I want all of you to know that both the Mass Effect universe and Zero no Tsukaima world of this crossover are slightly AU than the canon. If there are some errors in it, please let me know so I can correct them.
As predictable by every student in the field, an explosion was created every time Louise cast a spell, although this one was much powerful than any that she had ever caused and had everyone almost knocked off to the ground. Large dark cloud and smoke obscured their vision of what kind of familiar Louise had summoned in front of them.
However, none of them realized that there were two unknown objects thrown out from the resulted explosion and they were completely shrouded with thick smoke as each landed meters away from the student gathering at the opposite direction.
As she was coughing, the black smoke started to thin out and Louise did her best to fan away the cloud in order to take a first look upon her summoned familiar. Louise had her heart full of hope and great expectation from this; she would never be called "Zero" from anyone else again. A slow gust of wind dispersed the already thinning smoke, and it revealed the audiences, including Louise, the strangest thing they had ever seen; which made her and crowd stood in silence.
What was in front of them was unmistakably human; a teenage boy at that who was sitting on the field which appeared to be the same age as the rest of the students. He was wearing a blue, loose, long-sleeved jacket with raised collar, a pair of dark blue pants made of unknown material and a pair of blue, white-colored soled shoes. Furthermore, the boy also had short, slightly spiked black hair with a pair blue eyes, along with a face that seem unlike of any ethnicity normally found in Halkeginia. He even carried a black bag that was secured with two straps that went over his shoulders.
The teenager was groaning as he scratch the back of his head with his eyes closed. He began looking around warily as soon as the boy opened his eyes.
"What the... where... where am I?" The boy asked.
The sound of footsteps were produced in front of him and as his head turned to the front and looked up, he saw a young girl underneath a indigo cloak, wearing a long-sleeved white blouse and a gray pleated skirt. She also wore a pair of long black socks and a pair of black shoes. The young girl had a long curly pink hair with a matching color for her eyes, along with the facial feature of a Caucasian. Which could mean she was either from Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America or any nation that had Caucasian majority or minority.
"Who are you?" The girl asked intently.
"Who am I? Saito... I'm Hiraga Saito," he answered. Suddenly, a realization came to Saito's already confused mind: How could he understood her language with ease?
The silence occurred in the courtyard that lasted for seconds was finally broken by the voice of a random young girl among the crowd. "Hah, Louise the Zero summoned a commoner!"
Much of Louise's classmates began laughing at the amusing occurrence before their eyes; some of them were laughing almost hysterically. The fact that 'Louise the Zero' had summoned a commoner as her familiar was priceless for them.
"Looks like a commoner is a perfect familiar for you, right Zero?" Guiche jeered from the crowd.
"Louise has never cease to "amazed" us, as we expected from the Zero here," Kirche laughed mockingly.
"What were you thinking, Louise? Calling a commoner with the 'Summon Servant' ritual," Montmorency asked as she started to laugh like everyone else.
An expression mixed of anger, frustration and disappointment began to form on Louise's face as her mouth gaped in shock at the unexpected result before her. Did I just summoned a commoner? A COMMONER!? And he's a foreigner, no less! she thought to herself.
"This thing... this thing can't possibly be my familiar!" Louise angrily pointed at the teenager as she turned to Professor Colbert.
Wait? Did she just called me "This thing"? Saito thought to himself in annoyance and surprise as he frowned.
"No, this is a mistake! I-I need to fix this! Yes, I'll just summon another one," Louise said to herself, which was loud enough for the bald middle-aged teacher to hear it among the noises created by the students.
"Everyone, please be quiet!" Colbert told the students and the noises quickly subsided. He then turned his attention to Louise. "Miss Vallière."
"Yes, Mister Colbert!"
"I'm sorry but I'm afraid this is something that can't be fixed easily," Colbert shook his head. "It is forbidden for one to do the summoning ritual twice; it's a holy ritual that must be followed according to our Founder's law. While summoning a commoner is unheard of, it's still a irrefutable fact that you've summoned him to your service. Therefore, this young man shall be your familiar from now on," he stated sympathetically.
"But, this is...," Louise wanted to beg her teacher before she was interrupted, while Saito curiously kept looking everything around him.
"Miss Vallière, please. Just continue with your ritual and bind your familiar," Colbert firmly, yet calmly ordered.
Louise became completely disheartened by the facts given to her as shown from her saddened expression. She finally yielded to the reality descended upon her and heeded her teacher's order. "...Yes, sir."
She turned around and walked toward Saito with a feeling of dismay, while Louise looked clearly bad-tempered just by looking at her face and body movement. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a commoner like you," Louise said as she stopped in front of Saito while glaring at him, "...so you'd better be thankful to me when I do this."
Saito could not help but noticed her cheeks turned red as the pink haired girl stared angrily at himself. She looks... kinda cute when she's upset, though.
"Come on, Louise! Do it quickly, we wanna see it!" Kirche said aloud as other classmates jeered and giggled at Louise.
That Germanian brute, she'll never let me live this down after this! Louise, with her face turning red, stepped into Saito's personal space and knelt down to him as he leaned back cautiously. She sighed deeply and mustered all dignity she had left before Louise raised her wand and pointing it to the boy's forehead.
"Wha-what are you doing?" Saito babbled as the girl was about to do something at him.
"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers, grant your blessings upon this humble being and bind it as my familiar."
She chanted the sacred spellwords and tapped the wand on his forehead once. Louise immediately grabbed Saito's cheek and pulled his head to her face, and pressed her lips upon his. Louise kept her lips there for a couple seconds, long enough for the master-familiar bond to be sealed. She then jerked back and raised to her feet, leaving the boy embarrassed, bewildered and frozen at the event that just occurred upon him.
"It's done," Louise calmly stated as she dusted the dirt from her knees. Saito quickly overcame the shock of having his first stolen by a girl he did not know in such a bold fashion.
"What did you do!? Y-y-you stole my first kiss, give it back!" He cried and a blush growing on his shocked expression as he wiped his lips with the sleeve of his jacket.
"I'm the one who's supposed to say that first! It's not like I wanted to kiss some random man or boy like you!" Louise talked back as her cheeks were also turned red.
"Congratulations, Miss Vallière. Despite you have failed the 'Summon Servant' several times, yet you've successfully performed the 'Contract Servant' on your first attempt," Colbert said happily. "Well done, well done!"
"Thank you, sir," Louise said gratefully.
"Can somebody please tell me what the hell is going on?" Saito cried, desperately hoping that someone could give him some answers. If this was some kind of a bizarre cult practicing pagan magic, he needed to get out of here quickly.
Then he yelped and clutched his left hand as Saito felt something burning on it. Saito continued to wince in pain as strange letters began to appear at the back of his left hand and they were etched on his very skin, as if he was being invisibly branded.
"It's burning! Wh-what is this!?" he exclaimed as Saito held his left hand while trying to endure the pain.
"Those are runes. They are inscribed to mark you as a familiar," Louise plainly stated like it was a well known fact, with Colbert nodded in acknowledgement.
The middle-aged teacher walked forward and delicately grabbed Saito's left hand as he inspected the runes. "Well done, Miss Vallière! Your 'Servant Contract' has been formed. And a very precise contract at that," Colbert joyfully stated. However, he began to notice something peculiar of the runes but he could not figure out what it was. "Even so, I must say those are some very unique runes you have there."
Colbert then let go of Saito's hand and turned around to address the students. "Now that we all had our turn in the ritual, everyone please take the free time you've been given to bond with your new familiars. Class is dis—" Before he could finish his sentence, a sudden scream was heard across the academy's field.
"Aaaaarrrggghhh!"
Everyone in the field immediately jumped at the awful scream they had just heard. They whipped their heads left and right to find the source. Another agonizing scream was produced and this time, they turned their sights to the area located several feet from their positions. What the students and Colbert saw before their widen eyes surprised them, with several gasps were produced from some of the students.
All except for Louise and Saito who were standing behind the crowd.
"Hey, what's going on?" Louise asked as she wove through the crowd, pushing them aside to see what had gotten them startled.
Saito, who was also curious of what just happened, tagged along with the petite pink haired girl. When they had finally reached the front and saw what was before them, the same surprised expression as the rest of the crowd was formed on both the master and the familiar's face.
There was a figure, which was most likely a man, crawling on his knees slowly with his right hand was clutching his lower abdomen. He wore some kind of an onyx black armor of very strange design that was unlike everyone had ever seen; it even looked like a solid and sturdy tailcoat.
While there were some metal plates bolted at some places like his chest, shoulders, waist and knees, the rest seemed like it was made of some kind of unknown flexible material. The entire armor looked like it was made to tightly fit on the person who wore it.
Furthermore, there was a set of distinctive patterns that resembled a blood-red stripe bordered with small white stripes which ran down the center of both arms, specifically at the forearms, upper arms and shoulders. His helmet covered the entire face without any visible slits or small holes; it made them wonder how this man was able breathe and see in front of him.
On his back was a short sword with no scabbard and it was attached without a belt or rope to hold it from falling to the ground. Then there were those small flat cylindrical objects and rectangular boxes attached around his belt, along with pouches on both thighs.
After a few seconds of crawling, the man finally collapsed to the ground and rolled over with his front body facing upward, while his right hand was still clutching his lower abdomen. Out of instinct, Saito quickly ran toward the armored man as soon as he fell down, which caused Louise to be surprised at her familiar's sudden reaction.
"Hey, familiar! Where do you think you're going!?" Louise shouted to her familiar as she ran after him from behind.
"Oi, are you alright?" Saito frantically asked as he knelt next to the armored man's left side as soon as he reached his spot. He seemed to be showing much pain as he was trembling erratically.
From there, Saito got a close look upon the design of his armor and gear which looked like something right out of a sci-fi franchise than a fantasy or medieval one, along with an almost worn-out emblem printed on his upper right onyx black chest plate: a snow white alphabet letter and a single digit number, along with a blood red 90 degree triangle.
N7
"Guh... huh... erk...," was the response Saito got from him. He could hear the man was hissing in pain and breathing hard, even though the sound was a bit muffled by the tightly sealed helmet. Saito noticed the man's right palm was pressing against his stomach rather tightly.
He gulped anxiously as Saito hesitantly grabbed the armored man's right wrist and began to lift his trembling hand from his stomach to take a look. The young Japanese boy felt a bit relieved as the armored man allowed Saito to lift his hand from the lower abdomen he was clutching.
What Saito saw instantly drained the colors from his face as he started to breathe faster and harsher than normal, almost the same as the armored man before him. He was desperately trying not to get himself passed out due to hyperventilation; it was something he always saw on television, newspapers or his favorite manga, but never he would see it up close and personal before.
There was a bullet wound in his stomach and blood were pouring out from it. It was very clear that this man needed medical attention immediately. In an instant, the gravity of the situation became dire and much more than Saito could possibly handle at the moment. What should I do!? What should I do!? What should I do!?
Before Saito started shouting for help after he released the armored man's hand, his left shoulder was suddenly grabbed from behind with a firm, tight grip. That grip belonged to the petite pink haired girl who had summoned Saito earlier.
"What do you think you're doing running off from your master like that, you stupid...," Louise angrily asked before she was interrupted by Saito, who was looking at her with his panicked expression.
"This guy has been shot! We need to get him to the hospital now!"
Louise stood there blinked a few times in confusion and surprise for her familiar's sudden reaction for a moment before she shifted her gaze to the armored man before her. She saw the wound he was suffering and it made her flinched as blood from the wound began to flow down from his armor plated abdomen to the grass.
Just before this, Louise's mind was primarily focused on her familiar after he ran from her side; she could not think anything else but her familiar coupled with anger over his sudden disobedience. Now, her focus was shifted to the armored man lying on the ground who was obviously injured. When her familiar started calling for help, he indirectly shattered Louise's desire to punish or reprimanding her familiar or anything related to it completely.
There were a thousand questions racing in her mind about this man's identity, origins and how did he ended up injured in the academy without anyone noticing. Several students including Colbert began moving forward, albeit slowly, toward the three from behind as curiosity took over them.
"Somebody call an ambulance or a doctor! Anyone please, he's severely injured!" Saito yelled in desperation as he looked behind toward the approaching group of students. Upon hearing the familiar's fearful yell, Colbert instantly quicken his pace toward both of them. Louise turned her head to the approaching professor, with a genuine concerned look on her face.
She wanted to tell Colbert to hurry up and use his magic to heal the man, most likely in a form of a shout. But for some reason, Louise could not let her voice coming out from her mouth. She really wanted to let her voice come out but she could not, and she did not know why. Was it because she was scared, very scared? That this was her first time experiencing and witnessing a grave situation such as the one before her?
Louise seriously wanted to help the injured man but she could not; she was a "Zero", a mage who could not cast even the simplest spell in any school of magic. No, it was more than just that, Louise was utterly failed at magic. Any spell she made would always ended up in a disastrous explosion. If Louise had magic in her, even if it was in weakest form and power, she would not hesitate to use it to save this man.
She quickly turned her head from Colbert and looked back at the armored man lying on the ground, who seemed struggling desperately of not letting death to come and take his life away. Whether it was her first time or not, Louise never felt so much hate at herself as her jaw clenched and both of her hands tightened into fists.
Louise found herself helpless. Helpless to do anything other than watched the man suffering in agonizing pain, who perhaps was dying slowly and painfully.
I've to do something! I need to do something but... but... Oh, Founder Brimir. Why? Why am I so... so worthless?
Saito turned his face to the armored man's featureless blank helmet, which he instinctively knew the guy behind that black glass visor was looking at him, probably pleading Saito to help him without making a voice because he was too weak or in so much pain to say anything. Saito quickly grabbed his left hand with both of his, doing his best not to let the guy gave up his will to live.
"Oi, you're gonna be okay. H-help is on the way! Just stay with me, man!" Saito shakily cried.
As if he saw something through his opaque black glass visor, the armored man's helmet slowly turned away from Saito to his left until the helmet's left side was facing the ground. Saito knew he's not dying yet as the guy's left hand was still squeezing firmly with his hands. Then, to Saito's surprise, the armored man started to speak in a language he understood, though in an agitated manner and with an accent he could not quite place.
"Holy shit... that thing... is still alive..."
"Huh?" This had Saito confused a bit as he himself did not know what 'thing' this guy was referring to. When he looked over his shoulder from the right, the 'thing' that Saito saw from behind had him completely scared witless as his face paled and his eyes widen in terror.
What the hell is that!?
Montmorency, who was standing far behind the crowd, was one of the students who had not left their positions after several of her classmates including her teacher Colbert decided to go check for Louise, her familiar and that man in onyx black suit of armor that had appeared out of nowhere. From the way Louise's familiar yelled after he knelt right next to that man, part of her made Montmorency think something terrible had happened.
Her small orange frog familiar, Robin, was sitting idly on her master's shoulder watching event before her progressing. As both the master and familiar were watching, Robin sensed something very off and foreboding which was closing in upon both of them. It made her fidgeting uncomfortably without Montmorency noticing what was happening to her familiar.
The frog instantly felt a highly malevolent presence coming from behind. It turned around and Robin immediately croaking loudly and repeatedly in fear at the 'thing' she saw in front of her eyes, warning her master of the impending danger.
"Robin, what's wrong?" Montmorency asked, wondering what made her familiar suddenly got agitated. When she turned around to see what was behind her, Montmorency's face was drained of all color and she instantly adopted an expression of both panic and dread.
Several feet in front of her was a rather large and very grotesque bipedal creature that vaguely resembled a naked human corpse which stood seven feet tall. It was predominantly covered in grayish or ungodly dried pale blue muscular flesh, with the occasional strands of metal and wires interwoven with eerie blue, glowing points of light on most parts of its body. Blunt metal spikes jutted out from its shoulders and forearms, with its chest and abdomen were protected with some kind of visibly bolted, simple, crude and distorted dark blue metallic armor plates.
But the most revolting and terrifying feature of this living corpse was its entire head and face; its pale white skin was decaying all over its head and face, bald and devoid of hair. Its eyes were glowing in bright icy blue with no eyelids, noseless, holes in its fleshy cheeks. The mouth was lipless to where it revealed its yellow teeth with black smudges and dark grey gums. Aside from those, small glowing blue-gray wires were covered all over its decaying face that almost resembled a highly repulsive fleshy skull.
She did not know that in front of her was a special type of husk derived from a human and mutated by Reaper technology.
It was a Pariah and it was fixing its unnerving glowing blue eyes at the terror-stricken Montmorency. Then it let out a lifeless, long moan at her.
Which caused the ringlet-haired blonde young girl to cried out a spine-chilling scream.
"KYAAAAAHHHHH!"
The next chapter will explain how both the N7 Operator and the husk ended up in the ZnT world, why the N7 Operator couldn't just activate his omni-tool and administer the medi-gel to treat his injury, and why he didn't have guns with him in the first place.
However, the speed of the update could be sporadic and unpredictable because sometimes I can be very busy with stuffs in real life. Be patient, 'K?