001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

"Incredible..." Rin murmurs as she gazes at the breathtaking sight before her.

*Clang* The sound of clashing spears rings out. "Tch," Lancer clicks his tongue in frustration as his attack is parried once again by his opponent.

Lancer and Rei continue to exchange attack at incredible speed, their movements so swift that they stir up the wind as they evade each other's strikes.

Lancer's style focuses on the speed of the wielder, while Rei's spear technique centers on delivering a decisive, single strike to end the fight.

However, since Rei is far stronger than Lancer, Lancer still hasn't been able to land a single hit on Rei.

Each time Lancer attacks from Rei's blind spot, Rei suddenly dodges with lightning speed while wielding a spear that resembles Lancer's own.

While Lancer is visibly struggling, Rei still smiling, enjoying the rare opportunity to fight with a spear like this.

He prefers using a sword over a spear, but he doesn't mind switching things up occasionally, if only to keep his skills sharp.

*Baaaam* Lancer suddenly swings his spear really fast at Rei, who easily blocks the strike with his own spear.

"Stop smiling already!" Lancer shouts at Rei that still smiling.

"What do you mean? I'm just happy because this is fun~" Rei replies, not taking the fight too seriously.

"And that's exactly what I mean! You're not taking this seriously at all. You're the one who calls this a valiant battle to the death, but you're the one who isn't serious!" Lancer says as he quickly maneuvers his spear and attempts to slash at Rei from the side.

Rei swiftly leaps back, dodging the attack while maintaining distance.

Seeing this, Lancer stops his stance and drives his spear into the ground, glaring at Rei. "You're using a style that doesn't even suit you."

"The whole time, your fighting posture is really awkward, and the only reason I can't hit you is because you're stronger and faster than me," Lancer shakes his head in frustration.

"Hmm, yeah, this style really isn't good for me because it's meant for someone who uses a weapon from The Society organization in my world," Rei says as he stops using Zeta's posture and stands normally.

"So, use your own power already," Lancer resumes his fighting stance.

"Or I'm gonna force you to use it," Lancer's spear begins to emit a red aura.

Rei immediately recognizes that Lancer is about to use his Noble Phantasm. However, the problem is that Rei doesn't have Concept of Death due to his abilities from Celeste.

Even if Lancer manages to wound him, Rei's regenerative abilities would quickly heal his body.

"Alright, I'm gonna use my power," Rei says as he tosses his imitation spear aside, and it disappears the moment it leaves his hand.

The moment Rei does that, he stops smiling and finally looks at Lancer seriously, his blue eyes beginning to glow slightly.

Lancer after seeing this, smiles again. "That's what I'm talking about, let's go!"

A golden light begins to form in Rei's right hand, which then moves and starts to shape into a sword.

"Sword of Repudiation."

Once the sword takes form, the light fades, revealing the weapon to Lancer and Rin.

"This aura..." Rin murmurs as she feels the terrifying energy emanating from the sword, sending chills down her spine.

"Phew, such an incredible weapon you have there," Lancer says as he gazes at the sword in Rei's hand.

"Now, let's fight," Rei says as he grips his sword tightly, causing the ground beneath him to crack and sink under the pressure of his aura.

Rei vanishes from where he stands and quickly reappears in front of Lancer. Thanks to his excellent reflexes, Lancer manages to block Rei's sword strike with his spear.

But then *Crang*—Rei effortlessly slices through Lancer's spear, cutting it in two.

"What!?" Lancer is visibly shocked as his spear is cleaved in half.

But his surprise leaves him vulnerable, allowing Rei to land a powerful punch to his face with his left hand.

*BAAAM* A loud sound echoes as Lancer is sent flying far from where he was standing.

"Ouch, that's gotta hurt..." Rin murmurs, rubbing her own face as she imagines how painful it must be to get hit like that.

Rei continues to stand there, gazing at Lancer's spear lying on the ground, split in two.

He knows this is going to happen when he uses his weapon because his arsenal is too overpowered for this world.

That's why he replicated Lancer's spear so he could actually fight him without breaking Lancer's weapon.

He actually has his own Gae Bolg, but the one he has doesn't have the same red color as in this world and looks more like a trident than a spear.

The name of his Gae Bolg is Gae Bulg, but the problem with his is that if Gae Bulg manages to hit anyone, they're going to die instantly.

[IMAGE]

This is due to its ability, "One Sting, One Kill," derived from the Sea Dragon, making it a weapon against Ancient Heroes.

So he definitely can't use that weapon again and decided to store it deep within his dimensional storage.

"I can't believe you managed to break my spear... And your punch... really reminds me of my teacher's strength," Rei hears Lancer say, snapping him out of his thoughts about the spear.

Lancer walks toward him with his injured face, blood dripping from his mouth.

"Yeah, sorry about your weapon," Rei says as he materializes Lancer's spear in his left hand.

Then he tosses it toward Lancer. "That's for breaking your spear."

Lancer catches the spear, examines it, and swings it a few times.

"Heh, this really feels just like my spear," Lancer says as he rests the spear on his shoulder.

"That's your actual spear that I made using my abilities, so you don't need to worry about the quality."

"So, are we going to continue?" Rei asks Lancer, maintaining his serious expression.

Lancer raises both hands. "Nah, I'm done for now. This is just the first night of the war, so it'd be a shame if I died on the first night."

Hearing that, Rei dematerializes his sword then takes a deep breath and exhales.

His blue eyes return to normal, no longer glowing, and his expression softens.

"It's fine, I was having fun too. But what about the civilian?"

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Lancer looks confused by Rei's question.

But suddenly, they hear footsteps, causing Lancer to quickly turn toward the sound.

"Who's there!?"

The three of them then see someone running away into the darkness of the school.

"A student? Why is someone in the school this late at night?" Rin is shocked when she sees this.

"Tch!" Lancer vanishes quickly, leaving Rin unaware.

"Well, there he goes."

"Huh? Where did Lancer go?" Rin asks as she runs toward Rei, noticing Lancer's sudden disappearance.

"Probably chasing after the student. You know the rules, right?"

When Rin hears this, she quickly dashes into the school. "Rei, we have to stop Lancer!"

Rin then disappears from Rei's view, leaving him standing there, unmoving.

Well, the problem is he can't really leave because there's another issue he needs to solve.

"You can come out now," Rei suddenly says, looking in a different direction.

For a few moments, nothing happens until he finally hears footsteps approaching him.

Even though the person is in the dark, Rei can clearly see them.

The person is a girl with pale skin, red-blood eyes with a melancholic look, and long dark purple hair with a hime cut and two longer side bangs that almost reach her chest.

"I see, Fujino Asagami is the Counter Guardian they sent, huh," Rei murmurs to himself.

"Yes, like you said, I'm... Hmm..." Fujino seems to be holding her chin, trying to remember something.

"Oh right, I'm Archer, summoned in this War with the purpose of watching over you, Foreigner," Fujino elegantly lifts her kimono, introducing herself to Rei.

"My name is Asagami Fujino, Archer-class Servant."

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While Rei is meeting with his visitor, Rin is running after the student who fled, trying to help him.

As she runs, she glances back a few times, hoping Rei is behind her, but unfortunately, she can't see anyone.

And then she finally arrives at a scene that makes her eyes widen in shock because she can see someone lying on the ground with blood coming out of his chest.

"What the hell! Where's Rei when you need him?" Rin immediately kneels and tries to check on the student's condition.

As she does this, the moonlight suddenly appears, illuminating the area and revealing the identity of the student.

"No way... Emiya Shirou!?" Rin is shocked to discover that the one lying there is Emiya.

"What is he doing at school in the middle of the night??? I mean, who doesn't leave immediately when school is over, except for club activities?" Rin starts shouting to herself out of sheer confusion.

While Rin is yelling to herself, Shirou is still dying on the ground, his heart bleeding from Lancer's earlier spear attack.

"Never mind that, I need to do something before he dies." Rin then resumes checking his wound and realizes that he won't survive unless she uses her necklace.

"Well, I can just have Rei create something to replace this," Rin says, pulling out her bright red ruby necklace and clutching it with both hands.

She places her hands on Shirou's chest, and soon the necklace begins to glow brightly, healing the wound in his chest.

Rin concentrates seriously on healing Shirou's injury.

Before long, the wound on his chest starts to close, and she finally finishes healing him.

Rin slowly lifts her hands from Shirou's chest and sees that the wound is no longer visible.

"Phew... It's done."

She then looks back and tries to find Rei, but as before, she can't see anyone.

"Where the hell is he, anyway!?"