"Look, I'm not trying to be an ass here. Explosions are really useful in combat." Cole tried to reason with his shorter companion before chuckling. "There's a saying back home, 'If there's still a problem, you didn't use enough explosives'."

Louise took a breath, trying to keep her emotions in check. She knew her familiar was trying to help but it was still a touchy subject. "Cole… I can't even cast the simplest spell without it literally blowing up in my face." She came to a stop, turning towards the taller man who did the same. "Do you even understand what this means to me… my future?"

The blue eyed conduit quirked an eyebrow, looking at the girl before him. In the evening light, she looked younger than her age, lending an vulnerable air around the normally proud noble. "No, I don't. Care to explain it?"

Louise stood silently for a moment, looking into her familiar's eyes. After a bit, she let out a breath. "Of course you wouldn't know."

"I'm literally not from this dimension, why should I?" Cole replied with a shake of his head. "I've been doing my best to read up on things but I can't just magically know things." He paused with a thoughtful look. "Or is there?"

Louise snorted in derisive amusement. "No, there isn't. Else, why would the Academy exist?"

"Okay, you've got a point there, but that leaves us with you having to explain this to me."

Louise looked off towards the distant perimeter wall of the Academy, the sun having set behind it, leaving the sky a dazzling red and purple landscape. "Scripture states that magic is the gift Brimir gave to humans, to help defend against the elven threat. He gifted it to the most noble and valorous humans, who then later became the nobles of Halkegenia, the royal families even descending from Brimir himself."

"So, magic is a big deal around here."

Louise snorted in mild amusement at the underwhelming statement. "Yes, magis is a 'big deal'. It's so big that a noble child born without magic can be disowned if not mysteriously disappear without anyone saying a word." She waved off her familiar's widening eyes. "Luckily, if you consider it that, I can actually display magical ability, but I found out the option was discussed by some of Father's peers."

"That's really messed up."

"It is what it is." Louise stated, looking towards the fading glow. "But I'm still 'broken', even if I'm capable of magic. As the third daughter, that lowers my already diminished marriage value." The pink haired girl let out a breath. "Thankfully, my parents have successfully betrothed me to an aspiring minor noble who has distinguished himself by his service in Her Majesty's Griffin Knights."

"Wait, you're already engaged?" Cole blinked in shock, trying to equate the young looking woman before him to that fact.

"Vice-Count Jean-Jacques Francis de Wardes." Louise named her betrothed, still looking at the area of the Academy where the event was held just earlier that day. The staff had cleared it all away, leaving just the stone platform they used for a stage.

"What are your thoughts on the engagement?" Cole leaned back against the main academy building, arms crossed.

"He's handsome, dashing and valorous, at least my memories say so. He's risen in the ranks quickly, so he's ambitious. He's around your age, maybe a little older. My parents think he's a good suitor, considering my situation." Louise listed off, still looking off into the distance.

"You're evading." Cole statement pierced out before she could continue rambling, her eyes closing as she went silent. The adult of the pair just let her think, listening to the birds taking flight from the trees just outside the walls.

The sky grew darker as the they stood silently, an uneasy tenseness from the younger of the pair.

"I'm… apprehensive." Louise finally admitted, finally looking her familiar in the eyes. "Just after it was found out I was… 'broken', he agreed to be my betrothed. That alone stopped all discussion about how I should be disowned and unnamed." She hugged herself with the memories. "When he visited, he was kind and polite to me. It was… nice… different. He endeared himself to me and my parents well."

Cole let out a non-committal hum, waiting for the shoe to drop. Now that the flow had started, it came in a rush.

"I'm just not really to be… to be a wife." Louise admitted, looking towards the ground. "If I marry him, I'll be the first daughter to be wed and I'm the youngest."

"So, you're feeling rushed." Cole summaries for the girl.

"I suppose." She hedged, letting out a breath. "Thought, I feel… know I'm just a token trading hands… a 'broken' token, at that."

"Let's 'fix' you, then." The Conduit cut through her thoughts with that simple declaration, the man pushing off the wall to place a hand atop her head. He fully expected the shocked look in his master's eyes, followed by the fury of someone insulted by such a comment.

"You think I haven't been trying?! That I've been just having tea parties and reading poetry?!" She seethed, slapping his hand from her head. "I have worked harder that anyone I know, save my own mother, to perfect my spellcasting! I've spent hours studying the spells, practicing the movements and memorizing the words." She stomped forward to poke her familiar in his blue and black coat. "Any yet, everything blows up in my face! Literally!"

"So, let's figure out what you haven't tried and try those things." Cole replied, poking her in the forehead, getting her back a step. "But you need to relax. Rome wasn't built in a day, so figuring out your problems aren't going to happen tonight either. Maybe all you need is a different frame of mind."

"This topic is done for the night." Louise tersely stated, turning away from the man.

Cole just shrugged, turning as he spotted movement in the distance. "That's fine. We'll pick it back up some other time. Not really something we should be talking about in the public anyways."

Louise followed his line of sight, letting out a low growl at what she saw. "Zerbst."

Indeed, the Conduit could just barely see the shade of vibrant crimson hair on the taller of the two figures, the shorter having a shade of ice blue. "You really don't like that girl, do you."

"Her family are rivaled to mine. The Zerbst stealing anything they can get their grubby hands on and then trying to live like actual nobles, instead of upstart Germanian merchants." Louise sniffed in contempt.

"Yeah, but that doesn't explain your reactions to Kirche herself." Cole pointed out, watching the two students wandering towards them.

"I… just look at her!" Louise exclaimed, waving a hand towards the Germanian. "She flaunts herself like a common harlot, waving those flotation devices in everyone's face! She's a deviant!"

Kirche also had decent hearing, considering how she startled, as if noticing the mage and familiar for the first time. "Valliere! Spending a little alone time with the man who won you the Princess's favor?"

"Just planning out our training plan for the next few weeks." Cole responded, placing a hand on the pink haired girl's shoulder to silence her… though it didn't last.

"Maybe you should try it sometime, Zerbst. Your showing was beyond dreadful." Louise cattily commented on her rival's performance.

The narrowing of the endowed young woman's eyes showed the barb struck true. "Enjoy your victory, Valliere, for I sha-"

Time slowed to a crawl as the building above the Germanian exploded outward in a spray of stone blocks and dust.

Cole's legs coiled slightly, readying his dash forward, his arms clenching to move.

Louise's eyes widened as she took in the tons of masonry starting a descending arc.

Kirche started ducking down, eyes looking for the cause and danger.

The blue haired girl started drawing a wand, her head already turning skyward.

Time returned to normal, Cole shooting forward with a yelled warning. Throwing his hands out, a shockwave shot into the air, directed at the debris about to crush the two girls. Kirche started looking up at her coming death, her red eyes widening in fear. Her companion finished drawing a wand, pointing it up towards the falling stones above her.

The dust cleared away, showing a giant stone fist protruding from the building before slowly receding. Louise's lips moved as she saw this, along with everything else, but nothing escaped.

The shockwave penetrated the wave of debris, suspending it's downward flow. For a split moment, the tons of masonry calmly floated, as if it were just oddly shaped clouds.

"Shatter." The blue haired girl softly intoned, jabbing her glowing wand upward.

A shard of ice formed within the mass of stone. An instant later, it exploded outward, shoving the rock aside like a drop of soap on an oil filled puddle of water. The very next, it shattered into a flurry of snowflakes that melted in the evening air.

"Look out!"

Louise's warning rolled out just before a deep rumble rocked the ground. Shooting his eyes towards the source, Cole found a giant dark shadow filling the shadows, the last hints of the sun revealing the head of the giant stone golem.

And the mage riding on its shoulder.

"Engage me at your own peril!" The mage warned in a distorted voice, the blank mask and grey cloak blocking view of any distinguishing features.

"You three get out of here!" Cole ordered, moving between the girls and the enemy mage.

"Fireball!" The Germanian's voice called out, an orb of flames flying out to impact against the golem's defensively raised hand. "A Zerbst does not flee a common thief!"

"Fouquet." Kirche's companion stated, holding back from casting her own retaliatory spell.

"Fireball!" Another mage cried out, an explosion blowing a hole into the Academy building behind the golem but disturbing Fouquet's cloak, showing the tan pants and boots beneath.

"You were warned!" The thief yelled out, pointing a wand towards Cole and the students behind him. The blocks of rubble on the ground around the golem shuddered before shooting towards them.

"Partner, use me!"

Cole barely registered Derflinger's voice, hand already grasping the handle of the magical sword strapped to his back. Letting out a wordless yell, Cole drew the blade in a downward cut before cleaving the air repeatedly.

Louise's watched in rapt attention as her familiar drew the sword, the glowing tip leaving lines of blue written in the air as Cole almost danced between the projectiles. Each block was sliced through with unerring precision, two slabs falling lifelessly to the ground from each cut.

Then there was stillness.

"You've signed your own death warrant." Cole's growling voice informed the stoic thief, the grounded man glowering upwards at the mage.

"So you say." Forquet seemed unconcerned, the stone golem he stood upon pointing an arm at the Conduit as it took a step to the left. Cole's eyes shot wide as he barely had enough time to bring up his left hand, the stream of stone bullets violently impacting the electromagnetic shield.

"Fireball!" Kirche cast again, the orb splashing against the chest of the golem, illuminating Fouquet for a moment. "Now, Tabetha!"

"Icefall." The blue haired girl, Tabetha, intoned her spell. Ice shards formed above the magical thief but the mage was one step ahead, the arms of the golem already moving to shield the thief.

"Fireball!" Another explosion flashed out into the night, this time from the exterior wall far in the distance.

"Now, partner!" Derf called out as Cole dropped the shield to fire off three electric missiles.

"Where are you aiming!?" Kirche demanded, both to her rival and the man fighting with her, seeing the glowing blue orbs streak wide of the golem who was already recovering from Tabetha's spell.

"I've done this before!" Cole yelled back, pushing up on the enemy mage's construct even as the missiles flew past.

"You won't again!" Fouquet declared, the golem slamming a hand down towards the approaching man.

"Icewall." Tabetha announced, a column of ice arresting the falling hand, the golem's other hand already moving to block the next attack against the mage. A moment later, a shot of electricity impacted off the stone, not even leaving a scorch mark.

"Pitiful." The thief sneered before spotting the man's smirk.

"Get fucked!"

Fouquet dove off the golem, the barest reflection of the returning missiles giving just enough warning. Even as the first golem had large chunks blown out of it, a new hand caught the thief, a second golem emerging from the Academy walls. "I grow tired of your interference, Mister Familiar! I have what I came for, but if you insist on hindering me, I won't hesitate to test the Staff of Destruction on you and your friends!"

"Cole, you can't let her escape!" Louise commanded, worry in her words. "The Staff can kill dragons!"

"No escape." Tabetha agreed, breathing deeply as her willpower started flagging, flinging out another spear of ice that shattered against the new golem's shoulder.

"Fireball!" A third explosion rocked the field of combat, this time hitting its target, the second golem's right leg disappearing in a cloud of dust and rock.

"Crush them!" Fouquet commanded, as the thief rode the golem in its backwards fall until jumping free at the last moment. The original golem, still missing chunks of itself, started charging the four combatants.

"We have to stop it!" Kirche cried out, a fireball already impacting the golem for minimal damage, even as it plowed through a half formed wall of ice.

"Partner!" Derf spoke from Cole's hand. "Use me!"

"Graahh!" Louise heard Cole's growling yell rolled out as he raised the sword for a one-handed overhead slice. Her eyes widened as she witnessed the conduit's eyes flash, the sword transforming from steel with a glowing edge to a blade ten yards long, each inch blazing an electric blue.

Then it flashed down, a crescent of annihilation, obliterating everything that touched its edge.

An instant later, the charging golem crashed to the ground, cleaved in twain straight down the center of the construct.

"Die!"

The cry preceded the roar of fire, as the Staff of Destruction activated, the dragon slaying attack flying towards the still recovering Conduit. Cole could only watch his doom rocket towards him, his muscles not responding quick enough to dodge.

"Icewall!" Tabitha yelled, forcing the last bits of her willpower into the spell, even as Cole let his body drop and twist to the side.

The projectile hit the thin wall, exploding into a cone of shrapnel and ice shards that tore into the Conduit's body. A brief moment of utter agony assaulted Cole before everything faded to sweet embrace of nothingness.

All the while, a girl's voice screaming his name echoed through the darkness…

oO0Oo

Blue eyes snapped open with a sharp gasp of air, the strong antiseptic stinging his nose while lingering pain pointed out injuries that hadn't fully healed yet.

"Ah! You're awake!" A surprised woman's voice called out, steps heading towards him. "How are you feeling, Mister MacGrath?"

"Like my stomach got turned to chunky salsa." Cole growled in discomfort, the sharp pain leaving behind a dull ache. Sitting up, he let the sheet fall to reveal his bandaged stomach.

"I'm not sure what 'salsa' is, but you were seriously injured. Frankly, I'm surprised at how fast you've recovered." The older woman mused, tapping a wand against his bandaged torso.

"Yeah, I get that... a lot." Cole replied offhandedly, looking around the room. "Where's Louise and the others? Are they okay?"

"Oh, yes. They're fine." The healer said with a small frown. "They stayed here most the night and wouldn't leave. I finally just set up some spare beds for them."

"Where are they now?" Cole asked, seeing the beds empty along with all the chairs.

"I believe they are with the Headmaster, though I don't know for sure."

Cole closed his eyes at that, sending out an electrosense pulse. His eyes snapped open an instant later. "Where's my stuff?!"

"Your what?" The woman flinched back in confusion.

"My pants, boots… my stuff!" Cole clarified, jerking his head around to search for the items.

"Oh, a member of the servant staff picked them up and took them to be cleaned and mended. I can go find another servant to fetch you clean clothes, if you'd like."

"There's no time!" Cole declared, pushing out of bed, feeling the cold tile beneath his feet. He belatedly noticed that he at least had his boxers on, as the sheet fully fell from his body.

"Mister MacGrath! You shouldn't be moving about!" The woman cried out in shocked concern, trying to guide him back into the bed.

Cole just pushed her out of his way, slamming open the infirmary door and sprinting into the hallway. He ignored the shocked and startled looks and shrieks he received from the students he dodged and weaved through. "Get out of my way!"

With his bellow, a path opened up down the center of the hallway, allowing him to sprint towards his destination.

Bursting through the first door, he found the empty secretary's office. Turning to the left, he rushed up the the double doors and kicked them open, wood shattering as the latch tried to hold it shut but failed.

For the barest fraction of an instant, Cole saw an old wizard behind a desk, three girls seated before him and, finally, his target.

Arms flashing forward, an electromagnetic wave flew out, striking the headmaster's secretary dead on to suspend her in midair. She barely got a startled shriek out before Cole's fist rammed into her gut, slamming her back down to the floor, a wave of power shackling her limbs to the tile.

"What is the meaning of this?!" An old but powerful voice shook the room, the wizard standing from his desk, staff in hand.

"Catching a thief." Cole replied, patting the woman down, divesting her of a few rings, a necklace and, most importantly, a wand.

"Cole?" Louise's confused but relieved voice called out before she was interrupted.

"You mean Miss Fouquet." Osmond stated, not questioned.

"You don't seem surprised, Headmaster." Kirche pointed out, crossing her arms under her breasts, a terse look on her face.

"Because I already knew she was Fouquet the Crumbling Earth." The white bearded man waved off the comment as inconsequential, moving to stand over the incapacitated thief.

She just coughed as she got her breathing under control, shooting the headmaster a baleful glare. "You mean *cough* you knew?!"

"Of course I knew." Osmond scoffed, leaning on his staff. "You think I'd not investigate my new secretary?"

"But my past was-"

"Well made, I admit. I never questioned it." Osmond agreed with the thief, while Cole scowled at both of them nearby.

"Wait, you mean you knew she was going to attack the Academy and you did nothing about it?" Cole growled out, getting shocked looks from two of the girls, Tabetha just stoically watching the happenings.

"Why didn't you arrest her?!" Louise demanded, her faith in the headmaster shaken by the revelation.

"Because we didn't know what she was looking for." Osmond answered, reaching to his desk to retrieve his pipe. "We knew it was contained in the vault but quite a few things are contained there."

"How? I made sure I was alone whenever I examined it!" Fouquet demanded to know before glaring at the Conduit still standing over her. "And how did you know?"

"You don't need to know." Cole replied with a smirk, crossing his arms over his bandaged chest. "Just be thankful I wanted you alive, after shooting me last night."

"As for how I deduced your identity, you were very careful in concealing it, I'll admit. But you, as a secretary, seemed just too interested in recording the types of security wards installed on the vault. It could have been just an orderly mind wanting everything written down but to make sure, I had you followed." Old Osmond explained, a little mouse appearing on his shoulder with a squeak.

"That damn rodent!" She cursed before letting out a sigh of defeat.

"But what about the Staff of Destruction?" Kirche wondered out loud. "Where is it now, if she's Fouquet."

"Dangerous." Tabetha chipped in her concern with a single word.

"Yes, that does seem the most pressing question now, doesn't it." Osmond agreed, puffing at his pipe in consideration.

Cole just shook his head, placing a hand against his bandaged side. "I wouldn't worry about it. If I'm right, it's only a single use weapon."

"But that can't be right… It's said that the Headmaster used the Staff of Destruction to kill a dragon! That's why it was sealed away!" Louise stated, looking from Cole to the Headmaster.

Cole just watched the old wizard puff away at his pipe before taking a glance at the thief prone before him, seeing the look of utter defeat on her face.

"The books have a way of… modifying the truth, sometimes." Old Osmond finally stated, stroking his beard as he thought. "It wasn't I who used the Staff of Destruction to kill the beast, it was a strange knight in green armor. And it wasn't the same Staff that our Fouquet used last night."

The Headmaster's words seemed to solidify something in Cole's mind. "Hey, Headmaster. Did he talk like this? ['What the hell is that? Die, you son of a bitch!]?" He asked, using his native tongue and dialect.

The old man hummed, thinking back to his memories. "Maybe not those words, but it sounds very familiar."

"Okay, that opens a big can of worms but at least I have an idea who it was and generally what the 'Staff' is." Cole informed them with a sigh. "It's a weapon from my country but it's useless now that she used it on me."

"I had suspected, as the unknown knight had two of them on his person." Osmond stated before shaking his head. "Sadly, the beast slew the knight before it finally succumbed to its wounds. We buried the Staff he used with him, a marker declaring his bravery in saving the village."

"So what do we do with her?" Kirche wondered, gesturing towards the defeated woman.

"If you will let her loose so I may bind her, we will send notice to the capital of her capture. I presume that they will send an escort to bring her back to Tristania to be tried for her crimes." Old Osmond informed them with a sigh. "Such a shame, too. You were such a wonderful secretary."

"Save me your platitudes, you old letch." Fouquet bit back, grunting as ropes snaked around her arms and torso to bind her.

"I believe this concludes your involvement in this matter, students and Mister MacGrath." Old Osmond intoned, watching as his mouse familiar scurried through the damaged doors. "I bid you all a good day, although you may be called upon to answer questions at a later date. For now, rest and relax for today, you will be excused from your instruction till tomorrow."

"Thank you, Headmaster." Louise replied with a nod, standing with the other girls.

"Oh, and Mister MacGrath, if you would please some speak with me at a later date. I'm very interested in this country of yours."

Cole could see the look in the old wizard's eyes, a shrewd gleam that spoke of many questions. "Yeah, some other time."

"Of course, of course. Good day to you." The wizard dismissed them, turning towards the tied up thief.

oO0Oo

Cole felt a lot better now that he'd gotten dressed in his more casual clothes, though his new jacket was still being laundered. He found himself relaxing with the three teenagers he fought beside, sharing some lemonade at a small table near a fountain. It was a rather relaxing location, though he could see the questions threatening to burst forth from the girls. "Go on, but one at a time."

"How did you know about Miss Longview being Fouquet?" Kirche asked, getting a sour look from Louise who wanted to ask first.

"I can sense people through the electricity in their body." Cole explained, running a line from his hand to his elbow before clenching it into a fist. "Each person's body is different, so I can mark them as friendly, neutral or hostile."

"So you marked her as hostile during the fight and she couldn't disguise it." Kirche mused, wondering at the ability.

"Pretty much." Cole agreed with a shrug, taking a drink.

"How are you… not dead?" Louise hesitantly asked, eyeing her familiar's side. She couldn't see his skin through his clothes, but her mind's eye could picture the mangled flesh and blood she'd seen the night before.

"Enhanced healing, regeneration, whatever you want to call it…" Cole answered, trying to get into details before shrugging. "I've always healed quickly but since gaining my powers, it's only gotten stronger. Give me some electricity to absorb and I could be healed up in minutes."

"Useful." Tabitha complimented the quirk of his powers.

"To heal that quickly from the Staff of Destruction. You must be powerful, indeed." Kirche agreed, eyeing the man relaxing across from her before looking towards the Valliere girl sitting next to her.

"Can we stop calling it that?" Cole let out a sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose. "It's a rocket launcher." Seeing the blank looks on the girls' faces, he sighed. "I don't know the specifics but just think of it like a fireball thats contained in a metal shell to be fired off anytime by anyone."

"Stealing for who?" Tabetha wondered quietly.

"That's a good question… A thief like Fouquet wouldn't just steal a dangerous weapon like that for herself. Who was she stealing it for?" Kirche expanded the thought, tapping the table.

"Why would anyone want it?" Louise counter asked her rival, sipping her sour drink.

"It's a weapon of war." Cole answered with a wave of his hand. "We do know that whoever wanted it didn't know what it really was, though. Could have been planning to use it as a trump card."

"But a Triangle class fire spell would have done more damage to a larger area." Kirche countered that idea but blinked when the man across from her shook his head.

"If I'm right, it was for penetrating armor."

"Why would someone need something like that for a knight?" Louise asked incredulously.

Cole chuckled at the idea, even as he remembered it flying right towards him last night. "No, I mean armor five to ten inches thick… if not more!"

"But… that's as thick as airship armor!" Louise cried out, face draining of color.

"Just think what would happen if it hit me directly." He nodded towards the silent ice mage to his left. "Without that barrier to take the impact, you'd be picking pieces of me out of the grass."

"Ung…" The red haired girl gagged at the thought. "Please don't speak like that! It was horrid enough seeing what your injury looked like as it was!"

"Disturbing." Tabetha added in, Louise nodding as she looked a little green around the edges.

"There's a lot of things that could've gone wrong last night…" Cole stated before recanting. "No, there were a lot of things that 'did' go wrong last night and I think we need to fix that."

Louise didn't like the way her familiar was looking at her. "What are you going on about?!"

"I told you before that explosions can be useful, but not being able to aim makes them useless." He said, getting her to grimace in remembrance. "Then there's the fact that you just stood there without acting for the first bit. Yeah, I can get that you don't normally get into fights but we're going to train that combat paralysis out of you, whether you like it or not."

"Excuse you?!" Louise indignant voice cried out.

"Prudent." Tabetha chimed in, poking her crimson haired friend in the shoulder.

"What?! I hit where I was aiming, thank you very much!" Kirche defended herself.

"Rocks."

Kirche winced as the very beginning, the falling stones almost crushing her, flashed through her mind. "But I'm a lover, not a fighter!"

"You Germanian deviant." Louise said with a snort.

Kirche just pushed her chest out with a smirk. "Well, if you have it, use it, Valliere."

Watching the two girls start to bicker and insult each other, Cole leaned towards Tabetha, who'd pulled out a book from under her cloak. "Is this going to be a normal thing?"

"Yes."

oO0Oo

"Ready?" Cole asked, looking out towards the open area before the treeline. "Go!"

A series of explosions sounded out, birds bursting out of the trees to escape the carnage.

"Time!"

Peace returned to the area, only the sounds of settling debris and heavy breathing preventing silence.

"Five shots with two hits in ten seconds." Cole stated, looking over the target range. A moment later, a tree behind a missed target finally lost its battle with gravity, crashing onto one of the targets. "Correction, three hits."

"I don't… need your… charity!" Louise panted out, using a kerchief to wipe the sweat dripping down her face.

"Take ten while I set up more targets." Cole directed, the girl flopping down onto a blanket spread out on the grass. A moment later, she had a glass of cool water pressed into her hand. "Thank you." She barely got out before gulping it down.

"You're welcome, Miss Valliere." Siesta cheerfully replied as she knelt on the same blanket, watching Cole stake down more targets in the distance. "You've been working really hard at this."

"Weakness for a Valliere is inexcusable!" Louise replied with a gasp, handing the empted glass back to the maid. "I've found myself wanting and I will fix it!" She started to stand but Cole's hand pressed her back down to sit.

"I told you to take ten, Louise." Cole chided the pink haired girl. "You can't cast on an empty tank."

"Fine!" The girl sulked, finding a small triangle of sandwich placed into her hands. "Quit making me eat! You're making me fat!" She yelled at the man before her.

Cole just quirked an eyebrow, looking down at the slip of a girl before him. "It's a sandwich, half a sandwich, not cake. Eat it."

"Hate you so much, right now." Louise muttered before biting into the chicken sandwich.

"We've been at this for over two hours." Cole replied with a roll of his eyes. "I'm actually surprised at how long you've kept it up."

"What? You expected me to faint, like the last time we tried this?" Louise almost snarled at her familiar.

"First, that was the entire point of the exercise." Cole stated, getting a growl from the agitated teen. "We didn't know your limit, so you cast till you drop. Now we know you can go full blast for two minutes five seconds before passing out. Second, I didn't expect you to pass out, I expected you to try and cast but have it fizzle once your tank ran dry."

"Willpower!" Louise growled before drinking from the fresh glass of water placed in her hand. "Mages use willpower to cast."

"Whatever." Cole waved off the description. "But we now know you can go for over two hours if you pace yourself." He gestured down range to the new targets. "We've also been working on your accuracy under stress and casting speed, killing three birds with one stone."

"Accuracy?" Louise muttered incredulously. "I can barely hit the forest behind the targets!"

"You have to start somewhere." Cole replied with a shrug. "This is all just a crash course to fast track your training."

"Stop using your stupid idioms! They don't mean anything to me!" Louise complained, feeling belittled by everything.

"Okay, look… we have to figure out what we're starting with before we can figure out where to focus your training." Cole rephrased his frame of logic.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?!" The agitated noble girl hissed before taking a breath. "You know what, I'm done! I'm going to go take a long hot bath and think of anything but this stupid training!" She yelled the last in frustration, flinging her wand out.

An explosion sent the ground shuddering, a large crater now found where two of the targets were a moment before.

"Nice shot." Cole nodded in appreciation.

"Was aiming to the one to the left…" Louise stated in dejection before pushing herself to standing. "I'm going to bathe then go to bed."

Cole just watched the pink haired girl stagger off towards the main Academy dormitory building.

"She's trying really hard." Siesta commented as she started packing up.

"Yeah, she is." Cole agreed with a small smile on his lips. "I'm actually kinda proud of her. Sure, she'll complain about it but she hasn't turned me down yet on training."

"Speaking of the training, how did you think of all this?" The purple haired maid asked as she started folding the picnic blanket.

"It's the training I went through when I got my powers, more or less." Cole explained, picking up the packed basket. "It was a crazy situation, so I had to train like crazy just to have a chance to survive."

Siesta paused, a concerned look growing across her face, clasping her hands to her chest. "You don't think there will be any more trouble, do you?"

"Don't know but something in my gut tells me this isn't a 'one time' thing." Cole answered with a frown. "I looked into Fouquet and she mainly focused on relics and jewelry, things a thief could pawn off for quick cash or had a buyer lined up for it already."

"But you caught her, so why are you still worried?"

"Cause she was stealing a weapon this time, and not some 'put on the wall above your fireplace' decoration but a weapon she needed to know how to use." Cole replied, scratching at his short brown hair. "So, there's two ideas I can think of. One; she wanted to keep it and use it herself, but why would a thief need a weapon that shoots explosions when she's a powerful earth mage? Two; someone hired her to steal it specifically because it was a dangerous weapon capable of killing a dragon in one shot."

"But why would 'they' want it?" Siesta asked, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"Like I said, probably not for a decoration." Cole answered, resuming the trek to the kitchen of the Academy. "But even if nothing comes of this, I figure that the training'll be good for Louise. Why not take advantage of it."

oO0Oo

The next day, Cole found himself back in the Academy library, though instead of a large tome before him, he had sheets of paper spread out all over the large table.

"Ah! There you are, Cole." A man's voice broke through his thoughts, getting the Conduit to look up to see Professor Colbert smiling at him, a large book under his arm.

"Hey, Professor! Grab a seat. Sorry about the mess." Cole greeted the man, gathering up the papers into a loose pile to the side.

"Not a worry. It's always heartening to see research occurring, though that just so happens to be why I sought you out!" The balding man grinned as he set the tome on the table, opening it to a tab and spinning it around to face the Conduit. "Thanks to Derflinger, I was able to find out just what your runes mean." He explained, tapping the right page.

"Gandalfr; Left Hand of God; legendary warrior capable of using any weapon to defend his master..." Cole read aloud, his eyebrows raising with each word. "The Holy Brimir?" He looked up at the professor. "Is this real?"

"It's a translation of a memorial marker a researcher from Romalia had found on an expedition chartered by the Pope of the time. They were trying to literally follow Brimir's footsteps and found this." The older man tapped the runes illustrated on the page. At that, Cole took off his glove and held his hand near the book. "A perfect match."

"So, what? Does this mean Louise is the second coming of Brimir?" Cole wondered, looking at the text again.

He missed Colbert freezing in shock at that thought, but didn't miss the hushed warning. "Be very careful about saying things like that! She could be tried for heresy if the Church heard you saying that."

Cole looked to the older man, seeing the gravity in the situation. "Okay, but I'm just trying to figure out a connection here." He said, tapping the book. "I mean, this shit doesn't just happen, does it?"

"I don't know." Colbert admitted, adjusting his glasses. "All we know for certain is that you are the Gandalfr, which should give you expertise with weapons."

"And that Brimir had a Gandalfr as a familiar." Cole tacked on, the professor nodding with a frown. "So, have you found any other Gandalfr people?"

"No, I haven't." Colbert replied, gesturing towards the book again. "Outside of this, nothing. Though I did notice that the books made after this version omitted this passage."

"So, not only is it rare, someone's trying to hide it." Cole reasoned, leaning back and crossing his arms.

"So it seems."

"Okay, let's look at this from a different angle. Who was Brimir? Not the spiritual junk but the real person." Cole asked in a hushed voice, seeing Colbert's frown at the topic. "I mean, it says he spread magic to humans, so was he good at all the elements or what?"

Colbert was silent for a few long moments, the two men locking eyes with each other in the tense silence. Finally, the older man leaned in, his voice just barely above a whisper. "He was a void mage… the 'first' void mage, said to be able to destroy entire villages with how great his explosions were."

Silence settled over the table once more as Cole took in those words. "You think she's a void mage."

Flipping the tome closed and picking it up, Colbert gave a short bow to the still seated Conduit. "Pardon me, but I must be on to my next appointment."

oO0Oo

"And you're absolutely sure he said that?"

"It was more implied but yeah, he basically said you're a void mage." Cole answered the agitated and confused girl. "Thing is, I don't think it really changes anything."

"Why do you say that?! I just found my element!" Louise demanded, disbelief in her voice at her familiar's statement.

"But can you do anything with it other than what everyone already knows you can do; cause explosions?" Cole shot straight to the point. "That's what I mean. Unless they've got a spellbook of void spells for you to read or something, nothing's really changed."

"I… I see your point, though I feel… not relieved but it's good to know I wasn't at fault for my spells failing." Louise said with a sigh, fidgeting her wand with her fingers. "But where do I go from here?"

"We continue your training." Cole answered the simi-rhetorical question with a shrug. "We'll keep working your explosions until you can do them in your sleep."

"I highly doubt I'll have to train for that feat." Louise dryly replied, only to blink at her familiar's shrug.

"You'd think that... I did too, up until I zapped a guy trying to mug me while I was sleeping."

"You're joking." Her disbelief evident in her voice and body language.

"Nope." He replied with a grin. "Fell asleep in the park and woke up to the guy already shackled to the ground."

"While amusing, I still doubt I'll need such a skill." Louise stated with a grin on her lips.

"Yeah, but we need to keep at it." Cole said with a more serious tone. "Hell, I've already ordered some supplies to make a moving target rig."

"You are finding new ways to destroy my self-esteem. Joy." Louise complained with a grimace.

"Heh, you're a big girl. You'll get over it." Cole just chuckled, patting her on the head, only to laugh when she slapped at his arm.

"I'll use you as a moving target if you don't stop touching my hair!" The pink haired girl growled out, getting the man to chuckle more.

"You'd be more a danger to everyone else but me! But we're going t-urk!" Cole's words cut off as he was pulled off balance. "The hell!" He looked over to find a red lizard tugging at his sleeve with its mouth.

"Isn't that Zerbst's familiar? Flame, was it?" Louise asked, wondering why it was dragging her own familiar away.

"Come on! Don't tear the jacket, you overgrown lizard!" Cole was forced to move with the salamander or else be drug along. "I get it! You want me to follow you! Let me go and I'll walk!"

"What in Brimir's name is wrong with him?" Louise wondered, as the familiar released Cole with a happy, warbled chirp.

"Don't know, but we better follow or else I get the feeling he'll drag me there." Cole sighed as Flame let another chirp out, waddling into the main building with the two humans following. "Who knows, maybe Kirche fell down a well or something."

"Fell down a what?"

"Nevermind… it's a joke from back home." Cole sighed again, though for a different reason.

"Ah." Louise let it drop as they started following the salamander up the stairs. "Wait, this is the student's dormitory floor."

"Maybe she found something about Fouquet and has it in her room?" Cole ventured, thinking on his own research in the days since the thief attacked the Academy.

"I suppose but sending her familiar to retrieve us is ridiculous. She should have notified a maid to deliver a message." Louise scoffed, crossing her arms and tapping her arm in irritation.

"Well, we're here, I guess." Cole pointed out, seeing the lizard familiar hopping outside his master's door. "Let's figure out what she wants." With that, Cole knocked on the door, getting a muffled reply from with to enter. Grasping the brass handle, he twisted and pushed…

And froze as his mind tried to comprehend what he saw.

There, laying on a bed covered with flowers, was Kirche von Anhalt-Zerbst… in sheer, lacy black lingerie, the candles surrounding the room giving her large tracts of bare skin an ethereal glow.

"There you are, my darling hero." She cooed in a rich smoky voice, gesturing for him to 'come hither'. "Let me show my gratitude for your heroism."

"You… You Germanian harlot!" Louise pushed Cole inward to get through the door and glare at her rival. "How dare you try to seduce my familiar!"

"Why, Louise, I have more gratitude than one man can handle. If you wish to join with me, you only have to ask." Kirche's sultry voice informed the girl, a teasingly inviting grin on her cherry red lips.

Now, Cole knew he'd never been deemed the sharpest knife in the drawer but he wasn't stupid and he wasn't playing this game. He leaped for the door just as his little pink haired master went nuclear.

He almost made it.

END OF CHAPTER - 4