My heart beats faster the closer the man comes to us. I sense something different about this guy. I don't think he's a normal being. Did Lancer notice as well? Rin stopped as Lancer did, so she must've been watching us. Lancer starts tugging on my collar and grips my right hand with her left.

"Hm? Something wrong, Emiya?"

The golden man is still coming closer. "N-no."

"Oh… I thought you stopped because you noticed it too."

I turn my head to face Lancer. "Noticed what?"

She lowers her voice. "I thought you noticed, but I think your ex is following us."

Lancer points to Rin.

"What are you pointing at me for?!"

Rin looks at both Lancer and I. How should I explain this to her…

"Oh? Are you just jealous I have your boyfriend now instead of you? Stalking is really such a turnoff, you know?"

I really want to say something, but I feel like there's a reason why she's doing this to us, so I keep my mouth shut.

"Come on, Shirou. Say something! I'm not your ex!"

With my name being called out now, I look at both Rin and Lancer. I'm wedged between a rock and a hard place right now. On one hand, I have a feeling Rin is going to kill me if I play along with Lancer. On other hand, my Servant will probably enforce much harder training sessions. I'm sorry Rin.

"There's a reason why you're my ex now."

If there's one word to describe how Rin feels right now it's furious. Her face is flushed and I can feel an aura around here, one far different than the golden man. Don't kill me, Rin.

"Are you saying that even if I was still your girlfriend, you wouldn't accept me?"

The more the conversation continues, the more I dig myself into a hole. I look at Lancer, waiting for her answer.

"Well… If you feel that way, there's still room for one more. Emiya wouldn't mind, right?"

Lancer says. This just got more awkward. My cheeks turns red and so does Rin.

"What are you saying?!"

I say to her. Don't get me involved in this question. You're trying to make this worse on purpose, aren't you?

"Emiya is a nice man. In fact, he let me sleep with him last night."

"Shirou…"

I'm dead. I can say goodbye to the world right now. Bye Sakura. Bye Taiga. Bye my only safe haven, my kitchen… The golden man walks by us as Lancer keeps pressuring Rin. Even though she seems to be enjoying herself with a smile, I can see her eyes are closely watching him as the aura of danger around him passes by.

He's well out of sight when Lancer changes the topic.

"My apologies, Emiya… I had a bad feeling about that man. So I just messed with you on purpose so we could avoid him."

On purpose? Haven't you always messed with me on purpose all the time?

"I understand, but couldn't you do something else instead?"

"Sorry. That's the only thing that popped up in my mind. Also, I didn't think you'd approve my plan."

Of course I wouldn't, look at Rin right now!

"Shirou…" Rin walks closer to me. I suddenly take a few steps back. I have a feeling she'll kill me right now.

"Explain to me what do you mean by "you're my ex now"."

Lancer steps in front of me. I see someone that looks like my Chemistry teacher stopping a little bit behind Rin. No, it is my teacher, probably on his way home when all of this happened and his curiosity got him to watch. He clears his throat as all eyes focus on him.

"While I, ah, am not sure of my stance on these kind of relationships, please rest assured I saw nothing."

He walks off after saying those words. This could only get worse if Taiga was here…

"SHIROU!"

I spoke too soon.

"You're not usually this late when you walk home. What are you doing?"

"Taiga, what are you doing here?"

"Well. I got hungry so I went and waited for you, but you stayed after school again, huh ?"

So you came to search for me when you're hungry. Ah, typical Taiga. It seems she just notices Rin and Lancer. She glances at both of them. Taiga takes a moment to think of a response. I have a feeling she's going to take this badly.

"Shirou...when did you become a man whore?"

Out of all the things she could have thought of, she had to think of that. I facepalm, both mentally and physically. Considering earlier I had dug myself into a ditch, no matter what I'll say, I'll dig myself further. I'll need to carefully select my words.

"Emiya is just taking Tohsaka to his house."

Or not. Lancer says something else. Are you going to keep on interrupting me?

"I'm sure Emiya here is responsible enough to bring a girl over other than Sakura, right Taiga?"

"Hmm. Well, Shirou is allowing you to stay. As long as Shirou and Rin aren't doing anything weird, she's free to stay. But first…"

Taiga grabs me by the collar.

"Come on, Shirou. Let's go home and cook!"

Lancer steps in front of Taiga.

"Taiga. Please let go of my Master. He can walk home himself."

Wait...Master? Oh no. Is this part of her plan. Both Taiga and Rin blinks in surprise, not expecting Lancer to say that.

"...Shirou, I didn't know you were into to that."

And of course Taiga takes it the wrong way.

"No! It's not like that!"

I look at Rin, hopeful that she'll help me out here. Instead, she gives me a weird look and smiles malevolently.

"...You're disgusting."

Why is she playing along?! This must be revenge for the whole "ex" thing earlier!

"Rin! Come on!"

"Given that I now know what kind of person you are, I'd rather walk home alone. Farewell. We'll see each other tomorrow."

She's THAT mad about the "ex" thing? I see Rin walk off by herself. I guess I'll call her later when Taiga isn't around to discuss our alliance. I glance at Lancer, who hasn't said a word yet.

"My apologies, Emiya… it just slipped out."

She tries to hide her smile. Really, Lancer. The only one left are her, Taiga and I. Taiga looks at the both of us

"What do you mean by "Master", anyways?"

"I meant to say… that you shouldn't handle Emiya Shirou, the master of the house, that way. It's not good for a teacher to do that in public, you know. "

Taiga scratches her head. She's thinking about how to reply to her response. Perhaps Lancer drilled through her head that she shouldn't drag me by the collar?

"You're right… My bad, Shirou."

Taiga bows to me. I scratch my head in confusion. Lancer really is changing my life. The three of us all head towards my home.

The walk was filled with silence. After Lancer called me Master, I can see why no one wanted to speak. I step inside my household, along with the others. Now I need to figure out what to make for dinner…

"Emiya, do you need any help?"

Lancer asks me. It doesn't hurt to ask her for help.

"I'm not really sure what to cook since I'm cooking for all three of us."

"Hmmm. I think soup could work? Take a look at your cookbook. I'll prepare the ingredients for you."

Lancer takes out food from the fridge and lay them on the counter. I take out a cookbook and glance at it, turning page to page, before selecting a dish to cook.

"Let's make this. Though it does say it'll take a while to cook…"

"Don't worry. I got it."

Lancer traces some unknown character on the oven. Wait, is she going to use Runes to cook? In just a few minutes, she heats up a dish which should take an hour.

"You know… I never heard of speed-heating runes before. I didn't even know they have those."

"When you have a lived as long as I have, you tend to branch out and learn many things. I'll teach you a few basic runes later if you'd like."

"Gladly."

"SHIROU! IS THE FOOD DONE?!"

Taiga calls out to both of us.

"Ah! Wait Taiga!"

I reply back to her. Lancer grabs her bowl and one for Taiga. I grab my share and sit at the table.

"This smells quite nice, Shirou. I presume you got help from your guest?"

"Yeah. She's a pretty great cook."

I glance over at Lancer. Her eyes widen in surprise due to my comment. She looks down at her dish.

"I don't think I'm that good compared to Emiya…"

"No, don't be like that. I'm sure you're a good cook."

I try my best to cheer her up. She looks at me and gives me a small smile.

"Trying to cheer an older woman like me up, huh Emiya?"

I… I don't think I should even respond back to her. That comment is a landmine waiting to be stepped on.

"But thanks Emiya." Lancer replies back to me.

"Oh yeah! How's it like being a substitute teacher?"

Taiga asks Lancer a question.

"It's not bad, I suppose. Being a substitute teacher is a lot of work though…" Lancer sighs.

"Yeah. Being a teacher is a lot of work. I'm surprised you are able to deal with the males in class especially."

"You could say I had some experience dealing with them."

Yeah, she was teacher before after all … albeit one who teaches her students how to use magic and close combat weapons.

"Oh. I see. I shouldn't worry about you handling my class then, right? How's Shirou doing in class?"

"To put it short. He's doing what he's been doing the past few months, but he really needs to work on math. But don't worry, Taiga. I know a few things to help him in math. Surely his grade will improve tremendously after I teach him, right Emiya?"

All eyes are on me now. They're both waiting for my response. I have a feeling that if I say no, I'd be killed on the spot. So I say the answer that'll help me out in this situation.

"Yes."

"You're lying." Lancer says in response. She sees right through me!

"I'm not! I promise that my grade will be raised, Shishou!" I bow my head to show courtesy.

"Alright. I believe you Emiya. We've spent enough time talking, let's eat."

So we all ate. The more Lancer and Taiga talked to each other, the more they seem to get closer. This scares me...Eventually we all finished eating.

"See you soon, Shirou!"

Taiga waves at me before leaving. I take all the bowls and put them in the sink. Lancer walks over.

"I'll wash the dishes for you. Go ahead and call Rin."

I nod. For today I'll let her cover dish washing duties. I pick up the phone and as if on cue, it rings. It's Rin.

"Yo."

"You're an idiot, you know that right?"

"What?"

"You...You didn't support me when Lancer was bugging me."

"I didn't even know it was a plan. I apologize, Rin. So what was the alliance that you spoke of earlier?"

"Well. I was going to stay at your house starting today, but I don't want to see your face right now. So I'll start living there tomorrow. You did tell Taiga, right?"

Did I? I forgot to mention Rin.

"No, sorry. I forgot."

"I see. It wasn't at your mind at the time?"

"Yeah."

"As long as you mention to her that I'll be staying soon, you should be fine. Anyways, I'll talk to you tomorrow. I have to do my homework. It's hard being a school idol."

Rin hangs up on the phone. I can prepare the rooms for her today so I don't have to do it tomorrow. Is Lancer done with the dishes?

"You're done?"

"Yes. Finished talking with Rin?"

"Yeah, she'll be here tomorrow. I think she's angry with me."

"Well, you can't please everyone. Anyways, now that Taiga's gone. Let me show you the Celtic ways of doing math problems…"

We both agree to meet up in the dojo after I was done with my homework. She's still wearing her school outfit. If I recall last night, she'll help me out with projection and runes. Though I don't recall her talking about training me in close-combat. That wouldn't really help me against a servant, but if I can at least survive a few seconds, it's better than dying instantly. I should ask her about that.

"Hey, Lancer? Are we here to help me with close-ranged fighting?"

"That's correct. I know you still need to work on magecraft but… Just because of that, don't expect me to go easy on you, Emiya. I know you're fit enough, so mind if I don't limit myself as much?"

Why do I have a feeling that I'm going to constantly end up on the floor? If she goes easy on me then I'm not going to be able to survive against a Servant. It can't be helped. The only right answer to this would be…

"Yes."

"Good. Normally, if you were an enemy, I'd crush your bones and kill you, but since you're my student… I'll just beat you to near death~"

I feel a tingle down my spine. I never seen this side of Lancer before. This is just like if I was an enemy to her. In an instant, a wooden spear appears in her hand. In the other, a wooden axe.

"Now, there are a variety of close combat weapons, as you know. We'll be having a one minute sparring session with different sets of weapons to see which ones you excel at, and which ones you'd need to improve on. I'm a spearwoman, so I excel in spears. But I've dabbled in other weapons that I could at least teach you to be proficient in them, and with my skill, I could teach you even faster."

She hands the axe to me.

"Oh, by the way. I recommend reinforcing your body. As you'll be taking my swings full force, it'll hurt. A lot."

Duly noted. The firing hammer in my head goes down as I turn on my circuits. Mana flows throughout my body. Also using structural analysis on my body, I fill my body with mana to reinforce it. I'm still new to using my actual circuits, so this takes a few seconds. That's enough. I flick my circuits off.

"Looks like you're improving quickly. I'll let you take the first shot."

Lancer is in a neutral stance. Her right leg is slightly bent. Her left leg is straight however. Her right hand is facing forward, while she holds the spear with her other arm outwards, with all the fingers except for her thumb gripping the spear.

I grip the axe with both of my hands. I take a step forward, and swing at her. She blocks the attack by moving her spear with both of us feeling the full force of the clash. Even though I reinforced my body, I can still feel the force. In an instant, she disappears from my sight. I'm forgetting she's a Servant. I can't match a Servant. Perhaps I could defend, but only for a bit. I glance around, but all I see is a blur. The next moment, I feel something impact against my stomach.

"Guh-"

I collapse forward, releasing the grip of my weapon.

"Come on Emiya. That was barely five seconds."

Hey, I can't even see you! Lancer's too fast. If she's this fast, do I even have a chance to defend against Servants? I slowly stand up, grabbing my weapon. Even in the face of death, I need to keep my mind cool. I can't make any desperate actions. I hold the axe in front of me as if it was a longsword.

"Let's try again."

I get no response from her. She disappears from my sight again. If I can't see where she'll hit, I'll have to guess. I predict the area she'll strike, and I swing! All I struck is the air. The sound of wood clashing against flesh is heard, as Lancer swings her spear at my back.

"Agh!"

I fall forward with my weapon. This isn't sparring at all. This is more of a curbstomp.

"Predicting where I'd strike, huh? That's interesting. But you guessed wrong. At least that was more than five seconds this time. Good job."

Ugh. This is going to be a long night…

There's still two more weapons I have use to try: a spear and dual wielding short swords.

"Your attacks seem to be slowing down. Would you like to rest?"

Lancer barely looks tired at all. I've been struck by her many times and I've barely struck her in return. The only times I was able to survive the longest without being hit was when I was using a sword. Compared to something to say, an axe, which I have a bit of trouble with.

"Yeah… I need to take a break. I'm kind of thirsty too."

"Don't worry Emiya, I'll get water for you."

Lancer temporarily leaves the dojo. I lean my back against the wall. Taking deep breaths, I put my mind together and think about our sparring sessions. This whole time I've been struggling to get hits in. My mind isn't clear. No, it's not just that. My body isn't calm either. I need to keep a clear mind and calm body if I want to strike her. I glance at the door and Lancer comes back with two water bottles. She hands me one, and sits right next to me.

"You're not tired, Lancer?"

"Barely. I can go on all night with no problems."

Right. She's a Servant, so she doesn't have the limits of a human body like I have. Opening the bottle, I take a large drink. My shirt is drenched in my own sweat. Lancer notices, as she opens her mouth.

"Would you like to take off your shirt?"

"Uh. No thanks. I'll take a shower after this."

"Alright."

She takes a drink from her bottle. I need at least a few more minutes of rest. This really have been taxing on my body, even if I'm physically fit for a teen.

"Say, Emiya?"

My eyes glance over to her.

"It doesn't seem like it, or I'm not sure if you're aware. But you've seem to be improving quickly. Every session after the next one, you're making less unnecessary movements. Keep up the good work."

She gives me a small smile.

"I will Lancer."

Leaving both our bottles near the end of the wall, we stand up.

"Would you like to try out the spear, or the twin swords?"

"I'll try the spear before I do the swords."

She tosses me the spear. This feels familiar… I take up a stance unlike the other weapons I used. I take a step forward, with my knees bent. My right foot is in front of me. My shoulders are relaxed. I hold the spear with both my hands, keeping a feet away from each other. The way I hold the spear is by gripping tightly with both hands, but my hands are just a mirror image of each other.

"That stance… I recognize that anywhere."

Lancer blinks her eyes. Why is she surprised? I glance down. I've never held a spear in my life except for that projection from yesterday. An image appears in my mind, a man who wears blue, with blue hair and a ponytail. I ignore that image. I need to focus on doing my best to spar with Lancer, this time without distractions.

"Go ahead Lancer."

She steps forward and thrust her spear at me. Emiya Shirou cannot block this attack. My body moves by itself, moving the spear to parry the attack. Her face has been stoic for a while, but a small glimpse of shock appears in her face. Who is more surprised? Her because I was able to parry her attack? Or me, whose thoughts cannot keep up with my body? She crouches and sweeps at my legs, attempting to trip me. My body leaps up to avoid the sweep, and I bring my spear down upon her. She quickly recovers to block it. We're both in a stalemate now. Her face is near mines as our spears are currently attempting to push each other away.

"This is new. You're not knocked down quickly this time."

"Ah...Yeah. I'm surprised too."

I can feel Lancer's whole strength bringing my spear back. If this keeps up, I'll be disarmed. I leap backwards, disengaging myself from the clash. I take a few deep breaths.

"Tired already? Enemies won't give you breaks, you know."

She covers the distance between us in under a second and sweep kicks me. I didn't see that coming. I fall on my back, holding the spear. To follow up on me, she lunges. I hold out my spear with both hands, blocking her from striking. She's on top of me. Our faces are close to each other, that are noses are almost touching again just like last night.

"Even though I knocked you down, you still can keep up with me? I'm impressed Emiya."

She puts more force on her spear, making it difficult for me to push her back. I do my best to keep her spear from striking me.

"How long has it been?"

"I'd say...around twenty seconds?"

"That's the longest I've never been struck by your spear so far."

My body, still reinforced, does its best to push Lancer away. Lancer this time uses her full body weight onto the spear. I can't hold this up much longer. If I had to guess, I can only keep this up for another ten seconds before her strength overwhelms mine and I'll get hit by her spear.

However…

My vision changes. Lancer is now wearing something different from before. This looks like something that was common to wear a long time ago… What the heck? My spear changes to a dark red color. This is the same spear from before when I tried to project it. I'm in the same position as before, attempting to push Lancer off of me.

"You're doing great, Cu Chulainn."

Cu Chulainn…?

The vision in front of me wavers as the spear collides towards my face. It's like glass shattering in front of me. I lost the clash. I was going to lose anyway. I can't match a Servant.

"Agh!"

I drop my weapon and rolled to the side. That hurts. Lancer stands up and looks at me.

"Exactly thirty seconds. Good job, you didn't get hit by my spear for that long. I won't count the leg sweep."

I'm sure I could've survived longer if I didn't have that vision… Who is Cu Chulainn? That doesn't sound like an average name…

"We can rest for a few minutes if you'd like."

"It'll help."

I feel my face… No broken bones. Just bruises. Lancer will take care of that with her runes. I'm not missing any teeth either. That's good. Looks like Reinforcement did help.

"Lancer… I need help. I can barely move my body. I think I used up all my energy sparring with you."

She lifts me up and carries me to the wall. I manage to lay my back against the wall and drink some water.

"You know…"

"Hm?"

"The stance you took. The attacks you did. Those were like one of my previous students. No, it was indeed exactly how my student would try and attack. And here I thought you never had any skill in close-combat weapons."

Lancer gives out a small chuckle. So I was like one of her students...

"It didn't feel like I was moving at all. It's like my body was acting on its own. I thought to myself that I can't block your attacks yet somehow I did for a while."

"It surprised me too. You can't see my attacks because I'm too fast, right? But somehow you were able to fend me off for a bit. Anyways, we're almost done."

She stands up and hands me two short swords. I stand up as well. We both walk to the center. I take up another stance I don't know of. I hold both swords to the side of me. I see a glimpse of red. This is getting weird...

"Are you okay?" She asks me.

"Yeah… I'm fine. Let's begin. Shall I take the first move, or would you?"

"If you want to, sure."

She takes up her usual stance. I take the first move. I step forward and put everything I got into this one attack. I kick the ground and swing at Lancer with the sword in my right hand. She deflects the strike however. I ignore it. I thrust the sword in my other hand in response. She repels my other strike. Now she goes on the offense. She starts thrusting at speeds that I can't see. If this was our first session, then I'd be hit instantly. But I know how she attacks, enough to get out of this range. I've gone through a lot of sparring sessions with her today, I'm picking up on how she'll attack. So I have to predict where she'd strike like the first time.

I leave a fatal opening. She attacks, seizing the chance. Knowing that she'll strike there, I parry the blow and take quick steps backwards to get out of her range.

"Looks like you're picking up how I fight."

Even though I was able to predict where she'd attack, this only gives me a small window to relax. She can cover the distance between us in under a few second. I need to plan out what to do in the next few seconds. If leaving openings in my attacks can lead me to escape her range, perhaps I can use that to my advantage? It's a suicidal way to fight, but it doesn't hurts to try. I hold the swords in front of me, crossing them.

"I wouldn't be a good student if I'm not able to keep up with the teacher, right?"

"That's the spirit!"

She covers the distance between us. I step forward and take another swing. She blocks the attack. We're right at the beginning again with her attacking with vicious precision, as I barely manage to parry all the attacks. Leaving openings which she takes advantage of, and I parry. My mind reads steps ahead, to make sure I won't get hit by her spear for another second.

"I see what you're doing. This is suicidal you know? Leaving openings for me to strike, ensuring that you'll survive for another second."

She already figured out my plan. I shouldn't be surprised, she's a teacher after all.

"Ha… Well, it's working right?"

I avoid another blow that could've struck me. It's been at least thirty seconds.

"I thought you'd be more skilled with a spear. But it looks like that style you're using is right for you even though it's reckless."

Even though it's reckless, it's working. So I know I could last a minute using this technique. I can't see her attacks, but I can predict where she'll attack, strike there, and repeat. The only actions I was able to do was when she let me attack. I can't get any counterattacks in, because if I try to attack her once, I'll be disarmed in an instant. Putting more force into it, she swings at my right hand. I move quickly to avoid the strike, though the force was strong enough that the weapon in my hand flew away. My right hand is now weaponless. The sword in my other hand being the only one remaining.

"Haa…!"

It's been forty seconds. I need to survive for another twenty seconds. Lancer takes a step forward, points her spear at my face and thrust at me. I can see it. Therefore, I can parry it. I move my left arm in the air at the same time she strikes me. Making sure that I can push the spear away, I use my other hand as support. With all my strength, I push her spear upwards.

"What?!"

Lancer is shocked. That's not it though. With her great dexterity, she pushes her lance downwards, moving my hand from head to waist level. It'll take a second for her to recover.

"Ha!"

I step forward, and slash horizontally. All I swing at is the air. Lancer moved from her spot. Her agility is top notch and I didn't take that into account when attacking. Even though she needs to recover from her attacks, that speed of hers cancels that out entirely.

"Ah-"

A force from behind. My spine is struck. Even though I reinforced my whole body to minimize injuries, that doesn't stop me from feeling the full force. I'm launched forward. My body hits the wall of the dojo and I land backwards, facing the ceiling.

"I failed…"

Footsteps approach. I see Lancer looking down on me.

"Forty-five seconds. So close, Emiya. So close."

She leaves her hand out for me. I reach out to grab it and lift myself up.

"My back hurts…"

"That's something you just have to deal with when I'm your teacher. I really was trying my best not to kill you."

"How did I do?"

"Not bad. In the end, your recklessness costed you though. Be less cocky."

"I'm not cocky at all. I just did my best to take advantage of an opportunity."

"From the looks of it. You got ahead of yourself and thought that you would be able to strike me. You should know that even if you exploit an opening, that you will need to be cautious and think about all the possibilities of your actions. Sure, you might hit them, but you might also be baited into attacking and you'll be hit by a surprise attack."

"This means that you knew I was going to attack, right?"

"Whenever I fight, my mind goes through multiple scenarios in my head and I take the best option. If that doesn't work, I'll take the second best option and so forth."

That sounds awfully familiar to what I was doing… Thinking ahead of multiple steps to ensure survival. What did I do back then? When I dual wield, it's like I knew what I was doing. I never did that in my life. I know I spar with Taiga a couple of times with the kendo sticks I have, but my mind wasn't working like that.

"Forty-five seconds is now your highest. Congrats Emiya. Should we celebrate after practice?"

"I don't mind...Anything else you could tell me about our sessions?"

"I believe I told you everything so far. As long as we keep this up, you should be able to make some large strides in terms of melee combat. Shall we practice your Projection now?"

"Let me just rest for a bit…"

My body is now in better shape post-training. Thanks to Lancer's rune magic healing me, my body isn't bruised up like before. Now that I'm in better condition, I can begin magic training. Our backs are both towards the wall as we're both sitting down.

"So what are we going to do, Lancer?"

"Give me a minute to think...Due to your origin and element, I'd need to change my usual routine. It wouldn't work with you."

We're both still in the dojo. We'd be in the shed, but Lancer believes that there's not enough space to practice my projection magic.

"Okay, I think I know what you can be taught. If you can recreate Berserker's weapon...Perhaps your power is weapon creation. Or perhaps instead of creation, it's replication?"

Her right index finger is underneath her chin, while placing her right elbow on her left hand. She's looking right at the ceiling. Lancer seems to be deep in thought right now…

"If it's truly weapon replication...Maybe we can try out an experiment?"

Her spear appears in her hand. I remember looking at it nights ago. But I haven't seen it this close before…

"Let's see you try to project this weapon. If you could create Berserker's axe-sword, then projecting my spear wouldn't be an issue, no?"

I wish I could tell her that I did infact project a spear earlier today. But I think telling her that I projected a weapon from a dream isn't the wisest idea right now.

"Wait, how am I supposed to project your weapon? It's not a sword…"

"I know it's not a sword. But perhaps your origin "Sword" means something more than sword? What I'm trying to say is, we won't know till you try. If it's just Sword, it could mean anything. After all, isn't that what scientists do? Experiment? Try new things till they succeed? The same applies to magecraft."

She has a point. Even though I do know that I can project other than swords, she doesn't know that. Still, I had difficulties projecting a spear, it's still doable. But the circumstances are different. I attempted projecting something in my dreams. This is in real life. And if that's the difference…

"Mind if I get to hold your weapon, Lancer?"

She hands me her spear. I start to feel the weapon. The spear I projected earlier has a similar feel to it. This weight is hefty. It's weight has a familiar feel to this just like that weapon from before?

"It says something about your character when you have a large interest in a pointy stick."

She really does love to tease me. Anyways, I should really get to Projection. A firing hammer goes down in my head. Using my trigger, I turn on my circuits. All twenty-seven of my circuits are now awake. I can feel the mana flow through my body as it heats up a bit.

"Trace, on."

My left hand which was curled in a fist is now relaxed. I'll be projecting, so I'd need to direct all my attention to this single action. The image of Lancer's spear is in my mind. Eight steps I don't know is suddenly flowing through my brain.

Judging the concept of creation.

Hypothesizing the basic structure.

Duplicating the composition material.

Imitating the skill of its making.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.

Reproducing the accumulated years

Excelling every manufacturing process.

This was made specifically because the user needed a weapon.

This is a spear that is similar in shape to the one that I had projected earlier.

Made from the remains of a sea beast.

Forged to be used in battle.

This has over a thousand years of experience.

And in all those years this had been used to kill many things.

So I have to recreate it.

"Guh...kuh...Ah...Ahh..."

This isn't difficult. It's only a mere imitation. This a battle of myself. I breath in and out and the cycle repeats itself. I need to make it real. It needs to be good enough that even I can't tell the fake and the original apart. This is just a fake. I bind the illusion and replicate the spear!

I grip the spear that has now appeared in my left hand. It feels light. This is a much better projection than earlier today, but it still feels flawed. A spear and a sword are both similar, but they're not the same thing. I have to go through more effort to project something other than a sword, since projecting Archer's swords was much easier.

"Emiya…"

My heart beats fast. I used up a lot of my concentration to focus on that one task. My body is hot. There's a warm feeling to it. I shouldn't be surprised, using magic circuits heats up your body. I hand both the original and the copy to Lancer.

"This is merely a replica. But there's something about it which is similar to my own spear. The shape is the same, so is the weight and length. If I didn't know magic, I would mistake this as the real thing. There's a term to call those who are skilled in Projection: Faker. You might be able to do better in others in Reinforcement if you're successful casting the spell, but this projected copy is leagues above others I've seen, even my own usage of said spell."

My mind's still in scramble after projecting her spear.

"Hm?"

"You're not listening to me are you? Or are you focused on something else?"

"Ah. No that's not it I…"

I can't project spears as well as I can do for swords. I barely projected the spear I saw in my dreams earlier this morning. This is even harder.

"...I can't project spears as well as I can do swords. That projection is much difficult to do that what I did previously."

"Previously? You mean against Berserker?"

"No."

Wait. Did I ever told her I tried projecting Archer swords earlier?

"Is there something you're not telling me?"

I can't lie to her.

"Um. Well, remember how I said earlier I was practicing my magic?"

Lancer nods her head.

"Well. I projected Berserker's sword, so I figured I'd try projecting other weapons."

"And?"

"I projected Archer's swords."

"Ah…"

I think back earlier in the day.

Now, if I can project that spear, perhaps I could project Archer's swords?

Projecting his swords took less of a toll on my body than the spear. When I tried them out, it just felt natural to me.

"If you say you projected Archer's swords…"

She stands up weapon in hand.

"Perhaps we could do one more spar using a projection of yours?"

I thought we were done sparring? Agh. I need to learn to keep my mouth shut. I still have some mana left in me that I can afford to project a few more times.

"Trace, on."

I turn on my circuits and the image of Archer's swords is in my mind. His weapon now appear in my hands.

"Come on! Show me what you got!"

I don't know why she's into fighting. I bet it's just her bloodlust as a warrior, and that's still a scary thing.

"Why do I have a feeling this will turn out worse than our previous session…"

"Will I take the first action, or you?"

"I'll go first, Lancer."

Throwing everything I have into this one attack, I step forward and take aim at Lancer.

"Master?"

Assassin knocks on a door at the Ryuudou Temple. The man who opens the door is a half European and Middle Easterner.

"You have returned, Assassin?"

"Yes. I have news for you regarding the other Masters… I believe we have another Master who goes to the school."

"And how would you know?"

"Someone referred to someone as a Master. I had only a small glimpse of her, but I believe she's another Servant who's masquerading as a teacher at the school."

"I see… Even though you're not Caster, perhaps summoning an Assassin isn't that bad either."

"Do you have any plans as to what to do about the Servant?"

"I do. Here's what I think we should do…"

A/N: Sorry for the late update, I had a lot of testing these past few weeks. I like to apologize if there's any errors, let me know if there are any. I checked this chapter thoroughly but I still make mistakes and would like to improve as a writer. Any review, both praise and criticisms are welcome. Summer break is almost here, so I should be able to have regular updates again soon, but that's no guarantee.

Lots of things happened in this chapter, and I have a few things planned out in mind for future ones, so watch out for that!