"Your grip on the sword is still too hard. You need to be a bit more relaxed so your opponent can't predict what you're planning for your next attack."
"Noted. Thanks for the input Captain."
"Well, you asked me to be as hard as possible. Although you're getting a bit further than your fellow students, miss Void Mage."
Another month passes, and to the surprise of Tristain's Loyalty, Reconquista is still building up forces and they do send a few small squads of flying ships close to the territory of their nation but not enough to engage a fight. From what Wales' subordinates have reported, it seems that the mysterious assassin has agreed on a cease-fire within Albion, but only she knows of what's going on. The rest of Reconquista is still thinking that they're preparing for the war with other nations. No one could figure out what the assassin was thinking except herself.
Back at Tristain Academy, Louise has asked Agnes and Julio to be her teachers in sword-play. At first, the latter has no problems with what she asks while the former is curious since the Musketeer Squad are still training the students regularly. The Void Mage wants to try applying some of her spells during a swordfight, and she wants to see how far she can go before she has to rely on magic.
"You are one of the few, with that blue-haired girl, to be able to keep up with some of the Musketeers." Agnes drops her stance, allowing both sides to slow down for a moment. "Are you trying to impress someone?"
"Maybe the Princess herself." Louise sheepishly replies, which earns her a chuckle. "Or maybe… I want to impress him too."
"Still can't get over it?"
"...Unfortunately. How about you and Professor Colbert?"
"Well… I guess I can leave it behind now. Still, some traitors have to face justice."
"That, I can understand." One part of her still wants to face Wardes, so maybe this training would also prepare her for that matter.
"Alright, let's continue. And you would need to fix your stance too, it would help you balance between movements."
"I got it."
…
"You're getting better Pinkie."
"Still won't use my real name huh Derf unless necessary, huh?"
"Hey, a bit of banter with you is entertaining." The sword cackles as Louise changes into her regular clothes in place of her school uniform. "So, any new spells?"
"Hm… let me count." Once she's dressed, she starts counting on her fingers. "Teleportation, Shield, Non-Living Object Control, Mind Reading… I tried using my magic to boost up my strength, but it's not good yet."
"Well, practice makes perfect." The sword has no problems with it. "Haizz, without my partner, life is a bit boring."
"Thought you would like someone to talk constantly like Kirche?"
"That girl doesn't really know much to talk about, other than flirting does she?"
"Yeah." Louise giggles in her mind while replying. She then grabs the sword and changes the subject: "Let's visit Big Sis Cattleya before we hit dinner."
"Bringing me with you? You sure?"
"I'm still not used to your weight yet, so…"
"BEHIND YOU!"
Startled by the shouting, the Void Mage quickly turns back only to see a hand right before her eyes, and before she could say anything, she immediately feels her consciousness fade away…
"Urgh… my head…" When her senses partially return, she feels her face touching a flat cold floor. Moments later, she can feel her legs and her arms, and soon her eyes are able to open. And when she can see, she sees herself in a foreign building, with rows of chairs facing towards a familiar statue. Once her view is clear, she slowly sits up and observes it for a moment… "It's just Brimir's statue…"
"OI! Valliere, you're awake!" Startled a bit, she turns to her left and sees the sword just slightly out of her reach. She quickly grabs him as he speaks: "Holy Brimir I thought we're done! That assassin suddenly appeared out of nowhere!"
"! That woman!?" The Void Mage's fear returns whenever the assassin's brought up in the conversation. "What did she do this time!?"
"I have no idea! I think we both dropped at the same time!"
Feeling herself being in a dangerous situation, she quickly stands up and looks around her. It looks like she's in a church of a sort… until she notices a lot of similarities with a certain one she has gone to before… "Isn't this church…"
"I think it's the same one you and Partner met with that Prince and his soldiers." Derflinger has the same thought as well.
"...Why did she bring us here?"
"No idea, but right now we're in the enemy's territory…"
"Eclair D'amour?" Louise interrupts him as she notices the pink flower in the bottle on the table. "...Someone performed a marriage right here?"
"Eh… I wouldn't call that strange, though. You and Wardes almost did it in the middle of the fight too."
"There should be another one here too. This flower comes in a pair." Louise feels something suspicious about this. "That assassin is planning something."
"Well, we can ask her when we face her." The sword suggests. "What would you do now?"
"...For some reason I want to bring it with me."
"Heh, why?"
"Just… I'm not sure." Grabbing the bottle, she feels the warmth of love coming from it. "...Maybe we could find the other half during our escape."
"It's not that easy, Pinkie. One missing is not…"
Sounds of cannon interrupts their conversation. Not thinking further, she wields Derf on her back and keeps the bottle between her left arm and starts rushing outside. Looking up to the sky, she can see the two moons clearly and the dark sky, knowing that it's very late in the day. She then looks down a bit to see smoke flying up like crazy, so she immediately heads to the location to see what's going on.
Going up on a hill, she finally has a clear view of the scene. Much to her fear, it's definitely a battlefield, and the soldiers which she identifies as the ones from Albion are targeting their enemies… or rather, a dying enemy. They're circling around one person and raising their weapons up, ready to execute the man. Biting her lips, she can only watch as the soldiers kill the defenseless person in a brutal way. Void Mage or not, she's definitely not well-equipped or even have enough mana to face them alone.
Once it's done, the soldiers spread away and continue their approach to wherever they're planning to. She quickly teleports herself to a nearby forest and hides between the shadows of the forest. For a moment, the soldiers turn her way, but she has already hid the flower away so they can't find her, and they continue without further care. During the moment, she notices a strange aura between the trees, and she turns to see what it is… and she sees a girl turning her way while putting a finger on her lips, signaling her to be quiet. Louise raises a thumb-up, showing that she's also not wanting to be found.
Half an hour later, the enemies are completely out of sight, and both girls get out of the shadow, and the Void Mage finally gets the view of the other person as she's rushing to the fallen soldier before. "...She's an Elf…"
"A bit of a tame reaction, don't you think?"
"It's no time for jokes, Derf. Besides, do you think Wisdom would act differently?"
"Hey, we both know Partner, he won't care."
Shaking her head, Louise rushes to the Elf while preparing to shield her in case they get caught. Once they get closer, the Void Mage gets a look on the dead soldier. Turns out, he's just a normal looking boy in a rather strange blue outfit…
"HOLD UP! IS THAT ME!?"
The loud exclamation from Derf causes her to turn to the sword for a moment before returning back to the dead boy, then to the sword he's holding and widens her eyes in surprise. It's indeed the exact replica of the sword on her back before he's changed a bit by her Servant. Before she could say anything further, she sees the body of the boy brightening up in a green light, and she hears the Elf girl chanting something. Once it's done, the wounds on the boy's body disappear, though the boy is still unconscious.
The Elf girl then turns to Louise and puts her finger up to her own lips again. Louise simply nods, showing that the secret's with her. The Elf girl smiles and retreats away, and Louise only watches, thinking of the current situation…
"Hey, could she be…"
"Could be what?" When the Elf is nowhere to be seen, Derf speaks up first which causes Louise to ask him.
"Partner talked with the Earth Thief about an Elf she knew. Maybe it's her?"
"...And why did you not speak sooner?"
"Eh… Partner doesn't care much, so I temporarily forgot about the problem. Oops. But throw that away! Why am I here!?" He changes to a much problematic situation. "I'm the only one in the world!"
"That's… we might know when he wakes up." She looks around to see if they're in the clear, then she starts pulling the boy's arms and getting themselves back to the forest, avoiding any suspicious activities. Once they're in a safe location, she leans the boy's body towards a huge tree and sits down to rest as well though she starts trying to sense if any dangers are around.
A few minutes later, the boy stirs, and Louise turns to see him slowly opening his eyes. He turns to see the Void Mage's face… and his eyes widen in shock. "Louise!? Why are you here!?"
"...I guess you do know me." The Void Mage sighs. "My reputation sure has…"
"I thought Julio had brought you away! Why are you back here!?" To the girl's surprise, he immediately grabs her shoulder and looks her in the eyes, and she can see the fear in him. "This is a warzone! I had to make you sleep so you can evacuate safely! Did Julio tell you…"
"Hold up buddy." The Derf on Louise's back speaks up, causing the boy to turn to the sword. "Before we can speak any further, would you introduce yourself first? And can you explain why there's another me with you?"
"...Derf?" The boy asks back in surprise, then turns to his sword and picks it up, then turns his head back-and-forth for a couple of seconds before starting to scream. "WHAT'S GOING…"
Louise quickly uses her hand to cover his mouth, then starts looking around in case there's still lurking enemies. Once they're in the clear, she retracts her hands. "Lower your voice. We're not exactly safe."
The boy is still shocked, but finally manages to get himself back a bit. He then asks fearfully: "Louise… you… you don't remember me?"
"Uh… why should I? We never met… right?"
"How about we start with OUR matter first?" The sword in the boy's hand speaks up for the first time. "How do two of us exist at the same time? What black magic is this?"
"That's what I want to know too." The other Derf replies back. "Seriously, what the hell did that assassin do?"
"Assassin?! Are you hurt, Louise?"
"Not… exactly." That assassin definitely hurts her, just not physically. "Anyway, can we have your name?"
"...Louise, please…"
"I'm not joking, I have no idea who you are." The Void Mage feels a bit irritated now.
Seeing that causes the boy to whimper a bit, though he does answer: "It's Saito Hiraga, and I'm your familiar."
"...HUH!?" Both Louise and her Derf respond in shock. "Woa… WHEN!? I summoned only Wisdom! I never saw you in my entire life!"
"Hold!" Louise's Derf suddenly thinks of an idea, interrupting her. "Valliere, this might just be a theory… but could this be Wisdom's homeworld?"
"...You mean…" While Saito and his Derf are out of the loop, Louise asks back in surprise.
"How else could he know the situation of the world so clearly!?"
"Eh… can you explain it, Louise?" The boy doesn't understand the implications and questions.
Instead of answering, the Void Mage starts thinking for a few seconds… then puts it in the back of her mind. "We will discuss it later." She then turns to Saito and asks: "You said that 'I' should be evacuating out of this city right now, correct?" That earns her a nod. "Alright, let me try to sense if…"
"Hey, is that my flower?" She blinks, and Saito points to the bottle in her hand.
"Oh, it's yours?" Louise gives it back to him who receives it with gratefulness in his expression. "I found it in the church. So who did you engage with?"
"You."
"...I will throw that answer out of my head. I have enough things to deal with." Ignoring the boy's brief dismay, she closes her eyes and starts using her own power as a mark to track the other 'Louise' if she ever exists… and true enough, she does. "Saito, grab my hand. We're teleporting to her location so prepare yourself."
He's a bit confused, but upon seeing Louise's free hand offering to him, he gratefully grabs it…
…
On one of the ships out of Albion, everyone watches the pink-haired mage cry when she sees the flower in the bottle withers, indicating that her beloved one has died. All can feel the desperation in the girl's voice, and no one dares to say anything as tears keep flowing out of her eyes…
"The flower…" Until Julio notices it first. "It's returning to life."
Barely hearing it, Louise looks back to the bottle to see that it's indeed what Julio said. However, from what she knew, once the flower is dead, there's no returning back…
A magic circle suddenly appears, distracting everyone but her as they turn to see what it is, with Julio drawing his sword to prepare any enemies appearing.
And a second later, the supposed dead hero and the split image of the Void Mage appear.
"Piece of cake for you at this point, huh?"
"Compared to the speed of the plane, this just feels like a floating board on a still lake, Derf."
Her own voice now drags her attention to it, and to her surprise and happiness, she sees Saito standing there, unharmed. Without seeing anything further, she rushes towards him and gives him a hug, causing them both to fall on the floor of the ship. "Saito! You are alive! I thought you died!"
Saito now sees the usual Louise in his arm, so he pats her head and happily replies back: "I guess I almost did. But I survived."
"Hate to break it to you, but you really died."
That causes all, including the pink-haired mage, to turn to the voice. Louise is extremely surprised when she sees an exact duplicate image of herself standing next to them with a stoic expression. Wiping her tears away, she asks while still hiccuping: "Who… who are you?"
"I suppose that I'm you, in another Halkeginia." The other Void Mage replies back, shocking everyone further. She rubs her eyes while having a small migraine. "I'm having a lot of questions now and I don't really know where to start."
"How about explaining why you look exactly like her?"
"Didn't I already answer that, Julio?"
"Eh… you said I died, right?"
"I saw you getting bombarded with no chances to survive, Saito. Lucky for you, someone in the vicinity healed you up. Or revived you, even."
"Hey, Pinkie… maybe we can ask her to revive Partner?" The sword on the copycat's back speaks up.
"...You think it's what the assassin wanted? And is it even possible?"
"Hey, worth a chance."
"Anyway…" Keeping that in mind, Louise from the otherworld looks at the duo and says: "From what I can tell, you all just experienced something bad, so maybe we'll keep the questions to tomorrow."
Seeing that the other Void Mage is correct, Julio sheathes back his sword and says: "We're all tired after the evacuation, so we should rest now."
Though all want to continue, they know that both of them are right, so they shut up for now. Though Siesta and Louise start hugging Saito again while crying silently while others watch in delight.
…
Feeling a slight bang in her heart, Louise backs away and lets her-other-self alone for now, as she walks to the edge of the flying ship and looks up to the stars above…
"Thinking that you and Wisdom could be the same?"
"Shut up Derf." A tint of pink appears on her cheeks. "I think we can both agree that we're in a different Halkeginia now, can't we?"
"I think seeing our own selves is good proof there. Which means that both Wisdom and the assassin knew of the existence of our worlds long before our first meeting."
"But if they both knew and since they were a team, shouldn't they just be on the same side?"
"I think that's just their internal problems. Why are we here, though? If Partner is aware of the troubles this could cause, shouldn't she be?"
"...We can't second-guess this, it's impossible. We know how advanced their world could be… and I doubt this is theirs."
"...The only thing I can connect is the one reviving the boy. She seems to be the key."
"There's another matter: How are we going to return back?"
"...Eh… No idea?"
"You should put more clothes on, Louise." Turning back, she sees Julio standing behind her.
"You tell that to that half-naked guy." Louise retorts back.
"Oh? You never met him before?"
"Should I?"
"Hm…" Julio gets in deep thought, then changes the topic. "May I ask if there is a Saito in your world…"
"I never summoned him."
"Oh?"
"I summoned someone else… and he's dead."
"My apology. Was he in the same situation as our Saito?"
"No… it's much worse. He was killed by the same one sending us here."
"...Do you have any idea who this person is?"
"That… I'm not sure. She can mimic everyone, so we don't know her true identity yet."
"A shame. We could have tried to find her…"
"Don't even try. My familiar could beat my mother if he truly tried, and yet he claimed that he couldn't beat her."
"...It appears you have worse problems than ours."
"I'm not even sure if I could return back." Louise sighs. "I don't think that woman will do anything to Tristain, but who knows if she changes her heart midway. And then my sister's health…"
"I think you should also rest."
"...Yes, maybe it's the best."
The world around her rocks a bit, and she opens her eyes to see an unfamiliar wooden ceiling. Her paranoia kicks up and she quickly gets out of her lying position and locates where Derf is. She immediately picks it up and almost draws her sword if she doesn't see Siesta on the other bed. It then comes to her of what happened a few hours ago.
"...Right." She sighs and puts the sword on her back.
"You seem to get Partner's instinct now."
"Not even close. If I do. I shouldn't be panicking."
"Fair point."
Deciding to not wake her up, Louise walks out of the room she was offered to stay in for the night and heads to the outside of the ship. Once she's out, she sees the sailors doing their best to control the ship to head to the safe zone, some early citizens who just look out of the sky and into their own world…
"You're already awake Louise?" Turning to a direction, she sees the boy before waving at her. She heads to his location as he asks: "I thought you might be in bed for a bit longer."
"Thanks to a certain familiar that I developed the habit to wake early." Louise leans her back on the side of the board and answers.
"You said you summoned someone named Wisdom, right?" Saito asks, remembering the conversation before. "Do you think he's worried when you disappeared?"
"...Maybe. He's already dead."
"I'm sorry!"
"It's fine, not your fault for knowing it…" Though she does feel a little down after mentioning him again. "He's the one teaching me how to use Void Magic…"
"...Eh? You summoned a Noble?" Saito is surprised to hear that.
"Considering Fouquet is still a Mage despite losing her Noble status… no, he's not." Louise shakes her head. "I doubt anyone in Halkeginia can beat him though."
"Eh… didn't you say…"
"Partner's killer came from his own team pal." Louise's Derf responds. "And, according to him, he is the lowest member. And Partner can stop time, and yet he lost, so…"
Saito stares blankly at the otherworld Louise and her sword in disbelief. He thought that Wardes is already hard enough to beat, and now there's an even bigger threat out there…
"Don't make the same mistakes as he did, okay?"
"...What do you mean, Louise?"
"She meant what you did last night pal. You almost left your own Louise behind."
What she meant is the conflict between Wisdom and his old Master that led to his own death, but Louise is thankful that her Derf seems to have guessed what it is and diverts it away.
"Ah… that…" Now Saito blushes up and scratches his head in embarrassment. "It's either me, or Louise will try to use her Void magic and stop the rebellions."
"...Everything for love." The boy watches the other version of his love turn her head to the clouds and smile sadly. "Maybe I will do something reckless to try to get him back too."
"Louise…"
For a moment, Saito plans to come and give her a hug to comfort her, but then he remembers that this version of Louise never knew him, so it would be inappropriate to approach her like how he does to his Louise… so he only stands there and watches the sky like his current companion…
"...I wonder how Big Sis Cattleya and Eleonore react when they see the two of us." Louise suddenly giggles, changing the subject.
That causes Saito to blink once before chuckling alongside her. "I guess they would be shocked. They're currently at the Academy now."
"So are mine. By the way, I'm curious about the changes between my Academy and yours."
"We can start listing them out…"
…
Unbeknownst to them, the current world's Louise is already awake and she has heard all of their conversation. She and Saito were sleeping together last night, so she woke up when Saito left the bed. She planned to call out for him but he noticed her other self first and called out for her, and she approached him and they started talking.
For a moment, she was a bit angry that Saito might have mistaken her for her other self. However, it seems that because the other 'her' had the sword on her back so Saito might already know that. Then, the girl revealed that she actually summoned a different person to be her familiar, so at least Louise is glad that the other girl might not try to make a move on Saito… and she immediately felt sorry when the other Louise told Saito about her familiar's demise. And she knew the impact of said familiar is a lot when the other Louise told that she learnt to use Void thanks to him.
She then heard her other self talk about what Saito has done, and her plan to try pulling some stunts to revive her dead familiar. When the other turns her head away, Louise can see her expression, and she can tell that her other self took the same hit like her before when she heard Julio talking about Saito's plan to stop the rebellion. She's lucky that at least Saito managed to return to her…
"You can stop hiding now, my other self."
She yelps in surprise when the other Louise calls her out. She sheepishly gets out of her hiding spot and sees that Saito's surprised when the one with the sword managed to find her. But then he remembers and asks: "I just remembered. How could you get us on the ship with the teleportation?"
"I tracked down my own aura. Since we're the same, it's easy to catch on where she is." The other Louise replies.
"How long have you been using Void?" She timidly asks. "And can you teach me?"
"...If you mean properly using Void, it's after we caught Fouquet and I finally caught on to one of my familiar secrets. However, he only gave me some points to find out my own spells, and since then everything is just self-taught, so I'm not sure if I can teach you properly… And I have stopped using my wand unless I use a totally new spell that I have no basics on."
"Eh?!" Both Louise and Saito exclaim in surprise after hearing that. The former then adds: "Isn't it against Brimir's teaching…"
"Maybe. But I was desperate, and he's the only one who saw my potential in the Academy. And he has been using magic without wands, so I could say he's more skillful than the rest of us."
"Then… What about Derf?" Saito question. "I mean, if you can use magic…"
"She wants to impress both her mother and Her Majesty." Louise's Derf seems to plan to say something more, but suddenly stops himself… then continues: "Now I miss my partner's threats to throw me into the forge if I try to embarrass this lady." In response, the other Louise just sheathes him further with her face matching her hair. "Ah, thanks for that reminder."
"You guys are lively." The trio turn to see Julio approaching them. "Breakfast is ready in a couple of minutes. You can continue your conversation."
"Thanks for the reminder." The otherworld Louise thanks him. "Let's get ourselves something to fill. Returning back to the Academy would take a while."