“Changer look, the view is beautiful from here, right?”

We are on top of the building, and the whole city is laid out in front of us.

“Indeed. By the way, master, I was serious when I said you can use my name. Actually it would be even better. No need to tell our enemies my class is different from usual.”

“You may be right. Then… Shall I call you…” I feel myself blushing, but I can’t help it. He has only told me his given name. “…just Sten?”

“…”

No answer. I turn around to look at him, but of course, I can’t…

I can see him. He has become visible for the first time since we left home.

“…Sten?”

He turns to the terrace door.

“I feel two enemies below. One servant, one magician.”

Enemies? Here? How? Right, I should have guessed. As the highest place around, this building is great for seeing an overview of the city, and is especially well-suited for an archer class servant as a sniping spot. This is one of the most obvious places for someone seeking enemies to keep watch on. It seems an enemy left a familiar here beforehand and it found us.

Good. This was a lot easier than finding them myself.

“Let them come.”

                *                             *                             *

“They are still coming, right?” I ask Changer. It’s been more than five minutes and we are still waiting. I got a feeling we’d wait long when Changer said they were using the stairs. This building has fifty floors, you know.

“Yes. They haven’t stopped yet. They should arrive in a minute or two.”

After a few more minutes, the terrace door finally opens. Out comes a woman in a buttoned up purplish dark brown suit. She is breathing heavily, but isn’t exactly out of breath. It’s impressive considering she climbed fifty floors on foot. I wonder why she didn’t use the elevator.

I can feel her magical energy. She is no amateur. Yes, this is a professional magus, here to kill me.

I’m prepared for this. I’ve trained for this. Still, this will be my first fight to the death, and just the thought of it is enough to send chills down my spine.

I’m not afraid to die. Practicing magic itself carries the risk of death with it. You can’t be a magus without making peace with the prospect of dying. Killing on the other hand, or even worse, losing…

She glances at me for a few seconds but her eyes are inevitably drawn to Changer. After all, he is the servant. He is the main danger. Likewise, I would rather focus on her servant, but I can’t see it. It must still be in spirit form. She sizes Changer up from head to toe, than turns to me.

“Tohsaka master, I presume?”

She knows me. As the only member of one of the three founding families, it’s not surprising for the other two families or someone with connections to the Association to know me. She’s not from the Matous. I hear Einzberns are from Germany, and she doesn’t look German. She’s likely from…

“And you are the master sent by the Association, right?”

Her servant materializes. Deep ultramarine like the night itself. The wind carries a bestial smell to my nose. His aura alone freezes me on my feet.

“So we know each other. Good. Nothing to stop us from fighting then.”

She puts up a guard like some martial artist. She fights from close range it seems. I somehow manage to take my eyes from the walking danger, and focus on his master. I train my arm on her, and talk to Changer telepathically.

Sten, you handle the servant. Leave the master to me.

“Hold iiit!”

Changer steps forward. Everyone looks at him. He addresses the servant in blue.

“You there! Since this is my first battle in this war, I want to enjoy myself. You too look like you’d prefer a straight up fight. What do you say, shall we have the ladies watch and impress them with a fight between heroes?”

What is he…?

“Heh. Hehehehehe!”

The servant in blue laughs heartily.

“You now what? I like that idea.” He turns toward his Master. “How about it, master? Will you sit this first one out? Just watch and see what the servant you summoned can do.”

“Lancer…”

The enemy master looks at her servant. She seems conflicted. Meanwhile I get a telepathic message from mine.

What about you, master? Will you let me show you what I can do?

This guy. This must be because of what we talked about; about me seeing his skills in his first fight.

“Very well, Lancer. I will just watch for now.” The enemy master lowers her guard, and retreats back to the door.

I have no objections. By the way, be careful, his stats are absurdly high. Especially, his agility surpasses yours so much that it’s not even funny.

Right. Thank you, master. You be careful too. There is no telling when your enemy might change her mind.

Yeah.

Suddenly, at Lancer’s hands that held nothing until now, a weapon appears. A red spear of two meters.

“There you have it, buddy. I got permission from my lady master. Now ready your weapon, and let’s have at it.”

The two lock their eyes. Neither takes a fighting stance. Both of them in blues, one holding a blood red spear, and the other empty handed. They are looking at each other and neither moves, as if waiting for a referee to start the match. It feels like a brief calm before the storm.

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First to move is Changer.

Karano.

Sending me a telepathic message I don’t understand, he charges. At least I’m guessing he has charged because I couldn’t really follow his movement. He appeared to me like he vanished and reappeared right in front of Lancer.

But I’m not so lucky that it’s the end of the fight. Apparently, unlike me, Lancer can follow his movements. He immediately readies his spear and thrusts it to counter his charge. Changer tries to move aside to get past the spear, but Lancer doesn’t let him. His consecutive thrusts are inhumanly fast. I can’t follow all their moves, but after a brief exchange Changer is pushed back, and this time Lancer takes the offensive.

Empty hands against a spear. The difference between their reaches is enormous. Lancer uses that advantage and pressures Changer from a safe distance. Changer parries or dodges all his thrusts, but thrust are not the only type of attack he faces. Lancer’s swings have enough power behind them to crush shields and shatter bones. Changer’s gauntlets must be very durable to be able to block Lancer’s heavy swings.

Narano.

Just as Changer is about to block another one of Lancer’s swings, he again says something to me telepathically and, with a too quick a move for me follow, he retreats some meters back.

Karano.

He telepathically says something again. I still don’t understand it, and even if he wants to tell me something, I don’t see any reason for him to do that in a way I can’t understand.

With that message, he charges once again, and this time appears at Lancer’s side. He probably seeks to enter within striking range with that manoeuvre, but Lancer is too fast for that to work. Still, Lancer doesn’t try to keep his distance, and allows Changer to come close. Changer can now attack and Lancer can’t use thrusts from that close. As a spear user, letting Changer close was a very bad move for Lancer. He is now at a great disadvantage.

At least that should be the case but it isn’t. Even that close, Changer still can’t land a hit. Lancer spins his spear around his body and defends against all of Changer’s attacks.

I realize I’m holding my breath, and manually resume breathing. Things don’t look good.

They are exchanging blows at insane speed. Especially Lancer’s hands and spear are just blurs to me. But even with a clear disadvantage in speed, Changer can somehow hold his ground.

Suddenly Lancer’s hold on his spear changes, and he pulls the weapon back. Just as Changer throws a punch, Lancer blocks him with his other arm, and makes a short-range thrust at lightning speed.

Daika!

At that moment, I get another telepathic message. I have no idea what it means, and right now, I don’t care.

“Sten!” I shout, somehow still remembering not to use his class name. Then I fall silent, and just stand there gawking at them.

Lancer is blown back. He is holding one of his arms close to his chest, as if it is hurt. There are veins visible at his temples. Even though he is looking at Changer and not me, his stare is still enough to make me take half a step back.

“…Not bad.” Lancer says. “Breaking an arm with a punch.”

I look at Changer’s back. I cannot see his face. What I can see is… I gasp. I assumed it did not connect, but it seems I was wrong. Lancer’s thrust did connect. There is blood on the floor right in front of Changer, and more is dripping down. He pauses for a bit, then draws a breath and responds.

“Not bad? Nice joke Lancer. I thought I could stop it, but it seems I underestimated your spear. Its enhancement must have something to do with bypassing defences.”

Lancer’s expression softens, and he shakes his head to the sides. “Heh. You should try guessing these things before getting stabbed, not the other way around.” Then he gets serious again, and looks at his broken arm. With a slight shrug he starts reusing it like nothing is wrong, and takes a new stance. A stance in which his spear is pointing downwards.

“But you know, since you broke my arm and all, I can’t really let you off with only a shallow stab wound.”

A tremendous amount of magical energy starts converging in his spear. As a magus, I am very familiar with the techniques of drawing magical energy from my surroundings, but I can’t even get close to what he is doing right now. His spear is sucking energy like a black hole. So much that even from over here, the other side of the terrace of a fairly large building, I feel like I’m suffocating. Damn it. This looks like trouble.

“Lancer, this is our first fight, you know.”

Brace yourself, master.

“Let this time slide master. I want to finish this.”

For a second, nothing moves. It’s as if the time stopped. Then it all happens in an instant.

Lancer charges forward, and closes in so fast that to me, he looks like he has moved instantly.

Still, Changer reacts before Lancer finishes his blow. He shoots some… things from his hands. They make Lancer pause for a miniscule of a second to deflect them.

Narano.

I am grabbed without any chance to defend myself. I try to struggle but quickly realize that it’s Changer. He has retreated back to me at the same speed Lancer charged at him. He jumps, holding me, and we start falling.