Prologue — Day 2: Rin — Faust Buckler

Rin watched with shock and incredulity as Shirou Emiya ran into the courtyard between the two fighting Servants.

It was insane. Anyone should have been able to tell that stepping between the two battling Servants would be instant death. The overflowing prana and killing intent was so great that even an ordinary human should have been able to feel it. And yet that stupid, stupid boy had dashed into the courtyard right between the two combatants. The only reason he wasn't dead already was because the Servants were just as surprised as Rin and had broken off their attacks to stare in shock at the interloper.

"Why are you trying to kill each other!?" Shirou demanded. "It's wrong! I won't allow it! I'll stop you myself if that's what it takes!"

"So naive..." Red Archer muttered behind Rin. "It makes me sick."

"What are you doing, idiot!?" Rin screamed at Shirou. "Do you have a death wish or something? Run for your life, moron!"

"Tohsaka?" Shirou glanced at her in confusion. "What are you doing here? It's dangerous."

"That's what I'm asking you!" Rin shrieked. "And if you know that it's dangerous, why haven't you run away?"

"I couldn't run!" Shirou said. "Not when someone's in danger!"

Was he actually concerned about her? Had he suicidally run out to challenge Lancer because he feared for her safety? Shirou didn't know that Rin was a magus, so he might have mistaken her for another bystander in danger from the Servants.

For a moment, Rin was strangely touched. Then she remembered that Shirou hadn't seemed to noticed her until after he'd already run out into the courtyard. The big idiot must have somehow mistaken Black Archer for a damsel in distress. Honestly! Even if she did happen to look like a young girl, how could anyone mistake a Servant for helpless?

"Aw, c'mon kid, why'd you have to go and do that?" Lancer asked, shaking his head. "And just when things were starting to get interesting. Ah, well. I'm going to have to ask that we suspend our fight for the moment, Archer. Rules are rules — witnesses to the Grail War must be eliminated!"

Shirou glared defiantly at the enemy Servant. He raised something gripped in his hands — it looked like it might have been a branch he'd picked up off the ground — and brandished it like a club.

It was a gesture so futile that it was almost sickly humorous. There was no way a wooden branch could withstand even a single blow from a weapon of legend, as Lancer's spear most assuredly was. He wouldn't even have to activate its properties as a Noble Phantasm; with his strength, he could cleave through both the branch and Shirou's body in a single swing. As the red lance swung down, Rin unconsciously closed her eyes, not wanting to see the end when it came.

But instead of the sickening squish of human flesh and bone being pulverized which she had expected, the sound that reached her ears was a sharp clang, as of metal striking against metal.

It was impossible. Shirou couldn't possibly have blocked Lancer's blow. And... a wooden branch wouldn't make such a sharp, metallic sound. Had another Servant intervened in the fight and blocked Lancer's attack?

Rin opened her eyes, and saw the impossible. The branch Shirou held was bent at one point, obviously from the force of blocking Lancer's spear, but still intact. Even as she watched with disbelieving eyes, Lancer swung a second time, and Shirou intercepted the blow. Sparks flew from the point of contact, as though the simple wooden branch had been forged from the finest steel. Shirou grunted under the impact of the blow, and the branch bent even further out of shape; but it did not break, and Shirou did not lose his grip on it.

"Hmm." Lancer said. "Not many humans would've been able to block those blows. I'm actually a little impressed, kid. So, I'll give you the respect of fighting you seriously."

Lancer abruptly dashed at Shirou. The Servant's speed was so great that it was as if he had been shot from a cannon. His lance, held low, skimmed the surface of the ground; as he bore down on Shirou, he swung it up at the last moment, striking the metallic branch from Shirou's hands and sending it flipping through the air. Lancer then planted one foot on the ground, pivoted, and delivered a vicious kick to Shirou's side. It was such a fierce blow that Rin was surprised it didn't cave in the side of his chest; instead, the impact lifted Shirou off the ground and sent him flying backwards. Shirou was launched in an arc across the courtyard and through the window of one of the first-floor classrooms; Rin winced at the sound of him crashing through the glass.

"We'll fight again later." Lancer told Homura. "Be sure to show me your full strength then, okay?"

Then he leapt after Shirou, briefly turning into spiritual form to pass through the classroom wall and out of Rin's sight.

For a moment, Rin didn't do anything. Why should she care if Lancer finished off that troublesome idiot? Shirou was just some kid from school. It wasn't as if he meant anything to her. And anyway, it was standard procedure for magi to eliminate witnesses. Really, even if Lancer hadn't gone after Shirou, she herself should have ordered Homura to kill him. That was the nature of the Holy Grail War.

So why was she trembling? And why had her hands clenched into fists?

"Damn it!" Rin said. "Damn it, damn it, damn it. Black Archer, go after him and save Emiya— I mean, that kid."

Homura looked at her blankly.

"What for?" she asked. "Lancer is correct in his judgement; the rules of the Holy Grail War require such unfortunate witnesses to be eliminated in order to preserve the secrecy of magecraft."

Rin didn't have time to persuade her Servant through argument. An ordinary human stood no chance whatsoever against a Servant in a fight; as soon as Lancer caught up to Shirou within the school, he would be killed. No, Shirou should already have been killed, when Lancer first struck at him — it was a miracle that he'd even lived this long. Hesitating for even a second more might cost him his life.

"By my Command Spell, I order you!" Rin shouted. "Protect Shirou Emiya!"

Homura blinked once in surprise, then dashed towards the building in compliance with her order.

Rin stared at the back of her hand. The second of the three red marks placed there by the Grail had now faded; only a single one remained. It was only the second day of the Holy Grail War, and already she had been reduced to a single, precious Command Seal. If she was ever forced to use it, she would lose her authority as a Master, and her fight for the Holy Grail would end. All because of that idiot.

"Technically, the first one was entirely your fault." Red Archer commented, as though reading her thoughts.

"Yeah, I know." muttered Rin. "I take it you don't approve either, Red Archer?"

"Of course not." Red Archer said. "You're making exactly the same kind of mistake as him, trying to save someone who can't be saved when you should be minding your own business. I expect that sort of thing out of him; but as a magus, I thought you would be better."

"Yeah." Rin said. "I really am an idiot, aren't I? All those years of training, and I'm still too soft."

There was nothing Rin could do but stand outside the school to see whether or not Homura would emerge alive — and if so, whether or not she had been in time to save Shirou Emiya.

===Interlude: Truce Lancer===

Lancer felt a slight thrill as he strode into the hallway of the school. Fighting a human wasn't nearly so interesting as fighting a Servant, but he never would have expected a mere human — let alone some scrawny kid — to block two strikes of his spear or to be in any condition to run after receiving the full force of one of his kicks. This boy might actually be worthy prey.

The kid was definitely resilient, Lancer would give him that. Instead of lying around dazed from his crash landing in the classroom, he appeared to have gotten up and started running quickly enough that he was out of sight by the time Lancer had arrived. Impressive, most impressive. Not that it would save him. Lancer focused on his hearing and picked out the boy's footsteps. He'd run up a stairwell and was now on the second floor.

Lancer shifted into his spiritual form and rose up through the ceiling. The boy was struggling to run down a hallway. He collapsed to his knees partway out of either pain or exhaustion, but then struggled back to his feet and forced himself on. Lancer sidled up behind the boy in spiritual form, then materialized himself and tapped the boy on the shoulder.

"Yo." he said.

The boy spun around so fast that he lost his footing and fell on his butt. He scrambled backwards until his back was pressed against a wall.

"Done running?" Lancer asked.

Animal fear showed in the boy's eyes. Intellectually, he must have known that it was impossible to escape from Lancer. But even so, his eyes kept darting back and forth, looking for an escape; his survival instinct compelling him to struggle against the inescapable death confronting him.

"Nothing personal, kid." Lancer explained. "It's just Magic Association rules. No one who witnesses Servants battling can be allowed to live. But, hey. It was pretty for a bit there, wasn't it?"

Lancer materialized his spear, allowed himself the slight indulgence of twirling it theatrically, then aimed the point at the boy's heart.

"It is a grave insult to turn your back on an opponent." a voice behind him said.

Of course, Lancer knew that Archer was behind him. His keen senses had detected the small Servant's presence in the hallway as soon as she had shifted from spiritual to material form. However, after engaging her in the courtyard, Lancer wasn't very concerned.

"As an Archer, you are best suited to combat in wide open spaces where you can fully utilize your range advantage." Lancer said casually, his back still turned. "However, even under such conditions, you were unable to best me. Now we are in a corridor; a narrow, confined space in which you lack any room to maneuver. There is no need to battle when the outcome is already obvious."

"You believe I would choose to attack you under disadvantageous conditions after losing to you in advantageous ones?" the Archer asked. "Then you think me stupid as well as weak. I don't care about that boy, but I will not permit you to insult me so."

Lancer sensed killing intent from behind him and immediately became more interested. When he'd fought Archer in courtyard, he'd been able to tell that she wasn't fighting him seriously; she'd only been trying to evaluate his abilities. Now, however, it seemed she was prepared to go all-out. He didn't know why pursuing this irrelevant young boy had brought about such a change in her, but he was grateful for it.

"Well, if you're finally ready to show me your true strength, then I can't very well turn down your challenge." Lancer said. "My Master only sent me out to try and identify some of the opposing Masters and gain intelligence about the abilities of their Servants... but I'm sure actually eliminating some of the competition won't draw any complaints."

He finally turned to face Archer. Despite the serious aura she was projecting, she still hadn't materialized anything resembling a weapon. Lancer clicked his tongue. Even at this point, preparing to engage him in battle to the death, she was still trying to conceal her trump card. It just wouldn't be any fun fighting against an opponent who was holding back, so it seemed Lancer would have to force her to take him seriously.

"But since you're the one challenging me this time, I won't let you get away with holding back." Lancer said. "I'm going to unleash my Noble Phantasm now. You'd better be prepared to do the same, because I promise you: if you don't stop me, you will die."

That said, Lancer didn't waste any more time on words. He delved into his reserve of prana and let it flood into his demonic lance. Archer responded by shifting into a defensive position, as though intending to block his strike with the buckler on her arm. It really was unfortunate. The only chance she'd had to stop had been to hit him first and prevent his attack, because there was nothing in the world capable of blocking his lance once its curse had been activated.

All that was left to complete the Noble Phantasm's activation was to speak its name. Lancer thrust it forwards, and shouted the words that would cause it to kill without fail:

"Gae Bolg!"

At the same time, an intense burst of prana flared within Archer. As Lancer released his strike, she coldly intoned an invocation of her own:

"Faust Buckler."

Gae Bolg, the Piercing Lance of Death Thorns, which had never before failed to kill the adversary it was employed against, swept through empty air. The prana he had placed into it dissipated, the curse returning to quiescence, and Lancer was left to wonder how this could have happened.

Gae Bolg had not missed, nor had it been blocked. Rather, it had failed to activate. Lancer's Noble Phantasm was one that would "pierce the heart without fail". However, it could only be used if there was a heart to be pierced. The corridor in front of Lancer was empty. Because there was no opponent for Gae Bolg to be used against, the lance had remained inert in his hand.

Lancer turned around again, taking stock of his surroundings. The young boy had also vanished from the hallway. It was as if both of his targets had simply disappeared into thin air.

"Turning your back on me again, I see." Archer said. "Such bad form."

Lancer whirled around once more to see her standing exactly where she had been when he'd tried to unleash his Noble Phantasm. She nonchalantly flipped back her hair as Lancer stared at her in shock.

Archer couldn't have simply made herself invisible to his perception; even shifting into spiritual form shouldn't have allowed her to evade the curse of Gae Bolg. If she'd been anywhere at all within the hallway, the curse would've guided the lance into her heart whether Lancer was aware of her position or not. The only explanation was a Noble Phantasm that allowed instantaneous movement across a distance: Archer had gone somewhere out of range when the curse was activated, and returned once it was safe.

"I hope you're done underestimating me now." Archer said. "Of course, at this moment, I think you should be less concerned with me, and more concerned with what's at your feet."

Lancer glanced downwards just in time to get a glimpse of the M26 hand grenade sitting on the floor in front of him. It was standing on end, obviously having been placed down rather than thrown in order to bypass his Protection From Arrows ability, and the pin had been pulled. A moment later, the grenade detonated. The blast hit him at point-blank range, and the hallway disappeared in a ball of smoke and flame.

Lancer reverted to spiritual form and disengaged from combat, fleeing from the school. He hadn't been injured very much; as Servants were spiritual beings, conventional human weapons like guns and explosives weren't very effective against them. Rather, what concerned Lancer the most was that he didn't know the other Servant's identity. The reason a Noble Phantasm was reserved as a trump card was because, as the embodiment of a Heroic Spirit's legend, it was unique to each Servant. The cursed lance Gae Bolg was inseparably associated with the Gaelic hero Cu Chulainn; therefore, whenever Lancer called his weapon's name, he revealed his true identity to his opponent.

There was no doubt that the shield on Archer's arm was her Noble Phantasm. She had shouted its name, "Faust Buckler", in order to escape from being targeted by Gae Bolg. However, Lancer wasn't aware of any legendary artifact that had ever gone by that name. Even if she was a hero from some obscure land he had never heard of, or if she hadn't been born until hundreds of years after his death, the Holy Grail bestowed all Servants it summoned with certain basic knowledge. This included details about the age they had been summoned into, which was how he had recognized the grenade even though such weapons had not yet been invented during his life; and it also included details about the legends of the various Heroic Spirits whose souls were inducted into the Throne of Heroes. He should be able to identify any hero, no matter what country or time they were from, once he saw their unique Noble Phantasm. And yet... he had no idea who this Archer could be.

The whole reason his Master had sent him out on this mission was to gain information on the enemy Servants. Instead, he'd ended up giving away valuable information about himself without gaining any in return. That was what he got for putting pleasure before work; as much fun as challenging Archer had been, it was probably time to fall back and rethink his strategy before he dug himself any deeper.

In the meantime, he'd finish the job of tracking down and killing that boy who'd witnessed the fight. After all, it wouldn't do to leave a duty unfulfilled. If Archer thought the little vanishing act she'd pulled was enough to make him lose the trail, then this time it was her was underestimating him. He was an epic hero of the lance, but that wasn't the limit of his talents; he had also trained in runic magic under Scathach in the Land of Shadows, and his skill was such that he was also qualified to be summoned as Caster.

Lancer picked a stone off the ground and traced the rune Bekara on it. It wouldn't matter where the young boy fled; the search spell would quickly track him down. And then...

Well, the boy had impressed Lancer once. Maybe he had a few more tricks up his sleeve. Lancer was looking forward to finding out.