"Man, it's been quite a while," the man in front of her remarked, arching his back and stretching his arms above his head, his face breaking into a broad smile.

She just stood there, watching, seemingly lost in her own thoughts.

"Shirou-chan, aren't you going to get ready for the fight?" The voice of the magical wand in her hand abruptly pulled her back to reality.

"Right, the fight," Shirou murmured, her focus abruptly returning. She glanced down at the magical wand in her hand; it was, after all, the reason she had accepted Lancer's challenge for a spar.

"I didn't think you'd actually accept my offer, especially at such an hour. Honestly, I doubted you'd consider it at all. Most of those I've asked either ignore me, treating me like some stray dog, or the ones who do accept turn out to be, well, let's just say they have something wrong with their heads."

Shirou tilted her head a little. "Is that so? Well, Master might need my help at any given time, so I need to be ready...especially with this body..."

"So you did agree with what I told you, Shirou-chan~?"

"..."

Shirou's voice trailed off as Ruby teased the young magical girl, successfully nudging Shirou to accept Lancer's offer.

"Well, anyway," Lancer interrupted, snapping Shirou back to reality. He pointed his red lance toward her, assuming his position with a confident smile. "Take your pose, we're starting."

"..."

Shirou took another moment to contemplate, glancing at Ruby nestled between her hands.

"You're a magical girl now, Shirou. Your full potential is stored within me. You have to learn to wield this power if you want to be useful for Master in the future," Ruby's voice echoed through Shirou's mind, utilizing telepathy, one of the magical girls' abilities with their magical wands.

"Hey, aren't we going to start already?" Lancer prompted, breaking the silence.

Shirou simply closed her eyes and then tossed Ruby aside.

"Huh?"

"Eh?!"

Lancer and Ruby exclaimed simultaneously, caught off guard.

"She threw her main weapon?"

Lancer was puzzled as he watched Shirou toss aside her magical wand.

"Aren't she, just like her other alternate version, using that talking wand to fight?"

A faint glimmer of blue light began to emanate from Shirou's palms, gradually coalescing into two shimmering swords. The air crackled with energy as the blades took shape, their edges gleaming with an otherworldly glow.

Lancer's eyes widened in surprise as he beheld the sight before him. "Dual swords... Just like those of that Bastard..." he murmured to himself, his mind flashing back to past battles.

Before he could utter his thoughts to Shirou, the girl suddenly disappeared from his sight in a blur of movement.

"!!"

Reacting swiftly, Lancer raised his lance, instinctively parrying the shimmering blades as they slashed through the air with deadly precision.

A shockwave rippled through the training area, with the ground beneath Lancer's feet cracking, stirring up a whirlwind of dust around them.

"Fast... but not fast enough!" Lancer taunted, pushing back with a powerful thrust aimed to catch her off balance.

Shirou, anticipating the thrust, twisted her body in a fluid motion, evading the spear's tip by a hair's breadth.

"..."

landing on Her fingertips, Leaning forward, her front leg bent at the knee, Shirou's body hovered mere inches from the ground as she sliced through the air. She became as sleek and streamlined as a speeding spear.

"!!"

Crack!

The air echoed with a sharp, whip-like sound. Lancer tried as fast as he could to comprehend what happened; he turned swiftly, yet it felt painfully slow.

She slipped between his open legs, using the the white wall behind him to redirect her momentum. In an instant, she leaped into the air, already behind him, her sword poised and ready to strike.

All before he could gasp a breath.

"Damn girl..."

he managed to utter, as he extended his hand as if he was about to grab her sword.

With her speed, attempting to seize her sword with bare hands even for a servant was a futile decision — or so Shirou thought, as she welcomed the challenge.

"?!"

However...

Just as the contact was about to happen, he pulled his hand back. She didn't have time to analyze his plan, as his lance was thrown at her

"Shit!"

Shiruo instinctively twisted her body mid-air, using both her swords to redirect the momentum of the spear just a few inches to the side. The spear whizzed past her, creating a gust of air as it missed its target.

Both swords were destroyed, disappearing from her grasp in the process, but that wasn't the immediate concern.

"GOT YA!"

Her leg had been captured.

Like someone cracking a whip, Lancer's grip tightened as he swiftly smashed her against the ground.

"GHA!"

Her body bounced on the ground, absorbing the force of the impact. It was a swift and unexpected maneuver, leaving Shirou momentarily stunned.

Lancer, seizing the opportunity, swiftly released her leg and aimed his lance toward her to finish the fight...yet

"That!"

Shirou's eyes fluttered open. Something had been created once again between her hands.

"...Shit!"

A bow with an arrow was directly aimed toward his forehead.

In a lightning-fast motion, she released the arrow, and Lancer barely had enough time to retract his head back.

He closed his eyes momentarily, protecting them from the light of the explosion that illuminated the room's ceiling. They were in a special training area designed to handle such intense fights, but the power behind that arrow was so strong that it attracted some attention to their battle.

"Fuu~"

Seizing the distraction, Shirou took the opportunity to create some distance, sighing in relief as she twisted her body to alleviate the lingering pain.

'He's as strong as I remember... No, he's even stronger..." she mumbled to herself

Lancer slowly brought his head down, opening his eyes wide with a casual smug on his face.

"Let's not hold back anymore, shall we, young lady?" Lancer's voice was confident, a challenge in his words. "I know it's against the rules of this place, but I'm sure you want to try something, don't you?"

"Holding back?"

Shirou's perplexed question seemed to fall on deaf ears of lancer as he was already in front of her, his lance poised toward her.

"?!!"

She barely had time to project Kanshou and Bakuya to counter his attack, but they were destroyed as quickly as the first clash.

"Tch!"

With every exchange, Shirou found herself forced into a defensive stance, constantly projecting new weapons to parry Lancer's relentless attacks. She was overwhelmed, caught in an endless cycle of defense.

"Take this!"

A powerful swing came at her, and she braced herself for the impact.

"Gh!!"

The force repelled her several steps backward. In a desperate bid to regain her footing, she thrust her palm against the ground, leveraging the motion to decelerate and realign her stance. Her gaze darted, expecting Lancer's next attack to come from the front.

"?" But he was nowhere in sight.

"to your side" — a warning came

"Wha-"

There was no time, he was already there his weapon swinging toward her with deadly intent.

With a sickening impact, Shirou was sent hurtling across the room, crashing into the wall. The force of the collision made the entire room tremble, dust and debris filling the air as her body crumpled into the wall.

Lancer stood across from her, his expression unreadable as he twirled his lance with practiced ease.

"You..."

His voice was firm as he walked slowly toward her, the casual smug disappearing from his demeanor. "That may be a weird question, but could it be that you don't know how to fight in your own body?"

Gritting her teeth, Shirou pushed herself off the wall, her gaze meeting Lancer's. "I know how to fight."

"That's not what I meant." He stopped, planting his lance into the ground and leaning on it with folded arms. "You have the same abilities as that man. That actually surprised me, but then I remembered your other alternate version with tanned skin. So it's just another alternate reality case where you learned his power, however."

"-Unlike her, who seemed to have developed her own fighting style that suits her body's build, you seem more like you're trying to copy that man's style, or rather forcing yourself to do it even with the many differences between your two. You're trying to hit in a higher range as if your arms were bigger, trying to defend as if you had his reflexes and instincts. Relying on raw strength and not taking advantage of your agility and size... and even the way you're trying to move, it's as if you're struggling. So what's the deal, young lady?"

"..."

Shirou remained silent, her gaze fixed on the ground as if she were feeling a sense of shame.

"Sigh~ forget it. Everyone that comes here seems to have some kind of issues, and so do you."

The lance disappeared from Lancer's hand as he turned his back to her, waving goodbye. "I was kind of excited for a good fight, especially with the aura I sensed from you, but I don't want to fight someone who can't fight at even half their capacity. Let's have another spar when you solve your problem, young lady."
As Lancer left the room, Shirou couldn't help but feel a pang of disappointment. Before she could even sigh, an unwelcome presence approached her.

"See, even Lancer-san is agreeing with me."

"Oh, it's you..." Shirou mumbled under her breath as Ruby hovered closer toward her.

"You're a magical girl now, Shirou-chan. You have to learn how to harness your powers to become stronger instead of solely relying on your old skills. I don't mean you have to abandon them, but you have to learn how to use them alongside your new abilities."

It was rare for Shirou to hear Ruby say something that could be taken seriously, but even so, what Ruby wanted from her was kind of...

"A magical girl... But I'm a boy..."

That was the issue for the young Shirou.