The Foundation Must be True

by Tankred

In an attempt to summon the best familiar she could, Louise altered the words of the summoning for maximum power. What she summoned was something that had never before been seen in this world, and now she has an army at her beck and call. Nothing will ever be the same. Tiberium Universe.

7. Aftermath Part II

Hmm, so I couldn't find much regarding enchanted weapons in the ZnT universe, despite poking through spacebattles. All I could really find is that there were magical weapons, some of which had gained legendary status, such as Derflinger, but nothing on how they were made. So once again I made something up that I thought would make sense for the setting and as always, any comments about it are very welcome.

I'm now also more aware of how money works in Halkeginia, although there seems to be little consistency of the exact values even in the novels. I'll admit I haven't read them myself, but the page on spacebattles I've been looking at says that in volume 4, chapter 3 "...700 in Écu gold coins. An amount of money a commoner could use to live five to six years" and v9c5 "...the living expenses in Tristain per person was 120 Écu." each suggest that a typical commoner lives off about 120 Écu a year.

Economics are a pain in the ass!

"New Gold" is also mentioned every so often, but no real exchange rate between new gold and Écu seems to exist besides the fact that the new gold has a value of 2/3 of an Écu. As you might imagine, this is causing me quite a bit of a headache! When I set the price for the smaller, non-canon blades in the earlier chapter I just looked at what the prices for the full sword was and tried to make an estimate what a smaller weapon would cost like. I most likely overshot by quite a margin, which has been bothering me a little since I do try to make an effort to make this as realistic as I can.

So, I've been thinking that I'll simply go on using the Écu as well as adding the Sous (silver) and the Denier (copper) with the proper rates for them from now on. I'll eventually go back and fix the earlier chapters, but I'll be putting in extra effort to be more correct from now on!

---

Chapter 7

Aftermath Part II

---

"Yes, I am a talking sword." the sword pointed out helpfully in a lazy drawl once the noise had died back down to normal levels. Although it was more because they all could only yell for so long before they started getting light-headed than anything else.

"Any other obvious thing ya wanna point out, or are ya gonna keep screamin'?"

This successfully deflated whatever they had been building up and just came out as a loud exhale as their brains caught up with what they were seeing. For a few moments, the only thing that was heard was the humming of the many fans and systems of the Nod Central Intelligence Center, and Tabitha turning pages.

"What's with all the red an' black in here, anyways?" the sword asked loudly, confusion clear in its voice. In stark difference to Legion's steady rumble which was clearly not even trying to sound human, the voice coming from the sword was that of a middle-aged man with a bit of an echo, as if he was speaking while standing in a sewage pipe. Accompanying this was the faint but steady click of the quillon tapping against the crossguard every time it spoke.

Predictably, the person who managed to pull themselves out of their surprise first was Professor Colbert, who leaned forward in his seat to get a better look at the sword. "A magically sentient, intelligent sword! I've heard of such things existing, but I've never had the chance to see one!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"That's right, Baldie!" the sword clicked in a triumphant tone.

"H-hey!" Colbert stammered in surprise as he ran his hand over his head self-consciously, he'd never been insulted by a magical sword before!

"Hooh?" Kirche said, leaning in to get a better look with her hands resting on her hips. "Looks a bit shabby for a magical weapon, I would've expected it to be fancier looking than this."

The quillon clicked up and down a few times in surprised irritation. "Oi! Watch what you're sayin'! I'm the Legendary Blade, Derflinger dun'cha know!?"

"Ooooh!" Louise exclaimed in excitement as she crouched down next to where the sword was leaning against a console, actually rather happy with having received a talking sword. Had she summoned anything or anyone other than Legion she would most likely have been annoyed with it, but she was quite used to otherwise inanimate objects speaking at this point.

Although they had been created since the time of Brimir, magical weapons were rare and often expensive due to the time and effort required to make them. Since they were usually made from metal and on some rare occasions stone, an earth mage was always required to lay the primary enchantment. A blade that neither dulled nor broke was optimal in battle, thus these were always put on first (unless it was a mace, but most people seemed to prefer bladed weapons for some reason). They were also necessary if you wanted a fancier type of magical weapon with elemental properties, as the metal in itself did simply not have the integrity to hold that much power without breaking under the pressure. Many would-be enchanters had found their careers coming to a sudden stop when the sword they were trying to enchant with fire exploded in their faces, usually scattering white-hot shrapnel around like a grenade.

Despite this however, they had long been popular for their superior qualities, but it had waned quite a bit with the invention of the sword-wand, particularly with the mage knights. Even then it was not unusual to still find quite the collections of them in the private armories of wealthy nobles, particularly the old families with a history of battle. They were especially prized by the commoners as they required no inherent magic to be used, the only thing limiting their widespread use was the fact that even the cheapest of them would still cost you a year's salary.

"Why didn't you tell me it was a magic sword, Professor?" Louise asked curiously as she poked at the moving quillon with her index finger, making the sword click in annoyance.

"Oi! Stop that, girlie!"

"I didn't know it was magical." Colbert said honestly as he raised an eyebrow at the now obviously enchanted weapon. "Nor did the shopkeeper seem to, as he sold me not only the sword but the accessories for 70 Écu."

"That's... not very much, at all." Kirche frowned. "You'd think that you'd check if a weapon you had in stock were magical or not, that's just common sense."

Finding a magical sword for less than 180 Écu was amazing, for him to have been able to purchase a sentient magical sword for less than half of that was nothing short of a miracle. It simply did not happen.

Tabitha was the only one to narrow her brows in a frown, hidden behind her book. She could accept that this thing that la Vallière had summoned came from another world, the evidence was clear all around her. There wasn't a single thing here that she could consider even remotely familiar, not the chair she sat in, the floor it stood on, the way the room was lit, or even the very scents in the air. But that she also somehow managed to get a talking sword from a back-alley weapon shop from the outer parts of Tristania? It was simply too much to be a coincidence, too good to be true. Something odd was going on here, and she wasn't sure what.

"Pah!" Derflinger snorted, annoyance clear in every word he spoke and each hard click of his quillon. "That stupid shopkeeper knew alright, he just didn't have th' brains ta realize what he had! He probably sold me for cheap so I'd stop annoying his customers."

"Did you?" Louise asked curiously to the sword as she drew it from the sheath once more, making sure to brace herself this time.

"Kek! Kek!" the sword snickered. "Of course I did. You saw his collection, didn't ya, pinkie? All he had was crappy merchandize, rusty an' dented or just poor quality. He jus' hated it when I pointed it out to his customers!" it laughed gleefully, having enjoyed it thoroughly every single time he made that old man stomp his feet in anger after having lost a customer. "Even those shiny things he liked ta try an' sell were crappy quality jus' made ta look shiny. They'd break th' first time ya swung it, guaranteed!"

"So, then why didn't you say anything when miss Vallière found you?" Colbert asked curiously, still having trouble making sense of it all.

"'Cause I was asleep, duh!" Derflinger clacked. "That shop was so boring, I could sleep fer weeks on end sometimes!"

"Swords sleep?" Kirches asked a perplexedly from where she was standing, now next to Tabitha, not wanting to be close to Louise as she swung the talking sword around.

"Of course we do! What'cha think sheaths are for?" clacking a few times in quick succession as Louise slashed at an imaginary opponent. "Hey, girlie! What'cha doin' that for?" it said irritably. "Better put me down before ya hurt someone with those wild swings!"

Now Louise was getting a little annoyed at the sword, the novelty of it slowly wearing off, his comments slowly but surely starting to grate on her nerves. Legion wasn't much of a problem because he always spoke with respect and dignity, in enormous contrast to the crudeness of this sentient piece of steel.

"Hey!" she grumbled at the sword as she stopped swinging and held it up in front of her, glaring at the rather smug-looking quillon. "Is that any way to talk to your new Master?"

The sword wasn't very impressed though, clear in its dismissive reply. "Aren't you s'posed to be a Noble, Girly? Go back to swinging yer wand and havin' tea parties and hand me to yer familiar instead!"

"Which part?" Kirche asked innocently, even as the corners of her mouth pulled up in a smirk. She could tell that Louise was nearing the point where she might do something rash and as much as she enjoyed seeing the pinkette get worked up in fury, it wasn't worth getting a sword flung at you.

"Ya stupid or sumethin'?" the sword huffed indignantly. "The hands, of course!"

"Oh?" she replied as her smirk grew to a grin. "You're inside it right now, you see any hands anywhere?"

"Wha-wha-what?" Derflinger spluttered in confusion, his quillon staying in open position for a few moments. "What'cha mean we're inside it!? Ya can't summon a freakin' building as a familiar!"

"Hmph!" Louise said with a slight sniff. She was happy it was finally put in its place, but at the same time annoyed that the Germanian had been the one to do it. "Who the hell do you think I am, you rustbucket?" she taunted the sword in her hands. "I am Louise de la Vallière! A Noble of my caliber isn't limited to your petty ideals of what can and can't be summoned!"

She closed her eyes in victory, waiting for the inevitable comeback, but frowned when nothing came from the sword. Looking at it, she saw that the quillon sat unmoving just as it had when she first got it, looking for all intents and purposes like an ordinary sword once again.

"Hey, sword!" she shouted, shaking it a few times and getting increasingly annoyed when no response came. "Answer me!"

"I think you broke it, Vallière." Kirche chuckled, earning her the customary glare from Louise.

"Shut up, Zerbst!" she hissed furiously as she threw the sword on the grated floor with a clang, waking up Siesta who had actually fallen asleep in her chair despite the animated discussion. "Whuzzup?" she muttered groggily even as Louise stomped off deeper into the building, hearing a door hiss open and then close once more as she passed through.

"Nothing unusual, just miss Zerbst annoying miss Vallière again." Colbert said as if it was an everyday occurrence (which it was) and leaned down to pick up the sword, turning it around in his hands. "Derflinger?" he called out to it, but when no response came he shrugged and slid it back in its sheath.

"Oh don't worry about her." Kirche shrugged nonchalantly. "This happens to her all the time, she'll be back to normal in a little bit."

"Either way, I still haven't gotten what I came here for." Colbert said while pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation, earning a sheepish grin from Kirche. "Oh, right. Sorry Professor."

At that point, Tabitha had enough of all this and closed her book with a loud clap. The dim lighting was difficult to read in, and she had a report that needed writing. "Leaving." she said simply as she began to walk towards the exit.

"Ah, wait up Tabitha!" Kirche called out as she hurried to follow her short friend, leaving only Colbert and Siesta in the room.

A few seconds passed in silence before the maid finally spoke up over the faint humming and occasional beeping of the systems around them. "Should we go after her, Professor?" she asked, hesitation in her voice.

"Yes, that's probably for the best." he sighed. "Although I have no clue where she went."

"Oh, um..." Siesta frowned for a moment, tilting her head in thought before her eyes suddenly widened as a thought struck her. "Professor, perhaps Sir Legion knows where she went?"

"Ah!" he exclaimed, having forgotten all about the presence of the mysterious familiar during all the commotion around the sword. He'd even stopped noticing the comlink still attached to his ear, a testament to whoever engineered the thing.

"You're right miss Siesta! Well, er..." he faltered slightly for a moment. "Legion? Are you there?" he asked straight out into the air as he'd seen Louise do, despite not being able to shake how strange it felt to do so.

"Yes, Professor?" came the immediate response, once more making the two twitch a little as his voice resounded in their ears. They'd mostly ignored it while talking to him earlier, but now that the excitement had worn off it struck them once again how very... different his voice was, compared to that of ordinary people.

"Do you know where miss Vallière went?" he asked slowly he stood up, followed by Siesta a moment later.

"Yes Professor. The Master is currently in the kitchens one level below your position."

Siesta lit up slightly at the mention of a familiar location even while surrounded by so much that she couldn't even begin to recognize. "I guess this place wasn't made to be staffed entirely by golems, then?" she thought to herself with a smile.

"Good! Well, uhm..." he trailed off once again, looking around for a second and frowned as he didn't spot anything resembling stairs. "How do we get down to the kitchens, exactly?".

---

Louise sat alone at a rather small table in a rather large room that she found at the very back of the subterranean building.

After she had left the CIC in fury, she had simply walked deeper and deeper into the building that held the mind of her her familiar, eventually coming across a large room that reminded her ever so slightly of the Dining Hall at the Academy. Legion had identified it as a Mess Hall, although she was completely clueless as to why it was called that, as no matter where she looked the place was absolutely spotless!

Curiosity overtook anger as she wandered past two rows of large tables, each big enough to seat at least twenty, and a long counter of some sort that ran along the entire length of the back wall. The place was brightly lit as opposed to the dark red illumination that she'd seen elsewhere, supplied by glowing strips in the ceiling that had flickered on when she first entered the room. The chairs and tables were still red and black, but the floor was some kind of beige color that sounded vaguely like stone when she walked on it.

Beyond the counter was what Louise could only assume were the kitchens. Although they were lacking any form of cooking fires, it was hard to mistake the many working surfaces and racks of knives as anything else. Cabinets lined the space underneath and above both sinks and counters, bottom rows interspaced every so often with sets of drawers than only seemed to come in sizes of large and very large. Finally, the floors and walls were covered in some manner of white tiles that appeared to be made of porcelain, which struck her as rather odd.

Who the hell furnished things out of porcelain when you had access to marble?

She spent a couple minutes examining the many oddities of the kitchen, checking inside the various drawers and cabinets purely out of curiosity. Some of what she had assumed to be some very large cabinets were in fact ice boxes, ice-less ice boxes no less! Some were small but at least two were entire rooms, packed from floor to ceiling with frozen foodstuffs on long shelves.

Louise's thin summer uniform gave very little protection against the chill found in the small but very cold room, having never even imagined there could be such a thing, but at the same time curious about it. "Brrr!" she said shivering, rubbing her arms as she looked over the many bags and boxes. "Why is it so cold in here?"

"You are standing inside an industrial freezer, Master. Their purpose is to be cold storage for otherwise perishable foods, allowing for them to last longer without spoiling. I would not recommend that you stay in there for too long, or you may start to suffer ill effects."

She nodded enthusiastically and quickly made her way out of it and closed the heavy, insulated door behind her with a quick. Breathing a sigh of relief when she felt warmth starting to seep back into her limbs, she continued exploring the room. Eventually she pulled open a large drawer, which opened very easily despite its size, finding rows upon rows of small boxes sitting within it.

"Legion," she said curiously as she took out one of them, apparently made out of some sort of hard, paper-like material with something written on it in characters she couldn't read. "what am I looking at, exactly?"

"That is a cardboard box of flour, Master."

"Huh." she muttered, squinting at the strange, vertical characters that didn't even resemble the properly slanted, Brimiric runes she was used to. "This says flour?"

"Enriched Wheat Flour, Master."

"Ok-aay." she said slowly, not entirely sure if she wanted to know what "enriched" meant. Putting it down she pulled out another box. "What about this?"

"Powdered Cocoa."

Louise shook her head as she put it back where she found it, closing the large drawer in which it was kept. "I have no idea what that even is." she admitted. "I take it these are supplies for the people meant to work here?"

"Yes Master, the Mess Hall is where the Ranked Officers ate their meals together, regular soldiers were served at the barracks within the Hand of Nod."

"I see." She muttered as she spotted a small table off in one of the corners that looked like it could seat maybe six people, probably intended for the cooks to have their meals at before preparing everyone else's. She walked over to it intending to sit down after walking around so much, but had to pause and examine the very curious-looking chairs that was set alongside the table. They still followed the general shape of a chair with four legs, a seat and a backrest, but the way they curved this way and that looked extraordinarily strange to her. Most chairs that she'd seen in her life were either of the stuffed armchair type, or the high-backed dinner chairs, usually with round, cushioned seats. These had no cushions, but their seats curved downwards ever-so slightly with the same thing mirrored in the backrest which also went up a little at the bottom.

This made her very curious although she didn't quite understand why they looked like that until she actually sat down in one. Louise almost shivered in delight as a series of pops raced up her spine when her back came to rest against the ergonomic curves of the chair, these things were amazingly comfortable! After a few moments of this she leaned forward with a sigh and folded her arms on top of the table, letting her head rest in them as the memories of earlier started creeping back now that her mind was no longer occupied. Stupid sword and stupid Zerbst, the fact that they hadn't actually ganged up on her was only the smallest of consolations.

"Master, are you still feeling upset? I could play you some music if you wish it."

"Not this time, Legion." she said quietly, muffled by her arms. She still felt a little irritated but mostly she was tired of how things still didn't quite go her way, even after staying true to her promise to summon an amazing familiar. Although he was both unswervingly loyal, supportive and extraordinarily capable, he was incapable of offering her even the most basic of physical comforts. Which she could have really needed right now.

"Would you like me to make something for you, then?"

Louise raised her head from her arms, raising an eyebrow. While it wasn't surprising to her that he could also cook, it wasn't exactly what she'd expected to hear. "You have tea down here?" she asked hopefully. Some tea would be nice right now.

"Not at this time, Master. However, I can prepare something else for you using the ingredients available."

Thus, Louise was introduced to one of the greatest wonders that Earth had ever produced.

Mess halls had come a long way since the days of the late 19th century when all food basically came in large tin cans which were then heated up and sometimes seasoned a little by the army cooks. Cooks were still used of course, as Nod was hardly blind to the positive effects that good food had on troop morale as well as the dietary needs of men and women who fought for them. An army marched on its stomach after all, and quite a bit of research went into making the act of cooking both quicker and more efficient in the form of computer-assisted automations in the kitchens themselves.

At first the advancements had been simple things, like programmable stoves to heat food at a certain temperature for a specific length of time, and dispensers for ingredients so that the cooks could in advance set things to start up on their own. This freed them to do other things that were still considered to require human touch, like cutting vegetables and trimming meat.

These automated kitchens grew increasingly more sophisticated as the years went by, enabling even the regular run-of-the-mill soldier to get excellent food even while out in the field. Although he never admitted it out loud to anyone but Legion, Kane was quite pleased with this as it made it easier to attract people from the more desperate areas of the yellow and red zones, its people a lot more willing to fight and die for someone who gave them food than someone who did not.

As the fighting got increasingly desperate however, cooks became more hesitant to follow the Nod troops out into the front lines as they used to. They were cooks and not soldiers after all, so after a certain point they began to design the automated kitchens to operate entirely on their own based on recipes and digital algorithms to mimic the actions of cooks. Therefore, Louise only had to watch as a rather unremarkable cup were placed underneath the tap of a strange device with many knobs and switches covering its surface, and filled to the brim with a rich, dark brown liquid. A spindly, mechanical arm then descended from the ceiling and picked up the cup and deposited it in front of her without spilling a single drop of its precious contents.

She had had many things in her life that were indeed fine in both quality and favor, but the rich aroma of chocolate, with its distinctive balance of bitterness and sweetness was completely new to her. And when Colbert and Siesta found her only a few minutes later, she was sitting at the table with a dreamy smile on her face and an empty mug in her hands.

Colbert was a little worried when he saw the dreamy, borderline drugged look on his student's face walked over to her. He didn't think Legion would have under any circumstance tried to intentionally poison his master, but Founder only knew what effects something from another world could have on her. Who even knew how substances from a place so different could affect people from this world, where those crops didn't might not even exist in the first place!

"Miss Vallière? Are you alright?" he asked her, noting with some relief that she seemed to quickly shake off the effect of whatever Legion had given her to drink.

"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm fine Professor!" she replied with a happy smile.

This was mostly due to a certain bitter alkaloid found naturally in, but not exclusive to, the cacao plant known as Theobromine. It wasn't quite as effective as caffeine (although it was in the same group) in stimulating the central nervous system, it still had a significant bliss-inducing effect when combined with sugar.

Me likey! Her brain shouted at her, quite happy to release its payload of dopamine in her bloodstream in return.

As the Professor continued to fuss over Louise, much to her annoyance, Siesta walked over and peered into the mug on the table. It was a soft, muddy brown in color and she almost though it was mud until she got a whiff of the warm, slightly dusty scent of its contents.

"What exactly is this, anyway?" she asked curiously as she picked the mug up to her face, inhaling its rich, bittersweet aroma.

"A beverage native to my homeworld of Earth known as Chocolate, which has been enjoyed both hot and cold by its citizens for over 500 years for its rich flavor and beneficial effects on the body."

Adding "The effects are not normally this pronounced, however." a few moments later in what could only be described as a mildly puzzled tone.

Satisfied that Louise was in no danger, Colbert raised an eyebrow at the description Legion gave them of the drink as well as the slight puzzlement in his synthetic voice. It didn't match with anything he knew except for a type of luxury product that had recently begin to appear with traders from Rub 'al Khali, but the Kahve that he had seen was considerably darker in color.

"Is it harmful to her?" he asked cautiously, causing Louise's head to snap over to look at him with a look of horror on her face. Luckily, Legion's steady voice soon put her fears to rest.

"No Professor, the lethal dose of chocolate is considerably higher than the amount currently present in this entire building."

Colbert suddenly felt very embarrassed with himself after hearing that, gulping slightly as slowly turned to look at the burning eyes of a very irritated Louise. "Prof-ess-or!" she ground out, making him raise his hands defensively in front of him.

"N-now now, miss Vallière!" he stammered. "I'm only trying to look out for you! What if he had given you something harmful?"

"He wouldn't do that!" she hissed at him. How dare he come and ruin her chocolate-fueled happy mood? Argh!

---

It took Louise almost ten minutes to calm back down and she had demanded another cup of hot chocolate, which Colbert had been forced to agree to. Siesta had asked to try some too but the Professor finally put his foot down and reminded them that this wasn't the reason they were here. The chocolate would still going to be here when they were done, he argued, also reminding them that dinner would be served soon.

They reluctantly agreed and under Legion's direction they all went deeper into the structure until they came to a large door not unlike the one at the entrance, but emblazoned by a large, green logo of some kind.

It resembled three hexagons divided in the middle by a wide, symmetrical Y-shape that followed the two inner lines of each one. Neither of them were familiar with it and even Louise admitted that she'd never seen this particular icon before.

"That is the international warning symbol for Tiberium, Master." Legion responded her when Louise asked him what it was. "Beyond this door is our current store of Liquid Tiberium. Although the current levels of Tiberium is low enough that it does not produce significant amounts of radiation, there may be residual amounts remaining in the glass of the observation window. For your safety, please do not touch the glass."

Once they had all agreed to this, the doors unlocked with an odd rumbling noise as the solid metal bars that held the door in place retracted before it could open. Once it did, their eyes widened as brilliant emerald light spilled into the corridor, erasing even the native crimson colors that otherwise dominated everything.

Beyond the door was a small room with heavy metal doors sealing two entrances to each side, and right in front of them was a thick pane of glass overlooking the containment bay below. As they walked up to the window, they were greeted by a large, square room which held ten cylinders reaching all the way from the floor and up to the ceiling. Most of them were empty, but the one in the middle was about filled to about a third of the way with a glowing substance with of a significantly darker shade of emerald green than the light it gave off.

"So that's Tiberium." Louise said quietly, strangely captivated by how it shimmered and glittered like sunlight on water, yet from within. "I... thought you said it was a mineral?"

"Liquid Tiberium, to be precise Master. It is often processed into a more energy-dense, liquid state from the crystals it forms naturally in order to store it more effectively. As you can see however, what little remains will not last long unless we begin the process of growing more."

"And to do that, you need our help." Colbert added in a quiet voice as if afraid of disturbing the captivating substance before him.

"Correct."

The three tore their eyes from the glittering emerald glow and over to a hatch that had just opened in the floor with a clunk. A wide metal pedestal rose up to about chest level with the faint rumble of hydraulics before locking in place, the upper tip splitting into three claw-like protrusions that retracting down into the pedestal with a metallic click. Held in the middle of this was a small glass tube, reinforced at the ends with metal, contained a small amount of shimmering Tiberium within its protected center.

"The Master has authorized you this small sample, Professor Colbert." Legion said solemnly as Colbert gingerly took the reinforced glass tube off the pedestal, which then closed shut again and retracted back into the floor.

"I must stress to you how precious and dangerous Tiberium is even in small amounts, it is vital for the sake of Nod and your own safety that you handle it with the utmost care."

"I will." he promised, already going through in his head how to best preform the tests. He needed to set up a secure testing area in his lab, enclose it somehow as he had no idea how it would react to being subjected to magical containment. He'd have to take great care in how much he used at a time in case it had a violent reaction, with some luck that wouldn't happen but it was far better to be safe than sorry. As the Professor pondered this, cradling the vial of Tiberium protectively in his arms like a baby, followed the other two out of the room again on autopilot. He didn't even notice it when they left the viewing platform and the door closed shut once more behind them, cutting off the powerful emerald light.

"Well, um..." Siesta began slowly, still a little dazzled by the brilliance of this new and wonderful substance that Louise's familiar had brought to their world. She had stayed silent until now because she simply didn't have anything to say, but now felt the need to say something now that they had no other pressing matters to attend to. "What would you like to do next, Professor, Lady Vallière?" she asked.

"Well, let's get back to the Academy I guess?" Louise blinked, her mind still on the Tiberium as she started walking down the dimly lit hallway while trying to remember which way they came to get down here.

Left? Right? Err... down the middle?

She had just opened her mouth to ask Legion what way to go when the A.I. in question spoke up, although for an entirely different reason.

"Master, before you leave, there is one matter that I need to bring up with you."

Louise couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise, he always stated things to her straight out. He usually wasn't this... taciturn. "What is it, Legion?"

"I have noticed a tendency for you to go headfirst into needlessly dangerous situations, often alone and without neither the appropriate amounts of armor nor weapons."

Ah, there was the Legion she was more familiar with.

"Is this about me leaving my guards at the carriage again?" she sighed, a little annoyed. A familiar was supposed to protect their master, of course, but she actually thought he took it a bit far with his mothering sometimes. "Nothing bad happened, Legion."

"Besides, I'm a Noble." she added with a shrug. "I don't need a sword and shield, I have magic!" she reminded him with pride in her voice.

"Although also valid, that was not the point I was trying to make, Master. You were in grave danger during your encounter with Count Mott, and it is unlikely that you would ever have escaped him had you not brought the forces you did."

This actually made Louise swallow slightly as she recalled how helpless she was in his water prison, no matter how hard she tried to forget it. It didn't change the fact that what Legion was telling her was in fact the truth, she had been completely caught off guard by his water magic and if she hadn't had three dozen Militants ready to come to her aid...

She didn't even want to think about what might have happened. Considering what she had seen down in his dungeon, that would have been very bad indeed.

"Lady Vallière..."

Louise jumped and whirled around to Professor Colbert and Siesta who were still standing just behind her, the latter being the origin of the words spoken to her, a concerned look on her face.

To her embarrassment, she found she'd totally forgotten they were even there!

"A-ah!" she hurried to explain. "I was just talking to Legion, he said that-"

"I know, miss Vallière." Colbert interrupted her, although not unkindly. He turned his head slightly and tapped the earpiece he'd gotten earlier. "We heard it, too."

Louise went beet red for a split second, she'd forgotten about those, as well. "Well, um..." she trailed off, but to her relief the balding Professor didn't seem angry at all. Actually, he looked oddly supportive of the notion.

"As much as I don't like it, Legion has a point, miss Vallière." he said in a slightly resigned tone. It was well known in the Academy that the Professor was a pacifist with a great dislike for war and violence. Although he preferred to solve disputes with logic and diplomacy, there was no one who doubted his skill and ability as a fire mage, as he had often demonstrated during practical excercises.

"Y-you think so, Professor?" Louise said, a little surprised. "But I have a magical sword, now! I don't need to wear steel plate too, do I?"

"E-even though she saved me and the other girls, I can't can't really imagine Lady Vallière as a knight." Siesta added quietly, having grabbed fistfuls of her skirts as a form of comfort. "N-not that I'm not thankful, but..." she trailed off.

Colbert frowned slightly as he mentally compared Louise with the image he had in his mind of a younger Karin Vallière. It was completely true that he couldn't really imagine her in the same kind of steel plate armor as her mother were known to wear. Maybe leather armor of some kind...?

"The Nod composite armor I intended is not only far lighter, but also considerably more effective than steel armor even at twice its volume." Legion helpfully added his own two cents.

"Really? That doesn't sound so bad, actually." Louise mused out loud, getting a few slow but enthusiastic nods from Siesta and Colbert.

"I agree, miss Vallière. Now is just the question of finding it, I suppose." Colbert said as he looked around for things like signs and such, frowning when he found that none he found appeared to be written in any language he knew.

"Follow the waypoint to Sub-Armory 3, I will explain it more in detail when you get there."

"Waypoint?" Louise asked in confusion before she jumped slightly as a bright point of light, like a tiny crimson star, appeared on the floor beneath her feet. "Whoa!"

As they watched, this point drew a line along the floor in front of them, going down most of the hallway before disappearing around the corner of a side corridor further ahead. They all stood in silence for a moment before Siesta suddenly burst into a brief bout of giggles, causing the other two to look at her oddly.

"S-sorry!" she said between giggles as Louise and Colbert looked at each other as if they feared she'd finally lost her marbles. "It's just... it's just like that old fairy tale where the brave adventurer follows a trail of bread crumbs to his goal, isn't it?"

Colbert couldn't help but give a chuckle of his own as he too, recalled the same story. "Ah, Charles and the Forest witch, isn't it?" at Siesta's nod, and Louise's look of interest he recited: 'And lo, through the Founder's Grace did the bread crumbs turn into specks of silver which reflected the moonlight, allowing him to find his way even in the dark of night.'

"Yes!" Siesta smiled happily. "My mother used to read it to me all the time when I was a little girl. It's just like that, wouldn't you agree Lady Vallière?"

"I guess so." Louise said, bearing a faint smile of her own, recalling her big sis Cattleya reading it to her, as well. "Well, let's follow the breadcrumbs then, shall we?"

---

The room they eventually found after following the waypoint was considerably more compact than what either of them had expected, nothing like what either of them thought of when they heard the word armory.

They entered through what for all intents and purposes appeared to be a glass door with a line of crimson running along the outer edge of the glass. Emblazoned in the middle in the same color was a single word neither of them could make heads or tails of, but it slid open with a faint hiss, vanishing into the wall to their left. Inside was a room shaped like a simple square with angular, rounded corners and a large metal pipe in the middle of it, similar to but considerably smaller than the ones in the Tiberium storage facility.

"This is the Armory?" Colbert asked in confusion, mirrored by the two younger girls with him. "I see neither weapons nor armor in here."

Louise frowned and was just about to ask Legion what they were supposed to be looking at here, when red lines were suddenly projected onto her from emitters in the two corners closest to her and from the top of the metal pipe. It lasted only for a moment, Legion's voice coming to them a moment later in an oddly stilted manner, like someone reading lines off of a piece of paper.

"Scan complete. Biometric match for: Louise de la Vallière, Rank: Prophet. Cycling armory selection to top-level access."

A loud whirring noise followed by a series of metallic clicks were heard throughout the room before tall, rectangular sections of the walls slid out with pneumatic hisses to reveal long weapon racks that extended nearly all the way to the pipe in the middle. They were completely filled to the brim with exotic weaponry, ranging from small hand-held ones, to the same type Louise's Militants used and some even larger than that.

As the two young women slowly made their way forward to examine the racks, Colbert felt a drop of cold sweat run down the back of his neck at the sight of so much military-grade hardware.

"By the Founder, there's enough weapons in here to outfit a small army!" he thought to himself, suddenly very happy that his student had never show any tendencies to misuse the power that had been thrust into her hands by the magic of the summoning ritual. He shuddered to even imagine the consequences if someone more unscrupulous, the mad king of Gallia for example, had gotten access to something like this.

"Wow." Louise breathed in awe as she looked over everything in the first rack to the left. "I didn't know Nod had these many types of musket weapons at their disposal."

"Rifles, Master."

"Eh?" Louise blinked as Legion once more threw an unfamiliar word at her. She was going to have to carry around a dictionary at this rate!

"The smoothbore musket which you seem to be referring to has not been in use on Earth for approximately two and a half centuries."

"Please be more specific, Legion." she groaned, rubbing her forehead with one hand.

"Very well Master, please divert your attention to the screen to your left."

A part of the wall next to where the rack had extended out from suddenly began showing an image, and she was soon joined by Siesta and Colbert. It showed an image of what she they all recognized as a flintlock musket, part of the barrel cut away to show its inside.

"In the early days of firearms, Muskets were smoothbore, large caliber weapons using ball-shaped ammunition fired at relatively low velocity. Due to the high cost and great difficulty of precision manufacturing, and the need to load readily from the muzzle, the musket ball was a loose fit in the barrel. Consequently, on firing the ball bounced off the sides of the barrel when fired and the final direction on leaving the muzzle was unpredictable."

The image showed the musket firing a few times at a ringed target, not unlike those those used for practicing bow and arrows. More often than not, the musket-ball did not hit as intended at any target beyond the 140 meter range.

"That's true." Colbert nodded. "That's why you only rarely see a great deal of people using muskets. Few wants to invest in a clumsy weapon that most mages won't even consider as a threat."

"What if they were used by a lot people in groups, Professor?" Louise asked, making him shrug helplessly in return.

"I guess it would be theoretically possible to cause a lot of damage that way, but it's much easier to just employ a few line mages instead. Attempts have been made over the years to replace the traditional infantry formations, but few want to invest in something new when there are things which already work well in battle." he explained.

"What the Professor is saying is correct, Master." Legion said, turning their attention to the screen again.

"However, war was far more commonplace in my world than it appears to be here. And without magic to provide extra power, it forced the various to a great deal of experimentation in order to gain the upper hand in the arms-race for supremacy."

To the confusion of all three, the image of a musket was instead replaced by that of a man holding an ordinary bow and arrow. He raised the bow, drew the string back and let an arrow fly and as it flew, time seemed to slow down and the image of it magnified until it filled the length of the screen.

"The concept of stabilizing the flight of a projectile by spinning it has been known since mankind first mastered the use of bow and arrow. To achieve this, the tail end is fitted with three fins, often crafted from bird feathers, set at a certain angle to force it to rotate by air resistance."

They all marveled for a few moments at the high definition image of the arrow in flight, something that none of them and few other in their world had ever seen. It span slowly, almost lazily so, drawing their attention towards the tail fins as they rotated, looking almost wave-like in a way.

Louise raised an eyebrow after a few moments however. "Anyone who's ever talked to a fletcher or any archer worth his salary know this, Legion." she stated, not understanding why her familiar was showing them this. "As beautiful as it is to watch, I don't see what it has to do with how bullets are fired."

But Colbert understood, slapping his fist into the palm of his hand as the sight of the spinning arrow struck him with an epiphany. "Because its the same principle! Isn't it?"

"Bullets were not arrows however, and thus a different system was required to impart rotation upon the lead projectile. This system eventually became known as rifling."

The image changed again, becoming that of the musket once more but with one important difference. The cut-out now revealed that instead of being completely smooth, the inside of the barrel now had a spiraling pattern cut along its entire length.

"Rifling refers to helical grooves in the barrel of a gun or firearm, which imparts a spin to a projectile around its long axis. This spin serves to gyroscopically stabilize the projectile, improving its aerodynamic stability and accuracy."

The image zoomed back out so that the entire musket could be seen again, and the bullet was put into the barrel and fired. This time, the weapon was considerably more accurate, hitting the bullseye all the way out to the 460 meter range.

"Wow, that's more than twice the range it had before." Louise observed with her eyebrows raised. "I'd say that's a pretty significant improvement, right there."

"It also became increasingly obvious that as the firing systems became more advanced, the same thing was needed for the ammunition. Even though the rifling gave the traditional ball-shape a considerable boost in both speed and accuracy, there were still some issues that required further development. The greatest issue was that in order for the bullet to seal tightly enough for it to be effectively fired without the gasses escaping, it needed to be literally hammered down into the barrel."

Louise winced a little at this. It was a far cry from the smooth operation of the effective weapons of her Militants. "I can't imagine that to have been very effective in battle."

"It was not, Master. Due to this fact, firearms did not have any true advantages over the traditional bow and arrow for over two centuries."

"So what changed?" Siesta asked curiously, having been following this with some interest. She was normally not one to care much about weapons and warfare, but this was something so different from what she'd ever heard of that she couldn't help but be a little fascinated by it.

In response, the image switched to show a bullet that instead of being completely round, now had a conical-cylindrical shape with three grooves cut into it at the base which continued all the way around the body. These were filled with grease of some kind and it had a shallow, conical hollow in its back end.

"This is what is known as the Minié ball, developed by French Army Captains Claude-Étienne Minié and Henri-Gustave Delvigne in 1847. It was slightly smaller than the standard bore of a rifle and could therefore be pushed down far more easily than the previous bullets. When the rifle was fired, the expanding gas pushed forcibly on the base of the bullet, deforming it to engage the rifling. This significantly improved the way it sealed against the barrel, improving its ballistics both in terms of range and accuracy."

"Absolutely incredible." Colbert muttered, torn with himself over these advancements from another world. On one hand they were practically groundbreaking, but on the other hand they were used to kill people, which did not sit right at all with the Professor who above all wished for peace. "If only these men had used their genius for more peaceful endeavors."

"There have been many of these as well, Professor. But they are far too numerous for me to tell you about them at this time."

"Yes, I understand." he nodded, straightening slightly from his slumped position he'd assumed as Legion explained how their weapons worked. "Please continue."

"Although many minor adjustments have been made since those times, the Minié ball have remained the basis of ballistic weapons ever since. Its successful combination with the concept of rifling considered to be one of mankind's greatest wartime achievements. The term 'rifled gun' soon gave way to 'rifle', which all long-barrel weapons of similar type has been called since."

"This concludes the explanation on the subject." The screen became blank once more, and the three moved back towards the center of the room.

"I guess it does make quite a bit of sense to call them rifles" Louise admitted over the sound of Colbert writing it down in his journal, Siesta nodding with a thoughtful look on her face.

"It does, Lady Vallière. Although I honestly couldn't begin to imagine which one to pick." she said, looking over the various racks in the room.

"The weapon I have intended for you does not use this type of ammunition system, however."

"It doesn't? Then why did you just-" Louise stopped herself as she realized something. "Wait, it's because I asked, wasn't it?"

"Correct, Master."

Siesta giggled slightly as Louise sighed, her tongue poking out for a moment in irritation. "Right. So where is this weapon of mine, then?"

"Rack number 5, Master. On the far left of the pistol section."

It took her a moment of contemplation before she noticed that each rack were indeed numbered on the top right corner of each one. 1 and 2 were on the left, 3 and 4 on the right with 5 and 6 on the other side of the pipe. She let her eyes wander over the rows of hand guns before she arrived on the one he had intended, which at first glance didn't look much different from the others and she picked it up to take a closer look.

Most of the others were in simple L-shapes, but this one had the addition of a large block of sorts set in front of the trigger guard. She turned it over in her hand, noting that at the end of the barrel on both sides were a little triangle symbol etched into the metal and filled in with red. It was however not the Nod icon she'd become used to seeing, but just a triangle with rounded edges and a vertical bar with a dot below it.

"That's odd, what kind of weapon is this?" she asked in a puzzled tone and to Colbert's great horror, looked straight down the barrel while her thumb was over the trigger!

"Miss Vallière!" he snapped loudly, almost causing her to drop the pistol. "Never look down the barrel of a gun!"

"Ack!" she exclaimed in alarm, giving him a look of honest apology. "Sorry, Professor."

Colbert however wasn't very impressed with her sudden lack of self-preservation and forethought. Nor was he placated by her hurried apology and after shoving the container of Tiberium into Siesta's arms, quickly snatched the gun out of Louise's hand. "Honestly, miss Vallière! What if it had gone off in your face?" he lectured her in an irritated tone, mostly out of fear of her well-being than any real anger.

"B-but..." she stammered before hanging her head in shame. "...Yes, Professor."

"The Professor is right, Master. Although that weapon has a safety mechanism far more reliable than an ordinary pistol, I must encourage you to treat any weapon as a lethal hazard."

As Louise nodded silently, Colbert took a moment to study it himself although he was careful not to look down the barrel. "Miss Vallière does bring up a good question, what kind of weapon is this?"

"A laser pistol, Professor."

While both Siesta and Louise, who had since raised her head again, looked confused yet again, he knew what to ask. "Define laser."

"Short for Light Amplified by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, a laser is a coherent beam of light radiation. It is created by refining ordinary light by passing it between a set of special mirrors and a type of beam medium, typically a crystal. Through this, it reaches sufficient energy content to cause significant damage exceeding most traditional handguns, yet without recoil."

Colbert massaged his brow with his free hand as he deftly held the pistol out of reach of Louise, who was trying to reach for it not unlike a child going after a piece of candy. The sheer amount of information was getting too much even for him´and he could feel yet another headache coming on.

The other two didn't seem to be too worse to wear, Siesta content to watch their antics with an amused smile and Louise seemed to want the weapon simply because it was hers. But he, he understood what this meant, what this weapon was capable of.

Any child knew the simple concepts of that you could not catch your own shadow, that sunlight was warm. Lens technology (however primitive by Legion's standards, he was sure) had been around for a few hundred years now, evident in Colbert's own glasses, and a convex lens could be use to focus it to start a fire. A simple experiment he had preformed himself many times over the years, and had more than once been forced to yell at some students for using his lenses to burn ants and other insects.

"I'm sorry miss Vallière." he said to the young woman who had given up on trying to reach the pistol and was instead giving him an irritated look. "I can't give this weapon to you."

"What!? Why not?" she demanded to know, tightening her hands into fists as she glared at her professor who didn't look sorry at all! "It's a gift to me by my own familiar!"

"Although you were right to correct her previous action, I must object to this action as well."

"No." he said sternly, conviction in his voice as he matched Louise's glare with one of his own. "I'm doing this for your own good! I cannot with good conscience let you have a weapon that reduces people into insects!"

"But- wait, what?" she began to retort, but paused in confusion at his choice of words. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Colbert blinked as he received two stares, one just confused and another both confused and irritated. Dammit, he let his brain run off with his tongue again! "Er, that is..." he faltered slightly, stilling when Legion spoke up once more.

"While the comparison is indeed an apt one, the weapon you are now holding is the only one within the current arsenal that the Master can wield without issue. She has already been caught in a situation where the lack of a functioning weapon could have spelled her demise."

"I..." he tried and then made a pained grimace, unable to find a suitable response to this. He understood full and well the necessity of a good weapon, but it tore at his heart that one of his students would carry such a weapon. "It's too powerful!" he tried once more.

"If it is the energy output that worries you, this model does feature an adjustable power setting. At its lowest possible setting, it would not have the power to cause any injury more severe than a light burn."

Colbert bit his lip as even though Louise was not one to beg for things, the pleading look she gave him was just too much. "I, very well..." he finally agreed. "But only on the condition that you let me test it first, miss Vallière." he added when he saw her mouth turning up slightly.

"I guess that's acceptable." she smiled, happy at having a victory no matter how small

"In the meantime, I did get you a sword, miss Vallière. A magical sword." he reminded her, stressing the word as he tucked the pistol under his belt.

"A magical sword that insults me." she replied, her smile once more turning into a frown as he reminded her of that irritating weapon.

"It'll have to do for now, miss Vallière." he sighed. "I doubt you'll be going into battle soon anyway, why don't you allow Legion to outfit you with the armor he talked about instead?"

Louise blinked at this, having completely forgotten all about it in the commotion over the room stuffed with lethal implements of death. "Oh, that's right. I'd totally forgotten about that."

Prompted by this, what they had all assumed was simply a pipe of some kind suddenly split down the middle about ¼ of the way down from the ceiling, the two halves parting to reveal an alcove of some kind. The sudden movement made Louise almost jumped out of her skin as the mechanical ssssshhhhh-THUNK went off right next to her, and she made no effort to conceal it.

Once she got her heart rate down to reasonably levels, anyway.

"H-hey! Warn me the next time you do something like that" she shouted irritably at the ceiling while Colbert and Siesta leaned in curiously to take a look inside. "I almost had a heart attack!"

On the inside, it was shaped more like a semicircle with a flat wall in the back and made entirely from textured metal, bare except for a pair of orange footprints painted on the floor and a green light in an arch roughly behind where a person's head would be. When they peered up into the space above it, they saw a large number of shape resting in the ceiling, although none of them could hope to guess what their exact purpose were.

"Your armor has not yet been fitted, Master. You need to enter the fitting station in order for me to mold it to your exact specifications."

"Ah, I.. um.. I see." she said a little hesitantly as she moved around the tube to join the other two in examining its insides. "So I just... step into it?"

The other two took a few steps away from the newly named fitting station as Louise braced herself on each side as she prepared to go inside.

"Yes Master. Please be advised that your current attire will not survive the process, if you enter without removing it."

Louise froze mid-step. "Wait, what?"

"A suit of armor needs to be properly fitted just like any other type of clothing, miss Vallière." Colbert interjected helpfully to try and stem her growing look of horror, although he was being less successfully than he hoped. "Even moreso for someone important!"

"What?" she repeated again, her voice one octave higher than before.

---

In the end, Louise agreed to do as Legion suggested. It was just her school uniform true, but if it was destroyed it would come out of her own pocket, and she ruined enough of them as it was!

It wasn't the first time she'd been fitted for something, but she still very nearly started going for her wand Siesta hesitantly asked if she wished for assistance, and Colbert thought it best to drag her outside and into the corridor they came from before any accidents happened. Louise made it exceedingly clear that if either one of them looked in on her while she was changing, there would be hell to pay for both of them!

"Do I... have to remove my panties as well?" she muttered self-consciously as she placed her neatly folded blouse on top of her skirt on one of the racks.

"No Master, your choice of underwear does not appear that it will inhibit the process. Once you are ready, place your feet inside the appointed locations with your back against the wall."

Louise nodded and after making sure neither the maid nor the Professor was peeking in through the transparent door, she quickly got into the machine while keeping both arms crossed over her chest to protect her modesty. Although it was fairly warm in there, she still shivered as her bare feet touched the cold metal plating of the floor section, only pausing to make sure that her feet were indeed on the orange footprints.

"Now what?" she tried to ask, but it instead came out as a yelp as she was suddenly pulled against the cold metal wall by an unseen force. Her hands whipped down as well to rest just above her hips, and she just barely had time to feel embarrassed at her developing chest was put on display before the doors closed with a loud clunk of metal against metal.

Not that she wasn't claustrophobic or anything like that, but she couldn't help it as her heart rate spiked as she stood there in the dark. "Uh, Legion?" she asked, her voice echoing in the small hollow space. "I can't move."

"Those are the gravitational restraints you are feeling, Master. They were put in place to prevent injury from moving during the fitting process." his voice came, reassuring her slightly as a gridwork of glowing red lines descended from the quickly with an audible hum of power as it quickly slid down her body.

"What's that doing?" Louise asked, a small bit of panic entering her voice. "I don't like this at all, Legion!" What had she gotten herself into?

"It is only a laser-measuring device, Master."

"L-l-lasers? Like the pistol!?" she gulped, wincing and screwing her eyes shut as the many crimson beams passed over her unprotected face.

"Do not worry, Master. Although the way they are created are indeed similar in nature, these lasers have only a fraction of the power of ordinary light and will not harm you."

She nodded quietly and waited until it had passed back over her head before she breathed a sigh of relief. "C-couldn't you just have used a regular measuring tape or something?"

"That would only have given me the rough circumference of a handful of areas, Master. Preforming the measurements in this manner enables the systems to accurately gauge the shape of your body, a critical necessity in order to achieve an optimal fit corresponding to the skeletal and muscular structure of your specific anatomy."

"O-okay." she took a deep breath and let it out in order to calm herself. "That wasn't so bad I suppose. You can release me now, right?" she asked hopefully.

"No Master." her heart sank, those were not the words she wanted to her. "Vital systems initialization complete, stand by for phase one."

Outside the door to the Armory, Colbert and Siesta had stood quietly as she heard Louise's and Legion's conversation through their comlinks. The Professor was holding the container of precious Tiberium once more, and both looked up at the ceiling as they heard some form of machinery spooling up. This was followed by the sound of a high-pressure nozzle and accompanied by Louise's sounds of discomfort.

"H-hey! What's this stuff you're spraying on me? Ow! Hot!"

"Is it supposed to be this sticky!? Ack! It's setting! It's setting!"

They could also hear the whirr and hissing of machinery coming from both inside the room and around them as Legion pulled materials from other sections of the Construction Yard. Even with their stores of Tiberium as low as it was, there were still stores of more conventional resources for just this kind of thing.

"Is... is Lady Vallière going to be okay?" Siesta asked, quite worried from the sounds that was filtering through to them both from the room beyond the door and through their comlinks.

"I don't know." Colbert admitted, also a little bit uneasy by the unfamiliar process which Louise was now in the middle of.

Both of them jumped as a loud noise that was both that of something impacting with considerable force, combined with an angry hissing noise echoed through the corridor before repeating again and again.

Unbeknownst to either of them, this was the sound of hydraulic presses exerting forces of well over a thousand tons per square inch in order to form the ceramic trauma plates intended for the armor. These were made primarily out of Boron Carbide, an extremely hard type of metallic ceramic that outpaced nearly all other non-Tiberium based materials shy of diamond when it came to hardness and resilience. As they were lacking in resources at the moment, a lot of the materials and technologies used in modern armor technology developed after the Second Tiberium War was unavailable to them. Legion vowed to make sure the Prophet was better outfitted once they had access to those technologies, but this would do for now.

Each piece was pressed in three to four layers using a type of modular-die technology perfected by Nod for quick material processing, as each minute became vital when you were in a state of extended all-out war. Sandwiched between these layers were numerous sheets of a high-strength polymer to add a measure of flexibility to them, ensuring that even if they cracked they still would not break.

This could be considered to be severe overkill for a medieval world where people killed each other with swords and bows, but with magic as an unknown factor Legion wasn't going to take any form of chances when it came to his master. Humans were fragile and sensitive creatures, he knew, and the suit of armor he was currently in the middle of making for her would be a bring her resilience factor up from 'Squishy' to an acceptable level of 'Okay'.

"I do not believe Legion will hurt her, but..." Colbert said loudly over the din but trailed off as Louise's voice came once more.

"Argh! Ouch! Those pieces are hot! Couldn't you have cooled them off first?"

"Ow! Did you really need to put one there of all places!?"

"Apologies, Master. The compression cycle for each piece requires thermal bonding to be effective, do you wish me to lower the temperature in the booth?"

"Yes! Do it now!"

"Acknowledged. Initializing coolant cycle, stand by."

"She doesn't sound happy about it at all." Siesta observed, her and Colbert looking up as there was a hissing noise through several of the pipes above them, Louise's voice suddenly coming through again in a drawn-out gasp. Much like someone who'd just gotten a bucket of cold water dumped on them.

"T-to cold, Legion! Too cold! I'm freezing my butt off in here!"

"It appears I miscalculated the required values, Master. Please bear with it for a moment longer, the larger pieces are nearly finished."

KA-THUNK-THUNK! HISS!

"Ah! Oooh... mmm. Much better! Warm..."

Most of her complaints ceased at that point and they both stood quietly for another half minute or so as they listened carefully to the machinery spinning down once more, soon fading down to what it had been before. Colbert and Siesta both shared a look when all had gone quiet, leaning in to peek through the transparent door and into the room beyond.

The doors of the fitting station slid open and a great deal of white smoke billowed out, only to be sucked away by air vents in the floor around it. They entered the armory once more just as the smoke cleared enough for them to actually get a look at Louise and her new suit of armor.

It looked very much like the armor worn by Louise's Militants, although there were a few features that stood out as different. She wore no helmet for one, and the armor began from the neck down with a flexible, turtleneck-like collar which then transitioned to the smooth underlayer of her armor.

The greatest difference however was that while the Militants were all modeled after men, this one was very obviously feminine in its design. It had a very utilitarian look to it that a person from a more developed world would recognize as mass-produced, but to them it was a marvel in the close and precise way it fit on her. Any armor-smith tasked with making armor for a noble would put some form of artistic flair to an armor to enhance some features and hide others, but this suit was made to simply offer protection and thus did neither.

She was without even the shadow of a doubt covered completely, but it was very... shall we say, form-fitting.

Her entire body was covered in the same material in what was essentially a black bodyglove that also covered her hands, as well. On top of it were matte-black plates of armor that looked no more than a few millimeters in thickness, bypassing the need for overlapping so common in ordinary armor by the fact that every piece fit together perfectly, not unlike a jigsaw puzzle. All joints were thus covered in a myriad of interlocking plates of varying shapes and sizes, larger ones covering critical spots like her chest, back and sides. An armored codpiece of sorts protected her lady bits and smaller plates extended out to the back of her hands and fingers, with her feet encased in what was either armored boots or light sabatons, held together in the back by a row of clasps.

Only the inside of her thighs and biceps were without plating, but they were instead covered in a gray material in a repeating hexagonal pattern. None of them yet understood the concept of a ballistic nano-armor weave, but there was no doubt in their minds that it too was protection of some sort.

Naturally, it also had the symbol of Nod etched right above the heart and filled in with bright red ink.

Louise had her eyes screwed shut for a few moments even after the process was finished, slowly opening her eyes and blinking away a few tears as she saw the other two staring at her. She was a little confused why the Professor was averting his eyes from her, but a look at Siesta who was holding both hands to her mouth and blushing slightly told her something was off.

"Releasing safe-guards."

Louise made a startled noise as the force that had kept her immobile was suddenly gone, sending her stumbling forward in a graceless half-skip. Before either of the other two had a chance to help her, her foot caught on the lip of the fitting station sending her crashing to the floor at their feet.

"Lady Vallière!" "Miss Louise!" the maid and the Professor exclaimed at the same time and the maid hurried to help her up from the floor.

Louise let out a small "Ow." as she was helped to her feet once more, touching her gloved fingertips to her cheek where she hit herself against the floor. "That smarts."

"Are you alright, Lady Vallière?" Siesta asked her worriedly, earning a nod from the Noble as she worked her jaw carefully.

"I think so."

"Well, uh..." Colbert trailed off as he coughed into his fist. "That's some armor you have there, it's a bit... thinner than I imagined."

"Eh?" Louise blinked before looking down at herself, her facing heating up as she saw just how form fitting in was. "EEHH?!" she shouted in alarm and with one hand covering her groin and the other slapping over her armored chest, she jumped around in a quick circle before dashing over to hide behind one of the racks.

"Legion!" she shrieked in both horror and embarrassment, making both of the others wince at the sheer volume of it. "What the hell! This barely covers me at all!"

"I fear that I do not understand this statement, Master. None of my scans show any exposed vital areas, it should offer sufficient protection all around."

"That's not what I meant, you damn perverted familiar!" she shouted, blindly reaching around the corner to try and grab her school uniform. As Siesta hurried over to help her, Colbert did his best to try and explain to the A.I. why she was so displeased while keeping his back to the young woman.

"I think what miss Vallière is trying to tell you is that it's... extremely form fitting." he said slowly, unsure how he would even explain the concept of modesty to what was basically a bodiless entity. He knew that beings such as elemental spirits often had similar issues, unable to understand why their summoners often expressed anger when they took their shapes to communicate with them.

"The armor cannot safely disperse the kinetic energy in a strike, nor distribute its weight properly unless it is sealed firmly against the body. This also minimizes the chances of striking in such a way that it bypasses the armored plates, which has often been an issue in older types of armor."

"Well, yes. But..." behind him, Colbert heard Louise complain to Siesta that the added volume of the armor, even though it was possibly the slimmest one he'd ever seen, made it hard to get into her clothes. "Young humans, especially girls, tend to be very sensitive about their bodies." he said slowly.

"I am familiar with the concept of modesty Professor, but I must admit that I find it most puzzling that the Master reacted in such a fashion. The shape of the armor has never been an issue before."

"Hmm." he said stroking his chin for a moment. "This was a military organization, was it not?"

"Paramilitary, but essentially yes."

Colbert sighed, it seemed that some things were the same no matter the world. "It's very common for soldiers to lose their sense of modesty. It doesn't really do very much for you when you're trying hard just to survive, after all." he folded his arms. "Miss Vallière on the other hand has never had that kind of training. She isn't a soldier, Legion."

A few moments passed and he heard several angry and embarrassed mutterings behind him, but tried not to pay too much attention to them. It was bad enough that he was in the same room as a poorly-dressed student, he wasn't that kind of Professor!

"Acknowledged. What would you suggest as appropriate, Professor?"

Colbert thought for just a moment, the well-oiled gears of his academic mind turning as he went over everything he'd seen knights wear. Coming to a decision, he started describing what he had in mind.

---

A Surcoat was a type of garment that had become increasingly popular over the past couple centuries in Tristain. They were long, loose and often sleeveless coats that usually extended to about midcalf and had slits in bottom front and back, thus allowing the wearer to ride comfortably. Their main purpose was to reflect the sun to keep the wearer from overheating in the strong summer sun, as well as to keep rain and the muck of battle away from the easily corroded metal armor.

Of course, since Louise's armor wasn't made from metal rust wasn't an issue, but the general idea was the same.

Much like a uniform, the surcoat was also used to identify the wearer as belonging to a specific group and was widely used by both the crown and aristocracy. Each of the Royal Mage Knight corps had their own specific colors, things like regiment and unit sown on the upper left. Right on top of the Royal flag of Tristain.

The Manticore Knights were a deep crimson, the Griffin Knights blue and the Dragon Knights green.

Purple was the color of Royalty and thus only the Palace Guards were allowed to wear it, and it was considered a sign of great honor to be allowed to wear it.

The surcoat that Legion had fashioned for Louise was neither one of these colors but the same hexagonal-pattern gray that reinforced the inner sections of her suit. But as she was not a mounted knight, it was instead slit up each side up to her mid-thigh for mobility. The two flaps which extended down her front and back both ended in a rounded square-shape that perfectly matched the pattern, which she had to admit didn't look half bad.

Louise took a moment to smooth the almost silk-like material down over her front with both hands, making sure that she was fully covered this time. Damn her stupid familiar! He'd shown such professionalism until this point that she'd let her guard down, and then he went and did something like this!

"Are you decent, miss Vallière?" Colbert asked from the other side of the gun rack she was still hiding behind, jolting her out of her thoughts.

"Ah, yes!" she responded before taking a deep breath and stepping out from behind it, her hands anxiously balled over her stomach.

She felt very self-conscious after the fiasco only scant minutes earlier, but was relieved when the Professor had been able to come up with a solution as fast as he had. He nodded appreciatively at her new look, making her feel a little better as he didn't look away in embarrassment this time.

"It suits you, Lady Vallière." Siesta said supportively from where she was standing off to the side, holding her school uniform.

"T-thanks." Louise smiled faintly. "I wish he'd put this on me from the start."

"Is it heavy?" Siesta asked curiously, now that the embarrassing moment had passed, leaning her head to the side as she studied the plating covering her arms. "The armor, I mean?"

"Hmm." Louise flexed her arm experimentally, narrowing her brows slightly as she contemplated the question. She actually hadn't thought much about it between her embarrassment and getting the surcoat on, but it actually hadn't made the action that much harder.

"Well, it's hardly weightless," she confessed a few a few moments. "but it's actually a lot less heavy than it looks, oddly enough."

"I don't know, it does look awfully thin, miss Vallière." Colbert commented in a slightly worried tone, comparing it to the much thicker armor worn by her Militants. He'd estimate that the plates on their suits were maybe half a centimeter thick, the ones of Louise's suit no more than a fourth of that "Metal plate armor of that thickness would perhaps protect you from someone with a knife, but nothing bigger."

"The ceramic-composite armor plates that the Master's suit is equipped with are considerably stronger than any known metal or alloy. I must apologize however, as I did not have sufficient materials to construct a suit worthy of the Prophet."

"Really, Sir Legion?" Siesta blinked. "It looks perfectly fine to me, especially if it's as tough as you say."

"Yes, well." Colbert muttered even as Louise started pacing back and forth in the room. "They're just so thin looking, if she's going to wear armor I'd feel a lot safer knowing that it could actually protect her."

They all looked up at the ceiling for a moment as they heard machinery humming for a few seconds and then the doors of the fitting station opened once more, a single black plate held in a mechanical manipulator arm. The Professor looked a little unsure for a moment before he took it, after which the arm retracted and the doors closed.

Turning it over in his hands, Colbert found that while it was roughly the same thickness as the ones that Louise was wearing, it was shaped a lot differently. It was made in a rough pentagon, little more than a square with the top corners removed, curved slightly inward as if to better follow the shape of the body. It was indeed very light compared to its size, but he was a little confused as he hadn't heard any of the production machinery start up like it had before.

"What's this from?"

"This is an insert plate for upper arm section of a standard Nod ballistic vest. It's the mass-produced equivalent of what the Master is currently equipped with and while still suitable for protection purposes, is inferior compared to what she is wearing."

The two girls watched as the Professor first tried bending it between his hands, then over his knee and finally dropped it on the ground and jumped on it a few times. None of these actions having any visible effect on the tough ceramic it was made of.

"I'm... impressed." he had to finally admit after picking it up from the floor. "It does seem to preform as intended. Would it be alright if I brought this with me for further study?" he asked, turning to Louise who was watching him with a slightly amused expression on her face.

"Go ahead, Professor." she shrugged. "I'm sure Legion keeps a few in storage anyway."

Anything else they were going to say was put to a halt as almost at the same time, their stomachs growled in reminder of the fact that none of them had eaten anything since lunch.

"Ah, I guess it's time for dinner!" Siesta giggled.

---

Dinner was a largely uneventful affair, made slightly more enjoyable by the advanced culinary technology of the Nod Mess Hall. You couldn't exactly pack a 5-star dinner into a basket, but it was still good and enough that all three had more than enough to fill their bellies.

Normally, maids would never eat at the same table (or even at the same time) as the Nobles, and Siesta had at first served them and then stood nearby as she usually did. It was only due to Colbert's insistence that she eat with them that she even considered sitting down with them like she did, as he was a humble man who didn't felt the social differences mattered as much as most other Nobles did. Louise herself just went along with the Professor, honestly not having even thought about it until he'd suggested it, but really didn't mind it much. Siesta had proven herself already in her eyes and the three spent most of the evening in pleasant companionship, discussing the many wonders of Nod that Legion had showed them in a single day.

The sun was low in the sky by the time they exited the Construction Yard. Kirche and Tabitha had long since left so they prepared to make the trip back when Legion suddenly spoke up.

"Master, before you leave, I will remind you that the construction of the Tiberium Refinery is complete and awaits placement."

"Hm?" Louise frowned a little as the other two turned to look at her questioningly. "I don't remember hearing you telling me it was complete, Legion."

"It completed while you were in the fitting booth, Master."

"It was producing quite a lot of noise, she probably didn't hear you." Colbert reminded him, earning a thankful look from Louise for helping skip over that rather embarrassing moment.

"Acknowledged."

"Well, I guess I'll see if I have one of those dreams again tonight." she groaned slightly. "I hate how I never seem to get much rest during those things."

As Siesta tilted her head in confusion, Colbert couldn't help but ask the question. "You somehow place these buildings in your dreams, miss Vallière?"

"Somehow, yes." she replied. "Legion told me at point that they are normally placed while in something he calls "Tactical View"." she explained, making little air-quotes with her fingers. "Whatever that means."

The Professor rubbed his chin for a moment. "I can't say I understand it either, but that is true for a lot of things about your familiar. Have you tried using the 'I see, I hear' spell yet?"

Louise blinked and then smacked herself in the forehead with her palm, feeling plain stupid for having forgotten about it. That was one of the most basic familiar-related spells that was right in the first chapter of almost every book she read on the subject. It made it so that a mage could see and hear the same thing that their familiar did, making it quite popular as a way to spy on others provided you had a familiar suited for the task.

"I can't believe I forgot about that spell! No I haven't, Professor." she said apologetically.

Colbert chuckled in good nature at her look of exasperation. "It's alright miss Vallière, there's no harm done. Do you want to try it right now?"

She nodded and took out her wand from where she kept in her clothes, now carried in the empty picnic basket that Siesta carried. Holding her wand out in front of her, she carefully pronounced the spell. "I see, I hear."

She just didn't expect the change in perspective to be so incredibly different from what she normally saw.

Once more she was far, far above the ground like an eagle in flight, yet steady as if she had simply grown to an immense size. Louise looked around in wonder at the vast landscape around her, she could see for miles from this height! Turning around she beheld the Academy in its full splendor, much like she had before yet without the fog of dreaming.

Oh sure she had a similar view when she flew on Tabitha's dragon a couple hours earlier, but somehow this was even more grand. Right down below her she could see Siesta, Professor Colbert and... herself.

She was lying on the ground, looking for all intents and purposes as a doll with its strings cut and Colbert was knelt next to her, holding her up with an arm around her shoulders while shouting something at her. That was very strange, why was he being so agitated? It wasn't like she was dead or anything, there was no reason for him to raise his arm like that as if to-

Slap!

Louise took a deep breath from suddenly screaming lungs as she blinked the tears out of her eyes, barely seeing the concerned face of her Professor through all the black spots in her vision.

"-eathe, miss Vallière! Breathe!" she heard him shout as if far away and only after several, almost panicked breaths did the world come into focus once more. She was half lying-half sitting on the hard ground, held up only by Colbert with Siesta hovering nearby with a combined look of fear and horror on her face. Her cheek stung slightly and there was an odd ache in her right arm and shoulder, making her wince as she reached up to put her hand against her cheek. Dimly, she registered the fact that her fingertips were also tingling like they'd fallen asleep, although that feeling was quickly fading away to normal.

"Oh thank Brimir." Colbert said, relief clear on his face as Louise sat up on her own, still holding her cheek with a bewildered look on her face. "I almost thought that you died there for a moment!"

"Urgh, I don't feel so good." she groaned as awareness suddenly hit her full force, accompanied by a headache and its good friend nausea. "What happened?"

"Y-you cast the spell, and then you just collapsed!" Siesta said in a hurried voice, tinged with worry. "Even when we called out to you and shook you, you just kept staring blankly into the sky."

Well, that explained the pain in her arm and shoulder she supposed. "But I was only up there for a few seconds at most." she said in confusion.

"Miss Vallière." Colbert said slowly, making her turn her head to look at him to see the stern expression on his face. "You were practically dead to the world for almost ten minutes, you weren't even breathing for the last minute or so. You didn't react to us calling your name or even when we shook you, if the slap hadn't awoken you I don't know what I would've done this far from the Infirmary."

"That.. I.. what?" she blinked owlishly. "But that's impossible!" she exclaimed, hissing slightly as it caused a fresh jolt of pain to go through her head and making her press the heel of her palm against her forehead.

"It's my fault, miss Vallière." Colbert admitted, regret clear in his voice. "I should never have suggested that you try that spell without preparation, I'm very sorry for this."

Louise took a few gulps of water from a glass handed to her by a still very worried Siesta before letting out a sigh through her nose. "It's alright Professor, you couldn't have known. At least I succeeded on my first try?" she said with a thin smile. "I could see the entire area down from above!"

"Yes indeed." Colbert replied with a frown. "But in doing so it seems it caused some sort of overload to your mind, shutting down almost your entire body in the process. I can only assume that it was only ever meant to be used on simple animals and their magic equivalents, not beings as impossibly sophisticated as Legion is." he theorized.

Louise nodded thoughtfully "That may be Professor, but I'd still like to try it one more time." she said, a firm look of determination on her face.

Colbert looked at her for a few moment before letting out a small sigh. "I guess there's no sense of arguing with you if you are that determined miss Vallière, but I must insist on doing it in a safe location." he stressed as he helped her up. "Legion." he said a little louder. "Is there a good place where she can receive care if this goes wrong?"

---

The Nod equivalent of an Infirmary was actually rather similar to the one they had at the Academy, yet different at the same time.

They had first entered into a large room, about twice as long as it was wide, with rows of strange-looking beds lining the walls separated by small bedside tables. Above them were rows of tall, gothic windows with the symbol of Nod in stained glass, allowing the evening sunlight to stream in from the outside. More useful light was supplied from glowing strips hanging from the ceiling, eliminating almost all shadows from the room.

This was not their stop however, urged onwards by Legion's voice, they instead found themselves in a hallway which connected to a series of smaller rooms. After all, Louise was the Prophet and would not be forced to use the beds of common soldiers when there were other alternatives readily available.

Louise thus soon found herself lying in a strange but rather comfortable hospital bed that could be raised in order to sit comfortably without the need for a pile of pillows. One of her Militants had been waiting for her and while Colbert and Siesta waited outside, quickly and efficiently helped her out of her armor and into what was basically a long tunic not unlike her nightwear.

It had surprised her how easy it actually was to remove. The boots came off after undoing the back latches and the chest plate was held in place by some manner of locking mechanism she didn't fully understand, but once released revealed a small button just below her collarbone. Once pressed it somehow instructed the undersuit to go from a perfect fit to hanging off her frame, which could then be opened in the front and allow her to just shrug it off her shoulders and step out of it.

When the others came back in, Colbert had to visibly restrain himself from examining the bed and the curious set of spindly, metal arms that were retracted into the wall above it. Instead he sat down in a chair next to the bed, Louise's wand in hand as Siesta remained standing next to him.

"Alright, miss Vallière." Colbert said as he handed her wand back to her. "Before you attempt the spell again, take a moment to focus on your breathing and where you are." he instructed her in a calm voice. "That should help you anchor yourself and avoid getting lost in the spell like last time."

Louise nodded and took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she held her wand in both hands. She memorized the scents around her, the feel of the cloth against her skin, the piece of wood in her hands and the ambient hum of technology around her.

"I see, I hear." she whispered. And when the view of the inside of her eyelids was replaced with a birds-eye view of being above a world that seemed so much smaller, she was ready for it.

Even then it was very difficult for her to maintain her grasp on the present. The freedom and power she felt in the other point of view was like a seductive siren's song, begging her to let go of everything and be one with the sky.

With a forceful wrench she pulled herself back to her body, panting like she'd just run a lap around the whole academy with a backpack filled with rocks on her back. She could feel sweat beading on her forehead and her hands were sticky against each other and her wand, gratefully accepting the cup of water that Colbert handed her.

"Deep breaths, miss Vallière." Colbert told her as she fought to get her breathing under control.

"How.. how long was I away for?" she asked after she'd had a few moments to catch her breath and wipe her forehead with a piece of soft cloth handed to her by Siesta.

"13 minutes, 28 seconds Master."

Louise blew out a long breath. "It felt like only a few moments." she admitted. "Preforming the spell is taxing like nothing I've ever done before."

Colbert nodded thoughtfully. "It will most likely get easier with time, although I'm quite curious as to why you seem to be experiencing such a shift in time. Do you wish to stop now, or keep going?"

She pondered this for a moment before nodding and wiping her hands on the sheets covering her legs before gripping her wand again. "One more time."

This time it felt like she struggled for hours before finally finding some form of equilibrium between what was here and what was there. It was like trying to balance standing on top of a stone sphere on a flat surface while simultaneously balancing a book on your head; doable but difficult.

Finally, she managed to come to the point where she was still and when she did, Legion's voice came to her, clear and true.

"Master, you appear to have managed to establish a very rudimentary form of Battlefield Control. It is severely limited compared to what it should be capable of, but it does appear that it will allow you to place the building which I have prepared for you."

She allowed herself to feel a tiny bit of elation over this fact, not wanting to let it to disturb her very tenuous hold that she'd managed to gain over it. Even now she could feel herself slowly slipping as slowly but surely, her reserves of willpower drained away into the spell.

"What do you see, miss Vallière?" Colbert's voice came through to her, although it sounded sort of like he was speaking to her through a wall or possibly a pipe.

"I see my buildings and much of the surrounding lands." Louise whispered as she let her eyes roam over the image before her. Holding her hands out in front of her, she turned them over as in this form they looked... well, much like the dark metal that Nod seemed to enjoy using. Except more... organic, somehow.

It was a little disturbing, but nothing she couldn't ignore for the moment. However...

"I don't see any way to place the buildings like I did before." Louise frowned slightly. They'd just appeared in her hand before in her dreams, but things seemed to be a little different in the waking world.

"I'm afraid I can't help you there, miss Vallière. This is so far beyond my normal expertise it's ridiculous." Colbert's voice came through, tinged with the same frustration that she felt.

"Grr..." she grit her teeth as she felt her willpower waning, she probably didn't have much time in here. "I wish there was some kind of menu or some-"

And as soon as she said the word menu, one appeared right before her eyes in the form of a large rectangle shape. In it were several selections, all of them grayed out and inaccessible except a single one on the upper left side. It was an oblong building with a strange prong-shape in the front, a pit filled with a fuming, green substance and a smokestack that gave off a stream of the same green vapor. Pipes ran from the body of the prong-shape and down into the pit, with additional ones in the back finally ending in a sphere of some kind. On it in bright green text it said Tiberium Refinery, although not in the standard Brimiric rune-font she was used to, yet she still understood what it said. Shrugging mentally, she just chalked it up with all the other oddities of Nod and tapped it with her index finger.

Immediately, she had the green wire-frame of it in her hand just like before and she smiled in victory. "I got it!"

"Normally, these would be rotated to face the direction of the nearest source of Tiberium crystals. However, since we are going to plant one I advise that you make it face where you intend for it to be in the future."

Nodding, she quickly looked over the area until she found a suitable, open spot for a field to be placed. A bead of sweat trail down the side of her face as she worked and with her tongue caught between her teeth, she carefully rotated the image so that the prong-shape was facing in that direction and set it down.

---

It had been over half an hour since Louise had gone back into the spell and Siesta was sitting on the other side of the bed that Louise was resting in. Professor Colbert had after some discussion with Legion gotten his hands on some kind of flat rectangle called a "tablet" which glowed seemingly from within with text and images. She didn't really understand half of what they were talking about and just tuned it out after a while.

So between responding to Louise's questions that were indeed few and far between he had spent all his time engrossed in this device. She on the other hand had to settle with examining the room they were in and occasionally wiping Louise's face with a thin, wet towel. Just like at the Academy they had water taps in the room itself so getting water for it had been easy, but it left her with very little to occupy herself with. Maybe she should ask Legion if she could have one of those tablets as well?

But this would have to wait, as no more than a second after the thought crossed her mind she and Colbert both jumped as there was a loud rumble from the outside, as if something enormous was forcing its way out of the ground. They looked at each other for a moment before they both ran over to the window of the room to look outside, just so happening to face the same direction as the sound was coming from.

"What in the world?" Siesta exclaimed as the gray pavement cracked and broke as pillars of the same material rose up from the ground.

They were soon followed by a combination of arcs of dark metal connecting them and lengths of piping that shot straight up in the air before curving downwards like fingers, connecting to other parts of the building. It was then followed by a swell of liquid metal that rapidly flowed up the structure, filling in gaps and leaving behind smooth armor in the style favored by Nod. They could only watch in awe as the Tiberium Refinery built itself seemingly from nothing right before their eyes, the entire process taking only a handful of seconds.

Both of them couldn't help but stare blankly at the newly constructed building for a few moments before looking back at Louise, just in time for her to take a deep breath as she returned to her body. Colbert was just about to ask if she was alright when her eyes suddenly rolled back in her head, her wand dropped into her lap from suddenly slack fingers.

Then she left out a soft snore and they both sagged in relief, having feared at first that her heart had given out on her or something.

"It appears that she finally wore herself out." Colbert noted as they walked back to her bedside and he picked up her wand and placed it on the bedside table. "It's lucky that she was already in bed, good call Legion."

"Luck had nothing to do with it, Professor. When it was becoming apparent that the spell was taking a heavy toll on the Master, I instructed you to take her to the medical bay in case that she succumbed to exhaustion. This would also allow me to monitor her efficiently and take immediate action should she suffer respiratory failure once more."

"You really did think of everything." Siesta blinked before smiling. "You care for her very much, don't you Sir Legion?"

"I exist for the sake of Nod and the Prophet, miss Siesta. One vision, one purpose."

Colbert couldn't help but blink slightly at the phrase uttered with such conviction from the sapient machine, but found that he really couldn't find a fault in it. He'd normally feel a little ill at ease if he'd heard it from anyone else, but you just couldn't apply ordinary rules in any form to anything regarding Louise's familiar. "You had her remove her armor for the same reason, didn't you?"

"Yes, for ease of access to her vital areas if needed and for her comfort both."

He nodded, knowing from own experience that while sleeping in armor was possible, it was hardly comfortable. "Well, she has the next few days off so there's no reason for her to be moved to the Academy tonight. Could you please ask her to visit me at my laboratory once she wakes up?"

"Of course, Professor."

"I can come by tomorrow with a fresh uniform for her." Siesta added. "I don't think she'll enjoy walking around school much in her armor. No offense, Sir Legion." she said with a small bow.

"Acknowledged, but unnecessary."

Siesta blinked, not having expected that. People usually didn't object to it when she offered to bring them clean clothes.

"The Hand of Nod possesses dedicated fabric cleaning facilities in its sub-level, it would be no issue for me to have it processed and ready for her in the morning."

"Oh, um..." she fumbled mentally with her words for a moment before nodding in a slightly awkward manner, holding out the basket to the Militant who until now had stood stationary next to the door.

"Well, she does appear to be in capable hands miss Siesta." Colbert said as the basket switched hands, starting to walk towards the exit. "Come on, let's head back to the Academy."

"Yes Professor."

---

Old Osmond looked up from the late-night paperwork he was going through as he heard a knock on the door and a moment later, Colbert stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Miss Longueville had already retreated to her room for the evening and he actually hadn't expected any more visits tonight.

"Ah, good evening Colbert." the elderly mage greeted him. "I was just wondering if you'd show up at all tonight!"

"It's been a long day, Headmaster." Colbert sighed as he walked over to a certain section of one of the bookcases, pushing in a specific book it swung a section around to reveal Osmond's secret liquor stash. Normally he would have just gone for a glass of wine, but he felt like he needed something stronger tonight. Once he had a glass filled two thirds with fine brandy he walked back to the desk sank down in his normal spot with a groan.

"I can see that." Osmond blinked, having not even been aware that anyone other than him knew where he kept his stash. "You must have quite the story to tell me, Professor."

Colbert nodded and took a generous sip from his glass, waiting for it to burn its way down his throat and pool in his stomach before he began telling him about all that had happened. It took him the better part of an hour and two more full glasses of brandy before he had finished recounting the day's events, laying out the laser pistol, comlink and the piece of ceramic armor on the desk while talking.

"There really does not seem to be any end to the wonders of Nod." Osmond reflected as he turned the laser pistol over in his hands, marveling at its impossibly precise craftsmanship. He doubted that not even he could make something with such precision, granted he wasn't exactly a specialist in the fine art of magical item crafting, but still.

Lowering his hands back to the desk, still holding the pistol, he looked across it to the balding Professor on the other side. "And what about the Tiberium?"

"Left it in my lab." Colbert nodded. "I didn't want to carry it around any more than I really had to."

"Smart man." the Headmaster said approvingly, then raised an eyebrow as he brushed his fingers over the black metal covering the side of the barrel of the weapon in his hands. One of the more advanced skills of an earth mage was the ability to tell metals apart by touch alone, right now it was telling him something that really surprised him more than it should have. "Curious."

"Well, yes." Colbert said slowly as he blinked at the older man. "Just like everything associated with miss Vallière's familiar."

"What I'm trying to say Professor, is that this isn't made from steel." Osmond pointed out before frowning slightly when no matter how he tried, the magical response he got from it was of no metal he knew of. "It's too hard and it's too light to be as thick as it is." he said in a puzzled voice.

Colbert shrugged helplessly, the alcohol starting to have its effect on him. "I'm starting to get to the point where nothing feels like it surprises me anymore. I bet my monthly salary that she's going to have access to air-ships that doesn't require wind stones!" he laughed.

The Headmaster smiled slightly. "I'll hold you to that bet, Mr. Colbert. In the meantime, I'd like to examine these myself. Do you think you could leave them with me until tomorrow?"

"Sure, why not?" Colbert shrugged before leaning forward in his chair to stare at Osmond through half-lidded eyes. "But I w'nt them back tomorrow!" he slurred.

Old Osmond smiled. "Of course Professor."

"M' goin' to bed." the slightly inebriated Professor stood up and swaying slightly, made his way out of the office leaving Osmond alone with the three artifacts from another world.

---

Urgh, I'm not sure if I'm really satisfied with this chapter at all. It took me something like four days to write the part where they visit the armory, which is roughly the time it took me to write all of chapter five! Did I go too far in making up how Nod technology works, or just far enough? It's really hard for me to tell, to be perfectly honest. I pulled inspiration from all sorts of places for the laser pistol, her armor and the fitting both all. Designing things that are realistically feasible is hard work and all my respect goes out to the people who actually do that for a living!

Nod is at least a decade ahead of GDI when it comes to Tiberium-related technology as well as many types of weaponry (especially direct-energy ones), robotics, stealth, artificial intelligence, genetics, cybernetics and brain-machine interfaces just to mention a few. According to the C&C wiki, this is mostly because they get massive amounts of money from their Tiberium monopoly and money attracts intelligence, which coupled with alien tech and unscrupulous research nets them their crazy science. Some of you may have realized that the regular Militants that you use in C&C3 seem to wear little else in ways of armor than tacvests and gray hoodies, so I styled the mechanized versions more after my own preferences in armor and appearance. Artistic license for the win!

I just kind of made up the colors for the three branches of the Tristain Mage Corps, as no matter how or where I looked I couldn't find any mention of colors. Wardes was dressed in blue so that ended up being the color of the Griffin Knights, it seemed to make sense that dragons were green but my biggest issue was the Manticore Knights. Karin seemed to like to dress in a light purple-ish color, but that seemed to be more of a personal preference for her so I went with red.

While I was writing this chapter, I got a Guest review from someone asking why Legion didn't inform Louise about using sonic technology to pen in Tiberium, and it's a good question which I thought I'd bring up here. The reason is that even if it did indeed work, it remains GDI tech that Legion simply doesn't have access to. Magic is a huge unknown to him as well, but the difference is that there's people who understands how it works just nearby as opposed to sonic technology which he'd be forced to figure out on his own.

Thank you for reading, please leave a review if you liked it!