4 Yet another mishap

Louise watches as Henri makes a quick retreat, doing her best to blend in by giving a low chuckle. She knew her treatment would be similar, if not worse if she summoned anything like that, but for her, it wouldn't extend past simple classroom jibes... But for Henri, he would likely be tormented for the rest of this, and the next year... Likely having his Runic name changed from 'The Frigid' to 'The Pig'...

Without a powerful family behind him, there wasn't anything stopping the others from taking advantage of his situation for their own benefit.

"Heya, Zero... Why're you laughing? We don't even know if you'll summon anything yet." Kirche mockingly states from the side.

"S-shut up Zerbst! I'll show you soon!" Louise indignantly retorts, while inwardly screaming for herself to stop.

A few others begin to join the taunting but are quickly rebuffed by Professor Colbert as the next person goes to summon their familiar.

The day continues on, with people summoning a variety of creatures, most generally not all that powerful. Cats, parrots, rats... There were a few magical creatures that'd appeared, the rather peculiar-looking Bugbear which was essentially just a floating eyeball.

Montmorency de Montmorency, another of Louise's bullies who'd summoned a frog, though, it was quickly discovered that it was able to excrete a rather powerful poison at will from its skin, making it more impressive than most mundane pets.

Kirche actually managed to summon one of the more impressive familiars, much to Louise' chagrin. It was a Salamander, a creature with red scales that was as big as a large wolf. It was able to spew fire at will, and had an ever-burning flame at the end of its tale, almost announcing that it had power to spare.

Most shocking of all however was Tabitha... Who'd summoned a large blue dragon that when hunched over was around 15ft tall, Easily dwarfing all the students. Colbert managed to stop her from demonstrating its abilities, for now, which most likely saved the integrity of the academy courtyard,

Louise though was horrified, Tabitha was a member of Kirche's 'Clique', but was generally quiet and unintrusive... This didn't make Louise feel any better about her success though, as anything she might summon would undoubtedly be significantly weaker than Tabitha's dragon.

Professor Colbert smiles at all the happy students now getting to know their familiars, "I'm glad everyone is so happy with the results of the ritual, now let's wrap things-"

"Uhn! Professor~!" Kirche loudly says from the side, getting everyone's attention.

"Yes Miss Zerbst?" Colbert asks as a slight red tinge makes its way onto his face, unable to stop himself from becoming flustered by Kirche's behaviour.

Kirche smiles seductively, "There's still one person who hasn't summoned their familiar... Come on Zero, you aren't going to keep us all waiting, are you?"

...

Louise pales and slowly makes her way through the crowd, having been unable to force herself to step forward and perform the ritual due to how worried she was. She quickly composes herself however, coughing into her fist and turning her nose up, "Just wait, I'll show you the most magnificent familiar you've ever seen!"

"Eh? Isn't that the Zero? Shouldn't be back away a bit? I don't want to get caught in another explosion this week..."

"Yeah, but I'm unsure how far is considered safe... Sometimes her explosions are enough to trash a room, but sometimes they just fry a desk or two..."

"Aha! Zero can't even control her fake magic!"

Professor Colbert feels cold sweat dripping down his back as he focuses on Louise, already aware of the sheer destruction this young lady was able to unintentionally wreak. He coughs into his fist before addressing her, "*Ahem*, Miss Valliere, would you step into the circle and begin the ritual."

Louise gives a firm nod and does as she's told, stepping into the ritual circle that's currently glowing with a pentagram. She clears her throat before beginning to chant, pushing all of her hopes, dreams, and disgruntled feelings into the ritual. With trembling hands, she raises her wand into the sky and begins reciting a personally made chant, "I beg you. My slave who lives somewhere in the universe! Oh sacred, beautiful, and strong familiar spirit! Here I desire and plead from my heart! Answer to my guidance!" she shouts, lowering her wand at the ritual circle.

It glows, and the watches all lean forwards with curiosity, wondering if Louise had actually managed to properly do it... Louise herself unable to stop her excitement from overwhelming her... At least, until things went to hell.

*BOOOM!*

The glowing ritual circle abruptly explodes with a large cloud of smoke, covering most of the courtyard and obscuring everyone's vision.

Louise felt her heart drop as this happens, feeling as if her life would crumble at the seams... However, when she listened closely, she could hear an odd sound... Breathing? No... Wheezing...

Confused, she just waits for the smoke to clear, but once it does a few shrieks of panic make themselves known amongst the students. All of them looking down at the crater where what looked like a person was lying... Only, their body was completely mangled.

They looked young, at a similar age to the 2nd year students, but his body was terribly injured, with his arms and legs bending at awkward angles, and visible bone protruding from different areas of his skin.

A few people instantly vomit the contents of their stomach's onto the floor, disregarding their 'supposedly' regal appearances as they lay eyes onto the terrible sight.

"Brimir's beard!" Colbert shouts after he regains his senses, having been made slightly disoriented due to how close he was to the explosion. "Quick! Call the Healers! Now!" he commands when he realises that, beyond all rational comprehension, the person Miss Valliere had summoned was alive.