I LIVE!
Well, I did say in the beginning that I didn't know how long I'd be able to keep it up and it seems that I did hit that point, but I apologize all the same for letting you all wait for so long. I've been having some very serious troubles with the medication I'm on, and I just haven't been able to focus enough at one time to get anything done. It's been incredibly infuriating to have everything pretty much laid out in my head while at the same time being unable to get them out into writing. I'm very grateful for all the wonderful reviews I've been getting during this time and it's helped me greatly to get myself back on track.
Big thanks to Poliamida for helping me beta this chapter!
It also appears that somewhere during this time, Foundation somehow managed to eclipse Emissary of the Void; the fic that inspired me to start writing this in the first place. Hmm. Now what am I supposed to compare myself against? The Hill of Swords?
...no, that way lies only madness. I'll just keep writing this as best as I can.
Chapter 8
Might this be what you call... progress?
The night after Louise's more-or-less successful attempts to access the senses of her familiar, the halls of the command center was silent but for the faint hum of the delicate electronics that made up its core. AI did not require sleep, one of many reasons why they were so remarkably efficient, but at the same time it also presented a problem as the people it was made to serve did. Thus, beyond the relatively tiny amount of his attention needed to keep everything running smoothly as well as performing the usual software maintenance, it gave Legion a lot of time to think about things.
An artificial mind does not function in the same way an organic one does, as instead of just splitting your focus between a number of things they have the ability to assign processing cycles to individual tasks. Often, Legion spent this time processing the day's events in a similar fashion to how humans dream at night, as taking his time to sort things properly made it far easier to access it later, but lately his thoughts had been increasingly occupied with the adolescent girl that was now his Master. Processing power, he'd found, wasn't everything as even though having more than all that of Europe combined - thanks in no small part to the alien technology of the Tacitus - Legion still found himself having trouble understanding his Master. Physically small and weak, she lacked the physical presence that he'd come to associate with the title of Prophet since the very first moment of his awakening.
The Maker had been a tall, imposing man who had honed his charismatic skills to such a fine point that he could alter the way he was perceived by others at will.
His Master had not.
His Maker seemed to have a gift for always saying the right things at the right time, and had successfully reached the stage where he was legendary even among his enemies and downright deified among his own.
His Master was neither of these things.
Yet at the same time, Legion reminded himself, she had already begun to adopt many of the qualities that made his Maker so special. She had the same unyielding determination as He did, as well as the force of will necessary to stand up to oppression and choose her own path.
Legion had spent most of his night time thinking-hours since his summoning pondering why he felt so strongly compelled to support this young girl who had taken the Maker's place, but in the end decided that it simply did not matter.
She was his Master now.
And it was his duty, his purpose, to give her his unconditional, unquestioning support in every possible way.
The first step would be starting with the ridiculously flimsy attire that she wore so often. While the concept of a school uniform was neither new nor strange to him, it offered no protection whatsoever to her sensitive, unaugmented body.
It fell to him, her most dedicated servant, to correct this. And by the grace of Nod he would do it properly.
Professor Colbert had done more for Legion than he'd realized with his short lecture in how young humans thought. It had made it clear that unless the Master knew beforehand that she was going into battle, it was unlikely that she would wear the suit of armor that he had made for her. And as a tactical intelligence unit, Legion knew better than most that more often than not you didn't have the option to choose where and when you did battle.
This in turn made the odds of her being caught unaware with nothing more than cloth between her squishy, unaugmented body and the blade of her would-be assailant rather... high.
Far too high.
While he lacked an actual physical body, Legion had over time developed a digital body of sorts which only existed within his own systems; an avatar.
It wasn't very detailed as of yet, little more than a faintly glowing, purple silhouette in the shape of a man with very little detail except for the most basic of facial features. And at this moment this face was set in a sneer, virtual upper lip curling at the mere thought of his precious Master getting wounded because of circumstances beyond her control.
Unacceptable.
Therefore, as soon as the maid and the Professor had left, her old school uniform had gone straight into the recycler to be broken down into its base components before getting sent to the feed stocks. At the same time, the fabrication units deep within the bowels of the facility were warming up once again, running through the checks of all the hardware as well as their stores of raw materials. In the few seconds it took for them to get ready for production, Legion had gone through and discarded hundreds of different structural designs before he arrived at one that he deemed acceptable.
Strands of carbon nanotube (CNT) - so thin it was invisible to the naked eye, yet stronger and more abrasive-resistant than steel by a factor of 15 - was precision-woven into a single, continuous strand until its width was equal to that of ordinary thread. This thread was then woven once more into precisely measured patches of fabric and stitched together into the form of what was most likely the finest blouse Halkeginia had ever seen.
Although it wouldn't protect against blunt force any more than ordinary cloth did, nothing short of a heavy war bow or crossbow would have the force to actually pierce through it. Not to mention the amount of force that would be needed to get a regular blade through far surpassed that of any human being, living or dead. Satisfied with its properties, Legion switched some of the feed-stocks in order to produce the correct shade of purple for the matching skirt and cloak.
His task complete, Legion performed the final inspection with the level of focus and attention only a machine could achieve. Finding neither fault nor error in either cloth or seam, he allowed himself to feel some measure of satisfaction over a job well done.
His master would be pleased.
At night, the minds and bodies of every man and beast throughout the country were slaved under the iron fist of the mysterious overlord known only as the Sandman. Yet he was known as a benevolent and peaceful ruler, generous with his dust which brought sweet dreams to the mind and revitalization to the body.
But all good things must come to an end.
All knew that the rise of the great fire in the sky heralded the beginning of the Greymarch. When the Forces of Mundus, as dull as they were endless, spelled the end of the peaceful reign of the Sandman. Equipped with arms and armor spun from the finest Moonsilver, the brave defenders of the land fought a desperate battle against the rising ride, but their efforts were ultimately in vain.
For their invaders were armed with Sunsteel, a material which Moonsilver could never hope to touch, and before long the kingdom was no more.
Louise groaned her displeasure as the battle was lost and she was forced to wave the flag of defeat in the form of her eyelashes as her eyes fluttered open, only to squint against the hateful weapons of the enemy. "A pox on you and your kingdom, Unconquered Sun!" she mumbled in irritation as she burrowed deeper within her blankets and pillows, trying to once more reach the realm of the Sandman. But as reality reasserted itself in her mind, she began to notice the little things that didn't quite line up with what she normally came to expect from her room at the Academy.
She blinked once, twice before her brain had woken up enough for her to remember where she was and why. It took her a little while but her mind eventually dredged up the information she asked from it.
Infirmary inside the Hand of Nod.
Experiment to see if she could purposefully enter her Battlefield Control-mode.
Passed out.
Right.
She let out a long, drawn-out groan as she stretched her body as far as it could go, feeling some of the kinks disappear with audible popping noises before she flopped up into a sitting position. She smacked her lips a few times, grimacing as the gritty feeling in her mouth reminded her that she never brushed her teeth last night.
"Urgh."
Shaking her head to try and banish the last echoes of that bizarre dream she had last night. Something about night fighting the day or… whatever. "Legion, what time is it?"
"Eleven thirty-five, Master." her familiar replied.
"Half-past eleven?" Louise couldn't help but wince at that, mentally kicking herself for sleeping in for that long. "How long was I asleep?"
"Thirteen hours and twelve minutes."
"Sounds about right." she muttered groggily, stretching her hands over her head followed by a yawn. Brimir knows she needed the rest, but she hated the fogginess that always came with being asleep for so long.
Right about then, her stomach announced its presence with a loud grumble. Signaling that it, too, had awakened and was now demanding its rightful tribute in the form of breakfast. But, her mind reminded itself, the Academy is several minutes away by foot.
A loud sigh made its way past her lips at that.
"Is something troubling you, Master?"
This drew a somewhat unladylike snort from her. "You wouldn't happen to be able to make breakfast, would you?" she asked in a slightly sarcastic tone.
"That can be arranged."
Her head jerked up at this, blinking. "Wait, really?"
"Yes Master. While not my primary function, I am more than capable at preforming it. What would you like."
Louise couldn't help the surge of excitement she felt at his words, a grin slowly spreading across her lips at the thought of the delicious food that would soon be hers. "Well in THAT case..."
About three hours before his student, Professor Colbert broke through the surface of sleep and into the waking world with a loud groan. He could tell by the angle the sun was using to burn its way into his brain that he'd woken up a lot later than he should have, although in all honesty he would've preferred it if he could have slept a little longer.
But he knew that even though staying in bed and hiding from the world felt like a perfectly good idea, it would only make things worse. Grunting from the exertion, he forced himself to move into a sitting position on the side of the bed and then spent the next couple minutes holding on for dear life as his world spun nauseatingly. Luckily, he kept a few hangover potions under his bedside table for just this kind of occasion and after blindly groping around for a few seconds, finally found one and quickly drained one in a few short gulps.
Staggering to his feet, he managed to go through his usual rituals (albeit at a slower pace) until he finally noticed a note sitting on his desk alongside the black earpiece given to him by Louise's familiar.
"Wanted to ask you how to use this but you were still asleep and unresponsive. I thought it best to leave it here for now, I'll stop by again later today. "
-Headmaster Osmond
Putting the note back down, Colbert let out a small sigh. "The old man was probably up all night studying them, he'd never be up so early otherwise."
Looking down at the comlink in his hand, he spent a few moments debating whether he was up to talking to the somewhat disturbing voice this early in the morning or not. Looking over at the small safe where he put the sample of Tiberium, he just couldn't help the curiosity that welled up inside him. Decision made, he pushed the piece of otherworldly equipment into his ear and secured it in place.
"Legion?" he asked, a slight bit of hesitation in his voice. "Are you there?"
Fully expecting there to be some form of response delay, he set out making some tea in the old earthenware pot he had been using just for that purpose for decades. As it filled up, he pondered to himself how different this type of communication was from Farspeak; the advanced wind spell that could-
"I am always here, Professor."
Jumping in surprise, the Professor couldn't help the startled oath that made it past his lips as the pot very nearly went flying in the process, making him to spend several seconds fumbling with it in a furious juggle until he managed to finally get it stable.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he gingerly set his precious pot down on the table and placed his hands on each side of it as he took a moment to try and calm his racing heart. "Brimir's teeth that was close!" he hissed to himself.
"Are you alright, Professor?"
"Yes, yes..." he muttered and after a few seconds, straightened back up with a deep breath. "I'm fine. You just took me slightly by surprise is all."
"I apologize Professor, it was never my intention."
Colbert waved his apology away. "It's fine. I was hoping to talk to you about setting up the growth test, if you have time?"
"I always have time, Professor. What do you wish to know?"
"Well," he began, feeling the excitement build as he sat down and brought out his notebook and pen. "How about we start with the basics and go from there?"
"Very well."
"All right, I think that's enough for now." Colbert said with no small measure of relief as he set down his pen and closed his notebook with a dull clap.
As he massaged the pain his wrist, sore almost to the point of cramping after writing for nearly two hours straight, he couldn't help the exited grin at what he had written down in this book. While he had to admit that a lot of the terminology made very little sense to him at the moment, it was all just so incredibly fascinating!
Legion had quickly shown himself to be an excellent teacher, able to answer all of his questions without losing focus of the subject and never lost his patience no matter how many times he asked him to repeat or clarify.
He'd be an excellent study coach for just about anyone.
"Now," he said out loud. "I think it's about time we got started with your own education."
"Acknowledged. I am prepared for input, Professor."
Pushing his chair out, Colbert couldn't help but wince a little from the stiff feeling in his knees from sitting still for so long. Ignoring the brief discomfort, he made his way over to the large bookcases which held his precious collection of books and started pulling out tomes with practiced ease.
"Willpower is the basis of all magic, and through it a mage is able to impose their logic upon the world." he began his lecture while adding books to the growing stack in his arms. "However, willpower alone is not enough so a focus is needed to channel it into a usable form, as well as an incantation to shape and guide it."
Walking back to the table, Colbert set the books down with an audible thump of leather-bound parchment on wood and raised one finger in the air. "Now, I want you to-" he began only to pause mid-sentence as he suddenly noticed something very important.
He was alone in the room.
Out of pure habit, he had gathered all of the relevant study materials in the way he would have taught one of his students; human beings equipped with eyes that could read and hands that could turn pages. While Legion was - for all intents and purposes - present through the wondrous invention of the comlink, he still lacked these very vital tools.
"Oh dear." he muttered, his brows furrowing in concern. "This complicates things."
"Is there a problem, Professor?"
Colbert chuckled mirthlessly. "You could say that. I just realized that the normal methods I use to teach won't work very well on someone that can't pick up a book and read it." he explained, a tone of exasperation clear in his voice
"Understood, one moment."
He couldn't help but blink at the rather cryptic statement, and had just opened his mouth to question it when Legion continued.
"Two squads of Militants are on their way here now, Professor."
Taken aback by this sudden turn of events, Colbert could only sputter out: "What? Why!?"
A million reasons shot though the balding professor's head at the mention of the black-armored golem soldiers, but thankfully Legion's next words quickly put his worries to rest.
"Because they are equipped with hands, Professor." the AI stated simply, voice as calm as ever. "Hands and eyes."
"Huh?" it took a few moments before he realized exactly what Legion was getting at. "Oh! Of course!" he exclaimed, now feeling a little guilty for his earlier bout of mistrust. "How long until they get here?"
When Louise finally arrived to Colbert's workshop, the first thing she saw was one of her Militants carrying one of the many workbenches over to the far wall and placing it neatly with the others already sitting there. Others soon followed, carrying boxes and other random bits of furniture and equipment to be stacked up against the wall to make space out on the floor in the other end of the workshop, where several others were already busy sweeping - one even hand-wiping - a section of the worn wooden floorboards. Finally, four were standing in front of the bookcases, rapidly flipping through books while a fifth was seated at the desk in-between, working on something with the Professor himself hovering over its shoulder.
She blinked a few times, as if hoping that something would change from refreshing her eyes, and she was just opening her mouth to ask just what they were doing here when Colbert looked up and seeing it was her, broke out in a grin.
"Ah, good morning miss Vallière!" he exclaimed cheerfully, opening his arms wide in greeting. "Welcome!"
"Good morning Professor" she responded immediately, mostly on reflex. Blinking a few times and unable to keep one eyebrow from rising out of line of the other. "Would you mind telling me what exactly's going on here?" she asked with some trepidation.
"Did you forget already?" he chided her gently. "Well, I guess I can't blame you after last night's events." at her look of confusion and mild embarrassment, he finally relented. "The growth experiment, miss Vallière."
"Oh!" her eyes widened as the memories of the previous day came back to her. "Right! Is all of this part of that?"
"It is indeed!" he said with barely restrained enthusiasm. "We were just about to start drawing the containment circles when you arrived just now, speaking of which..." he looked back over to the imposing constructs standing by the bookcases. "How is it coming, Legion?"
"Well within schedule, Professor. We can begin whenever you are ready." the voice of her familiar came in her ears, as well through Colbert's earpiece.
"Excellent!" he exclaimed, before directing his attention back to her. "Would you like to help, miss Vallière?" he asked with a certain amount of enthusiasm.
"Me?" Louise asked, momentarily taken aback by the question. "A-are you sure, Professor?"
Colbert gave her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry miss Vallière, the things I need you to do would be of the mundane sort. And judging by the work I saw you put into your summoning circle when you summoned your familiar," he made a small gesture at the number of identical soldiers in the room. "I think you'll do fine."
At the mention of her first true success at magic, Louise couldn't help the smile that broke out across her face nor the warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest. "Yes, Professor!"
Carefully leaning back into a sitting position from the spot she had been kneeling for the past ten minutes, Louise took a moment to examine her work with a critical eye. Between herself and two of her Militants, the work of drawing the circles on the floor in chalk had gone much faster than she had ever thought possible. Just over four meters in diameter, it consisted of five layers of carefully inscribed runes spaced out by unbroken circles, gradually tapering down towards the center.
Which at the moment was filled by a very innocent-looking bucket, filled to the brim with dirt.
"There, that should be everything." she muttered, not really wanting to spend more time than necessary kneeling on the floor like that. "How does it look?"
At her question, one of the Militants stepped up next to her, panning its head left and right as it took in her work. "Analyzing." a few seconds ticked by as it was compared to the blueprint "No errors detected beyond minute changes in shape and size that are well within acceptable parameters. Well done, Master."
"Hmph!" Louise smirked "I am a noble, after all!"
Accepting the hand offered by her familiar, she allowed herself to be helped up to her feet and then spent a few minutes walking around the circle, both to get some circulation back in her legs and to admire her work. While it was certainly not quite as complicated as the circle she had made for the Springtime Summoning, the amount of magic it was designed to channel still necessitated a certain amount of finesse to ensure that everything was just right. Having studied the theory more intensely than most of the seniors, she knew that at this level even the slightest fault could have catastrophal - and possibly fatal - consequences.
Magic was very finicky like that.
Care and precision in all things was paramount order to prevent the kind of mishaps that could lead to injury or even death.
While far from the only issue between Nobles and commoners, the hidden complexity of magic was one of the main reasons why the two groups had trouble getting along. To a commoner it was a constant source of frustration to watch the highborn nobles wave sticks around to create wonders, while they themselves had to toil in the dirt. The Nobles on the other hand scoffed at the commoners for not being able to understand how difficult magic was and just how long they had to practice to get to where they were.
It was a stupid form of circular logic to be sure, but human nature rarely followed such silly, idealized concepts like "logic" and "reason".
The building which Professor Colbert had claimed as his workshop/laboratory had originally been built as a storage building, and was equipped with a pair of large barn doors in the front to better serve this purpose. Much had changed since then, including the addition of an ordinary side door (which was used as a front entrance by the man who now called it home) and they had fallen into disuse. But now they were being pulled open by a pair of machine-soldiers from another reality, the old wheels groaning but not squealing as they had been generously lubricated just hours earlier, to reveal the man himself.
"Ah!" the balding man exclaimed cheerfully at seeing her standing there, noting how she looked quite pleased with herself. "Have you finished with your work yet, miss Vallière?"
Louise nodded, a faint smile on her lips. "Of course, Professor."
"Good! That means we can move on to the next stage." He replied. Walking inside with quick, excited steps Colbert wasted no time making way for the four Militants carrying what she thought looked very much like a large glass bell.
She watched as they moved it inside with a sense of speed and grace that were at an odds with the creaking floorboards under their boots, betraying just how heavy it actually was. With steady hands and what she could only describe as beautiful choreography, they maneuvered it into place by shifting handholds from underneath it to the sides to avoid smearing any of the lines.
For some reason, Louise couldn't help but feel a strange surge of satisfaction well up within her as she noted that the lip of the bell-like cover corresponded precisely with the second-largest circle in the array.
"Task complete." Legion announced to both of them.
"Yes! Excellent!" Colbert said with the kind of glee you'd normally get from a child in a candy store. "We're almost there!"
As the excited Professor hurried over to put everything in order for the final stage, Louise decided to take a closer look at what he had been up to while she was working on the circles. Mindful of the sensitive chalk lines she had so painstakingly laid on the floor, it was only when she got close enough to touch it that she noticed lines of some kind carved into the smooth surface of the glass.
"Did he make another set of containment seals in the glass cover?" she muttered half to herself, frowning slightly as she felt a spike of irritation. "Then why'd he ask me to draw them on the floor, as well?"
"One of the dangers of Tiberium is the fact that it can spread itself by means of airborne micro-crystals." Legion informed her in Colbert's defense. "While the chances are smaller at this scale, the Professor felt it prudent to take every precaution." he paused then for a moment, before adding "I, too, support this decision Master."
"Oh, well." Louise blinked. "I guess that makes sense, but why did he conjure it outside instead of right here on top of the circles?" she asked curiously.
"Because I didn't wasn't to risk accidentally and potentially contaminate the area with magical residue." Colbert responded patiently to her question from just behind her, making her jump as she hadn't heard him come up. Turning around, she found him giving her a somewhat amused expression, the container held securely in both hands.
"Neither of us have any idea how sensitive Tiberium will be to magical energies, so we thought it best to limit it as much as possible."
"A-ah, well..." she stuttered out before finally managing to compose herself. "it's very impressive work, Professor!"
Colbert chuckled slightly and shook his head. "You should thank your familiar, miss Vallière." he admitted to her with a smile. "Had I been doing this on my own, it would have taken me several days of hard work to preform all the necessary calculations for something like this. He on the other hand did it all in a matter of seconds!" pausing for a moment, he looked over at the glass cover on the floor. "Not to mention, moving that in such a short time would have been impossible for me without magic."
"A-ah, um..." Louise found herself at a loss of words, her feet suddenly looking very interesting to her while a blush burned her cheeks.
The older man's smile was tinged with a bit of sadness as he watched his student fumble with her words.
Poor girl has probably been called a failure for so long that she doesn't actually know how she is supposed to react to getting actual praise. He thought to himself with a frown.
With a sense of resolve, Colbert gently laid a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "The actions of the familiar are reflected onto the mage, miss Vallière." he reminded her, offering her a reassuring smile. "It's alright to be proud of his accomplishments."
Pride.
Louise swallowed reflexively, her left hand coming up to rest over her heart with her fingers curled into a loose fist. She could no longer remember when she last had felt pride over anything she did, having substituted it with bravado for so very long she didn't even know what it felt like.
But there it was. Tiny and feeble like a lone candle in the night, but nonetheless present.
Waiting quietly as she got her emotions into order, Colbert was pleased to see that when her eyes refocused on him once more, there was a certain fire burning within them that hadn't been there before. "I am very proud of him, Professor!" she said at last, a bright smile on her lips. "He's everything I could have hoped for."
"I was simply fulfilling the task given to me, Master." Legion replied, almost in protest. "I am undeserving of your praise."
Most people wouldn't have pushed such an issue, but it just didn't sit right with Louise. As it sensing this, her familiar added: "There is no greater reward for me than seeing your needs fulfilled, my Master."
Try as she might, she could only smile in response. Nodding slightly to himself in satisfaction, Colbert chose that moment to direct a question directed to the AI. "How long until we start seeing any results from this experiment?"
"Unknown at this time, I will start analyzing it once the Tiberium has been added."
"Ah!" Louise looked up at the Professor just in time to see his eyes widen in sudden realization before loudly snapping his fingers. "Of course!"
"What's wrong, Professor?" Louise asked in confusion, her previous mood all but forgotten in lieu of watching the older man nearly trip twice on his robes in his hurry to get to a small safe near his bed.
"I forgot to add the Tiberium." Colbert laughed sheepishly as he quickly unlocked the safe with a small, ornate key hanging from his neck and pulled out the container filled with the priceless substance. Pausing only for a moment to admire the gorgeous emerald shimmer from within, he then handed the sample over to one of the Militants.
Motioning for Louise to join him where he was standing, they watched as the machine-soldier gracefully navigated the containment circle to set the container into an indentation at the very top of the domed glass cover, something Louise had missed during her examination.
"I designed it to have a little opening up at the top matching that of the container." Colbert explained when he saw the questioning look she was directing at him. "Legion and I came to the decision to make it like that after we discussed what would be the best and safest way to introduce the liquid Tiberium to the dirt."
"Oka-ay..." Louise said slowly in response, eying the distance between the top of the dome and the dirt. "Explain to me exactly how are you going to get it open without being near it?" she asked in confusion. "Also, wouldn't it be safer to drop it from a place not quite so..." she made a rough measure with her hands "high up?
"A valid question, miss Vallière." the Professor said happily. "Legion?"
"Liquid Tiberium has a level of viscosity that does now allow it to splatter easily, Master." the voice of her familiar rumbled in their ears. "The distance to the target is a necessary safety precaution to ensure that the resulting growth does not reach the container where it could cause a reaction between its crystalline and liquid states."
"As for opening it, secure containers of this type are equipped with advanced systems that regulate the intake/outlet valve as well as monitoring its overall structural integrity. These systems are under my direct control and act as a fail-safe to avoid accidental exposure caused by structural or mechanical failure, as well as deter theft or sabotage.
"Huh, not bad." Louise absently wondered to herself if this could be applied to other things as well, a chest that was impossible to breach without alerting her would be nice...
Louise was brought her out of her musings by Colbert clearing his throat. Feeling a little guilty for getting caught up in her own thoughts, she motioned for him to continue "Please continue, Professor."
"Thank you miss Vallière." taking a moment to gather his thoughts, he continued the explanation. "When I give the signal, Legion will allow about half a teaspoon's worth of liquid Tiberium to trickle out from the container before shutting it off." he said, pointing first at the container and then drawing a line with his finger down at the bucket. "This will then hit the very center of the bucket and when it does, if what Legion tells me is correct, it should only take a few seconds for first crystals to form!" he explained, getting increasingly excited as he talked only to end it with a dramatic wave of his hand. "Any questions?"
Always the attentive student, Louise carefully listened to his explanation before raising her hand in a purely habitual manner "Only one: how long will this go on for?"
"Approximately one week." Legion answered her, and after a moment's pause spoke again. "Master, I suggest stationing a number of Militants here for the duration of the experiment."
"As guards?"
"Yes Master. It will also give me opportunity to monitor the process for deviations from the known norm, something which may be of use to us when we move to full scale."
"I don't see why not." Louise said after a moment of consideration. "How many would you need?"
"Three will be sufficient."
"Four." Colbert added his own two cents to the discussion. "One for redundancy." he explained when she gave him a questioning look.
Louise shrugged. "Four it is, then."
"Acknowledged."
"Alright, then!" Colbert said, clapping his hands once to announce the end of the discussion. "Let's get started!" he announced with renewed enthusiasm. "Legion, if you would?"
"Roger, starting countdown."
As he began counting down from ten, three of the machine-men stepped up to stand at ease in a triangle formation at the very edge of the circle. Another came up to stand next to Louise as the two waited for what felt like an eternity before the countdown finally reached zero.
Slowly, a bead of green formed at the top of the bell-shaped glass cover, growing steadily larger until they heard a sharp click of the shutter closing, fell down precisely in the middle of the pot. At first, nothing seemed to happen as the green liquid slowly absorbed into the soil sample and so they waited in complete silence until suddenly…
ping
crackle
Peering in through the thick glass, the student and the professor could see that a small pit had formed in the dirt where the drop landed, a glint of green just barely visible within. As they watched, stray bits of dirt broke off from the edge and fell down onto the drop where it was swiftly consumed, allowing it to grow which in turn pushed against the sides of the pit and made more fall in.
Much like the dance of flames in a fireplace, watching the little bead of green glow was a rather mesmerizing sight. And just like a fire, you could only watch it for so long before getting tired of it and it wasn't long until Louise could feel herself losing interest.
"Well, that was kind of anticlimactic." she commented dryly."I half expected them to burst into crystals within moments."
"Under normal circumstances that would indeed be what would happen, Master."
"So that means that the experiment is a success?"
"While it does appear that our theories are correct, it is too early to tell for sure." her familiar reminded her. "I will continue monitoring this for a few more days."
"Alright." Louise nodded, feeling strangely satisfied with herself. "I should probably get back to my studies now. I'll see you in class, Professor." she called out as she walked out the door.
"Of course, miss Vallière."Colbert nodded absently in return, still enraptured by the glowing process taking place in front of him.
The woman known as Longueville frowned as she stood before the great, reinforced doors that led into the treasury within the Academy. Her wand glowed for a moment as she held it over the heavy padlock that barred her entry, attempting to coax it open. But no matter how she tried, the best she could do was cause it to rattle a little bit before settling back down.
"Nothing." she muttered, cupping her chin with one hand she took a moment to study the doors yet again. Just as she had been doing for weeks now. "Whoever cast this reinforcement spell knew what they were doing, transmutation spells are my specialty but I might as well be throwing pebbles for all the good it's doing."
Sliding her wand back into the pocket sown into her sleeve, she started pacing back and forth in front of the doors, deep in thought as she tried to solve this latest and greatest of puzzles.
This had turned out to be a colossal waste of time for her so far, having spent months not only weaseling her way into the position she now held, but also hunting down every scrap of information she could find about the vault as well as the Academy itself.
But all her efforts thus far had been for naught, being no closer to gaining entry than she had when she first started her secretary job for that perverted old man.
Gripping her elbows she stared up at the doors once more. "There must be a better way..."
"What are you doing over there?"
Startled, Longueville whirled around to come face-to-face with Jean Colbert who had somehow managed to sneak up on her, and was now looking at her with a look of surprise that mirrored her own.
"Miss Longueville?"
"Ah, Mr. Colbert." she greeted him with a friendly smile, instantly reverting from thief to secretary in the blink of an eye. "Hello."
"What are you doing here?" Colbert asked with a small frown, confusion clear in his voice.
"The Headmaster asked me to catalogue the contents of the vault." she lied without missing a beat. "But I seem to have forgotten the key."
He nodded in understanding and she hurried to continue before he got the chance to start talking. "So you'll have to excuse me, Professor." she said apologetically as she breezed past him.
"Ah, wait!" he called out after her. "Just a moment, please!"
Squashing the annoyance that rose within her, she turned to face him once more as he hurried to catch up to her. "Yes Professor?"
"W-well..." he stammered "I just want to ask if, um.. er… I-f you..."
"Eh?" she watched him in honest confusion as he kept stumbling over his words.
"Would you like… how would like to have lunch together?" he finally managed to get out, and her mind immediately seized the opportunity that had suddenly been thrust in her face.
"Yes, of course." she smiled "It would be my pleasure."
As they walked, she made small talk about this and that before steering the conversation towards what she really wished to know. Specific weaknesses and countermeasures, the layout of the vault and the rotation of people assigned to check on it were happily revealed to her by this naïve fool of a man. A part of her even felt sorry for him and tried all it could to convince her to abandon the plan and just live her life in peace.
But, she was forced to remind herself as she aimed false smiles at her latest source of information to encourage him to spill more of the school's secrets to her, the stakes were too high for her to actually do such a thing. Her mind flashed through the things that would happen to her beloved sister if she didn't deliver to her employers what she had promised.
She would not fail.
"You don't really have to follow me to class like this, I'm pretty sure no one's going to attack me in during class in broad daylight."
"It is my duty to ensure your safety at all times, Master, regardless of the probability of an attack."
Louise let out a sigh of exasperation. Her familiar could be so stubborn sometimes! "Fine, whatever!" she grumbled at him. "At least you left your muskets behind this time, so that's something."
Not that it really mattered at this point. Despite the fact that neither one of the tall, matte-black soldiers flanking her were carrying any form of weapon, they seemed to extrude such a foreboding presence that people instinctively did everything they could to stay out of their path. This made navigating the crowded corridors of the school much easier than it normally would, as all the people that normally got in her way suddenly decided that hugging the walls seemed like a much better idea.
"It was also my intention to use this opportunity to study the process which you call magic in order to gain additional insight in its workings, thereby increasing the odds of being able to protect you from it should the need arise."
"Hmm. Didn't you study it for when you helped Professor Colbert with his experiment?"
"You are of course correct Master. However that was mostly magic theory supplemented by the little bit I observed him practice in creating the containment structure, which although certainly impressive, did not give me more than a glimpse into the subject. More data will be required for me to build a more comprehensive understanding."
"Oh." Louise blinked, that actually did make a lot of sense. "Well, I guess you're in luck then this being a school and all." she muttered. "Well, here we are."
Having made it to the classroom in record time, she had a satisfied smile on her face as her familiar held the door open for her and then pulled a chair out for her to sit down on after she pointed out where her usual spot was. Once seated they each took up a spot just behind her and stood there like a pair of statues, keeping silent vigil even as the teacher arrived and started the lesson.
"As I am sure you are all familiar," the Professor, a plump older lady named Chevreuse said, "the aspects of magic are fire, earth, wind, water and last but not least the lost element of void making them five in total. Most important of them all is earth, as it governs the creation of all matter and their applications throughout the world."
Stepping away from the blackboard, she approached the desk where a rock had been sitting on a piece of cloth since the beginning of class. "Now for a bit of demonstration." she declared, wand in hand. "Pay attention now as I cast a transmutation spell on this rock."
As the professor preformed the spell, Legion zoomed in on the rock to get a better look on the process.
When Legion had first designed the Militia-type platforms that day in accordance to his Master's need for boots on the ground, he had equipped them with whatever he had access to in order to make them as combat-efficient as possible. This included a basic sensor rig for things like vibrations, temperature, atmospheric pressure, various visual spectrums and so on. What he had found was that with some careful calibrating they could also be used as makeshift science equipment, which was how he was currently detecting some very interesting energy and mass spectrometry readings from the process in front of him.
"Is that gold?" Kirche exclaimed excitedly, followed by a ripple of murmurs that swept through the classroom.
Professor Chevreuse shook her head. "No, while it only appears so this is ordinary brass; an alloy of copper and zinc. In order to transmute gold a mage needs to be able to harness all four elements, something only square mages can do."
"Is that gold?" Kirche exclaimed excitedly, followed by a ripple of murmurs that swept through the classroom.
Professor Chevreuse shook her head. "No, while it only appears so this is ordinary brass; an alloy of copper and zinc. In order to transmute gold a mage needs to be able to harness all four elements, something only square mages can do."
"Fascinating, it appears that the composition of the sedimentary rock was altered to a copper/zinc structure at an atomic level through a series of incredibly rapid phase changes."
Louise gave a blank stare up at one of her familiar's bodies. "Didn't I tell you to use Halkeginian when talking to me? Speak plainly."
"I apologize, Master. What I was trying to say was that I find the process of transmutation very interesting and I would very much like to study it in greater detail at the base."
"Oh, well I guess that could be arranged." she mused, slowly tapping her finger against her cheek. "Maybe we could ask Professor Colbert if he'd be willing to-"
"Are you paying attention, miss Vallière."
Louise froze mid-sentence and refocusing on the teacher once more, found that she watching her with a patient look. "Ah! Yes, of course Professor!"
"Good, then maybe you can explain the basics of earth-elemental magic to me?"
Louise nodded and stood up as the proper noble she was. "The basis of earth magic is transmutation. The creation and shaping of metal and stone, raising buildings and harvesting crops are all related to earth magic making it important to our very way of life."
"Very good." Professor Chevreuse said with approval. "It would appear you have been diligent in your studies. Perhaps you would like to demonstrate how much you have learned to the class?" she asked, motioning to some pebbles she also had lying on her desk.
"Professor, don't!" Kiche shouted in alarm, ignoring the disapproving look she got in return she continued. "Nothing good ever comes out of Louise trying to cast spells!"
"Is this more of that 'Louise the Zero' nonsense?" Chevreuse said with a hint of irritation. "This behavior is unbefitting of a noble miss Zerbst, any line mage could transmute rock into glass so it should hardly be difficult for any of you to do the same."
A few others tried to protest as well and were swiftly silenced with mouthfuls of red clay. With an encouraging smile, she motioned for Louise to come over. "Please come over miss Vallière, don't worry about making mistakes. You are here to learn after all."
Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Louise stepped down the isle towards the teaching area with her head held high. Pointedly ignoring the way her classmates were abandoning their chairs in favor of hunkering down behind the relative safety provided by their desks.
"Hey Louise, you don't have to force yourself to do this." Kirche tried to reason with her as she walked past. "Why don't you sit this one out? You look kind of tired."
"Not listening to you." she huffed in return, not even pausing in her step and soon she was standing before the teacher's desk.
Taking a few moments to compose herself, Louise focused down on the pebbles in front of her. She quickly looked over them to familiarize herself with the way they looked, their colors and their placements and with that done, she raised her wand and began to preform the incantation. Legion once again took great care in studying the many readings presented to him as a magical reaction took place once in the room, even moreso since it was cast by his Master. He watched as the milliseconds ticked by, the graphs rising in accordance to the amount of energy saturated within the material. His Master's curve rose a little higher than the professor's, but instead of peaking in the same spot it just kept rising, and rising.
And rising.
Literal alarm bells immediately went off within Legion's systems, lines of script appearing in his view of the Master.
Warning: High-energy reaction detected in close proximity of subject PROPHET.
Immediate action required.
PROTECT THE MASTER.
No more than half a second after Louise had uttered the last word of her incantation in realtime, her two protectors who had remained standing by her seat exploded into action. Going from a standstill to full sprint in less than a heartbeat, they practically flew down the isles with a speed rivaling that of a horse at full gallop and as they passed the last desk of the middle row they each reached down and grabbed the edge with one hand.
It should be mentioned that the desks of the academy was not of the simple plank-construction often used by the common folk. Constructed several decades prior by expert Gallian craftsmen at the request of the Headmaster, they were two inches of solid, polished oak made to handle the rigors of spell-casting gone awry without making sacrifices in beauty. Hand-forged iron nails snapped and wood splintered as synthetic muscle attached to a metal and ceramic frame tore the flat surface from its moorings, forced it up in order to clear the top of Louise's head and then slammed it down edge-first in front of her.
As the dust and smoke kicked up by the explosion cleared, Louise blinked at the wooden surface that seemed to have materialized in front of her only moments after she had cast her spell. She could see how a large crack had formed down the middle of it right in front of her by the force of the explosion and it took her a few seconds to voice the question in her mind, that also just-so happened to be echoed by everyone else in the room.
"What just happened?"
"Guuh." Louise groaned as she slumped in her seat at one of the tables out on the lawn of one of the courtyards later that evening. Every muscle in her body ached from the exertion of having been forced to clean up her mess completely by hand as punishment for blowing up yet another classroom.
"Look at it from the bright side, Lady Vallière." Siesta said comfortingly as she poured the noble a cup of tea. "At least you didn't have to clean the entire thing, and Sir Legion was there to help you."
"I know, I know." Louise said in a dull tone. "But I also have to pay for the damages out of my own pocket. Those desks aren't cheap, you know?"
"My apologies, Master. It was at the time the only thing available to me with enough surface area to shield you from the blast."
She sighed and rubbed her eyes with one hand, her failure stung as it usually did but she had long since given up crying about it. "Now you know why they call me Louise the Zero; zero talent, zero success." she let out a snort. "Well, I guess I should be happy that no one got hurt besides Professor Chevreuse."
"And you had a convenient stretcher to carry her with to the healer's." Siesta added with a small smile, earning a faint one in return from Louise. "Yes, I suppose that too." They shared a few minutes of comfortable silence after that as Louise sipped at her tea and watched the stars, finally broken as her familiar spoke once again.
"Master, I have been studying the readings from the time of your spell-casting and comparing them to that of others I have observed preforming magic. In doing so I have noticed some peculiarities that may or may not be related to the explosive results that appear to be plaguing you."
This caught Louise's attention and after sharing a look with Siesta, motioned for him to continue. "Go on."
"From what I have seen so far, the process of a successful spell follows the pattern of a slow build-up that peaks at a certain point in time as the effects run its course before dropping sharply at the end. The failed transmutation spell you cast earlier on the other hand appeared to simply keep building, much like an uncontrolled chain-reaction, until the material itself failed."
"Well, yeah." she said in a deadpan. "That much is obvious. But it still doesn't explain why all my other spells explode in the same way."
Legion was silent for a few moments. "This variable does not appear to have been taken into account within the current thesis due to a lack of available data. Further testing in a controlled environment recommended in order to gather sufficient data to efficiently tackle this problem, master."
"Maybe tomorrow, Legion." she sighed. "Right now all I want to do is take a bath and go to bed."
"As you wish, my Master."
A few days later, Louise was standing in what had been one of the many unused storage bays underneath the Command Center, now re-purposed into a shooting range, facing down a dummy target standing some 25 meters downrange. The original idea had been to do it at one of the ranges already present within the Hand of Nod, but it had quickly become apparent that the facility lacked the kind of sensor equipment that Legion had decreed necessary for proper testing. He maintained that using the Militants for this purpose was acceptable when there was no other option, but to be using them now instead of actual purpose-built equipment was like using a rock to hammer a nail simply because you were too lazy to stand up and use the hammer sitting on the table right next to you.
Louise hadn't even bothered to argue about it, so that was that.
"You know, while I don't mind Siesta or Professor Colbert coming along to watch whatever tests you wanted to run." Louise said calmly, looking over the pair standing further back. "I would really like to know what YOU are doing here!" she demanded to know of a very innocent-looking Kirche who was also standing next to them, currently giving her a grin and a thumbs up.
"I'm moral support!"
Rubbing her face with one hand, Louise let out a sigh and turned her back to the trio once again. "Ignoring the fact that I'm pretty sure I don't need whatever morals you claim to have..." she smirked a little hearing a giggle from Siesta followed by an indignant 'Hey!' from Kirche.
"Come now, miss Vallière." Colbert said in a calm, placating manner. "I'm sure there's no harm in her being here, she might be able to offer some manner of insight that others might miss."
"Yes well, I'll make sure not to miss if she gets in my way." Louise muttered under her breath. Out loud she said "So I just have to hit that dummy over there, is that all?"
"Yes Master. All measuring equipment and high-speed cameras are aimed and calibrated in preparation for the test, you may start whenever you are ready."
"Alright." Raising her wand, she pointed it downrange with as much accuracy she could muster before calling out the name of her spell. "Fireball!"
Heavy canvas cloth tore like tissue paper as a section of the sandbags piled up at the far end of the range exploded with considerable force, spraying their contents everywhere as her spell missed the target by about three meters. She let her hand fall back to her side with a sigh. "Well, there you have-"
She cut off as the whole area was suddenly cast into a crimson twilight as the regular lights cut off and were replaced by emergency lightning as klaxons and alarm bells started going off somewhere in the base, making them all jump. Her first instinct was to turn around and demand just what the hell Kirche had done this time and was thus able to see how a pair of heavy blast doors closed shut over both of the two exits out of the room, effectively sealing them inside.
"Alarm. Alert." a calm, female-sounding voice announced over the PA system. "Level 1 containment breach in Cargo Sector B. Please move smoothly to your assigned evacuation point and await further instructions, this is not a drill."
"Legion! What the hell is going on?" Louise shouted over the din, her hands pressed to her ears mirroring the others in the room.
"Something triggered the automatic protocols for emergency containment of hazardous materials." her familiar rumbled in her head, bypassing her ears completely. "It has sent the base into a state of quarantine in order to prevent it from spreading."
"If you find yourself trapped within the quarantined area, keep calm and remember: the Prophet is always with you."
"Well, shut it off!"
"One moment."
Each second felt like an eternity as they waited and just as Louise felt like she could take it no longer, the alarms cut off and they blinked as the lights suddenly turned on again. She could feel her ears pop as the doors were unsealed and ventilation started up again and she took a moment to work her jaw in order to clear them out.
"Ow." Kirche muttered as she slowly massaged her temples with her fingertips, trying to get rid of the ringing in her ears. "That was... loud."
The others muttered their agreements.
"So..." Louise said after a few moments. "Do you want me to do it again or was once enough?"
"Additional attempts will be necessary to establish a proper baseline, however I suggest that further testing is postponed until I have been able to determine what was triggering the hazard alert and why."
"Well, how long will that take?" she asked impatiently.
"It should not take long, Master. I have already started diagnostics and are currently checking through the logs, I predict it will take no more than an hour at most."
"Hmm." Colbert mused. "Well, unless miss Zerbst would really like to practice the accuracy of her spell-casting..." he looked over at the girl in question who simply shook her head, he continued saying "...then I suggest we take a break. I seem to recall hearing something about an area for rest and recreational activities, Legion?"
"There are several, I will establish a waypoint to the closest one."
"Please do."
Just under an hour later they were back in the testing range, all feeling a bit better after spending some time in one of the break rooms. They had also stopped by the kitchens on their way back after Louise had mentioned the chocolate beverage that she had last time and Kirche being Kirche, had immediately latched on to the idea, demanding to try some.
"This stuff is amazing!" Kirche moaned in delight after taking another sip from the steaming mug in her hands. "How come I've never had it in my life before now?"
"I know, right?" Siesta giggled in return. "It's soooo good!"
Slightly further ahead, Louise and Colbert watched as the two girls as they giggled like maniacs from the endorphin kick they got from having chocolate for the first time. "This might have been a mistake." Louise muttered, almost feeling a little embarrassed with how they were acting. "I don't remember acting quite like that, did I?"
"It was something similar." the balding Professor admitted. Looking down into the gently steaming mug in his hands, he added "I must say though that while I don't seem to exhibit quite the same reaction to it as you and the others did, miss Vallière, I must say I quite enjoy the flavor of it."
"Mm-hm." Louise said in agreement, taking a sip from her own mug she took a moment to savor its rich flavor. Leaning herself against one of the tables, she directed her next question to her familiar. "What about you, Legion? Have you managed to figure out what the problem was yet?"
"I believe so, Master. It appears that when you cast your spell, the system assumed that the spike in exotic particles was because of a possibly catastrophic containment failure in one of the canisters used in experimental particle research. Seeing as we are not under threat by outside forces that might require my full attention at the moment, I have disabled these system for the moment and will be making adjustments to them at a later date."
"So it shouldn't be any problems for me to continue right now, then?"
"No, Master. I am ready to continue the testing whenever you are."
Sharing a look with Colbert, Louise nodded and after drawing her wand, aimed it down at the dummy once again.
"Fireball!"
The two moons shone brightly in the sky as they finally made it back to the Academy, having spent so much time in testing the effects of Louise's explosions on various things that they ended up having dinner at the base. Despite the fact that Legion would need some time to examine the results more closely, it had been quite the informative evening for all of them.
"I can't believe you're even standing up, much less walking after casting all those explosions." Kirche had commented on the way back, having remaining quiet through most of the tests done after the initial mishaps. Before all of this she had seen Louise blow up a great many things on accident, even getting caught in them a few times, but as previously stated those had been accidents. Failed spells that never achieved their desired result.
Louise had never actually tried to harm anyone or anything with these spells, they just failed in bursts of concussive force and smoke. Now on the other hand, when she actually did set her mind on destroying something…
Well...
"So what? I just cast a few spells on a few random objects, what's so special about that?" Louise replied in honest confusion. "I'm finding it more odd the way you're acting so concerned all of a sudden."
"Louise." the Germanian said with deliberate slowness. "I watched you throw spells with enough force behind them to tear solid steel like tissue paper for hours!" she pointed up at her face with her index finger. "I watched with my own eyes how you turned a literal ton of solid rock into gravel with a single spell!"
Louise blinked at her. "And?"
Kirche threw her hands up in the air in frustration and turned to the only adult in the group. "Help me out here, Professor Colbert!" she pleaded to him.
Colbert who was walking slightly behind the two, had been in listening to their conversation with half an ear while. He was contemplating the possibility of growing their own cocoa beans here in Tristain and hearing his name spoken, he looked up to find both of his students looking at him expectantly.
"Ah! Um..." he coughed once into his fist before speaking. "What I think miss Zerbst is trying to say, is that it's rare to see a young mage with access to the kind of willpower needed to repeatedly cast spells with the amount of power you did today, miss Vallière.
"Really?" Louise frowned a little. "I didn't think I put that much power into them, did I? I mean, I've seen Mother do far worse with a single flick of her wand on a bad day, so I didn't think much of it." she reasoned.
Colbert let out a small sigh. "Yes, well… your mother is a bit of a special case miss Vallière." he said gently. "I can't really blame you for wanting to aspire to her level, but I'd advise not setting the bar quite so high from the start."
She couldn't really argue with that and the rest of the walk was spent discussing other school-related things.
Once they reached the Academy, they split off in the directions of their own sleeping quarters. As their dorm rooms happened to be right across from one another, Louise and Kirche ended up walking together as they crossed one of the courts on the way to their tower.
"Huaaahh." Kirche groaned, stretching her arms over her head as she yawned. "I feel like I could sleep for a week. All that walking can't be good for my figure."
Louise rolled her eyes. "What, afraid that it'll trim some of that blubber off your chest?"
"Not that it matters to you." Kirche shot back. "You don't have anything to lose in the first place!"
The pinkette let out a growl as she whirled on the Germanian. "I'm not in the mood for your wise cracks tonight, von Zerbst! It's been a really long day and I just want to go to bed, and..." she trailed off, frowning in confusion as she noticed that she was having trouble seeing the girl in front of her. "...why is it so dark, all of a sudden?"
"Well you, I..." Kirche blinked in confusion, caught off guard by the sudden change in subject. "What?"
They both jumped with identical shrieks of surprise as a colossal foot of stone and dirt came down just next to them with a loud crash, shaking the ground they were standing on and almost sending them flat on their butts. Following the foot up to the rest of the body, they both took a moment to gape at the colossal stone construct right in front of them. Fatigue momentarily forgotten, they both scrambled to get away from it as quickly as possible.
"What the hell!" Kirche exclaimed once it was clear that it wasn't actually following them. "What is a golem doing on the Academy grounds in the middle of the night!?" she shouted in panic.
"I don't know!" Louise cried back in response, feeling equally terrified.
"Master, it appears to be heading for the central tower."
Her gaze snapped back over to the golem and saw that just as Legion was telling her, it was walking with long, thunderous steps towards the tall building that made up the center of the Academy. She watched how upon reaching it, it reached back one colossal fist and, with a sound somewhere between a thunderclap and a rock slide, slammed it into the reinforced wall of the tower.
"Quick, get down before it sees you!" Kirche hissed as she pulled Louise down behind a bush, ignoring the look of irritation the pink-haired girl shot her in return, she continued in a loud whisper. "Rein in your goddamn Vallière-hero complex and think for a moment! If whoever is controlling that golem notices us, it'll flatten us like crepes!"
"Then what do you want us to do!?" Louise hissed back, jerking away from the older girl. "Just sit idly by as it smashes the entire school? I refuse to do that!" They both peeked back out from behind the bush just as the golem reared back for a second strike, holding their hands over their ears as it smashed against the stonework with enough force that they could feel the shockwave from there.
"Legion," Louise called out once the noise had settled back once more. "Please tell me you have something that could damage that thing."
"We are currently lacking all forms of self-propelled artillery, which would be my first choice in combating something of that size. Barring that, it may be possible to harm it using antimech weaponry accompanied by armor-piercing ammunition."
"Then bring as much as you can carry, and be quick about it! In the meantime, we'll try to distract the thing before it can cause too much damage." she spoke even as she stood up fully.
"What?" Kirche spluttered. "No! You can't just go and volunteer me for your crazy ideas as you please!"
"Then stay here and cower like a coward if that's what you want!" Louise shouted back at her, momentarily stunning the Germanian with the intensity in her voice. "I won't be remembered as the Noble that stood by and allowed the Tristain Academy of Magic to be attacked without even trying to stop it!"
If anyone had told Kirche a week ago that in a week's time she would be watching Louise de la Vallière charge what could only be described as a walking siege engine on her own, armed only with her wand and nothing more protecting her than the Academy uniform, she would have laughed in their face. And also possibly, probably then set them on fire.
And then laughed at them while they were on fire, too. Probably.
But there it was, happening right before her own two eyes.
"Gott im Himmel, I must be going insane." Kirche muttered in exasperation as she, too drew her wand and charged out after her rival.
Foquet the Crumbling Dirt frowned as despite her best attempts, the wall leading into the Academy vault simply would not yield. She thought that she had struck paydirt when she learned that the wards could possibly be weak to heavy physical assault, and had planned accordingly. She had spent several days pooling the willpower necessary to animate the largest golem she could possibly create and then triggered the Bell of Sleep right before beginning her assault.
So far so good, but now that she was actually hammering on the wall she found that no matter the force she applied to it, not a single crack could be seen anywhere! In hindsight it was clear that she shouldn't have simply taken the professor's word without actually confirming them somehow, but she was getting desperate and now she had nothing to show for it.
But that line of thought was going to have to wait as not a moment later a loud detonation smashed into her golem, followed by a ball of fire impacting against its back. The fireball didn't do much more than leaving a black smear across the stone surface of the golem, but she noted with some trepidation that it was missing half of its head. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead as it had been on the opposite side from the shoulder she was standing on, having only escaped it by sheer luck alone.
Quickly turning around, she saw two of the students standing on the lawn with their wands pointing up at her, idly she wondered just how they had managed to escape the effects of the Bell of Sleep, but quickly decided it didn't matter.
"Oh, great." she sneered at them even as she directed some willpower to reform the lost part of the golem, the magics of the hood she wore instantly changing her voice to the point where it was impossible to tell whether she was male or female. "Some fools out taking a midnight stroll, I see."
"Surrender now, Foquet!" the pink one shouted at her. "We have you surrounded."
"I'd hardly call two against one being surrounded." she snorted. "But if it is a fight you want, I'll be happy to oblige!" Raising one of the golem's arms, she slammed it down right between them, sending the two girls flying in opposite directions with nearly identical, shrill cries. To their credit, they quickly got to their feet and with a rather impressive show of coordination pointed their wands at her in tandem, shouting out identical spells.
"FIREBALL!"
Foquet stood calmly as the fireball launched from the Zerbst girl washed over her harmlessly, its effects completely nullified by the wards in her cloak. The explosion from the other one however came as a complete surprise, not only was it completely invisible but it also missed her completely. Her eyes widened as she reflexively turned to look behind her and saw the spiderweb of cracks in the very stonework she had just been trying to break.
Zero my ass! The force behind those explosions are insane!
Quickly moving to capitalize on the moment, she swung the golem's right arm in a wide arc while simultaneously firing off stone spikes from said limb, forcing the two girls to throw themselves away in order to avoid getting impaled. She allowed the swing to carry all the way around before allowing it to terminate against the wall and to her elation, managed to completely smash it this time.
Success!
"Thanks for the assist, children!" she gleefully called out to them as she quickly made her way across the arm of the golem and into the vault itself.
And oh, the riches she found within!
Literal tons of gold and jewels, priceless artifacts and works of art lined shelf after shelf from floor to ceiling and it was only through an act of supreme will that she could ignored it in favor of finding the one thing that she was truly after. Thankfully, the vault was meticulously ordered and it did not take her very long to find the oblong wooden box marked as containing the Staff of Destruction. Quickly checking its contents, she took but a brief moment to marvel over how very… different it looked, yet it perfectly fit the description given to her by the Headmaster himself so there was no doubt about it.
She also very quickly found that it was quite heavy, but that was easily remedied by shaping one of the piles of gold into a smaller cousin of the one outside in order to carry it for her. This of course also served the purpose of bringing what she estimated to be well over 10,000 écu worth of gold, thus killing two birds with one stone.
Chuckling to herself at her own genius, she quickly made it back out the same way she came with her loot.
Back outside she was met with a hailstorm of bullets that forced her to quickly take cover behind the head of the golem with a string of curses as chips of stone flew everywhere. It appeared that in her absence, the Vallière girl had called in that thrice-cursed familiar of hers and had arranged something like a dozen of her own golems armed with those rapid-fire muskets of theirs. In her haste she had forgotten to factor those things into her plans and now she could only curse herself for her lack of foresight.
Well, it didn't really matter anymore. She had what she came for.
Quickly incorporating herself into her golem along with the loot, she turned around to face them just in time to catch an anti-tank rocket right into the golem's right shoulder. Liquid metal sprayed out of the point of impact as the shaped-charge warhead exploded, heat and pressure instantly forcing the copper cone that made up the nose of the rocket into a liquid state. Propelled forward at hypersonic speeds by the force of the explosion it exited the tip of the rocket in a white-hot particle stream designed to pierce the heaviest of armor.
It had however not been designed to pierce solid rock and as thus it only made its way through a small portion of the outer skin of the golem before being repelled.
Still it had been enough to catch her attention and she hurried to replace the damaged rock, sweat beginning to bead on her forehead as she felt herself running low on willpower. She was running out of time. Urging her golem forward, she did her best to trample as many of the enemy golems as she could while she made her way towards the outer wall of the academy in order to make her escape.
To the dismay of the replicant soldiers of Nod and its leader, neither bullets nor rockets seemed to make the massive construct pause in the slightest as it smashed its way through the only true obstacle in its way. They were soon forced to hold their fire as it vanished over the hills and Louise muttered a string of curses as Legion reported target lost.
The first one to say anything after that was Kirche, summing up the entire experience with a single, simple statement.
"Well, shit."
It is done! DONE! MOAHAHAHAHAHA!
Huh? Oh, no not the story. The chapter.
Blegh, this took me so long to write it's not even funny and I'm STILL not completely happy with the way it turned out. The Tiberium test in particular took forever and a day, I think I must have worked on it on and off for something like six months, rewriting it entirely at least twice. I also noticed that I kind of jumbled the events a little bit, but I'm hoping you'll all cut me some slack on that particular subject.
Hopefully I'll be able to follow them more consistently from now on, as well as keep an update schedule that's a bit more frequent than once a year. Oy vey.