บท 329: The Dark Lord...

The ritual concludes, with the trio finding themselves stood before what could only be called a puddle of shadows that sat in the centre of the Atronach Forge...

"Huh... Did we fail?" Michael questions, leaning forwards to get a better look.

"Maybe you summoned an invisible familiar!" Megumin says but is ignored as such a thing would be incredibly unlikely... Especially with the ingredients they'd used.

"If we did, I'm sure we could try again... We could get another arm..." she trails off as something rises from the puddle of shadows... It was thin, made from the shadows themselves, and around three feet tall.

The top of it leans over... And opens like a jaw... Except, it wasn't a jaw...

Michael feels a vein throb on his forehead when he sees the arm stand upright and create a 'mouth' with its hand that turns towards them, as if it were a sock-puppet or something.

"Michael, you should name it. Complete the ritual." she urges, finding the strange shadow-hand-thing kind of cute.

"Tetechun." Megumin offers from the side which has Michael deadpan at her. He wasn't going to let her ruin this for him like she'd done Kazuma.

Shaking his head, he turns towards the hand with a hand on his chin, "I'll call you..."

"I AM..." the hand suddenly says, its voice sounding suspiciously similar...

"What the shit... Why does my familiar sound like Darth Vader!?" Michael whispers exasperatedly to himself.

"I... AM!...."

"You are what, Tetechun?" Megumin asks as the hand continues to babble.

"I... AM." it answers, or doesn't, with the same words it seems intent on repeating.

Frowning, Michael steps closer to the Atronach Forge, "You are called Darth."

"I AM... AND. I AM-, CALLED... DARTH...?" the hand answers, sounding exactly like the emperor's right 'hand' man.

"Hmph, I think Tetechun suits you better." Megumin pouts.

With the hand accepting the name Michael had given it, the ritual circle fades away into dust, leaving just the puddle of shadows and the arm behind... The arm moves, the puddle following its base as it slides? towards Michael. It ignores him, however, instead, entering his shadow before disappearing.

...

Michael crooks a brow at suddenly 'feeling' his shadow. He couldn't move it, but he knew that Darth was in there. He takes a gander and drops a coin into the shadow, but is disappointed to find it clink off of the floor... No shadow inventory for him then.

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In the end, Michael was pretty happy with his new Familiar. While not 'cool' at least his voice was intimidating... If he had Darth talk while hidden in his shadow, he was sure whoever he was dealing with would shit themselves.

Everyone else liked him as well, Megumin, Illococoo... Though, he was pretty sure Tiffania only said so to pity him. To which he just pointed at Megumin, neither of their Familiars were perfect...

Derflinger was surprisingly the fondest of Darth. He'd been feeling a little forgotten since Michael would leave him propped up against his bed while he went to lectures and studied. While he was initially scared of Darth, after his fear cleared up the sword had basically ordered the hand to pick him up and start taking him places.

Michael hadn't known this of course, so when he started hearing about a strange hand going around the College with a sword, he was both surprised and annoyed. He'd had to reveal Darth to the Arch-Mage and write a warning on the notice board so that people wouldn't panic, scream and run when they encountered the peculiar duo in the hallway... Not that everyone read such notices...

To top it all off, the duo had been given a nickname... Darth Saber... Yeah, he'd been surprised at that one.

*BOOOM!*

Michael's brought from his thoughts as an explosion rocks the College, with him instantly up and sprinting towards its origin, hoping to god that Megumin hadn't done something stupid.

...

Fortunately, once he reached the scorched hallway his fears were swayed... One of the doors had been blown off of its hinges and was a blackened clump on the floor. A few Apprentices were already standing around and observing the scene.

A figure steps from the smoking-room, his flesh looking as if it were melting off of him... Judging by the looks of his robes however, the man seemed to be a Master of the College. Michael couldn't recognise him due to his face literally melting from its skull, but this laboratory belonged to Master Ralyn, so it was highly likely to be him.

"W-whyyy...." the figure burbles out, his melting lips bubbling as air escapes them. After that, he drops onto the floor, dead.

"Holy shit... That's fucked up." Michael mutters, the other Apprentices gasping and or fleeing from the scene.

The disaster wasn't completely over yet however...

"Hahahaha! Take that, 'MASTER!' who's the failure now!? IT'S NOT ME MELTING AWAY! OH? CANNOT EVEN HOLD YOURSELF UP!? WHAT A FAILURE!" an Apprentice, Hamelyn laughs maniacally as he steps from the ruined classroom, his robes scuffed and burned slightly, but the man himself unharmed from whatever had afflicted the master.

Hamelyn glances around at the few Apprentices still watching and sneers at them, "MORE FAILURES!? FINE! I'LL ALLOW YOU TO SEE MY GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT!" he shouts, his hands glowing a sickly green as he casts a spell. It spreads out like a thin mist for a moment before quickly dissipating, doing seemingly nothing... At least, that's what Michael thought, until the trapdoor leading down to the Middens crashes open, revealing hundreds or maybe even thousands of skeevers.

The large rat-like creatures have glowing red eyes, unlike the usual black you'd see. Not only that, these were slightly larger as well, they all swarmed towards Hamelyn as if he were the Pied Piper.

"R-RUN!" an Apprentice exclaims, prompting everyone else to scatter and run away from the tidal wave of rodents, leaving Michael behind to deal with it all...