With a disgruntled look, Kiyohime took a place near one end of the arena, fan in hand as her opponent took out their Mystic Code from Inventory, "Go, (Cheerful Model Mystic Code) !" and quickly transformed with the usual shower of dark sparks and distortion effect.

Standing firmly on the ground, Sasaku inclined Ruby forward slightly. "Shoot !" Several bright pink orbs appeared and darted towards the waiting Kiyohime.

Opening her fan with a smart click, Kiyohime flicked it towards the incoming projectiles and a wave of energy, in turn, flashed outwards blowing through the missiles and, with only a few small gaps in it from the clash, advanced towards her attacker.

"Schneiden !" Swinging as though her Mystic Code was a sword, Sasaku sent her parry out. When it met the advancing wall, the latter burst into flames that, through initially bright, soon fell to the ground, exhausted by the explosive impact.

"When did she pick up using German for attacks?" Chloe asked the Masters. Gudako simply guessed, "Probably Ruby's side," and filed away that theory for later thought.

Taking in a short breath while drawing Ruby back in, its contractor quickly thrust it forward in an imitation of Kiyohime's earlier small but quick motions. "Feuer !" A sudden stream of shots came out in a stream speeding towards the Berserker.

Snapping shut her fan, Kiyohime tapped her chin before inhaling and blowing a fearsome river of flames that reached out, easily consuming the incoming shots without issue as Sasaku hurriedly hopped backwards out of the range of the flames trying to lick her.

"You didn't get much stronger from being part of a Spirit Origin," she commented to Ruby with a frown.

"Blaming me?" the wand retorted. "Aren't you the one lacking the magical element of imagination? I don't think you've tried flying either."

"Ah, it's imagination, is it?"

"What? Hey-" Ruby was surprised by dropping about two hands-breadths so that Sasaku's right hand was now right below its head, rather then in the middle of the handle; her left hand gripped the wand's other end as though it was the hilt of a larger two-handed sword. "(Photon Lancer: Phalanx Shift)"

A number of orbs started appearing, but unlike those before these winked into existence and simply hung in place, slowly filling up the volume around the magical girl Servant with increasing number and density.

"Wait a moment," Gudako said nervously as the number continued to rise without hitting some obvious limit. "You're gonna damage something !"

*clatter* Kiyohime's fan dropped to the ground as her body started to change alarmingly. "(Transforming, Flame-Emitting Meditation)..."

"Servants are somewhat power level-limited in Chaldea, right?" Gudao reminded her as though Chloe and Kojirou were not hurriedly taking positions to defend them from potentially becoming collateral damage.

"Feuer !"

The sound of Sasaku's voice was quickly drowned out by the roar of flames erupting from Kiyohime's now clearly dragonic form. The magical shots all scattered to the sides, though a few were still caught and probably consumed by the inferno which reached out, blocking all sight as it extended all the way to the wall well behind.

Not left without direction, the shots curved clear of the fire and then adjusted course to slam into Kiyohime in a blinding if somewhat unfocused torrent that broke upon the scaly protection of her shapeshifted body. Nevertheless, by striking all over, this did force the Berserker to take defensive action to protect her eyes.

The Masters blinked to clear their dazzled eyes as the lightshow before them faded. On their left, Kiyohime had returned to normal, though for some reason her clothes now sported a number of obvious holes despite having conveniently faded from view when she turned into a dragon. On the right, up against the wall with a large pink magical shield up, Sasaku's burnt clothes were still smoking even though her flesh was unmarked thanks to the properties of the defensive Barrier represented by said clothes.

"Hm, mmm," the Ruler brought her wand down to her right side, still using a sword grip as her timbre shifted; a larger heavier bell than a light one. "A voice crying out in the wilderness, 'Power, give me more power !"

"This seems distinctly unsafe," Kojirou mused while keeping Gudao behind him. Chloe on the other hand seemed to have realized something from the exchange as a long blade of magical energy began to extend from the top of Ruby, giving it the appearance of a blazing pink warsword.

Caught up in the moment, Kiyohime could only identify her racing heart as a clear sign of: "This must be it, that once-in-a-lifetime fated (romantic) encounter !" while taking out her naginata, fan long forgotten on the ground.

Seeing the Berserker's choice, Sasaku raised Ruby to head-height, switching again to a two-handed grip and dashed in. Or rather, she flew forward with shoes only a thin layer of air above the floor.

With the advantage of range, Kiyohime swiftly thrust at the charging Ruler, who in turn suddenly twitched to the side to bypass the point. The Berserker quickly cut with a horizontal slice while moving herself away from the advancing point of Ruby's blade, and the two Servants parted almost as quickly as they had come together.

Turning around smoothly while also decelerating, Sasaku made for another pass as Kiyohime quickly took up a defensive stance. Someone, probably Ruby, giggled as the wand's energy blade thinned while also reaching out even further to resemble an estoc.

Neither side seemed interested in another exchange, as the two blades met. Even though she had better leverage with her spaced grip, Kiyohime didn't attempt to push Sasaku's weapon to the side, instead allowing her own weapon to slide down all the way until it reached Ruby's head...?!

With what looked like a flick of the wrist once her blade was wedged in between the energy blade and the topmost piece of Ruby's wings, Kiyohime masterfully disarmed Sasaku, sending the latter's wand flying off to the side. Kojirou made a small sound of approval at the well-thought move that used the momentum of Sasaku's charge to enable the disarm.

However, the Ruler smoothly brought up her right elbow, which due to her continuing motion meant the shorter girl slammed into the taller one's chin with all the momentum of her motion, causing Kiyohime to drop her weapon and instinctively slap Sasaku back. The blow connected but to no effect since the Barrier apparently absorbed it.

Moments later, a legsweep sent Kiyohime to the ground, and her opponent raised an empty hand in what initially looked like an awkward posture. Ruby, flying quickly back while upside down, slid into place while projecting a much smaller blade which was now pointed downwards at the Berserker.

Kojirou's own weapon suddenly slid under Sasaku's arm to stop her from sending the wand downwards. "That's quite enough."

"Whoah !" Chloe clapped enthusiastically. "That was pretty cool."

"That wasn't really intended to be a show," Sasaku said while helping a grumbling Kiyohime to her feet.

"Well, that's not something you see everyday," Georgios commented. He had apparently run over when things started to look serious but unlike Kojirou was not interested in intervening when it was clear there would be no stray Noble Phantasms going off in Chaldea. It probably also helped that he remembered Kiyohime having somehow managed to get herself summoned multiple times after the Masters had used their Command Seals to have the Grail System unsummon her.

"Sometimes I think you're the only Ruler here of the now four who doesn't beat up people as a combat style," Gudako said to the knight, who shook his head.

"Jeanne wants to have her banner in hand for obvious reasons, Martha's staff doesn't go with her special fighting Skill (Jacob's Limbs), and for me... well I do know all the usual armored fighting techniques. However, conceptual-type defenses are generally overcome with a similar level effect, like say (True Shot) as gaps don't really work in the same way when fighting an armored Servant."

"You'd know that, wouldn't you?" Gudao remarked, looking at his bronze-colored armor. "What's the conceptual equivalent of gaps, then?"

"A rondel dagger would work. For an equal level weapon, it has to be perceived as being used in that role, otherwise it will somehow never get through. When you have subdued an armored opponent, having the dagger provides the ability to finish them; that in turn allows an honorable surrender. It looks like what she was doing... Er, this is Chaldea and all, but it's still odd to walk in on a magical girl taking a teenager to the ground for the coup de grace."

"Ahem. I could have breathed more fire, you know," a disgruntled Kiyohime frowned.

"The defensive value of the glove part would probably have held up long enough for you to end up getting headshot," Chloe observed, remembering what had happened earlier. "And Servants can regenerate hands anyway, given a few days and magical energy. Speaking of which, Masters, please take care to not get your hand cut off, specifically the one with Command Seals on it. "Alright, now I'm a little motivated. Let's have another fight !"

Springing to her feet, Chloe took out one of her usual swords. "(Overedge)" Like magic, the shortsword expanded into a broad full-sized version of itself.

"Heh." Dropping her transformation, Sasaku whipped out a sheathed sword, identifiable as a katana by the gentle curve and small circular guard. "If you want it, you'll have to take it." With a flourish, she brought it up to chest height and, with a motion of the thumb, pushed the blade out a few centimeters.

"It's a bit hard to take this seriously," Gudao commented as Chloe went on the attack, easily dodging several spears thrown at her by the motionless Ruler. "At least no one is going to destroy the Training Grounds."

"Slay All."

"Um." He wasn't sure how to handle the situation unfolding before them.

"There's no way..." Gudako breathed out as a series of slash after-images cut themselves into the space surrounding Sasaku. Without missing a beat, Chloe abruptly reappeared outside the threatened volume as the attacks then resolved themselves.

"It's an illusion," Kojirou said, shattering the illusion for everyone.

"It was," Sasaku agreed while dropping her sword, which immediately entered her Inventory. "Well, I actually need to get a move on, since the Masters have scheduled use of the Summoning Vault, with all that entails. I'd also like to not have to run around with a (literal) Cat's bell on for fear of it disappearing otherwise."

"Ahem." Kiyohime quickly reattached herself to the Ruler's side. "You can drop me off on the way there, then."

"Sure. That flame attack though, reminded me of how annoying blocking a flail is, even with a large shield."

"Now that makes me wonder why she has have such experience," Georgios remarked as the two left. Gudako just shrugged.

"I'm told you want 'a world without lies'," the Ruler commented to the Berserker along the way as they walked to her room.

"Wouldn't that be wonderful? Perhaps the Holy Grail will make it a reality?"

"Hmm, well that's understandably straightforward. But you know, if I could reliably inform you that it was impossible, more impossible than 'a world without conflict', would you instead prefer that the Grail give you a world without any life on it? That would satisfy 'without lies' I suppose..."

"Sasaku, you forget that unlike the situations of you, Chloe and Saber, most of us are already recorded in the Throne of Heroes. As you know, it has all kinds, not only 'good' heroes. Accepting the destruction of Human History would mean there was no possibility of improvement forever."

"Mhm. You are quite knowledgeable when anything even touches on the subject of truth and lies, aren't you? I would have thought it worked for anything related to one's Madness Enhancement but, no, you don't seem to understand romance any better than the story."

"Now, now, if I had that would I be the true Kiyohime? Besides, it isn't simply a case of, 'If you lie around me, I will be upset, if you lie in front of me, I will be angry, if you tell me a lie to my face, I will burn you,' right? Even when reduced to a Servant vessel, we're not that simple, right?" Kiyohime stooped slightly to bring the two girls' faces closer, halting their progress for a moment.

"So you like it here better than the Throne?" Sasaku simply started walking again, having had some idea from the Masters about how to handle the Berserker's more feisty episodes.

"How should I put it? It's like having a tongue that can sense all types of scentless chemicals. Imagine the horror of being summoned into a world in which you always and constantly have the taste of liars in your mouth. You'd go mad, but unfortunately it isn't a standard sense but directly part of your consciousness. And one of the real restrictions you have in the Throne is you can't just stop existing there."

"Well, people get used to almost anything, but I get that it wouldn't ever work that way for you."

"Hmm, for you?" Kiyohime mused, struck by something as the pair reached her room. "Not going to kiss me goodbye?"

"What's this, shouldn't you do it, since you're bigger than me?" Sasaku remarked with a hint of irony, but couldn't respond when the other girl lightly, almost casually, kissed her on the forehead rather than her usually more forward manner.

"I know you're older... one day you might forget your toils, but your father's house?" With that Kiyohime stepped inside and her door shut on a surprised Servant, who took more than just a moment to collect herself.

"That was a rather rude reference to make," Sasaku commented to the air while brushing imaginary dust off her uniform's sailor collar. "Servants can't have children anyway."

"She's a Berserker, I'm pretty sure she didn't even know what she was saying," Ruby appeared, seeing that the coast was clear. "You were wrong, by the way: she understands 'romance' rather well, just specifically not when it has to do with her personally."

"I wonder why she didn't try to correct me," the Servant replied to her wand, making her way to the Summoning Vault while it floated next to her head for convenient conversation. Not long after Kiyohime's departure, the halls seemed to fill as various homunculi no longer took detours to avoid crossing paths with her.

"Isn't it because you cram so many qualifiers into any statement that they pretty much always have a truth value of 1? She certainly seems to not understand romance."

"Ah that's right. She's always thinking about 'lies' as the problem, so half-truths, omissions and being vague don't set her off in the same way." Sasaku observed.

"Well don't get careless, because if you intend to mislead her, it'll probably get you caught."

l

(Control Room)

"By the way," da Vinci commented to one of her operators. "Where exactly is that Ruler? We're all prepared with the necessary cutoffs and she's late."

"No worries, she's nearly there," was the reply after the homunculus did a brief search via the System. "It seems that Kiyohime might have delayed her a bit."

"The necessary Saint Quartz have been transferred to the Chamber," the one next to him added. "And the Masters are already there. We've used the time to complete all checks."

(Summoning Chamber)

"Let me explain the procedure," Gudao started without delay as the Vault's blast doors began closing behind Sasaku's back. The two passed several operators manning various monitoring equipment that couldn't be relocated to the other side of the Vault's walls. "It isn't too complicated, but we hope you can do it so we don't have to take the risks of performing this procedure."

"Even if a Master is needed, why were both of you present when I was summoned?" she asked.

"I'd rather pass on answering that," was the only reply. Instead, Gudako directed the other two's attention to a series of eight small boxes laid out in a neat row on the far side of the Summoning Chamber. "Those warded boxes each contain a single Saint Quartz, you'll need four for each summoning attempt. Two single rolls, then we evacuate to let the energies disperse and scrub the area before trying again."

"So, one into each of those clearly marked spots? Not much more complicated than pushing a trolley with a sample into the mass spectrometer."

"Right. Well one step at a time. The actual 'switch' is keyed to only allow a Master in proximity to trigger the crystal detonation." Gudao explained evenly. "Try and uh think positive thoughts or whatever seems most natural to you. The system is very finicky about -what- it outputs, but thankfully the energies mostly turn into something and don't simply explode or otherwise overload the high-throughput circuits that carry out the summoning."

As the explanation continued, Sasaku was calmly opening a box and sliding the pointy Saint Quartz contained within into its place: a matching depression. A moving top portion automatically slid into place above the crystal before lowering onto it for a snug fit. The process only needed to be repeated three more times before a confirmation came from the other section of the Vault that all was in readiness.

"So, what happens when I trigger the crystals?" the Ruler asked her two Masters, who had not provided any specifics as to that critical part of the ritual.

"Nothing more on your end. The system will take over since it itself carries out the summoning process. Think of it as a very high-capacity magic circle version of an integrated circuit; that's how we can cram so much energy into the system safely," Gudao responded. "The specific action you need is really the 'trigger' much like when using gem magecraft or a mystic code. I believe you have had a bit of practice with Ruby."

"Right. Well I guess stand back and try to stay in my shadow, as it were." Raising a hand towards the currently empty summoning circle, the lone Servant did as instructed.

"Trigger, activate."

A thunderous crack and blinding flash filled the room and, after it had settled back down, a series of clinks announced what had arrived: a matching set of what their summoner identified, from far too much personal experience, as three Black Keys.

"Hmm." Gudako brought up a large warded box, into which she indicated the items should go. "da Vinci will scan them and see what they contain conceptually and what to do with them."

"It happens a lot," Gudao consoled the two. "Try the next set and then we'll move onto these Friend Point trials."

"I'm sure Cat knew what she was up to," Gudako still sounded rather sure of this as Sasaku loaded the remaining four crystals into place. "I mean it's hard to get better catalysts than something from the actual Servant themselves."

Gudao only shook his head as the second summoning brought forth what looked like a rather innocent orange teddy bear of some sort. It, too, was carefully placed in a separate warded box. "Ah well, at least the experiments will give good data. Now, I believe we will need Ruby's help with this phase, like when communicating with the other Chaldea."

"Worry not, I am here!" the wand announced its presence happily at the chance to show off.

"For the record, I'd like to point out that being able to extract value from the concept of friendship is something that makes very little sense," Sasaku commented.

"It isn't the concept you're using, but the actual power of friendship as measured in the Points," Ruby corrected her quickly. "Please transform and we'll try what da Vinci has proposed."

"I'm wondering why you didn't come with this functionality," she grumbled but complied without waiting. "Now what?"

"Ahem. Well reach out to the four input ports of the magic circle, but rather than pour in magical energy, you need to meditate on the meaning of friendship and push those emotions and understanding into the circle instead."

"Um, that's not very helpful."

"Your magical girl score is dropping. Try wanting to reach out to an old friend, rival... come on! You've got to work with me here."

"I got it, I got it..." Sasaku mumbled to herself while holding onto Ruby and concentrating. And sure enough, there was something. A very faint response, to be sure, but with a soft sound of metal on stone, a small item dropped to the ground in front of the Servant.

"Huh." Gudao sounded impressed. "Did an actual Craft Essence come out?"

Bending down to pick it up, Sasaku examined her prize for a moment and then placed it in her Inventory, much to the others' surprise.

"How did you do that? Actually, what was that?" Gudako asked, curiosity immediately piqued since, generally speaking, a Servant's Inventory is selective about what can be placed within. The Ruler took it out and held it up for her to see: what appeared to be a twisted ring of silvery and deep blue segments.

"I don't understand," Gudako said while Gudao quickly stepped out to check the readings within the Chamber. "It's yours but you weren't summoned with it?"

"It's original-me's wedding ring," she explained, putting it away. "Or I guess a copy, like how I'm a copy of her. I can guess what you're thinking: I wasn't summoned with it because in the previous War I gave it to Sakura; as a result of her magecraft it left my Spirit Origin. I'm guessing when she died it, like Illya and Shirou according to my understanding of the reports, was in her Imaginary Numbers space and thus effectively erased from existing. So... it got summoned on its own."

"That and Ruby's advice, I guess." Gudao returned with a quick nod to himself. "Well, we should be good to try again. The summoning effectively created the spiritrons from nothing, but hardly any got into the environment."

"Yeah, 2 and 2 sounds good. Maybe something useful will come out," Sasaku agreed with him hopefully.

"So why did you give it to Sakura?" Gudako asked, a bit too late since the Ruler was already focusing on the next summoning.

"Oh this must be something good !" Ruby suddenly exclaimed in excitement as a sudden flicker burst into existence within the circle. Rather than the usual near-explosion of energy escaping from a successful summon, though, instead...

It seemed as though the air in the room suddenly imploded into its magic circle, since the magical energies in the space all rushed in a concerted manner into the newly introduced spiritual core. Then followed the usual explosion of excess energy that was not used up to bring forth the summoned warrior who was now standing in the circle.

One's eyes would be drawn first to his stylish Corinthian helmet, complete with impressive crest. It matched the rest of his bronze protection: muscled cuirass, greaves and bronze-covered large round aspis. His spear was tipped in the harder steel, as presumably was the curved kopis he also wore. Tilting his head to the side to see the two Masters behind the Servant in front of him, the newcomer shrugged and returned his attention to her.

"Changed colors?" were his first words.

"Indeed." A moment passed before Sasaku indicated the two homunculi behind her. "Meet Gudako and Gudao, the commanders here in Chaldea. Masters, let me introduce you to someone I happen to know personally: Agesipolis III of Sparta. Ah yes, 'a variant' as you'd put it."

l

Notes:

The Summoning Vault is the larger structure with Vault-level wards and the like. However, various equipment inside the Vault is not within the Chamber where the actual summoning takes place. But... the various names are all used interchangeably whenever this specific distinction is not needed. If something blows up in the Chamber, you'll be killed if you are still within the Vault.

Initially summoning was in a Room like how in FSN and elsewhere it doesn't involve Saint Quartz, but creating that system means extra defenses are needed. Similarly the Enhancement Room is actually now a Vault after Scathach's work. Meanwhile the Halls are, unspoken, like Vaults except without doors due to using a different setup.

The Training Grounds are beyond Vault-level because they regularly take damage from Servant-level sources, but are thus named because (FGO naming clearly, but...) all other Four Houses facilities use open spaces for sparring or range practice. After all, Kojirou was their only Servant for most of their history.