Special Training for Mash

Unable to accept reality yet still wanting one final confirmation, the two of them attempted one last test. Perhaps the answer was not one they wanted.

After bathing, no matter how hard it was to accept, they could only accept everything Senior Mo had told them about themselves.

"It really fits perfectly..." Back in the room, Ritsuka Fujimaru looked utterly helpless as he tugged at his pajamas. Everything fit just right, within the range he found most comfortable.

Mash Kyrielight found it truly difficult to accept, but facts did not lie. Hearing Ritsuka Fujimaru's words, she hurriedly said, "That only makes this even more troublesome—so troublesome that I can't accept it at all! Senior, just thinking that he used to be so close to us while I know absolutely nothing about it... This is completely unfamiliar to me, and I can barely accept it! To me, he's just a stranger I've known for less than half a day, but he's known us for a long time already!"

"Well..." Ritsuka Fujimaru smiled. "Can't we just pretend that never happened? After all, we are ourselves, and he doesn't seem to be treating us as substitutes for the 'us' he knew. So we just need to get along normally!"

"Will that really be okay, Senior...?"

"It'll be fine. Go to sleep."

Watching Mash fall asleep in her bed, Ritsuka Fujimaru, lying in the other bed, turned over and muttered, "How could I possibly not care about something like this... Just thinking about having had something with Senior Mo... Sigh, forget it. Sleeping is more reassuring."

Early the next morning, at Ryudoji Temple, Mo Li, Medea, and Caren knocked on the door.

"Yawwn... Is it morning already?" Mash, who had only just managed to fall asleep, got up to open the door for the three of them. Ritsuka Fujimaru appeared right behind her.

The moment Medea saw Mash, she immediately poked Mo Li with her staff. "Huh? Didn't you say you were going out to save the world last night? Why are there two beautiful girls here?"

Mo Li clicked his tongue. "Anyway, they'll be our teammates from now on."

"Hello, big sisters. Big brother actually let you stay here, huh? We had no idea he was keeping other people outside~" Caren looked up at Mash and Ritsuka Fujimaru. "So are you big sisters Big Brother's friends?"

"A child..." Ritsuka Fujimaru had just been about to say something when his attention was drawn to the Command Spells on Caren's hand. "We are indeed Mo Li's friends. But are you Mo Li's little sister?"

"Uh, I suppose friends would be right." Mash answered first, then looked at Mo Li. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm not Brother Mo Li's little sister," Caren said. "Brother Mo Li just saved me, and now I'm being looked after by him."

Mo Li said, "The Heroic Spirits will gather here later to discuss what we should do next. We'll be starting the Holy Grail War while also designing challenges for them. So Medea, I'll have to rely on you to reinforce this place. Otherwise, there aren't many places that can withstand battles between Heroic Spirits."

Medea stomped on the floor tiles of Ryudoji Temple, testing them. "Hm? Does this place even need me to reinforce it? It's been saturated with magical energy over countless years. It was already reinforced to a degree ordinary people could scarcely imagine."

Although Mo Li knew Ryudoji Temple had once endured an exchange between EX attacks and Enuma Elish, he still said, "Just reinforce it as much as you can. Besides, you'll be participating too, so even from the perspective of a magecraft workshop, you should be prepared, right?"

"Fine, fine. This really is a good place, though." Medea did not object and immediately began shaping the area as her territory.

When Mo Li spoke to Mash and Ritsuka Fujimaru again, his expression was somewhat cold. "Mash, Ritsuka Fujimaru, go wash up first. Then there are some things I have to teach you as soon as possible. Saving humanity and eliminating Singularities are not child's play, nor is it about inviting the enemy to dinner. As newcomers, you need to learn that."

Seeing Mo Li's cold expression, Mash reflexively replied, "Ah! O-Okay!"

Ritsuka Fujimaru was startled as well. "We'll definitely do our best!"

By the time the two of them had finished washing up, they were far more awake and energized than when they had first risen. When they returned to the gate at the foot of the mountain, Mo Li had already been waiting for some time.

"I'm ready, Senior!" Mash shifted into her combat stance. Her outfit was still rather revealing, but at this moment, no one could mistake her serious expression for a joke.

"Berserker." Mo Li called out toward a corner, and Berserker Lancelot, who had been silently spying after sensing Galahad's aura and not understanding why, leaped out.

"Ah?" Mash was somewhat bewildered when she saw Lancelot. For some reason, she felt that the Heroic Spirit before her was strangely familiar.

Mo Li ordered Lancelot, "Attack her, Berserker. Teach her what it means to fight a powerful enemy. Be a proper sparring partner."

Lancelot did not hesitate in the slightest. That familiar-feeling girl was holding that shield—if he could actually hurt her, that would be the strange part.

Besides, he wanted to know how his son had become a daughter.

"Roar!" Red light flared in Lancelot's eyes as he charged forward and swung the oversized Arondight down in a slash.

Clang—

Mash, who had yet to grow into her strength, barely blocked Lancelot's strike before being sent flying by the tremendous force.

"A beginner in every sense of the word." Mo Li sighed from the side, then walked over to Ritsuka Fujimaru. Under the latter's puzzled gaze, he reached out and draped an arm over his shoulders.

"Senior Mo?" Ritsuka Fujimaru gave an awkward laugh, unsure what Mo Li intended to do.

Mo Li, meanwhile, said to Mash as she struggled to rise, "Mash, suppose the current situation is that the enemy will use every means at their disposal to kill you, or that their primary target is Ritsuka. If you fall so casually, the two of you will truly die without even a place to be buried! And now I've taken your Master hostage. To save Ritsuka Fujimaru, you must defeat the Servant in front of you!"

Hearing Mo Li's words, Mash glanced at Ritsuka Fujimaru. Though she knew he would not be in any danger with Mo Li there, Mo Li was right. If it were an enemy, using every possible method to kill them would be the best course of action.

Gritting her teeth, Mash raised her shield again.

Lancelot waited until Mash had gotten back up before attacking once more. This time, his heavy blow did not send Mash flying, but she was unable to counterattack either. She could only keep blocking the blade coming at her from every direction.

That was already a decent performance. Though Lancelot was holding back, he was not like Black Saber, who deliberately aimed at the shield. On a battlefield, who would specifically attack an opponent's shield? Naturally, one had to clash with the opponent, seize an opening, and kill them in a single strike!

"Mash, you're not allowed to fail, okay? Otherwise, I'll take Ritsuka away~" Seeing the stalemate on the field, Mo Li immediately put pressure on Mash.

"Huh?" Ritsuka Fujimaru was confused, but in the next instant, Mo Li's finger pressed directly against the carotid artery in his neck. "Do you think I'm capable of giving Ritsuka a little jab here?"

"Gasp!" Ritsuka Fujimaru said in a panic, "Senior Mo..."

"Don't panic." Mo Li responded softly. Since the two of them had come to this world, they might as well undergo high-pressure special training.

Mash glanced at Ritsuka Fujimaru and grew anxious as well. Who knew whether that man, who seemed to know them so well, might actually do such a thing? Even if he might have some way to ensure Ritsuka would not die, she did not dare gamble on it.

Mo Li said coldly, "Defeat Berserker. This is something you must accomplish, Mash. You are not familiar with that Heroic Spirit's power right now. His strength is beyond your imagination. Forget the Berserker before you—even King of Knights Artoria would be defeated by him. Mash, you are strong. Realize that!"

So long as Mash possessed a sufficiently powerful conviction, she could even withstand Goetia's attacks. As for Galahad's power, in one FGO Worldline, he had solo-cleared the entire Fuyuki City Singularity by himself. Black Saber, Archer of Black, or Sea of Nothingness—mere defeated underlings, that was all they were.

"I'll definitely defeat this Berserker!" Mash answered. She blocked one of Lancelot's strikes and swung her shield in return, only for him to block it. Then, as she tried to pull back into a defensive stance, Lancelot sent her flying again.

Pure defense and defensive counterattacks were completely different in difficulty. Not to mention the even more difficult task of taking the initiative to attack and fight someone, or even completely suppressing the enemy.

When Mash stood back up for the second time, Mo Li was still chattering away. "Mash, my Berserker's name is Lancelot—the Lancelot from the King of Knights' Knights of the Round Table. You have the power to defeat him..."

"That Knight Lancelot?" Mash looked at the charging Lancelot and raised her shield, refusing to let Overweight Lake Light's blade come down completely.

"That's right. So? Fighting one of Britain's famously powerful warriors in person—do you feel a lot of pressure?"

"Senior Mo, you said... I have the power to defeat Lancelot?" Mash struggled to fend off Lancelot's attacks. Every one of his strikes felt as though he were training her, each one landing precisely at the limit of what she could react to. It was her first time fighting a Servant, and her opponent was a powerful Servant from the very start. She was not confident that she could turn the tables and defeat him.

If she relaxed even slightly now, being sent flying by the greatsword would be the least of her problems.

"That's right. He's only Lancelot. Mash, defeat him!" As if issuing an order, Mo Li's cold voice did not waver in the slightest.

"Only Lancelot..." Hearing that while taking Lancelot's attacks head-on, Mash looked miserably at the greatsword swinging toward her. No matter how she looked, she could not find any possibility of defeating him.

She was only a novice who had just started out. Asking her to kill a Lancelot right at the beginning was simply asking too much.

"Senior Mo, isn't this a little too harsh? Maybe she should start with easier training first..." Ritsuka Fujimaru could not bear to watch any longer and felt sorry for Mash.

"Ritsuka, what do you think you're doing? You're saving humanity. You're saving the world. If you can't even beat Lancelot, what gives you the right to resolve Singularities and save the world? You are fighting for your own world with your lives on the line. Understand that clearly, and watch carefully. She is your Servant, and you are her Master. Do not try to run away from it."

Mo Li's words immediately left Ritsuka Fujimaru speechless.