Author's Note: First up is familiar of zero. A story about a seemingly inept mage who learns that she isn't inept at all, just so powerful she can't properly control her spells like other mages. She summons a Japanese stereotype boy as her familiar, (someone who is easily flustered and can't talk himself out of a bad situation for shit… like most male anime protagonists). Together, they get into one situation, which leads to another and another until I'm thinking "How the hell did catching a thief lead up to all of this crap?" It also doesn't help that the running gag of Saito literally glancing at another woman for a split second before getting blown up wasn't that amusing to begin with. And then they kept doing it to an average of 4-8 times an episode.

Supposedly, this civilization they're in has been stagnant for over 6,000 or so years, if the word of dozens of different stories are to be believed.

An 8 year old retarded kid would have a lot of questions for that story.

First. Not a single dictatorship/class system/feudal system similar to the noble over commoner system has ever lasted 1/4th as long as that. Magic or not, human beings have a natural instinct to carve out their own living how they want it, regardless of what any other person says. The commoners being put down by magic time and again, I can understand, but damn! Humans didn't earn the title 'adapters' because it sounded nice. There aren't any commoner terrorist-esque organizations in FoZ, well-trained commoner assassins, or anything you'd expect to come from a human group that's been abused for 6,000 years. A full fledge hostile takeover would be a gradual process, but not THAT gradual. You'd think the commoners enjoy their treatment, for how little they complain about it or act against it.

Second. They've been stagnant for 6,000 years? We may not have had magic to work with, but we'd never just 'stay still'. It took 6,000 years for those idiots to invent 'the musket'. One of the first fire arms ever invented, and apparently it's pretty useful for fighting nobles. In fact, commoner armies can now effectively fight nobles with the weapon. It took what, a couple hundred years for us to pump out muskets? In about 1,500 more years, we damn near eliminated the purpose of having infantry in the first place. We have war machines and robots strapped with guns to do almost everything a normal soldier does. Mr. Colbert makes his own engine at one point, which I'm pretty sure makes him the Einstein, Isaac Newton, and Thomas Jefferson of his entire universe, since no one else has come anywhere close to accomplishing that. Wouldn't you know that absolutely no one cares.

FoZ in general feels like everyone is hopelessly lazy and static about what they do in life. The Nobles are content to wave their magic around, spend their whole life trying to climb up the social ladder, and raise their kids to follow in their footsteps. The commoners are content to maintain their day jobs, be awed by noble's magic (despite seeing it waved in their faces for the past 6,000 years), and in general act like helpless, hopeless, towns people. The whole universe they live in is orderly, and God help you if you decide to sneeze in a different manner than everyone else does.

They're way overdue for some chaos in their lives.

xxXxx

"Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière!"

Speak of the Devil and he appears, laughing and dancing in mockery of the fools who dare summon him...

The balding teacher looked up from the class list, peering over the top of his spectacles at Louise, who had frozen in place with fear. The whole courtyard had suddenly fallen silent.

"Mademoiselle de la Vallière?" Colbert repeated gently.

Louise snapped out it. "Y-yes?" she said – no, squeaked, her voice sounding far higher than she ever thought possible. How undignified.

"It's your turn, mademoiselle," Professor Colbert said once more, smiling reassuringly at her. "You can do it, young lady, I'm sure of it."

Louise took a moment to compose herself, then nodded once and stepped forward. She dimly noted as she walked to the center of the courtyard that the students were arranged in a half-circle around the summoner, facing the tested student's back. According to the teachers, this was to ensure that the summoner wouldn't be distracted by their peers during the ceremony. A simple, logical reason that everyone accepted without further doubt.

Louise knew better: the Springtime Summoning Ritual was dangerous. Incorrectly drawn or smudged lines of chalk, a faulty sequence or syntax of the runes bordering the circle, the sloppy drawing of the summoning circle or the other necessary geometric shapes in the summoning array – there were a myriad of ways in which the ritual could go horribly wrong, and Louise was confident she knew nearly all of them because of the ludicrous amount of time she spent in the library, hoping that it would help her improve her chances of succeeding.

Of course, the descriptions of possible mistakes to make only served to rattle her already frayed nerves even more.

If the summoning backfired, the least that would happen was that a far less powerful creature would be summoned. In the worst case scenario, the summoning circle would explode, releasing large amounts of stray magic and killing everyone in the blast radius.

Louise could accept a weaker summons, as long as she summoned anything at all. She needed proof that she was a real mage, that she deserved the title of nobility that her birth had granted her. She needed that confirmation, desperately so.

"Thou creature of power and magic, through time and space I call you."

Why should I listen?

Louise jumped in surprise, scanning her surroundings. A deep guttural voice had seemingly growled in her ear but no one else seemed to have heard. She quickly wrote it off as her imagination and maintained her spell.

"Thou creature who seeks the meaning of your existence, I call you."

I know why I exist feeble mortal. Do you?

Louise shuttered on the inside. Was she going crazy? How did no one else hear that voice? She knew for certain she couldn't have imagined it.

"Thou creature who will protect me, I call you."

I will do no such thing, whelp.

Louise's gut clenched. This voice was responding to everything she said in sync. This couldn't possibly be her imagining it. Was this her familiar preemptively speaking with her? Was it rebelling from being summoned? She didn't know how to feel toward such a possibility. The voice sounded far more powerful than most familiars, even Tabitha's dragon. It could be larger dragon for all she know. But if it comes out acting like she hears, how will she make it loyal? What if it truly does not listen?

"Come, creature. I'd give you strength, I'd give you power, I'd give a cause. I call you."

How laughable. A feeble weakling like you offers me something that I already have in plentiful supply.

Louise took a deep breath and took to ignoring the voice. If her familiar was going to be rebellious, than she'd have to deal with it when that time came. First, however, she'd have to bring it here.

"Creature! Appear!"

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

The ground before Louise suddenly erupted with warp fire. Louise backed up approximately 3 steps in surprise, staring at the ground as it burned. She could here students begin to laugh, thinking that she had messed up the spell and made the grass catch on fire. Louise didn't acknowledge them however, as this fire seemed to have a mind of its own. The fire on the ground suddenly spread outward across the grass, making rectangular shape in the earth. Then some of the fire disappeared in sections, while most of it seemingly burned deeper into the ground.

The image she saw take form was both odd and slightly frightening at the same time. It was obviously a symbol, but what it represented was beyond her knowledge.

The image was an 8 pointed star.

Just when Mr. Colbert was about to speak, something happened.

The 8 pointed star that was burned into the soil, actually lifted off the ground. Every student suddenly became silent as burning earth, shaped like a circle with 8 extending prongs, simply hovered in the air, pulsating with an unholy aura.

You have the nerve to summon me? Very well. LET THE RED RIVER FLOW!

The 8 pointed star exploded outward in a burst of dirt and fire. Everyone screamed in surprise, covering their heads, averting their eyes, or curling up into the fetal position.

Before Louise could look back at the scene, something wrapped around her head. Louise screamed in surprise, informing the others that something was wrong. The pinkette was lifted off the ground easily, and with her face covered, she couldn't see anything but the red, clawed hand clamped around her skull.

Louise heard screams of terror all around her, assumedly at the appearance of her familiar.

She heard Mr. Colbert yell out demands that it release her, but she was incapable of fully understanding due the hand (if it was indeed that, and not a surprisingly nimble dragon's paw) partially covering her ears. She suddenly lurched forward, which meant her familiar had lurched forward and taken her for the ride. She suddenly heard Mr. Colbert scream, followed by a sound that haunted her for the rest of her life.

*CHOP*

Louise heard more screaming as students ran away in terror. She didn't know what happened, but she wasn't dumb. She was almost certain her familiar had just killed the professor. With that thought in her head, she started thrashing and yelling with all her might to get free of the dragon's grip around her skull.

"Ha-HA Ha-HA Ha-HA!"

Louise shivered as she heard the creature's voice. Not only could it talk, but the thing actually had an echo in its voice, if she was hearing right.

"A-A Wor-WORLD Of-OF Psy-PSYKERS An-AND Ma-MAGICIANS? I-IT Wi-WILL Ma-MAKE A-A Gre-GREAT Sa-SACRIFICE Fo-FOR Kho-KHORNE!"

"Familiar, I demand you release me this instant! What have you done? Why is everyon-" She didn't get much farther than that.

The hand around her head tightened and squeezed. She started screaming in pain and panic as the hand tightened around her skull. She began kicking and flailing far more ferociously than before, tears freely falling from her face.

Her struggle was ended when the hand finally clamped into a fist around her head.

Louise Francoise le Blanc de la Vallierie's head was crushed into a pulp.

The skulltaker errantly tossed the body to the side as it set its sights on the castle before it. The daemon intended to take this area as its own, and slaughter everything and everyone it crossed along the way.

Guards came running from around the school's courtyard, armed with an assortment of pikes, swords, maces, and other close combat weapons. The skulltaker stood its full height at 10 feet tall, twice as tall as a grown man. This observation alone caused many to question their own resolve in fighting such a massive beast. Then the skulltaker's hellblade, also longer than a grown man, was raised high. The weapon was covered in flames of the warp, fire that burnt ones very soul. This caused many to come to a halt, just from the sheer diabolical appearance of the weapon. Then finally they laid their eyes on the skulltaker himself.

The term 'skulltaker' wasn't simply an honorific amongst fellow khornate daemons. It was quite literal in its connotation. The daemon had skull imagery on every piece armor it wore, as well as certain places on its very skin, but the real meaning of the term was made apparent by the cloak the daemon wore. Dozens, maybe hundreds of skulls were weaved into the cloak by what appeared to be brass wires going in and out of empty eye sockets. Many of those skulls didn't seem to be human at all.

The skulltaker was briefly excited to see easily over 100 armed mortals running at him, but his excitement waned when the mortals halted before him. Each and every one of them had fear in their eyes, and a few were even showing signs of cowardice by backing away slowly. The khornate herald deeply detested cowards.

The herald of khorne phased forward in a blur of red energy. Before any of the men could blink, a jagged black sword was carving through their ranks with absolutely no regard for the armor or flesh in its path. The daemon said only one thing, but it horrified everyone within ear shot to the very core.

"Bl-BLOOD Fo-FOR Th-THE Bl-BLOOD Go-GOD!"

xxXxx

20 days later

Word of what occurred at the magic academy spread quickly across the continent of Halkeginia. Tales of a creature half way between dragon and man, slaying all those who stood before it with a sword of flame. Any brave soul that dare challenge it, the creature readily accepted. Every duel ended the same however. The challenger was decapitated and his or her head taken into the daemonic fortress, that was once a magic academy.

The church of Brimir planned to end that today however.

The warped academy, now adorned with the skulls of hundreds, was surrounded. Warriors, mercenaries, and mages of all classes gathered around the area with demands from the church. Without a doubt, the appearance of a fabled creature being slain would be passed down for centuries. Any noble that contributed to the cause would earn glory and status. As well, many of the magic users had come to avenge the deaths of their children, and even a few of the staff who had died in the attack. The mercenaries were simply there to be paid, but for battle purpose would only be meat shields at best.

With such overwhelming force, it was obvious that the monster would be slain. All these people were here simply to be involved, maybe contribute importantly enough to have a mention in the ensuing stories that would be passed down (with plentiful exaggerations of their part for sure).

With a square class fire spell, the front gates were blown open.

Letting loose a mighty roar, the mercenaries charged forward into the gate. Slowly the momentum and fury spread throughout the ranks as more and more people felt the battle adrenaline start to kick in. Soon, people were getting over the academy's defensive walls however they could. Be it using magic to blow open holes, bringing up ladders, or levitating over the walls they managed to get around. They were certain that with such vigor on their side, they wouldn't lose.

"Ro-ROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAR!"

The earth actually shook with ferocity and anger in that roar. The few dragons present were actually cowed by the sound of a superior creature's anger being vented.

Everyone stopped in their tracks, the vigor long forgotten.

Without warning, one of the most evil sights these people would ever see emerged by smashing through a solid stone wall.

The skulltaker was mounted on the most loyal and powerful beast a warrior of Khorne could ever have the honor of riding. A juggernaut of Khorne, a rare brass colored juggernaut at that, came thundering through the stone wall as if it had simply gone through ply wood. The skulltaker rode on the creature's back, using the spikes on its shoulder to place his feet, while gripping the chain attached to its collar to keep himself balanced. The skulltaker appeared to the humans as a hellish knight, thick chain 'reins' in one hand, and a black flaming sword in the other. When coupled with the fact that the combined height of the skulltaker and the juggernaut made them 30 ft tall, it appeared to everyone as if they were about to do battle with a god.

The skulltaker briefly took in the opposition he'd be facing. About the size of a battalion at best. It'd be a hefty order and if none of these mortals could stand against him individually, it'd get quite boring pretty fast, but the daemon undertook the challenge anyway.

Both he and his mount bellowed their endless fury into the sky, frightening the mortals around far more than they already were, before charging into the nearest gaggle of mortals they could find.

Heads and limbs went flying in all directions.

xxXxx

The skulltaker was quickly getting bored.

The infantrymen were hopelessly pathetic, as they had begun running in fear before he had even slain one of them yet. The skulltaker quickly began to feel as if he was herding these human soldiers, rather than fighting them. All they did was flee as the juggernaut gored them by the dozens with its horn and trampling hooves. There may be one or two that would occasionally scrounge up the courage to strike at the juggernaut, but the daemon's half mechanical body made such blows glance off without even a chink. The skulltaker slashed down from the top of the beast, reaping their skulls in a manner comparable to a farmer reaping wheat. These soldiers weren't much in combat, but at the very least, watching their blood splatter with every swing was pleasing to watch.

The mages were irritating and useless at the same time. With his collar of khorne, magic attacks were about as effective as flinging rocks. Interestingly enough, the square class earth mages had taken to flinging boulders and sending golems at the skulltaker at one point. They were disappointed when both of these shattered into hundreds of pieces when his mount head butted the things with its jagged horn. Disappointment turned into terror as he quickly ran down the offenders and either trampled them into paste, or removed their heads from their shoulders. The other types of mages simply wouldn't accept that their magic was ineffectual and kept trying anyway. Despite him being immune to the magic, the effects it caused around him were very annoying. More than once, he was engulfed in a magical inferno and nearly fell off his mount because the fire had burned away the earth around him, causing his juggernaut to lose its footing occasionally when it charged through the scorched earth. The herald of khorne eventually decided that enough was enough and ran down every damnable foot mage in sight.

The flying mages were quite irritating however.

He was unable to chase them down because their mounts, be them dragons, gryphons, or manticores, all had wings. His juggernaut would assuredly decimate one of those puny creatures in close combat, but allas, it couldn't fly. Had the skulltaker entered by warp rift, he could use the bleeding warp energy to make himself fly and gut those cowardly bastards. As it was however, he was grounded, due to himself being summoned through a ritual and not having the excess warp energy to use at his disposal.

He only allowed himself to come in the first place because khorne had wanted him to despoil more of these 'alternate universes'. To the daemon's credit however, the blood god informed him not to linger too long, if the world he was in didn't offer any worthy opponents.

The skulltaker took this as, 'if he kills over 200 mortals, and isn't offered a single battle worthy of a skull ritual, then he has every right to leave'.

Looking over the carnage he caused, temporarily ignoring those pesky flying wizards, he saw that all the mortals were retreating. The mages, soldiers, and even the mage knights were pulling out. The mortals had realized that they not only were unequipped, but also too incompetent to defeat a single bloodcrusher of Khorne, much less Khorne's holy executioner himself. They were weak before him and fled like the cowards they were.

All but one.

Karin the Heavy Wind landed before the Skulltaker, her manticore growling in hostility.

The skulltaker's juggernaut released an even deeper growl, with a fair bit of warp energy in response to the mortal mount's challenge to it.

The pink haired woman was wearing a dueling harness and had her hair in a ponytail to keep it out of her field of vision. She had the steel of a real warrior, the skulltaker would admit, but that was only compliment the skulltaker had for the mortal. She was a mage, a monger of cowardly magic, and by extension, a coward at her very core. This mage would die like the rest.

"Ano-ANOTHER Pa-PATHETIC Ma-MAGICIAN. Die-DIE Li-LIKE th-THE Re-REST!"

As the battle, if one would call it that, progressed, Karin had sat back and watched. She gained tactical information on how to best this foe. Its mount was strong. Strong enough to run straight through numerous golems, trample countless men and women, and not even pause for rest. The creature riding the brass bull was an expert in sword play, clearly identified in the way it flowed with its sword strokes. Its weapon was able to cut through anything. She had seen it slice straight through other swords and thick armor like they were made of cotton. The creature's armor was immune to arrows and swords, as was the hide of its mount. Most important of all, magic based attacks didn't work. Directly at least. It seemed to an outside observer that the only way to fight this creature was close combat, which it most obviously excelled at.

Karin despised this creature with all her being, but knew she would have to place that anger away to win this fight.

This was the beast that had slain her daughter and countless other people without a second thought. This was the beast that had just laid waste to an entire army in its lonesome, a feat that she thought only she and a select few others in the entire world were capable of. And it had done so without magic, something no creature, no matter how strong or vicious should be capable of doing. She knew that based on her observations; direct confrontation would be completely hopeless in the face of such a creature.

So she wouldn't fight it directly.

Karin took flight, which the skulltaker was expecting.

With a reaction time expertly honed with an eternity of dueling, and strength gained from progressive favoring by khorne, the daemon hurled his blade at the manticore. The hellblade was sharp enough that simply dropping it into the ground would make it slice through the earth until the pommel hit the ground. The skulltaker didn't need to make a perfect throw. All he had to do was make contact with flying mutated creature's body, and the hellblade would do the rest of the damage on its own.

Karin was surprised as a sword larger than she was, speared into the hind leg of her manticore. The blade sliced clean through, cutting through the muscle and bone as if it wasn't even there to begin with. Karin's mount cried out in pain as its leg was sheared of. It lost focus of flying and came crashing back to the ground.

Directly before the skulltaker.

Karin quickly rolled away from her mount, just before the juggernaut stomped down on the manticore with a might hoof. The sound of cracking and splintering bones echoed through the sky as her manticore was crushed underfoot. The juggernaut glowered down at the inferior mount with what she swore was satisfaction in its glowing red eyes. The juggernaut immensely enjoyed stomping that thing into the ground. The skulltaker reined his mount back with a tug of the chain and refocused it back on the intended target.

Her.

As the beast took its first steps forward, Karin quickly fired a powerful tornado into the ground before her, using an expertly fashioned sword. The juggernaut was forced to halt its movement and brace its legs as powerful winds made it struggle to keep balance. Taking advantage of her enemy's immobility, she used a gust of wind to push herself back.

Irritated, the skulltaker hoped off his mount's back. The tornado did little to him due to his blessing from khorne, which made him immune to magic based attacks. Temporarily ignoring the witch, the khornate herald phased over to his sword and picked it up from the ground. He could've just as easily phased over to the woman and killed her with his bare hands, but the skulltaker had never killed someone without at least holding his sword. It felt unnatural to the skulltaker, which is something you'd almost never hear a daemon say.

As the herald of Khorne turned around, he saw his mount brashly charging at the woman, who was keeping the juggernaut at bay with her most powerful magic attacks. His mount lacked the collar of khorne, meaning that against magic, its only choice was to force its way through with protective armor and brute strength. He could see the frustration building in his mounts eyes as it badly wanted to mutilate the woman before it. The skulltaker realized that he had a clear opening, but was sated of his lust for blood at the moment. He still longed for a worthy opponent, but clearly no mage could give him that challenge. He wished to see if his mount could handle the mage on its own.

The juggernaut grinded through the tornado, step by step. Karin was making sure to keep the rider itself in her peripheral vision, but she was having enough problems with just the mount. It wasn't immune to magic like its rider, but powerful enough that it could take her most powerful spells to the face and keep going. She took note that the beast was very front heavy in its body make up however. She decided to test a trick that might kill it.

She stopped powering her tornado and let the juggernaut come at her in full force.

The beast actually caused a tremor when it charged, nearly making her lose her footing. Just when the beast got within attacking range, she used a gust of wind to push herself to the side, making the juggernaut run straight past her. She fired another tornado into its hind legs. The juggernaut was completely unprepared for such a trick, as its back legs left the ground. The daemonic mount flipped over onto its back, tumbling to the ground.

The juggernaut's angry roar was felt from miles away.

Before Karin could even smirk in victory, the skulltaker phased directly in front of her. She moved to fire a spell as a reaction, but the skulltaker was faster. He loped off her arm with the sword in it, making it uselessly fall to the ground. Karin had only just begun screaming when her other arm was amputated in a similar manner. Following that, her legs were cut off.

She passed out from the pain.

The skulltaker placed his free hand on her forehead and ushered the 8 words of sacrifice. Warpfire engulfed the dis-limbed body of Karin, burning away her armor, flesh, and inner organs until only a skeletal head and torso remained. She should've been grateful that she wasn't awake to feel it, for it was a very painful process. With a twist, the skull separated from the rest of the skeleton.

She may not have realized it, but she had achieved quite the honor. The skulltaker reserved such rituals for only skilled warriors. The fact that she had managed to flip over a raging juggernaut had managed to both impress and amuse the khornate enough to gift her with Khorne's warrior rites.

His mount stalked up behind the skulltaker, infuriated that it wouldn't be the one to kill the mage for such an embarrassment. However, it respected the skulltaker and didn't dare challenge his authority. It stood behind him, glaring at the skull as its master fastened it to a hook on his cloak. Eventually it would be brought before khorne, along with the other skulls he had collected, and it would decorate khorne's throne room as a skull of a defeated but worthy opponent.

The skulltaker shattered the summoning shackles holding him to this dimension with ease.

Both he and his mount began to fade away into nothingness, leaving a legacy of death and suffering in their wake. Before they fully disappeared however, the juggernaut stomped on the remains of Karin's skeleton with a single hoof, turning the bones to powder beneath its foot.

Petty revenge was better than none at all.

xxXxx

Author's Note: Hey I think I'm getting better at this. Anyway, leave reviews, or better yet, any anime you wish to see get the skulltaker treatment. Right now I have inuyasha and Fate/Stay Night in my sights, but I wouldn't mind more being added to the list. If you do have a recommended fic, leave a description, a Wikipedia link, or something for me to know what it's all about.

PEACE!-...Er..wait…I mean.. BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!