A/N: Author only speaks English and Spanish. I can only stare longingly at Irish Gaelic through a window. All Irish you see in this fic is courtesy of an English-Irish dictionary.


The time passing until evening allowed Hakuno to stabilize herself enough to continue forwards. It was the only thing a Master of her caliber could hope to do. Once more her terminal beeped. Notifying her that the primary cipher key had been generated. She remembered the malicious Father Kotomine mentioning triggers that had to be retrieved. "This must be one". Yet another step on a long road ahead to living through this hell. She was met at the bottom of the stairs by the very false priest she had been attempting to avoid. His smile of greeting was no more friendly or welcoming than it had been before.

"I am here to issue a warning and reminder to all Masters today. To repeat this point ad nauseam, combat between Masters is strictly forbidden within the Arena. If, for some reason, a fight occurs, the System will shut it down within two minutes". Two minutes before the supposedly all-powerful Moon Cell could intervene. Hakuno wondered why there was such a delay, but asking was likely not a smart move for her health. "Masters found to have instigated a fight will be issued a penalty. That is all" the priest finished his ominous warning with a cheerful smile, as if daring her to attempt to dare challenge the Moon Cell itself. That or underestimate what could be considered a penalty and try her luck regardless.

Hakuno wisely decided to go 'Nope' and instead focus her efforts on the Arena and the key hidden within. As if waiting for her, there stood Sakagami with a strangely confused look on his face. Like he could not figure out why he was standing in that particular spot in the hallway.

"I don't know why I bothered staying here. I suppose since we've crossed paths, I will warn you I am headed into the Arena now. Take it as an act of mercy." Shaking his head at himself, Sakagami stalked away.

Hakuno could not help but gape at his back as it vanished down the hallway. Was he really just waiting there for an opportunity to be a jerk? Really?

I know we're gonna fight to the death and all, but he's really taking being a bastard to a new level. Lancer's scowl twisted his words into a growl. I say we follow his punk ass and see what we can learn. Knowledge is half the battle.

Hakuno could work with that. Besides, she needed to train desperately, and the Arena was the only place to do that. Her steps echoed as they followed after her future opponent. The entrance of the Arena was empty, even as Lancer manifested visibly. His nose scrunched, reacting to something Hakuno could not sense.

"I smell them, Master. That guy and his Servant are not far from here. They've got a weird scent to 'em too. Earthy, and not in a good way. We've not missed our chance. Let's see what kind of Servant a punk like that has with him."

The answer was found not far into the area. There stood Sakagami and a Servant. She looked… like a normal high school girl. If normal high school girls had fox ears and matching tail. Really, there was no way to mistake her for anything else but a Servant.

"You're a disappointing match up so far. Strolling along with your Servant like you're out for a picnic and without a care in the world. Some people take this war seriously." The other Master's acerbic attitude was to be expected by now. "I've gotten the trigger already from this floor."

"Hey, Kazu-kun! Her Servant's a cutie! Can I play with them a bit?" The opposing Servant's eyes seemed to swallow Lancer whole.

Lancer shuddered in response. "Ugh. She reminds me of a certain desperate Queen."

"Don't call me Kazu-kun, Saber. But fine, have your fun. Just don't reveal too much while you're tossing them around."

"Got it~ 3"

"How did she just make a heart sound with her mouth?" Lancer grumbled, readying his spear even as he complained. Honestly, Hakuno was wondering the exact same thing. But questions of unholy speech abilities could come later. First, she had to be sure that Lancer would survive. Two minutes Hakuno. You can do this!

"Hey hey~ 3!" The Saber servant had a wild grin as she rushed in, leaping high and bringing her Katana down in a powerful overhead blow; the gleaming steel whistling as it descended.

"Blo-" she didn't even have to finish her order before her servant's crimson spear came up, the Katana meeting the shaft in a shower of sparks. Through their connection she saw he'd already been preparing to defend even before her, admittedly unnecessary, order.

"Huh, you actually survived that?" the Saber's fox tail swished eagerly, "Good, I'd hate to have to stop playing already!"

"Why do I keep running into weird women?" Lancer muttered, although Hakuno was positive her glare just had him smirking.

Little shit.

"Saber, stop playing and end this runt." Her opponent scoffed, barely even paying attention to the 'fight', although Hakuno wasn't sure she could blame Sakagami. Despite that good first block, it was clear that Lancer was being pushed back. Hakuno wasn't sure if the Saber was just stronger than her Lancer, if her opponents just had a better bond than she had with the blue haired man, or if it came down to her own deficiencies as a Master and Magus. Regardless, for every successful hit or block her Lancer seemed to make, the opposing Saber made three.

"You know, I had really hoped that I was done with crazy women after my ass after my first life ended." Lancer grunted, seemingly blinking as he vanished from one spot and reappeared behind Saber, thrusting his spear out as the fox eared girl ducked under the blow with contemptuous ease.

"Aaaaaw, is the little cutie upse-?" Saber's mocking question was cut off as Lancer's foot caught her side, sending her flying back and almost crashing into her master. If there was one factor on her side, it was that Lancer was definitely the more skilled of the two Servants when it came to sheer combat ability rather than base strength and speed.

"I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed." Her Servant smirked, "I'd say your dad probably said that a lot, but I get a 'didn't have a father figure growing up' vibe from you. That's what the school girl thing is for, isn't it? Still pining away and hoping Daddy will pay attention if you act out enough?" Another area he was better than Saber was the insults, all she did was cause secondhand embarrassment.

Despite landing a clean blow, and getting the best verbal dagger of the match, Lancer was clearly running low on energy because Hakuno was low on energy, only having so much she could provide.

"Pretty big talk from some chump who hits like a bitch." The fox eared girl actually looked upset at the digs on her persona. Something to keep in mind for later. As Saber readied her katana to attack again though, she and her master were locked in place by lines of code from the SERAPH.

Hakuno panted in time with Lancer. They had been saved by the system interference. There was a computerized warning noise as red lines flashed briefly around Sakagami and Saber. Text appeared above the group's head.

PENALTY DISTRIBUTED - MASTER KAZUHITO SAKAGAMI

"So the Moon Cell reduced my stats? Hmph. That will not save you. You won't like two minutes in the coliseum." With that, Sakagami and his Servant vanished out of the Arena.

"Well, she didn't put me on my ass, so Shishou has that nasty vixen beat! And we learned her class too! So much for taking this war seriously eh punk ass?!" Lancer ranted at the empty spot the two had vacated. Hakuno's terminal beeped with updated information. There on her screen was a picture of Sakagami and his Saber with a notification. MATRIX LEVEL 1 UNLOCKED. Hakuno did not hesitate, opening the file. The only things filled in of course were Sakagami's name as the enemy Master and his Servant's Saber class. Even if this was a tad lackluster as rewards go, it would help keep her information straight as they learned more. Hakuno's thoughts stopped the instant she felt the soft whisper of Lancer's hair and the cold metal of his earring brush her cheek. Her Servant was leaning down over her shoulder, taking no issues with invading her personal space to read what they'd been given. "Dar m'anam! The Moon Cell really doesn't do the reward thing does it?"

Hakuno decided to save the words that she didn't understand to look into later. They sounded suspiciously like Lancer was cursing. Besides, he wasn't exactly wrong. And there were more important things! Like him still being in her personal space! Hakuno stepped away, putting her terminal in her inventory at the same time. Lancer blinked a moment with a confused head tilt that lasted about .05 seconds by Moon Cell time before he just grinned widely at her.

"Well, I'm beat Master. Let's go find our trigger!"

It was Hakuno's turn to come up short with a look of confusion. "But you just said you were exhausted!"

"I told you before! Go until you're exhausted and then keep going some more! Come on lady master, the sooner we find the stupid thing, the sooner we get to go back and crash."

"At least let me heal you, you numbskull!"

"Aww, you'll spoil me, Master." But Lancer certainly didn't stop her from channeling her magic into his wounds. Rather the infuriating Servant only gave her another fang toothed grin. "Your mana tickles."

Hakuno really really wanted to swat him. Possibly get a squirt bottle full of water to spray him with. That's how people trained animals, right? Maybe it would work on this asshole too. She muttered to herself something about how 'blue men with pointy sticks' were nothing but trouble. Lancer very magnanimously pretended to hear nothing and just cheerfully dragged a sulking Hakuno further into cyberspace. They worked their way through various programs, finding loot and Taiga's lost item in the process but no trigger.

At last, they came face to stinger with a bee looking program, much like the one Lancer had refused to face before. Hakuno assessed Lancer, who only gave her a wild grin. This man was a battle junkie through and through. With only a minor struggle they brought down this last enemy to open the item folder awaiting them.

TRIGGER OBTAINED - TRIGGER CODE XI

Hakuno frowned slightly even as she went to hit accept on her terminal. Something about that seemed off. As soon as her finger pressed the button, a stream of errors projected into her mind.

TRIGGER ERROR. TRIG-TRIG-

J̴͍͓̭̫̒g̴̛̲̟͕̮͎S̷͈̼͎̈́͒̈́̈́̂̅1̷̨͖͖̥̑̑̉̅̓D̶̨̰̟̆͛̽̐̇̃f̷̡̢͍͖̓̆͛#̸̹͎̦̦̽̾̌̄̐́K̶̪͊͋̎͂̆̏$̷̝̪̌͊J̵͈̀͐̈́=̷̖̼͍͗͌Į̸̨͖͙̞̽̈́̕S̶̢̬̻̗̽̂̈́͑̓͜&̴̨͓̱̬͓͑X̴͕̪͔̃̚͝(̶̠̼͓͛̀̈́Ĝ̷̨̼̺͕̉͆͌͒&̷͖̜̮̜̑͗͝(̶̬͚̼̙̝̓̈́̾̓̔̅Ḑ̷̙̱͎̮̖̆̽̓̃͆2̷̛̟̗̥͚̝́̑}̴̧̼̳̘̩̍͂͂̾͐6̷̪̱̟̩̬̈́̚Ș̸͈͔̣͐̋̈́͛̏̚F̵̡͙̅̒̈́ͅ(̷̢̬̦̗̮͂̈́̂̚͜S̷̗͛͌͘R̴̦̳̤͈͎̈́̈͠T̴̙͙̣͇͌̌̒̍̎H̸̤̦̼͎̗͊͝$̸̼͊Ẁ̶̱̙̃͘͘͜$̴͚͊S̷̢̥͚͈̏̌͗#̷̠̉͌́̕͝ ̸͇͕͈̼͓̽̾̈́͝͠F̷̞̥͑́̑%̷́̑̂͒͑͜^̶̡̲͖͑̐̒S̵̬͊͑^̷͎̩̱̫̔́̅̕Ḏ̵̭̻͎͓͑̏̅̕Ŗ̴̦̟́͌̌̊{̸͚̦̌͐̽́͜^̶͇̓̋̍̉X̸̠͉̎̓͝T̷̢̙͇̟̝̗̾́3̴̡͖̰̀̂̀̑̒̐U̵̯̝̜̩͝-̷̢̘̙̩̍́H̵̙̪͇̤̒̂͐̈́ͅ5̴̭͌͑̃͝n̵̛̞͚͊̿̽̉͌B̶̧̛̝̲͖̿̈́̉̑͊S̷͎͌̓i̶̯̱̠͛U̶̻̗̱͐Ÿ̴̭̞̖̞̖́̿*̴͍͕̊̆́͌́K̸̡̘͓̝̜̬̈́̏̈̓J̶͎̩̀́_̴̨̙̼̥̭͌̉͘B̴̼͔̯̜̦̽̿!̵̠͍͍̬̗̱̈͂̚G̶͕̺͖͇̠͑̎̾͠f̵̢̡̯͎̤̀̋̀͊͘C̷̛͛͛̈́́͜T̸͕̠͇̖̤͋̈́̅̈́̓̕I̴̟͒́*̶͍̣͉̑̅̌̓Y̵̤͉͉͑́͊͋ͅS̷̨̝͒̆̄̐́̐Ḓ̶̪̺̘͍̺̈́͑̈̕9̶̳͖̒̈́̃̽̕F̷̭̈́̅̕Ḻ̸͍̻̟̜̰̐̾̌̊̕Ȟ̶̰+̸̢̻̘̘̘͐̑̈̋͝͝W̷͉͔̱͚̘͊E̵̡͇̝͈̻̅̐͗n̴͍̝͖̗̣̰̏Ṟ̵̖͖̝̱̜͋Ì̴͚̰͍̺̯͠*̵̫̬͇̥̰̬̈̓͘͝͠Ỳ̷̡̦͒͌͠D̷̛̮̀̀̌̉̋S̶̥̳̰͑̑8̶̙̼̻͖̳̩̓̓̑͘͝͝F̵̣̻̦́́͑̽͑-̸̜̦̲͇̳͙̉͐͝Ÿ̵̡̨͔̙̦́L̴̲̅́̾͋͆͠N̷̤̺̰̥͙͈̾̓͆͘W̴͉͍͈̦̪͊E̶͙̺̝͙͐̿̀͝≠͖͎̮̌̀̑̄R̸͓̋͌̇͘L̴̞̞̣̔̓ͅJ̵̪̓̇p̵̝̳̘̃̔͝͝J̸̛͕̠͙̲̳̑̈̕)̶̠̪̹͕́̌̓̚S̸̡͚͕͓̘͑͒͗͂̀ͅC̵̨̛̹͚͔̭̆̎̀͊͝}̷̢̱̳̗̻̣͌̑͂͛͘{̸̘̙̱͊͐̀ ̴͕͐̀͊̾̅̕_̵̙̮̽Ḯ̷͕͓̱͉̠̯̅U̸͓̖̱͐ĝ̴̡̞̫͇̫̪̽̉W̶̘̱̭̯̻̍̿͛̒͒̏

Hakuno jolted. It had only lasted a moment, that stream of noisy code she had no hope of understanding. She looked back at her terminal to ensure no damage was done.

TRIGGER OBTAINED - TRIGGER CODE ALPHA

What? Her gaze went to Lancer. He just cocked his head at her in a confused manner. Of course the one time the nosy ass could've come in handy he hadn't been looking at the screen. "Something the matter, Master? You looked a little dazed there. Did we push too far?" Now he decided to invade her space, putting a hand on her forehead. "Don't know if the Moon Cell even allows colds, but you don't feel like you're getting one."

"You… didn't see that?" The stream of code she'd encountered had been too short to cause her any issues for Lancer to notice it seems. His only answer was a confused head tilt. Maybe Hakuno had imagined it. The Moon Cell was a supercomputer akin to a god. Surely it did not make errors, and even if it did, a subpar Master such as herself would be the last person to notice them. Hakuno was likely just exhausted after being drug through the Arena by a certain blue lunatic. Yeah, that made much more sense. "Never mind, I'm just worn out. Let's find the exit and be done for the day."

Lancer did not look convinced but nodded all the same. "Alright, lass. You did well today. I think we can call it from here."

As they returned to 2-B, Hakuno's terminal beeped once again with an update.

ARENA FLOOR 1. COMPLETION RATE: 100% TREASURES OBTAINED: 100%

… No wonder her feet hurt.

A baleful gaze went over to the hammock in which her Servant snored softly.

Hakuno was going to kill that bastard in the morning.