Fate/Academy: Episode 5

*Athenox is in Mr.'s first year survival class. Pretty much all of the first year members of the Elite Combat Team are here as well. Scene 1.*

"I hope everyone had a great weekend to prepare for the first week of classes. Especially after your freshman orientation and combat tests. As you all know from reading your schedules, this is first year survival training. Anyone whose schedule does not say that, please come up and show me and I will write you a pass." Mr. continues to over explain basic procedures and operations of how to read and write as he goes over the class syllabus.

I was so excited to fight today. I sparred so much with Alex over the weekend to have a better understanding of how a Lancer attacks and I am ready. Apparently however, the school administration doesn't hold official fights until the end of the day and we are currently only in our third class out of seven. From what the upperclassmen have told me, the reason for this is in case someone where to get injured. So they do not miss any of their other classes for the day. It makes sense but it is not the best thing to sit through given that most of this courses knowledge is not new to me and I learned it at my middle school in Undercity.

"Athenox." Mr. says to me to get my attention.

"Huh? Yes Mr.?"

"Since you looked so deeply focused on the material of this class. I will have you answer this question."

"Certainly."

"What did I just get done saying was in this box?" He points at an aggressively shaking box on his desk.

"A corrupted spirit creature, or known in some regions as corruption or curse, and due to the size of the box and the creatures urgent desire to want out of the box to start killing and corrupting. I would say that it is a wild animal spirit like a wolf or lion."

"Wow, you could have just stopped at corrupted spirit but I am impressed given that I only declared it as a corrupted spirit. Your astounding level of knowledge in this area is appreciated but your ability to listen would be much more so."

"Showoff. How does he even know that?" Luke mutters loudly from his desk.

I suppose that I could get up in front of the class and upstage his lack of knowledge on corrupted spirits that comes from him never having actually fought any in his life, but honestly I just want class to be over.

"Mr. Matou, since you do not know how to mutter any quieter. Please attempt to explain what a corrupted spirit is."

"How are we supposed to know? They have existed since before recorded history." Luke responds.

"I might have even accepted that answer around 980,000 years ago, but since it is mostly common knowledge that in our recovery of numerous artifacts and magical analysis we have figured out that… Yes Ms. Tohsaka?"

"That spirits are the magical essences of the souls of living things who had died before the event referred to commonly in many text found after as the cursing, even though it is nearly impossible to find any text before that explain the cause of the event or the immediate after effects…"

"Thank you, Ms. Tohsaka. That is quite enough. I am not going to go in to a history lecture because I am sure that Mrs. Muluroma either has or will have given you that lecture by the end of the day. Oh!" Mr. looks at the clock.

"It seems as if we will have to wait until tomorrow to finish the demonstration. Class is dismissed." I walk out of class hoping he wasn't about to perform a live dissection.

*Mrs. is in a room full of what appear to be computer server mainframe that are flowing and pulsating with magical energy. Scene 2.*

"So Mrs. Lanslac, is there something that displeases you about the randomization system that we use?" Mr. Ambronensis asks while Mrs. is typing on a computer terminal.

"I do in fact. I do not think that it would be fair to put someone else at the mercy of fighting one of my well trained students on the combat team. So I am assigning all of the team members to fight each other, to give them an actual challenge compared to an average student."

"That is a lot of confidence that you have in your team. I guess I will have to keep that in mind when planning any upcoming student combat events. Or is it maybe because of that irregularity that you have on the team? Are you possibly trying to help him because he is a fellow void mage to you? I know you wouldn't risk your job being so sentimental to a student that you haven't even known or taught for a week? Fine I will trust your judgement in evaluating your students this time, but if you feel the need to make changes to events in the future. Then I suggest you let me know about it before you make them and not after when I catch you making the change. Are we clear?"

"Yes Mr. Ambro, we are very clear." Mr. Ambro walks out of the room.

"I have done all I can to help you today. The rest is going to be up to you, Athenox."

*Due to this being the first test for the entire student body of Avalon Academy. The floor of the arenas on the 4th floor and the ceiling of the auditorium on the 3rd floor have been opened up to provide extra seating for students waiting for their fight and extra space for more arenas to allow for more fights. Athenox and the other freshman are in a section of the auditorium with the possibly the worst seating to view the matches from and are waiting to be called up. Scene 3.*

"Do any of you guys think that the arenas are in a very dangerous configuration to fight someone in, because couldn't someone fall off?"

"Yeah I was a little worried about that, myself but Eric and Connor explained that when the reality marbles are bounded around the arenas they have a magic barrier that would prevent anyone from leaving the arena through any other means than being teleported out when the match is over." Devin insists.

"Well that is good to know." I say with a partial sense of relief.

However, I do not think that being enclosed with a mage that you are bound to get destroyed by with the only way of escape is to be defeated is a comforting thought. I would almost rather take a dive off of the side of the arena.

"So do you have any ideas about who you would possibly have to fight today?" Alex asks us.

"I already know it is going to be an Assassin and looking at any of the candidates doesn't make me feel better. I couldn't even think about trying to fight any Assassin on the team. They are all so skilled. It was impossible to try to keep up with you, Miraldes. Your speed combined with your gloves makes you a force to be reckoned with." Devin says.

"Oh come on. It wasn't that bad. My gloves, Járngreipr can only do so much damage when you manage to catch them with your blades." Miraldes responds.

"I couldn't even imagine if you were to fight against our teams other freshman Assassin, Gabriel. I have never gotten a chance to see him fight yet, but Micheal was telling me the other day that his weapons are called the Ripper Knives. He seems to also have a lot of presence concealment magic under the shadow affinity. That with his speed would make him a real challenge to fight, considering you wouldn't be able to see him until he has already started to attack."

"Well then please don't let me have to fight him." Devin makes hand gestures closely associated with praying or pleading.

"What do you think Athenox, I know you are probably going to have a tough time against a Lancer since they can attack just as fast as you with a larger attack range. Plus your limited mobility." Alex lists at great lengths the ways in which I will likely not win against a Lancer mage.

"You know you say limited mobility like I am a stationary target who can only move a few meters before running out of breath. I can run the short distances required to evade most standard attacks. My biggest problem will be the weapon. Most lances can attack from about twice the length of my sword, even more if they use a thrown ability. Not to mention that Lancers are a physical attack class just like Sabers, Berserkers, and most Assassins. So I won't have an advantage with my physical enhancement magic."

Not to mention the fact that I have not even tried to use my enhancement magic yet, so I do not even know if I can at this point. I do of course have those void abilities I discovered from sparring with Mrs., but I haven't been able to train with them since so they are questionable as well. Compared to the enhancement magic I at least know that void works so I will have to use it. I feel confident enough with my sword to activate it properly.

"You seem to know what you are doing, and you could always see my empowered strikes coming. If training with Mrs. did go well enough then you should have figured out a few void abilities, Right?"

"They are too volatile to rely on in real combat, but I will manage. I feel worse for you guys, because you have no way of knowing what you are going to have to fight until you get in the arena. Sabers can at least go off of what class they fighting. You guys may be fighting a Saber or you may be someone's second or in worst case third lowest class. That will require some real on the spot strategizing and your advantages will be really small." The marks on Devin's and Miraldes's I.D. start glowing.

"It looks like I am up." Devin says.

"Me too." Miraldes says.

"Good luck, Miraldes."

"You too, Devin." They get teleported up to the arenas and from here we cannot tell which of the arenas they went to.

"Can you guys see them on one of the display screens?"

"You are not going to believe this. Look!" Adam points at one of the screens.

They are on the same arena.

They are going to have to fight each other.

We tune into it and can hear bickering between the two.

"We are fighting each other?" Devin says.

"It is random after all. I just hope that you take the defeat before it gets too painful for you. Forfeiting is always an option." Miraldes proudly states.

"Forfeiting? Why would I Forfeit? I am going to win, and also I take back my good luck because you don't need it." Devin says offended.

"You are right about that. I can defeat you without luck." Miraldes charges at Devin.

"That is not what I meant, but fine." Devin starts to charge in on Miraldes. They clash and Devin manages to withstand the pounding and send Miraldes back.

"You know until just a minute ago they were respectful friends to each other."

"Yeah but considering that our first grade is on the line. The first assignment that will adjust our school rankings. Between matches like these and our participation in class it will determine who has the highest grades amongst the freshman class."

Miraldes starts to empower her gloves as electric energy is conducted from her gloves. Her speed nearly doubles as she runs towards Devin.

"This may be a fast match for Devin." Alex says.

"Devin seems to be handling himself pretty well." Adam says.

Devin summons a black bull with a purple and red saddle and then starts riding it.

"He seems to have found a clear counter to Miraldes's increased movement speed. He summoned a spirit beast to ride. This allows him to move almost as fast as Miraldes without draining his body physically. The only downside is the mana drain required to summon and ride the bull for a prolonged amounts of time. Considering Devin is pulling off an ability from his second class, and not his first. However the lightning that is erupting from the bulls feet seems to be creating a field that negates a great deal of the electricity from Miraldes and the force the bull generates from stomping may be enough to knock her off of her feet."

"Yeah but do you think that one bull spirit is enough to outrun or negate Miraldes?"

"If anything this is a stall tactic to give him time to think. He can't really charge in with the bull because it would use up the entirety of the magic energy he put into it all at once and it would disappear which would put him back at his normal speed."

"How long do you plan to keep this up? Other people have to duel on this arena also." Miraldes taunts Devin.

She is able to keep up with the bull just fine, but she isn't getting close. I have to wager it is because Devin was right. The bull's electrical interference is actually keeping Miraldes on her toes. If Devin can realize that then all he would have to do is run the bull into her and while she is weakened from the lightning pulses unleash a series of attacks. Miraldes would rapidly regain the advantage so if he couldn't finish her off in one set of attacks, then she would be able to catch his blades or even disarm him completely. All that is left would be a knockout.

"How long do you plan to be so evasive?" Devin asks back.

"You're the one running though!" She says.

"Do something about it then!" He says.

"Fine I will!"

She jumps into the air and slams her fists into the ground creating a shockwave that pulses across the whole arena and disrupts the bull's, which causes it to diffuse. That sends Devin sliding into the ground. Before he can regain his bearings, Miraldes gut punches him. The shock knocks him unconscious. Miraldes is declared the winner. She ports back to where we are sitting. At that moment mine and Alex's I.D. tags start to glow.

"Um, Miraldes. Can you go check on Devin in the infirmary? So you can make sure that you didn't kill him. When we get done with our matches we will be right there."

"He isn't hurt that bad. The arena took most of the damage."

"I am more referring to his psychological state, but that gut punch at the end probably didn't help."

"Fine. I will see you all there. Good luck."

"Thank you." Alex and I say back simultaneously.

Based on the match that just happened I cannot help but get the feeling that I know who my opponent is already. When I flash into the arena, it is not as surprising that Alex is in front of me.

"Something doesn't seem right about the match randomization system. Not that there is anything we can do about it right now."

"I agree. Besides, we never got to go full force in our sparring matches. Now we can see who has more skill."

I put my gloves on so that I will be able to have a better control over my magic.

"It will be an honor to truly find out what you are capable of."

"Likewise."

"Sword staff of the Blue River!" He shouts as the weapon appears in his hands.

He told me that it was a modified summoning of the weapon. He learned to modify it at a young age to better suit his family's well trained fighting style, taught to him by his father who is the currently one of the head trainers at the Grand South E.A.S.T. academy which is the leading high school for all air magicians. He didn't tell me why he choose to come here instead, but that is not important.

"Caliburn, Dark Sword of Determination!" The blade appears in my hand without the cloaking enchant.

It is not useful in this fight, because he has already seen it before when we were sparring. Our weapons at the ready, we charge straight for one another. The exchanging of strikes begins. The length of his staff allows him with more attack range and the placement of his hands on the weapon allow him to control the strikes better. He is empowering his weapon. I can feel the air magic going into the staff, which seems to speed up his strikes. I would not be able to keep up if not for my own attack speed. He then attacks with a heavy sweeping strike. I manage to lean back and avoid it. If I would have taken it head on, then the force of the attack would sent me flying. I take advantage of the apparent opening left by the strike. I charge in only to be caught by the back of the spear.

"I have trained most of my life to master this weapon. I am used to its weight and will not be staggered back from my own attack."

It is also worth mentioning that he didn't stagger just because of his skill, but that did help. He took advantage of the properties of air magical energy. When empowering the staff with it, his staff probably got lighter. The one thing he is unable to do however, is to generate enough force with the back if the spear to force me back. I shouldn't try to give up my ground in order to counter attack. He would be able to strike me at least two times before I would be out of his weapons range.

"This may not be the best time to ask this, but what is with your gloves? You used them against Luke on the first day of school, and you are wearing them now against me. So what are they for?"

"Not it is fine. These gloves are a very special part of my magical training. Or at least they were before I became a void mage. They are not anywhere near as powerful as Miraldes's, but I can use them in a unique way. Honestly though, they are not going to be much help against a melee fighter like you. The fact that I could reliably use them against Luke for so long was miracle and had he not drained his mana so quickly and kept fighting, I may have lost that fight."

I have yet to try them with my void power but I was only intending to use them to control my magic flow. The air magic makes his weapon too fast and sharp to catch and disarm him. His mana and intelligence is also much greater than that of Luke's so trying to trying to force a mana drain is impossible. I start to empower the blade and disengage from the staff, but instead of leaping straight back I throw my weapon over his head. I then rush along the mana trail of my blade and catch it as I appear behind Alex, catching another one of his strikes. This puts us back in a standstill. This is better than him having his full attack range, because I have a feeling that his full empowerment will take full advantage of that.

"That was a very unique move that you just did. Displacement like that is barely even possible by mastered air magic users at the top of the faction. My father is a different story." Alex says as he is sure of himself.

He rushes behind me and kicks me back. He has his attack range again. I wasn't paying close enough attention to his mana flow. It just spiked. I need to prevent whatever he does next, especially if he uses his full empowerment. His staff. He is starting to empower it, but he is not rushing in for a strike. He starts to spin the staff in the air which creates a massive downward draft that sends me back into the wall. I need to escape it, and there is so much mana in the air now that I can displace again if I need to. He currently thinks that displacing like that is the only ability I have, or at least it is the only ability he can expect. With his air magic, it seems as if he can counter it also. I have an idea.

"Master your own blade before you go and take someone else's" Mrs.'s advice runs through my head.

I remember what Mrs. told me before, but that will be the best way to gain an advantage over him. I will use my void abilities to directly counter him. I trace the mana through the air and into the damaged parts of his weapon summoning I created from my earlier strikes. He has not absorbed it in quite the same fashion like Mrs. did but it should be enough. His weapon is a modified summon of a sword. Its name is the Sword of the Blue River, and it is a katana, which is a two handed sword designed for fast and skilled strikes instead of heavy powerful swings. I map out all of the information I have on the blade in my head. I reach my hand out and the blade appears before me. The sight of it seems to have stopped Alex in the middle of his torrent.

"How did you?" He asks as he is standing there shocked.

I could end it now, but I think that would be a little harsh considering I just took the blade from right out of his hands, technically.

"It is one of those volatile void abilities I told you that I had earlier. I traced the mana in the air and the mana from my blade into your staff from when our weapons clashed. I could then map out the structure of your blade and reproduce it, however I summoned it in its original form. Although because of my inexperience, I was only able to do so because of all that you told me about it when we were sparring this weekend."

"I am impressed. If you truly wish to face me with my own weapon, then so be it." He tosses the staff aside and it disappears.

"Sword of the Blue River!" The blade appears in his hand like a flurry of wind.

It looks cleaner and sharper in his hands, compared to the one I summoned in my hand which has taken on slightly darker purple tone. It looks to be in better shape structurally as well. I look at my copy. It is harder to gauge this blade since I have never used it before but I would say it sit around 65% integrity and Alex's is close to about 80% only so low because he doesn't usually maintain the summon in this form. Mine is just below the point where I could use the full empowerment on it, not that I know how to anyway. The blade probably also would not let me anyway since my mana type does not match.

"Just because my fighting style does not take advantage of a two handed sword style does not mean that I am unfamiliar or untrained with it, in fact it is easier to activate my full empowerment this way. I think I would even be right to say that, in terms of curved blades, I probably have more skill than you."

"You would be correct as I have no formal training in curved blades, due to my lack of interest in their curved construction. I do however know that it doesn't take much to perform a proper swing with one that has been that has been summoned with air magic. I would even wager that I could swing with a second one in my other hand."

I reach out and create another Sword of the Blue River. I modified the summoning so easily? I didn't expect it work so well. I only thought that is worked for Mrs.'s weapons because I was modifying preexisting swords in the reality marble. This may give me the upper hand.

"It is time to end this, Athenox." The amount of mana in his blade is at its limit.

This is definitely his full empowered ability. If I can manage to dodge it then I will easily be able to overpower him and finish it. As the attack starts and I close in, I sense something weird in his attack pattern.

"Quantum Strike…" He raises his blade.

My detection can't be right. If it were than I would have to block from three directions. I can't doubt it. His affinity is air so it is possible that he is manipulating the air around him to cause his blade to appear in three locations at once. I cannot discern which one is real of if they all are, so this is my best option.

"Swallow Reversal!" The blade lowers.

I use my two blades to deflect the side strikes, while I jump in the air and catch the downward strike with my foot. Leaping over Alex and unleashing an attempted flurry of strikes with the blades. Dropping him to his knees. Within that one second I may have moved faster than I have ever had to move in my life. I may have even stopped breathing. The board overhead announces that I am the winner and Alex is teleported out of the arena to the Infirmary for a checkup, not that I think I did a lot of damage to him but I could not tell. I am teleported out of the arena back to where our seats were. It seems as if Adam has already been teleported to his match. I will send him a message telling him that we are going to see if Devin is still in the infirmary. Even though he may have already figured out how Alex got there.

*Through either one of two different methods, our group has ended up in the infirmary. Devin seems to be okay now, and Alex should be okay in a few hours. Scene 4.*

"Athenox we watched your match with Alex, and we couldn't really see how it ended. We watched it but it too fast. One second you were against the wall of the arena. The next you had his weapon in your hands. After that it seemed like you were behind him and he was down. So what happened?" Miraldes asks with a very confused look on her face as she herself was unable to interpret the events of my fight.

"My abilities seemed to have gotten the upper hand against his air affinity. I copied his blade and modified the summon allowing me to have two swords. Which I used against his final ability. Alex will explain it better when he wakes up, because I am honestly not quite sure how the attack worked myself. I just did my best to block it. Say were there any other worthwhile matches today." I ask the group

"Were there? There were a ton. Especially ones with our team members. I had to fight Luke. It wasn't too bad and I could trick him fairly easy. Jane went up against Macy, but I think Mary got the worst deal out of all of us. She had to fight against Justin." Adam explains.

"Wait what? That match shouldn't have happened under the randomization system. They are both Saber mages." I reply.

"Yeah she didn't understand it either, but the referees didn't intervene. She tried her best but Ea was just too much for her. She took a lot of serious damage in the fight. Justin won in an almost instantaneous victory." The explanation continues.

"Where is she? I need to go talk to her." I say.

"She is a few rooms down the hall. Why do you need to talk to her?" Miraldes answers me.

"Because as of right now, only two people in the school have gone head to head against Justin von Einzbern and his phantasm. It takes a lot out of you even if you win, and a lot more if you do not."

I walk out of the room and find the room where she is. When I walk in, the three Tohsaka sisters are in the room. Mary is lying in the bed and Sarah and Jane are sitting in chairs.

"What are you doing in here?" Sarah asks abruptly.

"I heard what happened."

"So, what is your point? There is not much about it that can be done now. She already lost." Sarah states.

"That may be but you are probably unaware of how the fight played out. Aren't you?"

"What do you mean?" Jane asks.

"There is no such thing as a fair fight when it comes to Justin. He doesn't hold back, and he does not concern himself with the well being of others. He only sees himself as the best and everyone he views beneath him is not worth his time. Should you try to make a move against him, and his sword will have made at least fifty swords project toward you with enough speed to skewer you and leave you riddled with holes. While he may be a Saber mage, he does not act with a code of honor for handling your blade that is taught by most disciplines. His training is to use the sword like that of a rapier but he never even strikes against foes he claims worthy. So I imagine that after the referees ignored the call that this match shouldn't have happened. She charged in with her sword, made it about half the distance of the arena before he opened up on her and didn't stop until she wasn't moving at all, and then had to be teleported out immediately because the damage she took was too much for the arenas field to absorb."

"How did you know that? Did you watch the match?" Jane asks in shock as she pulls up the match results on a screen in the room.

"He is right." Mary says as she tries to raise her head up. Wincing in pain at every attempt.

"Oh Mary, please lay back down and rest so that you can regain your energy."

"I didn't need to watch the match. I myself have seen it firsthand, and even fought against it so that others could escape. Also judging by her condition he used one of the blades special abilities. In addition to projecting swords, the blade is also capable of producing chains that can bind enemies and leave them stuck as it drains magic energy out of their target. It has a stronger affect depending on how powerful the user's phantasm weapon happens to be, especially against light magic."

"The doctors didn't even know what had happened. They didn't know how a physically damaging attack could have left her so mana drained."

"I never got to see her use her weapon, but it looks like it is a powerful one if it had to take this much damage. May I ask what it is?"

"It is a powerful weapon but I do not think that we should just be throwing that information out there like that to someone like you. What if in some other match you have to fight her? She would have already told you and then you could just do the same thing that Justin did."

"It is not my nature to take unfair advantages against people, and even if it were. I would be forsaking my own honor."

"Honor? Aubrey told me that you come from Undercity, and so is Justin. How can someone who comes from there know anything about honor?" Sarah keeps pressing.

"I am just going to right that off as your concern for your sister. I ask because if I more about what the weapon is, then I can try and mitigate the injuries that she has."

"So what, first you're a knight and know you are a healer? What is next? Are you going to tell me that you use a bow and make rainbows?" Sarah knows how to be mean.

Although I cannot specifically decipher the part about rainbows or bows.

"I think we should let him try to help. If he has expertise on the type of injuries that Mary received from Justin, then it would be a waste to not use it. Since he is offering. If Mary is okay with it?"

Not long after she says that, Mary summons her weapon in the air while she is laying down. I catch it before getting a full look at it. I am in shock as I find out that it is cloaked, just like my blade when I do not say its name.

"Well I guess that is one compromise." Jane says.

I grip the blade by the handle.

"A cloaking enchant? I guess I can work around it."

"What are you possibly going to do with it?"

"You would have a better clue if you were a Saber mage. Unlike Casters or even Archers, who can free flow their mana into projectiles. Sabers can easily transfer mana through their hands into their blade, almost passively as we use it and more actively when we empower the weapon. I am using my mana to detect her mana and the damage Justin inflicted with the mana from his sword."

"Uh oh." I say out loud.

"It is holy mana so what is the big deal?"

"I know that. I am trying to… I apologize."

"Apologize for what exactly?"

"My mana is void, which from what I have found out that means it can absorb or analyze other magic."

"I still do not get what that means." She replies as a bright flash of light erupts from the sword causing the cloaking enchantment to break and leave behind the full appearance of the sword.

"It means that even before the enchantment broke, I still was able to see the sword upon using my mana on it, and then while I was trying to absorb the damage from the blade that took the form of fragments of his mana in the weapon, I also absorbed the cloaking enchant. "

"You can't be serious, can you? You had one job. Which was to fix my sister and not have her blade revealed in the process. I think you should leave now."

"No, that is not necessary Sarah." Mary speaks as she sits up in the bed.

"How did you do that?" Jane asks.

"It was a bit of a gamble but since void can absorb magic energy, and a Sabers blade is the core of their magic energy as all phantasm weapons are summoned from the user's soul. The damage he did to her with the chains was severe because of what the blade is. The holy magic from her soul in a physical form, nearly considered divine. Which is what his chains are the most effective against. It is the reason that the holy council keeps their distance from Undercity. The Von Einzbern's are known for tricks like this. It is all my father can do to keep them in check, but no one can legally stop one of their spawn from attending a neutral academy of his own accord. Especially if he puts on a face for the admission boards."

"Wait did you say that you absorbed the damage?"

"Yes that is correct." I say.

Immediately, I drop to my knees.

"I have a much stronger resistance to it because I am not of holy magic descent. I am again very sorry about your blade. I promise not to tell anyone about it."

"It is fine but I have to ask. Have you seen the blade before?" Mary says.

"Everyone has heard about it at least by reputation and the inciting the name of the weapon alone is enough to cause people to rethink their actions. I myself would not even feel right by saying it out loud. It is perhaps one of the best swords known to mankind. Its legend survived the cursing and was one of the first recovered pieces of history. Not to mention that it is probably the most sought after models for a Saber mages phantasm weapon."

"You seem to know a lot about it. Do you know who wielded it?"

"Not even I know that one. While all of our weapons are weapons given to us from what we believe to be past fighters or heroes of long ago, not many weapons have been successful of having their original wielder identified. The recorded history just is not clear enough, and the only reason that we know of their names is because of the impulse the weapons send us when we summon them. One of the few exceptions are both in this room."

"What do you do, just sit around and stare at other people's weapons all day?"

"No but anyone who can read a newspaper would know about the Tohsaka family's heirloom phantasm weapons. The fact that a phantasm weapon can be kept track of and handed down for what is believed to be easily over a million years is an astounding accomplishment."

"I do suppose that our father does like to flaunt our family's status a little too much." Jane declares.

"I want to thank you properly, but we have never been introduced. I heard you name at the Team practice over the weekend and it sounded strange to me. Would you mind telling me?" Mary asks.

"Of course not. My name is Athenox Emiya, and if you need anything then I would be happy to help. Especially if you want revenge. I would be honored to show Justin why he should not be so reckless."

"I don't think that is necessary, but thank you Athenox."

"Yeah it would be kind of idiotic for you to pick a fight after the whole Luke incident. I would imagine that the Disciplinary Council has their eye all over you. Plus, you also said that you fought him before. He probably has gotten a lot stronger since then and you also got an entire new set of abilities from what Mrs. had said to Aubrey."

"Would you mind if I ask? Who is Aubrey?"

"Aubrey Kotomine is one of the team's co-presidents. Along with Clara Kaminski. Mrs. had told them and all of the upperclassmen about the results of your training."

"And I take it that they let it slip to their groups?"

My face is taking on a red shade of anger. I thought Mrs. would limit the number of people that this got to. Although this cannot really be her fault. She has no control over the mouths of her upperclassmen students, since they are free to say whatever they please in training. And if someone were to inquire about me, then they would feel obligated to inform them of my status.

"Oh come on. What are you so worried that we will find out? We are a team and we are going to find out sooner or later." Sarah says that but I would much prefer later as opposed to sooner.

"Why do you think we were so cautious about you seeing Mary's weapon? We didn't want you to find out about it. I honestly would have enjoyed seeing you faint in the arena."

They told them that much, but why? To be honest, then why didn't Alex know? Connor and Eric didn't tell my team. I see no benefit in excluding them from the loop if you were going to let the rest of the team in on it.

"And no, we are not going to show you our weapons either."

"You are assuming that I would have no way of getting the information required to supplement what I acquire through physical contact with the weapon. In fact the down side of being so famous and popular is that all of your progress and achievements get posted on the internet and printed in newspapers like I just said. However, I myself do not tend to show any interest in staffs, especially a flame staff like the Tohsaka Staff of Intense Flames. I myself may have a little interest in the Tohsaka Blade of Azoth, since it is well known for serving as a great conduit for magic energy conversion and I could even modify them to make them a nice pair of twin blades. If I were to start attempting to copy them even in matches against other opponents, then I am sure it would bring a great deal of honor to the Tohsaka family line. I could even claim that you let me see them."

"I am going to call your bluff because we already know that you can only copy a weapon that you can strike against. You copied Arondight after failing to summon your own weapon. More precisely it was not even a full copy since you had to modify a set of blades already summoned by Mrs.'s reality marble."

"You can't be certain since before today I didn't even know that I could modify the weapon summon. Go ahead and watch my match later. The point is I am not going to use my abilities to take advantage of people but since you insist that I must have some malicious intent just because of where I grew up and who my father is, then maybe I should. Now if you will excuse me, I have to talk to Mrs. about some real and more important matters." I rush out of the room.

I need to get full explanation about this. I want to know why. Why am I in this position? I need to know. I tried to be nice and help them, but all they could do was act defensively and keep me at arm's length.

*End of Episode 5.*