The Strongest Familiar
***Kaius's POV***
A blinding light burst out of the rune circle. I closed my eyes to avoid being blinded, and when I opened it again, nothing could prepare me for what I saw. Before us was a dragon. A freaking DRAGON! Scales glinting black and fangs bared, the thing easily towered over us as well as the opponent's familiar. The dragon stood menacingly, its giant golden eyes focused on the opponents in front and it let out a roar so powerful that my ears felt pain.
"Herzelsi, attack!" Platina commanded, and it answered with another roar before spitting out flames easily three times more powerful than what we were treated to.
The third year looked deathly scared, color drained from his face. I would be too if that dragon was coming after me. On the other hand, Platina leisurely walked out of the barrier and toward him while in the background, her dragon was battering the other familiar nonstop. When she got near the trembling third year, she pointed her sword at his throat, tilted her head, and asked, "surrender?"
"I-I surrender! I surrender!" He begged, looking like he was about to piss his pants. Once the whistle blew, signifying our victory, Platina nonchalantly told her dragon to stop. Then, as though it was a dream, the dragon disappeared in a bright light.
All around us was complete silence, for good reason. Questions were swirling around in my heads. So this was Platina's true power. She could summon creatures at will and have their absolute obedience. She didn't even have to fight at all and still ensure her victory. If so, then why was she so good at hand-to-hand combat? Could she summon other creatures beside that dragon? What else could she do? And, perhaps the most important question of all, who exactly was she? I had trouble believing that her ability was something normal in her world.
The moment we stepped out of that eerily silent stage, I began to speak, "Platina, what-"
"Not here, Kaius. We should go somewhere more private," she glanced at the groups who were waiting for the turn next. All of them looking at us warily and yet in wonder at the same time. Wordlessly, I followed her as we made it back into our room. My next match start in another hour, so we weren't in a hurry.
I sat down on the bed next to her, my eyes never left her face.
"I guess you're surprised," she said.
"No, not at all. It's an ordinary part of my everyday life when someone just summon a huge dragon out of nowhere and pulverize their opponent to bits. What, isn't it normal in your world?" I opted to be sarcastic instead, because I knew acting in awe and fear was not something I normally do, which would just make her uneasy instead.
"I'll have you know that it's not normal in my world either. And I would be offended if you thought any ordinary mage could produce such feat of magic," she rolled her eyes.
"Someone's confident."
"For good reason," she smirked, "But in all seriousness, what you just witnessed is a summoning of spirits. It's something similar to the summoning you have here, only the spirits came from the spirit world. In addition, we only keep them for as long as our mana can hold out."
"And who exactly are "we"?"
"Summoners. There are three branches of magic: Elemental, Support, and Summoning. Mages choose what branch they want to focus on and usually don't dapple in other types. Summoning magic is my forte."
"Are you telling me you, a familiar who was summoned here, are actually a summoner of familiars?" It was too ironic to be true and I found the urge to laugh out loud.
She huffed, "Yes. I did say at the beginning of our acquaintance that it was highly ironic to be in this situation."
"So does that mean that by having you as my familiar, I actually have even more familiars at my disposal?"
"Technically, they are mine."
"Technically, by transitive property, they are also mine." I stuck out my tongue childishly.
She gave me a flick on the forehead in reply. "Ouch!"
"That's for being cheeky. Now, let's go prepare for the next match."
"Think you could summon again? That was awesome!"
"Yes, but don't you wanna know what else I can do?"
"You can do more?"
"Guess you'll have to see," she smirked before walking out of the room. I followed her like a puppy, trying hard to get her to tell me all about it.
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Awed whispers greeted us when we stepped into the arena once again, and I could tell everyone was wondering if Platina would do that again. From what I could wrangle out of her, though, summoning that dragon was a high level spell and way overkill for this level of battle. She only did that to psyche our future opponents out and was unlikely to attempt it again. Her plan was a success, if the look of fear in the third year standing before us was anything to go by.
Instead of brandishing her sword as usual, Platina took out her pen instead and leveled it to the air as though starting another summon. The third year visibly trembled. Platina said loud enough for all to hear.
"Kaius, step back far away, or you'll be crushed."
I was wondering why she said it too loud even though I wasn't standing that far away.
The whistle sounded, and before she even moved, the words "I surrender!" rang out loud and clear.
We won that match without lifting a finger. It must be a record in all the school's long history.
The audience groaned in disappointment. They must have all wanted to see her summon the dragon again. I admit, it was highly entertaining to watch, but I wouldn't want to be in a position to fight that thing. Wise choice from that third year.
She gave me a rare wink when she turned to leave, and I realized that she must have thought this would happen and was only posing. That girl kept surprising me. So, on top of being a terrifying mage, she also engage in psychological warfare? Good thing I was on her side and not against.
That was also the moment that I realized I might have the strongest familiar in all of Faestar Academy's history. Boy was I wrong to be so disappointed about my summoning way back when.
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At the end of the day, we overcame three last matches to become the champion of the entire school and I could not honestly say that Platina wasn't the only reason for our victory. It was like she single-handedly destroyed our opponents, and all I did was the minimal, like putting up defensive spells or distracting our opponents. Here I was, proclaiming myself a genius at magic, yet depended on my familiar for victory.
I realized how useless I was and was determined to change. After all, I was the student here, and as a student, I had a lot to learn from Platina. When I asked her to teach me, she patted me on the head and said, "Looks like I have my work cut out for me."
Yes, indeed, Platina. But soon, it'll be my work as well.