Love and War

Love was supposed to make two people closer, not make things so damn confusing you didn't know up from down. Ria had never felt this disoriented when she was with Cú, though she also hadn't accepted what she was experiencing with Em was love yet, so maybe that was part of the problem.

Training with Em was difficult and not just because he was a powerful and very independent spirit. It was frustrating to her that he could separate from his feelings for her when they trained. It made him seem more merciless and their intimacies fake. Not pulling any punches, Ria soon found herself battered and bruised.

"You are distracted. It would help if you focused on defeating me no matter what. There is always a chance a friend can become a foe either due to corruption or deceit. Masters make pacts all the time, and every Master out there is in it for themselves. Don't think that your status will save you."

"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT!" She yelled in frustration as she attempted to get up from the disgraceful seated position she found herself in after his last assault.

Sighing, he offered his hand to help her up, which Ria petulantly slapped away, causing his eyes to fill with hurt a second before he grabbed her wrist and yanked her against him as he dropped his lips to her ear. "I wouldn't be this rough on you if I didn't love you. I need to keep you alive as much for my selfish desires as for anything else." Then he pulled away and captured her lips in an aggressive and dominating kiss. "Now, pull your shit together and pay attention."

Stunned to silence, She returned to her position as he materialized his blades and waited for her to ready her first weapons. Usually, Ria used a staff being a long-range fighter, but having opted for fist weapons as her close combat blade of choice after Cú's death, she voiced never to be the cause of another's death just because she couldn't defend herself. Crossing her arms in front of her, Ria commanded the blades to materialize with the word "Retract," causing purple claws embedded into her dragon hide knuckles to appear on her hands.

Standing there a moment staring at each other, Emiya suddenly disappears only to reappear behind her. Before his feet touched the ground, however, Ria ducked below the reach of his blades and swiped with her leg in a crouch attempting to knock him off balance mid-air.

Catching his leg but being far more agile, he rolled to the side and bounced back at her in an attempt to overpower her. Raising her claw in front of her face, Ria braced, and his dagger clashed with the tangs of her claw, causing them to grapple for dominance.

With one dagger locked, Em tried to slash at her with the other, but using their locked blades as a brace, she cartwheeled over him, disorienting him enough for her to stab at him with her free claw.

Arching out of the way, Ria touched down and then darted backward out of his reach. As he turned to face her, she launched an arcane blast at him, which knocked the wind out of him long enough for her to pin him on the ground with her blades dug into the ground at his shoulders.

"What the hell was that?" He asked, confused.

"I've spent a lot of time researching magic and alchemy. I have also had the unique pleasure of learning from an ancient. That's how I got these." Raising her claws as they dematerialize. "They are real, you know. I took them from a dragon I came across after he taught me Arcane Manipulation. It takes the mana from my surroundings and lets me manipulate its form to create lethal arcane magic."

"You killed a dragon?" His eyes went wide.

"No, just skinned it after it died. I passed its test when I obtained the philosopher's stone, so it passed on its knowledge of magic to me as well as its deadliest weapon. I hadn't used them until now when you insisted I train in close combat. They are usually laced with dragons bane as well, which is an incurable poison that eats you from the inside, but I figured killing you now would not be prudent." Ria gave a smile and wink.

"I traveled a lot with and without the Orders' permission during and after my last partnering with Cú as Caster. There is a lot the Order hides, including the ability to travel space and time using portals, but most secrets require mages of great power and are kept top secret."

Reaching out her hand to help him up, Em takes it with a newfound respect for her as well as gnawing jealousy that he had not been there to protect her on her travels.

"Shall we be done for today? I could use a bath; I'm exhausted. You worked me pretty hard." Her voice broke him out of his negativity.

"I'll agree to physical training being done for you, but you need to work on your magical training."

She raised an eyebrow at him as her eyes sparkled with humor. "You mean you want me to show you my magical skills, so you know how best to work with me, not against me."

"Say it however you like, but you aren't leaving until you do it."

Realizing there would be no way around the adamant tone in his voice, she let him take her to the Magic barrier training room. Once inside so decided to test my luck.

"Why don't we see who can kill the most in 10 minutes, shall we?"

"You could barely beat me physically, and you think your magic will make a difference? This should be interesting." He smirked but materialized his weapons.

"Boys. Big dumb boys." Sighing, Ria taps into her core, harnessing the mana before enacting the chant. "Father of time beseech me. Mother of Earth guides me. Lend me your weapon of benediction as I slay those who wish to corrupt your sanctity. I am Ria Liandrin, possessor of the Guide Stone and daughter of the Arcane! Lend me your strength so I may repel the evil wrought by the honorless and the vile as they sacrifice themselves to Nidhogg in a world they shall not destroy. I give you retribution!"

Then out of a portal in the ground comes Gründjir, her staff made from YYgdrasil's branch holding the crystal heart of the Black Dragon of the Midnight Sun she acquired her claws from. Taking it lovingly before setting its base on the ground, Ria designated her desire to start.

"Ready when you are Archer." Then in the following instant, twenty skeletons appeared, but before Emiya could reach the first, Ria had decimated it and the three around it with consecutive arcane blasts.

"You are gonna have to be quicker than that Archer if you wanna beat me."

Squinting in disbelief, all he can say is "beginners luck" before renewing his efforts for the next assault.

When they finished with the skeletons and the chimeras, Ria had beaten him soundly enough that it had made him slightly sour.

"I tried to tell you. I am the highest-ranking magic caster in the Order. You cannot hope to beat me when I use my magic. What you can do is buy me time, so I can cast it, then protect me while my spells are on cooldown, and I have to switch to hand-to-hand combat. Time is my greatest enemy. Most of my big spells require me to wait before recasting them, leaving me vulnerable to attack."

Emiya nods as he looks at her critically.

"What's the matter?"

"I'm just wondering why such a powerful magic user would summon me. I've seen mages with not even a quarter of your strength summon Servants who seemed higher rank than me."

She could tell that he was upset and feeling useless, so she walked up to him and hugged him.

"Does it matter why SERYPH chose you for me? I've gotten what I always wanted."

He raised an eyebrow as a pretty blush dusted his cheeks. "Is that so?"

"It is. Now, can we please go home? I want nothing more than a shower and some quality time with you."