It was deep into the night and the coalition of Masters, Servants, and allies had survived the attack by the Black Grail and her underlings. The Fuyuki Church had been decimated as collateral damage from having a Holy Grail War's worth of Servants fighting in its vicinity, so Fujimura let the alliance set up shop at a mansion in Miyama that her family owned. Apparently it was the same household where the yakuza boss had summoned Assassin. It was a traditional Japanese estate that wasn't ridiculously large, but it was plenty spacious which made it perfect for housing all the allied Masters and Servants. It was while settling in that the alliance had received a visitor.
"It's good to meet you." Illyasviel shook Bazett's hand.
"Likewise." Bazett had tired eyes. The Master of Lancer and her ally Scáthach, who wasn't Bazett's Servant apparently, just arrived at the Miyama household. She had originally arrived at the ruins of the church and a familiar of Kirei's found and guided her to the new base. Bazett and Scáthach were being guided around the estate by Fujimura, meeting all their new allies and telling them an abridged version of their story. Her Servant had become a victim of the Grail, but she was lucky enough that she had met and recruited the living version of the Heroic Spirit she had summoned beforehand.
Illyasviel felt bad for Bazett. She could tell that the loss of her Servant had been hard on her, even with the Master being reticent to divulge the full details of her experience. It was easy for Illyasviel to sympathize with losing a loved one given recent events. Illyasviel hated to admit that there was some good that came from Bazett losing Lancer, but now that the Servant Scáthach was gone, the unhealable wounds her spears created disappeared too. Now mom and Archer could fight at full strength again, and in mom's case she was better than ever since Illyasviel had become her new Master after the Black Grail broke their contract. Illyasviel was built to be the ultimate Master, and though she was proven only second best since Chole existed, Illyasviel was still able to give mom a big boost to all her parameters.
"I'll show you to your room." Fujimura said to Bazett before looking back over her shoulder at Illyasviel. "We'll train more tomorrow. You need to rest for now after fighting that golden dickhead."
Illyasviel nodded and Fujimura led Bazett and Scáthach down a hall. The homunculus was free to do whatever she needed or wanted. There was certainly something she needed to do, but she really didn't want to do it. The young woman paced back and forth in the hall, her feet pattering on the wood floor making her more anxious. Illyasviel kept repeating in her mind that she had to do this, that there was so much that depended on defeating the Grail and so she couldn't be selfish. She just had to bite the bullet, even if doing so would shatter her teeth.
"Okay, just go." Illyasviel started power walking, not letting herself have the chance to talk herself out of doing what she had to. Running across the backyard and over to the shed, Illyasviel immediately knocked on the door. She actually hit the door a little too hard and ended up hurting her hand. Illyasviel rubbed her aching fingers as the doors to the shed opened. Assassin stood in the doorway and Illyasviel felt the impulse to kick him in the dick. Her resentment towards Assassin for having caused her family so much turmoil was as potent as ever, but she put it to the side for the moment. "Hello, Assassin."
"Hello." It was just one word and yet it pissed Illyasviel off. "Is there something I can help you with?"
"Yeah, there is." Illyasviel sounded like she was trying to start a fight. She paused to recompose herself before speaking again with a more respectful tone. "You offered to train me in the use of projection considering my Origin combined with my existing alchemic ability and talent for magecraft makes me suited for it, correct?"
"I did. We may only have a few days, but I think you'll be able to pick it up faster than I did. That fact that you've been consciously able to use Avalon and have done so multiple times has exposed you to its influence and thus strengthened your Sword Origin to a level beyond my own. I assume you're asking this because you accept my offer."
"That's correct." Illyasviel paused. "Please teach me projection magecraft."
"Hm." It was hidden by his red wrappings, but Illyasviel just knew that Assassin had a condescending, shit-eating grin. "You're a strong person."
"What?"
"You're putting aside your rightful hatred of me for the sake of becoming stronger so you can protect your loved ones and the world. That requires strength."
"It's just adaptation. It's fundamental to humanity."
"I suppose, but it still isn't easy and many would be blinded by their vitriol and thus refuse my offer. You have self-control and wisdom along with your strength. Be proud of that."
Illyasviel pinched her lips together and looked away. She didn't want to accept the felicitations of Assassin of all people.
"Y'know, pouting at a compliment makes you seem unappreciative. It isn't very ladylike."
"Piss off. Anyway, when do we start?"
"You're even brattier than the one I knew."
"What?"
"Nothing. We'll start in the early morning. We're both too tired from the earlier fight so we wouldn't achieve anything if we tried training now." Assassin crossed his arms. "As soon as you wake up tomorrow, we'll start going over Gradation Air, occasionally taking breaks to focus on swordsmanship."
"Hold on, swordsmanship?" Illyasviel put a hand on her hip and leaned to the side. "I already got your Master on sword duty. Is she not teaching me well enough for your standards?"
"Not at all. She's a great mentor and a far more competent swordsman than me overall. The reason I also want to teach you swordsmanship is because, while My Master will give you a stronger foundation than I could, I understand how you need to use your swords."
"You mind elaborating on that?" Illyasviel spun her finger.
"My Master is a swordsman of the highest grade this era could produce and an excellent teacher, so she is the perfect person to teach a swordsman. She will show you the optimal way a sword should be used and will help you far more than I can. If you had to pick between only being taught swordsmanship by myself or only by Taiga, you should pick Taiga, you'll get more out of it overall. The problem is that my Master can only take you so far."
"Why? Is there a limit to what someone can learn from another or something like that? Do I have to meditate by myself to reach enlightenment or something?" Illyasviel snickered as she spoke.
"When I say that Taiga can only take you so far, I mean you specifically. I said that Taiga is the perfect person to teach a swordsman, but you're not a swordsman. I could tell when I saw you practicing that you aren't suited to wielding blades, you lack the necessary talent. Because of that, while Taiga can teach you how to be a swordsman, you can't fully utilize that knowledge. You'll never be a master swordsman, you simply aren't capable."
"Thanks for the pep talk." Illyasviel bared her teeth a bit. "So why do you want to train me?"
"Because like you, I'm also lacking in talent. Neither of us are swordsmen and so we shouldn't fight like them. That will only stifle our unique potential. We are people who make swords. We are swordsmiths. Our style of combat must utilize our unique capabilities. I have learned over a lifetime the way to best make use of our skills and I can teach you that method. Taiga will give you the fundamentals of swordsmanship and I will teach you how someone who isn't a swordsman uses a sword, as well as how to best take advantage of and incorporate projection into your sword combat."
"In other words, I suck at sword fighting so you'll show me your weird fighting style that compensates for what I can't do."
"If you want to take the elegance out of my explanation, then yes." Assassin was the one pouting now.
"I wouldn't call your explanation elegant. I'd go with pretentious or self-indulgent."
"You're such a troubling woman." Assassin turned around, his back to Illyasviel. "You don't have anything else you want to speak about, right?"
"I'd rather be eaten by a pack of wolves than spend another second with you right now."
"You could just say no." Assassin sighed. "Goodnight."
Assassin returned to the shed he had claimed as his workshop. It wasn't painless, but Illyasviel had done what she had begun down the path of acquiring the strength she needed to defend her family. The worst part was yet to come given actually being trained by Assassin was going to be way worse than just speaking to him for a couple of minutes, but Illyasviel would deal with whatever she had to. She was sick of being weak.
