Dragon Champion Familiar of Zero

Ch. 1: Summoning A Dragon Champion

Things are going indifferently as usual for 17-year-old Saito Hiraga of Tokyo, Japan in the early 21st century. He had come to Akihabira to get his laptop computer fixed.

Saito is just about the most above average young man one could meet in modern day Japan; above average height, weight, looks, grades, etc. He has short and unruly black hair with pale blue eyes. Today he is wearing a pair of old blue sneakers, dark blue jeans, and a casual blue-and-white hooded sweatshirt. His laptop computer in question is in his gray backpack hanging on a strap over his shoulder.

"What a ridiculous price," groans Saito, looking into his mostly emptied wallet "maybe I should get a part-time job. At least I'll get online now that it's fixed."

On his way home, he says to himself "I swear; once school's out, it's straight to cram school. What a drag. I'm sick of the boring regular everyday routine of high school life. I want something surprising or exciting happening to me."

Suddenly, Saito hears words reciting faintly: "Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, heed my summoning and bring forth my familiar." "Huh?" blinks Saito "Who said that?"

Then hearing a soft humming sound all of the sudden, he looks forward and finds a circular object of light having a weird shape forming a five-pointed star or pentagram in the center appearing in the middle of the road.

"What is that?" asks Saito "Whatever it is, it's awesome. Looks like some kind of weird gateway."

With curiosity getting the better of him, Saito shrugs "Doesn't look too dangerous, let's see what's inside" and then places a hand against it. He smiles slightly at the tingly feeling it is giving him, "Whoa…"

Then the circle sucks him inside and shoves him into a pitch-black void.

The circle then disappears behind him and leaving him to wonder if he's going to die.

Then all of the sudden, a vision hits his mind—

The image of a strange sword that seems to be of pure evil, as if it was purely made from evil. He then sees himself… but different… he seems older, more seasoned, and wielding a sword and wearing strange clothes with the symbol of a winged dragon on the clothes and a strange white tattoo on his arm.

'What the hell is that about?' screams Saito in his mind.

In his path in the void comes a black dome carrying a sheathed sword with most of its features obscured in the darkness. Grabbing a hold on the sword's hilt like an anchor, Saito thinks of how something this terrifying could happen to someone like him since he's just an ordinary high school student moving to adulthood.

'There comes a time and place when adulthood is truly achieved, young man' speaks a new voice in his mind.

Another sensation floods his body, but it isn't a deadly one, but more of a warm, calming, soothing, and empowering one that's unlike anything he had ever felt before in his entire life, at the same time it feels unique, ancient, and just as wise.

The second voice he heard speaks to him, somewhat clearer than before, in the darkness 'Is there anything you want to live for?'

Unsure of what the owner of the voice wants him to say but not going to back down, Saito replies to the voice's owner "I really don't know… I sometimes wonder if I do have anything worth living for."

'Why do you doubt yourself, boy?' asks the voice.

"That's just it," answers Saito "I'm just me; an average person just looking for his place in life, but preferably a surprising or exciting one at that. I mean there's so little I see in my life to even try to see what to do with it in the future."

'Would you give your life for what was right? Even if you're positive it's not what you think or believe is right?'

Saito then thinks about everything that would come from said questions as examples.

The owner of the voice stays silent as Saito next wonders if whoever it is has decided to leave him alone until he could answer.

Saito spots a deep blue glint shining before him, the voice speaks again in the same tone as before bringing faint images of things that may be in the future into Saito's mind—

'If you had anyone you would wish to protect, will you defend them with all that you are?'

Fighting frightening images from his mind, Saito yells out "Of course I will! If innocents were in danger I'd risk my neck for them!"

'Would you also risk your very life? Will you fight with every fiber of your being to defend them… even in the face of death itself?'

"I wouldn't care about what changes would happen to me," frowns Saito "and I may not know everything that would be going on wherever I'm going or not, but regardless I would fight to defend everyone if possible! Until I am sure of myself, I will fight with every bit of whatever my skill and my soul to defend them!"

The Japanese youth then sees the glow become larger and larger… and brighter than any light he had seen, and as soon as the light fades, he gasps as he sees the sword's appearance become very clear; it's unlike any sword he had ever seen before in his life—

The sword has a double-edged blade at three feet in length and it has strange markings on the middle and there were small gems on the middle as well in regular intervals and two majestic serpentine dragons that then cover the flat of the blade on either side surround the base. The hand guard is made in a way that the hand guard resembles bat-like wings, with two sharp prongs moving upward, there appears to some sort of gem under a metal sheath on the middle of the guard and the handle is covered in a scale like pattern, like that of a snake or any reptile, and the handle is good to wielded in either a single or double-handed grip. The end of the handle has another one of the dragon heads with its jaws open and a beautiful gem that seems to shimmer in different colors of the rainbow. The blade itself is made of a metal that seems to glow with a silvery white light, mixed with gold tint. The handgrip also appears to be made from pure gold or something that resembles it. And the handle itself seems to be made out of another silvery metal inlayed with gold leaf.

The weapon is beautiful and it seems to call to Saito as he reaches out and when his hands grips onto the sword handle more firmly, the voice once more speaks as the covered jewel on the middle of the handgrip opens like an eye and a glowing white stone appears.

'You have been deemed worthy Saito Hiraga… I shall be your ally, brother-in-arms, and protector to the very end of your days. I am the Holy Dragon Sword, known to your human race as the Holy Talon… and you are now more than a mere adolescent reaching adulthood from your home country of Japan on your Planet Earth.'

"What do you mean by that?" asks Saito, as the dome holding the sword and its sheath in place vanishes "What am I now?"

'A Dragon Champion.'

Light engulfs the sword-wielding youth…

At a sizable castle-like academy with white stone and large walls protecting the inner buildings surrounded by great green trees, the sky is blue with two shining suns, and a courtyard with green grass is filled with people dressed in matching uniforms with white shirts, black pants (for men) or skirts (for women), cloaks worn over their shoulders, and a gold pendant with a pentagram inside and animals of various varieties beside them.

This is Tristain Academy for mages, in the country of Tristain in the continent of Halkegia. Today is the initiation day of the second year students, the day when they summon their familiars. The type of animal of the mage's familiar will signify what their element is.

Louise Francoise Le Blanc De La Valliere, the last of the second year students to summon their familiar, is still concentrating on summoning her familiar. She is a very short girl of the age of 16, with long natural pink hair and dark brown almost chocolate-colored eyes. She's kind of smart and pretty cute, but to call her very temperamental would be an understatement. Her peers see her as an overly problematic student mage who barely shows any talent in magic or sometimes performs short-tempered flops that result in explosions.

The student body nicknames her 'Louise the Zero' because of her flops, much to her frustration.

She's hoping to summon a unique familiar: a devoted, beautiful, wise, and powerful familiar, so she can prove to everyone that she can be anything but a 'zero'.

Just as before, everyone is expecting her to mess up with the familiar summoning spell like all other spells for her.

The moment the pentagon appears, a small explosion of grey smoke bursts out from within… then a great surprise is presented to all who are witnessing it—

After the explosion, an enormous surge of magical energies is felt to everyone upon campus. The surge suddenly becomes a massive explosion of magical energies and a type of energy that none of them have ever felt before. It's like an explosion of energy that blinds and overwhelms the senses of everyone in the academy in a heartbeat.

'What is this energy? It's massive!' thinks a male student, holding securely to his lion cub familiar.

'Such power, pure unadulterated power…' gasps a green-haired spectacle-wearing member of the faculty overlooking the events from behind a glass window 'it's like an unending wave of magical energy. Where could that be coming from? I've never felt anything like it before.'

'Whatever it is, it's certainly not what I was expecting…' thinks the balding teacher with spectacles overlooking the summoning ceremony 'It's different…very different and yet very powerful none the less.'

'That power…' frowns the elderly bearded headmaster, who recently turned to see what's going on 'It's unlike anything I have felt in my life… it even surpasses my level of mana.'

'That level of magic is impossible!' screams a student in her thoughts 'What kind of familiar could possibly have that much power? It's like Louise the Zero summoned a powerful mage to become her familiar or something.'

A young black-haired woman in a black-and-white maid outfit looks at the advent taking place, she also feels the massive amounts of magical energies unleashed "What in the world is happening?"

'What kind of familiar did I summon?' thinks a stunned Louise, positive that her summoning her familiar is the cause of this phenomenon.

They all get their answer as a massive geyser of power explodes from the circle of light before Louise. The energy seems to tingle, as if it too is alive and as the energy falls back, all are stunned to see a massive dragon-like entity made out of pure light appear before them, it defies anything that they all had heard off and it seems to look down and then it spreads what appears to be wings. As it then begins to fade, something drops out from the light and crashes on the ground before Louise.

Saito is shaking the stars out of his head and having a small coughing fit, as he finishes both tasks he blinks to adjust his eyesight while exclaiming "Ow…" and holding his pounding head.

As his eyesight returns to normal, he sees the students and asks "What are you, cosplayers?"

The students now share curious looks at Saito.

Off to the side is the male teacher with not a hair on top of his head, wearing glasses and robes, named Professor Colbert. He is holding a notepad next to his staff and looking on in fascination.

Much to everyone's surprise, Saito doesn't understand a single word anybody is saying and vice versa.

"Hey, you!" frowns Louise, stepping up to Saito "Who are you?"

"Excuse me, but what did you say?" blinks Saito, unsure what language the pink-haired girl before him is speaking in before him.

"Speak our language instead of your made-up language, plebeian!" shrieks Louise.

"Why don't you speak my language?" asks Saito loudly and slowly "Because I can't understand you!"

As soon as the two repeat their phrases a few too many times, Louise sees fit to place a controlled silencing spell on Saito.

BOOM!

Another small explosion occurs, separating the two.

Saito groans as he lifts himself to his feet, "As I was saying before, missy… I CANNOT UNDERSTAND A WORD YOU'RE SAYING!"

Louise quickly gets up, yelling "Darn! I've got to try again!"

Surprised, Saito says "Hey, wait a minute. Now I can understand your language."

"Huh?" blinks Louise in surprise "You mean that you're speaking a ridiculous language because you're not from around here after all?" then she frowns "Darn it! I've messed up again!" Returning to her original question, "Now as I was saying, who are you?"

Figuring she was asking for his name, Saito answers bluntly, "I'm Saito Hiraga."

"I'm not asking for your name, commoner!" frowns Louise. Then realization hits her like a ton of bricks, "Oh no! Don't tell me— This can't be right. You can't be my—"

The same realization comes to the other students, but rather than horror or shock or disbelief it just comes erupting out as great amusement to them as they all erupt into huge fits of mocking laughter at her. Louise's cheeks turn bright red in embarrassment as everyone are quite obviously enjoying a good laugh at her expense. Within the laughter are teasing comments—

"I can't believe we all got worked up over a commoner!"

"Just what is that~~?"

"It's a commoner!"

"She just summoned a common human!"

"A plebeian as a familiar? Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha!"

"Oh my sides!"

"As expected from Louise the Zero!"

'What the heck do they all mean by that?' asks Saito mentally, arching an eyebrow in confusion.

"SHUT UP!" shrieks Louise toward her fellow classmates. She then points at Saito, "This thing can't possibly be my familiar! It's a mistake! For this little mess-up, I'm going to try again!" "This thing is a living creature and it has a name," says Saito sarcastically.

"'Just a mistake', huh?" mocks a particularly chesty redhead with lovely tanned skin and dressed scandalously in her uniform and high-heeled boots, whose name is Kirche "Isn't that what you always say?" Tabitha, a cute girl with short blue hair with spectacles and reading a book beside her, nods in agreement.

"Shut your mouth, Zerbst!" shouts Louise, "I said I'll fix it! I'll attempt the summoning again!"

"All right, that's enough everybody!" calls out Professor Colbert. Immediately, everyone is silenced. Obviously to Saito the older man is someone of authority. Just as the boy from another world is still wondering what is going on around him. Seeing two suns in the sky above him, the answer comes clear—

"Wait!" exclaims Saito "This is a magic school?"

Everyone looks at him numbly, while Louise just frowns at him still as she answers it "Of course it is, you dumb commoner! Why would you ask such a stupid question?"

"Because we don't have magic where I come from" answers Saito bluntly "we just involve it in fictional stuff like fantasy stories, as many people don't believe in it for real."

Hearing that, everyone else but Louise is stunned.

"There's no such place!" shouts a skeptic Louise. Saito looks at her and says "But it's the truth!"

"I said that is enough!" calls out Pr. Colbert again, earning their silence. Then he turns his eyes to Saito and says "As fascinating as it is to see a person from a world where magic is but a fantasy to its natives, we have to get through this in a nice and peaceful manner." Then he turns to Louise, who is stunned to hear that her teacher believes him, and says to her "Now, Ms. Valliere. This is the holy ritual of familiar summoning. There's no such thing as 'fixing it' as you say. This young man was summoned and thus he shall serve as your familiar."

'Serve?' exclaims Saito in his thoughts, 'She practically kidnapped me from my home world! Why should I serve her? What good reason is there that I should?'

"Now continue the ritual, please" orders Pr. Colbert.

Defeated, Louise dejectedly sighs out "…yes sir." Turning towards Saito, her face is in a cross between a frown and a pout with a flush to her cheeks. Saito mentally admits that she looks incredibly cute, if not a little loli. Mustering up her courage, Louise spoke, "This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for a commoner like you! You best be thankful!"

Before Saito could tell her that he doesn't understand, Louise steps forward and she raises a genuine magic wand which sparks at the tip before glowing like fluorescent toy. Raising her arm she taps the glowing end of her wand against to his forehead and chants "Pentagon of the Five Elemental Powers, grant your blessings upon this creature and bind it as my familiar."

Now confused and feeling a little tingly, Saito is caught off guard by what happens next. Louise stands on her toes and wraps her arms around his neck and yanks him slightly forward before planting a kiss right on his lips.

Startled slightly, Saito can only freeze in place after she backs away from him. Feeling a little embarrassed as well as confused, Saito sees that the pink-haired girl named Louise looks bitterly disappointed.

Blushing furiously, Saito asks her "What did you do that for? That's my first kiss!" "HMPH! That's my line! It's not like I wanted to kiss someone like you anyway! It's just for the ritual anyway, you dog!" scoffs an embarrassed and disappointed Louise, still skeptic of his unbelievable origins.

'She may be super-cute but, she's still an annoying and rude girl!' frowns a disgusted Saito.

As she brags about how much she can do in front of her classmates, she drops to her knees and grabs her right forearm while cringing in apparent pain. Meanwhile, Saito is feeling another sensation for the moment but on top of his left hand and it feels like something on fire is branding against his skin there.

Saito looks at his hand and finds ancient rune-like markings etched into the skin of the top of his left hand. Much to his surprise, he can read the runes just as easily as if they were his native language just as looks at them open by a mere quarter and concentrating lightly ''Left Hand of God?' Looks Nordic. How is it possible that I can read this? And how did I know its closest resemblances?'

Louise pulls up her right sleeve and spots a fresh new tattoo of a great winged silver dragon breathing fire. Staring at the tattoo in shock, Louise is not sure how to react to it.

All of the other magic students and Pr. Colbert also look at Louise's new tattoo in awe.

Deciding to poke fun at the pink-haired girl, Kirche smirks at her "And you say I have no shame and that I'm improper, Louise. You're such a bold little hypocrite."

"I didn't go out to get a tattoo, Zerbst!" shouts Louise, "This thing just appeared just now!"

Seeing the tattoo on Louise's arm, Saito speaks up "It must be from the magic of the sword I've got, I've received a similar tattoo on my right arm too." He rolls up his sleeve to display it to all.

Looking at Saito, everyone gasps in realization that he does possess a sword. Standing there in place, everyone, save for Saito, gapes in shock at that sword. How could anyone miss a sword hanging from the back of a person in plain sight?

Everyone then looks at the dragon tattoo on his arm and compare it to the one Louise has now; they're exactly the same as the other.

Louise is somehow beginning to get scared; the teenager she summoned is absolutely no ordinary commoner by her world's standards. The tattoo she has now gained is absolutely similar to his, so far she feels like herself.

Deciding to break the silence, an even more eager Pr. Colbert asks Saito "I thought you said you've got no magic in the world you come from. Where did you find it?" "I've found this sword in between that magical tunnel linking from when I was last home to here in the grass before the brat," answers Saito. Offended, Louise exclaims "HEY!"

"Well," frowns Saito "you did take me away from my home against my will." Then he presents his left hand, asking "And what is the meaning of these characters on my hand?"

Pr. Colbert simply says to him "I'd say they're runes that are inscribed to signify you as a familiar. The mark on your hand is also known as the Servant's Contract; you are now bound to her. The contract mark Louise has left you is rather very precise. Most familiars don't get markings like this. I don't think I've personally seen such a marking before. Although I am most particularly curious about the magnificent sword you carry, the white dragon tattoos you and Louise now bear, and even the form of the Servant's Contract you got from her. All four are unique. Can I examine your sword first?"

"Maybe some other time," says Saito shaking his head. Pr. Colbert blinks in surprise and minor dejection "Huh?" then he regains composure as he turns to his students, "Uh… this concludes the summoning ceremony. You are all dismissed back to your dormitories."

The announcement causes many of the students to begin milling about, grouping off with friends and such things the teenagers of this new world are prone to do in groups. The pinkette is still huffing about her apparent bad luck. Saito is reaching his limit on his tolerance for the daily weirdness he could handle, even if Louise would be going to hit him for breaking out.

However, he is halted in his actions when someone decides to comment on the Louise's performance—

"Congratulations, Louise" smiles Kirche mockingly "you have summoned a 'marvelous' familiar." Behind Kirche is the blue-haired girl, Tabitha, who is still reading her book. To Saito, the chesty redhead seems a lot more attractive than she looked to him up close than from a distance. She seems to notice how he's admiring her and her smile grows slightly.

Louise notices too and pinches Saito's ear to make him stop, she growls to the redhead "Listen, Kirche, I don't need you—"

"Oh, I don't intend to do anything," smiles Kirche "…for now anyway." Turning away, she and the blue-haired girl motions with their hands before suddenly rising into the air as if their feet have wings. It's a motion that several other teenagers follow as they begin flying into the distance towards their respective dormitories. Waving down at Saito, Kirche calls to him "I'll greet you properly later! See ya!"

Saito can only gape at the sight of the various magic-using teenagers flying away. They had nothing but their clothes and they're still managing to fly like it's a completely normal thing to do. Still, it gave Saito a peek at Kirche's underwear, which she is likely wearing on purpose if the way she trying to fly ahead of and higher than the other males in the crowd are, plus she's a somewhat of a shameless exhibitionist who doesn't care who saw what she's sporting.

Reluctantly, he follows Louise to her dormitory on campus.

On his way into the academy, Saito sees everywhere around him are teenagers of various ages reading books or talking with their friends. They are all wearing the same uniform as the one Louise has on. However, many of the students are accompanied by animals, which he guesses are their familiars, and some of them are rather fantastic beasts. Louise continues guiding him deeper into the building which seems more like a posh castle than any kind of school he has ever been in. Everywhere has decorative art, sculptures, and even a few maids are skittering about with trays, laundry, or cleaning implements.

Finally, Louise brings Saito to one of the towers and into a single bedroom, which is filled with just as many expensive and artistic pieces, but just as frilly as one would expect a teenage girl would have. Since he has never been in a girl's room before, this was a little awkward for him. Still, this isn't the time for hormones since he's quite obviously far from home in a place that seems to be making very little sense and has to deal with a bratty pink-haired girl who seems to consider him quite the lower life form.

"This is the worst day ever," growls Louise, dropping onto a chair next to a small round table. She reaches to a small lamp and turns a knob to brighten it, proving it to be an oil lamp or something, which has been lit. It's just as well since it's dark by the time we've entered. "I was supposed to summon a magnificent familiar to show everyone that would talk bad about me! Instead I get a commoner!"

Later a maid arrives with a tea set for Louise, while Saito goes toward the window frowning indirectly at the pink-haired mage for ranting like he wasn't there and not giving her any sympathy.

As she is having tea, he is defiantly sitting on the floor looking out the window and not bothering to look at her as he watches the two suns sink toward the horizon as two moons, one pink and the other light blue, rise.

Deciding to humor his claim to come from another world that has no magic, Louise says to him "The summoning of a familiar determines which type of magic a person will use. There are five elements: fire, water, earth, and wind, plus the lost element of void. All magic is intimately related to life." Then she haughtily stands up behind him, saying "And so, magic users are naturally all aristocrats; nobles or lords mostly! While those who cannot use magic are merely plebeians; commoners, servants, and peasants!"

"What a corrupt system," states Saito. Catching that and taking it the wrong way, Louise shouts "What did you say?" "I said 'what a corrupt system' and I mean it," frowns Saito slightly "I don't know how I know this, but if you think you can get away with it for being able to use magic or because you're a noble than you know nothing about anything. A person with title of nobility or any such rank could take advantage of it and eventually be seen as an enemy to the surrounding people, both non-magic folk and magic users or the commoners and other nobles. I'm sorry, but I've heard of stories where there are lands where you're judged as a noble because there's something you've got while more people don't and you say you have the right of dominance. It could be magic, money, charm, intelligence, or whatever; it wouldn't matter. Face it, girl; your inherited arrogance is going to get you into trouble someday."

Louise is annoyed by that; first her familiar disobeys her, then he says he's from another world without magic, then he claims that he finds the sword on his way when she summoned him, then she got marked for some reason when she did him, and now he says that being a mage or an aristocrat doesn't make her his better.

Saito then says "A more important question now is how I can return to my world or, to humor you, where I originate."

"It's impossible!" frowns Louise slapping him on the back of his head, "familiar summoning is a one-way spell!"

"If I was summoned by a bratty master like you," says Saito "I would have every right to disobey and disrespect you. Especially since you took me from my world without prior knowledge and against my will, which essentially and effectively is that same as kidnapping. Also if you think I need to learn my manners, I think I know them pretty well, it's just that you don't deserve them!"

"How dare you!" snaps Louise, she goes for his sword "And you shouldn't even carry this thing around wherever you go! Know your place familiar!"

Pulling the sword from the sheath, but to the pink-haired mage student shock, she yelps in surprise as the sword falls to the floor with a loud clang and she releases it. This catches his attention as well, "Huh?" The pink-haired mage reaches for the sword again and tries to lift the weapon. But she can't even begin to lift it, as it doesn't even move a single millimeter off the ground.

After several more attempts, including a few disenchantment spells, levitation spells and such ending in explosive epic failures, Louise gives up and glares at Saito with her hands on her hips "Alright, you dog! How are you able to carry this blasted sword? For me it's like trying to move my whole school!"

Saito looks at his new sword, the Holy Talon, and grabs it, surprisingly he is able to lift it off the ground easily in one hand "Well, to me it's almost weightless."

Somewhat panicky, Louise asks "About that earlier comment you made about us nobles, would superhuman attributes such as strength account as well?" "Well," thinks a surprised Saito before nodding "Yeah."

Unable to handle the level of stress, Louise goes to her bed and says "I've had enough of today. Be grateful that you're being spared, dog." She takes her clothes off and gets into a frilly nightgown.

Still angry at her as he turns away and slides Holy Talon back into its sheath, Saito says "Whether or not you refuse again, I'm still a boy you just met and you're a girl taking her clothes off in her room as she goes to bed. I don't care if you're above because of your rank as a noble; it's still not right in my standards. Also where am I going to sleep?"

"There," says Louise, pointing to a pile of straw next to her bed.

Looking at it with disgust, Saito stomps his way to it and picks it up in a bundle. Louise is confused, "What are you doing?" "You obviously don't care about my health, so I'm moving outside to the balcony to see how heartless you really are" answers Saito.

Louise frowns, "You are still my familiar, regardless of anything. Understand?" "I am not some butler or a canine, so I don't care and I still refuse!" roars Saito, closing the window behind him. Louise then grits her teeth at his behavior, "Fine! Expect no breakfast for you tomorrow for not even having the obedience to wash my clothes!"

Some time passes in the night, from the window he sees how cute Louise looks in her sleep, then he steels his resolve, reminding himself of her bratty attitude as he drifts into his sleep in the cold air.

As poor Saito dreams about native food familiar to him in his sleep, while Louise drifts away in her respective sleep to relieve herself of the stress, the two remain unaware that the Holy Talon sword comes alive once again as the gem that forms the pommel begins to glow in various colors and the covered glowing stone once more appears though only half-open as the tattoos on their arms glow and a hazy white light surround their bodies as they sleep.

In the following morning…

Saito wakes up from his supposedly horrid slumber, finding himself unusually comfortable for his position, save for his clothes feeling unusually tighter suddenly, and a small plate with delicious-looking bread and a cup of water before him and a blanket and pillow on his bed of straw turned mysteriously into a more comfortable weaved straw mat.

Saito then says to himself, "Maybe some of the maids here took pity on me and brought me food and some proper comfort out here."

Saito then notes in surprise that his voice deeper than he remembers last. Grabbing the piece of bread and walking into Louise's room, he turns to the mirror to see what's wrong with him all of the sudden. He prepares himself for the worst—

Saito is then deep in shock as he looks at the mirror, and wide awake as well, and he has a very good reason to be surprised as he looks at his face, but at the very same time it isn't his face.

'What the heck had happened to me?' he asks himself that very same question once more as he tries to see if it is indeed his face.

The color of his skin, hair, and eyes are still the same, but they seem more exotic and with more strong features added. His face seems smoother, more angular and more masculine, like he just aged a few more years by some miracle, giving him smooth skin and firm muscle. His face is now more well defined, a feature normally found on a young adult in their early twenties.

It's as if he had somehow gained the face of a young adult man of 22 years of age; though it is far from ugly, it was like that of a handsome full grown man. He then notes that his black hair seems longer, and the black color seemed more like obsidian and has slight silver highlights. Not to mention when he turns his head, his hair on the back is longer now, almost reaching the middle of his shoulder blades. He looks at his eyes, they are the same, but the blue color seems to have become deeper and stronger, with silver edging around the irises as well. Surprisingly, they seemed slightly reptilian-like.

He notes his newfound height as he compares himself from previous advents: he remembers being 172 centimeters tall the previous day, but now he's at precisely 193 centimeters.

Noticing that his clothes are tighter now for some reason, he takes off his sweatshirt to see what else has changed, he is stunned beyond belief at the sight of his new body—

His arms have become more muscular, but slim and smooth. He tightens his grip and notes that his grip is a lot stronger than before, he feels his arms and finds his muscles are now hard and tough, almost as if he had spent the sum on seventeen years in the gym with weights in one night, and the tattoo of that silver beast is more well defined and more elegant looking.

He looks at his torso and abdomen and sees that he has well-defined muscles on them too: not too bulky and not too thin, but a well-balanced combination of both. His torso looks smooth and all the muscles are in the right place and form for his age, though resembling someone who had really worked hard, he looks at his abdomen and noted the six pack he had miraculously developed seemingly overnight, when he turns around to look at his back, he also notices the well-matched muscle structure as well.

He takes off his lower pants and noted that his legs look like that of a gymnast, a runner, and a martial artist at the same time, well-formed and well-proportioned muscles all over, he even decides to look into his boxers, and he blushes bright red as he sees his 'package'.

'Well,' blushes Saito 'no woman is going to get bored with me now.'

Then remembering the little girl who summoned him into this mysterious new world, he angrily turns to Louise in her bed, ready to throw the accusing finger at her and scold her for changing him overnight.

What he gets to see in the bed as he removes her blanket instead is an equally and seriously changed version of the girl named Louise—

Louise looks like she she's just entered her twenties at a height of nearly 172 centimeters. He remembers her being super-cute last time but now her face and features are perhaps angelic.

Her body build is also increased: shapely and well formed. Her arms are now slender but well formed and defined. Her legs, although nice and perfect as before, have become even better: well formed, long, shapely, and slender.

Her breasts have also grown from flat to size that could match that of small watermelons each: large, round, and ample. Her waist is also slender and very smooth. Her hips are now more well-shaped and perfectly proportioned. All in all, the build itself has become a perfect hourglass overnight.

Her skin is still a beautiful creamy color, yet it's now smoother than ever. Her face has gotten a lot more mature and more appealing than youthful and cute than he had remembered her face last; Saito would describe it to be enough for a man to stare at practically forever and have other beautiful women take notice of her, or even humble the most conceited beauty just by looking at her, as she has smooth skin, full red lips, high and well-formed cheekbones.

Her long pink hair now has silver highlights similar to his, giving him no doubt that when she'll open her eyes, she will have silver highlights in her pink irises, which may have become slightly reptilian-like as well.

One of the more painfully obvious features he's come to notice is that her sleeping clothes are now just too tight to bear with her new body. Such as her newly enhanced bosom making her nightgown look like a semi-transparent white tank top and her panties' elastic completely snapped under her enhanced hips and derriére's bigger size.

Somehow he knew it was partially her involvement in his newly discovered changes, but apparently she's unaware of the changes that happened to her as well.

"What happened to the both of us?" asks Saito out loud.

She snores cutely in her sleep as she drools, "That cookberry pie is so yummy…" even her voice has changed as well. "Munya…"

"Snoring away and totally oblivious!" frowns Saito "I wonder how she'll get used to this?"

Louise then stirs, revealing her new pinkish chocolate irises with silver edging as she opens them, waking up as she stutters and yawns "Wha~~? Wha~~! What is it~?"

Sarcastically, Saito greets her "It's morning! O noble Mistress Louise!"

Spotting the strange new face in her room, she asks him "Who! Who are you!"

Then she notices the tightened sleeping clothes on her body—

"WHAT HAPPENED?" shrieks Louise "HAVE MY PANTIES SHRUNK?"

She looks at herself in the mirror, and to her next shock; she finds herself mostly unfamiliar.

"If this is me…" stutters Louise, before feeling her new impressive bust "than I'm… I'm… huge!" she comically falls to the floor in surprise.

'If this is an anime series,' thinks Saito 'I'd be laughing my butt off at these antics.'

Regaining whatever sense she had, Louise looks into her reflection again "Oh my goodness! My body has transformed!" then she looks at the transformed Saito, although not recognizing him at first, she cautiously asks him "Are you the familiar I've summoned yesterday?"

Saito frowns at her, "If by 'summoned' you mean 'kidnapped' and by 'familiar' you mean 'unwilling and unpaid slave', then yes."

"It is you!" gasps Louise, having realization dawn upon her "What has happened to me?"

Looking up in thoughts, Saito says quietly "I guess I can rule out you transforming both of us into our present forms. I'd personally rule out something in your atmosphere being the cause of mine."

Louise frowns and is about to demand him to repeat what he said, when all of the sudden her nightgown bursts into silvery green flames.

"FIRE!" screams Louise, as she gets up from bed running like a chicken with its head cut off, screaming in bloody murder "FIRE!"

Without knowing it, the flames spread to other places in the bedroom, including Saito's own clothing and her dresser drawers.

Louise screams some more, "MY CLOTHES! MY CLOTHES! MY CLOTHES ARE ON FIRE!"

"What about my clothes, you bratty mage!" exclaims Saito, attempting to douse the fire on him.

Feeling the flames he's trying to extinguish with his hands, he doesn't feel any burning pains.

"Huh?" blinks Saito "That's strange; I've touched the fire and I'm okay."

Louise also stops in surprise, as the mysterious flames shrink away, she looks down at her nightgown and discovers that it's become bigger and is untarnished rather than ruined by fire or her mysterious growth spurt. She checks her drawers and finds that all of her clothes have grown to a perfect fit for her newly enhanced measurements.

Saito checks his clothes and discovers that the magical flames have expanded them to fit perfectly for the new size of his body and have a few added new features: metal shoulder guards on his sweatshirt's shoulders, a saintly depiction of a white-colored dragon over the left breast area, his sweatshirt's sleeves looking capable of detaching without need of ripping, knee-pads, elbow pads, and his sneakers are almost boot-shaped. Saito's backpack and its contents are also transmogrified.

Louise asks no one in particular "What's going on? Fire Magic is not connected to alchemy or transmutation." With realization hitting her like a ton of bricks, Louise gasps with widened eyes exclaiming out "It's that sword you carry! It's got magic within so powerful that even a commoner can become rated as a noble! That magic is capable of all this! And the only worst part is that I don't know anything about it!"

"This is getting weird," says Saito.

In his office, Pr. Colbert is doing research to discover the meaning of the tattoos that are on Louise and Saito's arms and the other worlder's sword after discovering the meaning of the mysterious runes given to him by Louise when she formed the contract. So far, he has found nothing.

Hearing the doors open, he closes his book to hide his research and turns to those looking for entrance, only to find two people he has never seen before yet seem familiar for some reason plus a few maids, most of them enchanted by the handsome man with a sword hung from his back. He asks them, "I am sorry, but are you two transfer students from another magic academy?"

The pink-haired young woman gasps in shock and faints immediately, signaling young man to catch her. The young man says to the teacher "For your information, professor, as unbelievable as it sounds this woman is Louise and I'm her quote-unquote familiar."

Pr. Colbert's eyes widen in amazement, he then recognizes the sword hung over the young man's back. He asks, "What happened to you?"

Some time passes as they explain that Saito's mysterious magical sword, the Holy Talon, is apparently responsible for them. Louise has regained consciousness before their explanation so she could take part and they could privately discuss the matters at hand.

Giving them breakfast with him in his office as they converse, Pr. Colbert tells them to explain just small details of the changes they've experienced so he can discuss a meeting with the headmaster.

Walking outside, where there are several outdoor tables set up with white linen tablecloths with several of the students drinking tea with friends and their familiars. Most of them were dogs, cats, and other things. Louise, now somewhat convinced that her familiar is from another world, tells Saito soupcon bits of information about Brimir, the founder of magic of this world from over 6,000 years ago, and that the continent of Halkegia is ruled under the queen. She even explains to him that today's the day that the students and their familiars are supposed to get to know each other.

So far she has learned that her familiar is an innocent victim of circumstances outside of her control to gain an object of great power within the interval or half-way point of her summoning spell.

Kirche is looking for Louise to tease with Tabitha following her, along with their familiars: Kirche's is a large red lizard-like creature with blazing fire at the end of its tail and horned frills on its head she named Flame and Tabitha's is a large blue-colored dragon named Sylphid, who has a large pair of wings, solid green eyes, and a frilled head.

Looking at their familiars, Saito asks in his thoughts 'Why couldn't have she summoned a creature like one of them as a familiar instead of me?'

Eying the sheathed sword hanging from Saito's back, Kirche immediately has her attention torn away from looking for Louise and directed toward the tall handsome stranger that just entered the courtyard. The guy is taller than even her and as she looks more closely, she sees the deep blue eyes with what appears to be silver lining and the long obsidian hair with slight silver high lights, his face is smooth, masculine, and rather very primal in a male sort of way and he gives a warm, calming, and strong aura, and his clothes seems to hug his frame a bit and she can see the muscles that he has and she could help but blush slightly as she continues to study him. He looks so powerful, but there seems to be something familiar about him and his mysterious pink-haired companion whose beautiful appearance just screams a potential rival for her.

She thinks to herself, 'That guy's hot! I hope he's not taken, because as much as I don't want to say it… the girl he's with is more attractive than me, better looking than even my mom. She's got even bigger breasts than mine. But why does they both look familiar to me for some reason? I don't recall meeting such a hotty like him or a potential threat like her before.'

Tabitha, slightly interested in the boy as well, is trying to tear herself from the book she has in hand and attempt to look at him from a distance.

Kirche walks over to Saito and asks "Excuse me, handsome, but have you seen a man with a similar sword to yours or did you take that from him? He's the familiar of Louise the Zero."

Uncontrollably, Saito blurts out "Actually, we are them." Louise frowns at him, "Stupid dog!" Then both slap a hand over their mouths.

Kirche laughs a little, "Oh come on, there's no way you are those two; Louise is not as pretty as your friend here." She leans her chest into him, showing her cleavage better to him "As for Louise the Zero, it's a nickname I've given her myself, since that's practically describes her magical talent. It caught on since then. Most of us doubted she'd summon a familiar."

Pretending to be a stranger, Saito says "So Louise doesn't have much skill with magic so she screwed up the ritual and got a common non-magical human with a sword instead of a normal familiar?"

"Yep."

"Odd," comments the bookish Tabitha.

"Huh?"

"She means that he's the odd point," translates Kirche. "As far as we know, Louise did the ritual correctly so we're not too sure how it came to be that he was summoned." She licks her lips and plays with the plunging neckline of her blouse. "That makes him quite the mystery. I would love to investigate, alongside you…"

Saito blushes a bit, trying to maintain self-control. Kirche knows just how to use her body so to bring out the maximum hormonal effect from a boy and Saito's far from too proud to admit that she is doing a fine job on him.

Louise is about to explode, but the bell rings, catching Kirche's attention. Compared to the world of pain Louise would treat Saito, Kirche's treatment was almost like touching heaven. However, that slice of heaven remains out of his reach as the bell alerts both Kirche and Tabitha of something else.

"Poo! Classes again," huffs the sultry redhead. Finishing her tea, she stands up "Well, it was nice meeting you, sir. I look forward to another talk." With a saucy wink, she gestured at her familiar. "Come, Flame." Then she whispers in his ear, "I'll be waiting for you later in case you're interested, and I promise you a better time." She then taps her but to his unattended side before leaving with Tabitha and their respective familiars.

As soon as they are gone, "What's her problem?" frowns Louise, before turning to Saito "You almost blew our cover!" "Same to you, you arrogant uptight pink-haired bratty woman-child!" counters Saito, before he stomps away from her.

Hearing the closest description of Louise that they remember, most of the students turn to the direction of the transformed Louise and look in awe and doubt.

Everyone shrugs, knowing that surely a familiar and their master should get along splendidly, for example Kirche and Flame are nigh inseparable and it has only been a day since they met. If that gorgeous pink-haired woman is Louise, some divinity must be taking pity on her and her laughable familiar.

Louise had thought that after a good night's sleep as to get rid of the tension and a firm hand in the morning things would begin to smooth over. All of the teaching and advice she got on familiars had seemed to agree with that. But to her continuous misfortune, more unorthodox and frightening complications and mysteries are added to the mix and increases the tension between her and the human she summoned.

As soon as he is out of Louise's way, information suddenly finds its way into his mind concerning the basic knowledge of magic in this world; such as dot-class to square-class mage level significance. Then a strange flying one-eyed purple creature floats in front of him and forces him to bump into a maid.

The maid, whose name is Siesta, is a young woman about Saito's age with cute short black hair, bluish grey eyes, smooth whitish skin, a very nice figure, and a gentle persona. She is dressed in the maid outfits worn by all the maids on campus. In hand there was a small tray that was carrying a small white plate carrying a slice of cheesecake, but bumping into her causes the dessert to fall off and toward the ground. Then luckily through some miracle, Saito's reflexes kick in and his hand snatches the plate and uses it to safely catch the dessert.

All onlookers applaud to the 'performance' during their cake and tea with friends and familiars.

Saito is surprised, 'Did my attributes and abilities get a boost as well?' "Um," stutters Siesta "thank you."

Placing the plate with cheesecake on the tray, Saito shrugs "You're welcome."

She looks at him carefully with a light blush that later turns bright red and spreads to her face, she turns away slightly saying quietly "You must be the commoner familiar with the sword that Ms. Valliere summoned."

Saito's eyes widen by a fraction in surprise, "How did you figure that out?" "I've witnessed your transformation when I decided to help since your argument with Ms. Valliere last night, it was surprising. Also, you still have your magic sword with you; I've seen it produce magical light that touched your tattoos and triggered your transformation into your present forms" answers Siesta.

"You're very fortunate to get away unscathed by your master, also very brave to stand up for yourself;" says Siesta, with a great deal of concern for him "if you anger her too much, it could bring down dangerous consequences. Commoners just cannot stand up to the nobility."

"Is that a fact here?" asks Saito, earning the maid's nod. He scoffs, "I don't see any of them doing anything noble; just a bunch of spoiled brats." A few students hearing his words get reactions ranging from slightly irked to just plain confused.

She asks him, "Are you a noble from where you're from?" "No," replies Saito shaking his head "I was originally a non-magic person like you I'm afraid. My sword, the Holy Talon; is the magic behind it. Even I don't know its origins and it fed information into my head that I didn't know about until I picked it up after choosing me."

"Choosing you?" gasps Siesta in surprise "You mean to say that the sword is alive?" Saito nods in response. Siesta asks, "What would happen to those who are not chosen by your sword?" "As far as I know currently," answers Saito "it increases its own weight to a point where they cannot even move it by one millimeter. I guess that even the seemingly meekest being could be chosen by it."

"Speaking of the meek," continues Saito "we never got to introduce ourselves by name." Siesta smiles as she introduces herself, "That's true. I am Siesta." "Nice to meet you, Ms. Siesta. My name is Saito Hiraga."

Siesta tries to pronounce his name, as it's different from all known nationality to her, Saito politely chuckles "Just call me Saito."

"Oh!" gasps Siesta "That's right: I was on my way to serve Master Guiche his lunchtime dessert!"

"Don't worry, Siesta;" smiles Saito "just lead me to this Guiche and l shall deliver it to him for you."

"Oh, thank you" smiles Siesta "I'll be sure to get you something to eat as well."

Siesta points to the direction of Guiche's table to serve him his cheesecake. The place is certainly fancy enough for nobility, which went far to explain why the whole castle looks so good and why the students are so snobby. There are clean circular tables and of course many of the chairs are filled with students who were apparently waiting for their lunchtime cake and tea. Some are still eating lunch, talking about their studies or bragging about their families. If it weren't for the obvious snobbish speech and some practicing their minor spells at the table, Saito could have mistaken the students for regular people his age.

Saito is glad that they had gotten over the novelty of him being Louise's familiar, but now he's getting a few stares of curiosity toward him as if he's new on campus. When he overhears some students suggesting that the commoner appearance of Louise's familiar is just a transformation they would be comfortable and not so intimidated because he could be a dragon or some other powerful magical beast in disguise, while their fellow classmates are dismissing the idea.

Give them the right event and they'll be in for a surprise.

At Guiche's table, Saito sees three people having an argument. The first is a cute girl with long brown hair who seems very humble but pleasant, whose name is Katie. The second is another girl who just screams noble with her long blonde hair done up in large curls or long Victorian ringlets with the rest tied by a large ribbon, whose name is Montmorency, Guiche's girlfriend. The last is Guiche, a boy who with short golden hair perfectly windswept. His face is devilishly handsome, almost close to Saito's newest level, and the collar of his uniform is unbuttoned to reveal a bit of his chest. He's even holding a rose in his hand and posing dramatically as if the two girls arguing with him are physically wounding him. All in all, he looked like an unfaithful conceited pretty boy in need of some refinement.

"Why didn't you tell me about Miss Montmorency?" demanded Katie. Montmorency is also displeased, she snaps at her boyfriend "You've been putting the moves on this first year, haven't you? Fess up already!"

"You misunderstand!" sighs Guiche, posing quite dramatically "Why? Why must you speak of such things?" One could almost see the beautiful flowers appearing behind him. Saito then realizes that there are beautiful flowers behind him in some kind of vase. No doubt from the girls' viewpoint, he has that beautiful image rising up from behind.

His posing isn't working anymore, as Montmorency is even angrier "I knew you were two-timing on me!" "Have you?" demands Katie. "Now really?" sighs Guiche, twirling his cloak "What makes you think such things? What proof do you have?"

As Guiche twirls around, Saito spots a stack of love letters falling out from the folds of his cloak and land on the floor. Guiche doesn't notice, but Saito of course isn't going to turn down the chance to teach a noble mage a lesson. Waltzing over while avoiding the attention of everyone else, Saito scoops up the letters and eyes them. They are rose-print envelopes addressed to Guiche. However only some of them are from Katie and another lot are from Montmorency, while the rest are from many different girls.

"Hey, playboy!" calls Saito, catching the attention of the two girls and Guiche "You dropped these!" Then hiding a confident smirk while looking through the letters, he asks the blond-haired noble "Wow, you really get around, Guiche. Who are Julia, Integra, Elizabeth, Bianca, Rosanne, Yuufa, and Amelia?"

Unfortunately for Guiche, it was the last straw that broke the laden camel's back.

Guiche pales and gulps while the two girls begin to gather steam and finally have their faces turn into pure righteous feminine fury. Both girls give off what mighty war cry before their hands smack Guiche's cheeks at a fast pace. The boy hits the ground while both of the slighted young women stomp off to do whatever girls do to get over being jilted.

Saito laughs at Guiche's pain "Ha ha ha! You should reap what you sow! It serves you right, snob!" Then after dropping the letters on Guiche's table, Saito shrugs "Well, that's my mischievous but good deed for the day."

He looks around and saw that a small ring of students watching what had happened and they look rather shocked. If it was about what Guiche had done or Saito's intervention, he cannot be sure though. Saito thinks about helping Siesta finish serving the cakes, and maybe, if he is lucky, he could be a few extra slices of cheesecake for him to eat together with her.

Guiche, however, is getting up as if demanding retribution from Saito "You, sir…"

Saito turns, looking at Guiche with stern eyes "Yes, Master Playboy?"

Taking insulting addressing form as a signal that he is a really big peasant who doesn't know his place, a frowning Guiche says to him "I hope you are prepared for the consequences of your actions; a plebeian showing such attitude towards an aristocrat. You are simply just asking for trouble with that kind of tongue."

"Oh," responds Saito sarcastically "I'm really scared."

Everyone looking on is getting really confused. Several are looking on in rapt fascination, no doubt sensing that violence is about to come down. Guiche merely grits his teeth while his cheeks flush in rage at Saito's very clear and intended insult.

"You should be…" says the cocky blond mage student, producing a red rose from his sleeve "I shall teach you some manners, even if I am going to have to beat them into you." Then pointing his rose at Saito, he declares "I challenge you to a duel!"

The academy's student body gasps in disbelief.

Grabbing a crisp unused white napkin from a table nearby, an unfazed Saito slaps it across Guiche's face "I accept. When and where?"

"No~!" cries out a young woman's voice. A distraught Siesta suddenly tugs at Saito's left arm, trying to drag him away. "You can't duel a noble! I know you're different from before. But even still, a commoner can't beat a noble!" She starts to cry, "Just apologize and maybe he'll let you go!"

Hearing a familiar voice saying 'Teach the spoiled young man some manners, master.'

"What's to apologize for?" asks Saito righteously "It's his own fault for deceiving all those girls." The students gasp again while Siesta's tears begin to grow larger.

Hiding the slight redness from the napkin's swiping slap on his cheek with his rose, Guiche replies "I was feeling generous today since you are new here and all, but for such an action reserved only for high-ranking individuals such as nobles and knights, the duel must commence regardless even if you do ask for forgiveness for your slanderous words." Saito can tell that Guiche must've had half a mind to impress an admittedly cute peasant girl until his napkin slap struck him and the barb. Playing it cool, Guiche says to his opponent "We shall meet outside in one hour hence, in Vestri Court."

"I'll be there," frowns Saito in a nod.

Shrugging, Guiche walks off while all of the other students begin to talk excitedly about the upcoming duel. Others immediately dart off, no doubt to tell their friends about it. Guiche must have made it an hour from that moment so that the whole school would hear of it and bring about a huge audience for him to show off to. Still, Saito has no more cares. It would just mean more people would see just how he is in the right for what he did rather than he is.

"You'll be killed…" murmurs a heartbroken Siesta.

Saito looks at her with curiosity, "Wha?" She looks like she's crying as if he's already dead. "YOU'LL BE KILLED!" She turns to run away, but Saito reacts quickly. Reaching out, he grabs her arm and abruptly turns her around to face him. Her cheeks are already blotchy and the tears aren't stopping. Strangely, she reminds him of a kicked puppy.

Suddenly, he hugs her and says in her ear "I will win, Siesta." Then he walks away, leaving her catatonic.

Meanwhile, Louise was stomping away from her familiar as well, deciding to give herself some extra space away from him since she already has too much on her mind; first her familiar turns out to be an ungrateful commoner from some foreign land, then he turns out to be chosen by a powerful magical weapon even she cannot lift or convince otherwise, then their bodies both undergo an impossible transformation, then magical fire transform their belongings, and now she has to keep her transformation a secret from the school until further notice and leave them thinking she ran away while someone else is taking her place.

But it wasn't over; as soon as she was out of Saito's way, strange images from a different world suddenly finds its way into her mind; such as basic technology and lifestyles of some completely different culture. It was too much for her, forcing her to lose consciousness.

As she comes to, she finds herself on one of the benches outside. Then she hears some of her fellow schoolmates speak—

"Did you hear? Guiche has challenged a sword-wielding commoner to a duel out in Vestri Court."

"He did? Heh-heh-heh! That must be one dumb commoner!"

"Why does the sword part sound a bit familiar to me?"

"When is it?"

"In a few minutes in the Vestri Court. Want to go watch?"

"Yes."

Louise feels the blood drain from her face as she has the thought of her familiar dueling Guiche. The blond womanizing flirt may be a dot-class Earth mage, but even with the changes she doubts Saito will stand a chance against him.

"That idiot!" frowns Louise, running all the way to the Vestri Court.

Then she hears a strange voice saying 'Teach the spoiled young man some manners, master.'

Louise pauses in her tracks at that, but then ignores it.

Saito arrives to the Vestri Court on time, standing a few paces away from Guiche and staring at his opponent face-to-face. He had figured it should be simple to find the Court since it should have more than enough room for a duel. He silently thanks his luck that he's in the right place and at the right time.

On his way there, he tries having a mental conversation with the sword since he figures that the voice that tested him of his worthiness comes from the magic weapon itself. By his luck again, it's proven true. The sword, Holy Talon, tells Saito that it is responsible for the changes to Louise and him but the conversation and explanations should be saved for later, so it gives him some minor bits of information.

The young new Dragon Champion stands facing Guiche several yards away. A large audience circle around them, eager to watch the duel.

"I commend you for not running away" smirks Guiche "If nothing else, you are a brave commoner." "As if I'd run away, I'm going to clip that arrogance down to size," shrugs Saito. Staring at Guiche, he gets down to business "What are the terms of victory and defeat?"

"The first to surrender or be knocked out will lose," replies Guiche, stepping away from his fellow students so they wouldn't get them involved "Fair?" "Fair" nods Saito.

Louise shows up, screaming "STOP IT! KNOCK~ IT~ OFF~!"

Both duelers look out to the sidelines and saw the transformed Louise cram her way through the students before coming into the open field.

Saito groaned at seeing Louise, 'Of all the times she could have decided to hunt me down, it had to be now?'

Tabitha has her hands cupped over her ears, saying "Too loud."

"Her again?" asks Kirche, still not recognizing Louise "Who is she anyway?"

"Why are you asking me?" asks Montmorency, "Guiche would soon flirt with her if he lays eyes on her and I wouldn't have that."

"Stay out of this," hisses Saito, glaring at her. Louise growls before breaking the dam wide open "HOW DARE YOU DISOBEY ME, YOU STUPID DOG!"

Then a chubby student with an owl familiar speaks up, "Wait a minute!" catching everyone's attention as he speaks out loud "That black hair on that commoner, that sword, that uniform on that young woman with pink hair, that shrieking, the relationship… could they be Louise the Zero and her sword-wielding familiar, but transformed?"

"Of course we are!" roars Louise. Then she realizes that she completely revealed their identities the whole time, "Oops!"

"What?" asks an utterly confused Guiche.

"WHAT?" exclaims the student body, in disbelief.

"WHAT?" exclaims the headmaster, Osmand, in disbelief.

"What?" exclaims Mr. Colbert, worried for the sake of all.

"Zero?" gasps Montmorency in disbelief, "How did she get so big and beautiful overnight?"

"It… can't… be…!" struggles a dumbfounded Kirche, her eye twitching.

"Transformed" simply says Tabitha, completely hiding the fact that she's just as surprised.

Saito shakes his head and sighs, "The jig is up." "Apparently," gulps a revealed Louise, meekly spilling the beans "when I made a contract with my familiar yesterday, he was in the middle of an unforeseen transformation, so I ended up getting transformed too."

"WHAT?" gasps the students "IT IS LOUISE?"

"It's got to be a trick!" struggles Kirche. Tabitha shakes her head and simply says, "Checked."

"Anyhow—" exclaims Louise, directing toward Saito "duels are forbidden! So I demand you apologize to Guiche this instant so we can forget this foolishness!"

"It's definitely Louise" deadpans her fellow classmates.

"Denied" reply Guiche and Saito in unison.

Louise is about to explode when he notices that Guiche is showing that he's not in the mood for accepting any apologies at the moment, from a commoner or not.

Everyone else gapes at this surprise. No doubt to them this stems from how familiars are supposed to be completely obedient to their masters.

Slightly enchanted by Louise's magically enhanced beauty and body for a second, Guiche says dramatically "My dear Louise, your disobedient familiar just shown me his nerve to swipe at accepting this duel. Since duels are only forbidden between two nobles and he is not, your veto to this duel is nil."

"Louise," says Saito seriously "this duel is a matter strictly between myself and Guiche. You have no say in it."

"NO SAY!" she shrieks in response.

"It's too late for apologies, Ms. Valliere!" snaps Guiche gently "If this strong-willed commoner familiar of yours wishes to taste punishment from a noble, so be it."

"Shut up," frowns Saito "In this duel, I'm not a commoner and you aren't a noble. Right now, we're just two men putting our pride on the line and fighting for what we believe is the right thing. Forget status, forget stations and simply duel."

"How eloquently put," nods Guiche "If you spoke like that when we first met I may have mistaken you as a fellow noble. However, now our battle must begin." He raises his rose as a pool of light surrounds him. He then waves it as a single petal drifts off and floats towards Saito. "Allow me to properly introduce myself. I am Guiche de Gramont. My runic name is Guiche the Bronze!"

The rose petal lands on the ground several feet in front of Saito before it flashes and from the ground appears something new—

It's the same height as Guiche, and covered in armor despite showing all of the curves that a woman could've and eloquently decorated with flattering armor and wings on its helmet but it was completely made out of bronze. In its right had is a simple spear with a decorative tip that seemed razor sharp. The only way he could tell that it's not human is by the limbs and how thin they were. No human save for perhaps an anorexic model would have limbs that thin. They look like they would belong on a puppet of some kind.

"My Bronze Golem, Valkyrie, shall be both my weapon and your opponent" finishes the blond fop with a twirl of his rose.

'He can create medieval robots from the petals of his rose?' gasps Saito.

'Master' speaks Holy Talon 'just take the punch of that construct to see the new limits of both yourself and it.'

The Valkyrie charges in, landing a punch against Saito, decking him to the ground and having Holy Talon slip from its sheath, near the other students.

"Saito!" cries Louise, running to him. In the background, Montmorency covers her eyes as she quietly screams.

"Now do you understand?" frowns Louise, kneeling to the downed other worlder's side "A commoner has no chance of winning against a mage!"

"Are you kidding me?" smirks Saito, who gets up looking like the punch did not faze him at all "Despite the metal in that golem, it didn't hurt as much as I thought it would!"

Louise's eyes widen in surprise, as are the rest of the peanut gallery, and Guiche blinks in disbelief that he's facing a commoner tough enough to shrug off his Valkyrie's metal punch.

"Besides," sneers Saito "I cannot stand people who look down on others because they think they're all that."

The audience is getting really interested in the match.

"Fine," says Guiche, not faltering "I'm sending more Valkyries for you to face." True to his word, more petals fly off his rose before transforming into more Valkyrie bronze golems.

Saito says with a cool and more confident tone of voice, "I hardly think so, Guiche de Gramont."

Siesta sees some of the students poking at Saito's sword, even one of them is trying to lift it but failing. Realizing how heavy the sword is and how he was able to carry it from its sheath hanging behind him, she tells the discovered fact to Louise, who turns to see that perhaps even without his sword her familiar may win against Guiche after all.

Fearing for her on-off boyfriend's welfare upon the undeniable possibility of the strength of Louise's familiar, Montmorency cries out to him "Forfeit the duel, Guiche! That familiar of Louise has the strength of a monster!"

Saito punches a Valkyrie in the face and then the golem shatters upon his fist's impact.

The audience's responses vary—

"How is he doing that?"

"Are you sure he's just a commoner?"

"Maybe he's a noble from his home country?"

Louise does a perfect impression of a fish at the sight of it.

Kirche is downright surprised at such a feat of strength, her expression quickly turns to being full-blown impressed.

The stoic Tabitha's eyes widen by a fraction at the sight of it.

Seeing this, Guiche is starting to lose his cool "Who are you?"

"As I introduced myself yesterday," says Saito, calmly and coolly "My name is Saito Hiraga, one of the many common modern humans of the country of Japan from another planet called Earth in another solar system obviously far away." Then he tests to see if he has heightened agility, he flips over to the Holy Talon and picks it up in his right hand. He says to him, "But now I have another title—"

He holds aloft the Holy Talon, calling out "By the virtue of Faldren!"

Flames of silvery green bursts from the blade before erupting and spreading over Saito's body, however, like before, instead of burning or hurting him in any way, the flames just fade into him.

"I AM HIS CHAMPION!" calls out Saito with his voice echoing everywhere, loud and proud.

Guiche's eyes widen in awe and confusion, "Faldren's champion? Who or what is this Faldren?"

The extra flames that are hitting the ground around him do the reverse of what normal fire would do in full force and high speed: the grass grows greener and thicker, any seeds or cutoff branches of some plants dropped on the ground suddenly sprout spontaneously into small trees in the ground. The onlookers to this event admit that it's remarkable.

"Most people are not meant to be polyamorous," frowns Saito "and you, playboy, are no exception."

Guiche stutters, "Y-you don't frighten me, commoner! Valkyries, attack!" His extra golems charge to knock out Louise's powerful sword-wielding familiar.

Although Saito, and a few people in the audience, notices the runes on his left hand glow since he started holding Holy Talon, he continues on with the duel, with a remarkable burst of speed, slicing the golems he passes like butter.

Saito thinks, 'What happened? It feels like I'm more familiar with you, Holy Talon. The sensation from that punch completely faded and my feels light ever lighter than before!' 'It would seem that runes that signify you as Lady Louise's familiar gives you the ability to become a superb master of any armament you wield' replies Holy Talon.

Louise looks on in surprise, 'My magical specialty is war-related? And that sword talks!'

In a moment of desperation, Guiche throws a rose petal that quickly turns into a sword, which he quickly takes hold of, and attempts to block the sword slash aimed for him.

Unfortunately, the block is in vain as the Holy Talon cuts through Guiche's sword like butter, leaving him with nothing but a bladeless hilt.

"EEK!" cries out Guiche, finally showing his fear as Saito turns to face him again. The blond fop of an earth mage quickly waves his rose yet again, this time bringing out nine new Valkyries to use against Saito and creating a new sword in hand if he gets too close to him. They don't even wait for the order to attack before they charge against Saito.

Saito speeds through the new platoon of Valkyries in a flash once more, having them slide into diced-up pieces of their former selves to the ground 3 seconds later as he stops before Guiche.

Guiche panics, runs backwards until he crashes into the wall and drops both his rose and his sword upon collision as he falls to the ground. Sitting up and then looking up, he sees the tip of the Holy Talon staring down at him between his eyes, with him backed against the wall and Saito coldly looking at in him in the eye.

"Do you wish to continue?" asks Saito "for I am asking this only once."

This is all the prompting the young earth mage needs, he slumps his head down in shame and cries out "I yield! I YIELD~~!"

"Then I hope you learned something from this, Guiche" nods Saito coolly as he re-sheaths his sword "If you want to be someone of my higher calling and caliber, you should learn self-control and man up."

Saito turns away from Guiche and walks back towards Siesta and Louise. Both girls are just staring at him, but for Siesta it's straight-up awe while for Louise it's pure shock. To Saito, having a cutie like Siesta looking upon him in awe does his ego wonders. Seeing Louise being unable to talk down on him for once is just as gratifying. Having stunned everyone else into silence is just sweet icing to an already awesome cake.

Looking at the students looking back at him, Saito frowns "Move."

In response, they quietly part to make way for him and Louise like the Red Sea to Moses' command.

He walks through the clear path until he looks at Siesta and Louise; he motions his head to allow them both to follow him back to Louise's room. Both girls comply with his gesture.

"You're actually good," smiles Louise "as expected of my familiar."

"Don't get over yourself, Louise" says Saito coolly "you still look down on me and you don't know everything I've gained. You're reckless, hot-tempered, quick to judge, and albeit not fit of the word 'noble' in every one of its definitions, as well as someone who has kidnapped me. As far as I'm concerned until further notice, my title of Dragon Champion overrules your right to be my master and my better. Before then, if you say otherwise, I'll be sure to punish you ten times over how you'll punish me and I don't care who your family is or how important they are."

Siesta is a little worried how Louise would respond until she sees the noble in question gulp nervously in response.

Saito then says softly indirectly to them both "On the other hand, thanks for coming to me as well as caring for me."

Siesta blushes at that while Louise smiles a little.

Finally breaking the silence from the audience after going to the side of her defeated boyfriend, Montmorency gasps out "No… No way… he won."

Then everyone bursts into cheers for the victorious Saito.

Students break out into quite excited chatter about his abilities and his sword—

"That was incredible!"

"What an amazing guy!"

"If he was a commoner before yesterday, he's got the rights to be a noble too now!"

"Square class? No, maybe an octagon class."

"I don't care either way!"

"He was cute before but now he's drop-dead gorgeous!"

Kirche looks at Saito one last time, saying huskily "He's strong and manly as he is cool…"

In the headmaster's office, Osmond and Pr. Colbert discuss matters they have witnessed.

"Old Osmond, he actually won…" gasps Pr. Colbert.

"Hmm…" ponders Osmand aloud "what great powers he has. I wonder… he used to be just a normal boy before coming here and he just received that sword of his on the way within her spell. But now I wonder… he and Miss Valliere must be different from before. Have you checked with them?"

Pr. Colbert nods "Yes I have, I even used a detect magic spell on him, his sword, and Miss Valliere to confirm the level of their powers. I even researched last night and just now for information concerning the sword and the dragon tattoos they both bear. I've found nothing about the Holy Talon, the boy's magical sword, or the tattoos they've been given by it. I told them both have a meeting with the two of us this afternoon." "That is good to here" nods Osmond.

"More importantly," speaks Pr. Colbert again "concerning the runes I have run across, I think we should report this to the palace as soon as—"

"NO!" shouts Osmond, interrupting the teacher "WE WILL NOT! THERE IS NO NEED TO YET!"

Then, Osmond says calmly "It is still a complete mystery why that type of familiar summoned by Miss Valliere became Gandalfr. An even greater mystery that should be a concern as of now is his Holy Talon. What is it? Where does it come from? Who made it? How old is it? Why did it choose him before he even became the legendary familiar for void mages? Sure, it sounds sacred and saintly. But what is it really?"

"Even still," speaks Pr. Colbert "he's still a new Gandalfr since the first legendary familiar who is said to been used by Brimir the Founder and who was able to wield any armament and could defeat an army of one thousand by himself, a familiar so powerful that no ordinary mage would stand against him!"

"That is exactly why we will keep this case a secret" frown Osmond.

"But sir!" pleads Pr. Colbert "this is the biggest discovery of the century; a Gandalfr in our the modern world who originated from another world! While the Holy Talon itself is the discovery of the millennium in the entire world!"

Osmond says to the middle-aged teacher "If you would slow down and think about it carefully, what do you think will happen if we hand our the next legendary Gandalfr, his master, and that mysterious sword to those fools at the palace! Court advisors have too much time on their hands and would like nothing better than to start a war with that power. The power of that sword is still unchecked. Until we confirm everything between the two concerning the sword, we will keep a lid on this. As for the matter of the familiar himself, I will take care of this incident personally; no further objections." "Understood, sir!" bows Pr. Colbert.

The two don't realize that someone is spying on them.

To Be Continued…

Author's notes: Well… things are going to be a bit different now. Now what exactly is a Dragon Champion?

Dragon Champion is the term given to those chosen by the two swords, forged from the leaders of the two Dragon races, Faldren and Chorvax, Holy Talon and Death Fang. They embody the mystical, martial, and physical aspects of the two sects of Dragons and their power, and philosophies. Meaning that in case of the Dragon Champion who wields Holy Talon is a fighter who protects those who are in danger and seeks out injustice or evil, and punishes them according to the state of their crimes, like a warrior of honor. In the case of the Dragon Champion who wields Death Fang, the wielder of Death Fang is a fighter who seeks power and strength regardless of how many lives are either destroyed or lost in the process, or how many victims fall to it's blade and the wielder of Death Fang revels in bloodshed and death.

The weapons provide exceptional powers and abilities to their wielders respectively such as magic, martial skill and more gained from the powers imbued into the blades and the essences of the previous Dragon Champions who wielded either sword in the past.

Saito has acquired Holy Talon and as you have read, is chosen as a Dragon Champion, but that certainly doesn't mean that Death Fang is not far behind. As to who will be chosen as the wielder of Death and the evil Dragon Champion?

We shall see as well.

And as to pairings, well, that's up to me…I MIGHT try the harem approach if anyone's interested in that.