Fouquet cursed her luck as she stumbled away from her golem. Her right hand gripping her bleeding left arm, the sound of tiny footsteps behind her was the reason she had stopped to at least cover the wound in a bandage.
Things had gone wrong. Sure she wasn't expecting things to be easy. This was the academy that thought the future mages of the country, so she expected trouble.
The first was the fact that when she had tried to transmute the door directly. She knew that the walls around the Vault couldn't be affected by magic lower than a Square-Level, which meant as a Triangle Mage she couldn't touch it.
Unfortunately, even the doors seemed to be placed under the same enchantments. But it was a gamble that it could be affected anyway.
When sneaking wasn't an option, she opted to exploit another weakness that she was told of.
Physical Force.
While the walls were enchanted to prevent transmutations, they weren't enchanted to withstand heavy blows to the walls themselves. She figured that a Golem would possess enough strength to punch through the wall.
Unfortunately, either the information that she got was wrong or they had decided to double down on their security. Because when she struck the tower, instead of it crumbling under her Golem's fist, all that happened was it hitting a barrier around it.
A barrier that wasn't supposed to be there, from what she could tell.
And if her plan crumbling into pieces wasn't enough, after she failed to make a dent in the wall a witness had to show up.
It was a creature, one that she knew from her time in the academy. And if having a Familiar witness her crimes wasn't bad enough, its Master had to show up soon after.
Fouquet tried to just scare the thing away, swat close to it so that it ran away. Maybe even get its Master to pick it up and run the opposite direction.
Then it Screamed and tore off the arm of her Golem, while knocking her off the shoulder that she had been perched on.
And just when she thought that it couldn't get worse, it struck her with its arm and cut into her own.
Now she was running away, and the worst part was that she couldn't just hide away and take off her costume.
Not with the Familiar chasing after her, she doubted her disguise would stop it from tearing a hole in her neck considering what it had done.
Nor could she summon a Golem and just step over the wall, with the creature following her. If she stopped running, she'd leave her back exposed.
Her thoughts were cut short by a worrying sight. The gates that she thought to leave through were no longer unguarded. Two of the palace guards were standing there, wands at ready to face against the thief.
With the Familiar behind her, she turned to the double doors of the main tower. She heard the guards by the gate shout for her, but she ignored them.
She released her wounded arm and grabbed her wand. Pushing through the door, she turned and waved her wand.
The earth responded to her call, and grew into a dome that covered the main entrance.
She let out a sigh of relief and took a couple of steps away.
Then, suddenly, something phased through the earth dome that she had made. A moment later it shifted into the Familiar that had been chasing her. Without giving her any chance to react to its presence, it swung its whip like arm.
A sharp force struck her chest, she heard the crack of a whip afterwards. The attack knocked her off her feet, and she fell back into one of the many tables in the hall.
She knocked it over, and slammed her back into the wooden furniture. Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to breath, but the pain prevented her from taking in any air.
She reached for her chest, and the pain flared when she grabbed it. When she pulled it away, she was at least relieved that she didn't see blood.
Her attention returned to the Familiar, it had pulled back its arm back for another strike.
In a panic she pointed her wand to a table nearby, and swung her arm.
It turned to where she was pointing, and shifted its body so that it could dash through the impromptu projectile.
Her grip on her wand tightened, and she swung her arm back.
Instead of shifting its body again, it instead dashed forward towards her. The table passed by where it had been standing, and then crashed into the other tables when her control over it faltered due to the shock.
She scrambled to her feet, narrowly avoiding another strike. Her eyes widened when it struck where she had been leaning against, and the wooden table broke apart.
She pointed at the rows of tables and threw them towards the Familiar.
It shifted its body and dashed through the first one, and then leaped over the second.
It pulled an arm back and split the third and fourth she'd sent its way.
She backed away, her wand waved in the air and with a chant under her breath the tables around them glowed.
They fell apart into earth and dirt, her element. Her wand swirled in the air, forming her new ammunition into various shapes. She pointed her wand forward.
Its body shifted and dashed to the side, the three earth spikes impaling the space it had occupied. She didn't let up, more and more formed into weapons.
The ground cracked as she slammed a pillar of earth in front of it. She erected walls around it, before trying to squish the Familiar in between. It leaped over her attempt, before it struck with its whip.
She didn't even blink as she formed an earth shield, the whip didn't manage to break through, and with a thought she formed another spike and sent it towards the Familiar.
It dashed away from the spike, instead of through it.
Fouquet smiled, and flicked her wand upwards.
In response, the earth spikes and pillars that had missed grew and formed a dome around the Familiar.
Immediately she turned on her heel, knowing that it couldn't hold it for long.
The ground under her shook, her panic doubled as she figured that the guards outside were trying to break through the sealed entrances.
With no choice, she ran up the stairs.
[Scene]
Louise's control over her body returned, the Mage gulped down the spit in her mouth and took a step forward. She took another, and the next thing she knew she was running.
"Bug!" She called out to her Familiar, the image of what it had done was still fresh in her mind. Even if it wasn't, the Golem that was missing an arm was still thereto remind her .
But she pushed that thought aside. Her Familiar was in danger. She couldn't just let it be alone with a Mage that could make a Golem like that.
"Louise!"
She ignored Kirche's voice.
"Louise, stop!"
She almost got to the earth wall the thief had made, before she was suddenly lifted off her feet. Her arms waved around as she tried to stabilise herself.
She was dragged away from her current path, floating back to Kirche and Tabitha. "What are you two doing?!" She demanded once she was close to them.
"We should be asking you that." Kirche replied, her wand in her hand. "You were going to go after that thief weren't you?" She asked.
"Of course I was!" Louise told her, "Bug went after them and I can't just let it go alone." Her arms waved rapidly "Can you imagine what they'll do to it if Bug gets caught."
Both of Kirche and Tabitha looked past her to look at the Golem behind her, even the Dragon turned to the Golem, and then looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
Kirche shook her head "Never mind that Louise," her wand lowered, which dropped her to the ground "We need to get to a safe spot, the school is telling us to leave the academy since the thief is still here."
"Not without Bug." Louise turned on her heel "I can't leave without it."
"Louise!" Kirche pointed at the Golem "Your Familiar can take care of itself, we need to get out of here right now!"
"I don't care!"
Kirche flinched away from her shout.
"I'm not leaving without my Familiar," her head turned and gave her a glare "Do you understand that?"
Tabitha looked at her, and waved her staff.
"Hey, HEY!" Louise was lifted off her feet once more, "Pu-Put me down Tabitha!" She complained, arms waving as she tumbled through the air. A moment later she plopped down on the Dragon's back.
Louise shook her head and glared at the back of the girl's head. She opened her mouth to tell her that she wasn't leaving.
"Where did your Familiar go?" Tabitha asked.
"Tabitha!" Kirche turned to her in surprise.
The blue haired student turned her head slightly over her shoulder "The faster we get the Familiar, the faster we can leave."
Louise smiled and bowed her head "Thank you." She lifted her head and pointed forward "They were running to the main exit."
On cue, the ground under them suddenly shook ever so slightly.
They looked at each other with worry. Tabitha gave a whistle and Sylphid took to the air.
Louise gripped the Dragon's scale, as they ascended. They flew forward to the gate. There they could see that the Princess' carriage and the student body and staff were all being escorted out the gate. More than a few pointed at them due to the Dragon they were riding, but relaxed when they spotted the familiar heads of hair of the riders.
They also saw that the main entrance to the tower had been sealed off by earth dome that a guard was trying to break down.
"Do you seen it anywhere?" She asked the other two on the Dragon.
Tabitha shook her head "Not on the ground," she replied. She had an intense look on her face, one that she had ever since she and her Dragon and crashed.
She heard the Dragon let out whine at her question.
Kirche was silent, her eyes were focused on the main tower. She pointed to one of the windows "There!"
Louise followed her hand, but instead of seeing the small form of her Familiar she saw the hooded figure stumbling through the second floor.
"That's the thief!" She pointed out. Her eyes strained, and worry filled her chest "But," her eyes darted around "Where's Bug?"
The hooded figure stopped in their tracks, and turned around. They pointed their wand in front of them.
Her worry only grew when she saw a wall where she was pointing at suddenly cracked.
Then before any of them could react, a familiar shape suddenly blasted through the wall. The stone fell away as Bug's spell slammed through it, and the Familiar in question leaped through the newly made hole in the wall.
"Bug!" She called to it.
It turned to her as it continued running on the second floor roof.
Before she could say anything else, it turned towards a window and struck it with its whip arm.
"Bug, wait!" But she was too late, it jumped back into the tower and vanished behind a wall. They heard the panicked screams of the thief, and moments later more cracks formed along the walls of the second floor.
The thief stepped back into view. They waved their wand and summoned a wave of earth in front of them, before forming a wall when something black nearly struck her in the head.
"We need to get closer!" Louise took out her wand, and pointed it towards the general area of the thief. She didn't have any water on her right now, but she could at least use a Fireball spell.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the thief had heard her. The hooded turned to her, and the next moment a spike made of earth flew through one of the windows.
Louise flinched, while Tabitha simple waved her staff. The spike was deflected by a strong gust of wind and it sent it back to the tower.
The sound of the spike hitting the tower was drowned out by a scream of pain by the thief. They vanished behind a wall, and appeared in another window.
They were running away from where Bug was last spotted, a hand on their face before vanishing behind another wall. Bug's small figured appeared for a brief moment, before it vanished as well.
"Get away from me!" They heard the thief shout.
Tabitha had to steer Sylphid away from the tower when it rumbled.
Then, from one of the windows, they spotted a pale glow.
The Dragon they were riding on panicked and tried to get as far from the tower as possible.
Louise didn't blame the Dragon, as the next moment it shook and a powerful force blew the cracked walls apart. A force that glowed pure white had peeked through the cracks before they launched them away, and had Sylphid not distanced themselves they would've been hit by both the shockwaves and the debris.
"By the Founder…" Kirche muttered as they saw what had destroyed the walls.
With the walls gone they could see inside, and for a moment they saw a black swirling pillar. It dissipated, revealing Louise's Familiar on the ground, one of its hand flat on the ground.
While Tabitha was trying to calm down her Dragon, Louise stared at her Familiar. It raised up from the ground and the arm that it had used to blow the walls apart, extended into the whip.
The thief was already backing away.
Her Familiar dashed forward, and the thief ran.
"They're going up the tower!" Louise pointed out.
Bug seemed to respond to her words and made chase.
"We," Louise grunted as the Dragon finally calmed down "We need to go after it!"
"Are you insane?!" Kirche grabbed her by the shoulders "Louise, we should be worried about getting away." She turned to the hole in the tower "Your Familiar can obviously handle itself Louise, and if we get anywhere near them we'd get in the cross fire of that thief and your Familiar who," she pointed at the destruction "Did that!"
"And I don't care!" Louise shook her off "I can't just leave it alone!"
"Why?!" Kirche gestured to the wall "With what it just did, I'm more worried about that thief than your Familiar!"
"No fighting," Tabitha scolded them, her blue eyes narrowing in glare. She turned to the top of the tower "We'll get your Familiar back Louise."
She lowered her head "It's stronger than I thought" she muttered just loud enough for them to hear.
Sylphid's wings flapped harder, and they ascended higher. The air brush past their hair, and soon they were at the window to the Principal's Office.
The thief was there, their back facing the window. From their spot, they could see three or four golems surrounding her Familiar. Each of them the size of an adult.
The room was a mess, the walls were cracked, the shelves were tipped over, and the thief was standing in front of what remained of Osmond's desk.
Despite that, they were in worse condition. Even from their vantage point, they could see that that they were injured. The left side of their cloak was dark with blood, while another hand seemed to be cradling their face.
Bug didn't seem to be injured at all, her Familiar was looking at the Golems with that empty look its eyes.
The Golems moved, one of them pulled its leg back for a kick. While another brought its hands together, and slammed it down.
Bug dashed through the feet of the first Golem, body passing through it. It stopped, and then turned around. Its whip arm struck, and sent it reeling.
The other Golems moved, one jumped and tried to land on Bug. Her Familiar dashed, out of its path, and swung while it was in the air.
The thief flinched when it sent her Golem flying into a wall next to her.
Bug turned, and then dashed through another Golem. It spun on the spot, and attack the back of the Golem.
Louise watched as her Familiar seem to dance around the numbers. None of the Golems could land a hit, and every time one came close it would step just out of range and strike.
Each of Bugs strikes left deep gashes into the earth contracts, one of them had even sliced off the arm of one that tried to grab it.
Soon the four Golems turned into three, and then two when Bug sliced another one into pieces.
Now only two of the Golems remained. One of them stood in front of the thief protectively, while the other stood behind her Familiar.
Louise gripped her wand, and then pointed it.
Her aim was for the Golem behind Bug.
"Louise what are you doing?"
She ignored the question, it was obvious wasn't it? She couldn't just let her Familiar do all the work, she was a Noble and a Mage. What Mage just let their Familiar fight their battles by themselves.
They were meant to be partners, to fight side by side.
She chanted the spell for Fireball, the magical energy of her spell filled her body. She recalled the feeling when she summoned Bug and when she had formed that Water Whip.
It filled her body, the magic hummed in a pleasant feeling through her body.
It didn't occur to her that she was feeling the same feeling while casting an element the opposite of her affinity.
"Fireball!"
She lucky that Kirche was there, because when the spell left her wand she was nearly tossed off the Dragon. The red head managed to stop her, grabbing her before she was unseated.
Sylphid didn't seem to fare better, as they were nearly tossed from the air by the sheer force of the blast.
It also meant that she could see her spell, and a black magical blast that was similar to Bugs. The black ball of fire was large, larger than she intended. It was also much hotter than she expected, as even as it travelled further from them she could feel the heat. It slammed through the window, and tore through the stone around it.
Black flames persisted around the stone, while the main ball of fire continued on its path and slammed into the Golem behind Bug.
Once more the tower seemed to shake, and for a moment an explosion of black covered their view of the room. Black flames billowed out of the windows, destroying what remained of the window that she had blasted through, while breaking any other windows in the Principals room.
Louise's eyes widened.
The black faded away, revealing that they were only two figures left.
One of them was the thief, standing behind the charred remains of Golem. And Bug, who didn't even seem to be affected by the black. Much to her relief.
The rest of the room however hadn't survived. Whatever that wasn't stone had been burned to a crisp, the black flames lingering. The book shelves were gone, as was the remains of Osmond's desk.
And in the middle of the room was a giant crack, originating from the impact of her spell.
For a brief moment Louise desperately hoped that she hadn't burnt anything important, or at least something irreplaceable with her attempts to help.
That moment was cut short when Bug suddenly lifted into the air, one of its hands glowing pure white.
And slammed through the ground behind it.
The floor gave way and the two inhabitants of the room fell through the newly made hole.
The thief screaming the whole way.
[Scene]
Bug landed on solid ground first, It's fist crashing against the floor while a pillar of Void grew into the air, before dissipating. A moment later the woman that had attacked it landed in front of it.
She landed harshly on her side, groaning for a while as she lied on the ground.
Bug looked away from the woman and examined its surrounding. It was a new room that, if its memory was accurate, was supposed to be the big room that it couldn't enter, even with Longueville's assistance.
It was a Vault of some kind as there was a multitude of items here, many of them that it recognised.
It saw a Dream Nail hanging on a wall with other wands of similar shape. It saw one of the Torches of the Grimm Troupe by a couple of other staves of similar shapes. On pedestals, placed within glass containers were Charms, all of them were in the shapes that it did not recognise.
As it was looking around, a sound caught its attention. It was faint, almost drowned out by the sound of the woman's groaning.
It turned to the source of the noise. It was a glass container that lied on the edge of the room, opposite to the door of the Vault.
Within it was another Vessel, trying to break free. It hadn't made any progress, while the inside of the glass of covered in scratches, probably from the Nail that it was carrying, there weren't any cracks that denoted it could deliver a blow hard enough to break it.
Its arm glows a bright white glow.
It could deliver that force however.
The other Vessel seemed to recognise Bug, it turned its head as it could.
Bug leaped into the air, and with the spell casted it descended downwards.
The glass container shattered into pieces, the shards flying everywhere as the Void that was expunged from the spell reached into the air.
Bug stood on the small piece of the container that hadn't shattered, and watched as the Vessel got up.
It stood at the same size as itself. With the exception of the larger second horn on its right side of it skull. Bug saw that it was hunched to the right, as the left side of its Shell had been shattered. Void particles were escaping from the crack.
For a moment a memory came to it, of a dark basic that held another of its kind.
But this was smaller than the one it had fought, and it didn't seem to recognise Bug either.
For a moment the other Vessel looked at it, and Bug reached out with a hand. It responded with its own.
Once they were in touch, Bug's body glowed. White particles of Soul grew from itself, an action that the other Vessel mimicked.
A flash of white covered their bodies momentarily, their cloaks fluttered from an invisible force.
A small portion of the Vessel's skull reformed. There was another flash, and a larger portion reformed.
This continued, every flash of light the other Vessel's skull grew. Until finally, the shattered portion of the skull was covered.
Bug pulled away, the other Vessel did the same. It looked better now, its hunch was less pronounced, now that it had the other two horns on the left side of its skull to keep it balanced.
They looked at each other, both Vessels staring into each other's empty eyes.
Bug didn't think it could see another Sibling. With where it was located, Bug should've expected that only its Sibling could call for it.
Their stare down was interrupted by the woman getting up, grunting and groaning. She used one of the pedestals to get to a standing position.
Her other hand was holding the wound it had delivered to its left cheek, from each to the edge of her mouth.
She looked up, and her mouth fell open "There's two you now?!" she said, in disbelief. Her head then turned to the Nail that its Sibling was carrying.
"The Soul Wand," she mumbled, just loud enough for her voice to be heard. Her grip on the pedestal tightened "Why do you have it?" she pounded the glass case that she was leaning against for support "Damn it, I was so close."
"Bug!"
All three of their heads tilted upwards, from their spot they could see that something was coming for them.
The woman let out a laugh, it was a small and weak one. A laugh that she kept going even as she slowly slid down until she was on the floor. Both Bug and its Sibling turned to her, she stopped laughing, and let out a long sigh.
"You win," she told it "I give up."