aliesterus: MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA Though, to clear it up, we were talking about Assassin, not Shirou.

Lancer of Light

Saber suddenly slammed the back of her fist into a tree. In surprise at the sudden sound, Reimu jumped and glared at her.

"Geez, what was that for?!" Reimu demanded.

Saber shot her with a glare of her own, but Reimu didn't step back or waver.

"Is that what 'exterminating youkai' means?!" Saber shot back angrily. "Killing their families and ruining their lives?!"

Reimu mockingly put her hands in the air, her irritation mounting, and responded: "Hey, I don't do that. My job is to make them stop messing with the humans' lives."

"And in order to do that, you sacrifice theirs?!"

"No, I don't!"

"Then what's 'exterminating' mean to you?! Does 'exterminate' not mean 'kill' in Gensokyo?!"

"I don't murder youkai, damnit!"

"You said it before! You told me proudly that you exterminate youkai!"

"Stop putting words in my mouth!"

"Hahaha!"

Both looked up from their argument and turned to the one who laughed.

"Two more weaklings to take care of!" Cirno said, laughing haughtily.

With a strong huff from her nose, Reimu said angrily, "Listen, you little pest. I'm not in a good mood right now so can you please go away and stop being a little prick?"

"Sorry, but if I'm gonna train my Master, she's gonna need to be showing backbone!"

A man in a blue rubber suit with similarly blue hair leaped down from the trees, a crimson spear held lightly in his hand. His expression, just like everybody else in this damn world, was cocky.

Reimu was so tired of these people being the cock of the walk.

With a start of realization, Saber pointed her sword at the Servant shouted, "I remember you, Lancer!"

Lancer nodded and replied, "Good! You remember me, Saber! A good fight between friends, eh?"

To Reimu's surprise, Saber's bad mood faded away a bit as she gave Lancer a confident smile. "Of course," she replied.

Saber and Lancer got along fine. But as for Reimu and Cirno…

"Your Servant and Lancer may be even," Cirno boasted, "...but I am the strongest! I'll beat you easily, shrine maiden!"

Reimu let out a groan as she got out her miko stick. Cirno just stood across from her, arms crossed.

"Three," Lancer counted down.

Saber's smile grew as she said, "Two."

"One."

Both Servants launched at each other with a loud battlecry, and they became flashes of blue and crimson as they disappeared into the forest.

Reimu, on the other hand, went to hit Cirno… and was smacked in the face with something cold and solid. Before she could even register she was hit, she crashed into a tree and slid to her butt.

"The hell was that?" she muttered, rubbing her head and standing up.

As the stars faded and her sight returned to normal, she saw the little ice fairy holding a sledgehammer made up of ice. Despite the fact it was made of ice... well, Reimu felt the blow that she was hit with.

"Hahaha!" Cirno laughed, hefting the sledgehammer over her shoulder. "Lancer taught me how to become stronger! I'm the stronger strongest! The stronger strongest of the strong!"

Reimu growled before shouting: "Just shut up already!"

She took out three talismans and threw them at Cirno before summoning the yin-yang orbs. Cirno swatted each talisman aside before crushing the incoming yin-yang orb. With another laugh, she threw her sledgehammer at Reimu, and the shrine maiden ducked to avoid it. The sledgehammer hit the tree behind her and lodged itself deep into the wood.

Suddenly, the ice fairy seemed to be a bit... stronger.

Reimu looked at the sledgehammer for a second before Cirno came at her, now wielding two icy scimitars. To her dismay, the ice fairy was actually really good at using them. She'd end up ducking under one to find another about to intercept her while she was avoiding the first, and she'd have to float out of existence to not get sliced.

"Switch!"

Without warning, Saber slammed her back into Reimu and spun them both around, making Reimu face Lancer, who had a grin on his face.

"Oh, you have got to be-" Reimu started, and then she deflected Lancer's spear with her miko stick and threw talismans at his face. They exploded, and with a loud cry he slammed into the tree behind him. He wasn't moving, and Reimu wasn't sure if he was breathing.

Upon hearing Lancer's scream and seeing his limp body, Saber shouted, "Lancer ga shinda!"

Unsure why she was doing it, Reimu added, "Kono de watashi ne!" Then, realizing that Lancer wasn't gonna be getting up, Reimu shrugged and sighed, saying, "Dead like a dog."

Lancer immediately popped back to his feet and angrily roared, "I'm not a dog!"

He charged at Reimu and went to smack her with the shaft of his spear, but Reimu had extended her miko stick to match its length and blocked his swing before smacking the shaft of her staff into his stomach. Lancer reeled back as Reimu jabbed him in the shoulder, thigh, and once in the neck. Lancer coughed as the hard wood hit his throat and stumbled back before aiming his spear for Reimu's heart. The shrine maiden deflected the spear point and threw more talismans at him, causing Lancer to slide back, covering his face. He looked up at Reimu and grinned.

"Ou, you're pretty good!" he remarked.

Reimu didn't return the smile as she sent a hammering kick to his groin. Lancer's face fell as he slowly began registering the pain.

.

Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.

.

"Yo, Kourin!" Marisa shouted.

Rinnosuke looked up from the Outside World textbook he was reading and waved at her. "Hello, Marisa," he greeted normally.

Marisa stepped up to the counter and snatched the textbook straight out of his hands.

"Marisa, hey-!" he protested to no avail.

The ordinary magician flipped through some pages. Rinnosuke had told her that each Spirit was in the textbooks he found, and indeed she did find Leonidas and Sigurd in the book.

Speaking of Sigurd...

"Master, I am aware someone is in your establishment," Sigurd said, poking out of the back room.

Rinnosuke waved him off and sighed, saying, "I know. It's Marisa."

Sigurd looked at Marisa and muttered an apology.

Rinnosuke chuckled and said, "Sigurd and da Vinci can be oddballs, but they do help my advertisements."

After a few moments, Marisa realized that Rinnosuke had mentioned someone else besides Sigurd. Looking up, she asked, "Wait, who?"

"Sigurd and da Vinci?"

"Who's 'the fishy?'"

That's when a young woman popped out of the back room and shouted happily, "Hello, Rinnosuke!"

Marisa immediately hated her.

With another sigh, Rinnosuke said, "da Vinci, I thought you said you were working on some of the stuff in the back?"

"I already finished it!" da Vinci informed him in a singsong voice.

No, Marisa wasn't angry because da Vinci talked to Rinnosuke so easily. Nor because it was clear that Rinnosuke wasn't truly irritated. Nor because of how naturally endowe-

"I'll go away now. The lack of electricity that you Gensokians deal with..." da Vinci remarked before going to the back room.

As Rinnosuke turned back to her, Marisa pretended to go back to her book. She forced down whatever that ugly feeling she felt was.

Then they heard the scream.

.

Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.

.

"Dang, I think they heard that scream from Kourindou," Reimu observed.

Lancer croaked as he fell on his knees and collapsed. Then Reimu turned to glare at Cirno, who jumped in alarm as not only Saber but Reimu stomped towards her.

"You are skilled," Saber said, "...but I doubt you can defeat two of us."

Cirno responded by shooting sharp icicles at them, and Saber leaped in front of Reimu, causing the icicles to break against her armor. She then proceeded to rush at Cirno and swing her sword, forcing the ice fairy to block the sword swing.

Like throwing a talisman, Reimu got out the sword Yukari gave her and threw it at Cirno's head. Then the darkness consumed her.