Disclaimer!: I don't own Zero no Tsukaima or Warhammer 40,000! Please don't sue!
Herald of the Void
By Nim Maj
A Necron Familiar Challenge Response Fic
Omake Chapter
A.N. All Omakes are mine unless explicitly stated or if I forgot to label them. (I can make mistakes too you know! Just look at some of the previous chapters!)
A.N.: Just closing some plot holes here. Remember Henrietta's plan to search for a new hubby? The current Emperor simply wouldn't do. I decided to scrap this scene since it had no story relevance. I could have included it but I really wouldn't use it. So I'm really just filling this plot hole.
OMAKE –Henrietta's Betrothed – (Canon)
The young man looked out of his carriage with a tense air about him. It was unsurprising really since he was just about to be married off to the Empress of the Holy Halkeginian Empire. Normally matrimony was a joyous occasion. But to him, he was simply doing his duty. A prince of Germania was promised to wed Henrietta, and a Prince they would get. Albrecht, the current Emperor, and the former betrothed, was already an Emperor. It was a tiny detail the Empress exploited while she was still a Queen. It was weak, but Albrecht's position was weaker. And then all this trouble with Gallia came up... followed by the Orks.
Simply put, Germania now needed Henrietta, and if they wanted to survive, they would have to bow to some of her demands. But honor demanded fulfilment, hence though Albrecht had to give up on Henrietta, Germania would still benefit from a matrimonial alliance.
To Henrietta, the only objection she had was to which prince she had to marry. She had met Albrecht only once and instantly disliked him. It was probably because he had gazed lustfully at her (in her opinion). Before she had met Herald of the Storm, she had given up hope of marrying her true love. She would settle for someone honourable and most especially NOT Albrecht.
Herald's profiles on the remaining princes led her to her only hope.
Prince Otto.
Prince Otto was actually a minor prince, owning some land far from the center of Germania's seat of power. His father was descended from Germanian Royalty but had been sent to bolster the defences in the open plains. Over the years the land had fallen into disrepair, helped along by raids from Orc tribes and other monsters roaming the plains. Far from aid, they had eventually been overrun and the boy was captured by the orcs while still young and was made into some sort of pet. To add injury to injury and to make sure he couldn't survive if he left, they cut off his right hand and his tongue.
He was eventually rescued by a band of knights who had been sent to regain the lost territory. The boy was recognized by a loyal retainer who had escaped and spread the news of the Orc incursions. Reinstated, but with reduced land, the boy put forth his best efforts to drive out the Orcs, even donating his entire estate to the use of an order of Knights tasked to defend the border.
He studied magic, and developed an utterly pragmatic fighting style based entirely on unincanted magic, due to his enforced silence. Despite this handicap, he became a respected warrior. His hand was replaced by a simple iron then later silver replica. He became known as Otto of the Silver Hand. Dedicating his life to defending Germania, he rose through the ranks of the knights that was based in his estate. They eventually renamed their order after him: The Knights of the Silver Hand.
But to the Germanians, they were simply called Paladins.
Still, out there in the borders, he had little contact with noble women. Peasants, yes, but not royalty, so imagine his surprise when he was informed that he would be marrying an Empress, and that she had chosen him!
"Are we there yet?" Otto signed to his second in command, Charles "the Hammer" Martel, (Chuck to his friends) who was renowned for throwing his warhammer at fleeing orcs. Being mute, he had to resort to his own special sign language to communicate.
"Aye young master, we are nearing the rendezvous point. We'll be meeting your fiancée soon enough."
"I wonder why I was chosen" he all but spoke, his general demeanor enough to convey his thoughts.
"Look on the bright side young master, you're about to get yourself a rich and beautiful wife! Not many can say the same."
"I've never thought about marriage though, much less love." Otto signed. "What did I ever do to deserve it?"
"Sometimes political marriages are like this. But don't worry. God is probably rewarding you for all you've gone through to protect the people of Germania." Chuck replied. "From what I hear, Henrietta's the honourable type. She probably saw the same in you!" he encouraged.
Sinking back into his thoughts, Otto hoped and prayed for the best.
Thus, Otto Eduard Archibald von Bismarck left Germania, and entered the Holy Halkeginian Empire, as the Prince Consort of the Empress Henrietta de Halkeginia.
A.N.: Otto von Bismarck is a combination of Otto from the story Otto of the Silver Hand, a really nice book by the way, Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, Germany's "Iron Chancellor" and Otto Christian Archibald, Prince von Bismarck. Wiki them if you want to learn more.
Say Hammerchuckery, did you see anyone familiar? Thanks for reviewing!
Otto and Chuck might make more appearances in the sequel or in the end. I have plans for a trilogy!
Now to lighten things up a bit before I fix more plot holes.
OMAKE – That can't be a Harem!
"No no no no! How can anyone fall for that? There's no way anyone could be defeated by Harem no Jutsu!" Deflinger argued.
"Bleah! Show's what you know! I've defeated the several high ranking jonin with it!"
"Then they're weak! Just look at them! There's no way that such a harem exists!" Derflinger reasoned while gesturing at the sixteen identical blondes. "Twins? Maybe. Triplets? Okay. Quadruplets? Not likely! Quintuplets? The likelihood is approaching the astronomical!"
"So... what are you saying?"
"Give them variation! Twin blondes are fine, but throw in a variety! Girl with glasses, Loli, Mikos, Sailor fukus, swimsuit, long hair, short hair, green, red, blue, purple, brown or even heterochromatic eyes, blonde, brunette, bluenette, black and brown haired or white for the heck of it! Thin, hourglass figures, big, small or beautiful breasts, tall, short or medium heights! Make them different!" Derflinger ranted.
"Your victims are more likely to believe the harem with many different girls than a harem with sixteen identical girls!"
"Hmmm, I think you're right!"
Jiraiya could only nod in agreement as he imagined the possibility.
A bit further away...
"Herald... what are those idiots talking about?" Louise asked her familiar.
"You... don't want... to know... Master." Herald replied.
Louise thought about it a moment. "Ah, it's something perverted." She concluded.
A.N. Some people wondered why Herald didn't upgrade Halkeginia's army with Necron tech. I thought it would be obvious really. I was planning to write an Omake... but I decided a succinct explanation would be enough so that I could regale you with more entertaining Omakes.
So! Explanation... Herald simply didn't want the Halkeginians to use Necron tech to get ideas on being a threat to Louise. One simply doesn't hand out Necron tech to primitives. He could upgrade them with Earth-level weapons... but they would take too long to upgrade and train. Fortunately, with 100 years to prepare, Henrietta and Louise convinced him to go ahead and modernize (somewhat) the Halkeginian army. Remember that with new weapons of a different tech level one has to familiarize themselves with how to use them.
Anyway, Herald simply didn't have the time or resources to develop them to a competent level, at least to fight Orks. NOW he does though. Expect the Halkeginian army to be bigger, better, and stronger. Just not at the Necron's level. There's no way Herald will allow the Halkeginnians to gain the power to threaten Louise, no matter the remoteness of the possibility.
On to more Omake fun!
Winners!:
OMAKE – Screaming Contest (Daleks vs. Necrons)– by Tyrannifex
The Necrons looked at there rivals, the Daleks through the view screen. their new super weapon had grasped the attention of Derflinger but Louise wants them harvested.
"IDENTIFY YOURSELF!" Yelled the one eyed pepper pot.
"YOU WILL IDENTIFY FIRST!" answered Derflinger.
"STATE YOUR IDENTITY!" yelled back the Dalek
"YOU WILL IDENTIFY FIRST!"
"IDENTIFY!"
"YOUR DESIGN IS INELEGANT, YOU WILL MODIFY!"
"DALEKS HAVE NO CONCEPT OF ELEGANCE!"
"OF COURSE, BUT NOW THE DALEKS WILL SUBMIT TO THE SUPERIOR SPECIES! AND OUR MASTERS"
"SUPERIOR? YOU ARE SUPERIOR IN ONLY ONE RESPECT!"
"WHAT IS THAT?"
"YOU ARE BETTER AT DYING!"
A.N. To this I would add:
You could feel Derflinger smirk. "NECRONS ARE IMMORTAL. WE HAVE NO CONCEPT OF DEATH!"
Swinging himself through the surprised Dalek, Derflinger pirated yet another catchphrase. "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"
Hehe. Tyranifex is biased in favour of the Daleks while I have to side with Derflinger being our heroes.
Another winner:
OMAKE – by Zakath1 (Unnamed OMAKE)
"Master...What... are you doing?"
If Herald could feel emotions he was certain that he would be glad that his metal form was unable to express anything beyond dull apathy. Lying face down in front of him was his all-powerful goddess Louise, or as she was now known as, the Void Maiden. Just a few moments ago, Herald had heard Louise cry out and had rushed into his goddess' personal chamber only to find that she had finally discovered her shape-shifting powers, and had decided to experiment with them.
The outcome was hilarious. Not that he would ever tell anyone that.
Derflinger spoke up from where the warscythe was in Herald's hands, "Did you seriously try and make your breasts larger? Those things are bigger than your head now!"
Louise could only glare at them in futility from her position on the floor, "Shut up and help me!"
"Yes M'am."
"We will never speak of this again!"
"Yes M'am."
A.N. Lol! A few mistakes (I changed staff to warscythe) and some points are ambiguous but overall enjoyable!
OMAKE – Solidarity
"Hmmm, Herald," Louise spoke up as she observed the space battle. "Lend assistance to the Clyne faction."
Herald looked at her for a minute before complying. "Any... reasons... Master?" he asked conversationally.
"Hmmm... her hair is pink." She replied.
"And her songs are great!" Derflinger added cheerfully.
The Dark Eternal, a city-sized Cairn-class Tombship moved into position. Blue Cosmos was sooo F*cked.
A.N. Yup! If her hair is pink, she's likely to give help! Bwahahaha! BTW, the previous OMAKE wasn't a winner since it's mine.
A.N. One of the winners in the OMAKE contest and my personal favourite:
NOTE: Due to a lack of information, the process described herein may be accurate with varying length of time required. Until concrete information is obtained, I provisionally agree that the process described could be canon.
Some minor corrections were made (Loise to Louise and Louise Francoise)
OMAKE by The Infamous Mind Fracture
The few humans on board the Dark Eternal watched in awe and not a little fear as the massive orb of flame on the warship's holofield displays shrank. It was slow at first, but it quickly picked up speed until, several minutes later, the star was half its original size. Finally, with a brief flash of light it vanished completely.
It was so quiet on the bridge that you could hear a pin drop. The reasons for this silence varied. For the humans, they were struck speechless by the enormity of what had just occurred. For the Necrons, however, such silence was not unusual as they either couldn't or rarely had need to speak, the only exception being a certain magic sword.
However, even Derflinger found himself struck dumb, as any clever comments that he might have used to make light of the situation refused to pass his crossguard.
He was a bit disappointed in himself for that.
It was then that Louise appeared on the bridge in a flash of pink light, her expression one of intense inner debate. Kirche recalled seeing a similar expression on her friend's face at the Academy whenever Louise had tried a new food. It always seemed as though she were attempting to decide whether she liked it or not.
Considering what Louise had just done, perhaps she was.
"Are you... well... Master?" Herald asked.
Louise opened her mouth to respond but what came out was less speech and more bodily function. She slapped her hands to her mouth in shame and proceeded to prove that not only could necrodermis belch, it could blush as well.
Henrietta blinked, the sheer absurdity of the moment overtaking her. "Manners, Louise Francoise."
The pink-haired Star God seemed to shrink further into herself in embarrassment. "Excuse me."
A.N.: And that's the end of the Omake chapter! Hope you enjoyed! Here's a sneak peak to tide you over:
SNEAK PEEK
The skeletal machines surrounded him, demanding his surrender and that he come with them quietly. Groaning mentally, the youth muttered his response to the surreal situation.
"Such misfortune..."
To be continued in...
A Herald of the Void Sequel
Herald of the Void: Through the World Door
By Nim Maj
Chapter 1: A Certain Genocidal Alien
Coming this fall...
Oh yeah,
HELP!
WHICH HIGH SCHOOL SHOULD LOUISE ATTEND? LEAVE YOUR OPINION IN YOUR REVIEW ALONG WITH YOUR REASONS. REMEMBER! LOUISE IS A NOBLE, HENCE ONLY THOSE WITH HIGH CLASS WILL SHE CONSIDER. THIS WILL GO INTO THE SEQUEL! PLEASE READ AND REVIEW! THANKS FOR READING!