority or defending a young maiden's honor. But thankfully such things were few and far between, and usually- so long as family honor hasn't been called into play- one person would usually concede before the fight could begin, because they feared what the punishment would be if they went through it.
"But sir, the fight is between Guiche da Gramont and Louise Valliere!" Professor Colbert was beginning to sound desperate. If Osmond won't stop this fight then he will.
That caused Osmond to sit up a little bit straighter. Louise was the third and youngest daughter of Karin "Heavy Wind" Valliere. And Osmond, was a very powerful wizard in his own right but Karin Valliere was on a whole different level then him. There were and still are rumours floating around the Manticore Knights that if anyone even thinks about insubordination, that she'll show up on her Manticore and personally put them through hell. And considering what Louise's magic could do, well then maybe he will authorise the use of the Bell of Slumber.
"How does Louise intend to fight?" Osmond's voice was at the verge of cracking and he knew that this was a stupid question but he had to make sure.
"The students are saying that she's planning to fight with that familiar of hers." That caused Osmond to let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. If she wasn't using her magic then at least they could avoid any major injuries.
"Sir, please authorise the use of the Bell of Slumber." Colbert spoke with a note of finality that meant, "Either you stop this fight or I will." And it did make Miss Longueville flinch a little but Osmond returned Colbert's stare with one of his own.
"You worry too much Professor Colbert. And besides this is a golden opportunity." Osmond's voice became more relaxed and calm after saying that it threw Colbert for a loop.
"What do you mean Headmaster?"
"What I mean is, that this is a golden opportunity to see what Louise's familiar is capable of." Getting up from his desk he turned to the window that overlooked the Vestri court. "If it looks like Louise is going to suffer any major injuries, then I give you permission to stop the fight any way you seem fit… Is that fair?"
"Yes, Headmaster, that is fair." Colbert reluctantly agreed. He would rather stop the fight before any injuries were sustained but he too was curious about what Louise's familiar of capable of.
Even Miss, Longueville came to the window to see what was going to happen. Depending on what happened during this fight, would determine how to act accordingly in the future.
(end scene)
The Vestri court was abuzz with excitement. Every single student knew the rule about fighting between Noble's was not allowed but did that rule really apply to Louise the Zero? Since, all she could was just cause explosions and nothing else. So she was a noble by name and blood but not magic. But a few students- mainly Kirche and Tabitha- didn't want to see Louise to get any major injuries. So they would step in if they thought that she was in over her head.
Louise just stood there. Holding her familiar vertically and standing across from her was Guiche. He held his rose wand in his right hand and was looking pretty smug. Like he knew he already won this fight.
"I commend you for not running away Louise the Zero. But it is pointless, there is no way that you can beat me. A proper Noble and mage." Giving a few overdramatic flicks of his rose and hair he continued. "But I must admit, your courage is admirable. So I'll give you this one chance to surrender."
Louise wanted to surrender, but her family's honor had been called into question. She after placing the mask known as "Rule of Steel", on her face she stared Guiche directly in the eyes and told him. "I will not, surrender."
Nodding his head in acknowledgment he flicked his rose once, a single petal fell down and once it touched the ground, a valkyrie appeared.
"You already know my runic name is "Guiche the Brass". So, therefore a brass golem, a Valkyrie shall be your opponent."
Louise lifted her familiar and got into the standard position one would use when wielding this type of weapon. Putting left hand closer to the pummel and her right hand closer to the tsuba she bent her knees just a little as she got into the "guard position". "And I shall fight by using my familiar."
That got the crowd whispering. Louise was going to fight without magic like a commoner? Was she stupid or something? Others were curious about what her familiar was capable of, but the consensus of the crowd was, what on Earth, was she thinking?
Then the stare down began. Each waiting for the other to make the first move. Unsurprisingly, it was Guiche who made the first move. "Charge!" And that's exactly what the golem did.
The golem extended its right hand to land a punch directly on Louise's face. But Louise ducked under the blow then stabbed upwards into the chest of the golem, and the force was actually enough to make the golem fall flat on its back. Louise shifted her hands position so she could stab downwards instead of upwards.
After holding her familiar in the chest of the fallen golem, it broke apart into multiple pieces signaling its defeat. Louise pulled her familiar from the remains and reset her stance. She knew Guiche wasn't going to surrender and she knew that charging would prove to be futile. She would keep fighting the golems until either he gave up or ran out of willpower.
Guiche, as well as the crowd was stunned. Louise was able to beat the golem… Without magic! That sort of thing was unheard of. Louise could do what others could not! But Guiche took this as a personal insult. He was being bested by Louise the Zero. It would be very humiliating if he lost.
"I commend you for taking care of that golem Louise." Flipping his cape and taking a breath he continued. "But let us see how you handle two at once."
Flicking his rose again and releasing two petals, he gave Louise a smirk that just dripped with confidence. As the two golems materialised, - one holding a lance and the other a sword/ shield combo- he pointed his rose at Louise again, and without any words needing to be spoken they both charged at her.
The golem with the lance lifted the lance above its shoulder, and had its left hand leading and the right hand trailing. This position was designed so one could stab downwards into the heart.
But Louise saw this coming and grabbed her familiar like one would grab oars and used the shaft to deflect it to the side and stabbed into the left shoulder of the golem, causing it to stagger, but before she could continue her assault, the other golem came and did a down stroke with its sword.
Louise barely jumped back in time to avoid the blow. She knew she was at a slight disadvantage with this one. For one, it had a sword, which means it would get inside her attack range and the other was that it held a shield. That shield would prove to be most difficult, for now it could protect itself from most of her attacks.
The Golem came again and performed a diagonal slash to the right, which Louise ducked underneath and did a spin to the left and performed a whirlwind that connected with the golem's legs causing it to lose its balance and fall down on its back. This gave Louise the opportunity to defeat her opponent but the other golem recovered and deflected the blow that would've defeated her fallen opponent.
Performing the spear circle, she returned her hands to their original positions and performed a diagonal slash, across the golem's chest. Spinning around so she could connect her right foot with the fallen golem's head to try and keep it down was, probably the worst idea she could've came up with.
There was a resounding cracking noise and the pain that she felt in her foot meant that she probably broke several toes. But it did result in what she wanted to happen, and refusing to give up, because the golem that was holding the lance, had its back turned to her. She took this opportunity to perform the whirlwind technique in which case one would spin the naginata/spear above their heads to create a perimeter around themselves and perform a thrust movement. But she adapted it so she could decapitate the wounded golem.
There was the sound of metal hitting metal and several fallen scraps of brass was all that was left of the golem who wielded the lance. Turning around Louise saw the other one just barely got up and was open. Taking this opportunity she charged at the golem and in a downwards stabbing motion and hit dead center in the chest, causing it to also shatter.
Louise was starting to get tired. She was panting a little, and using her familiar as an impromptu crutch to take off some of the weight off her right foot did help, but she was getting tired. Sweat began to drip down her face, not a whole lot but enough that it was clearly visible to everyone.
Guiche knew he was in trouble, but with Louise injured and looking tired, he knew that he could beat her. He didn't need to hurt her, he just had to outlast her.
"Very good Louise, you are doing quite well. But let's see if you can handle this!"
Flicking his rose once more, petals began to fall. Louise thought that he would summon three, but she was completely shocked when Guiche summoned seven… Seven golems! Each of them with a sword and shield combo!
Louise did her best to grin and bear it but the pain in her foot would make it damn-near impossible to fight off all of them. But she got back into the guard stance regardless. If she was going to lose, she would do it by fighting until she was rendered unconscious.
Guiche gave an all knowing smirk. He knew he won, but still Louise the Zero was still going to fight? Well, not wanting to deny her request he pointed his wand at her and at once a rain of blows began to come down upon her.
Louise was on the defensive but even then she was still getting pummeled. For every two blows she blocked, four would hit her. But a particularly nasty blow to her nose made her lose her balance and she began to fall down.
So this is how she loses? To be beaten but at least she didn't embarrass the family name. With that thought Louise closed her eyes and accepted the inevitable.
(end scene)
Louise expected a lot of things to happen when she woke up. She expected to either be in the Vestri court, being tended to oby Montmorency until a more qualified water mage came by, or to be inside the school's infirmary being tended too by the nurse. However, she did not expect to wake up on the same cloud as she did in her dream. But something felt off. Looking up, she then knew why. The city was empty. Nobody was out and about in the marketplace, no one was walking around. In fact it looked like everybody was too scared to come out. Getting up she began to look around the city until she heard the familiar voice of the woman behind her.
"Back so soon, Louise."
Turning around she was once more confronted with the hooded woman. Now, many questions were swirling around in her mind but the most obvious one was. "How did I get here?"
"We don't have much time." She sounded a little impatient, and Louise was now very confused?"
"What do you mean, we don't have much time?"
"Louise, in this place, time is irrelevant. I saw how you were fighting, and it seems like you very close to beating that Guiche person. But may I ask you something." Pausing for a brief moment she lifted her head and looked directly at Louise. "How long to you tend to sleep?"
Louise was confused about why she would ask such a ridiculous question but nonetheless answered her. "I sleep for nine hours… why?"
"Like a said, in this place, time is irrelevant. In your dreams, you can compress an entire year into one night. But we were able to compress only two weeks into that single night. That's why you were able to beat those two golems." Taking a breath she continued. "But now, that doesn't seem like your training is going to be enough, so you need to learn how to release your reiatsu."
"Reiatsu? What's that?"
"In simpler terms it's called "Spirit Energy." It has many capabilities but the most powerful one is that,- depending on how powerful it is- it can make you impervious to most attacks. Which is why we don't have much time." She lowered her head once more. "You have 2.3 seconds before you hit the ground, so that gives us twenty minutes. And that's twenty minutes to try and release/ control your reiatsu."
(end scene)
Fourteen minutes in and Louise still couldn't release your spirit energy. And the hooded woman was not helping that much. She just stood by and watched Louise constantly fail at fluctuating her spirit energy.
"You must have control over your emotions and feelings. I've told you this." The hooded woman reminded Louise… for the fifteenth time!
"I know! But it's not that easy!" Louise snapped back. She's been trying this for the past fifteen minutes and she still couldn't feel anything. "Just what am I doing wrong?"
"It's your technique." Came a voice that was feminine, slightly distorted and seemingly out of nowhere.
"Did you say something?" Louise turned to face the hooded woman who had a pained expression upon her face, like she was having a heart attack.
"Shut up. Right now." The hooded woman's voice was angry. That must she could tell but she also didn't know why it was.
"She has all the steps down, but it's her technique that is off. You know this." That same distorted voice again. But a quick look around showed that no one was there.
"What's wrong with my technique?" Louise asked the voice. If it knew what was wrong, then she could correct it, learn it and master it.
"Louise, don't encourage her. She's just using you. Don't listen to her!" The hooded woman's voice took on more anger but there was an undertone of pain and stress as well.
Louise decided to ignore the hooded woman, and listen to that strange voice instead. "What is wrong with my technique?"
"It's simple really, you have all the steps down. Clear your mind, focus solely of the power, feel it within you, and release it. But you're technique is wrong."
"And how do I correct that?"
"Simple, imagine your reiatsu as a spring. That spring is in the middle of your body and it has many rivers. Now imagine those rivers run like blood vessels throughout your body. Let the power run through the entirety of your being. Feel them swell with power and like an erupting geyser, let it explode outwards."
Louise did just that, she focused on an imaginary spring inside her, she then let that spring have rivers that spread throughout her body. She felt something. If she had to explain it, it was like a tingling sensation that ran all across her body. And just like the voice she imagined the spring erupting in a geyser, and all around her she could she a ripples of power had the color of alizarin crimson exhausting from the ground around her feet in a half meter radius.
The ripples of power also caused her hair and clothes to billow like it was being lifted by air. This was all very strange to her, but she imagined the geyser to stop erupting and immediately it stopped flowing. She looked over at the hooded woman, but she had a bit of an angry expression on her face, and Louise thought she heard her say "she's not ready yet, give her more time." But quickly dismissed it.
The hooded woman looked over at Louise and said, "You got three minutes left, so don't waste them."
Three minutes doesn't seem like a lot of time, but in those three minutes Louise's original time to fluctuate her reiastu has increased to the point where she could instantly summon up her reiatsu. Also she also learned how to focus it around certain parts of her body including her familair, and how fast it exhausted from her. All in all, she felt pretty good about herself.
"We'll practise more tonight, but right now you still need to finish a certain fight."
And with that Louise left to continue her fight with Guiche, but the hooded woman looked up towards the city above. "I hate it when it's this quiet… And your yelling and screaming is not helping either."
(end scene)
Louise opened her eyes and saw that she was still falling. But before she could hit the ground, she extended her left leg backwards and was able to catch herself before she hit fell too far back.
This surprised everyone because they thought that she lost this fight, but Louise surprised everyone, because she stood up straight and released her reiatsu.
The resulting shock wave was enough to make all the golems take several steps back. But all eyes were on Louise. They could not believe it how she was doing that. A red energy was swirling around her and it was rising up like a geyser of water.
And for whatever reason, it felt like this pressure was forcing them down, and making it hard to breath. The crowd's breath was catching in their throats, and it was becoming hard to stand up.
Guiche was taken aback by this but he still believed that he could win. He had numbers on his side, and no matter, Louise would still lose either way. So raising his rose dramatically over his head, he pointed straight at Louise.
Every golem charged at her but Louise manipulated the reiatsu around her naginata and once again performed the spear whirlwind technique but this time when Louise did it, she performed a diagonal slash and a wave of the red energy shot out from her familiar and decimated four of the seven golems. It cut them cleanly in half and still kept going until it hit the surrounding wall.
In an explosion of dust and debris left a good scar on the wall. Now everybody took a good ten steps back. They didn't want to be any closer than they had to be, and it also help alleviate some of the pressure that they were feeling. But, Guiche was beginning to sweat. He knew that wand less magic existed but this didn't feel like any magic that he knew about. It felt, different, more powerful. Flicking his wand to summon four more golems to replace the ones he lost, he wordlessly commanded them to charge at her again.
Many people expected Louise to do many things, like release another crescent wave of that red energy, or attacking all the golems at once. But they were baffled when she just stood there and let the blows hit her.
But the strange thing about this, is that people could see the brass getting bent and damaged while Louise just stood there like nothing was happening. She once again released another pulse of her reiatsu and pushed them all back. Gathering it around her naginata she did a stabbing motion and a line of energy shot through one golem, and continuing this motion she performed a whirlwind whip, releasing another crescent ark of energy and destroying three more golems.
Guiche was at his limit. He was running out of willpower, and golems. If worst came to worse, he could always summon a sword but what good would that do against Louise. Especially with that strange energy pulsating around her. His heart nearly stopped when she destroyed another two golems by stabbing one through the chest and spun to the side, releasing more of the energy and destroying the second last one.
Calling back the single golem, Guiche created a simple brass sword. Lousie was not the only one who could fight with commoner's weapon. But the reason that he did that, was the same reason why Louise didn't surrender when she was outnumbered. If he was going to lose, he would at least go out fighting.
Louise charged both Guiche and his golem. She easily destroyed the golem by stabbing it while her reiatsu was circling the blade but not releasing a line of energy. She quickly made the geyser inside of her stop erupting, making all the energy swirling around her blade dissipate and then she charged at Guiche.
She easily knocked away the sword that he was wielding in his faltering grip, and stood with the blade of her naginata pointing directly at his heart. She looked directly into his eyes and said one word. "Yield."
Guiche knew he was beaten. So he bowed his head and replied. "I yield."
Taking the blade away from his heart was, she planted the pummel firmly on the ground and immediately… Began to scream about the pain coming off from her foot!
It took everyone a few seconds for everyone to comprehend what just happened. Louise was able to summon up a strange energy substance, totally wash the floor with Guiche and then… scream about the pain coming from her foot?
Montmorency, was quick to respond. She bent down and used her water magic to heal Louise's foot, and Louise appeared very grateful for that. "Thank you Montmorency."
Montmorency stood up straight, took a step back and replied, "You're welcome."
After that was done, Louise was immediately attacked by Kirche, Siesta, Tabitha, Sylphid and Flame. But over the screaming, arguments and protests, Miss Longueville came and stood in front of Louise. Which caused everybody to go silent.
"Louise Francoise." Her voice was calm and collected, and that made Louise subconsciously flinch. "The headmaster would like a word."
(Omake)
The Book of Mages, chapter 2
Hello, everybody. My name is Guiche da Gramont." Guiche used his rose wand and wrote his name in perfect cursive. "And this is my very lovely assistant Montmorency Margarita la Fere de Montmorency."
"Hello everyone." Montmorency gave a curtsy and levitated the chalk and wrote her name also. "Today were going to be talking about Runic Names."
"As most of you should probably know, Runic Names are given to mages based off their talent in magic." Gucihe levitated the chalk and wrote under his name, once again in perfect cursive 'Guiche the Brass.' "My runic name is Guiche the Brass, because I'm able to create brass valkyries."
Given an overdramatic flip of hair and cape flair, Guiche continued. "It must be destiny to be given a name based off of one's incredible talents."
"Then maybe they should call you, "Guiche, the two-timer" instead." Montmorency stated in a deadpan voice.
That caused Guiche to freeze with a horrified expression on his face. "But Montmorency!"
A/N: The most difficult thing about this chapter was coming up with a color for Louise's reiatsu. If anyone has any suggestions for a color that they think would be better please don't be afraid to PM me. Now as for the amount of reiatsu she has, you're just going to have to read and find out.
I'm still having trouble deciding what her bankai is going to be. So please be patient about that. Also I'm posting a poll to decide what color Louise's reiatsu color will be. I will make the change for chapter 4.
As always, please, review, favorite and follow.
Until next time!