Nasuverse Respect Thread

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald?

Spoiler

Q: In the anime, there is a fight scene between Rin and Ilya, but are there any mages who could even win against Ilya in a magic fight in the actual 「Fate/stay night」, 「Fate/Zero」, or 「Fate/hollow ataraxia」 games? <ukw>

Nasu: Frankly, she is the top mage in Fuyuki. Still, first-class mages would follow the "since she's a child of nature, just cut her off from the land first" plan, so it's not like she's invincible. Kayneth and Tokiomi may be able to best her in a magic duel. Rin is just relentless. But if we're talking about the dark girl who contaminates the land itself...
Takeuchi: ...Sakura's magecraft skills are really fit for a boss, aren't they.

Nasu: To use an RPG analogy, the Origin Round is like an attack that converts the opponent's MP into damage. For example, Kayneth with his 3000 MP would receive 3000 damage against his mere 100 HP. For someone like Waver with 5 MP, he would only receive 5 damage against his 50 HP.

Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald [Person's name]
Kayneth demonstrated genius level talent during his time as a student. He was the youngest lecturer to grace the podium of the Department of Evocation in its history. His skills were not only in research, but also politics. Due to his great lineage, he had extensive connections. He was expected to form the greatest faction in the Clock Tower.
He did not participate in the Holy Grail War due to necessity or duress, it was merely to add a splash of "martial prowess" to his life's story. That was it. Although he did not severely underestimate the Three Founding Houses, he did boast that Lord El-Melloi could overwhelm them by skills alone.
The reason Kayneth brought many dangerous Mystic Code had nothing to do with research, but for entertainment value. Kayneth had talents not only in Spirit Evocation, but also in many fields of magecraft. He was really a man of many talents like Gennai Hiraga or Cao Cao.
Kayneth even considered the Heroic Spirits ---- Servants, to be part of his stock of Mystic Codes. Because he never acknowledged the humanity of Servants, he did not understand Diarmuid's loyalty even until the very end. As a result, he effectively lost through self-destruction.
However, Diarmuid was not choosey of his Master, he would acknowledge anyone who would accept his loyalty. As a result, he did not understand Kayneth as a person either. If Diarmuid really appreciated Kayneth's talents and experience, then Kayneth would have treated him with a much softer attitude.
To Kayneth, unable to bond with his Servant was the second most unfortunate event at the worst. The most unfortunate event by far was encountering Emiya Kiritsugu. Although as a mage, Kayneth won by an enormous margin, as a killer, he was miles behind Kiritsugu. It was inevitable that Kayneth would lose in a melee such as the Holy Grail War. Because of Kayneth's sudden death, his many valuable research accumulated in the Clock Tower was unorganized and left unattended. Although they were almost lost, the most useless formal student suddenly appeared to save the day. He had an unusual talent of "could not put magecraft to practice, but ingenious in the reinterpretation of theories and classification of systems". This student eventually compiled a tome named "Lord Kayneth's Encyclopedia of Arcane Secrets", which laid the foundation for the flourishing of House El-Melloi and its descendants.
By the way, in the Fourth Holy Grail War, the following strategy would insure the absolute victory of Team Lancer:

• Kayneth must not let his Servant recognize such things as honour on the battle field or knights' pride. He must let Diarmuid realize that the Holy Grail War was merely dirty chores that needed to be done.
  
  
• In order to fulfill the previous item, Kayneth must avoid any contact between Diarmuid and Saber with his best effort.
  
  
• In combat, Kayneth must prioritize securing an exit. In a battle, missions would be considered accomplished if Diarmuid scored one hit with Gae Buidhe. Repeat this tactic, and exhaust all hostile teams.
  
  
• Capitalize on Team Berserker. Team Berserker was a powerful enemy against all other teams, but Lancer had an advantage due to compatibility. It would be optimal to let Berserker destroy the other teams and reach the finale. He could then be defeated at that point.

Source

Kayneth is the best of the best

His name was Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. He was the heir of the Archibald family with nine generations of magus lineage, a very popular man whom everyone called "Lord El-Melloi." Engaged to the daughter of the principal, a lecturer at such a young age, he was the best of the best. He was also the representative of authority that Waver despised.

Source

Kayneth magus description. He's the most renown magus in the Mages' Association

there's the first-rate lecturer from the Clock Tower, Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. Ah, he knows about this man. Having both 'wind' and 'water' attributes, an expert who is proficient in spiritual evocation, summoning, and alchemy. He is currently the most renowned magus in the Association. How troublesome.

Kiritsugu considers Kirei Kotomine to be more powerful an opponent than Kayneth and Tokiomi

"...You are saying, to you this Executor is a more powerful foe than Tōsaka Tokiomi and Archibald?"

Pausing for a while, Kiritsugu nodded resolutely. "...A terrifying man. Indeed Tōsaka and Lord El-Melloi are strong adversaries. But I think Kotomine Kirei's 'way of existence' is more fearful."

Source

Kayneth is able to perceive the stats of Servant's, he's too stupid to really use it to great effect though

"I used the ability of the Master's Perspective to understand Saber's ability. She is a very strong Servant. Her comprehensive ability completely overrides Diarmuid's. A very good opportunity to defeat her was lost!"

"You... do you really understand the specialty of your Servant?"

Sola made a cold, nasal grunt towards the stubborn Kayneth as she said this.

"Do you think Gáe Buidhe is only for looking good? In comparison to Saber who has already received incurably critical damage, wouldn't Berserker, whose identity is unknown, be more of a threat?"

While Kayneth is a first-rate Magus, he's a second-rate soldier

"-- But, Kayneth, although you are first-rate as a magus, as a soldier you are merely second-rate. Going through all that trouble to complete your preparations, but on the battlefield you were unable to make proper use of them, right?"

Source

Kiritsugu's Innate Time Control isn't powerful compared to Kayneth's unrestricted magecraft

Compared to Kayneth's unrestricted magecraft, Kiritsugu’s ability is not powerful.

A Pride/Brand magus can handle a whole gang/small detachment of a regular army. Magus that have mastered combat can take on the armies of small countries with their barehands alone.

An accomplished mage had no reason to fear a hoodlum or two. Assuming that they had specialized in combat, a mage of sufficient stature to receive the Clock Tower rank of Pride or Brand would make nothing of a whole gang, or even a small detachment of a regular army. It was even said that an extremely small portion of mages who had mastered the art of combat were capable of taking on the army of a small country alone and barehanded.

Volumen Hydragyrum

Volumen Hydrargyrum [Magecraft]
One of the mystic codes employed by Lord El-Melloi. Essentially, it is a mass of magically-infused mercury that has been filled with a large variety of movement patterns and programmed to respond appropriately depending on the situation. I guess you could call it a kind of battle golem? Out of all of Kayneth's armaments, it has the greatest capacity for physical destruction. He had prepared many other mystic codes designed for battles with curses and conjurations, but the vast majority of them were lost when his hotel was blown up by Kiritsugu.
Though it wouldn't be wrong to call it an almighty weapon due to its versatility, in the end it is still just an automaton, and once you see through its movement patterns it's fairly easy to handle. Also, since the magical energy required to operate it is directly proportional to the complexity of its shape, it is necessary to keep it in its basic form as much as possible – switching to a more complex form drastically reduces its reaction speed and power. The final "sea urchin" transformation used in the battle against Kiritsugu was a form that combined both raw defensive ability and cunning, but accordingly the drain on Kayneth's magical energy was immense.
By the way, after the war ended Lord El-Melloi II may or may not have reprogrammed this mystic code and employed it as a multi-purpose maid golem. Though it has enough intellectual capacity to perform simple household chores, it seems there's a troublesome bug that pops up every now and then that causes it to rampage around insisting that it's a killer robot from the future. Maybe it was shown a detrimental movie just when it was on the verge of completing its education in good taste…?

Source

Kayneth's Volumen Hydragyrum is his strongest trump card

Kayneth still had enough ease left to snicker. Although many magecraft artefacts he brought from England were lost when the hotel collapsed, his strongest trump card, his Mystic Code, has always been by his side. Therefore, he didn’t feel that his strength in battle weakened at all.

Volumen Hydragyrum exposition, Kayneth can also use weight reduction magecraft

Kayneth laughed presumptuously and placed the large porcelain vase he carried under his arm on the ground. Once it left his hand, the vase sank deeply into the earth. This vase, which was under a spell of weight reduction to make it easier to carry, has a true weight approaching 140 kilograms.

"Fervor, mei sanguis."

Once he chanted the spell that activated the magecraft, the thing in the vase oozed out from the mouth. That liquid, giving off a mirror-like metal sheen, is a large amount of mercury. Flowing out of the vase as if it is a disciplined primeval creature, the ten-kilograms-or-so mercury, shivering, formed a ball.

Among the many of them in his possession, this is the Mystic Code Lord El-Melloi took pride in – Volumen Hydrargyrum • Moon Spirit Cerebrospinal Fluid.

"Automatoportum defensio: Automatoportum quaerere: Dilectus incursio."

Following Kayneth’s low chanting, the surface of the mass of mercury vibrated and rustled as if answering him, and followed his feet on the ground to approach the gates of the castle.

Kayneth, who possesses the two attributes water and wind, a feat rare even among magi, excels in the art of manipulating flow, which is shared between these two attributes. He thus created this unique Mystic Code, using mercury filled with magecraft as his weapon, and controls it at will.

The shapeless mercury, can also be sculpted into any shape –

"Scalp!"

As Kayneth yelled, a part of the mercury ball suddenly became a long and thin ribbon extending upwards. Then, the mercury ribbon savagely thrashed towards the door like a whip.

As it was about to hit, the mercury whip suddenly compressed itself into a thin edge of only a few millimeters thick, becoming a mercury blade as sharp as a razor. Attacked by this mercury blade edge, the heavyset bolt was cut in half as smoothly as if it was a piece of tofu. The great gates collapsed inwards with a heavy groan.

Mercury is a heavy liquid in room temperature; when it moves rapidly under high pressure it would possess a mighty kinetic energy. Moreover, mercury can change into shapes such as whips, spears, and blades at will. Its sharpness can even overwhelm laser rays, rivalling pressurized water jet cutters.

Perhaps he carries with him the confidence of an assured victory. Because, in front of Lord El-Melloi’s Volumen Hydrargyrum, even the most stolid defense won’t stand a chance. Be it titanium alloys or diamond, nothing is unbreakable.

Source

Weakness of Volumen Hydragyrum's search ability

Lord El-Melloi’s mercury Mystic Code united attack and defense, and also possessed the ability to search out enemies. However, Kiritsugu had already spotted the flaw in this magecraft with its three advantages.

First, its ability to search for enemies –

Kiritsugu suddenly stopped as he turned a corner, and hid in the shadow of a pillar. The mercury wasn’t just approaching from behind him, but spreading silently over the entire corridor and getting closer and closer. Most likely, the mercury tentacles were spreading out into a giant web, and sealing off all of Kiritsugu’s exits.

Using liquid metal as a sensory tool – how is it passing the perceived information back? There are no specialized senses such as sight, smell, taste, which is why Kayneth can control it so fluently. Therefore those ways of communication are out.

The most probable would be through touch. But when Kiritsugu was discovered at the second floor his location was pinpointed without him making contact with the mercury.

However, if the mercury is extremely sensitive to touch, then it’d be able to make judgements based on vibrations in the air. It should also be able to sense differences in air temperature and find a heat source.

The second weakness of Volumen Hydragyrum, Kayneth suffers a bullet wound as a result of Kiritsugu taking advantage of the hydrodynamic physics of Volumen Hydragyrum

But he didn’t know that the opponent he was mocking had also figured out the weakness of his automated defense.

Before the Calico stopped firing, Kiritsugu’s free right hand had already pulled out the Contender and fired a shot at the center of the expanded, semi-circular mercury membrane.

Volumen Hydrargyrum had already adapted to the best physical shape to protect against the Calico. However, the initial velocity of the .30-06 Springfield is 2.5 times higher than the 9mm bullets, and its destructive power seven times the latter.

Kiritsugu had completely seen through the speed of Volumen Hydrargyrum, which came from pressure. Although a blob of mercury can quickly spread out into a membrane faster than a bullet through hydraulic pressure, it is impossible to quickly go back to a blob from a membrane using pressure alone. That is the limit of hydrodynamics.

Therefore, when another sudden massive force is launched against it, the mercury can’t react quickly and form a powerful defense –

A big hole was punched right through the mirror-smooth surface of the mercury membrane. Judging from Kayneth’s wails inside, the Springfield bullet has hit the target.

However, he couldn’t even aim at the target hidden behind obstructions. Therefore, it was already lucky for him to hit the other man; he couldn’t at all expect this attack to give the other a fatal wound.

Volumen Hydragyrum's third weakness

Volumen Hydrargyrum’s characteristics can be grasped by just observing its attacks once. Despite being a very fast attack, it is comparatively simple.

When mercury is in the shape of a whip it is the base that controls its extremely quick attacks, but the tip virtually has no power. The power of the blade is basically formed through centrifugal force. For someone as experienced as Kiritsugu in melee combat, the path this kind of attacks would take is easy to predict. This is also the characteristics of controlling mercury with pressure. Only parts with a large mass can fully exert its power, while the strength slowly gets weaker towards the tip end. Kiritsugu had already analyzed this weakness of its when he realized the mercury ends that stretched far from the original mass to search for enemies aren’t as agile as the cutting whips.

Faldeus claims a veil of mercurcy (Volumen Hydragyrum) that can deflect thousands of bullets can’t defend against an anti-tank rifle and those (Zouken Matou) that extend and transfer their lives into insects can’t survive a precision missile strike.

“A mage is not a sorcerer. Don’t clutter your imaginations with fairy-tale creatures and legendary beasts. Think of... ah, that’s itthink more along the lines of a Japanese anime or a Hollywood flick. That’s all there is to them.”

…

“They die when they’re killed, and physical attacks are reasonably effective against them. Now, there are some who cover themselves with a veil of mercury, strong enough to deflect thousands of bullets. There are others who can transfer their consciousness and extend their lives with the aid of insects embedded in their bodies. But... well, the former type has no defense against an anti-tank rifle, while the latter type almost certainly couldn’t survive a precision missile strike.”

Offense?

Source

Volument Hydragyrum cuts a hole in the floor of the Einzbern Castle and leaps up onto the floor Kiritsugu is on

Immediately following Kiritsugu's bitter words, a ray of silver light sprang up from below the salon's carpet.

In the blink of an eye, a circle was cut out on the floor at the center of the room and fell to the ground below. Then a silver tentacle leapt up from that circular hole.

In front of Kiritsugu, Volumen Hydrargyrum’s new shape was like a metallic jellyfish.

Kiritsugu uses Time Alter Double Accel, Kayneth attacks the Volumen Hydragyrum, Kiritsugu outspeeds the Mystic Code and dashes down the hole in the floor it cut out

But it’s preciously those few short seconds that gave Kiritsugu more than enough time to chant his spell.

"Time alter – double accel!"

Following the pronounced spell, the prana inside Kiritsugu began to gallop at light speed.

"Scalp!"

Kayneth gave the proclamation of death the moment Kiritsugu’s firing ceased.

The two mercury whips that leapt up following his voice flew towards the prey in front of them with a pincer formation, attacking from the left and right.

"Hm!?"

It was Kayneth who gave an exclamation of surprise.

The moment the two silver whips were just about to hit the target, Kiritsugu dodged the silver whips’ attack with an almost unbelievable speed and quickly leapt below the Volumen Hydrargyrum, on which Kayneth was standing – into the hole on the ground that the mercury blade just cleaved out.

Kiritsugu’s speed was so fast that human eyes couldn’t see his movements clearly.

Kiritsugu is able to dodge Volumen Hydragyrum without Time Alter Double Accel from 10 meters away

"Scalp!"

Following a roar full of the intent to kill, the mercury unleashed a killing move.

Kiritsugu faced the silver whips roaring towards him with ease. He didn’t even need to activate Innate Time Control this time. There were more than ten meters between him and Kayneth now. Such a far distance was more than enough.

Kiritsugu pulled back just a bit; you can't hit what you can't reach, and the mercury blade only managed to cut the hem of his flowing coat.

Source

Kayneth's Volumen Hydragyrum destroys walls of the Einzbern Castle

The rage that had nowhere to go became destructive impulses that spread to Volumen Hydrargyrum. Kayneth smashed the walls of the corridors around him with his whips of blades.

Volumen Hydragyrum also smashed doors and decorative fixtures of the Einzbern Castle

The door that blocked his way wasn’t pushed open, but smashed apart by the mercury's weight.

Be it flower vases, paintings, or elegant furniture: all the decorations that happen to fall into his sight are smashed and destroyed.

Volumen Hydragyrum's effective lethal range for speed and power is about 7.5 meters in radius

Kayneth’s Volumen Hydrargyrum has potentially fatal speed and power within a radius of seven-and-a-half meters. The initiative remains with Kiritsugu until Kayneth can get in range.

Defense and speed?

Source

The Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel is 32 floors in height

Looking down from the 32nd floor-- the top floor-- of Fuyuki's Hyatt hotel. There is no building taller than this in all of Fuyuki.

Kiritsugu uses strategically placed C4 to cause the Fuyuki Hyatt to collapse under its own weight

Kiritsugu dialed an empty number. But there was no response whatsoever from his cellphone. The modified communication loops were connecting not to an analog signal, but to the trigger of a C4 bomb.

The bomb only caused a very small explosion, to the point where the sound of the explosion cannot even be heard outside the hotel.

But what resounded in the night was the horrifying sound of reinforced concrete splintering and collapsing.

The evacuees who had noticed something was wrong saw the sudden change in the towering building and began to shout in panic.

"The hotel, the hotel is collapsing!"

The hotel, towering at a hundred and fifty some meters in height, kept its upright posture but collapsed as if being sucked into the ground. Because all the outside walls collapsed inward, not a shard of debris flew outward and only the dust created by the collapse spread towards the surrounding streets. Precision blasting-- a highly advanced blasting technique used primarily to demolish tall buildings. Due to the destruction of load bearing walls and key support structures, the building collapses downward and inward on its own weight. Using the least amount of explosives to obtain the result of total destruction. To Emiya Kiritsugu who's familiar with all blasting techniques from past to present, there's a very special appreciation for this type of art of destruction.

Kayneth, Sola, and Diarmuid were all inside the Hyatt as it collapsed, the Boundary Field surrounding it supposedly unable to protect the people inside the collapsing hotel's rooms

"Maiya, how are things on your end?"

"Up until the end there was no activity on the thirty-second floor. The target has not escaped from the building."

In other words-- Kiritsugu thought with some satisfaction as he looked at the ashes of the ruins of Fuyuki's Hyatt hotel-- the one called 'Lord El-Melloi' Kayneth-sama is now most certainly keeping the rubble company.

The thirty-second floor that Kayneth was on, due to the chain reaction caused by the precision blasting, had lost its support and practically freefallen a hundred and fifty meters to the ground. No matter how well it is defended by a bounded field, in the face of such destructive force it probably cannot protect the people inside the rooms.

Source

Kayneth's Volumen Hydragyrum protected him and Sola from the Fuyuki Hyatt's collapse, it was entirely undamaged

At the scene of the collapsed Fuyuki Hyatt hotel, the rescue team was working frantically throughout the night.

After the effect of Kiritsugu’s magecraft was lost, the evacuation personnels discovered that there were still two VIPs in the building when it collapsed.

Because they were on the top floor of the hotel when the incident happened, rescue workers lost all hopes at finding them alive.

...

This was followed by the prompt arrival of the chief of the rescue team to the scene. According to the workers, they found a silver sphere of about 3 meters in diameter amongst the rubble. No matter how they examine it, it did not look like part of the building materials at all. Out of nowhere, it had just appeared suddenly in the midst of the rubbles.

“……Is this from the building? One of the decorations of the revolving restaurant on the top floor?”

“Even if that is the case, this thing is perfectly undamaged. Isn’t that weird?”

At closer observation, its surface did indeed have no signs of damage at all. Reflecting bright light just like a mirror, it looks like it had just been polished.

Source

All 5 Masters barring Ryunosuke and Kotomine sent familiard to Fuyuki's Church, this confirmed that Kayneth was still alive after Kiritsugu demolished the Hyatt

Noticing the dense demonic aura in front of him, Father Kotomine Risei could not help but to laugh bitterly.

Around an hour had passed since the summoning signal had been released. None of the Masters came to the Fuyuki Church; in place of them, five familiars gathered in the place. Apart from Kotomine Kirei who had withdrawn from the war on the surface and Caster’s Master, Ryuunosuke, who was not able to see the signal, the other Masters had sent their representatives. Looks like none of the Masters were bothered about their etiquette towards the church.

Tōsaka Tokiomi had also sent his familiar to the meeting. The rest of the familiars should be dispatched by Einzbern, Matō and the two foreign Masters. This had also proven the fact that Lord El-Melloi, whose whereabouts were unknown after the explosion of the Fuyuki Hyatt hotel, is still alive.

Source

Volumen Hydrahyrum protects Kayneth from the explosion of 4 claymore mines. this automated defense is how Kayneth and Sola survived the Hyatt's destruction

The moment Kayneth arrived at the center of the hall, the four flower vases placed at the four corners of the hall suddenly exploded with an enormous roar. However, it wasn’t porcelain fragments that flew out from the explosion but countless metal beads. Those metal beads sprang toward Kayneth like bullets.

This machinery was constructed free from magecraft. Kayneth didn’t sense any scent of magecraft activation. Therefore, it must be machinery Kiritsugu set up in the vases. It is an anti-personnel mine called a Claymore, a cruel pre-set bomb. When each bomb explodes they will release, simultaneously, 700 or so steel balls with a diameter of only about one or two millimeters. These steel balls would radiate outwards in all directions in a fan formation, a terrifying weapon that people say is made to completely destroy infantry units with one strike. When it explodes, one won’t even have time to escape; the only thing the target at the center of the bombs can do is prepare to be beaten into a sieve.

– Of course, provided that the target isn’t a magus.

In the split of a second before 2800 steel balls reached Kayneth, the spot he was standing on became enveloped by a silver semi-circle. The mass of mercury lying recumbent beside his feet suddenly changed form.

Although the tight, thin mercury membrane wrapped around Kayneth was barely one millimeter thick, its surface tension reached the strength of steel when supported with prana supply. Out of the rain of beads that the Claymore mines dispersed not one of them hit Kayneth. All they did was getting reflected back to the hall and hammered the setups in the room into smithereens.

This is Volumen Hydrargyrum's "automated defense" mode. This pre-set magecraft can automatically respond when Kayneth is threatened, forming a powerful protective membrane in a split second. This kind of reaction speed can even defend from bullets. It was also this defense system Volumen Hydrargyrum created that protected Kayneth and Sola when the Hyatt hotel collapsed. The malleable mercury is a perfect weapon that gathered attack and defense all onto itself, being Kayneth’s sword and also Kayneth’s shield.

Volumen Hydragyrum won't lose in speed to bullets or the claymore mine's detonation

Using spells to manipulate mercury for automatic protection – although he’s heard about this before, he never thought that the real thing would have such powerful abilities. Even the shockwave of the Claymore mines wouldn’t beat its defense in speed. If that’s the case, then he can’t expect to use firearms to obtain victory.

Although Kiritsugu was very annoyed, he had to admit that this magus indeed possesses first-rate skills. Actually, when his machination at the Hyatt didn’t succeed, he should have known of this already.

In other words, this is an opponent that Kiritsugu must confront as a "magus."

Volumen Hydragyrum protects Kayneth from submachine gun fire

Before the triumphant Kayneth ordered the mercury to attack, Kiritsugu had already drawn the Calico submachine gun from his waist holster and opened fire.

Reacting immediately, Volumen Hydrargyrum speedily formed a protective membrane in front of Kayneth and blocked all the might of a rain of 9mm bullets. It took only a few seconds to empty fifty bullets.

Volumen Hydragyrum protects Kayneth from more machinegun fire

But Kiritsugu already leapt out from behind the pillar before his body had fully adjusted. When Kayneth, who just arrived at the corridor, reacted, Kiritsugu was about fifteen meters away. He immediately opened fire with the Calico in his left hand at the magus whose eyes widened in surprise.

Although Kayneth was shocked, the Volumen Hydrargyrum still displayed its abilities accurately and loyally this time. The protective membrane opened up in the blink of an eye and again blocked the storm of 9mm bullets. Everything was like a replay of the scene before.

Kayneth's Volumen Hydragyrum would no longer allow shots from the Thompson Contender to pass through, Kayneth would be fortifying it with even more mana to accomplish this

The blow that penetrated the protective membrane was the first and the last. Volumen Hydrargyrum’s defense would become firmer once it realizes the Contender’s power, which is completely different from that of the Calico. In future attacks, all forms of defense should be able to block the Springfield bullet as well. Kayneth would certainly utilize all his prana to strengthen the mercury’s defense.

Source

Volumen Hydragyrum protects Kayneth from grenades and mines set as traps by Kiritsugu

There were many traps along the way. Wires tripped by Kayneth's defenseless feet, or a fuse in the carpet that when stepped on would cause a pre-set grenade to explode or a mine to throw out shrapnel. At those times, the mercury protective membrane would expand immediately and rush forward to block it.

Kiritsugu's remaining arsenal vs Kayneth

In his left hand – fifty rounds of 9mm bullets in a fresh helical magazine, the Calico waited for the moment to open fire.

And his Mystic Code, the Contender Custom, in his right hand. The "magecraft bullet" was already loaded in the single-shot chamber.

15 meters from Kayneth, Kiritsugu attacks him with his submachine gun fire, Volumen Hydragyrum defends

Fifteen meters. If he was to make a move, it would be now.

Towards Kayneth, who was looming nearer, Kiritsugu first used the Calico in his left hand, firing a rain of 9mm bullets in full-automatic. It was a completely identical replay of that sneak attack in the first floor corridor, a pinning attack made to trigger Volumen Hydrargyrum’s automatic defence. In order to make it unable to take the following strike by the Contender, this is a feint made to weaken the mercury’s defensive membrane.

Kayneth has Volumen Hydragyrum exhibit its most powerful form of defense, forming a wall of swords that covers the entire section of hallway facing Kiritsugu. This requires all of his mana to accomplish.

Of course, Lord El-Melloi would not fall for the same trick twice.

“Fevor, mei sanguis!”

The mercury’s defensive form activated immediately, but this time it wasn’t a membrane. Volumen Hydrargyrum leapt in front of its master and formed countless spikes from the floor to the ceiling. It was like a thick bamboo forest covered Kayneth’s entire body, and at the same time completely blocked all the bullets flying near.

There’s no need to use a membrane as defense if he wasn’t facing an attack such as flames or mist. Things such as bullets would become harmless as long as it is not allowed to move in a straight line. Thus, using only “columns” to defend would be enough.

Of course, the prana needed to expand the mercury into a mountain of swords isn’t even comparable to that used to form a membrane. Every single spike, twirled as thin as a steel wire, had to be equipped with all the strength and malleability to deflect bullets. The automatic defense this time was completed using all the prana Kayneth had in his possession. The inherited Magic Crests of the Archibald family on his shoulders circulated to its ultimate limit, creating extraordinary pain to the practitioner.

It could be said that the defense this time was the true impregnable fortress.

The bullets, hindered by the silver mountain of swords, bounced back and forth in the gaps between the numerous spikes, making raucous metallic noises. Finally, they lost all power and dropped to the ground. Not one of them reached Kayneth’s body.

Kayneth's Volumen Hydragyrum in its form of ultimate defense, proved fast enough to wrap itself entirely around Kiritstugu's Origin Bullet as it was still in transit in a manner akin to a venus flytrap the instant before the bullet touched the wall of spikes Volumen Hydragyrum was creating.

Then, the Contender in Kiritsugu’s right hand gave a roar. This is the single-shot bullet that made Kayneth bear his despicable scar the first time it penetrated Volumen Hydrargyrum’s defenses, something with far more destructive power than the 9mm bullets.

However, the degree of defence the mercury mountain of swords put up wasn’t even comparable to that of the membrane.

All the spikes closed up together like a Venus flytrap the instant before the killing move touched the mercury spikes, and surrounded the bullet. The thick cluster thin spikes became a single giant column in the blink of an eye, completely sealing off the .30-06 Springfield bullet.

Volumen Hydrargyrum, made to interchange forms freely, showed what marvels it can do. The immaculate skill that controlled the magecraft of fluidics to such perfection should indeed be the epitome of this unparalleled craft, fully worthy of the prestigious name of the Archibald house.

The moment he beautifully completed this magecraft he devoted all his skills in – Lord El-Melloi’s destiny also came to its end.

How to defend against Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet and why this isn't practical in-universe

In order to avoid the damage of Kiritsugu’s magecraft bullets, one has to discard all magecraft and purely defend the bullet by physical means. On that point, Kiritsugu’s choice of using .30-06 Springfield bullets is a malicious one. There isn’t something that can completely block this specialized hunting rifle round to begin with. This is a type of bullet that excelled in penetration. As long as one isn’t in an armored vehicle, one can’t avoid getting hurt.

Only one shot. That would be enough. Kiritsugu dared to choose a gun that doesn’t suit real combat, the Thompson Contender, as his Mystic Code, due to the fact that it is the handgun that can deal the maximum physical damage possible.

Utility?

Source

Kayneth can use Volumen Hydragyrum as an automated search system

A drop of mercury, like a thread of cobweb, hung in the door’s keyhole. Although it was only a tiny bit of mercury, Kiritsugu could still see it drooping toward the ground as it left a silver trail on the surface of the door.

The drop of mercury suddenly stopped moving downwards the moment Kiritsugu saw it. Then, it retraced its tracks, retreated back through the keyhole as if it was alive, and disappeared.

"… So that’s what it is; an automated search."

Kayneth uses Volumen Hydragyrum to scan for and locate Kiritsugu over the entire first floor

Kayneth flipped the tail of his coat and leapt down to the first floor. Then, Volumen Hydrargyrum removed its jellyfish shape and slowly fell down too.

"Ire: Sanctio!"

The mercury’s thin tentacles scattered after receiving his orders, and once again scanned through the entire first floor. The mercury immediately confirmed the location of the target. Approaching that location following the tracks of the tracing mercury, a sliver of a bloodthirsty smile emerged on Kayneth’s lips.

Source

Volumen Hydragyrum accurately tracks Kiritsugu to his current resting location (though Kerry allows for it most likely)

The mouse finally got chased to the end of the corridors in the third floor. The stream of mercury that Kayneth sent out earlier to find the enemy accurately located him this time.

Boundary Fields

Source

Kiritsugu could sense Kayneth's Boundary Field and exposition

Just by the traces of prana from the surroundings, Kiritsugu was able to accurately judge the situation.

Someone had formed a barrier. It should be the work of the enemy Servant’s Master. The goal was to segregate ordinary humans from the Heaven’s Feel, concealing the true battlefield of the war. It is a compulsory rule for magi to prevent their activities from being exposed to other mortals.

Kayneth dispels the Boundary Field he had put in place around the surrounding area

After the destructive storm blown cross the battlefield, silence has arrived.

Soon after, as thought suddenly remembered, the sound of the waves smashing against the cliff and the bustle of faraway streets crept back into the night sky. Lancer’s Master must have released the barrier cast in the neighboring area.

Source

Description of the Boundary Field around the hotel Kayneth created

"Yes. Since we have visitors, then why not let them take a good look at Kayneth El-Melloi's magic atelier?"

This hotel, as Kayneth's stronghold, must have undergone complete renovation. Not the material type of renovation, but a fortification through magecraft. In this building totaling thirty-two floors, Kayneth's bounded field covers twenty-four floors. This place can be called a castle of magecraft. In addition, there are three magical furnaces for Kayneth's exclusive use, and in place of hounds there have been summoned ten-odd evil spirits and apparitions. There isn't even a flaw in the drainage pipes; Kayneth completely covered the area underneath the hall with his bounded field.

Instead of attacking enemy territory, it's much better to perfect one's own territory. As for the challenger who dares set foot in here, Kayneth will make him realize the real terror of Lord El-Melloi.

...

In the beginning, he thought that this had been the obvious tactic. Kayneth specifically set many traps in order to defend against an ambush; as for the tactic against his strategic defense, this one has definitely yielded effective results. That prodigy magus held his iron wall as his pride, but he never thought that the entire castle would be destroyed so he remained inside.

Source

Kayneth is able to easily overcome the illusions of the Einzbern boundary field and find the Castle. Kayneth is considered the greatest genuis of spirit invocation.

Although it is a bold challenge, Kayneth has unshakable confidence in himself. No matter what defenses Einzbern had made, he’s willing to bet the title of Lord El-Melloi that he is able to break it apart. He’s got to show this kind of courage if he wants to amend the defects Sola reprimanded him for last night. For Kayneth, the most pressing problem for him right now is to have his fiancée take back her insults.

Kayneth moved toward the depth of the forest as the seething vigor boiled inside him. Although illusionary magecraft has been cast upon the forest of the bounded field, Kayneth’s outstanding knowledge and instincts allowed him to make precise deductions, and easily found the location of the central axis of the bounded field. It wasn’t for nothing that he has the mighty title of the greatest genius of spirit invocation.

If the magecraft of the Einzberns is only to such a degree, then just how the castle is defended is very clear.

Limits of modern magus in turning spaces into “otherworlds”

“…Setting wards around a workshop of that size and treating it to become an otherworld…
I can hardly believe it.”
“Oh, the area they turned into an otherworld isn’t that large.”
Faldeus casually explained the trick in response to his subordinate’s misgivings.
“I’ve heard that, during the fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki, the previous Lord El-Melloi constructed enough of a labyrinth in his workshop to turn part of a hotel corridor into an otherworld.
Even for a mage of his abilities furnished with three magical energy reactors tuned for his use, however, that was the limit. It might be different for Caubac Alcatraz, the renowned labyrinth mage of antiquity, but it’s just not possible for a mage to transform an entire city block into an otherworld.”
Faldeus shook his head as he matter-of-factly explained the situation. Or perhaps he was attempting to isolate himself from the present confusion by talking about what was, to him, common sense.
“Bazdilot only activated the workshop. It’s actually the joint creation of the Scradio Family’s mages. I doubt that even Bazdilot can leave when it’s in full operation.”
“A joint creation, sir?”
“Yes. The product of a number of mages combining their fields of expertise — otherwords, illusions, wards, the installation of demonic beasts. Individually they can’t match the defensive capabilities of the previous Lord El-Melloi’s workshop, but Bazdilot possesses uncommon magical energy. They made a stunt on that scale possible by having him activate other mages’ workshops through brute force.
“It’s not just that plant,” Faldeus continued, watching the writhing meat processing plant on the monitor. “Scradio Family mages have worked on all the surrounding factories as well. They all function to support the workshop in that meat processing plant. As a result, it would be difficult for even an accomplished mage to escape the workshop when it’s in that state.”

Servants vs the sort of Boundary Field Kayneth set up during the 4th Grail War.

“Then, the Einzbern homunculus and Miss Borzak are helpless?”
“Not at all,” Faldeus immediately contradicted his subordinate as if his earlier praise of the workshop had been a lie.
“It would be one thing if they’d gone in alone. With the Heroic Spirit Haruri summoned, however, it’s a different story. The workshop in Fuyuki I mentioned was destroyed along with the entire hotel, but if a Servant well-versed in magecraft had challenged the labyrinth, they would have broken through it sooner or later.”
Faldeus’ opinion on this matter was the opposite of what it had been ten years earlier. A modern labyinthized workshop was difficult to penetrate; even a Heroic Spirit would need to exploit a weak point or back door, he had thought. Now that he had accessed the data from the puppet his ancestor had left behind — the record of the third Fuyuki Holy Grail War — and had contact with the Heroic Spirit Hassan-I Sabbah, however, he was in no doubt. A maze of that level would not work on a powerful Heroic Spirit.
Although I doubt that weak Avenger in the record of the third Fuyuki war could do anything about it, Faldeus thought as he turned his attention to a monitor.
“In any case, if she summons her Servant to break out of the workshop, it will be a golden opportunity for us to observe its abilities.”

Hypnosis

Source

Kayneth used hypnosis to get the chief construction worker to drive Volumen Hydragyrum away from the wreckage of the Hyatt

The bewildered chief declared his thoughts as he laid his hands on the surface of the sphere.

At the first contact, surprisingly the sphere sank inwards.

“?”

As the astonished chief looked at it in further scrutiny, he realized that he did not press inwards- he had merely touched it.

“Chief?”

“…………”

Not noticing anything strange, the nearby rescue workers wore a puzzled expression and looked at their astounded-looking chief.

“Did anything happen?”

“……we have to remove this thing from this place.”

“Huh?”

“…Use the truck to transport it away. Hurry.”

Suddenly, the chief became unusually composed. In a calm voice he instructed the workers to work swiftly.

...

A member abruptly noticed that the chief, who was just overseeing them seconds ago, had disappeared. And from behind the backs of the busy rescue workers, the sound of an engine starting could be heard.

At the driver’s seat of the truck, slowly driving the truck away from the scene, is the expressionless chief of rescue workers. But when the rescue workers noticed this, it was already too late. The truck which carried the silver sphere had vanished among the streets in the dawn light.

Five hours later, at the outskirts of the city, a police patrol discovered the lost truck, with the chief still sitting at the driver’s seat, unconscious. However, the truck which transported the silver sphere on its shelves was now only left with an empty husk.

Healing Magecraft

Source

Kayneth can use healing magecraft to heal lungs and hearts

"I won’t just simply kill you. I’ll only heal your lungs and heart to make them revive, then I’ll slowly deal with you starting from your toes."

So, you might be able to tell, but he's basically just a measuring stick for Kerry outside one statement vaguely alluding to him being able to best Illya in a magecraft duel somehow while Rin's victory in a theoretical fight would be due to tenacity.

Along with Hundred Face Hassan and Gilles de Rais he's getting a post basically for completion's sake. Waver will too... just a matter of seeing if Case Files gives him anything *shrugs*

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Kiritsugu Emiya?

Spoiler

Here, a combination of Kiritsugu’s use of Avalon and his ability to spam Innate Time Control (basically, he’s incredibly tough and moves at high speeds) would allow Kiritsugu to defeat Assassin Servants whose presence were revealed or Caster Servants in close combat (contextually, probably would refer to any Assassin reliant on Presence Concealment [Cursed Arm Hassan, One Hundred Face Hassan] or Caster [Medea, Gilles de Rais, Nursery Rhyme, and Tamamo no Mae] that existed before September 19, 2012 [when the last Einzbern Consultation Room first aired]).

Here, to defeat a Servant specialized for hand to hand combat, Kiritsugu would need something like the element of surprise or suitability (the implication being its probably not a lack of power holding him back).

GJ: I have a question about Fate characters. How high (or low) are the talents of Emiya Shirou and Tohsaka Rin within the entire history of the Association?
Nasu: Rin really is a genius. Given time, she'll enter within the top 100 magi of the Association throughout its entire history. Shirou won't move out from being an magus apprentice, but as a spell-user, he'll be among one of the big specialists. Ultimately, he'll receive an evaluation on the same level as "Magus Killer" Emiya Kiritsugu had in his peak, maybe. If I were to put into simple numbers, Ciel: 100, Rin: 70-100, Shirou: 10 (under particular limited conditions, then 40).

Source

Kiritsugu is compared to the Executors of the Church, if not being worse himself as the Magus Killer

"Oh, does the Holy Church also know of this? The 'Magus Killer' Emiya was really notorious at the time. Not belonging to the Association in appearance, but in fact was the Association's higher ups' killing tool."

"So in the words of the church, he would be a sort of Executor, right?"

"Even worse than that in nature. He is a freelancing assassin who underwent special training to kill magi. Because only magi are most comprehensive of other magi, he will use methods most incompatible with the rules of magi to kill other magi... he is the sort of man who will utilize despicable measures nonchalantly."

Description fo Kiritsugu's combat style and accomplishments

Kirei began reading the information passed on to him. Most of what was recorded was an investigation regarding Emiya Kiritsugu's battle strategy - the cases of missing persons and accidents believed to be magi he killed; but mainly, it was an analysis of his methodology. While reading, Kirei began to gradually understand why Tokiomi hates this man. Ambush and assassination was only the tip of the iceberg.

Planting a bomb in public, striking down an airplane with many passengers on board; these were the type of unbelievable cases reported. It is also extrapolated that the tragedies of the past reported as major acts of terrorism were in fact the criminal acts of Emiya Kiritsugu for the sake of killing one magus. Although there is no convictive evidence, looking at the information given, it is a very believable story.

Assassin; that word is very befitting.

...

This man's actions contain a high level of risk.

In the era of freelancing assassination before he was taken in by the Einzberns as their son-in-law, Kiritsugu expertly completed countless missions. But the pause between missions was clearly too short. Considering the time he has for preparation and accepting missions, the only possible conclusion is that he is simultaneously executing several plans. And these plans are all parallel; he appears in the conflicts of various areas, and always when the conflict is the most heated, at the point of destruction.

Source

Why Kiritsugu is considered a Magus Killer

That was the heresy that earned the magus Emiya Kiritsugu the nickname of "magus killer."

The weak point of the people called magi was usually negligence from arrogance. They believe in their own mysteries and knowledge. They never doubt that the only threat to them beside God cannot be anything other than a magus like them.

That is why, in battle, they are sensitive to nothing but traces of magecraft. To detect any kind of trivial skill. Hence they train their perception of magecraft, and think of counter-measures against those skills as derisive― That's a theory no magus strays from.

As a result, they ignore any attack that is purely physical and void of magecraft as secondary menace. They have no fear of the sharpest knife, the strongest bullet, until the instant they actually pierce the flesh of a magus. And before that happens, the strength of magecraft grants illusions, paralysis methods, or defensive bounded fields, able to completely negate any vulgar attacks.

But they despise technology. What a human who doesn't rely on magecraft can do― a lot of magi cannot recognize that.

The attack the enemy doesn't expect is a shortcut for all battles. Kiritsugu has reached a conclusion from a large number of battles-to-the-death between magi. That is, magi are weak to non-magical attacks.

...

When compared to magecraft, this night-vision sniping gun certainly falls behind. Magecraft can let you see better through the dark, and it is also possible to detect the position of an enemy magus. But with this gun, Kiritsugu is able to shoot down a target without releasing any prana.

In the dark, unable to detect any prana, the possibility of being hit from several hundred meters away― it is a situation a pro soldier wouldn't count as incomprehensible, but a lot of magi are really novices in such conditions. In fact, a self-conscious magus who has stepped into a world of mysteries beyond human intellect cannot relate to the stereotypes of a narrower world.

Source

As Kiritsugu is at the start of the 4th Grail War, he would be incapable of defeating Assassin Class Servants

If Kiritsugu sniped Lancer's Master now, the opponent would be dead instantly, but at the same time it would also exposed the shooter’s location. Although Assassin is not a class with decisive combat strength, he is nevertheless a supernatural being, a Servant. As a magus Kiritsugu would never manage to win in such a fight.

Modern Weaponry?

Calico M950 [Armament]
One of the weapons Emiya Kiritsugu prepared for the Holy Grail War. You didn't really think he'd enter something like a survival game with just a sniper rifle and the Contender, did you?
The distinguishing feature of the Calico is its special top-mounted helical magazine that can hold 50 rounds, but no matter how much I think about it the extra weight and change in the center of gravity while firing means it would be better to use a normal submachine gun, even if you have to reload more often. But oh, well, Kiritsugu is a magical mystery gunman, so I guess it's fine.
Of course, in the final battle when he used it to pin down Kirei, he was able to buy himself five seconds where a normal submachine gun only would have gotten three. That extra two second advantage is a testament to the superiority of the helical magazine! …Okay, so it's not that much of a difference.
By the way, my intention was to make Kiritsugu as much of a heretical gunman as he is a heretical magus, so I purposefully chose his equipment based on coolness factor rather than practicality. Please, please, please don't think that the weapons that show up in Fate/Zero are the standard for actual professional soldiers.

Walther WA2000 [Armament]
The sniper rifle used by Emiya Kiritsugu in the Holy Grail War. Despite being relatively compact due to its bullpup design, it is an extremely heavy and hard to use weapon. On top of that, Kiritsugu's is decked out with a preposterous night vision system. The night vision scopes that existed during the time period of the Fourth Holy Grail War were a long way off from where they are today, and were often bulkier and heavier than the guns they were attached to. Also, one of the gun's major flaws was its prohibitive cost, which is one of the reasons it never saw widespread use, but thanks to the Einzbern's considerable funds that was no problem at all. And besides, it was probably less expensive than running telephone lines all the way out to a castle in the middle of nowhere.

Source

Kiritsugu's available arsenal

Applying that conclusion to the circumstances of the Heaven's Feel of Fuyuki, Maiya has prepared a set of equipment. Among them, the rifle lying on the sheet is what gives out the strongest smell of varnish. That was a work of art that was the crystallization of the newest electronic techniques along with a ferocious shape.

The base is a Walther WA2000 semi-automatic sniper rifle. A rifle with a total length a little above 90 centimeters, in a compact size; the bullpup structure with a gas-operated magazine gives the gun barrel a length of 65 centimeters. The .300 Winchester Magnum shell has an effective range of 1000 meters. In the modern world, this is a rifle of the highest class, with the highest performance. The high cost of $12,000 is due to how it was one of the only 154 units produced for this legendary gun.

Instead of the standard sighting device made by Smith & Bender, Kiritsugu had simultaneously installed a pair of lined-up devices as a special scope mount, above the barrel and on the left flank, both extra-large optic devices fixed in parallel.

On the main side was the latest night vision scope, the best of the US armed force, an AN/PVS04. The equipment, some sort of super sensitive video camera, is a simple light electrical amplifier with a lens, raising and displaying a perfect brightness. It is a real electronic "owl eye" that multiplies the range of vision by 3.6, 600 yards under the moonlight or 400 yards in starlight. Essentially, it is the latest equipment used by the US armed force, banned from exportation to prevent technology leaking.

Furthermore, in addition a specter IR heat detector scope is installed as a sideways support. This one is also electronically equipped for night vision, although the image display isn't an intensity amplifier, but displays the heat patterns of the subject. It can perceive temperature variations from -5 to 60°C up to 200 meters with an 1.8 magnification.

...

The other rifle that was prepared, in addition to the Walther sniping gun, is for Maiya who will be acting as a vanguard scout, a Steyr AUG assault gun. Its night vision scope has also been replaced, like Kiritsugu's, and surprisingly, the weight is under 5 kg.

Furthermore, a Calico M950 submachine gun is ready as a reserve side arm. The compact size is not different from a large handgun, and the reinforced plastic makes it look more like a toy than the Walther sniping gun; but the unique magazine with a system called helical allows for 50 Parabellum rounds, with a firing rate of 700 shots per minute for a brutal armament.

The rest includes personal hand grenades and stun grenades, smoke grenades, and C2 plastic explosive. Following the instructions Kiritsugu sent from the north, Maiya had arranged to prepare the equipment without allowing any leak. But Kiritsugu's expressionless eyes don't look satisfied yet.

Kiritsugu can determine whether Magic Circuits are being used based on a magus' body's thermal output with proper technology

Having discovered that the operation of Magic Circuits changed the temperature of the practitioner, Kiritsugu had studied and trained so much that he was now able to read, through the thermal output, the current status of the Magic Circuits by viewing the heat distribution. Viewing the clear difference between an ordinary person and a magus, it is possible to seize an opportunity after the release of prana. The joint use of both bulky night vision devices is not just for night time battle, but also a configuration to specifically face against a magus.

Source

Kiritsugu's sniping vs a Magus

If possible, Kiritsugu wanted to cooperate with Maiya to ensure the accuracy of the attack with a crossfire. Unfortunately, only Kiritsugu himself can fire at the moment. But it would not be a problem as it was a distance of barely three hundred meters. Kiritsugu’s skills would have taken his target’s life with just one bullet. As long as he remains unaware of the presence of the sniper, no magus can defend himself from a .300 Winchester Magnum round.

Source

The Fuyuki Hyatt Hotel is 32 floors in height

Looking down from the 32nd floor-- the top floor-- of Fuyuki's Hyatt hotel. There is no building taller than this in all of Fuyuki.

Kiritsugu uses strategically placed C4 to cause the Fuyuki Hyatt to collapse under its own weight

Kiritsugu dialed an empty number. But there was no response whatsoever from his cellphone. The modified communication loops were connecting not to an analog signal, but to the trigger of a C4 bomb.

The bomb only caused a very small explosion, to the point where the sound of the explosion cannot even be heard outside the hotel.

But what resounded in the night was the horrifying sound of reinforced concrete splintering and collapsing.

The evacuees who had noticed something was wrong saw the sudden change in the towering building and began to shout in panic.

"The hotel, the hotel is collapsing!"

The hotel, towering at a hundred and fifty some meters in height, kept its upright posture but collapsed as if being sucked into the ground. Because all the outside walls collapsed inward, not a shard of debris flew outward and only the dust created by the collapse spread towards the surrounding streets. Precision blasting-- a highly advanced blasting technique used primarily to demolish tall buildings. Due to the destruction of load bearing walls and key support structures, the building collapses downward and inward on its own weight. Using the least amount of explosives to obtain the result of total destruction. To Emiya Kiritsugu who's familiar with all blasting techniques from past to present, there's a very special appreciation for this type of art of destruction.

Source

Kiritsugu's arsenal going into battle against Gilles' Master

However, Kiritsugu looked like he didn’t notice his wife’s disappointment and just silently prepared his weapons. Kiritsugu placed various grenades and small machine guns into the suspender beneath his jacket. This is something quite unbelievable, the preparation of a magus about to enter battle – however, Irisviel saw that the holster by Kiritsugu’s waist contained the magecraft single-loader that Kiritsugu only carried at crucial moments. She understood that her husband had made the preparation to fight the best he could.

Source

Kiritsugu's initial arsenal vs Kayneth

As he ran, Kiritsugu exchanged the helical magazine on the Calico for a new one. The bullet in the Contender were also changed into a normal one. It’s still a bit early to use the final killing move. He needed to provoke Kayneth even more in order to kill the enemy with one strike.

Source

Kiritsugu's remaining arsenal vs Kayneth

In his left hand – fifty rounds of 9mm bullets in a fresh helical magazine, the Calico waited for the moment to open fire.

And his Mystic Code, the Contender Custom, in his right hand. The "magecraft bullet" was already loaded in the single-shot chamber.

Source

Kiritsugu sniped Ryunosuke from 200 meters downstream away from the Giant Horror, close to the heart of the river at Fuyuki Bridge.

“Go for it, Sir Bluebeard! Destroy them! Slaughter them! This is God's own toy box!”

Just then, he was shoved hard by an unseen hand.

Falling painfully on his backside, he looked around, shocked. Nobody was near enough to touch Ryūnosuke. On the contrary, the people around him started to scream and back away when they saw him. It was as though he was one of the absurdities in the river and in the sky, appearing right before their eyes.

“What is it? Hey, what?"

Just as Ryūnosuke expectantly started asking the people around him where this new oddity was occurring, he casually put his hand to his stomach and felt something hot and slippery... and then, he started fixedly at his own hand, dyed crimson.

“Whoooa..."

Red. Pure, captivating red.

The glistening, vivid, fundamental color that he had always been seeking.

Ah, this is it ― Ryūnosuke instantly understood, a faint smile on his pale lips.

The color he was searching for all along. The thing he teared through all sorts of places to find but could never obtain, the true "red".

Lovingly, he embraced his abdomen, gushing with fresh blood.

“I see...... I never realized, huh......”

"The darkest place is under the candlestick" - those words were well said. He had never thought that what he was seeking could be hidden somewhere so near himself...

He was intoxicated, his skull completely filled by the surging analgesia. The second shot struck him in the center of the forehead.

Even though his entire head above the nose had been blown away without a trace, his lips still traced a smile of total bliss.

...

Got him ― confident, Emiya Kiritsugu, kneeling on one knee on the deck of the ship, lowered the muzzle of the Walther night vision sniper rifle.

He was about two hundred meters downstream from Caster's monster, close to the heart of the river at Fuyuki Bridge. Kiritsugu, who happened to have been staking out the harbor just as Caster appeared, promptly chose one of nearby empty yachts and commandeered it, arriving here.

Needless to say, it never crossed his mind to attack the monster Caster had become. Using the panic as cover, Kiritsugu's aim once again was to 'hunt' the Master.

The light amplification scope loses its efficiency as the number of particles in the air increased, making it useless in this fog; however, this was no trouble for the infrared scope, crucial for differentiating magi. Within the gathering crowd of onlookers, Kiritsugu searched for the thermal pattern characteristic of Magic Circuits. As a result, one of those individuals was gunned down.

Under these circumstances, anyone loitering near the riverside while keeping Magic Circuits active must be involved in the Holy Grail War.

The probability of his target being the Master of Caster was over sixty percent. For now, taking the shot was the right choice.

Source

Kiritsugu’s remaining weapons consist of a dagger and 2 grenades.

He had lost his own machine gun, and the Contender needed to be loaded. His remaining weapons consisted of one dagger and two grenades.

Source

Description of Kiritsugu’s plan to try and prevent the 5th Grail War.

And that harbinger of Hell was still lurking beneath Mount Enzō even now. After that battle, Kiritsugu had repeatedly visited that place with dynamite, and spent years to map out the situation of a few leylines. He had meticulously created a ‘bump’ at a location leading towards Mount Enzō. That might be the last time for him to use magecraft in his life.

The prana produced from the junction of numerous leylines will collect upon that ‘bump’ with time. When its limit is reached, a localized earthquake will be triggered deep within Mount Enzō. It would take a minimum of 30 years and a maximum of about 40 years for the ‘bump’ to break. If all his calculations were correct, then the cavern within Mount Enzō would collapse and seal away the “Greater Grail” forever. Though he would not be able to live to see that day, Kiritsugu had done the best he could to prevent the fifth Heaven’s Feel 60 years later.

Magecraft?

Here, Shirou sees how Artoria is able to negate Rin's "intervention Magic" level magecraft. He seems to believe Kiritsugu could use similar, though apparently not as instantly as Tohsaka's gems let her do so.

Source

Kiritsugu feels the presence of Diarmuid's mana, Diarmuid defends Kayneth from Kiritsugu's submachine gun fire

But just then, Kiritsugu felt a mighty aura of prana approaching him with intimidation and frowned.

Unhesitatingly, Kiritsugu held up the Calico and took aim, firing repeatedly towards Kayneth. But the bullet emitted sparks in the empty air and sprayed in all directions and disappeared. It was the twin spears of red and yellow that performed movements too fast for eyes to see.

Facing Lancer, who materialized on a position set to protect Kayneth, Kiritsugu was gobsmacked. Stopped by the enemy’s Servant at this time; this was definitely unexpected.

Source

Kiritsugu could sense Kayneth's Boundary Field and exposition

Just by the traces of prana from the surroundings, Kiritsugu was able to accurately judge the situation.

Someone had formed a barrier. It should be the work of the enemy Servant’s Master. The goal was to segregate ordinary humans from the Heaven’s Feel, concealing the true battlefield of the war. It is a compulsory rule for magi to prevent their activities from being exposed to other mortals.

Thompson Contender and Origin Bullets

Thompson Center Arms Contender Custom [Armament]
The customized firearm that Emiya Kiritsugu uses as a mystic code. It is a single-shot pistol originally developed for use in hunting and competitions. The barrel can be easily switched out, allowing it to be used with a large variety of bullet calibers. By fitting it with a handmade barrel forged using magical processes, and using special bullets that contain his own powdered ribs, Kiritsugu has transformed it into a deadly anti-magus weapon. Well, that's the short version; for a significantly more long winded explanation please refer to volume 2.
Incidentally, this gun was actually what made me want to write a story like Fate/Zero in the first place. In a way, you could say it was the start of everything. Or more specifically, it was Lance Henriksen's performance in Hard Target. I guess what I'm trying to say is, thank you so much, Mr. John Woo. Stranglehold was really fun. Will there be flying doves in Red Wall, too?

Nasu: To use an RPG analogy, the Origin Round is like an attack that converts the opponent's MP into damage. For example, Kayneth with his 3000 MP would receive 3000 damage against his mere 100 HP. For someone like Waver with 5 MP, he would only receive 5 damage against his 50 HP.

Source

Kiritsugu's Thompson Contender and Origin Bullets exposition

But there also existed a weapon for the 'magus' Emiya Kiritsugu. That is, a 'Mystic Code'― a weapon through which a magus can use magecraft in battle.

Thompson Center's Contender. A grip and fore end carved in walnut, a gun barrel 14 inch long, reminiscent of a dagger in its scabbard. The handgun parts are only the trigger and the percussion hammer, then the cylinder and slide cannot be found on the simple exterior, which makes it close to a percussion pistol from the last hours of the Middle Ages.

Actually, the Contender is a single shot pistol with a break-open cartridge chamber. This gun is essentially a pistol for target shooting sport; but Kiritsugu's gun barrel has been switched to make use of the hunting specifications of the large caliber, and furthermore, it has been magically modified to make use of "magic bullets" for rifling.

The bullets used are .30-06 Springfield. A cartridge with a bottleneck structure, its size and power level are already different from those of a handgun bullet. The .30-06 is 10% stronger than the .308 Winchester bullet, and even surpasses the hand canon class of a Magnum bullet. Discharged from a handgun, it would have extreme firepower.

But the true menace of this gun is not the destructive power of physical explosives and warheads.

The special bullets installed along with the gun in the case― in the core of the twelve remaining shots are sealed powdered bones from Kiritsugu himself. When Kiritsugu's prana is fired, these "magical bullets" forces into the target the 'origin' of the magus named Kiritsugu. So to speak, one could call it an imitation of a conceptual weapon.

...

Against a "formidable enemy" for who artifice won't work― Kiritsugu, as a single magus, must stand up when he runs out of secrets. At that time, this Contender becomes Kiritsugu's most powerful fang.

Source

Kiritsugu’s Contender fires .30-06 Springfield bullets with an initial velocity 2.5 times higher than the 9mm bullets of his Calico submachine gun.

Before the Calico stopped firing, Kiritsugu’s free right hand had already pulled out the Contender and fired a shot at the center of the expanded, semi-circular mercury membrane.

Volumen Hydrargyrum had already adapted to the best physical shape to protect against the Calico. However, the initial velocity of the .30-06 Springfield is 2.5 times higher than the 9mm bullets, and its destructive power seven times the latter.

Source

Exposition on Kiritsugu's Origin of "Severing and Binding"

When the Emiya family of the previous generation determined the "Origin" of their son and heir, at a loss they named him "Kiritsugu" due to the strange results.

Basically, he possesses the dual attributes of "Fire" and "Earth". To be specific, they were composite attributes, "Severing" and "Binding". That is the form of his soul that was born with him, and the true form of his "Origin".

Sever, and bind – it’s not exactly the same as being called "destruction and rebirth", because Kiritsugu’s Origin has no meaning of "recovery". For example, a string that is cut and then connected again would have change of thickness at the point where the knot is tied. That is, the action of 'severing and binding' would cause irreversible "corruption" in the target.

Kiritsugu became particularly aware of his Origin when he was asked to complete some hands-on work. His hands weren’t very skilled. If a normal contraption breaks down, he could fix it. But if it comes to delicate machinery then everything would suddenly become the opposite. The more he wanted to fix it, the worse the damage would become for the machine.

As a matter of fact, Kiritsugu’s handcraft isn’t extraordinary. If a normal metal wire snapped, the original function can be restored by just connecting it back together. However, if he were to fix a delicate electric circuit using the same principles, the result would be fatal. It wasn’t something that would work as long as everything is connected. If the connections become out of order, the circuit would lose its function.

This wasn't something created by Kiritsugu’s personality or temperament; from magecraft’s point of view, it is the true essence of the root deep within his soul.

Exposition on Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet and what it did to Kayneth

Emiya Kiritsugu utilized his extraordinary "Origin" to its fullest extent when he created his Mystic Code. The first and second ribs on both sides were cut off and taken out of his body. The extracted ribs were grinded into dust, condensed with a craft to preserve the soul, and sealed within sixty-six bullets as their core.

These bullets would actualize Kiritsugu’s "Origin" on the target when it hits. If it were to hit a living creature then there would be no wounds or bleeding, but the place where it was hit would appear to be suffering necrosis. The surface may seem to have healed, but the nerves and capillaries wouldn’t be regenerated properly and the original function would be lost.

Moreover, as a Conceptual Weapon, this bullet poses an even graver threat to magi in particular.

Kiritsugu had already used thirty-seven bullets, but not a single one of them was wasted. The bullets that were made using a part of his body had already completely destroyed thirty-seven magi.

Now, the thirty-eighth "Origin Bullet" severed a new sacrifice’s life force.

Kayneth probably didn’t comprehend what was happening to his body until the end. The moment that the excruciating pain spread into his body, all of his vital organs and nerves had already been torn into a shapeless mess.

Before a scream escaped his throat he was already spurting out blood. All the muscles in his body were sent into spasms with uncoordinated movements conducted by a nervous system that was on the edge of being broken; the lean body clad in the chic suit began to perform a ridiculous dance.

Using intense pressure to make the densely-packed prana, circulating in the Magic Circuits, suddenly begin to ignore those paths and flow chaotically, destroying the practitioner’s body in the process. The moment Volumen Hydrargyrum blocked the Contender’s strike, Kayneth suffered damages more severe than getting directly hit by a bullet.

When Kiritsugu’s magecraft bullet is interfered by magecraft, the impact of the "Origin" within the bullet would affect all the way down to the Magic Circuits of the practitioner.

If we were to compare a magus’s Magic Circuits as a high-voltage power cable, Kiritsugu’s bullet would be a drop of water. What would happen if a conductive liquid attached to a thickly-placed electrical circuit? The short-circuiting current would destroy the circuit itself, resulting in permanent damage.

Just like that, shorting out Magic Circuits is the terrifying effect of Kiritsugu’s Mystic Code.

...

The destructive power of Kiritsugu’s magecraft bullet depends on how many Magic Circuits were activated within the target the moment the bullet hit, since what destroys the practitioner’s body would be his own prana. On this point, it was absolutely fatal for Kayneth. Since he was provoked continuously and used the utmost amount of prana he had, he granted Kiritsugu the best result he could hope for.

Even the mighty Volumen Hydrargyrum was finished if the practitioner’s prana was cut off. Kayneth lay recumbent in the sea of mercury that reverted to its original shape and spread all over the floor, his body twitching slightly. The former Lord El-Melloi was now as harmless as a baby. Let alone the power of a magus, his body may not even be spared a normal human’s functions.

How to defend against Kiritsugu's Origin Bullet and why this isn't practical in-universe

In order to avoid the damage of Kiritsugu’s magecraft bullets, one has to discard all magecraft and purely defend the bullet by physical means. On that point, Kiritsugu’s choice of using .30-06 Springfield bullets is a malicious one. There isn’t something that can completely block this specialized hunting rifle round to begin with. This is a type of bullet that excelled in penetration. As long as one isn’t in an armored vehicle, one can’t avoid getting hurt.

Only one shot. That would be enough. Kiritsugu dared to choose a gun that doesn’t suit real combat, the Thompson Contender, as his Mystic Code, due to the fact that it is the handgun that can deal the maximum physical damage possible.

Source

Kotomine defends against Kiritsugu’s Origin Bullet with his 6 Black Keys fanned out in front of his body while amplifying their power with a Command Seal. The Origin Bullet destroys the Black Keys on impact after it is deflected, the magical energy from the Command Seal facing destruction instead of Kotomine’s body.

The Executor waved the six wing-like Black Keys, and charged directly towards Kiritsugu. He had made some defensive preparations for Kiritsugu’s bullets.

Which was exactly what Kiritsugu had wanted. The success of Kitisugu's killing blow was ensured precisely because Kirei had prepared defensive measures. The magecraft bullet was already loaded into his Mystic Code.

...

Kirei initiated a large-scale magecraft.

The Black Keys that he gripped in both hands instantly expanded to more than twice their original size. The half-spiritual blades, which had been woven with magecraft to begin with, had extra prana forced into them. The forceful execution of this spell evidently surpassed the limit of the weapons themselves, but it was enough to handle the single bullet. Kirei crossed the six enormous swords before his chest, holding them in a fan-like formation. The immense destructive power of the .30-06 Springfield assault rifle bullet was neutralized in an instant.

The bullet was deflected, a shower of flying sparks accompanying the clash. The Black Keys, which had been overflowing with prana, could no longer handle the heavy load, and shattered.

This extraordinary skill, which allowed swords to surpass bullets, was the wrong move. It was truly shocking that Kirei, who should not have even had a Magic Crest, could exert such a surprising skill. But more importantly, this would allow the fatal destruction of Kirei’s Magic Circuits, which were currently supplying the Black Keys with energy. Due to Emiya Kiritsugu’s Origin, Kirei’s flesh and circuits would instantly be annihilated due to the massive amounts of prana running rampant in his body – at least, that was what was supposed to happen.

…

That had not been within the scope of Kiritsugu's predictions. The Origin round fired from his Contender gun had been nullified – Kiritsugu couldn’t figure out the reason. Even Kirei himself wouldn’t have imagined that the uniqueness of his magecraft had nullified Kiritsugu’s killing blow.

Kirei had never been an orthodox magus. He, whose Magic Circuits had yet to be developed properly, had only obtained a source of prana through utilizing the spare Command Seals he received from Risei. The disposable, single-use Command Seals were all that saved Kirei. The moment the Origin round made contact, the Command Seal that served as his source of prana simply disappeared from Kirei’s arm.

Innate Time Control

Source

Kiritsugu's Innate Time Control/Time Alter exposition

Kiritsugu, traversing the corridors, felt that his whole body was being devoured by the after effects of using his magecraft.

The skill he used to dodge Kayneth’s Mystic Code just then wasn’t a basic physical enchantment. It was an advanced magecraft with a greater range of utility – and obviously with far stronger side effects.

The ability to separate the passage of time inside a designated space from the "flow of time" in the outside world; in some ways, Time Manipulation can be regarded as a type of Reality Marble. Although it is classified as a greater magecraft, it is definitely not "magic" which cannot be replicated. Compared to "time modification", which can reverse cause and effect and change the past, this is merely the magecraft of "time adjustment" that can stagnate the time that had passed and accelerate the time in the future. Therefore, it is not a magecraft of extraordinary difficulty.

The only problem one needs to consider is the size of the bounded field and the scope of time that needs to be modified.

Kiritsugu’s root, the Emiya family, spent generations researching and seeking the magecraft that controls time. The magic crests existing on Kiritsugu’s back inherited the fruits of research from generations of men. But the amount of prana one needs to spend and the rituals needed in preparation to activate this kind of magecraft rivals in magnitude with the greater magecrafts. Therefore, it has to be prepared and used strategically. For Kiritsugu, who made up his strategies to just survive on the battlefield, it was originally a rather useless inheritance.

However, to use the "time control" ability he’s inherited at the maximum, Kiritsugu created a flexible way of utilizing this magecraft at a very small scale.

A method that kept the scope of the bounded field within the practitioner’s body made it easier to establish a Reality Marble. Although it is impossible to completely isolate the flesh from the outside world, it can minimize the affect the outside world has on the body. Within this minimal bounded field, he "adjusts" just a few seconds of time; this is the magecraft that Emiya Kiritsugu created, Innate Time Control.

For example, when he fought Kayneth just then, Kiritsugu "sped up" his blood flow, haemoglobin metabolism, and muscle movement all at the same time. All that’s left is to use his quick reaction time to dodge the attack after he easily predicted the track the mercury whips would take. Kiritsugu is capable of accomplishing physical feats impossible for ordinary humans after he accelerated the time inside his body.

The biggest problem for this magecraft is the huge burden on the body.

The craft of time modification inevitably creates errors between the time within and without the bounded field. This error would immediately be corrected by natural forces when the bounded field is removed. That is, the "world’s own adjustment". Of course, this adjustment can only happen where "errors have occurred", which means inside Kiritsugu’s bounded field – his physical body. Adjustments have occurred in his flesh to get back in sync with the normal time flow.

Death is the accompanying danger born from using magecraft, but Innate Time Control is above all Kiritsugu's riskiest technique. Just now, it was as though he was tightrope walking while his flesh was being shredded.

Kiritsugu's Innate Time Control isn't powerful compared to Kayneth's unrestricted magecraft

Compared to Kayneth's unrestricted magecraft, Kiritsugu’s ability is not powerful.

Kiritsugu slowed his body's biological processes by 3 times to trick Volumen Hydragyrum's search ability

Kiritsugu chuckled as he stared at the mercury web approaching from all directions. That thing doesn’t have eyes. Therefore, if he contorted his heart beat, breathing and body temperature, he can make his existence completely transparent.

"Time alter – Triple stagnate."

Following the chanting of the spell, Kiritsugu’s field of view suddenly became very bright.

Of course, the outer world didn’t make any changes; it’s just his delusion. While Kiritsugu’s optic nerves registered whatever he saw, his cornea received three times the light a person’s eyes would normally receive.

The time control this time is the exact opposite of the accelerated physical speed back then. Kiritsugu slowed his biological processes to one third of its normal speed. His breathing lagged, and his heart beat slowed and stagnated until he could barely feel it himself. Also, due to his metabolism having stopped, his body temperature declined quickly, cooling down until it is not much different from the temperature of the outside air.

The mercury flew abnormally quickly and anxiously in front of Kiritsugu, who was as still as a statue. As he expected, the mercury couldn’t detect him now. Kiritsugu’s shallow breathing and slow heart beat was muddled with the noises of the natural world. The mercury can no longer recognize the current processes of Kiritsugu’s body using the standards of a human.

The searching mercury web speedily retreated after it deducted that there are no signs of the enemy, retracing its steps. The sound of footsteps on the marble floor followed. Since he thought no one is here, Kayneth walked on without taking any precautions…

Time Alter Double Accel

Source

Kiritsugu uses Time Alter Double Accel, Kayneth attacks the Volumen Hydragyrum, Kiritsugu outspeeds the Mystic Code and dashes down the hole in the floor it cut out

But it’s preciously those few short seconds that gave Kiritsugu more than enough time to chant his spell.

"Time alter – double accel!"

Following the pronounced spell, the prana inside Kiritsugu began to gallop at light speed.

"Scalp!"

Kayneth gave the proclamation of death the moment Kiritsugu’s firing ceased.

The two mercury whips that leapt up following his voice flew towards the prey in front of them with a pincer formation, attacking from the left and right.

"Hm!?"

It was Kayneth who gave an exclamation of surprise.

The moment the two silver whips were just about to hit the target, Kiritsugu dodged the silver whips’ attack with an almost unbelievable speed and quickly leapt below the Volumen Hydrargyrum, on which Kayneth was standing – into the hole on the ground that the mercury blade just cleaved out.

Kiritsugu’s speed was so fast that human eyes couldn’t see his movements clearly.

Source

Kiritsugu uses Time Alter Double Accel to dodge Kotomine’s pair of kicks.

A rapidly approaching figure clad in a black frock appeared within the scattering fragments of the six Black Keys. Kiritsugu couldn’t help but gasp in surprise.

“Time Alter: Double Accel!”

His body reacted whilst his brain reeled from the shock. Kiritsugu cast his spell.

Kiritsugu jumped backward at the last moment. Kirei’s right foot swept ferociously past the tip of Kiritsugu’s nose, and the left foot that followed up the attack didn’t crush Kiritsugu’s throat either. Kirei’s smooth roundhouse kick completely missed its target, thanks to the confusion caused by Kiritsugu’s double-speed movement.

Kiritsugu once more activates Time Alter Double Accel to give himself time to reload his Contender with an Origin Round and give himself space between Kotomine.

His strength of mind was even more intense than that. Both hands engaged with two completely different tasks, he actually managed to cast his spell with superhuman concentration.

“Time Alter: Double Accel!”

Time dilated. Kiritsugu threw everything to the wind, to maximise the tiny gap he had managed to steal from this powerful enemy.

He drove his accelerated limbs and leapt up from the ground, jumping backwards to further the distance. The machine gun ran out of bullets. Kirei turned to face him. Kiritsugu dropped the machine gun and drew a .30-06 bullet with his now empty left hand. Kirei loomed near. With a near-flight speed, Kiritsugu slid the bullet into the chamber. He closed the barrel half-way, took aim –

Time Alter Triple Accel

Source

Kiritsugu uses Time Alter Triple Accel, he bashes and breaks Kotomine’s right radius and ulna with a strike from the grip end of his Thompson Contender. Kotomine’s right arm is destroyed.

“Time Alter: Triple Accel!”

Kiritsugu leapt toward Kirei as he uttered the forbidden spell. His unpredictable acceleration caught Kirei off-guard. One blow from the hardened walnut wood snapped Kirei’s right radius and ulna. The Executor's right arm was destroyed.

Time Alter Square Accel

Source

Kiritsugu employs Time Alter Square Accel. Kiritsugu is able to dodge backwards to escape Kotomine’s strike and was able to hurl his dagger with enough force and speed that it became embedded in Kotomine’s thigh.

The moment he finally managed to balance himself, he realized that a heavy blow from Kirei was fast approaching. He was still recovering his balance, however, so he could not move.

If so – Kiritsugu grated out a spell, from a throat that was frothing with blood.

“Time Alter: Square Accel!”

The explosive pain boiled into every part of his senses. Kiritsugu leapt up and backwards, turning in mid-air to escape from Kirei’s range, simultaneously hurling the dagger in his left hand, with all the strength in his body. Faced with yet another repeated acceleration, Kirei couldn’t dodge. The dagger ripped through the air and struck into Kirei's thigh, effortlessly slicing through Kevlar and stabbing deep into flesh.

Kotomine’s thrown Black Keys are easily dodged by Time Alter Square Accel Kiritsugu as he simultaneously reloads his Contender.

Kiritsugu maintained his four-time acceleration, continuing to leap backwards, as if strapped to a jet engine. Kirei took a moment to draw a Black Key and throw it, but Kiritsugu dodged it with ease, simultaneously reloading the Contender.

Kiritsugu’s Time Alter Square Accel is too fast for Kotomine to land a blow if Kiritsugu is given a chance to dodge.

Kirei drew close. He again used his martial art stances to shorten the distance between him and Kiritsugu, but he would not land a blow. Kiritsugu could dodge his attack and fire at the same time.

Boundary Fields

Here, Shirou describes the boundary field Kiritsugu placed around his house

Source

Kiritsugu was able to successfully break into the Matou household beyond their array of Boundary Fields. He also does the same with the Tohsaka boundary fields.

Who this man was, how he had broken through the impressive layers of protective boundaries outside the house; none of that mattered now. This thing that now appeared before Byakuya was undoubtedly the reincarnation of the very horror that he had only managed to temporarily forget through the effects of alcohol for the past week.

…

Which meant – the destination of Irisveil’s kidnappers was definitely not the Matō mansion.

He had spent hours breaking through the protective barriers in such a pressing and tense circumstance, and yet the result was nothing. Kiritsugu couldn’t help but grit his teeth in regret.

…

Kiritsugu again used about three hours to break through the protective magecraft formations in order to enter the Tōsaka mansion, his next target.

His methods were already close to miraculous. The bounded field that Tōsaka Tokiomi set up was a first-rate security system specifically guarding against magi, and was created with magi in mind to begin with. It couldn’t be broken through by sheer magecraft even if attacked continuously for a whole year. Kiritsugu could overcome this bounded field in a short time precisely because he was someone who did not seek results by way of magecraft and fought against magi by perceiving traps wrought through magecraft.

However, no matter how comparatively quick he was, it was long enough to make Kiritsugu anxious in the current state. He had never wasted this much time on the battlefield. He had finally broken through the protection between the inner porch and the living room, but Kiritsugu was still tormented with a nameless anxiety the moment he arrived in the main lounge. Although he passed through the protective barriers at the risk of his life, it didn’t mean he was guaranteed to find Irisviel, just as had happened at the Matō mansion.

Source

Kiritsugu as the Magus Killer would have been able to break through the Einzbern boundary field

However, no matter how obstinately Kiritsugu repeated his visits, Jubstacheit was still unwilling to open the forest’s bounded field.

…

Had he been the Kiritsugu of the past, the infamous “Magus Killer”, then he might have been able to forcibly break through this icy bounded field and rush to his daughter’s side.

Hypnosis

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Kiritsugu uses hypnosis on a bellhop to convince him that he's Kayneth

"Mr. Archibald! Are you here?"

"-- I am here. Do not worry."

A resonant voice came from behind the bellhop, but as the bellhop turned around he became confused. The person speaking to him was a Japanese male wearing an old-styled coat.

This kind of joke is too much. The angry bellhop was about to yell at him-- but he was captivated by the man's eyes.

That man's eyes held an indescribable, mysterious force of attraction; the bellhop was unable to avoid his eyes, and was not able to even speak.

"I am Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald. My wife Sola is with me."

This unknown Japanese male stated in a clear voice. And the bellhop accepted this without any suspicion as if hypnotized.

...

Watching the employee continue on to tend to other customers, Emiya Kiritsugu left the chaotic crowd. His earlier hypnotic suggestion, to a commoner with no magic resistance whatsoever, would not be broken in a short period of time.

Source

Kiritsugu’s use of self-hypnosis and description

After going to the bathroom, Kiritsugu lay down on the bed and used a self-hypnosis spell to disperse his consciousness. This was a crude way of eliminating mental stress, via the disintegration and cleansing of the psyche.

This self-hypnosis was not a high-level form of thaumaturgy, but the dispersion would cause a lack and dislocation of self-consciousness, so few people were willing to use it. But to Emiya Kiritsugu, it was the most efficient, and thus the best form of rest, and so he used this method frequently.

The scattered consciousness would be restored after about two hours, and the hypnotized person would wake up. Until then, the body of the hypnotized person would be like unto a corpse in terms of unconsciousness – but it should be safe to use it at this hidden place.

Physical strength and speed?

Source

Kiritsugu's Contender bullet loading time

Picking another bullet from the case, Kiritsugu replayed the reloading process that had dyed his hands.

Pulling the rim of the exposed cartridge with his fingertips from the opened chamber, he slides in a second bullet, and immediately slams the gun barrel close―

It took him two seconds. Bad thoughts dull his manipulations.

"... I've gotten rusty."

Kiritsugu Emiya vs Kirei Kotomine

Source

Kiritsugu saves Maiya with a smoke grenade from outside the building she was occupying, some 150 meters down on the ground

But what stopped Kotomine Kirei was an impediment beyond his expectations.

Suddenly a veil of white smoke appeared between him and the prey, completely obscuring his vision, and with it an irritating smell of chemical reactions rushed into his nostrils.

"Smokescreen!?"

What suddenly appeared in front of Kotomine Kirei was a smokescreen released by a military-use smoke dispersion bomb.

And in that instant when Kirei's sight was obscured by the smokescreen, Maiya escaped with haste.

...

Kirei picked up the smoke dispersion bomb, now empty of all smoke, from the ground and began to inspect it. It's an American grenade model. There isn't anything special about it; it's simply something that anyone can get if they had the right connections.

It wasn't tossed by that woman, because if he had found that she had moved in the slightest then he would've thrown a Black Key to stop her. This had been tossed in front of him by someone else to help that woman escape.

Of course, there shouldn't be anyone else inside this building. If that's the case, then the smoke grenade should have been tossed in from outside the building.

Kirei walked to the edge of the building-- ignoring the wind tugging at his frock-- and looked down.

Around the rubble of the former Fuyuki Hyatt hotel, there aren't any buildings that can stand shoulder to shoulder with this one. The distance from ground level to this position is at least a hundred and fifty meters. It'd be hard to aim at this position precisely even with a long range weapon. Not to mention a hand tossed smoke grenade. It's a cosmic farce for someone to toss that up from ground level.

But Kirei was, after all, an executor who has hunted many strange magi before. He was already thoroughly used to facing enemies who were beyond common sense. To him, this level of strangeness didn't have anything that was worth being surprised over.

Somewhere below him existed the magus who stopped him.

Kiristugu Emiya vs Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald

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Kiritsugu is able to dodge Volumen Hydragyrum without Time Alter Double Accel from 10 meters away

"Scalp!"

Following a roar full of the intent to kill, the mercury unleashed a killing move.

Kiritsugu faced the silver whips roaring towards him with ease. He didn’t even need to activate Innate Time Control this time. There were more than ten meters between him and Kayneth now. Such a far distance was more than enough.

Kiritsugu pulled back just a bit; you can't hit what you can't reach, and the mercury blade only managed to cut the hem of his flowing coat.

Durability?

Kiritsugu Emiya vs Kirei Kotomine

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Kiritsugu maintains Time Alter Double Accel. Kotomine, now having experienced Kiritsugu’s magecraft, compensates for the speed and rushes Kiritsugu with a Baji Quan punch that destroys Kiritsugu’s chest and sends him flying backwards into the support pillars.

Kiritsugu ignored the pain Innate Time Control inflicted upon him, and maintained the spell, backing out of Kirei’s range.

…

Kiritsugu’s sudden acceleration was a simple miscalculation that caused Kirei’s roundhouse kick to go off the mark. His speed, however, was not so nimble that Kirei was unable to grasp it. Once he realised that Kiritsugu had doubled his speed, Kirei made the appropriate calculations.

Kiritsugu experienced surprise for the second time in a few short seconds.

The space between them was a little over five steps. The tall Executor took a slight step forward, shortening this seemingly safe distance. This step, which sneaked toward the enemy without announcing its speed, was called ‘the moving stance’. It was also one of the dangerous secret skills of Baji Quan.

Kiritsugu shuddered, as the tall, frock-clad figure glided forward. Kirei's reached Baji Quan's optimum distance, and his fist drove toward toward the enemy with the power to reach infinity in all eight directions.

Kirei stepped forward. The concrete floor boomed under the impact, and the heavily planted forward fist slammed into Kiritsugu’s chest like a rock. Using the ‘Eight Postures of the Buddha Guards’ style, the sheer force of Kirei’s strike was like a grenade exploding in Kiritsugu's chest. Kiritsugu’s body, which took the full force of the blow, flew through the air like a strand of hay, and slammed into the support pillars that crowded the room. He never had the chance to defend himself. His thoracic cavity crumpled beneath Kirei’s iron fist, and his lung and heart were pounded into a mash of meat.

Avalon

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Irisviel gives Kiritsugu Avalon

The golden scabbard.

“Iri…”

“This… is something very important for you. In the final battle, it’ll be definitely be useful…”

Irisviel’s voice sounded even weaker than before.

That was to be expected. Irisviel, who hid in the Magic Circle in this underground storeroom in order to slow the speed of her destruction, had separated the last thing protecting her, the miraculous Noble Phantasm – Avalon • All is a Distant Utopia, sealed within her as a Conceptual Weapon – from her body using her own hands.

“I… will be fine. Maiya’s here to protect me… so…”

“… I understand.”

Upon calm contemplation.

Avalon, which was originally Saber's property, was a Noble Phantasm that would only show its effect once it had a supply of magical energy from the Servant. Since she had no hope of joining Saber on the front lines, there was no strategic merit to Irisviel being equipped with it any longer.

Even if this Noble Phantasm could slow the speed of her destruction, it did no good in the bigger picture – the most correct choice now was to repossess this Noble Phantasm from her.

Kiritsugu took the golden scabbard, placed his wife’s weak body on the ice-cold floor, stood up, and said.

Source

Avalon heals Kiritsugu’s destroyed chest, heart, and lungs caused by Kotomine’s attack and allows Kiritsugu to continue to fight.

Kiritsugu was surprised that he was still alive. He had already been prepared to die when Kirei drew near. Kiritsugu’s heart and lungs had indeed been completely destroyed, and all he should have been able to manage was a final, feeble struggle.

But the fatal injury had healed, moments before his oxygen-deprived brain would have begun to die. Kiritsugu, of course, knew of no healing magecraft powerful enough to heal injuries like this. Nonetheless, he immediately understood what was going on.

The Noble Phantasm, Avalon. The holy relic that had summoned Saber; the sheath of the holy sword, which had protected Irisviel’s body for so long. Irisviel had separated the sheath from herself, giving him the miraculous sword sheath that protected its wielder from any harm, and prevented them from aging. Kiritsugu, Saber’s true Master, could obtain prana from Saber, and so exert the sheath's powers as if he were its true wielder.

Kiritsugu had heard of its ability, but had never seen it with his own eyes. He had not expected the sheath to be able to heal fatal injuries. Though still shocked at the power of the sheath, Kiritsugu began to consider battle tactics the moment he realized that he had been revived. He left his eyes closed, and suppressed the urge to cough as his body regained its ability to breathe, and played dead, waiting for the chance to launch a surprise attack.

Due to Avalon, nothing short of an attack that destroys Kiritsugu’s brain would be a fatal blow.

According to Kirei’s analysis, Kiritsugu’s strategy consisted of a magecraft that could accelerate his movement, and a healing power that could revive the caster even if his heart was destroyed. This meant Kirei could not win, no matter how heavy a wound he dealt, unless he could destroy Kiritsugu’s brain.

Avalon even heals the self inflicted wounds caused by Kiritsugu’s Time Alter abilities.

His chest wound had all but healed, but the damage caused by Innate Time Control–

Kiritsugu finally realised that there was something different when he attempted to tighten the muscles on his arms and legs.

He could move them. His fractured bones were now in perfect condition, as if they had never been damaged. The echo of that pain remained, but the injuries were gone.

“... I see.”

Kiritsugu finally understood the true worth of the trump card within himself. It seemed Avalon could heal injuries caused not only by his enemies, but also the damage his body caused to itself. This discovery gave Kiritsugu, who had at that point had fallen into a desperate situation, against an unimaginably strong enemy, the greatest confidence in the world.

Kiritsugu using Time Alter Triple Accel is suicidal without Avalon

As he struck with his right hand, Kiritsugu drew the dagger by his waist using his left. With one eye and one arm ruined, it didn’t matter how great Kirei’s martial art skills were; victory would belong to Kiritsugu as long as he continued to move at three times his top speed. Using Innate Time Control in this way would ordinarily be suicide, but thanks to the protection of Saber’s sheath, he could now use it to its full potential as a strategic weapon.

…

Kiritsugu’s arms, legs, and heart let out sad screams of pain with every swing of the dagger. The adverse effect of Innate Time Control mercilessly tore apart Kiritsugu’s flesh, and Avalon fixed the damage, momentarily. Regardless of how Saber herself had used it, the sheath was only ‘healing’ Kiritsugu while in his body- it could not prevent him from taking damage, it was simply healing the damage he took. The excruciating pain of torn tendons and snapped bones tormented Kiritsugu’s nerves every single moment.

Even so, Kiritsugu did not hesitate. There was no need to hesitate. As long as his body could still move, he didn’t need to pay any attention to what he was feeling. Kiritsugu bet everything on the effects of the holy sword's sheath, and continued to accelerate against the agony.

“Whoaaaaaaaaa!!”

Kiritsugu’s body died and was reborn. He shrieked in agony as he sliced at the enemy before him with the dagger. His blood vessels, endlessly repeating a cycle of rupture and repair, shed sanguineous mists with every movement.

vs Innate Time Control

Source

Effects on Kiritsugu's body from slowing down its processes once released

"Release Alter!"

The brightness of his sight and the sharpness of his hearing returned to normal in the blink of an eye. Kiritsugu’s heart also began to beat extremely quickly; all the blood vessels in his body hurt as if they are going to burst. Within his body, blood flow was adjusting to go up to three times its original speed. In fact, there must be bruises forming somewhere on his body due to internal bleeding coming from burst capillaries.

Source

The burden extensive use of Time Alter Double Accel causes Kiritsugu.

A piercing pain suddenly invaded his entire body. With a moan, Kiritsugu stumbled. His body had reached its limit. The continuous activation of Innate Time Control had ruptured blood vessels all over his body, and the bones in his limbs also began to fracture due to having borne an unimaginable burden.

vs Grail Mud/Curse of Angra Mainyu

Here, Kotomine prepares a curse from the Grail so strong to attack Shirou with that it is visible. Here, the same curse that did Kiritsugu Emiya in, Kotomine attacks Shirou with Angra Mainyu. Here, the curse of Angra Mainyu is the ultimate black light. Here, Gilgamesh offers exposition on the Curse of Angra Mainyu. Here, Artoria offers exposition on the curse Shirou was just hit by.

Source

Grail Mud leaks from the Holy Grail. Both Kotomine and Kiritsugu are drenched in it before their fight can end.

Then – a gap no wider than the width of a hair, so minute and almost invisible, appeared on the ‘Gate’ that remained tightly closed. Through this tiny gap, something beyond the Gate silently seeped into the Holy Grail.

That thing seemed very similar to ‘mud’. It was black, simply and only black, a ‘thing’ that seemed like mud.

The thing that seeped into the Holy Grail suddenly overflew by one drop, then another drop. It soon became a thin black line. Like a crack that had appeared on a dam, the black torrents soon completely overflew out of the vessel and drained toward the stage floor.

The strength of the stage floor could not bear that inky black substance at all. The dirty mud seeped into the brand new building materials, eroding them, and flew even deeper like how the water from melted snow seeps into land.

The moment that the trigger of the magecraft gun was pressed –

The moment the floor moaned from the heavy step –

In that moment, Kiritsugu only saw Kirei, and Kirei only saw Kiritsugu.

The two of them did not detect that thing, which dribbled down through the ceiling, even till the end.

At that brief moment between life and death, the two men were drenched with the black dirty mud that descended from above.

Source

A description of the interior of the Holy Grail that swallowed Kiritsugu.

"Where is - this?"

"This is the place where your wish is to be granted. This is the inside of the Grail you sought."

Irisviel answered with a welcoming smile. Kiritsugu was lost for words, and looked around him.

A pulsating sea of black mud.

Rotten corpses formed sunken mountains here and there.

The sky was crimson. Crimson like blood. In the descending rain of black mud, a jet-black Sun held up the Heavens.

The blowing winds were curses and resentment.

If one had to liken it to a word, then - how can this be anything but Hell?

"You're saying... this is the Holy Grail?"

"That's right. But you don't have to be afraid. This is still something like a shapeless dream. All it is waiting for is to be born."

Look, there - Irisviel pointed to the sky. At the center of this world, there was a swirl of deep black that he originally thought was a Sun, a "hole" that pierced the Heavens. A hole filled to the brim with a bottomless and heavy darkness. An incredible mass that seemed able to crush all.

"That is the Holy Grail. It has yet to obtain a shape, but the vessel has already been sufficiently filled. All that's needed is to announce the prayer. No matter what wish you may ask of it, it will choose to take a form most fitting to realize it. Then, once it obtains form and shape in the modern era, it will be able to go 'outside' for the first time."

How Kiritsugu’s able to resist the corruption of the Grail Mud

"That? - Isn't that something you, Kiritsugu, know better than anyone else?"

"...What did you say?"

"The nature of a human being like you is infinitely close to mine. That is why you can preserve your rationality even after being connected to me. The mind of a normal human would have collapsed the moment they are washed over by that mud."

Angra Mainyu curses Kiritsugu.

"- curse you -"

The five small fingers that had been so graceful grabbed onto Kiritsugu's shoulder. From the five fingers biting into him flowed in a black mud.

"Curse you... Emiya Kiritsugu... to pain... to regret until death... I will never, forgive you..."

"Yeah, that's fine."

The mud dyed in hatred circulated in his veins, flowing into his heart. It drenched the soul of the man who lost everything. Even so, Kiritsugu did not slacken his hands. Forgetting even the meaning of the tears along his cheeks, strangling the woman in the black dress, he told her.

"That's all right. It's already been said - I, will bear you."

Source

Description of the Greater Grail and the “black hole”. Gilgamesh is consumed by the Grail Mud. The destructive power of the mud could burn all the life in the world.

Following which, through the fragments of debris, Kiritsugu saw ‘it’ in the revealed night sky.

A black sun — that which he had seen when he had touched the black mud. The sign of the end of the world.

At that time Kiritsugu had not seen clearly that its physical form was actually a true ‘hole’. It is a space tunnel that connected with the Magic Circle of the Greater Grail, which had been hidden beneath the altar of the ritual of descent, deep underground in Mount Enzō to the east of Miyama. The insides of the Greater Grail, which had drawn energy from the leylines for sixty years and now had obtained the souls of six Heroic Spirits, had been filled to the brim and turned into an enormous prana whirlpool. That was the true form of that black ‘hole’.

The ‘Vessel’ that had been removed from the Einsberns’ homunculus was only the key to open that ‘hole’, and also the control that sustained the stability of the hole. Kiritsugu, who did not know anything about this secret, had made a fatal mistake; he should not have commanded Saber to destroy the Grail, but instead should have made her use Excalibur to burn down the hole in the sky. No longer controlled by the ‘vessel’, the black sun began to melt; the hole gradually shrunk, but before it closed completely, it was already completely impossible to prevent the black mud from flowing out from within the hole.

That was a neutral energy that had been used only to create an opening to the ‘outside world’, but due to Kiritsugu’s previous mistake, it was stained with the pitch-black color of the curse.

This cursed mud that was full of ‘Angra Mainyu • All the Evil in the World'. The destructive power could burn away all the life in the world—at this moment it descended like a great waterfall from above the Municipal Hall.

Archer, standing in the spectator stands on the first floor, could not find a way of retreat to escape this baptism.

"This… this is…!?”

The turbulent black waves carried away the helpless golden Servant. No, he was not simply carried away; the moment he had touched the black mud, he had vanished. Archer’s body had been broken down and absorbed by the black mud in the blink of an eye; he had become one with the tempestuous flow of mud.

The Fuyuki Fire

Thus, the massacre began.

The people were all sleeping soundly; the mud of death sensed the presence of human life, and became a burning curse that attacked at their pillow-side.

It burned the houses, burned the courtyards. No matter if they slept, or woke and tried to escape, all the people burned without exception—that which had waited within the Grail for sixty years now mercilessly seized all the life it touched, as if celebrating its fleeting freedom.

After the event it was found that there were more than 500 casualties, and 134 buildings had burned down. This great calamity of unknown cause left a mark in the hearts of the citizens of Fuyuki that was difficult to erase.

After a while, the hole in the sky disappeared, and the black mud no longer poured forth. But the mud had brought a fire of enormous proportions; the people who had been unable to escape turned one by one into burnt black corpses. A magnificent red lotus of fire bloomed in the night sky; on the ground was staged an endless banquet of death.

Source

Angra Mainyu had the power the destroy the world.

Kiritsugu had once released a demon powerful enough to destroy the world because of his aspirations. It was too late when he finally realized his mistake. Countless people had died because of it, including Shirō’s own father and mother.

Outside his fight with Kirei, where he had Avalon, he honestly doesn’t have too much to work with. His high point requires he has Avalon in order to facilitate his ability to fight Servants. As Innate Time Control sublimates into his Noble Phantasm as a Counter Guardian, the implication it increases his striking force in close combat seems spot on at least (breaking Kotomine’s bones and stabbing him).

That he only uses his Origin properly upon becoming a Counter Guardian is kind of silly (why not make a fucking knife with it before you died? Having a reusable weapon instead of limited stock sounds more utilitarian in the first place).

Especially with how slow he makes the Contender’s bullets look in his fight with Kayneth.

I’ll add the anime feats as I finish other characters thinking on it.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Alexandre Dumas?

Spoiler

Source

Translation

Class: Caster
Master: Orlando Reeve
Name: Alexandre Dumas Pere
Gender: Male
Height/Weight: 182cm/82kg
Alignment: True Neutral

Strenght: C
Endurance: D
Agility: E
Magic: EX
Luck: A
Noble Phantasm: B

Class Skills:
Territory Creation: E
Item Construction (Revision): EX (A+ to E according to the catalyst in question)

Personal Skills:
Era Observation: A
A Skill that observes not humans, but the flow of the eras, and incorporates it into his writing. Since he dedicates this more to the contents of the novels he’s writing than to his own placement, it barely affects his personal life.

Gourmand: A
A Skill that expresses how he has the wide knowledge, full skill and refined taste necessary to cook anything from junk food to royal court meals. Also include techniques for hunting and fishing for cooking ingredients.

Innocent Monster: E
The influence of multiple different stories made famous by gossip or by biographies written by later authors (and one by Dumas himself), ranging from cases about his father’s bravery, his copyright lawsuits to even post-mortem controversy. It’s rank is low because details of his case (like whether or not he really made any statements about his plagiarism) are still under investigation.

——————————

Noble Phantasms:

Masquerade Musketeers (Musketeers, Challenge the Windmill)
Rank: E to A+ depending on the catalyst in question
Type: Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm
Range: 1 to 99
Max. Targets: 1
A Noble Phantasm that can only be used a limited amount of times per summon, which uses “writing/revision” to overwrite the target’s life with his own personal experiences or moments from his literary work. A support-type Noble Phantasm that can multiply the target’s power, once per person. Since this is about empowering the ones about to face against overwhelming power, it usually only works when used on a human.

Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine (The Long Unended Epicurean Saga)
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Object Noble Phantasm
Range: -
Max. Targets: -
A Noble Phantasm based in his multiple experiences in co-authorship and revision, his posthumous work “Dictionary of Cuisine”, and the fact he was the general head of an inspection museum for ancient relics and related objects. His Caster Class Skill “Item Construction” becomes “Item Construction (Revision)”, giving him the ability to increase the “Rank” of already existing objects and turn them into pseudo-Noble Phantasm by personally writing their stories. Hypothetically, if he were to obtain a relic that was already Rank A or higher from the start, he wouldn’t be able to add anything to it, because its story is already complete.

Alexandre Dumas is vaguely aware of Watcher and their observations.

Nevertheless, he could not go on listening to the shadows grumble forever. Sigma put together what little he had gleaned from the earlier conversation, and decided to pose them a question.
“In short, you objectively observe the Holy Grail War in this city... Is that correct?”
“Not us; the thing you summoned... to be precise.”

...

Somewhere in the city. Dumas’ study.
“...Since this morning, I’ve been getting a weird feeling that I’m being watched.”
Caster — Alexandre Dumas père — cocked his head to the side and glanced around. He was in the room that had been allotted to him, “revising” the hydra-venom dagger.
Everything looked as usual. He saw the countless bookshelves and mountains of books, the numerous different dishes and snacks arranged on the table, the notebook computer connected to the internet, the wired telephone in an old-fashioned design.
But something was different. He felt uneasy, as if the quality of the space itself had changed.
Dumas flashed his teeth in a broad grin and merrily resumed his work.
“Well, who cares? Everything’s better with an audience.”
Merrily, merrily, as if to declare that even accident was one of the charms of the drama.
“I’d be damned if I took in an extravaganza this huge on my lonesome! Ha ha!”

Members of Clan Calatin are skeptical they could beat Alexandre Dumas in a brawl

Seeing Dumas suddenly rise to his feet, the five officers could not help breaking out in a cold sweat. It was easy to fall into the trap of thinking of Dumas as bookish because he was a novelist. In reality, however, he had a highly active side. It was said that, even as he neared his last years, he had personally gone hunting wild beasts in order to write a cookbook. The intimidating physique he had inherited from his father — a military man who had served under Napoleon — recalled the anecdote. “Even I could probably beat him in a brawl,” the Chief had said. To the officers, however, the outcome of a straight exchange of fists seemed less certain.

Alexandre Dumas can sense the spell Flat was preparing

However...
“I can’t quite get the measure of you, boy,” the man said with a sudden grin. His mood had changed.
“The way you let yourself get caught up in talking about sweets while you work up a spell behind my back is pure mage. But there’s nothing mage-y about still going on about sweets way after you finished the spell.”
At that, Jack looked at Flat in surprise and Flat looked confused.
“Huh? Well, I got it ready because I thought you might be dangerous if you were an enemy, but since you’re not an enemy, activating it would just be a waste of magical energy and it wouldn’t be fair to you either, would it?”

Noble Phantasms?

Musketeer Masquerade

vs John Wingard

Alexandre Dumas activates his Noble Phantasm Musketeer Masquerade

Instead, with his usual fearless grin on his face… he spread open a scroll that had appeared, unnoticed, in his hand.
“If I want my actors to show courage, I guess I should revise the plot a bit.”
Then, spotting the officer with the prosthetic hand — John — in the distance, he grinned from ear to ear.
“I’m not gonna let you end up as bit parts. …It’s guys like you who ought to be heroes.”
Muttering to himself, he began to write a “story” on the scroll. A present to his favorite actors in place of a modest bouquet.
“…Musketeers, Masquerade.”
While even the actors themselves remained ignorant of what that story meant… the curtain was quietly but surely rising on the next act of the tragicomic play.

Alcides blitzes Clan Calatin’s John Wingard and smashes his bow into John’s neck, sending him flying and breaking it.

“...You have courage, son of man. I would not call you foolhardy. For that, I pity you.”
“...?”
“No...” The bowman said to the bewildered John. “It’s none of your concern.”
The next instant, the bowman was standing right in front of John.
“Wha...?”
The movement appeared instantaneous, but it was achieved not through speed due to physical strength, but by moving in a gap in their attention.
The movement testified to the fact that the grotesque bowman did not rely solely on physical strength, but was also possessed of skill achieved through superhuman training. John, however, did not despair at it.
He had no time to appreciate the difference in power before the massive bow struck his neck.
Then, before he even knew what had happened to him, and before he had a chance to prove that he could fight with the prosthetic arm Dumas had given him...John Wingard was sent flying with a broken neck and smashed into the hospital’s glass entrance door with a loud crash.

John Wingard attacks Alcides with speed faster than Alcides was anticipating and delivers a knee to Alcide’s nose. Alexandre Dumas’ Musketeer Mascerade has increased John’s magical energy and let him enhance both his body and reactions several fold.

Behind Alkeides, a pillar of light pierced the sky and illuminated the face of the approaching police officer before him. At the sight of that face, which appeared through a tear in the smokescreen created by the whirlwinds, Alkeides muttered:
“What...?”
It was unmistakably the face of the man whose neck he had broken and who he had sent flying into the hospital entrance a short while before.
“Ooooooaaah!”
The officer let out a wordless roar and kicked the ground.
His instantaneous acceleration exceeded Alkeides’ expectations. His arm moved to block, but before it could reach, the man’s slight frame sprang at Alkeides with the force of a bullet...and delivered a flying knee to the bridge of the grotesque Archer’s cloth-covered nose with all his might.
“J-John?!” The police officers shouted in surprise.
The way John had been sent flying earlier had put the words “instant death” into most of their minds. He might have Magic Circuits, but he lacked the Magic Crest which only one child in a lineage could inherit. If he had had a Crest, which would have performed self-restoration magecraft when he was on the brink of death, it would have been a different story, but no one had imagined that John could survive without one, much less reappear so much stronger that he seemed like a different person.
But he had.
He had reappeared shrouded in magical energy that far surpassed that of an ordinary mage and made use of that energy to enhance his body and nerves severalfold.

John starts to beat on Alcides with his increased power and melee skills, the force of his blows cause Alcides some pain, John’s power now rivals that of the enemy Generals Alcides had fought in life back in Ancient Greece. Compared to Hippolyta’s Goddess of War enhanced blows, John’s attacks were like a child’s by comparison. Alcides Eye of the Mind True warns him to be wary of John because of the Hydra Poison Dagger buried in John’s prosthetic right hand. John’s attack with his Hydra Venom prosthetic blade causes Alcides to retreat.

John.
I see. So, this man’s name is John.
Alkeides, despite taking the flying knee and being knocked backwards, coolly noted information about his opponent as he spun in midair and landed feet-first.
Those feet, however, were swept out from under him by John, who had circled around even farther behind him without his noticing.
“Oh-ho...”
Alkeides sounded impressed. He then caught himself with one arm on the ground and used his free arm to block John’s follow-up attack. The shock ran through Alkeides’ whole body with a creaking of flesh and bone.
John followed it with a series of bare-handed strikes, continuing to batter Alkeides without giving him a chance to ready his bow.
What happened? He’s like a different man... Or should I say he’s matured?
He had gone beyond the level of ordinary humans, even for a mage. The experience Alkeides had built up over his lifetime warned him that the power surging from the police officer before him rivaled the enemy generals he had fought in ancient Greece in brute strength.
Is it his Noble Phantasm? Did Caster do something?
Alkeides noted that his body was being damaged, but it was not enough to make him register danger. Compared to when the Amazon queen had struck him using her Noble Phantasm, the pain was like being punched by a child.
And yet...he regarded the man before him with the greatest possible caution.
Why? Alkeides wondered as he fended off the flurry of blows. Why was I wary of this man?
The vortex of magical energy that had sprung up behind him ought to have concerned him more than strikes like these. And yet everything he had accumulated was telling him not to take his eyes off this human.
His strength is certainly more than human, but it hasn’t reached the level of a warrior Heroic Spirit.
So why, he wondered as he continued to take blow after blow. His attention was first drawn to the unnaturalness of his opponent’s attacks.
...Why doesn’t he use his right hand?
Throughout his flurry of unarmed strikes, the police officer called John never attacked with his right hand.
This difference in his center of gravity... A prosthetic?
While attacking and defending at split-second intervals, Alkeides instantaneously deduced the truth of his opponent’s unnatural movements.
That being the case, he wondered what that prosthetic hand could be.
Does it conceal a weapon? If so, it won’t penetrate this pelt.
No, this man should already know that. Should I assume that it conceals magecraft, then?
Alkeides focused every nerve in his body on John’s right arm while evading his close-quarters attacks.
It must be some kind of—No, is it...?
He felt a presence. A slight presence—a unique magical energy, or perhaps a curse—was escaping from the man’s prosthetic hand. The instant that presence, which retained faint vestiges of the Age of the Gods, tickled Alkeides’ nostrils and skin...
A chill of fear ran down Alkeides’ spine.
Having noticed it, his instincts as a Heroic Spirit made him freeze in shock for just an instant.
No matter how much his Spirit Origin changed, it had a special meaning for him. It was because he knew its dangers better than anyone, because he knew the terror of it better than anyone, that he himself had soaked his special arrowheads in it.
“Damn you...!”
The instant Alkeides shouted, John’s right arm shone darkly...and a peculiarly shaped blade appeared from it, forming the back of his hand.
A black liquid writhed around the prosthetic blade like a curse with a will of its own. It was one of the greatest calamities and most awful curses of the Age of the Gods, one that had killed countless heroes and even driven a certain great hero to take his own life—Hydra venom.
The blade coiled in that incomparably fiendish toxin closed in on a gap in Alkeides’ cloth.
Impossible!
Has it survived into this era?! That water snake shouldn’t be able to exist on the surface anymore!
He felt keenly how naïve his thinking had been.
The mages of this era could not hold a candle to those of the Age of the Gods, but they were intelligent enough to wield its remnants. Considering that his own Master likewise harbored the toxic, cursed mud in his body, he should have considered the possibility that his enemies possessed Hydra venom.
Faced with a weapon capable of killing him, Alkeides gripped his bow and leapt backward with all his might.

John goes to hold Alcides off, he alludes to Alexandre Dumas’ Musketeer Masquerade increasing his power, John senses Alcides is about to fight seriously with his bow as Alcides acknowledges John’s ability to kill him.

“...! Hurry! To the hospital!” John shouted to his nearby fellow officers once he was sure Alkeides had distanced himself. “I’ll buy as much time as I can! Secure the target while I do!”
“John... What happened to you?!”
“I don’t really understand myself...but it looks like Mr. Caster pulled something off for me!”
John then made to dash off, as if to say that they could talk later...when a chill ran through his body this time, causing him to stop in his tracks in spite of himself.
“...?”
John strained his eyes, his whole body breaking out in a cold sweat.
The grotesque bowman stood over twenty meters ahead of him. The intimidating air rising from him had magnified severalfold.
John had no difficulty figuring out why—the bowman had nocked an arrow to his bow.
He had fired arrows several times before, but this was different. He was serious.
The grotesque bowman spoke, paying his respects to John, who was trying to advance in spite of the chill.
“You who possess the means to kill me, I acknowledge you as my foe.”

Musketeer Masquerade John moves on the level of a Heroic Spirit.

It was true that John was moving on par with a Heroic Spirit, but his opponent’s strength far exceeded their expectations of Heroic Spirits.

Alcides Eye of the Mind True had been dulled by previous circumstances piling up, John goes in to attack Alcides via the opening Flat gave him. John’s attack breaks the sound barrier, the shockwave sends Flat and nearby rubble flying. While the impact felt weak to Alcides, but John’s prosthetic hand’s blade snapped off. The hydra venom blade stabbed Alcides.

Circumstance piled on circumstance dulled Alkeides’ mind’s eye for an instant.
And that momentary unbalance... created a fatal opening.
A roar struck Alkeides’ ears.
It signaled that the police officer called John had poured all his strength into a desperate strike... and by the time it reached his ears, John was already upon him.
The blow momentarily broke the sound barrier.
It created a shockwave that sent Flat and the nearby rubble flying.
It took just an instant.
An impact ran through Alkeides’ side, feeling so weak to him that he almost doubted it.
It may have been a supersonic blow from a prosthetic hand transformed into a Noble Phantasm, but that was all it could do to Alkeides’ superhuman physique.
As a matter of fact, the impact had broken off the prosthetic hand’s blade at the base and the recoil had sent John tumbling to the ground several meters away.
But it had been enough.
John had put all his might into that blow of his prosthetic hand—a thrust of a blade dripping with hydra venom.
It would have been a fatal wound to almost any Heroic Spirit... but there was a reason it ate into Alkeides’ Spirit Origin with especial ferocity.
Death.
The pure curse of deadly poison.
The thing that had once driven Alkeides to end his own life coursed through his veins.
As it entered his body, Flat spoke the phrase that concluded his spell, signaling that his stratagem was complete.
“...Game over.”
He had created an opening for John, who possessed a strike worthy of being called final.
The steps he had taken to produce that moment of time were simple and obvious.
He had offered up his soul.
He had offered it to a Heroic Spirit of the Caster Class, whom he had known for only a few minutes.

A description of what happened to John Wingard before his transformation through Alexandre Dumas’ powers.

“. . . What . . . was that?”
Vera, the police unit’s coordinator, realized that she was lying on a bench on the hospital grounds and slowly rose.
“Where . . . How did I get here?”
The other officers lay on the ground nearby and were also beginning to rise, as if at a signal.
They were all surveying their surroundings with looks of confusion.
“Where . . .?”
“Huh? Wasn’t Caster just . . .”
“Mr. Caster . . . and a guy in black . . .”
Based on their mutterings, Vera judged that they had all seen the same scene.
“A dream . . .? But it was too . . .”
Vivid and lifelike.
They could even clearly remember what had been said. It was like their waking minds, and nothing else, had been blown into a different time and place.
“Oh, did all of you see it too?”
“. . . John?”
The voice from behind Vera came from John, who seemed to be already awake.
His prosthetic hand was half-destroyed, and he had lost the hydra-venom blade.
Of course, it would have been incredibly dangerous if his hand had been broken with the blade exposed, so, in a sense, that was fortunate.
“Since you mentioned a guy in black, I guess you saw Mr. Caster talking to the avenger in the restaurant . . . Well, that was the first thing I got shown too . . .”
“The first . . .? John, what happened to you? How did you get that kind of power?”
John answered Vera’s cool-headed questions with visible confusion.
“Well . . . I don’t really understand it myself . . . I was shown all kinds of ‘heroic tales,’ starting with that one, for about . . . ten hours, I think. Crazy strong musketeers, like the famous three, and the revolutionary hero Garibaldi. Then it shifted to a gathering of the amazing authors he met in Paris . . . Oh, but I guess those authors were heroes too . . .”
John sounded bewildered. Vera reacted to one thing he had said with confusion.
“Ten hours . . .?”
“Yes. It’s weird, though—when I woke up, dust was still falling from the hospital ceiling. I guess it must have only lasted a few minutes. But one thing’s for sure—Mr. Caster gave me power . . . I can tell that much.”

Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine

The power of Alexandre Dumas and allusions to Shirou Emiya (seems like someone didn’t read UBW)

Caster’s Master sighed and humored Caster, acknowledging his complaints. “I will prepare women and food for you. Now, return to your work with all due speed. Produce weapons ever more sublime. ”
“Man, you’re a real wet blanket. You know, this isn’t even my specialty. Don’t forget that, kay? Besides, if you wanted a counterfeiter, there are better people out there! So I was on the internet yesterday, and I read about this guy named Elmyr de Hory. And plus, I heard a rumor—apparently, there’s another guy who can use some kind of super-ultra-awesome magic to copy things over and over again. “
“A mere copy is of no value to us. A counterfeit that does not surpass the original object will be of no avail against the King of Heroes.” “Ha! So ya like my adaptations, huh?! I’m so happy I could cry. Not! Go screw the pooch, why don’tcha! Ah, bugger. If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have joked about my stories being better than the real thing back when they made all that racket about forgeries.

…

“Do not misunderstand me. I chose you not because of those anecdotes about your life. Quite simply—you are one who can create legends that exceed the legends of old. I believe that you have the power to invent tales that surpass even the greatest legends of old—and the power to give form to those tales,” his Master replied, quelling his frustration. He had immediately recognized that Caster’s tales were full of lies.

Clan Calatin description

Men and women stood there in no particular order. All in all, there were perhaps 30 people in that lineup of police officers.
Each of them stood at attention, their black uniforms exuding an impressive aura. Each one held in their hands a weapon, each of a different type.
What a bizarre sight.
Those utterly stony-faced uniformed police officers held swords, bows, shields, spears, chains, scythes, and bludgeons, among other things. What’s more, they all had a pair of handcuffs and a pistol holstered at their belts. They had long since passed “unfitting” and were well into the realm of “absurd”. One of them even had a golden arquebus over his shoulder. It was like they were entertainers in police garb, on their way to a performance to promote tourism in the Snowfield area.
Odds are, however, that any half-decent mage that saw them would not laugh, but rather, would faint.
A power that had been tempered with magical energy and vitality seeped out of the weapons they were carrying, as if to erode the very air within the room.
Those Noble Phantasms were all counterfeits.
Even so, they were mightier than their originating legends.
“Clan Calatin: the Twenty-Eight Monstrosities”
“Those were the warriors of Celtic myth who crossed swords with Cú Chulainn. Effective immediately, that will be your codename.”

...

They were not mere police officers; rather, they had undergone some sort of special training beyond what was typical in their profession.
Their organization had established a “net” that ensconced the entire city.
All they required of the Servant was his talent of Noble Phantasm creation, a task with which the magi under their control had assisted.
In other words—
Mere humans though they were, they would defeat Heroic Spirits, thus shaking the very foundations of the Holy Grail War.
In the end, what destiny awaited them—?
That was a story that the man summoned as Caster had not yet finished writing.

Description of Zealot’s perception of Clan Calatin and their weapons.

About thirty police officers had gathered unnoticed in the lobby, as well as in the open sections of second and third floor hallways. It was obvious that they had not just overheard the disturbance and come running. They grasped a wide array of armaments, each wrapped in unusually dense magical energy. It seeped out of them on numerous different wavelengths, warping the atmosphere of the entire room.
All of it pointed to one fact, a fact that could upset the entire concept of the Holy Grail War: Every one of those nearly thirty weapons was unmistakably a Nobel Phantasm.

More exposition about how Alexandre Dumas’ Noble Phantasm creation works.

“A Dead Apostle...? A Dead Apostle! A Vampire! Seriously?”
Caster, listening to the voices from his computer screen, clapped his hands in surprise.
Communicators were built into some of the police officers’ Noble Phantasms. He was not, properly speaking, a mage, so they were a bit of a stopgap measure, but he had gone through the motions and, with the addition of his Noble Phantasm Modification skill, he had managed to complete them. They were now functioning more as bugs than as communicators, but Caster considered that part of his after-sales service, and felt no real guilt about using them.

Alexandre Dumas can further tailor Clan Calatin’s Noble Phantasm in order to better deal with things like Dead Apostles.

“Hey there, bro! That sure was a disaster! A vampire! Imagine that. You sure you wouldn’t have been better off summoning Frankenstein instead of yours truly, and getting him to whip you up a big batch of monsters?”

...

“Come on, don’t be that way. Ya can’t have a war without somebody getting hurt. You realize you got real lucky not to lose anyone against that monster? I should be able to up the power on your equipment based on this experience.”

Hydra Dagger exposition

“If I work on this thing, I bet it’ll cut to the heart of almost anything, Heroic Spirit or vampire.”
What he said next, however, defied the chief’s expectations.
“I’ll make it for the wounded lad lying next to ya, bro. To replace the dagger that got eaten up.”
“...If he proves that he can fight.”
“Yeah. I’ll be waiting, ya hear? In the meantime, I’ll be rehydrating dried goods from the age of the gods, and making the ultimate weapon.”
Caster spoke as if he was certain that the officer would recover. Then he spoke the thing’s name.
“With this hero-killin’ hydra venom dagger for a model, it’ll take no time at all. Ha ha!”

Alexandre Dumas explains how he can create Noble Phantasms


“Umm, Mr. Dumas… How are you able to create Noble Phantasms?” One of the police officers asked.

…

“Heroic Spirits can be surprisingly versatile. The stuff you did while you were alive plus the legends is open to an expanded interpretation. In my case, I wasn’t a mage or anything while I was alive, but I did use the money I made to do a lot of things aside from writing.”
Flashing a grin like a child who has succeeded in some mischief, Dumas cheerfully launched into a recital of his past.
“Well, when my buddy Garibaldi said he was going to unify Italy, I decided to give him a little push. I ran loads of weapons in my ship, the Emma. Put out a newspaper, too. In exchange, he made me supervisor of a museum that dug up ruins and relics of the past. Man, did it ever give me a chance to see and touch some fascinating things.”
“Relics… of the past…”
“So, that mixed with a Caster’s ‘Tool Creation’ and ‘Terrirory Creation’ and anecdotes about my legal messes into a skill. It’s not magecraft; it’s the ‘art’ of faking a Noble Phantasm’s past — its story — and repaste it. The ruins and relics I touched back then might’ve had an influence. A lot of crazy things turned up from around Pompei.”
It seemed that he himself did not fully understand why he had acquired the ability. With the knowledge the world bestowed on him as a Heroic Spirit, however, he was able to perfectly master it.

vs Jack the Ripper (Berserker)

Alexandre Dumas offers exposition on his abilities to forge Noble Phantasms and what he did to Jack and Flat in order to facilitate Flat’s plan against Alcides.

“My specialty as a Heroic Spirit is tinkering with tools that have a bit of notoriety and whip ‘em up into Noble Phantasms... but I don’t get many chances to work on a real Heroic Spirit.
“You see, I’d need the owner’s consent for that, which is normally a no-go.
“But when the pieces fall into place, an ‘exception’ comes out tasting the best.
“Basically, I’m gonna fiddle around with your ability to ‘become anyone’ and elevate it.
“I’ll make it so that you can turn into strangers even more perfectly.
“Of course, it’s up to you whether your Master counts as a stranger.”
Alexandre Dumas’ proposal had been quite a tradeoff.
It was to temporarily enhance Jack the Ripper’s abilities by combining one of his Spirit Origin’s skills, Thousand Faces, and his Noble Phantasm, Natural Born Killers, with one more “ingredient”—the essence of his Master, Flat Escardos.
It was a metaphor, of course; Dumas did not chop Flat up and toss him in a pot.
Still, for the Master and Servant whose links of magical energy Dumas strengthened and whose beings he artificially intermingled, it was equivalent to being thrown in a blender and turned into a mixture of ground meat.
For the Master, it meant having his own nature mixed with the Spirit Origin of a “killer.” It was impossible to foresee what side- and after-effects it might have. He might lose his magecraft, or unconsciously commit murders, drawn along by episodes associated with the Heroic Spirit Jack the Ripper.
There was no end to the conceivable negatives... but Flat had agreed without hesitation.
Jack had been fortified by Dumas’ Noble Phantasm and gained the ability to become the mage Flat Escardos down to the last detail, including his magecraft.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Francois/Francesca Prelati?

Spoiler

Source

Class: Caster
Master: Francesca Prelati
True name: Francois Prelati
Gender: Unknown (summoned Saint Graph is male)
Height/Weight: 152cm 38kg
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Strength: E
Endurance: D
Agility: C
Magic: A
Luck: B
Noble Phantasm: A

Class Skills
■ Territory Creation: B

■ Tool Creation: B

Personal Skills
■ Illusion: A
A skill that denotes excellence in the art of illusion within the field of magecraft. At this level, it is even possible to go beyond people and deceive the environment.

■ Disciple of Spirits: B
Proof that one has been initiated in magecraft by certain lake spirits. The efficacy of magecraft improves dramatically.

■ Divinity: E-
Prelati shares the blood of a deity, but as that deity is banished his rank is low.
Barely manifested at rank E due to combination with traditions that link Prelati with Beelzebub.

Noble Phantasms
■ Grand Illusion: The Sunken Spiral Castle Does Not Exist, Therefore There is No End to This World's Madness
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~10
Maximum Targets: 10 people
Legends that Prelati revealed the form of Beelzebub to sworn friends or that he (she) was the incarnation of Beelzebub combined with the art of illusion and lineage that Prelati originally possessed and sublimated into a Noble Phantasm. It is a great magecraft that surpasses even environment to deceive the very texture of the world. It is even capable of causing a target to hallucinate that Prelati has imprisoned them in a Reality Marble. It is still an illusion, however, and therefore lacks the power of a Reality Marble.

■ Prelati's Spellbook: Textbook of the Sunken Spiral Castle (unusable)
Rank: EX
Type: Anti- Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~99
Maximum Supplement: 1000 people
The result of Prelati utilizing magecraft while dispelling their own rationality with drugs Prelati compounded themselves. Against astronomical odds, it ended up linked to a place one must not link to, Prelati inscribed the truth of it in a blank bible that was a Mystic Code and sealed the link itself. Prelati was therefore incapable of reproducing it, and entrusted the spellbook capable of opening the one and only link to a knight who was their sworn friend. Prelati can never use the Noble Phantasm unless the knight returns it on the spiritual level, but will the day of their reunion ever come?

The count of people that have killed Francesca Prelati (notably includes Zelretch and Touko Aozaki)

“Getting my body killed is no cause for despair or anything. In the first place, only one person’s ever really killed me. Well, plenty of people have killed my body, but I think I can count the number who’ve made me say uncle.”
She stared into space, as if reminiscing about the past, and loudly gnashed her teeth as she laughed.
“Let me see... I think Old Man Kishua was first. Saint-Germain the hedonist; the fairy-tale witch who lives forever — oh, I guessed it’s ‘lived’ forever now — then there was that rich bloodsucker in Monaco... and a teacher at some school who uses Godo Word, a super old dialect... and speaking of teachers, there were also my masters in magecraft, and...”
The litany of names and words made Faldeus, who was versed in every secret corner of magical society, wonder if it was some kind of joke. The final nickname out of Francesca’s mouth, however, sparked a particularly strong recollection in him.
“Oh! And that girl! Scar Red!”
“...It’s more than your life’s worth to call her that to her face.”
The peculiar nickname, charged with both scorn and awe, belonged to one of the Clock Tower’s greatest mages, a genius puppeteer who far outranked Faldeus and Rohngall. Among mages affiliated with the Clock Tower, it was simultaneously rather famous and an absolute taboo.
That woman mage, who had ultimately achieved the rank of Grand, had been granted a “Color” — effectively a title — by the Clock Tower. She had not been able to obtain her coveted title of “Blue,” however, and had ended up receiving a shade close to “Red”; not even the actual primary color. She harbored an abnormal hatred of the aforementioned nickname, which she had been given sarcastically as a result. It was rumored that she would kill anyone who used it to her face, without exception. Faldeus knew that it was no mere rumor; it was the undeniable truth.
Although... I suppose Ms. Francesca might actually do it...
“Yup, even I was no exception,” Francesca cackled, as if she had guessed Faldeus’ thoughts. “I said it to her face, and I ended up getting killed a whole bunch of times!”
After her laughter had subsided, Francesca puffed up her cheeks and looked a little cross.
“It really was awful, you know? You see, she’s stubborn, and crafty, and she smashes up people’s workshops and swipes whatever strikes her fancy, and even when you turn the tables and kill her instead, she just activates the _______ built into her body, and then she comes back acting all innocent. After she’d killed me about thirteen times, I put in a request with her family and got them to intercede, but...”
Francesca sighed and shook her head. Presumably something had happened between her and the “family.”
“In the end, she killed me one last time, and threatened me, all, ‘never show your twisted Magic Circuits in front of me again’! And that’s how I ended up in this body.”

Francesca Prelati can sense Alcides in the direct of the ravine near Snowfield.

Then, turning her attention to the swirls of magical energy she could sense from the direction of the ravine, she ecstatically recalled what she had seen the previous evening.

Zouken made Francesca Prelati incapable of interfering with the 4th Grail War.

“As a matter of fact, he did! Gilles! I could only watch from a distance thanks to the descendents of that bug-tamer from Kiev, but he really was there! He was in the throne, you know? Gilles!”

Noble Phantasm?

Grand Illusion

Francois Prelati employs illusions to entrap Gilgamesh, Hippolyta, Alcides, and Tine. Gilgamesh sees right through it (as does Hippolyta). Additionally mimics Enkidu as an illusion to piss off Gilgamesh.

“Alright, that’s enough of that.”
Just as all three Heroic Spirits seemed about to make their moves, the guileless voice of a boy echoed through the snow-covered forest that extended as far as the eye could see.
“...What?”
Tine’s bewildered exclamation came a moment after the boy’s interruption.
“...!?”
“!”
“...”
The queen widened her eyes in shock, the bowman narrowed his eyes slightly, and the King of Heroes ran a suspicious eye over the surrounding scenery.
They should have been standing in a large ravine with only sparse vegetation. And yet, before the boy’s words even had time to register, trees completely filled their view. They were standing in the midst of a forest dominated by the white of the snow that lay thick on conifers, overwhelming the hues of their needles and bark.
Powdered snow fell on Tine’s bare, slender arms, and she felt the chill through her skin.
Forced teleportation?
As she hurriedly gathered a layer of air around herself for protection, Tine attempted to conjecture what had happened to them.
But such advanced magecraft — practically Magic — just isn’t...!
Currently, there was nowhere near Snowfield where it would be possible to see scenery like this. There was the great forest to the west, but the variety of trees was different, and, despite the name “Snowfield,” actual snowfall was rare in the region.
It was also possible that they had been drawn into another world — a unique space called a “Reality Marble” — by a Servant. Tine had heard that there were Heroic Spirits that employed such techniques.
And yet, Tine’s Servant, the King of Heroes, showed no particular sign of alarm.
“Do not lose your head,” he told her. “It is merely an illusion.”
“An illusion...?”
Illusion was a diverse type of general-purpose magecraft. It could be used for concealing a specified place, confusing senses of direction in a specified area, or even cast on oneself to aid in training or reinforce suggestion. Most ordinary illusions, however, were ineffective against targets possessing Magic Circuits above a certain level, or a Magic Crest. As a result, very few mages attempted to master it as anything more than convenient, general-use magecraft. In fact, Tine had experienced having an illusion cast on her in the past, but she was linked to the leylines of the land, and had strengthened her senses through them, so it had had no effect on her.
In the present circumstance, however, she could feel the cold even through the leylines.
...Going by magical energy links, we’re definitely still in a canyon in the land of my ancestors... This really is an illusion, then... But could there really be an illusion powerful enough to fool not just human senses... but the land itself as well!?
How many human mages could have reached that level? With a special medium, such as powerful Mystic Eyes, it would be a different story, but in ordinary circumstances an illusion of that level would be considered beyond the realm of human mages.
...A new Servant!
She could not tell if this was the work of a Noble Phantasm, or of raw magecraft. At the very least, however, it was highly probable that the owner of that boy’s voice was a new Servant.

…

The boy’s voice carried through the entire snowy forest, but it was impossible to pin down where it had come from. It was almost as if each individual snowflake was acting as a speaker for it.
Gilgamesh acted as if he had not heard the voice, and spoke with a tone of mild displeasure:
“To think that there was another mannerless ruffian waiting to spoil my entertainment at the last moment. I do not know what you are after, but did you imagine you could deceive my eyes with this paltry illusion?”

…

“Then how about your ears, Gil?”
Tine turned, and saw a Heroic Spirit. A Heroic Spirit with a face and build that could be taken for either male or female, and to which an indefinable trace of youth clung. A smooth, lean body that reminded Tine of a perfected beast. Features so graceful and beautiful that it did not seem to matter if they were male or female.
This Servant is...
Tine was immediately able to recognize what the entity that had appeared suddenly behind her was. She had only viewed the events from a distance, through a familiar, but this was certainly the Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh had confronted immediately after manifesting; the one he had made the crater in the desert with.
Based on their timing and words, however, Tine also immediately recognized that this must be an illusory fake.
In that case, how would the King of Heroes react? Before Tine could finish turning to look at him, Merodach flashed in his hand and dispersed the illusory Heroic Spirit.
“Who gave you permission to mimic my friend’s form and voice?”
A searing tremor crossed the pass between them to shake Tine’s Magic Circuits. She was able to imagine that the King of Heroes was likely seething with cold rage, rather than abandoning himself to an outburst of emotion.

…

At that point, a crushing noise sounded from a distance away, and tress that were supposed to be products of illusion made very real splintering sounds as they were mowed down.
The illusion was apparently visible to the queen as well. She looked up at the sky, her face a mask of rage, and shouted:
“Don’t mock me! Where are you? Show yourself, dealer in deceptions!”

Prelati’s Grand Illusion

The boy Prelati, high on the speed of freefall, settled on a target. That done, , he spread his arms as he continued his head-first descent. Then, in the midst of the endless expanse of sky, he chanted, recited, sang. He sang the praises of his Noble Phantasm and chanted verses expressing the joy of deploying it.
“I make an offering. To this broken world I offer blessings and thanks and sacrifices!”
“I offer thanks to mother Até, born the embodiment of madness!”
“I offer blessings to the holy spirits of the world, who taught me magecraft, the madness of men!”
“O saint and knight who showed me a different madness, neither of you were mistaken!”
“I make an offering! To all humanity, permitted by this broken world, I offer the sacrifice that is me!”
As Prelati shouted his self-centered invocation, the space around him began to distort. As he hurtled toward the surface, he bellowed the name of the great magecraft that was his Noble Phantasm at the ground.
“Grand Illusion!”

…

“Alright. By my Command Seal, I order Berserker…” Haruri began, slowly raising her hands
— when she all too suddenly dropped into a bottomless hell.
Only Bazdilot, standing a few meters in front of her with his gun at the ready, remained unchanged. The sky abruptly rushed away upward. In other words, Bazdilot was falling along with her.

…

The instant she muttered those words, she saw it. The ground under her feet vanished without warning and she began to fall.
“Hey?!”
She hurriedly attempted to fly, then realized that the magical energy filling the space around her had vanished.
“This is… You didn’t fool me; you fooled the world’s texture! Unbelievable!”
A look around told her that the ground under her feet was not all that had vanished. A perfect circle of land, centered on the meat processing plant and encompassing most of the factory district, was gone. A blackness with no visible bottom gaped in its place. On top of that, all the magical energy in the area had disappeared without a trace. The Scradio Family mages, Filia, Alkeides and even the giant Berserker were all falling alike. As they all resigned themselves to freefall, Filia glared at the source of the phenomenon.
The boy who had plummeted to earth with death-defying speed flashed the homunculus who was glaring at him an innocent grin. It seemed that some contrivance allowed him, and him alone, to use magical energy. He adjusted his speed to match Filia, Haruri, Bazdilot and Alkeides, who had only just begun falling, standing shoulder to shoulder with them as they were all swallowed by the bottomless pit.

…

“The Oriental Avici hell is supposed to be falling for two thousand years. Still, I suppose it’s kind in that, after two thousand years, you do reach the bottom. Of course, knowing that you were going to suffer for quintillions more years once you do, it might be better to keep falling. Which do you prefer?”
Around the hole, where there had been nothing but jet black walls of earth, various glowing objects popped into being and vanished just as suddenly in time with his speech. Oni at a banquet; a parade in an abandoned amusement park; children dying of hunger and thirst; an infinite expanse of starry sky; monsters too repulsive to describe; a city so beautiful it could only be described as a land of gold; the figure of a holy woman racing across a wasteland; corpses of knights stretching to the ends of the earth. Every one of them felt real.
It was almost enough to destroy the lesser Scradio mages’ sense of self. More than half of them completely lost their grips on consciousness on the spot. Despite being prevented from using magecraft, however, Bazdilot Cordelion maintained his usual vicious non-expression. Evenso, he must have had his hands full controlling the “mud” inside of him, because what looked like black tattoos peeking out of his cuffs could be seen to writhe fiercely on his skin.

…

“Don’t worry; I’m a friend. I’m your friend. I’m a friend to humanity, a friend to the gods, a friend to demonic beasts, and a friend to mages. So, so that none of them are lost… I’ve come to postpone the festivities.”
Caster clapped his hands. The sides of the whole vanished, revealing thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people falling.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to kill the eight hundred thousand people of Snowfield just yet.”
At that point, the boy vanished — only to reappear as a giant, seemingly kilometers tall.
While still falling down the pit — which appeared after all to be bottomless — he stated his wish.
“So… how about we make a deal for the present?

…

The monitor showed a jet black hole almost completely erasing the factory district. It was well outside the realm of what he could pass off as land subsidence. Even if he took “emergency measures” to erase the entire city of Snowfield, that hole alone would certainly remain for all of America to see.

…

He was just about to phone Francesca to inquire how she intended to take responsibility, when another abnormality began on the monitor.
No sooner was the colossal hole filled in than, almost like time was rewinding, the toppled smokestacks and crumbled walls of the factories began to reform. Even the burnt grass in the empty lots regained its verdant life.

…

“Oh, just an illusion,” Francesca roared with laughter as she answered Faldeus’ question. “Of course, it’s my Noble Phantasm as a Heroic Spirit, so it can things orders of magnitude more stunning than turning a wasteland into a snowy mountain! Oh, I almost forgot — I can’t say why, but the people who were brawling down there seem to have suddenly reached a peaceful settlement. Mysterious, isn’t it? Maybe it was the power of love? Isn’t that lovely? Love, I mean!”

…

“They may look like they’re back to normal, but it is still an illusion, you know? You can touch them, live in them, even go on using them as factories and workshops, but that’s all they are! In about five days the world will realize it’s being fooled and they’ll crumble just like they were, so take care of the cover up before then!”

The battle between Humbaba and Alcides left the meat processing plant in ruins. Francois Prelati’s Noble Phantasm seemingly made it so it was restored.

The battle between the gargantuan, mechanical Heroic Spirit and Alkeides had left the meat processing plant in ruins.
Thanks to Francois Prelati’s Noble Phantasm, however, it was apparently restored.

…

The man’s gaze rested on the hulking machine developed by the mage Atrum Galiasta to convert human life force into Mana Crystals. It has been damaged in the battle with the gigantic Heroic Spirit the day before and was currently inoperable.

Magecraft?

Francesca can light candles by snapping her fingers

“Well, it’s about time for me to do my part as a mastermind!”
She snapped her fingers, and the candles around her lit. Faint, flickering light illuminated the center of the room.

Francois Prelati turns a field of flowers into the arms of children

As he listened to Francesca’s explanation, a look of delight gradually stole across the face of the Heroic Spirit in the form of a boy. At last, he burst into wild peals of laughter. As he cackled, the whole field of flowers turned into children’s arms growing from the ground. Pairs of adjacent hands clapped their palms together as if to celebrate the boy and girl by surrounding them with a round of twisted applause.

Francois Prelati causes the arms of children to burst into flames and reduces them to skeletons/ashes

A chorus of agonized cries sounded from beneath the ground, and the children’s arms growing around them burst into flames. In the blink of an eye, they were bleached skeletons. Then they crumbled to ash. The ash swirled in the gloom, and the Heroic Spirit loudly declared the contract formed.

Description of Francesca’s workshop

The lowest layer of the stratosphere, twenty kilometers up. That was where Francesca’s workshop was.
It was a giant airship, two hundred meters from end to end. Francesca had taken a high-altitude unmanned airship that the US military was in the process of testing, applied many layers of wards to it — invisibility, wind-aversion, etcetera. She had piled modification on modification, mystically, scientifically, and as a matter of taste. That said, it was hardly a mobile fortress, bristling with weapons straight out of a scifi novel. It was simply a two hundred meter balloon used to lift the meager area of Prelati’s workshop.

Prelati’s enhanced eyesight can perceive the chaos of the factory district

It was an extreme height from which Francesca could look down on everything, but could hardly grasp events on the surface with her naked eyes. With Prelati’s enhanced sight, however, it was possible to confirm something on the scale of the disturbance in the factory district.

Description of the collateral between Humbaba and Alcides

He saw a gargantuan mechanical spider on a rampage and a bowman-turned-avenger challenging it alone. The factories around them were destroyed. There was no longer any trace of the meat processing plant. He could see scraps of otherworld and ward-induced static, as well as demonic beasts that had spilled out of the workshop. A scene of chaos had begun to unfold.

…

The meat processing plant was no longer recognizable. It seemed, however, that the surrounding factories were also mage’s workshops of some kind. Berserker recognized them as enemies and was busy dedicating itself to their destruction. By the time Haruri saw Berserker spit fire and turn the grounds of one factory into a sea of flame, she had already given up thinking about his actions.

Hypnosis

Mages of Francesca’s level can mind control others into becoming traitors

“There are traitors in every organization. There are three humans in Faldeus’ unit working for the Scradio Family. And a mage of Francesca’s level can easily make a human change sides with a single suggestion, even if they’re not a traitor.”

Scrying

Francesca is viewing the Snowfield Opera house through a crystal ball.

In the darkness, Francesca slumped her shoulders with an air of boredom, and watched the scene reflected in her crystal ball. It was an image of the old Snowfield opera house.

…

In the image, she could see the figure of a lone girl stealthily creeping into the opera house.

…

She contacted someone with magecraft, then returned her attention to the crystal. She had been staring listlessly at it in the dark for about ten minutes, when—
A powerful light shone from the crystal. That moment, she noticed a peculiarity in the image that made her eyes sparkle.
“Oh? What’s this? Now who could that be? Assassin, perhaps?”
The words were barely out of her mouth when another change came over the image. Francesca stared excitedly at the “corpse” in the crystal ball and let out a cackling laugh.
“Ah ha ha! Amazing! Stupendous! A sudden accident! I wonder what will happen next!”
Francesca flashed an ecstatic grin, her cheeks flushing obscenely while her eyes sparkled like a child’s.
“Oh! Oh, Art, whatever will you do now? Your Master dead the moment you’re summoned! Isn’t it dramatic?”
She shouted wildly, and all the while she laughed, laughed, laughed—
Catching sight of the next thing reflected in the crystal ball, she cocked her head limply to one side, still smiling.
“...What’s this?”
Then, her head full of question marks, she muttered:
“Who is... that Saber?”

Francesca is watching the fight between Gilgamesh, Hippolyta, and Alcides via Crystal Ball.

Francesca twisted with excitement, remembering the “Heroic Spirit” Bazdilot had summoned, which she had viewed through her crystal ball early that morning with his permission.

Resistances/Durability?

Both Francesca and Bazdilot can resist the Grail Mud

“Was it really alright to give that man ‘it’?”
“Does it bother you that much? But not even I could contrive enough magical energy to run the Heroic Spirit you can summon with that catalyst at full spec, you know? It really does take the combo of Baz and the Scladios for that.”
“I’m not talking about the catalyst. I’m talking about the ‘byproduct’ you brought back from Fuyuki.”
“Oh,” Francesca nodded, and flashed a malicious grin. “That couldn’t be helped. I mean, me and Baz are about the only ones who can handle ‘it,’ much less grow it, with our egos intact...
“And I don’t want to always be touching that repulsive ‘mud’! Ahaha!”

Not going to lie, I probably missed a number of crystal ball scrying feats because they amounted to them reacting and us being told what and why they were reacting for.

Also combined them as they’re the same person. Francesca may have learned more down the line, but nothing she’s demonstrated so far isn’t something fucking Waver has knowledge of so… eh.

Mind you, whether Francois can resist Grail Mud like Francesca is to be seen I guess?

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Hippolyta?

Spoiler

Source

Class: True Rider
Master: Doris Lusendra
True name: Hippolyta
Gender: Female
Height/Weight: 159cm 50kg
Alignment: Lawful Good

Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: A
Magic: C
Luck: D
Noble Phantasm: A

Class Skills
■ Riding: A

■ Magic Resistance: C

Personal Skills
■ Charisma: B
A composite skill consisting of a person's charm as well as the command ability to unify an army or country.

■ Divinity: B
A skill that represent the depth of one's Divine Spirit aptitude, how close one is to a Divine Spirit. As one of Artemis's virgins as well as the daughter of the queen and War God, Ares, she is clad in a thick divine aura. But, she does not have the A rank to reach the throne of a god, after death.

Noble Phantasms
■ Goddess of War: War God's War Sash
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Unit ~ Anti-Fortress
Range: -
Remodeled from an off-shoot of her father, Ares, as a war banner into a sash. The user’s divinity, strength, endurance, agility, and magical energy scores greatly increase. As the mystery in today’s society is weak, it cannot be used to exceed a certain point.

Orlando Reeve asserts a stray shot from the fight between Gilgamesh, Hippolyta, and Alcides would demolish a building.

“I can’t just leave them to it. At this rate, a stray shot could easily demolish a building. I’ll sound out Faldeus for help as well, although I doubt it will do any good. Even if he can’t directly intervene in the fighting, it’s better to tackle the cover-up sooner than later.”

Francois Prelati employs illusions to entrap Gilgamesh, Hippolyta, Alcides, and Tine. Gilgamesh sees right through it (as does Hippolyta). Additionally mimics Enkidu as an illusion to piss off Gilgamesh.

“Alright, that’s enough of that.”
Just as all three Heroic Spirits seemed about to make their moves, the guileless voice of a boy echoed through the snow-covered forest that extended as far as the eye could see.
“...What?”
Tine’s bewildered exclamation came a moment after the boy’s interruption.
“...!?”
“!”
“...”
The queen widened her eyes in shock, the bowman narrowed his eyes slightly, and the King of Heroes ran a suspicious eye over the surrounding scenery.
They should have been standing in a large ravine with only sparse vegetation. And yet, before the boy’s words even had time to register, trees completely filled their view. They were standing in the midst of a forest dominated by the white of the snow that lay thick on conifers, overwhelming the hues of their needles and bark.
Powdered snow fell on Tine’s bare, slender arms, and she felt the chill through her skin.
Forced teleportation?
As she hurriedly gathered a layer of air around herself for protection, Tine attempted to conjecture what had happened to them.
But such advanced magecraft — practically Magic — just isn’t...!
Currently, there was nowhere near Snowfield where it would be possible to see scenery like this. There was the great forest to the west, but the variety of trees was different, and, despite the name “Snowfield,” actual snowfall was rare in the region.
It was also possible that they had been drawn into another world — a unique space called a “Reality Marble” — by a Servant. Tine had heard that there were Heroic Spirits that employed such techniques.
And yet, Tine’s Servant, the King of Heroes, showed no particular sign of alarm.
“Do not lose your head,” he told her. “It is merely an illusion.”
“An illusion...?”
Illusion was a diverse type of general-purpose magecraft. It could be used for concealing a specified place, confusing senses of direction in a specified area, or even cast on oneself to aid in training or reinforce suggestion. Most ordinary illusions, however, were ineffective against targets possessing Magic Circuits above a certain level, or a Magic Crest. As a result, very few mages attempted to master it as anything more than convenient, general-use magecraft. In fact, Tine had experienced having an illusion cast on her in the past, but she was linked to the leylines of the land, and had strengthened her senses through them, so it had had no effect on her.
In the present circumstance, however, she could feel the cold even through the leylines.
...Going by magical energy links, we’re definitely still in a canyon in the land of my ancestors... This really is an illusion, then... But could there really be an illusion powerful enough to fool not just human senses... but the land itself as well!?
How many human mages could have reached that level? With a special medium, such as powerful Mystic Eyes, it would be a different story, but in ordinary circumstances an illusion of that level would be considered beyond the realm of human mages.
...A new Servant!
She could not tell if this was the work of a Noble Phantasm, or of raw magecraft. At the very least, however, it was highly probable that the owner of that boy’s voice was a new Servant.

…

The boy’s voice carried through the entire snowy forest, but it was impossible to pin down where it had come from. It was almost as if each individual snowflake was acting as a speaker for it.
Gilgamesh acted as if he had not heard the voice, and spoke with a tone of mild displeasure:
“To think that there was another mannerless ruffian waiting to spoil my entertainment at the last moment. I do not know what you are after, but did you imagine you could deceive my eyes with this paltry illusion?”

…

“Then how about your ears, Gil?”
Tine turned, and saw a Heroic Spirit. A Heroic Spirit with a face and build that could be taken for either male or female, and to which an indefinable trace of youth clung. A smooth, lean body that reminded Tine of a perfected beast. Features so graceful and beautiful that it did not seem to matter if they were male or female.
This Servant is...
Tine was immediately able to recognize what the entity that had appeared suddenly behind her was. She had only viewed the events from a distance, through a familiar, but this was certainly the Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh had confronted immediately after manifesting; the one he had made the crater in the desert with.
Based on their timing and words, however, Tine also immediately recognized that this must be an illusory fake.
In that case, how would the King of Heroes react? Before Tine could finish turning to look at him, Merodach flashed in his hand and dispersed the illusory Heroic Spirit.
“Who gave you permission to mimic my friend’s form and voice?”
A searing tremor crossed the pass between them to shake Tine’s Magic Circuits. She was able to imagine that the King of Heroes was likely seething with cold rage, rather than abandoning himself to an outburst of emotion.

…

At that point, a crushing noise sounded from a distance away, and tress that were supposed to be products of illusion made very real splintering sounds as they were mowed down.
The illusion was apparently visible to the queen as well. She looked up at the sky, her face a mask of rage, and shouted:
“Don’t mock me! Where are you? Show yourself, dealer in deceptions!”

Hippolyta sensed Alcides Stymphalides and how they were snuffed out by Humbaba. She’s not particularly great at sensing presences outside a specific niche.

“What’s wrong, Polyte? Your magical energy went a little wild for a moment there.”
Hearing a woman’s voice from the room next door, the woman called Polyte answered with some confusion.
“Just now… I sensed my father’s cherished birds… but they soon vanished.”

…

Hippolyte did not normally excel in sensing presences. She was, however, sensitive to any that resembled the Noble Phantasm she wore — the war belt she had inherited from her father.

Alcides considers Richard fast, about as fast as Hippolyta and outmatches Alcides himself. From Richard’s speed alone, Alcides deems Richard worth caution depending on his Noble Phantasm.

“...He’s fast.”
The grotesque bowman, Alkeides, kept his distance and observed the new contender’s capabilities with a cool gaze that belied his wild appearance.
His dexterity was probably about on par with the Amazon Rider’s on horseback.
Alkeides could sense no divinity from him, which told him that the Heroic Spirit had been formed as a pure human.
His speed, however, surpassed human limitations and the magical energy that swirled around him was shrouded in a strange magical energy that was neither human nor divine.
He isn’t strong enough to make my blood run cold. But purely in terms of speed, he may outmatch me. Depending on his Noble Phantasm, he merits caution.

Tine compares Richard to Hippolyta, possibly being a bit beyond her.

Even going by what she could see of Saber through her far-seeing spell, his Spirit Origin did not seem to be a match for the King of Heroes or Alkeides. It struck her as being on the same level as the Amazon queen who had called herself Hippolyte or perhaps a little higher.

John’s power now rivals that of the enemy Generals Alcides had fought in life back in Ancient Greece. Compared to Hippolyta’s Goddess of War enhanced blows, John’s attacks were like a child’s by comparison.

John.
I see. So, this man’s name is John.

…

What happened? He’s like a different man... Or should I say he’s matured?
He had gone beyond the level of ordinary humans, even for a mage. The experience Alkeides had built up over his lifetime warned him that the power surging from the police officer before him rivaled the enemy generals he had fought in ancient Greece in brute strength.
Is it his Noble Phantasm? Did Caster do something?
Alkeides noted that his body was being damaged, but it was not enough to make him register danger. Compared to when the Amazon queen had struck him using her Noble Phantasm, the pain was like being punched by a child.

Goddess of War

Both Hippolyta and Alcides possess Goddess of War as a Noble Phantasm

The situation being critical, Tine attempted to at least discover their opponent’s identity. One fact, however, deeply confused her. The cloth wrapped around the archer’s arm had seemed to be a Noble Phantasm, and yet the exact same cloth was wrapped around the arm of the girl in front of her. It was not just the pattern; even the potent divine aura that seemed to shake the air around it was identical.
It couldn’t be... the same Noble Phantasm...?

Hippolyta’s Goddess of War exposition and her Riding skills.

The female Heroic Spirit held out her right hand beside herself, and a horse appeared there.
She then lightly mounted it, and vigorously rode it up the ravine.
The cloth wrapped around her arm was still overflowing with concentrated divinity. She circulated the potent magical energy into the horse through its bridle. Horse and rider, moving as a single organism, rapidly threaded their way through the rain of gales. Massive chunks of rubble had begun to fall back to earth. She began to gallop lightly over them, eventually riding across even the boulders still in mid air.
Witnessing the female Heroic Spirit traveling backwards up the waterfall of rubble, Tine was sure.
She can only be Rider!
That would mean that a hero who naturally possessed the qualities of an archer had taken the form of Rider in this War. It might be reasonable to suppose that the force of her bow had been enhanced by the divine aura flowing from the cloth wrapped around her arm.
Then that cloth is a Noble Phantasm... one that strengthens its user’s abilities…
As she watched, the female Heroic Spirit climbed high into the sky, and at last arrived at the peak of the falling rubble. Then, pinpointing the figure of the mystery Archer below her, she drew her bow taut atop her steed.

Goddess of War exposition and how both Alcides and Hippolyta use it differs (Alcides only applies the divinity to his weapons, Hippolyta channels it through her body directly).

“But what are those Noble Phantasms wrapped around both of their arms...?”
“Most likely some sort of legacy a god forced on humans. Observe; they are the same item, but each of them uses it in an entirely different manner.”
There was indeed a difference. The horsewoman was circulating the high-density magical energy — worthy of the name divinity — throughout her body. The bowman, however, only applied it to his weapons; he never accepted the power into himself.
“Why...? If he channelled that divine aura into a body with the qualities his has, he could probably overwhelm his opponent.”
The King of Heroes grunted, and pondered Tine’s words. Then a shade of joy entered his expression, as if he had discovered a curious toy.
“I merely find the gods I know disagreeable... but it seems that fellow despises the gods he believed in so deeply that he wants to kill them.”
“He hates... his gods?”
“Comical, is it not? I’m sure it was those same gods who created that sturdy body of his. Imagine, maintaining such force of will while despising his very existence. The fool shows promise.”

How Tine perceives the status of Servants as a Master and how Gilgamesh, Alcides, and Hippolyta all compare to one another through her eyes. Exposition on how Goddess of War raises Hipplyta’s parameters.

Even Tine, observing the Heroic Spirits from the shadow of Vimana, was able to grasp the King of Heroes’ words.
Masters in the Holy Grail War were granted the simple clairvoyant ability to know their opponents’ general strengths and weaknesses, divided into status, strength, agility, and so on. The way this information appeared to each Master varied depending on their sensibilities. Tine visualized it as the difference in the speeds of the currents of six rivers flowing from a mountain.
As far as she could see, all the rivers ran swiftly for the King of Heroes and the cloth-shrouded bowman. Compared to them, the horsewoman’s flowed at a gentle pace. The river governing luck, in particular, stood out as slow in its course. Even in a simple comparison of basic abilities, she seemed to be at a slight disadvantage. It appeared that she was raising her natural power several ranks by housing the divine aura of her Noble Phantasm in her own body. Against an opponent who possessed the same Noble Phantasm, however, it would not be sufficient to give her an advantage. There might possibly be a difference between housing the power of a god in one’s own body and using it as a tool, but Tine was unable to conjecture what effect that difference might have.

Tine speculates about the power she senses through the leylines that she feels coming from Hippolyta drawing upon her Goddess of War. She speculates about Hippolyta’s nature as a demi-god and ponders whether the Goddess of War sash can make up the difference between Hippolyta functioning at the level of a Divine Spirit or not.

“I see...”
The horsewoman heard the bowman’s voice, filled with deep resentment and determination, and the fury vanished from within her.
“Then you are no longer him.”
She narrowed her eyes, steadied her breathing, and gently stroked her horse’s neck. In an instant, the divine aura enveloping her intertwined with her own magical energy, rapidly increasing its purity.
“...!? This is...”
Sensing the magical energy through the leylines of the land, Tine gasped in spite of herself.
The Holy Grail War system — at least if it was identical to the system in Fuyuki, which Tine had investigated beforehand — should be incapable of summoning a Divine Spirit. The extent to which a Heroic Spirit, once summoned, could wield divine power, however, was something Tine did not know.
If the horsewoman was who Tine thought she was, then she must be a demigod, with a god for a father. She lacked the power of a full Divine Spirit, but what would happen if that cloth-shaped Noble Phantasm supplied the difference?
Tine’s face paled, but she neither feared nor doubted. At her side stood a king who she paid greater reverence than any god.
“In that case, I will not try to put you back on the right path. I will eliminate you as an enemy, along with the golden king.”
When he heard those words, a fiendish smile stole over the King of Heroes’ features.
“I see you know how to bark, girl!”
His grin was a picture of arrogance. There was none of his earlier scorn and contempt in it.
The King of Heroes’ had been the first to notice: The presence of the rider, who had been running wild, allowing her emotions to get the better of her, had instantly switched over to that of a warrior befitting the divine aura that cloaked her.
And at the present moment, the eyes of the King of Heroes, which were less proud, had seen through to a part of his opponent’s true nature — what she was about to attempt to become. But because the king was a king, he stuck to his pride.

vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Gilgamesh sends a second wave of Gate of Babylon fire at Hippolyta, Hippolyta draws further upon the power of Goddess of War and imbues her spear with Divinity as she hurls it at the oncoming second wave, repelling Gilgamesh’s attack. The spear aimed at Gilgamesh’s heart, he deploys a number of shield Noble Phantasm to block it. Several break before the spear halts.

The second wave from the Gate of Babylon was bearing down on horse and rider. Instantly, even more powerful magical energy welled up from the horsewoman. She rolled together the magical energy within herself, thick with divinity, and the pure magical energy welling from the cloth — which could be called divinity itself — and channelled it into the spear in her hand. The horsewoman hurled her spear at the King of Heroes, endeavoring to repel the countless Noble Phantasms bearing down on her with brute force.
The spear, cloaked in divine aura, drove through the second shower of Noble Phantasms, hurtling toward Gilgamesh’s heart. The King of Heroes, however, did not move a step. He deployed a number of shield Noble Phantasms from his Gate of Babylon. The spear closing in on him drove through several of them before coming to a halt.
“It’s been bugging me for a little while now — what’s with that ridiculous number of Noble Phantasms?”
The horsewoman sounded exasperated. Gilgamesh ignored her, and pronounced with an air of indifference:
“Coming against me with the power of a god, of all things... Your insolence knows no bounds, woman.”

vs Alcides (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Both Alcides and Hippolyta’s Goddess of War divinity enhanced arrow fire clash evenly with one another.

The horsewoman was facing him, the sun at her back, and drawing her bow coated in concentrated divinity.
“...I see.”
“Archerrr!”
Baring her powerful animosity, the woman put her whole being into the shout.
“...So it’s you, queen of treachery,” the archer muttered.
He readied his own bow, not even bothering to evade, and made concentrated divinity well up from the cloth around his own arm. Then he intercepted the five arrows the horsewoman had fired with as many arrows of his own. The arrowheads collided without so much as an inch of deviation. The magical energy they had been imbued with clashed, rebounded, and assailed the surroundings as a great wind.

Hippolyta’s Goddess of War arrow fire is further amplified in Divinity, her next shot hits Alcides at the speed of sound right where his heart sits. His Nemean Lion Pelt protects him from all damage. Gilgamesh further explains that this is how Alcides managed to come out of his previous Gate of Babylon spam unharmed where a punch from Hippolyta sent Alcides flying. Overall Nemean Lion Pelt exposition.

But it was the horsewoman who moved first. She was refining a divine aura, even more potent than before, behind the archer’s back. She had leapt off her steed as she fired, and, using it as a decoy, had gotten behind her enemy.
“...Impudent,” the archer muttered, and started to turn. Before he had the chance, however, an arrow struck his back, just where his heart was, at the speed of sound.
And yet, for some reason, no sooner had the arrowhead struck the man’s body — struck the cloth draped over his head — than it splintered, scattering to the winds without eating into his flesh.
“I knew it...” The rider he had called “queen” groaned at the sight. More than surprise, the groan seemed to imply the confirmation of her conjecture.
“...I see,” Gilgamesh muttered. He had temporarily re-boarded Vimana, and been surveying events from the ground.
“Has Your Majesty learned something?” Tine timidly inquired.
“How that mere bowman was able to defend against all my Noble Phantasms,” the King of Heroes replied amusedly, “as well as why he failed to defend against a blow of that mere horsewoman’s fist.”
“There is a reason, then...?”
“A trifle. His armor is special, that’s all.”
“His... armor?” Tine asked, turning to look at the archer, who had returned to earth.
The archer was wearing almost nothing that could be called armor. The only things covering his upper body were the strange, patterned cloth draped over his head, and other patterned cloth wrapped around his arm.
“It is most likely the hide of some species of demonic or divine beast. It can have been no small task to work it into that form, but it was probably originally something like an Ugallu.”
Gilgamesh gave the name of a Babylonian monster as an example, but that was not enough to satisfy Tine.
“You mean that this hide repelled all of Your Majesty’s tremendous blows?” She pressed.
“Numbers do not enter into it. Divine or demonic beasts sometimes reject human civilization itself in that way. A moment ago, I hit him with anything and everything — not only my first-class armaments, but even the Noble Phantasms of lower orders that I would ordinarily not even bother firing. I do not believe he repelled them all with skill alone. If he did so with his body, or some form of magical energy, however, it would fail to explain the fact that the hide is completely unharmed.”
At that point, the King of Heroes narrowed his eyes, and tightened his grip on Merodach, the sword of selection.
“Occasionally a creature of that sort appears — a singularity that rejects human civilization itself. At the very least, no tool created by humans will pierce that skin.”

Hippolyta fires more Goddess of War enhanced arrow fire at Alcides, Alcides parries her arrows that each possess the power to destroy armies.

Gilgamesh’s words had not reached the horsewoman, but as she loosed arrow after arrow at the archer, she shouted:
“Why? Why do you not take my father’s power — the power of the war belt — into yourself? Are you looking down on me!? Mocking me!?”
“The power of a god is not for housing in one’s own body,” the bowman answered solemnly, parrying her shots, each of which was imbued with the power to destroy armies, with the bow in his hand.

Hippolyta’s Mount

Hippolyta’s mount was able to sense and avoid turning into a pincushion from Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon fire.

Could that horse be one of her Noble Phantasms? Tine wondered as she watched the combat.
It displayed movements like those of a phastasmal beast, and inconceivable in an ordinary horse, as the horsewoman attempted to drive the bowman further into a corner. But then, as if it had sensed something, the horse stopped, and reared up on its hind legs. As it did so, countless weapons embedded themselves in the ground between her and the bowman.
“I thought I told you not to interfere!”
The horsewoman glared at the man who had fired them.
“Fool,” that man — the King of Heroes — spat back. “I have no ear to lend a woman so ill-mannered as to not dismount in the presence of a king.”
He stood in Vimana’s prow, gazing calmly down. The space behind him glittered with the points of the innumerable Noble Phantasms that slept in his treasury.

Hippolytpa dodges around fire from both the Gate of Babylone and Alcides’ arrow fire while riding her mount.

“You are not worthy of existing in the same place as the true king — myself. Be gone.”
With the air of a man sweeping a pebble from the roadside with his foot, the King of Heroes launched a swarm of Noble Phantasms from his Gate of Babylon.
“...!”
Instinct must have warned the horsewoman that taking a direct hit from them would be unwise. Skillfully handling her steed, she weaved her way through the rain of Noble Phantasms.
Then the cloth-covered bowman loosed a pointed shaft, his aim fixed on the horse.
“!”
The horse dodged the arrow by a hair’s breadth, but lost its balance.

Physical strength and speed?

Hippolyta vs Alcides (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Hippolyta’s attack with Goddess of War shook the earth. Alcides endures her strike.

The archer smiled behind his cloth, and made ready to unleash the power of his Noble Phantasm. A few second later, a blow imbued with divinity shook the earth.

…

A blow imbued with divinity shook the earth. But it was not the mysterious archer who had launched it.
“...What?”
Tine, who had peeked her head out from Vimana’s rear seat, could not believe what she was seeing. Just as the archer had been about to unleash the power of his cloth, a horse had appeared out of nowhere, and the girl riding it had landed behind him.

…

The girl, who gave an overall impression of activity, soundlessly approached the archer from behind with a look of cold dignity on her face.
“...?”
Gilgamesh furrowed his brows. The archer, noticing his gaze, tried to turn... and the girl’s fist embedded itself deep into his cloth-covered face.
The sound of the impact seemed like nothing less than an explosion. The archer’s body was launched with the force of a bullet to lodge itself in the side of another small eminence, which then began to crumble.
After a moment of silence, a simple fact dominated — the girl’s slender arm had sent a man on whom the Noble Phantasms Gilgamesh fired from his Gate of Bayblon had had no effect flying.
The girl glared at the pile of rubble that had buried the archer alive with eyes filled with a powerful hate, then glanced behind her at Tine and Gilgamesh, and declared

Alcides rose into the sky with the boulders he launched, Alcides fires numerous arrows with enough force to shatter the giant boulders flung into the air and pull the shards they were reduced into the vacuum the shots created in their wake. Both Gilgamesh and Hippolyta counter the arrows with the Gate of Babylon and her own arrows respectively.

Numerous giant boulders were flung so high into the air that Tine had to crane her neck to see them. Then several of the stones suddenly shattered, and arrows shrouded in vast quantities of magical energy appeared from among the fragments. The mysterious Archer had flown up with the rubble, and loosed countless arrows from behind the soaring rocks.
The rain of arrows, each one accompanied by its own tornado, sped down at Gilgamesh and the female Heroic Spirit, pulling the shards of the shattered boulders into the swirling vacuums as they came.
An instant later, Gilgamesh launched weapons from his Gate of Babylon, while the female Heroic Spirit nocked multiple arrows to the bow that appeared in her hands, and fired them all at the same time. The weapons and arrows, fired at speeds too fast for Tine’s eyes to follow, were warding off the violent whirlwinds one after another.
It’s only to be expected of His Majesty... but just who is that Heroic Spirit...?
Based on the fact that she had appeared on horseback, she was most likely Rider. Based on her skill with a bow, however, she could just as easily be Archer. But that would mean that three different Archers had manifested in the city.
Or can she use a bow with that much force, despite not being an archer...?
Impossible, Tine thought. That would be like an archer competing with the other classes in swordsmanship.

Alcides and Hippolyta continued to clashing with both long and close range attacks.

The bowman and horsewoman with the same Noble Phantasm continued their battle, mixing long and close range attacks. The horsewoman had produced a spear and bow from the magical energy with a pronounced tint of divinity that was native to her frame. She made skillful use of both in conjuction with her trusty steed as she kept up her assault on the bowman.

Gilgamesh insinuates Alcides was toying with Hippolyta.

“...If you insist on continuing to get in my way, I’ll eliminate you first, Golden King.”
At that point, the King of Heroes gave a scornful laugh.
“In your way, am I? Are you certain you did not mean your salvation, girl who calls herself queen?”
“What...?”
Gilgamesh glanced at the bowman standing imposingly before a heap of rubble as he answered the dubious rider.
“If you cannot even realize when you are being toyed with, how do you intend to hunt that man?”
“...You say I’m being toyed with?”
“As Heroic Spirits, you and he belong to different orders. You cannot be so cheap as to fail to realize that.”

Alcides had sustained injuries from Hippolyta as he escaped Pestilence’s Doomsday Come. Despite this, the physical injures Alcides had suffered that day had now already been recovered from.

Bazdilot turned to face Alkeides and asked a question of his own.
“You seem to have recovered from your physical injuries. It looked like you took quite a beating.”
“It’s no cause for concern. Although facing pursuit from Rider . . . the queen of the Amazons in that state was troublesome.”

…

He had, however, suffered an attack from Rider—the Amazon queen Hippolyta—who had chosen that moment to appear, and sustained injuries.
Both those injuries and the hydra dagger wound in his side had now completely vanished.

Durability?

Hippolyta vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Hippolyta sustained/endured several injuries from being grazed by several high ranked Noble Phantasm from Gilgamesh’s previous assault that she couldn’t completely parry.

Then, surveying the horsewoman, he grinned. It seemed his interest had been slightly piqued.
“You may not have come through unscathed, but I see you did manage to take several high-ranking Noble Phantasms.”
The horsewoman was losing a not inconsiderable quantity of blood from wounds on her shoulders and sides. Several of the Noble Phantasms she had not been able to completely parry must have grazed her. Even so, she comported herself as a warrior astride her mount.
Seeing that, the King of Heroes gave a nod, and considered.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Humbaba?

Spoiler

Humbaba description

After ending the call with the bare minimum of instructions, Faldeus glared at the monitor.
He knew what Heroic Spirit Haruri had planned to summon. After all, it had been Faldeus who went through the state to prepare her catalyst. The thing he saw, however, looked like nothing he had anticipated. To begin with, it looked more like an animal or an insect than a Heroic Spirit.
It’s body was also covered in pistons, wires and cables, and it was large enough to stomp a small prefabricated house flat with ease.

The size of Humbaba and how it keeps growing

“What?”
It’s gotten… even bigger than before?
On the way to the plant, when it had been crawling on buildings, it had been roughly the size of an elephant. Now, however, it had completed a transformation into a mechanical spider gigantic enough to wrap its legs around even the enormous trailers used to transport an elephant to a zoo. Although it did not appear to be making any large movements, the sounds of spinning gears and metal scraping against metal still sounded from it and its eyes blazed with their usual white-hot light.

Humbaba can conceal itself and become invisible even to Haruri.

And Berserker was slowly vanishing into thin air. Even the sound of it was disappearing. The “pressure” it exerted, however, remained in workshop.
This is different from the concealment Filia performed in the city earlier. Even I can’t see it.
Can this Heroic Spirit turn invisible under its own power…?

…

It can’t have dematerialized, Bazdilot decided. It was probably an optical camouflage ability.
Even the sound disappearing must be due to one of the Heroic Spirit’s Skills, or possibly to that self-proclaimed “goddess.”
Bazdilot judged that, if it had dematerialized inside his workshop, then, Servant or not, it would have suffered heavy damage from the wards and magecraft. He surmised that the “thing” — he could not tell if it was a Heroic Spirit or a monster — had been isolating its form, sounds and magical energy from the beginning.

Humbaba can modify itself with outside cables to further empower itself

Berserker uprooted power cables from the ravaged ground and began incorporating them into its body as a power source to supplement his magical energy. Strangely, as it did so, its body began to grow even more gigantic, absorbing the rubble of the surrounding factories.

Not even Enkidu can detect Filia/Ishtar or Humbaba

“She’s completely isolating her presence. She’s also utilizing her power in spite of that, so she must be remarkable. It isn’t just Watcher; even Enkidu, who possesses presence-detection abilities of the highest level, hasn’t noticed her existence, or that of Haruri’s Heroic Spirit.”

Nasu on how Gilgamesh would react to Humbaba?

Me four years ago: “I wonder how Gilgamesh would react if ______ actually showed up in front of him.”
Mr. Nasu four years ago: “Ve__ta facing Perfect Ce__ or post-transformation Fr__za.”
Me four years ago: “Excuse me?”
Mr. Nasu four years ago: “Instead of energy blasts, he’d let out an angry yell, like ‘Kwaaah!’ and rapid-fire Gate of Babylon with an aura like a merciless demon.”
Me four years ago: “We’ll have to collect the seven (Heroic Spirit’s) souls and summon the wish-granting dragon . . .!”

Physical strength, durability, and speed?

Humbaba defends Haruri from gun fire

Haruri, meanwhile, was distracted by the onslaught. No sooner had she looked away than a bullet fired from Bazdilot’s pistol, aimed squarely at the girl mage’s heart.
That bullet, however, never reached Haruri. Bazdilot’s ammunition was crafted to pierce advanced defensive magecraft, but it ricocheted off an invisible wall.
A moment later, “it” materialized in the center of the workshop.
Something like static crackled through the space between Bazdilot and Haruri. A giant mass of rust-colored iron appeared, forming a wall between the two.

Humbaba continues to defend Haruri and swats Bazdilot’s bullets out of the air

Designate an enemy. That was what Berserker’s blazing eyes were telling her as it continued to stand between her and Bazdilot, shielding her.
Bazdilot had fired many more bullets, sometimes using magically-induced refraction to target Haruri’s blind spots, but cables that sprouted from Berserker’s body swatted every shot aside.

Humbaba starts to tear apart Bazdilot’s workshop

“Berserker! The enemy is this mage’s workshop! Please… smash it to bits!”

…

The end of her sentence was blotted out by sounds of destruction. The invisible Berserker must have begun to rampage. The nearby walls and floors were crushed. It demolished the entrance to a corridor that had been partially transformed into an otherworld by brute force.

…

Haruri broke out in a cold sweat as she watched her. She didn’t need to be told to throw herself at the doorway now that it was no longer an otherworld. Almost as if she was fleeing Filia, rather than Bazdilot or his bow-wielding Servant.

Humbaba v s Alcides (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Alcides vs Humbaba

the one showing the industrial district that contained Bazdilot Cordelion’s workshop. On the screen, one of the factories’ smokestacks slowly collapsed, and an unnaturally large, grotesque silhouette was visible in the ensuing dust cloud.
“…What’s that? A giant monster? The big spider from the Cave of the Crystals?”
The boy Prelati sat up on the bed and watched with interest. The giant grotesquery and Alkeides appeared to be engaged in combat, and serious destruction was beginning to ripple out into the industrial district.

…

At that point, Francesca discovered a familiar face running away in a corner of the picture.
“Haruri?”
Francesca could not see clearly at that distance, but, the next instant, it looked as if the giant, monstrous shape moved to shield the girl from flying rubble, blocking every piece.

Description of Alcides bronze arrows and how they transform into Stymphalides. Humbaba strikes them out of their flight.

Filia swallowed her words in mid-sentence. Reflected in her eyes were several dozen arrows flying out of the sky that peeked through the open ceiling. Who knew when he had found time to fire them. Based on the fact that their trajectories precisely targeted Filia, however, it seemed unlikely that he had simply shot countless shafts into the air and waited for them to come down.
Then, Filia noticed — the bronze arrows were transforming as they fell, becoming birds with metal wings and beaks.
“Are those… the Stymphalides, familiars of the western war god…?”
The sight of the arrows transforming one by one into giant birds with bronze-coated beaks, wings and talons was fantastical. As the birds were rushing at her full of bloodlust, however, Filia had no time to be fascinated.
“…Not half bad.”
Filia spoke as if she was impressed, but she wiped all expression from her face as the innumerable birds attacked.

…

Meanwhile, in another part of the workshop, another mass of iron scythed through the air above Filia, smashing all the bronze birds born from arrows in a single strike.

Hippolyta sensed Alcides Stymphalides and how they were snuffed out by Humbaba. She’s not particularly great at sensing presences outside a specific niche.

“What’s wrong, Polyte? Your magical energy went a little wild for a moment there.”
Hearing a woman’s voice from the room next door, the woman called Polyte answered with some confusion.
“Just now… I sensed my father’s cherished birds… but they soon vanished.”

…

Hippolyte did not normally excel in sensing presences. She was, however, sensitive to any that resembled the Noble Phantasm she wore — the war belt she had inherited from her father.

Description of the collateral between Humbaba and Alcides

He saw a gargantuan mechanical spider on a rampage and a bowman-turned-avenger challenging it alone. The factories around them were destroyed. There was no longer any trace of the meat processing plant. He could see scraps of otherworld and ward-induced static, as well as demonic beasts that had spilled out of the workshop. A scene of chaos had begun to unfold.

…

The meat processing plant was no longer recognizable. It seemed, however, that the surrounding factories were also mage’s workshops of some kind. Berserker recognized them as enemies and was busy dedicating itself to their destruction. By the time Haruri saw Berserker spit fire and turn the grounds of one factory into a sea of flame, she had already given up thinking about his actions.

Humbaba and Filia/Ishtar vs Alcides. Alcides arrows look like laser beams to Haruri, Humbaba both tanks and swats them out of the sky. Filia/Ishtar’s attacks are swept aside by Alcides’ bow.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw demonic beasts that had gone out of control with the destruction of the workshop skirmishing with the Scradio Family’s black suits while Berserker mowed down two smokestacks rising from a factory at once. She could also see a bowman racing up the toppling smokestacks, leaping high into the air and firing arrows that resembled laser beams.
The arrows scored a direct hit on Berserker’s back. Berserker’s creaking scream resounded throughout the district. The bowman continued his barrage. This time, however, Berserker used the cables and wires that shrouded its body like tentacles to swat them out of the air.
She could also see Filia weaving through the gaps with her counterattacks. The bowman scattered them with a sweep of his bow. It seemed like the tide of battle was seesawing back and forth.

The battle between Humbaba and Alcides left the meat processing plant in ruins. Francois Prelati’s Noble Phantasm seemingly made it so it was restored.

The battle between the gargantuan, mechanical Heroic Spirit and Alkeides had left the meat processing plant in ruins.
Thanks to Francois Prelati’s Noble Phantasm, however, it was apparently restored.

…

The man’s gaze rested on the hulking machine developed by the mage Atrum Galiasta to convert human life force into Mana Crystals. It has been damaged in the battle with the gigantic Heroic Spirit the day before and was currently inoperable.

Humbaba vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Gilgamesh was distracted from countering Alcides Nine Lives with the Noble Phantasms he’d already retrieved from the Gate of Babylon before Filia/Ishtar closed it by Humbaba’s howl.

In the fractions of a second it took Gilgamesh to reach that conclusion, the hero-slaying poisoned arrows were still closing in on him.
But this Gilgamesh was neither conceited nor careless.
Refusing to despair so soon, he attempted to bring the Noble Phantasms he had already fired to bear to counter them, when...
“— __ — _ — _ — ____ — __ —”
“It” bore a strange resemblance to the song of the earth that Enkidu had sung on the first day.
“It” resounded throughout Snowfield without warning, becoming a cacophony that scrambled the brains of everyone there.
What set “it” apart from Enkidu was the timbre.
“It” was not a beautiful singing voice ringing out in praise of the land and its people...
“It” was the resentful roar of a twisted monster that seemed to curse the whole world.
Tine witnessed the look on Gilgamesh’s face in that moment through her farseeing spell.
“What...?”
For an instant, she did not believe her eyes.
The look on Gilgamesh’s face reflected in them was one she had never seen on him before.
At first glance, it was close to his look of surprise when he had sensed Enkidu’s presence.
Except for his eyes.
Unbelievably, his eyes were tinged with an emotion that the King of Heroes must never show.
An emotion ordinarily seen in the eyes of the King of Heroes’ opponents when they looked at him.
His eyes expressed shock, irritation, hesitation... and the faintest tinge of fear.

Gilgamesh, on top of suffering from his Hydra venom poisoning, endures being impaled in the stomach by Humbaba.

With that, Ishtar halted and turned her head toward Gilgamesh with an even crueler smile.
“It seems like she’ll never forgive either of you, even if I do.”
The next instant, a seven-colored halo shot from the steel colossus, twisted and tapered into something like the head of a jackhammer... and plunged straight into Gilgamesh’s belly.
“Lord Gilgamesh! No! Nooo!”
The young Master’s cries echoed high into the sky, but they did not reach the woman called Ishtar or Alkeides near the ground.
Whether they reached her Servant, Gilgamesh, was impossible to determine.
Only one thing was certain: Gilgamesh had stood majestically and firm in the face of his enemies until the moment he lost consciousness.
The catastrophic, wracking pain that even the centaur who had been the tutor of numerous heroes had abandoned his immortality and longed for death.
Even eaten away at by that venom in three places and impaled through the gut by a steel beast... Gilgamesh continued to stand before his enemies as a king.

Humbaba vs Haruri Borzak

Humbaba almost fatally wounded Haruri, Filia saved her from Humbaba

That was the intention with which she had entered the Grail War, but she had been handed the strange fate of being almost fatally wounded by the Berserker she summoned and was saved from by the thing that had possessed Filia’s body.

…

Although the wounds she had suffered in summoning Berserker had healed thanks to Filia, Haruri had holed up in her workshop in order to repair her lost Mystic Codes and damaged Magic Circuits and, most importantly, to gather information on the area.

So, Humbaba doesn't have too much going for it yet. Scaring Gilgamesh is pretty good hype though.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Jack the Ripper (Berserker)?

Spoiler

Source

Class: Berserker
Master: Flat Escardos
True name: Jack the Ripper
Gender: Varies based on transformation
Height/Weight: Varies based on transformation
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Strength: — (All except Noble Phantasm tuned by transformation)
Endurance: — (All except Noble Phantasm tuned by transformation)
Agility: — (All except Noble Phantasm tuned by transformation)
Magic: — (All except Noble Phantasm tuned by transformation)
Luck: — (All except Noble Phantasm tuned by transformation)
Noble Phantasm: B

Class Skills
■ Mad Enhancement: —
Because Jack's fundamental attribute is madness, an inversion occurred and this skill was sealed. That seal, however, is extremely unstable.

Personal Skills
■ Thousand Faces: A
The ability to transform oneself into any human occupation, animal or object that has been presented as the true identity of Jack the Ripper, and to make use of any skills the target possesses, weakened to rank E.

■ Walker of Foggy Nights: B
An altered form of the skill Murder on a Foggy Night, which Jack would possess if manifested as another Class.
Grants an equal rank of Block Presence as long as it is night.

Noble Phantasms
■ From Hell: Evil Fog Perishes With the London Dawn
Rank: A+-E-
Type: Anti-Personnel Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~80
Maximum Targets: —
Based on the theory that Jack the Ripper was a demon, this Noble Phantasm transforms Jack into a demon in the sense of a phantasmal species. Because it is rooted in the latent fear and unease of nearby people, its power changes in proportion to the population density within a radius of 5 km. In a desert wasteland, its strength is only equal to that of a large beast of prey. In an urban area, it displays a power equivalent to that of a marshal Servant.
Because it takes the form of a demon that humans envision as their own natural enemy, it inflicts particularly effective damage on humans.

■ Natural Born Killers: That Is Not Worth the End of Tragedy
Rank: B
Type: Anti-Army Noble Phantasm
Range: —
Maximum Supplement: —
A Noble Phantasm based on the theory that Jack the Ripper was a group. Enables the creation of multiple bodies according to the Master's magical energy. The last remaining body automatically becomes the main body. It can also be said that every body is the main one. The maximum number depends on the quantity of the Master's magical energy. The number of bodies decreases in proportion to the strength of the entity transformed into.

Jack, even muted by transforming into an ordinary person, can sense Pestilence’s presence like Flat

“I concur. My apologies, but I have no desire to proceed further without making preparations.”
Flat’s senses weren’t alone this time. Transforming into an ordinary person had significantly lowered Berserker’s abilities as a Heroic Spirit, but he could feel it too. A dense, ominous aura was swirling around the door that lead from the decontamination room to the sickroom.
“If the stuff that spread into the hallways through the decontamination room is a black fog of magical energy... then what I can see in the entrance to that room is part of a giant waterfall.”

Jester compares the speed at which fear of Jack’s name spread to Night of Wallachia.

“You scrap of folklore that filled the night with terror despite being a powerless anti-hero!
You personification of viciousness spread fear through the world at speeds that even that Wallachian Night can’t match! No, show me! Will you crumble pitifully in the face of a true legend, or will you score a blow as the new darkness?

Noble Phantasms?

From Hell

Jack continues to multiply has he taunts Alcides. Jack releases his Noble Phantasm “From Hell”.

“Weakling… tell me your name.”
At that, the officer took a step back and replied with a broad grin.
“I have no name.”
Before they knew it, there were two of the officer. Both spoke with the same voice.
“Great hero, being who lives on in myths of the Age of the Gods, changing your form and refining you great deeds with the ages, I, who am but an insignificant criminal, have but one thing I can say to you.”
The officers multiplied again. Four of them now declared to the bowman from four sides.
“I suppose you have fitting reasons for your resolve… However, if you say that you will deny the power of the gods with it! If you try to deny and abandon all the gods’ deeds, evil and good alike!”
The eight “somethings” had taken a variety of forms besides police officers. Their shouts echoed on the city street.
“…However mighty you are, you are now, as you wished, a ‘human.’”
Sixteen bellows addressed the bowman’s soul.
“Hero who has fallen to become a rogue, to become human! No matter how great a hero you are! Even if you have the power to destroy the world!”
Just when it seemed that thirty-two fearless grins ringed in the bowman… all the figures vanished, as if they had been absorbed back into the first one.
“As long as your essence is human… you will fall victim to a mere powerless ‘killer.’”
Then, before the eyes of the police and the reddish-brown bowman… the nameless Berserker — the murderous fiend Jack the Ripper — shouted the name of the Noble Phantasm whose release should lay bare his own essence and end the life of a great hero.
“From Hell!”
Then, in the gap between the hospital and the church, hell on earth was made manifest.

…

As the hematophage had shouted, a hell had manifested between the hospital and the church.
A thick fog enveloped the area. The roadside trees morphed into bluish-black plants no one had ever seen before. The craters Alkeides had made filled with red magma and gave off poisonous steam. Human-faced bats flew through the air. Imp-shaped flames surrounded the traffic lights. Countless illusory, sooty buildings, suggestive of London back allies, appeared. But…
There was not a person to be seen.
No children stealing bread out of starvation. No one beating those children to death to take the bread. No dealers peddling narcotics. No constables taking their money. Only the figures of gremlins playing at mimicking their actions with puppets loomed up through the fog.
In other words… that hell was no more than a comical puppet show. Pumpkin lanterns straight out of a fairy tale grinned under the street lights without a shred of reality.
At the same time, however, it was an embodiment of the desires harbored by people of Jack the Ripper’s day. If it had been a different aspect of Jack, the scene might have been an irredeemable hell built of raw human evil. The hell Jack had made manifest on earth in this instance, however, was the corruption of humans by the absolute evil called demons. It could be called a manmade hell, the product of a twisted wish to foist all tragedies, all human evil, on the products of imagination.
Mixed in with that distorted, immature hell was a single genuine article.

From Hell Jack is a threat on a level to warrant the intervention of the Burial Agency

“…It doesn’t seem like a genuine demon. A temporary existence as a phantasmal species…?
Still, to become something that fiendish, even temporarily…”
Hansa pressed a hand to his eye patch and muttered to himself about the thing Flat’s Heroic Spirit had become — that is, about the entity that most ordinary people would call a “demon.”
“If I didn’t know it was a Heroic Spirit… I’d be calling on the Burial Agency right about now.”

Description of Jack’s From Hell and Natural Born Killers and how they function while Jack has a master like Flat at the helm.

Then, the true hell began.
What Alkeides, driven into the ground, saw when he raised his eyes to the sky… was a great army — tens, hundreds strong — of the enemy Heroic Spirit that had become a demon looking down on him.
Jack the Ripper’s Noble Phantasm, Evil Fog Perishes With the London Dawn: From Hell, materialized rumors that Jack’s true identity was a demon from hell as an ability. The theory had grown from the phrase “From hell” in a letter said to have been written by Jack himself. When it spread to the countryside, where superstitions were more deeply held than in urban areas, anecdotes that “Jack the Ripper was a demon, or possessed, or a devil worshipper” put down deep roots.
Having used its power to become a demon… Jack had added the other Noble Phantasm he possessed.
That Is Not Worth the End of Tragedy: Natural Born Killers.
“Jack the Ripper was not a single person, but a group.”
It was a Noble Phantasm built of such anecdotes. It incorporated a wide variety of elements, from idle speculation that “Jack’s crimes were all committed by unconnected people; no one in the world can be Jack the Ripper,” to the theory that it was a ritual performed by a religious cult, which had gained force at the time.
The maximum number of people varied based on the strength of the Master’s magical energy. Paired with Flat Escardos, it was confirmed to be capable of “dispersing” into a maximum of five hundred and twenty at one time.
Such numbers were of course impossible with both Noble Phantasms deployed simultaneously… but it easily reached over two hundred demons, all attacking the “human” Alkeides.

Being robbed of From Hell cost Jack about half his spirit origin and caused him major damage

Jack, a Berserker who had made a contract with Flat, had been robbed of a Noble Phantasm that it would be no exaggeration to call half of his Spirit Origin by Alkeides and sustained extraordinary damage as a result. For that reason, he had transformed into an inanimate object to minimize Magical Energy consumption, but…

…

Flat deliberately did not ask if Jack could still fight. It was obvious to him that Jack was severely weakened. Being robbed of the concept called a Noble Phantasm had seriously destabilized his Spirit Origin.

vs Alcides (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Numerous From Hell Jack’s begin to hammer Alcides with heat vision and physical strikes alike. The strike drives Alcides deep into the street and the heat pierces Alcides shoulder. From Hell Jack can also fly.

“You said that I would die because I am human, didn’t you, weakling? But does not the sort of monster you are reducing yourself to fall at human hands?”
Alkeides spoke challengingly. Jack’s pure-white eyes, now far from human, crinkled, and he laughed. He just laughed.
“…No, you’ve got that wrong, slave of the gods reduced to humanity.”
Seeing the demon’s eyes gleam again, Alkeides assumed a defensive posture. When the attack came, however, it was from a total blind spot — out of the sky behind him.
“Nngh?!”
He turned as a ray of heat pierced the top of his shoulder and saw… a demon, identical to the one in front of him, flying through the air.
“Humans do not slay us. Humans are the fools, the sages, who create us — no more than cannibal prey.”
At the same time, the swooping claw strike of yet another demon drove Alkeides’ body deep into the street that had become the paving stones of hell.

From Hell Jack and his Natural Born Killer copies relentlessly beat upon Alcides, his Nemean Lion Pelt beyond its natural toughness is worthless against both Jack’s physical attacks without weapons and his heat vision. Alcides endures the assault.

The next series of blows assailed Alkeides, standing on the ground, before he could even begin to act. They hit hard, most importantly because, as they were not delivered with weapons, the power of the Nemean lion’s hide had no effect on them. Its inherent toughness prevented it from being torn to shreds, but a portion of the attacks still pierced it, so that the claws and heat reached even Alkeides’ guts.
The ceaseless rain of blows no longer permitted him to so much as stand. If there was such a thing as the pains of hell, it was certainly his current predicament.

…

Would that bowman even be recognizable by this time?
No sooner had someone thought that… than a change appeared in the situation.
“...Impressive.”
As his low, but carrying voice reverberated in the surroundings, Alkeides exposed himself to the claws of the airborn demons in the center of the pulverized asphalt.
The claws bit into Alkeides’ shoulder with a dull thud. It seemed to the onlookers that it could easily have been a mortal wound.
Alkeides, however, pinned the arm of the gigantic demon whose claws were eating into him and seized one of its fangs with his free hand as it tried to bite him. The other demons launched a simultaneous heat ray attack, but Alkeides did not release his grip.
Then, he commended the hero he had deemed worthless. He spoke words of heartfelt praise, acknowledging that the modern serial killer without so much as a scrap of divinity was indeed a worthy foe.
“…Impressive, weakling. You’ve done well to corner me. You’ve done well to climb this high.”

Alcides can counter From Hell Jack and Natural Born Killers with Nine Lives

“What you have built does indeed have value. I could counter with Nine Lives… but your power is too valuable to merely defeat.”

Summary of From Hell Jack vs Alcides

The sight was like a fantasy.
Not, however, in the sense of a delightful paradise. It was fantastical in the sense of a battle between gods or a vision of Hell.
Berserker, Jack the Ripper, had transformed into more than two hundred demons.
Their overwhelming domination, which had slaughtered the three-headed demon dog that had belonged to the “true” Archer, who called himself Alkeides, and had seemed poised to overwhelm the Heroic Spirit as well... when that power to become a demon—the Spirit Origin called a Noble Phantasm—had been completely stolen by Alkeides’ Noble Phantasm “Reincarnation Pandora: Usurper of Heavenly Winds.”
A Noble Phantasm that stole Noble Phantasms.
Its power defied reason. With it, Alkeides had acquired grotesque strength.
He kicked Jack aside and raised his weapon to slaughter the police officers who stood in his way.

vs Cerebus

Description of From Hell Jack and Jack’s demonic self wounds Cerebus with heat vision

It must have been about five meters tall.
A raw sensuality accompanied the thing that stood atop the puppet show “hell.”
Its skin was a toxic blue-purple, like a cross between a blueberry and a poisonous insect.
Its long, unusually developed arms ended in glittering, saber-like claws.
Long, twisted horns and sharp fangs protruded from its face, like a skull transformed into a demonic beast.
The wings that spread from its back cast deep shadows all around it, fluttering like black cremation smoke.
“______________________”
At the sight of it, Kerberos pounced.
At that, the thin skin of the thing’s chest swelled and the beating of a heart that gave off a barbaric gleam resounded through the surroundings. As the beat sped up, its eyes shone red.
Two rays of heat from its eyes pierced through Kerberos’ body in an instant.
“________________”
A scream that genuinely seemed to echo from the bowels of hell escaped the three heads and shook the eardrums of every member of Clan Calatin on the street.
That, however, was not the end of Hades’ guard dog.

Cerebus jumps to attack From Hell Jack, From Hell Jack disembowels Cerebus

The demonic hound only bared more of its fighting spirit and propelled its massive frame in an effort to rend the thing with its three sets of fangs. An instant before those fangs connected, however…
The claws that the thing swung down from above cut diagonally into Kerberos’ body at the shoulder, biting into entrails and spine as they bloodily shredded fur.
Kerberos’ massive body crumpled to the ground with a low rumble.

Limitation of Alcides Cerebus

“…So, it can’t achieve divine beasthood without that cursed Hades’ blessing,” Alkeides spat,
glancing at the fallen Kerberos, then turned his attention back to the gigantic shadow in front of him.

Natural Born Killers

Jack’s ability for disguise extends to multiple copies of himself too

The question is, can I hold this Servant off until then…?
At that point, the chief ’s eyes widened again. A second, identical figure was standing beside the fake subordinate he was pointing his sword at.
“Please abandon your offensive posture, Chief of Police Orlando Reeve,” the thing that seemed to be Flat’s Servant stated dispassionately in tones identical to Vera’s.
Two more identical figures appeared in the room in the span of that brief sentence and pointed at the monitor on the chief ’s desk. The chief pulled away from them, shooting a glance at the monitor as he leapt back. What it displayed astonished him.
Every camera showed Orlando Reeve and Vera. They were in multiple places, explaining something to the various members of Clan Calatin individually.
This… isn’t image modification. It’s disguised as Vera and me…? As this many of us?!
The Heroic Spirit in Vera’s shape spoke, as if in answer to the chief ’s doubts.
“The population of this police station is now forty percent me.”
The chief looked at the Heroic Spirit and at Flat and silently sheathed his sword.

vs Alcides (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

Cerebus noms on a number of Jack copies transformed into Police officers

What is Kerberos doing?
Despite the fact that he had just given the order to kill, the police force’s numbers showed no sign of decreasing. In fact, they seemed to be growing.
“…What?”
Alkeides realized that there were indeed more police officers than there had been. Moreover, Kerberos was indeed doing as Alkeides had ordered it. There were several human bodies in each of its three mouths. More than a dozen officers were pinned beneath its feet. And yet, they still resisted.
It appeared that the officers had also noticed something unusual about the scene.
“H-hey…”
“…Who are those guys getting eaten?”
Alkeides heard the confused murmurs and furrowed his brows. Then…
Another dozen or so officers appeared before his eyes and immediately leapt at Kerberos. They did not appear to have any weapons that could be Noble Phantasms. They rushed in to challenge Kerberos with nothing but pistols and batons. It was almost as if they wanted to be the first to be eaten.
“Absurd…”
“There’s nothing absurd about it.”
Alkeides turned at a voice from behind him. There stood a perfectly ordinary police officer, watching countless identical others be devoured. He spoke with a grin heavy with madness.
“I am originally a criminal who claimed to come from Hell, a murderous fiend whose sins are beyond redemption.
“Being continually gnawed on by the hound of Hades suits me perfectly.”

…

“It’s not an illusion. What is it…? Solid bodies are actually appearing and being eaten by Kerberos.”
Watching the scene unfolding on the street below, Jester furrowed his brows.
The mystery police officers had appeared just when he was wondering whether to mount a serious counter attack or to abduct Tsubaki and make his escape. At first, they had made for Kerberos, identical officers appearing one after another and keeping Kerberos’ claws and mouths in a state of saturation. Now they were attacking the unnatural bowman as well, swelling their numbers as they continued the fight.
“Is there a Heroic Spirit like that…? What country’s hero could it be…?”

Jack copies vs Alcides description

What am I looking at?
John Wingard, member of Clan Calatin, had only just obtained his new prosthetic hand.
What he saw was a police officer who looked identical to him.
But that officer wasn’t one of his comrades. He was appearing around the bowman, being struck down, disappearing, and then appearing again unscathed and unnoticed. No matter how many times his body was twisted apart or pierced with arrows, the same officer continued to challenge the Heroic Spirit.

Jack begins to use his Natural Born Killers and transform into an Officer again to fight Alcides. Alcides handles him without even turning around via Eye of the Mind True and his From Hell given wings.

Those were the thoughts running through the minds of more than a few officers...
When they realized that there was another police officer, apart from John, behind the grotesque bowman.
“!”
The officers wanted to shout at him to follow Vera’s orders, but raising their voices would only alert their enemy.
When they focused their attention on the officer to see who was ignoring orders...they realized.
Before they knew it, the one officer behind the bowman had become two, who then soon became four.
It was not one of them.
It was none other than the Heroic Spirit who had been battling the archer in the guise of a police officer shortly before—the Servant Berserker.
Berserker—Jack the Ripper—had become a swarm of police officers.
Those officers, whose ranks had swelled noiselessly to sixteen, attempted to launch a surprise attack on their enemy’s rear to support John.
But they were easily scattered.
Without turning to face them, the bowman twisted the grotesque wings that sprouted from his back and sliced through the first several Jacks who sprang at him.

Alcides fends off John’s attacks with his bow, his Eye of the Mind True had been what alerted Alcides to Jack’s previous surprise attack. Jack’s been reduced even below the level he had been fighting Alcides at earlier before From Hell was employed due to damage to his Spirit Origin.

“...So, you can still move.”
The bowman spoke without looking behind him, in a tone that was equal parts admiration and exasperation.
While he spoke, he continued to fend off John’s attacks with his bow.
The superhuman sense that had allowed him to deal with Jack approaching silently from behind him was truly worthy of the name “Mind’s Eye,” one of the remaining Jacks thought and called out:
“I’m impressed that you can use your newly stolen wings so well.”
Other Jack’s lunged at the bowman as he spoke.
The new Jacks no longer even had the appearance of police officers. They were an assortment of ordinary townspeople, doctors, the young and old, men and women.
Possibly Jack could no longer afford the effort to keep his appearances uniform. The Jacks looked like a pitiful human crowd gathered to assault a demon out of legend, or else to throw themselves on its mercy.
“Absurd.”
Ultimately, Jack’s power was not even what it had been earlier. Their movements were sluggish.
The bowman seemed to realize that, because he kept the majority of his attention on the human police officer in front of him.

John and Jack were forced to retreat by Alcides bow swing.

John and the Berserkers were forced to retreat before the force of a horizontal swipe of his great bow.

Skills?

Thousand Faces

Jack the Ripper demonstrates his power set to Flat.

For some reason, the Servant remained silent. Flatt nervously looked around, but—
Suddenly, a man of large build, dressed in shades of black, entered his field of view.
“Boy oh boy! You finally manifested!”
“I what? What intarnation’re you talkin’ about, boy?” The man in black looked at Flatt suspiciously.
Flatt yelped, and his face turned a ghastly shade of white.
Of course the man would be wearing black.
He was a policeman, with a handgun holstered at his hip. He peered down at Flatt—a man sitting on a bench in front of a fountain in the middle of the day with a knife in his hand.
“What in blazes are you doin’ yammerin’ to yourself, son? And what’s that there knife for? You’re acting mighty suspicious.”
“N-no! I mean! This isn’t!”
Flatt was rattled. He tried to explain what he was doing, when—
“Did that surprise you?”
Suddenly, the police officer began to act in a kind manner. He handed his truncheon to Flatt.
It felt like a real truncheon—but the moment he grasped it, it vanished into thin air.
Surprised, he looked up from his hand, only to find a conspicuous lack of a police officer. In the officer’s stead, he saw a woman dressed in a positively lascivious dress.
And then, the woman spoke to him. “I thought I might demonstrate my specialty to you before introducing myself.” The voice, though certainly feminine, had the same feel to it as the voice that had been in his head just a little while prior.
“Huh? Huh? What!?” Flatt grew more and more surprised.
Then, the woman disappeared from before his very eyes and—
“I apologize for startling you, Master. I thought this way might be faster.”
The voice was in his head again.

…

“So, you’re saying that because you were nobody at all, you gained the power to become anybody at all, huh....”
“Righto. You got lucky, though. If I had manifested as a Servant of any other class, I would have possessed your body and gone on a maddened rampage to... well, in any case, let us just say that I would be swimming in blood by now.”

Extent of Jack the Ripper’s transformation powers and his prowess for sensing mana.

“What’s wrong, Master? Are you having trouble sleeping? If you need to use the toilet, just say so. I will turn into spirit form and wait here.”
“...I just noticed, but being spoken to like this right after I wake up reminds me of those cartoon character alarm clocks.”
Flat was speaking to his left wrist.
On that wrist was a steampunk-styled antique wristwatch, and Jack’s voice came from it.
“Normally I would already be in spirit form, but you’re the one that said ‘it’d be awesome if I looked like a spy,’ so here we are.”
Jack was currently Flat’s personal wristwatch.
After leaving the park, Flat decided to test Jack’s power of “transforming into anything,” making him turn into everything from people to plants and animals, and then eventually inanimate objects.
At first, he thought, “there’s no way Jack the Ripper’s true identity was an inanimate object.” But according to Jack, there were apparently many romance novels in which “Jack the Ripper was actually a person possessed by a cursed item,” and then he had shown Flat how he could transform into a surprising variety of objects.
After testing out a wristwatch transformation, Flat took a liking to its design, and the topic had turned to planning for his personal safety by wearing it regularly.

…

While Jack choked on his words, the young Master placed his finger on the bathroom mirror and started drawing a simple magic circle.
“Two conspicuous sources of magical noise, heading southward.”
At that, Jack spoke in a somewhat embarrassed tone.
“I’m not proud of it, but basically, my abilities as a magus are poor. They would increase if I were to take the form of a mage, but attempting to sense abnormalities of mana while in this form is an impossible task.”
“Oh, so if you turned into a radar dish, your sensing powers might go up!”

More of Jack the Ripper’s transformations.

“Oh, Doctor. Is anything wrong?” A young female nurse called out to an aged physician who had already finished his shift. They were walking in an inner ward of the hospital, slightly removed from the chaos.
“No; I just forgot something in a patient’s room.”
“Oh, I see. I hear the front entrance is a mess right now, so take care.”
“I will, thank you.”
The old doctor waited until he was certain the woman was gone. The next instant, his form had changed into that of the nurse who he had just been speaking to.
“How’s it going, Jack?”
The nurse’s — that is, the disguised Berserker’s — brain picked up a telepathic communication from his Master, Flat.
“No problems here. I have obtained a pass card to proceed deeper inside, so you can rest easy.”
Berserker had changed into the nurse completely, including the bar code-style card hanging around her neck. He continued further into the hospital, morphing into the people he passed in the halls and gathering information as he went.

…

“Be careful when you transform repeatedly, okay?” Flat added, sounding as if he had just remembered something. “If you end up looking like you’re going to catch a cold, like you did earlier, I don’t think you’ll be able to avoid standing out.”
“I-indeed... I merely attempted to transform into an ordinary girl; I cannot imagine why I ended up dressed like that, with my thighs and belly showing...”
Before infiltrating the hospital, Jack had practiced morphing into various forms in their motel room in order to find the least suspicious appearance possible. When he had tried changing into a ten year old girl, however, he had somehow ended up wearing a revealing, black outfit that resembled a bathing suit. As a result, Flat had run around in a panic shouting that if anyone saw them they would immediately call the police and his life would be over and covered Jack with a blanket. He had eventually calmed down, but the cause remained unknown.

…

Jack’s musings were interrupted by the sound of someone emerging from the decontamination room. He quickly changed into the form of the nurse he had seen leaving this ward.

Jack transforms into the King of Zugzwang and instantly defeats the group of them via subterfuge and a complexly woven curse. Depending on how good of a mage the person Jack transforms into, he can reproduce their magecraft perfectly.

The king was about to bare the Crest branded onto his arm in order to activate that peculiar spell when he saw “it.”
“Show the Crests on your arms. I’m going to bring you up to my level. You know the drill.”
A man with his face was standing in the middle of the group, talking like he always did.
“What…?”
His voice was raised, but none of the pawns turned to look at him. They must have been suffering from some kind of mystical interference, because they did not even seem to realize that he was there.
In what seemed like nothing so much as an out-of-body experience, the king watched the man who had his face move exactly as he would have, pressing his arm against the arms of the pawns.
This is bad.
Stop! Don’t touch arms with him!
The king picked up on a faint current of magical energy, but not in time to shout a warning.
Even if he had, would his voice have reached the pawns? Such doubts momentarily flashed through his head. Then, the man with his face spoke.
“Three, two, one… Commence integration.”
“Gah…” “Eek?!” “Ugh…”
The next instant, the eight pawns that had linked arms with him convulsed like they had been struck by lightning and collapsed in front of the motel entrance, unconscious. A powerful curse, disguised as the wavelength of the real king’s Crest, had been put into their bodies as they synchronized.
The king instantly realized that they were now in desperate straits. By then, however, it was already too late — the man with his face had disappeared. The king felt someone’s finger touch the back of his head, and before he knew it, he was lying on the ground as well. The leader of Zugzwang was still conscious, but it took his hazy consciousness several seconds to realize that he was beaten. He could feel the cold asphalt on his right ear. With his left, turned skyward, he could hear a man’s dispassionate voice.
“I see. You use some interesting magecraft. I mean, dividing your Crest to make yourself king of your own colony. What a strange coincidence…”
At that point, a carefree voice sounded from behind the strange muttering man, relieving the tense atmosphere.
“Everything OK? Wow! It looks like it went perfectly.”
“Perfectly copying memories is difficult, but I can at least read superficial ones and established routines. Of course, with a mage of his caliber, I could reproduce his art completely.”
“Ja — Berserker, it’s not polite to say that in front of him.”
“…My apologies. It seems this man’s personality is rather arrogant. More importantly, did you just almost blurt out my true name?”

Jack transforms again, he carries all of the Zugzwang.

The next instant, however, the man with his face seemed to vanish, and a large, muscular man, more than two meters tall, appeared in his place. The big man lifted all eight pawns and then reached out a hand for the king, who ended up being carried off with his subordinates.

Jack transforms into Apocrypha Jack and some old English Gentleman. Exposition on his transformations and how they make Jack feel.

“What should we do, Berserker?” He asked the big man beside him. “They all seem on edge.
Could you turn into something that would help them relax? Like a child, or maybe a clown?”
The big man — Berserker — grunted and vanished. In his place, a young girl appeared.
“Whoa! We talked about this! Why do you keep ending up in that bathing suit thing when you turn into a child?”
Flat hastily covered the girl in a nearby bed sheet.
“It just always happens,” Berserker replied. “I find being this girl kind of reassuring. I also end up wanting to dissect things, though, so I think it’s a bad idea.”
“There’s nothing reassuring about it! Now please turn back before you dissect somebody or the police see you! See? Everybody’s giving you weird looks!”
The mages, who were bound with magically-sealing packing tape, started shaking as soon as they saw Berserker take the girl’s form. They did not know why, but they seemed to be shivering with an instinctive, primal terror. Berserker gave a childish grunt, then vanished again, reappearing as a young man whose features marked him as English nobility.
“How about this?” Berserker telepathically addressed Flat. “Something linked to the English aristocracy of my time. As with the girl, this form helps to put me at ease. It’s one of the most prominent theories of my true identity. Hmm… In this form, I have an urge not so much to dissect people as to defile their very souls.”
Flat nodded and replied in kind.
“It’s possible that you’re more stable when your form matches a plausible theory of your identity. Try not to let those urges get the better of you, though.”

Jack has transformed into a cop, Flat has adjusted his internal circulation of magical energy and prepared his wards to not be detected by other mages while entering the Snowfield police station

“Well, let’s get going, Berserker.”
“Yes, let’s.”
Flat was currently handcuffed by Jack, who had transformed into a police officer. Even Flat was not enough of a fool to come as he was; in addition to disguising himself, he had adjusted his internal circulation of magical energy and prepared his wards so that mages would not sense them. He had on a cap pulled low over his eyes, sunglasses, and a leather jacket that did not suit him.

Limit of Jack’s ability to transform

“I am Vera.”
“No, the real Vera is on her way to the monitoring room.”
The chief did not say why, but he was certain. All the members of Clan Calatin, himself included, had electronic chips embedded in their shoulders. The chief could amplify the distance between those chips with his Od and sense them like he was bringing up a radar display. If he trusted that sensation, then the chip currently headed for the monitoring room was Vera’s. He could not detect a single other member inside his office.
Whoever was masquerading as Vera seemed to be worrying whether or not the chief’s words were a bluff. A moment later, however, they sighed and shook their head.
“I just managed to read it. An IC chip… I can’t copy something that complicated instantly. I suppose we ought to have taken a little more time, Master.”
Master.
Tension ran through the chief’s body at that word. Then, as if to ease that tension, a gentle voice resounded through his office.
“Oh… An IC chip? Do they have some kind of electronic device embedded in their bodies? Wow. I certainly wouldn’t be able to tell that. I guess I screwed up.”

Jack theorizes about how he might have been able to transform into a God/Alcides had Alcides been a God

“I hoped to sound you out,” the officer replied with a fearless grin. “I apologize if I have committed an indiscretion. I see. It appears that you are indeed no god. If you were a relation of a god, I might have been able to force cause and effect together and become you…”
“…?”

Jack can transform into an enormous wolf

Jack immediately took the form of an enormous wolf and barked menacingly at the newcomer.
“Stop right there, if you please! Who are you?”
“Whoa! Did you just turn into Le Chien, Jack?!”

…

Jack had taken the form of a wolf based on rumors that Jack the Ripper was actually an animal.
His question was packed with all the animosity and menace peculiar to a beast.

Alcides fires numerous arrows transformed into Stymphalian birds in order to assault Flat. Flat hastily erects a magic barrier and disturbs the air currents around himself in order to defend against the birds. Alcides arrows penetrate Flat’s defense, but the Flat that was “killed” proved to be some kind of decoy.

Alkeides took advantage of that momentary opportunity to fire the multiple arrows in his hand at once.
In the twinkling of an eye, the shafts metamorphosed into birds of war with bronze beaks and talons, which launched themselves at the distortion in space on the sidewalk down Main Street.
The distortion was torn at each pass of the magical-energy-shrouded birds, revealing the figure of a young man in what had appeared to be empty space.
“Whoa! P-P-Play ball!”
The young man disturbed the surrounding air currents to avoid the birds’ attacks while hastily erected a mystical barrier.
A mighty shot from Alkeides, however, threaded through the whirlwind-scattered birds and pierced the pit of the young man’s stomach.
“...”
The avatar of destruction had torn its way through without regard for strong winds or mystical barriers.
It had accurately annihilated the young man’s core, shattering the surrounding flesh and bone as it destroyed his organs.
The Magic Crest marked onto the mage’s body might activate automatically, force his fatal wounds to heal, and revive him, but Alkeides would not give it the time for that. He had already fired a second and a third arrow to destroy the mage’s entire body, Crest and all. The birds, which had gotten free of the gale, had also begun to peck at it.
However...
Just as the destruction was about to begin, the young man’s body began to fade like mist.
“What...?”
For a moment, Alkeides suspected an illusion, but he was quickly proven wrong.
He had definitely felt the “birds,” which were a part of his Noble Phantasm and linked to him by paths of magical energy, pierce his enemy’s body.
But it was a fact that the corpse was vanishing, almost like a Heroic Spirit’s.

…

“I had to get this close for it to work,” the mage who had been hiding among the crowd of Berserkers said, revealing a relieved smile.
The Berserker corpses around him began to vanish. At the same time, the corpse of the mage Alkeides had just shot through disappeared completely.
It had been Berserker in the form of the mage Flat Escardos.

Alexandre Dumas offers exposition on his abilities to forge Noble Phantasms and what he did to Jack and Flat in order to facilitate Flat’s plan against Alcides.

“My specialty as a Heroic Spirit is tinkering with tools that have a bit of notoriety and whip ‘em up into Noble Phantasms... but I don’t get many chances to work on a real Heroic Spirit.
“You see, I’d need the owner’s consent for that, which is normally a no-go.
“But when the pieces fall into place, an ‘exception’ comes out tasting the best.
“Basically, I’m gonna fiddle around with your ability to ‘become anyone’ and elevate it.
“I’ll make it so that you can turn into strangers even more perfectly.
“Of course, it’s up to you whether your Master counts as a stranger.”
Alexandre Dumas’ proposal had been quite a tradeoff.
It was to temporarily enhance Jack the Ripper’s abilities by combining one of his Spirit Origin’s skills, Thousand Faces, and his Noble Phantasm, Natural Born Killers, with one more “ingredient”—the essence of his Master, Flat Escardos.
It was a metaphor, of course; Dumas did not chop Flat up and toss him in a pot.
Still, for the Master and Servant whose links of magical energy Dumas strengthened and whose beings he artificially intermingled, it was equivalent to being thrown in a blender and turned into a mixture of ground meat.
For the Master, it meant having his own nature mixed with the Spirit Origin of a “killer.” It was impossible to foresee what side- and after-effects it might have. He might lose his magecraft, or unconsciously commit murders, drawn along by episodes associated with the Heroic Spirit Jack the Ripper.
There was no end to the conceivable negatives... but Flat had agreed without hesitation.
Jack had been fortified by Dumas’ Noble Phantasm and gained the ability to become the mage Flat Escardos down to the last detail, including his magecraft.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Pale Rider?

Spoiler

Source

Translation

Class: Rider
Master: Tsubaki Kuruoka
Name: Pale Rider
Gender: This concept doesn't apply
Height/Weight: Varies according to the contagion and area of spread (at its smallest, it's the same size as a parvovirus)
Alignment: True Neutral

Strenght: E
Endurance: A
Agility: B
Magic: A
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: EX

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: C
Riding: EX

Personal Skills:
Contagion: A
The Skill of expanding one's territory by splitting itself into viruses and bacterias, then infecting other lifeforms.
The infected have their body and mind under its control, and the mind is dragged into the world created by its Noble Phantasm.
Sometimes it also absorbs mana and other things from them.

Innocent World: EX
A Skill that pronouncedly reflects the imagery created by humanity's fear of death and disease.
Since said images are so miscellaneous, mixed and disorganized, they get simplified when recalled, and their nature varies for each person brought into the netherworld created by the Noble Phantasm.

Guidance of the Netherworld: EX
The Skill of granting a variety of divine blessings to those it regards as allies, among the ones brought into the territory turned into a Netherworld by its Noble Phantasm.
Since Pale Rider is not really a King of the Netherworld, this Skill is slightly different from the Protection of the Netherworld Skill that one goddess has.

Noble Phantasms:
Doomsday Come (Come to me, realm of the dead, come to me)
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-World Noble Phantasm
Range: -
Max. Targets: -
A Noble Phantasm that grants death and works as the receptacle for its outcome, creating a Bounded World that takes the form a pseudo-Netherworld with the Master as its origin point. Since it's strongly influenced by the Master's impression, it's perfectly possible for it to take a stereotypical image of Hell or Heaven, and it's just as possible for it to take the form of complete nihil, as an empty space that crushes souls. When dealing with an emergency, it can pull a target's physical body into the Bounded Field. This Noble Phantasm is actually supposed to work in a smaller scale, but as result of this location and other factors, it is currently producing a wider Bounded Field than it would in a normal summon.

Kagome Kagome (Sword, famine, death, beast)
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Army Noble Phantasm
Range: 99
Max. Targets: 999
While inside its Bounded Field, it has the Skill to manifest a multitude of things that can bring death upon others, and to use their powers.
If it can arrange the perfect circumstances, it's even possible to reproduce end of the world events from the myths, for as much as its mana reserves allow.
However, since Tsubaki has no knowledge of the Apocalypse, Ragnarok, etc. and didn't want any Hell, it never reached this level. The pronounced name of the Noble Phantasm was changed by the Master.

Why the Pale Rider qualifies as a Rider

And indeed, because of that, and because of the great strength “he” had, “he” made the girl into the greatest and worst dark horse of the Holy Grail War.
“He” rode on the wind and the waters and the birds and the people and—
Hence, it was appropriate for “him” to be of the Rider class, for “he” had ridden “his” way to dominance over the world.
Much more importantly, however—
“He” was an embodiment of calamity, and the people gave “him” an alias that reflected that. Perhaps that spurious assignment of a personality to “him” was the most important reason that “he” was summoned as Rider.
At one time, “he” let loose the Black Death, which killed thirty million,
And at another time, under the name of the Spanish Flu, “he” killed fifty million.
“He” was the horseman who brought calamity to all. His alias:
Pestilence.

Enkidu’s Presence Detection senses Pestilence (Pale Rider)

A chill wind blew behind Enkidu.
While continuing to control countless weapons of sand, he looked to the north.
“It’s coming.”
“Oh?”
Sensing that it was no bluff, Gilgamesh also turned his attention northward, but he could feel nothing.
It was probably because Enkidu possessed the highest level of Presence Detection that he was able to pick up on the subtle presence.
Originally, neither Gilgamesh nor Enkidu would have paid such a feeble aura any mind. In fact, they had completely ignored the familiars spread out across the area.
But this was different.
It was far fainter than the birds and insects that served as familiars. A strangely weak presence.
Enkidu instinctively felt a bizarre pressure from the aura.
“...Something terrible is coming. It’s probably the sort that’s my natural enemy.”

Enkidu’s “weakness” is a curse of death.

Enkidu had no weaknesses. Gilgamesh knew this fact well.
If there was one exception, it would be the death that hounded him — Ruin itself, none other than the curse of death that the gods had placed on him.

Flat senses/perceives Pestilence’s fog of magical energy covering the entire city of Snowfield

Flat stood staring out the window.
“What’s wrong?” The wristwatch asked. “It’s better not to show your face too much. I believe your professor just instructed you to ‘keep quiet and lay low.’”
“Oh, he did, but I was just thinking... The fog is awfully thick...”
“What fog?”
Jack looked out the window as well, perhaps intrigued by a word with a connection to himself, but all he saw was a clear view illuminated by brilliant sunshine.
“What are you talking about? There’s no fog out there.”
Jack wondered if Flat suffered from some disease of the eyes. The smile vanished from Flat’s face as he answered:
“No... That’s not what I mean... A fog of magical energy... I mean, there’s been a little of it ever since I got here, so I thought it might be due to the Grail’s influence, but...”
“?”
Flat’s speech was fragmented. He observed the scenery outside the window for a short while, then spoke in a grave tone.
“Berserker, this could be rather bad.”
“What is it?”
“We might be surrounded by something... extremely dangerous...”
“Is an enemy Heroic Spirit attacking? Have they set a ward around the motel!?”
Jack did not really understand what Flat meant by “fog,” but he did understand that, while Flat was a natural airhead, he was not the type of person to joke about such things. When he heard Flat’s answer, however, Jack wished that he was.
“Oh, not just the motel... At minimum, this thing covers the whole city.”

The power of Grail Mud from Alcides and the power of Pestilence would cause trouble for the whole world were they to get into the Holy Grail

“Oh no. At the moment, they’re just a black ‘curse’... and a lump of reddish-brown ‘mud.’”
Lancer’s usual smile dropped from his face, to be replaced with a look of anguish, as he told of the presences he had sensed in the past day.
“But if they fused and seeped into the Grail...
“Not just the Grail, but this whole world might be in a bit of trouble.”

Exposition about Pestilence’s magical energy fog covering Snowfield

Berserker was infiltrating the hospital in order to locate the source of the “fog” that blanketed the city.
At the motel, Flat had claimed that he could see something like a mist of mana covering the whole city. Even when he transformed into a mage, however, Berserker had not been able to sense anything out of the ordinary. It seemed that Flat, however, could see those alien currents.
“This isn’t ordinary Mana,” he had declared with uncharacteristic seriousness. “How can I describe it...? It’s like if every drop of drizzle was an independent living thing... Or like if the town was covered in a swarm of super tiny locusts...
“At the level it’s at right now, instruments for measuring magical energy won’t register anything. If the ‘fog’ gets about two degrees thicker, though, I think mages with sharp senses will start to notice it. Even right now, a very perceptive Heroic Spirit or something that perceives things differently from humans — like a hematophage — could probably sense it.”

Pestilence can seemingly appear out of thin air, even from the perspective of Zealot/No Name Assassin

“I’m Kuruoka Tsubaki!”
The name of a girl who was supposed to be hospitalized in a comatose state.
The girl who Assassin and the police had tried to save, who was supposed to be possessed by a Servant was standing in front of them in perfect health.
Before Sigma had a chance to consider what that meant . . . the girl looked behind Sigma and Assassin and said:
“That’s my friend Mr. Black!”
As she spoke . . . a strange presence that had not been there before grew behind Sigma and Assassin.
“?!”
Both immediately spun around . . . and saw a jet-black mass standing in the shadow of a large tree.
Confronted by that just-barely-humanoid mass of “darkness,” Sigma and Assassin readied themselves, fully alert . . . when Tsubaki’s voice, coming from behind them, fell on their ears.
“He’s really big, but he’s not a scary person!”

Noble Phantasm?

Doomsday Come

Some “swarm of overwhelming blackness” (Pale Rider/Pestilence), different from Alcides mud, swallows up everyone fighting around the hospital and they all disappear.

Then, a few dozen seconds later... came a swarm of overwhelming “blackness,” different from Alkeides’ mud.
The jet-black wind that blew from a single room in the hospital enveloped the entire area...
And all life vanished from Main Street, which had been the scene of so much fighting.
It ultimately erased Gilgamesh, Alkeides, the police officers, Flat, and even the overseer priest, Ayaka, and Saber inside the church.
Not even an insect corpse remained in its wake...
Only a silent cityscape.
Not even the chief of police, Faldeus, or Francesca Prelati, who were on the side of the masterminds, could grasp the full scope of what had taken place.
Silence simply continued to hold sway over Main Street.

Pestilence swallows Jester, Sigma, and Zealot the same as it did everyone fighting outside the hospital.

The moment she ran magical energy to transform the mist surrounding her into even more gigantic beasts, her animosity undiminished . . . a “thing” like black smoke poured out of the hospital.
“?!”
“This is . . .”
Before the shocked Assassin and Sigma, Jester spread his arms wide and welcomed the black mist.
“Come, it’s the start of the second act! Worry not; your stage won’t be a brutal place like this.
It will be peace itself—a gentle paradise!”
He allowed his body to dissolve into the black mist . . . but his voice continued to fill the air.

Within the Dream World, Pestilence is able to put the “dazzling lights… soundly to sleep” and “stop the noisy wind”.

In a Dream
Wind blows.
Wind blows.
Whoosh, swoosh, they all melt together.
The stars, and the tall, tall buildings, and the sleepy townspeople too.
× ×
Even in the dream, the girl continued to sleep.
She slept because it had gotten dark. She slept because she was sleepy.
That was the girl’s modest wish.
Thus, therefore—
“————————”
“—————————————”
Her protector simply acted to grant it.
To put the dazzling lights that kept the girl from resting soundly to sleep.
To stop the noisy wind that threatened the girl’s salvation.

Pestilence’s Doomsday Come has reproduced the Church that had suffered grave damage in the fight with Alcides in such a way that it was like it had never been destroyed. This is likely due to its nature as a Pseudo-Reality Marble/Bounded Field

“Speaking of here . . . Where is this place, anyway . . .?”
John’s voice trailed off as he looked at the front entrance of the hospital, which led to Main Street.
“I woke up in front of the church, but . . . Well, see for yourself. I can’t explain it . . .”
“?”
Urged on by John, Vera took several other officers who had regained consciousness and left the hospital’s premises, where they saw . . . no trace of destruction. Little birds flitted about over the pristine surface of Main Street.
The church, which ought to be half-destroyed, had also been restored. Actually, it looked less “restored” and more like it had never been destroyed.
It seemed to say that the destruction of the battle between Heroic Spirits the night before had been an illusion.
Behind the bewildered officers, the haggard-eyed John asked a question that seemed half addressed to himself.
“If the fight before we lost consciousness really happened . . . then where is this place . . .?”

Description of the Pseudo-Reality Marble/Boundary Field that Pestilence’s Doomsday Come creates and functions as.

“The cops . . .!” Ayaka muttered in the tense atmosphere.
Only Saber looked up at the ceiling as if he had remembered something and shrugged as he said:
“Come to think of it, Ayaka and I are escaped fugitives, aren’t we?”
The female officer, however, quietly shook her head and offered Saber a deal.
“No, we have no intention of accusing you of anything at the moment. I would like to pro¬pose a temporary alliance.”
“An alliance? Against whom? I think the golden Archer fell from up high at the end. . . . What happened to him? Or are we fighting whatever made that odd bellowing I could hear just before I passed out?”
Saber leapt at the offer like a child. The female officer remained expressionless as she dispas¬sionately stated the facts.
“We are probably isolated in a ‘world’ similar to a Reality Marble.”
“Isolated?”
“We can see people in the city, but their minds have all been seized by something. The po¬lice station and city offices are deserted. It’s possible to leave town, but past a certain point the roads connect back to the city. We can hypothesize that space has been warped, but we can’t be certain.”
She went on to matter-of-factly explain the rest of what they had seen.

…

“World? Isolated? . . . What does she mean?” Ayaka asked, confused.
“. . . I guess it’s something like a Reality Marble,” Saber explained. “Think of it as a kind of fake world that a mage or monster created. Still, based on what she said, I’ve got a feeling it’s something a bit different. . . . Do you have a plan for getting out of this ‘world’?”
At Saber’s question, Vera lowered her eyes for a moment, then said:
“We believe it will be necessary . . .
“for us to eliminate the mage or Heroic Spirit at the core of this ‘world.’”

Pestilence’s Doomsday Come has weakened the connection between Sigma and Watcher to the point they can’t communicate through telepathy.

Sigma, who had no choice but to trust Assassin’s words, started to survey their surroundings again . . . when he realized something unsettling.
“. . .?”
If the pattern so far held, then one of the “shadows”—Watcher’s familiars—should have been ready with a sarcastic remark the moment he woke up.
But he could not even see the shadows, and the magical energy linking him to his Servant, which he had learned to sense over the past two days, was obviously weakened.
“What . . .?”
He called out telepathically, but there was no answer from the shadows.
He felt something like a response, but he could not meaningfully exchange information. It was like an internet connection that had suddenly been blocked by heavy traffic.
“What’s wrong?”
“. . . I can’t contact my Servant. I don’t think he’s dead, but . . .”
“Lancer . . .? If he hasn’t been eliminated, then in the worst case you should be able to use a Command Spell to summon him.”

GPS works inside Pesetilence’s Doomsday Come.

“. . . GPS is functioning.”
Sigma confirmed that the electronic terminal that was part of his equipment was working and checked his coordinates to pinpoint their location.
“Our relative position to Crystal Hill confirms it. We’re in the Snowerk residential area, a district of Snowfield.”

Supposedly, only Jester Karture can leave Pestilence’s Doomsday Come without killing Kuruoka Tsubaki.

“I can hardly wait.”
A single figure surveyed the encounter from a distance—the Dead Apostle Jester, in the form of a boy about Tsubaki’s age.
“I wonder what face you’ll make when you realize that this is the world’s happiest hell,” he said with an intoxicated grin at odds with his youthful appearance. “And when you realize that no one but me can leave it without killing Kuruoka Tsubaki . . .
“What are you going to do . . . Miss Assassin?”

Skills?

Contagion

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Pale Rider siphons Tsubaki’s parent’s mana into her dream world and turns their comatose bodies into puppets devoid of their original personalities.

Sensing something unusual, the husband looked at his right arm.
“Mm...?”
There was a black spot.
At first glance, it looked like a bruise. He frowned, wondering if he had bumped against something. He looked over to his wife. “Dear, what do you think this... hey!?” He was shocked.
Similar black spots appeared all over her face and her arms—and then, she collapsed to the ground, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.
“H-hey...!?”
He tried to get to his wife, but his field of view grew mushy and indistinct. Everything split into a rainbow of colors and fell upwards.
By the time he realized that it was he who was falling, it was too late. He did not even have the strength to stand.
As he laid on the verge of unconsciousness, he understood what was happening.
Magical energy was being sucked out of his body and carried off to somewhere else.
As it was not his actual life energy that was being stolen, he would not die from this. However, he would certainly fall into a stupor.
— This can’t be.
— If someone... attacks us now....
— No, what if... somebody... already....
Even as he fell into an eternal darkness, his mind was full of thoughts about the Holy Grail War. Not once did his daughter cross his mind.
And then, a few minutes later—
Both of them leaped to their feet as though nothing had happened.
Their bodies were still covered with the black spots.
“...Come to think of it, today is Tsubaki’s birthday, isn’t it?”
“Ah, that’s right, dear! I’ve got to bake a cake!”
They were conspicuously unwell, and yet they spoke calmly. And about something out of the ordinary for them, at that.
Indeed, they had lost whatever personalities they once had and—
They became living dolls, who lived their lives just as their daughter wanted them to.

…

“Yay! Thank you! Daddy! Mommy!”
“It’s okay, Tsubaki. You did a good job.”
“That’s right. You’re our precious little treasure.”
Having received such a wonderful present, she gaily frolicked about her house.
After having her fun for a while, she smiled at the mass of black fog that stood next to her.
“Thank you for bringing my mom and dad here!”

…

The sights of the real world were projected into her dreams.
Perhaps that was the power of the magical energy that had blossomed within her while she was unconscious. Given that it is impossible to affect the real world from within a dreamscape, however, magic used to project the real world into a dream-world was useless; a line of research that few magi would bother to pursue.
The Servant merely facilitated the girl’s unconscious magic.
“He” manipulated her parents in the real world so that they would behave just as she wanted them to.
Of course, “he” also absorbed their magical energy. “His” instincts compelled him to do so.
“He” could not understand human emotions. “He” merely possessed knowledge.

Bodies of the bird familiars that came into contact with Pestilence were rendered comatose

The bodies of some bird familiars that had grazed the Pale Rider as it moved lay comatose on the desert floor.

…

Including Faldeus’ own, multiple familiars had been discovered in an unconscious state. The unconscious familiars also had strange sores on their skin. Once it was believed that they were afflicted by some curse or disease, they had been sent to the laboratory for analysis.

Pestilence dragged some of the birds he infected into Tsubaki’s dream world. Pestilence plans to do more of this with the rest of the town to make her happy.

Almost a full day had passed since the events in the desert. The data Rider was sorting was largely the same as it had been the day before. But several “birds” now flew in the dream world, he recalled Tsubaki rejoicing at the sight of them.
“Birdies!”
“Hey, did you bring me those birdies too?”
“Thank you!”
“I love animals!”
Tsubaki’s guileless words were replayed over and over again. In the past day, that was the moment that the girl, his Master, had been most excited. That was the course his Master wished for. Having confirmed that, Rider began to do his duty.
He acted so as to ensure that, in case his interpretation turned out to differ from Tsubaki’s, he would be able to correct his course immediately. Slowly. Slowly. And so, silently, brutally... he began to spread throughout the town.

…

[Confirmed that all birds utilized as familiars have revived from apparent death state.]
They appeared to be reports from an organization connected to Snowfield. A long succession of sentences sprinkled with mage terminology.
[Confirmed that all functionality as familiars has been lost. Abnormal spots in various places.]
[No pathogens discovered, but confirmed faint traces of magical energy possessing unusual properties, interpretable as both mana and od. Conjecture that birds we failed to recover have similarly revived.]
[Case category upgraded to C class. Future developments under the jurisdiction of Mr. Faldeus Dioland.]

Pestilence has brought even more creatures into Tsubaki’s dream world.

In a dream.
“Yay! A doggie!”
An innocent cry resounded in the sunlit garden.
“There’s a kitty, too! And a squirrel!”
She chased after the animals scurrying back and forth across the garden lawn, catching one of them and hugging it to her.
“You brought them all, didn’t you, Mr. Black? Thank you!”
The girl looked up to where an enormous black shadow — Rider — wriggled. Tsubaki called the Servant “Mr. Black”; it did not appear to frighten her.
Countless birds flocked through the sky overhead, and small animals ran energetically around her. The garden had the air of a miniature petting zoo, and Tsubaki was happy in it.

…

Birds singing. Cats and dogs basking in the sun on the lawn. Squirrels munching on nuts with its children. It was the picture of her ideal garden. Only the great black shadow swaying in its center was out of place. Tsubaki, who seemed not to notice its strangeness, beamed with satisfaction.
Unaware of what was taking place in the world to pay for her modest garden.

…

“Next, the news. Veterinary hospitals throughout Snowfield are in a state of panic. Since early this morning, animals across the city have been entering comatose states, and worry that this could be a new form of communicable disease is spreading among residents. All the affected animals soon regained consciousness, but based on the fact that reddish-brown spots have appeared on their skin, an investigation in cooperation with the Municipal Board of Health is...”

Pestilence brings yet more souls/minds into Tsubaki’s dream world.

In a dream.

…

As Tsubaki headed inside, she suddenly looked around at the silent residential district, and murmured:
“I wonder if everyone left because they don’t like this city...”
Tsubaki’s expression clouded over. “Mr. Black,” now roughly the same size as her, leaned in close to her and rubbed her head, almost as if to ask, “Is anything the matter?” Tsubaki smiled at it, and shook her head.
“Thank you. I’m fine, Mr. Black.”
Then, looking around at the countless animals frolicking in the garden, she continued:
“I mean, now there are so many animals here. Not like before...”
“Now that it’s like this, mom, and dad, and everybody else will stay in this city, won’t they?”
Rider heard those words, and judged that they constituted her “wish.” Rider was currently an exceedingly incomplete wish-granter that took orders from its Master, Tsubaki.
Rider began to wriggle, ready to use its power to make the situation she wished for reality. At present, however, Rider was not capable of complex inferences.
And…

…

“The car in front of us is probably full of mages too. There’s a familiar circling over it, and...”
Then, the driver noticed a change. Starting at about the point they had left the city limits, there were a number of cars parked on either side of the road. The car that had been running way ahead of them hurriedly pulled over and stopped as well.
The driver was wondering what could have prompted that, out here in the middle of nowhere, when he saw the familiar that had been flying above the car in front of them plummet to earth. At the same time, he experienced a powerful nausea, and it became difficult for him to continue driving.
“...!?”
He hurriedly pulled the car over into the shoulder, and looked into the rear view mirror, prepared to excuse himself.
“Ex-excuse me, I suddenly felt... Master!?”
The scene reflected in the rear view mirror was abnormal. The middle-aged mage, his teacher, had collapsed, his body limp and his face pale.
“This is bad. We have to...”
Suppressing his own nausea, the driver turned to the senior apprentice in the passenger seat, and gave another shudder. The senior apprentice’s face was also pale, and he was twitching. What looked like blue bruises were emerging on the backs of his hands and neck.
“Wha... Ah... Aaaahh!”
Then, the driver noticed. Similar bruises were rising on his own arms, worming their way into his body. A scream echoed in the car. Silence followed.
Several minutes later, the car slowly started moving. The other cars stopped around it likewise began to move as soon as their engines started. Every one of them making a U-turn, and heading back into Snowfield.
Inside the car making its way into town, the blank-eyed driver announced:
“I’m so looking forward to going back to Snowfield!”
“Yes, it’s such a nice city. We’ve got to get good seats to watch the Grail War!” The senior apprentice in the passenger seat answered, his eyes equally vacant.
The bruises that had formed on their bodies had largely faded, and their complexions were recovering. Their minds, however, had become something else entirely.
“Ull, ully, ack oo a shiphy.”
Listening to their master’s cheerful wails, they drove the car across the wasteland. To the city of Snowfield, where the chaos of battle raged on.
On this day, at this moment, the city of Snowfield became a lenient prison. A prison that let no one leave, and refused no one entry. It looked almost as if the city had a will of its own, and was gobbling people up.

More exposition on what Pestilence’s actions are doing to the real world in order for it to populate Tsubaki’s dream world.

“What is it, Aludra?”
“It’s about the mages in the city who failed to become Masters... We’re observing some strange movements.”
“?”
Faldeus looked at the report she handed him, then at several of the countless monitors.
“...Strange indeed.”
A significant percentage of the mages had left the city before noon. Many of them must have turned tail when they saw the crater in the desert. Many mages had also suffered injury at the hands of the fake Assassin — the full-fledged fanatic. Under the circumstances, it was only natural for mediocre mages to realize the matter was beyond them and flee.
The odd part was what happened next. All the mages that had fled the city that morning had turned their cars and bikes around and returned to Snowfield.
“...Could they have been hired by some other family as soon as they left the city?”
His first thought was an intervention by the Clock Tower. He considered it possible that they had observed the mages leaving the city and promised them some form of compensation for becoming pawns of the Clock Tower. That hypothesis, however, was refuted by Aludra’s next words.
“It’s not just mages, sir.”
“...What?”
“All ordinary civilians who left the city on business, etcetera, after a certain time have turned back.”
An uneasy chill ran through Faldeus.
“...”
He keenly felt the inadequacy of his own awareness. Something was happening in the city; something on a scale greater than ordinary magecraft. He knew it was happening, but he did not know why.
A barrier for clearing the area of people? No... They’re returning to the city, so I suppose it would have to be a barrier for drawing people in... But for what purpose? I’ve heard that, in the fifth Fuyuki Grail War, there was a Heroic Spirit that tried to gather Od from civilians, but...
There were a lot of black boxes in the fifth Holy Grail War. He did not know what fate that Heroic Spirit had met. He had, however, received information that there had actually been mass fainting incidents at the time, and that the Holy Church had covered them up as gas leaks. Apparently rumors that gas had leaked from an unexploded chemical weapon dropped by the American military had spread among the local high school students, and Faldeus’ colleagues had conducted a follow-up operation to suppress counterfactual rumors... Or so he remembered hearing.
An unexploded chemical weapon... I wish it could be explained away with something like that. Considering our throughput, our hands are full with just the crater incident.
Snowfield has a population of eighty thousand... We’ve made arrangements so that we can deal with matters even if all of them were to disappear... But, if possible, I’d like to avoid anything so troublesome.
Or so Faldeus thought, when he noticed that his hand was clenched tight on something. It was a balled up scrap of notepaper covered in fragmentary writing. When Faldeus carefully spread it out, he saw that it was a message clearly addressed to himself.
Do you not notice?
The barrier walls of this facility are thick.
Therefore, it does not enter here.

...

“And ‘it’ is...?” Faldeus muttered under his breath.
As if in answer, compression artifacts started to run across the screen of one of the computers sending and receiving data. A row of characters popped up, weaving its way through the gaps, and seared itself into Faldeus’ brain. It was a short line, consisting only of an answer to Faldeus’ question:
The cursed plague-wind.

Allusions to the hysteria caused by Pestilence’s work for Tsubaki’s dream world.

In central Snowfield, there is a gigantic white building. At first glance it could be taken for an art museum, but it was the city’s largest and best-equipped hospital, a fortress of hope on whose doors numerous patients knocked seeking treatments ranging from surgery to psychosomatic medicine... Or it should have been. At present, the reception desk was in chaos in the face of the waves of patients that kept pouring in, escorted by their families.
“I’m telling you, there’s something wrong with my husband! One moment he’s heading off to Las Vegas for work, the next he’s back and going on about how he’s ‘never leaving this city again’! It’s not normal!”
“It’s crazy! One of our guys went out to Indian Springs on a delivery, but he came right back without even doing the job. Then we sent another guy, and he did the same thing!”
The only commonality between all the cases was that every person who tried to leave the city suddenly returned. Their families brought them in, fearing some kind of mental illness. Faced with the massive influx of similar patients, the hospital suspected that something unprecedented was taking place. They were currently holding an emergency meeting to devise countermeasures.

Pestilence’s effects on the residents of the Factory District

A little earlier, a sound like thunder had come from the direction of the factories. Tsubaki’s new friend Jester had said that they were burning.
“Oh; if there’s a fire, there must be people. I wonder if they’re OK. I hope they all managed to evacuate.”
Seeing Jester worry made Tsubaki uneasy. That had made her talk to “Mr. Black.”
“I hope the people around the factories are able to get away in time.”
All the while unaware that, behind her, the boy who called himself Jester was wearing a wicked grin.
Thus, the one hundred and twenty thousand people who lived in the area around the factory district contracted an unknown “illness.” While the bloodsucker in a boy’s skin grasped the truth… the city began to roll gently, but inexorably, toward tragedy.
And even he was unaware that, in only half a day, people who would attempt to stop it would appear.

Watcher describes Pestilence’s activities

“A Master is hospitalized there in an unconscious state. Her Heroic Spirit hasn’t shown itself yet, but it appears to be acting already. It seems to be possessing and controlling townspeople. The scale of it has swollen to tens of thousands of people, so the chief of police won’t be able to leave it alone.”

Waver’s speculation about the existence of Pestilence

The girl was likely being possessed by her Servant, with which she had possibly formed a contract in her deep psyche or in a dream. From the fact that she was afflicted with bacteria created by the Kuruokas, El-Melloi II conjectured that the Heroic Spirit she had summoned was related to pathogens, or possibly a being that had been treated as symbolic of sickness itself in an era that lacked the concepts of bacteria or viruses — that the abnormalities breaking out in the city might be brought about by the highly unique action of bacterial magecraft capable of deliberately selecting targets to infect.

Pestilence has both the Kuruoka father and mother under its mental influence.

Sigma decided to start by introducing himself and observe the man’s reactions. He felt confident that the man would not know about him, but also felt no need to use a false name.
“. . . I’m called Sigma. I’m ashamed to say it, but it looks like we were passed out in your garden. I remember being in town last night and feeling unwell, but after that . . .”
“Oh, is that so? Well, apparently my daughter found you passed out in our garden this morning. We were just inside debating whether to carry you to a bed.”
. . . I’d expect you to start by calling 911.
Sigma had questions but decided to go along with the man’s story.
“I see. It must have been your daughter who brought us blankets.”
A woman who appeared from behind the man who called himself Kuruoka with an equally peaceful smile answered:
“Yes. When she brought out blankets, I thought that she’d found a puppy in the house again . . . but I never imagined she’d found people.”
She seemed natural at first glance, but Sigma sensed something hollow about her.
As if to confirm his suspicions, Assassin whispered to Sigma so that only he could hear:
“Take care. This man and woman seem to be under the influence of someone’s suggestion.”
Sigma realized that.
In which case, if anyone who had not been placed under a suggestion appeared, they should
be immediately suspicious of that person.
At minimum, it would be reckless not to consider that person’s intentions. That was Sigma’s conclusion . . . but that “unaffected” person appeared before him sooner than he expected.

Apparently it finally does more than infect shit in Volume 6. Just needs added here when I get around to it

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Enkidu?

Spoiler

Source

Class: Lancer
Master: Synthetic beastChimera Silver Wolf
True name: Enkidu
Gender: None
Height/Weight: Control at will
Alignment: True Neutral

Strength: -
Endurance: -
Agility: -
Magic: -
Luck: -
Noble Phantasm: A++

Class Skills
■ Magic Resistance: -
Because of the skill "Transfiguration," the magical energy stat fluctuates accordingly.

Personal Skills
■ Transfiguration: A
Special skill inherent to Automatic Dolls for allocating ability scores from a set pool of points according to the situation.
The higher the rank, the greater the pool, but two ranks worth of points will be needed to bring A up to A+.

■ Presence Detection: A+
Highest rank of Presence Detection ability. Via the Earth, is able to sense the presence of things at long range. If close range, an equal or lower rank of Presence Concealment can be nullified.

Noble Phantasms
■ (Obscured in volume 2)
Rank: ???
Type: ???
Range: ???
Max Targets: ???

■ Enuma Elish: O Humans, Let Us Restrain The Gods Above
Rank: A++
Type: Anti-Purge Noble Phantasm
Range: 0~999
Maximum Targets: 1000 People
Ability of Enkidu's to transform its own body into a Divine Construct.
The Counter Forces known as Alaya and Gaia's powers flow into a keystone made of light. Then giant amounts of energy are transformed into a form that the world can recognize and pierces the opponent in one hit. In response to things that threaten the destruction of the planet or humanity, the power is increased.

Enkidu - Lancer

Illustrator and Voice actor
Illustrator: Shidzuki Morii
Voice Actor: Yū Kobayashi

Parameters
Strength: ?
Endurance: ?
Agility: ?
Mana: ?
Luck: ?
Noble Phantasm: A++

Personal Skills
Transfiguration: A
Presence Detection: A+
Consummated Shape: A

Class Skills
Magic Resistance: A

Noble Phantasm
Enuma Elish: O People, Lets Tie the Gods
Rank: A++
Type: Anti-Purge Noble Phantasm

Profile
From its gentle tone and graceful bearings, one would never guess that this is a “Noble Phantasm with a will” that possesses a fierce combat power.
The chains that fasten heavens and earth, regarded by the King of Heroes Gilgamesh as one of the strongest.
A doll created by the hands of the gods, and also an offshot of the earth that harmonizes・becomes one with nature.

A tragic weapon that underwent many adventures as the sole friend of the King of Heroes and, after acquiring a human heart, returned to dirt as a doll.

Level 1 Bond
Height/Weight: Variable
Source: Epic of Gilgamesh
Region: Mesopotamia
Alignment: True Neutral　　Gender: -
“If you tell me to fight, I’ll fight.
After all, it is not like I hate fighting”

Level 2 Bond
One of the oldest heroes described in the Epic of Gilgamesh. A weapon manufactured by the gods.
Originally, it was “a clay work that could transform into anything” produced by the gods.
It phantasmagorically changes its shape in accordance with circumstances.
Its whole body is equivalent to a weapon of gods.
However, it does not have the same mentality or emotions as people, and at first it was not all that different from a wild beast.

It has been said that, after appearing on this world, it became aware of much by meeting with a single sacred prostitute and eventually choose to take the shape of a person (as its basic form).
This appearance is something modeled after said sacred prostitute out of respect.

Level 3 Bond
Its combat strength is roughly the same as that of the King of Heroes Gilgamesh on his golden age.
In the battle against Gilgamesh described on the Epic, it displayed a performance on par to him, who is recognized as one of the strongest heroes in human history.

The first friend ever discovered by Gilgamesh, who was an aloof existence, and it too perceives Gilgamesh as its peerless friend.
After the fight on the city of Uruk, the friends Gilgamesh and Enkidu underwent many adventures, but it ultimately lost its life after the battle with the divine beast Gugalanna.

Level 4 Bond
Introverted, active and self-assured.
Usually it just loiters like a beautiful flower but, once it gets on the move, it becomes a frightening active monster that doesn’t wait, has no mercy and show no self-restrain.

Since they are life forms born from the Earth, it also finds humans “appealing”. But, because humans think of themselves as beings apart from nature due to their intelligence, they rank low as protection targets.
It feels that animals and plants are existences closer to itself and it mostly takes action in order to protect them.

That being said, since it had great curiosity (intellectual craving) to begin with, Enkidu regards conversations with humans as an enjoyment.
If said character has an appealing personality (a totalitarian brimming with philantropous mentality, and yet who thinks of himself as foremost), it will demonstrate respect and admiration from the bottom of its heart, feeling joy in support him as a friend.

Level 5 Bond
Transfiguration: A
A unique skill in which parameter values are allotted in accordance to the situation from a prescribed comprehensive value. Enkidu’s greatest feature.
The higher the rank, higher the comprehensive value becomes.
At times it makes STR into A Rank, at times it makes END into A Rank.
However, because the conversion limits of parameters is set in stone, it cannot make all parameters into A Rank.
Enkidu possesses a comprehensive value of 30, and each parameter consume the respectively values: A-7, B-6, C-5, D-4, E-3.
Presence Detection: A+
The highest rank of presence detection.
It is possible to sense presences from long distances by using the land as a medium.
Consummated Shape: A
By making use of the magic energy of the land, it restores itself to its former shape.
So long there is a supply of magic energy from the land, Enkidu’s body (which was produced from the clay of the Age of Gods) will never collapse.
A powerful regeneration・restoration ability that is completely unprecedented.
However, the soul is a different matter.

Level 5 Bond
"O People, Lets Tie the Gods"
Rank: A++　　Type: Anti-Purge
Enuma Elish.
Enkidu transforms its own body into a Divine Construct.
Becoming a linchpin that converted vast amounts of energy to pierce and tie the target.

Originally, Enkidu was a weapon dispatched by the gods in order to “restore Gilgamesh to god”.
The “Linchpin of Heavens” created so that gods and people would not separate, Gilgamesh.
Because such Gilgamesh revolted against the gods, it was charged with the role of binding and bringing him back to heavens.

However, Enkidu became Gilgamesh’s friend and, just like its friend wished, chose the path of using this “chain that restrains even heavens” for the sake of people.

Source

Class: Lancer
True Name: Enkidu
Gender: -
Source: Epic of Gilgamesh
Region: Mesopotamia
Alignment: True Neutral
Height: Varies
Weight: Varies

STR: ?
CON: ?
AGI: ?
MGI: ?
LCK: ?
NP: A++

Setting creation: Nasu Kinoko・Narita Ryougo・Sakurai Hikaru
Character design: Morii Shizuki
CV: Kobayashi Yuu

Main works appearance: Fate/strange Fake, Fate/Grand Order
(the mats has it as strang Fake, lol. can relate)
—---
Class Skills
Magic Resistance: A
Invalidate A rank magic and below.
Magic used by magus of modern era would not be able to injure Enkidu.
—---
Personal Skill

Transfiguration: A
A unique skill that divides attribute value from the constant composite value depending on the circumstances. A high rank in this Skill results in a high composite value.
At times STR is made to A rank, at times CON is made to A rank.
However, because the limit of parameter configuration is already decided, turning all numerical value into A cannot be done.
Enkidu possesses attribute value of 30, expending the value of [A: 7] [B: 6] [C: 5] [D: 4] [E: 3] for each parameter.

Presence Detection: A
The ability to detect presence of the highest rank.
It is possible to detect far away presence by communicating with the earth.

(It's A + on FSF, and A++ ingame post SQ. Why is it A in this mats? Important?)

Perfect Form: A
Reconstruction to original shape by utilizing magic energy of the earth.
Enkidu's body, which was made using clay from the age of the gods, will never crumble as long as there is a supply of magic energy from the earth.
A completely unprecedented powerful reconstruction and regeneration ability.
However, the soul is a different matter.
—---
Noble Phantasm
Enuma Elish
O Humanity, Bind Thy Gods
Rank: A++
Type: Anti-Purge Noble Phantasm
Range: 0~999
Maximum target: 1000 person

Enuma Elish.
The very body of Enkidu, transformed into a god forged armament.
Becoming a lynchpin that converts enormous amount of energy, then pierces and binds the target.
Originally, Enkidu was a weapon made use by the gods in order to return Gilgamesh back to the gods.
The "lynchpin of heaven" that holds together gods and men, Gilgamesh.
Due to Gilgamesh rebelling against the gods, Enkidu was given the role to bind him and guide him back to the heavens.

But Enkidu befriended Gilgamesh instead. Enkidu had chosen, just as the one wish of his friend, for a path that use the "chains that binds even gods" for the sake of men.

…

One of the oldest heroes, spoken of in the Epic of Gilgamesh.
A weapon created by the gods.
Originally made by the gods as a "clayworks that changes to anything".
Enkidu changes shapes freely at will depending on the circumstances.
In his body was equal to the gods whole body of ichor.
However, Enkidu did not possess the mind and sentiment of a human; practically no different from a mere beast.

After appearing in the world, Enkidu met a lone sacred prostitute and learned many knowledge from her. Before long, Enkidu had then chosen to take the form of a human (as a fundamental form).
The form that esteemed and imitated that of the divine prostitute.

Enkidu's strength is roughly equal to that of King of Heroes Gilgamesh at his golden age.
In Enkidu's fight with Gilgamesh, spoken of in the Epic, Enkidu had demonstrated an ability equal to that and approved by the sole strongest hero within the human history.

Gilgamesh, superior and isolated, for the first time ever had discovered a friend, and Enkidu too, had recognized Gilgamesh as peerless friend.

After the fight within the city of Uruk, Gilgamesh and Enkidu who had befriended each other went to many adventures, and Enkidu would eventually lose life after the fight against the Divine Bull Gugalanna.

Description of Enkidu’s summons from the perspective of Gilgamesh’s camp.

Right then.
With timing so perfect that it must have been brought about by the machinations of fate, rather than chance—
The earth cried out.
【――――º˚____.‾‾‾‾‾•____―――˚‾‾‾‾‾‾.____˚‾‾‾_______.】
““!?””
Tiné and her followers all turned to look at the sky.
They had heard a mighty roar off in the distance—one with the power to shake both heaven and earth.
But it was too beautiful to be called a “roar”. It was as though a giant angel or its ilk, or perhaps even the Earth itself, was singing a lullaby.
They could tell that the sound had come from far, far away—from the forests that lay to the west of Snowfield.
That tremendous rumbling noise, which laid waste to the very laws of physics, was, for some reason, something Tiné had faith in.
It was like the first cry of a newborn, and at the same time—
It was almost certainly the voice of a stupendously powerful Servant.

Had Enkidu been summoned as a Berserker, he may have possessed the power of a god.

“I had a look at the footage we took in the forest... And, well, it’s amazing that he—well, maybe her, so why don’t we go with ‘it’? ...In any case, it’s amazing that it could be summoned as a Heroic Spirit. If you had managed to summon it as Berserker, you very well might have gained the power of a god that you so desired.”

Enkidu was akin to being a Noble Phantasm of the gods.

“To begin with, it was never so much a Hero...
“As it was a Noble Phantasm of the gods themselves.”

Before Shamhat, Enkidu possessed power mightier than Gilgamesh.

Long, long ago, the gods fashioned a doll from clay and sent it to the earth to appear within a forest. That doll was neither male nor female; rather, it was phantasmal.
It lacked human knowledge, and so, it gamboled about the forest like a beast.
However, it had power that surpassed human understanding. When it was enraged, it was said to be mightier than even the Hero who ruled a certain kingdom at the time.

After Shamhat, Enkidu lost much of its power.

When that beast met a certain celebrated hierodule, however, their fates changed forever.
When that genderless mass of clay met that woman whose beauty transcended gender, it fell in love at first sight.
As they spent six days and seven nights together, sharing meals and sharing a bed, the clay doll slowly assumed a human form, as if to imitate that beautiful prostitute.
The clay beast who was ignorant of mankind attempted to assume that prostitute’s beauty.
When it made that paradoxical beauty its own, the clay doll lost much of its strength. In exchange, it gained human wisdom and reason.
Though it had lost much of its divinity—
Its power still far exceeded that of man.

Enkidu’s song shook the very earth.

“What fun it would be... to continue with the duel we fought on that plaza.”
With its arms outstretched, it sang in a mighty voice, from the very core of its being.
It was a gentle voice.
The Hero Enkidu.
Its song shook the very earth, becoming like a beautiful undulation of the land that reached every part of the Snowfield area.

Enkidu is not a Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh can so easily kill

Even for the King of Heroes, this opponent could not be easily killed.
Such was the strength of this Heroic Spirit.
Anyone who had observed their clash would agree.
And, the fight still wasn’t over.

Enkidu’s “weakness” is a curse of death.

Enkidu had no weaknesses. Gilgamesh knew this fact well.
If there was one exception, it would be the death that hounded him — Ruin itself, none other than the curse of death that the gods had placed on him.

Enkidu can make themselves into a Holy Grail type object.

“...I see. I lost myself in our celebration. I’d completely forgotten that there are thieves about who intend to lay hands on my Grail, my treasure.”
“Do I count as one of those thieves?”
“You don’t need the likes of the Holy Grail, do you? You yourself are capable of becoming a flawed wishing machine.”
At Gilgamesh’s strange, offhand remark, Enkidu replied,
“I can only imitate it at best. Well, my wish has already been granted anyway, and it’s not as if my Master desires the Holy Grail.”

Gugalanna was slain by Enkidu (and Gilgamesh)

“The gods told me that all the time. Like when I slew their bull; I got an awful talking-to that time.”

Enuma Elish

vs Enuma Elish (Gilgamesh's [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5] Ea)

Here, Round 1 as depicted by the Strange Fake Manga. Here, Round 2 as depicted by the Strange Fake Manga.

Source (Light Novel)

Gilgamesh declares he will be going all out in this False Grail War

“Rejoice, mongrel girl! It seems that I shall have occasion to use the full force of my abilities in this war!”

120 meters separates Gilgamesh and Enkidu

Heaven and Earth.
The distance between the two was roughly 120 meters.

Enuma Elish (Gilgamesh) vs Enuma Elish (Enkidu) Round 1

Against a single Heroic Spirit, Gilgamesh attacked without hesitation. This was neither play nor negligence. The King of Heroes discarded his usual arrogance and put everything he had into a single attack.
On the ground stood the Heroic Spirit Enkidu.
This attack was a message to his oldest, only friend. It was a song of pure joy for their reunion, conveying everything he felt as a king, as a hero, and as the man Gilgamesh.
“O Ea, sing to thy heart’s content.”
Gilgamesh spoke these words not to the Heroic Spirit below him, but to the sword in his hand.
As if in response, the cylindrical sword twisted the air while spinning like a tunneling drill. The whirlwind grew and drew in even more air, and a small tornado formed.
The two cyclones combined and created an even greater distortion in the air — all of this was drawn and compressed in the sword.
The layers of wind grew even denser and exceeded the physical laws, quickly turning into a lethal weapon that ripped apart all of Creation, and began condensing into a fissure in space itself.
Sound and light converged in the distortion, and silence and darkness encircled the sword. As if to excite the howls of the seemingly living weapon, Gilgamesh gripped it even more strongly, and swung it down at his long-lost friend without hesitation—
“ENUMA ELISH!!!”
Star of Genesis — Separate Heaven and Earth
The distortion ruptured.
The entire universe that had been compressed beyond limit focused around Ea, and was released by its wielder’s slash. The resulting pressure wave sundered the nearby space. The World itself was sucked up by the chasm of the Void, and turned inside out.
Who would believe that this scene was caused by the swing of a sword?
The Void emerged from the chasm, rupturing space further. The World eroded, giving way to countless fissures in reality.
The sands cracked like clay. The sky and clouds were shredded like so much paper.
It was a hellish landscape, as if a painting of the desert had been thrown into a blender.
The “slash” of the sword twisted and tore the planet, sending a wave of destruction at the Heroic Spirit standing on the ground.

…

Police Station

...

Far away, there was a power so terrible as to make him tremble.
Even if the clash was happening tens of kilometers away, it could no longer be ignored as someone else’s problem.
It was a wave of power just enough to cause slight discomfort, but every hair on Orlando’s body stood on end.
What he felt now was very similar to witnessing an F5 tornado looming down on his hometown as a child.

…

The chief felt space itself warp in the desert, and reaffirmed his conviction.

…

Desert Region
The blow that declared the start of the False Holy Grail War could well have been the final attack that ended a Holy Grail War.
Many Heroic Spirits would not even warrant the use of Ea.
Most Heroic Spirits whom the King deemed worthy to wield his sword against would be awed at its power, yet challenge the King anyway.
Heroes that witnessed the power of Genesis would feel a variety of emotions.
Resignation, determination, terror, fear, horror, hatred, or perhaps joy.
But there was only one Heroic Spirit who would smile with nostalgia in the face of hell on Earth, the amalgamation of Death and the Void.
Ah, yes.
While a vast power trampled Heaven and Earth and smashed the World on its path toward him, Enkidu smiled with an expression of deep relief.
It was an attack devoid of deceit or subterfuge.
Though it lacked the sheer magnitude it had during the Age of Gods, the nature of his power was exactly as it had been.
“—I’m happy, Gil.
...So happy that I can test my powers against yours like this again…”
There was no one more human than him, though he hated humans — no one more divine, though he denied the gods.
The King of Heroes, who stood upon the apex of Creation, was fighting him seriously as an opponent.
In that case, Enkidu could only respond in kind.
As he thought this, the Heroic Spirit turned with a gentle motion.
“Adjusted for this era… I think it’d be something like this.”
The Void shattered the earth as it made its way towards him. The Heroic Spirit smiled, and smiled, and smiled—
“I’ll fight with everything I have too, Gil.”
Then, the world went into flux.

…

Northern Snowfield — Wide Valley

…

But she knew immediately that something was happening, based on the earth tremors coming from the south.
Before Gilgamesh departed, he had said, “This battle has become worthy of my true might.” In other words, the source of the earth-shaking howling was probably her Servant, who had gone off to fight seriously.
An enormous quantity of Od — her body’s internal mystic energy — was flowing away.
The power supply to a contracted Servant was provided by the Holy Grail established in the land and the Master’s own energy.
While she was on this land, Tiné could draw upon the mana gushing from its leylines and convert it to Od as she pleased, but now she felt as if her body would be sucked dry if she lost her focus. Tiné’s magic circuits jarred as she converted energy at a shocking rate.

…

Besides, if she faltered at a trifle such as this, she would be unworthy to be a subject of the King, as Gilgamesh had said.
As these thoughts went through her head, Tiné embraced a single conviction.
There was a Noble Phantasm that destroyed the World itself.
Gilgamesh had shut off the shared perception and telepathy that linked them as master and familiar. So, Tiné didn’t know what was actually happening at the battleground, but this energy flow told her enough.
Tiné was convinced that no Servant could clash with this much power and hope to survive.

…

Because Tiné used a unique brand of magic that shared energy with the earth, she felt it even at this distance.
“Impossible!”
Enough power was flowing to the desert to oppose Gilgamesh. And it wasn’t from the leylines.
It was as if the planet itself had come into that location, and funneled a gigantic amount of mana into it.
It was enough to delude one into thinking that Gaia, the Counter Force of the planet, was opposing Gilgamesh’s power to destroy the World.
Then, she understood.
Right now, the Heroic Spirit fighting Gilgamesh in the southern desert was at least as powerful as he was. It was a being outside the rules of the game.

…

Enkidu’s manifestation as a Lancer was probably due to his Noble Phantasm.
However, it was not quite accurate to call it a Noble Phantasm.
It was a Chisel to tie the bond between gods and men. This was Enkidu’s true nature.

…

It could also be said that his Noble Phantasm — an attack that used his own body as a weapon — was best personified by a Lancer.
He would simply puncture the World and stitch it back together.
If a wall existed in the chasm between Heaven and Earth, he existed to pierce that concept.

…

In the instant that an attack to destroy Eternity drew near—
The planet sang.
A gigantic amount of mana gushed forth at Enkidu’s feet, and moved to swallow Enuma Elish head-on.
“Don’t hold back.”
Those words were not directed at the Heroic Spirit he was facing.
As the King of Heroes had spoken to Ea, so too did Enkidu speak to the massive amount of mana engulfing the Void cracks in space. He spoke directly to the planet.
“I am a weapon. Wield me as you please.”
Instantly, enough mana surged forth to make the earlier flow seem like a mere trickle. Several times more mana geysered from the earth’s surface, becoming a cyclone of energy enveloping Enkidu’s body.
Then, the energy became a titanic lance of light to pierce Heaven and Earth, with the Heroic Spirit as its core.

…

ENUMA ELISH!!!
O Humanity, Bind Thy Gods
Whilst destruction had been loosed upon the earth, a mighty strike hurtled toward the sky.
Enkidu, The Chisel of the Gods, stitched the sundered World anew as it drove a straight line at its target, meeting the world-tearing Sword of Rupture in a violent clash.

…

The Pale Rider silently continued to protect her. It acted to rid Tsubaki of her troubles.
For example, thunder and lightning had appeared in the dream world, so the Pale Rider was wriggling its way into the real world, to dispel the distortion in reality.
The Pale Rider had no emotion, just as humanity’s fear of disease would never die.
Therefore, it had no concept of destruction. Therefore, it had no fear.
It didn’t matter that the obstacles were so powerful they could well be the trials described in the Book of Revelation.

…

Reality — Desert Region
Power and power.
Noble Phantasm and Noble Phantasm.
Divinity and weaponry.
When the two extremes crashed into each other, the spatial distortion blasted the surroundings asunder.
In the interstice between the two attacks, an immense struggle of energies commenced.
In the distant past, the Sacred Prostitute watched the heroes clash from the ancient city of Uruk, speaking these words in a daze:
“I felt as if the World was born seven times, and destroyed seven times.”
In the midst of such swirling power, the two Heroic Spirits never ceased smiling.
It was not as if they could spare a moment to laugh. If either one let his guard down for even a moment, his body would be rendered unto oblivion. Both of them knew that.

…

Their friendly battle just happened to involve everything around them.
Besides, the energies of the two Noble Phantasms cancelled each other out, and dispersed into the surroundings.
Though, this “dispersion” left tornadoes that ripped and tore their way into the surrounding landscape.

Enuma Elish (Gilgamesh) vs Enuma Elish (Enkidu) round 2. Ea was further strengthened by the power of Gate of Babylon’s Noble Phantasms. This final clash held even greater power than before, so much so they didn’t cancel the fallout of the clashing out entirely and scarred the desert land.

With a broad grin, Gil raised Ea again. In response, the Noble Phantasms scattered about the area roared. Ea, strengthened by the power of the Noble Phantasms, twisted the World once more.
“This will be my final blow tonight. Accept this in place of a contract for our reunion.”
“Of course.”
Enkidu fused with the earth again, and spoke while gathering power in his body.
“I’ll run away right after that. Though I feel bad for Ea, using it as a smokescreen.”
“Don’t jest. Is not all of Creation blinded by my power?”
Then, the two smiled again, and in the next instant—
With even greater power than before, the two Enuma Elish, the two creation epics, met and left their marks on the world.
The sight left scars on this desert land, and in the hearts of most of the watching magi, that even time would find difficult to heal.

…

The epicenter of the fierce clash between magical energies was observed in a far-off country — it was noted in the Clock Tower, headquarters of the Magic Association.
No one had died this time, but both the Magic Association and the Holy Church, who had planned to only quietly observe the ritual, revised their plans. This flow of mana had been outside of their jurisdictions.

...

As he left the room, a monitor displayed a view from a helicopter. It was the evidence of a clash between two Heroic Spirits — carved into the earth and baked into glass by extreme heat and pressure was a massive crater, several kilometers across.

Age of Babylon

vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake Manga.

Gilgamesh’s Unrestrained Gate of Babylon vs Enkidu’s Age of Babylon. Essentially an even clash between thousands of ultimate attacks/trump cards/Noble Phantasms from Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

Countless tentacles stirred from the sand, as if they were a part of Enkidu’s body.
In response, Gilgamesh again used his Noble Phantasm to float into the sky. Then, his treasury — the King’s Treasures, Gate of Babylon — opened in the space behind him, and dozens, then hundreds of Noble Phantasms emerged.
Simultaneously, the ends of Enkidu’s earth tentacles transformed into countless different weapons, from spears, to swords, to bows.
One breath later, over a thousand projectiles thundered into each other.
The cacophony of clashing metal rang out over the windy battlefield.
Only two Heroic Spirits stood there.
Still, the clash between the two Heroic Spirits, each an army unto itself, was so violent that it could only be called a battlefield.
The collected Noble Phantasms of the most ancient hero, said to be the prototypes of all Noble Phantasms, were innumerable.
Weapons that would be the ultimate trump cards of ordinary Heroic Spirits were hurled forth without reserve.
To counter this, Enkidu became one with the earth, transformed the body given to him by the gods, and created countless divine weapons.
It was a furious, inexhaustible exchange of ultimate attacks.

…

A chill wind blew behind Enkidu.
While continuing to control countless weapons of sand, he looked to the north.

…

While continuing to shoot down the torrent of Noble Phantasms with his tentacles as if nothing had changed, Enkidu tried to soothe the irritated king.

vs Richard the Lionheart

Richard evaluates the weapons Enkidu is producing with Age of Babylon to be represents the pinnacle of human craftsmanship, he takes this to mean Enkidu was a great hero

“...More impressive than I expected. You must be an incredible Heroic Spirit. All those weapons growing out of the ground... and every one of them represents the pinnacle of human craftsmanship. To have all of them pointed at me...” Saber broke off with a little laugh. Then another, and another, and an instant later, he loosed his pent-up fire in a peal of wild laughter.
“Superb! You must be a great hero! There could be no greater honor! We give Our heartfelt thanks to you, to the Holy Grail... and to Avalon, the far-off paradise of the forefather of Our nation’s kings, for granting me the opportunity to challenge a legend who walked the earth in the age of the gods!”

Enkidu readies to fire his Age of Babylon by pouring magical energy into it. Richard, sans Sword, charges into the weapons Enkidu fires. Richard’s original sword was purely ornamental. Allusions to Richard’s “Excalibur” and how it came to be.

As if in answer to Saber’s sudden excitement, the long-haired Heroic Spirit smiled and began pouring powerful magical energy into the ground and the numerous “Noble Phantasms” stabbing out of it.
Ayaka gasped.
Wait a minute! The police confiscated his sword... and it’s still at the station, so... he’s bare-handed! And he’s not even wearing his armor!

…

Ignoring Ayaka’s panicked attempts to stop him, the long-haired Heroic Spirit fired all his weapons from the ground in unison.
At the same time, Saber gave the ground a powerful kick and launched himself into the swarm of blades. As he charged, still elated, he uttered a single, joy-filled sentence:
“Now... let’s get started.”

…

“Well, Caster? Have you learned anything from the sword I sent you?”
The response the chief of police got from the Heroic Spirit on the other end of the telephone sounded exasperated.
“To hell with it all. This thing’s not a Noble Phantasm; it’s just a fancy-lookin’ sword. I do like the design, though. Can I keep it?”
The chief had sent Dumas the ornamental sword that Saber had left in the police station.

...

“More importantly, he apparently fired lightning-like blasts from that sword, destroying falling rubble from the opera house. The officers who witnessed it have already undergone memory manipulation, but one of them even described it as resembling a ‘beam cannon.’”
The chief had surmised that the power of that sword had also been responsible for destroying the ceiling of the opera house in the first place. As far as he had been able to judge, it was no more than an ornate sword.

…

“Yeah. And speaking of Lionheart, guy was a huge King Arthur fan. Grew up hearing legends about Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table for bedtime stories. His court minstrels were always singing about how great Arthur was, too. Guy was a bit of a prodigal son when he was younger, and some even say he roamed all over the place looking for relics of King Arthur.”
“I’ve heard that as well.”
The chief considered it just another of the anecdotes with which later generations inevitably embellish the life of any hero and did not put much importance on it. Caster’s response, however, was almost grave.
“Minstrel culture grew out of techniques for passing on the oral traditions of the druidic mysteries to posterity... Or so one theory has it. Either way, you’d best not underestimate contemporary song and poetry. If you make someone here something every night as a bedtime story, it’s plenty possible for it to alter their soul like a curse, or a blessing.”
“...Isn’t Richard the Lionheart a hero from an age of relatively weak mystery?”
“I’m sure it was, on the continent. But while he may’ve been from modern France, it’s England he was king of, and England’s an island nation. Hard for the mystery to leak out when you’re surrounded by water. I wouldn’t be too strange if he touched some of it while he was alive and kicking. The ‘Clock Tower,’ one of the big mage headquarters, is there right now. That ought to give you an idea.”

…

“They called him... ‘The Wandering King.’”

…

“I don’t understand,” the chief asked doubtfully. “Where did Richard the Lionheart wander, then?”
“Over the border between history... and myth.”
“...”
There was power in those simple words. Enough to make the chief fall silent in spite of himself.
“Means he was the last king with one foot in an age when faeries and runes were still out in the open. Not something you want to take lightly.”

Richard’s charge vs Enkidu’s Age of Babylon. Enkidu’s physically stronger, Richard’s slightly faster. Ayaka considered the exchange between the two to not just be metaphorically “lightning quick” as it reminded her of actual flashes of lightning.

There is an expression, “lightning quick.”
It is normally intended metaphorically, but the scene that burned itself into Ayaka’s eyes in that instant was so intense that it really did remind her of flashes of lightning.
Innumerable weapons, born from the Earth, launched themselves into the air. Threading his way through all of them, Saber closed in on the long-haired Heroic Spirit and unleashed a sharp right hook.
His opponent quickly dodged back, but Saber stepped in to match him and threw out a slanting left uppercut.
Again the Heroic Spirit dodged, but Saber’s fist past through a lock of his waving hair, and several strands fell, neatly severed, to the ground. The force of the blow had turned Saber’s fist into a blade sharp enough the slice through hair swaying in the breeze.
Saber kept up his advance, sidestepping the tendrils of earth his opponent threw at him, and occasionally using even the weapons at their tips as stepping stones. All the while unleashing a flurry of blows worthy of a pro boxer.
The long-haired Heroic Spirit was impressive in his own right. He continued to repel the vicious fists closing in on him with perfect timing.
Saber had the slight edge in actual speed, but his opponent appeared to have the better of him in immediate physical strength and deadened Saber’s speed to the extent that he knocked his blows aside. The result was an even contest.
Another volley of earthen weapons flew at Saber, causing him to fall back and make a fresh start.

Richard picks up a tree branch while evading Age of Babylon. Enkidu sends another volley at Richard so dense that it did not seem possible Richard could evade them all even with his speed. Richard’s Excalibur blast with the branch counters the Age of Babylon volley by vaporizing it. Exposition on Richard’s Excalibur.

Scanning the ground, he bent down — evading tendrils of earth and flying weapons all the while — and with one hand lifted a thick tree branch lying beside him. Then, pointing it at Lancer, he grinned.

…

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Ayaka’s cheek. As if at its signal, another massive volley of weapons launched from the earth, their points trained on Saber, who was brandishing his branch. The blades were so densely packed that it did not seem possible he could evade them all, even at the speed he had just been moving.
To Ayaka, the situation looked desperate.
The next instant, however, the scream that had been about to escape her throat was intercepted by an even greater shock:
What should have been an ordinary branch had begun to give off a dazzling light.

…

“You see, old Coeur de Lion took his Arthur-mania too far. Didn’t even matter if he was on the battlefield or going about his daily business... Apparently he named every sword he ever owned ‘Excalibur.’ By the end it wasn’t just swords; everything he could hold in his hand and fight with was ‘Excalibur.’
“Even the knife he used for cutting up his food, or a rolled-up parchment... or a stick he found lying on the ground.”

…

“Ex... calibur!”
That must have been the third time Ayaka had seen that light. The brilliant slash that had collapsed the opera house ceiling and cut through the falling rubble in front of the police officers.
This time the streak of light was smaller than it had been then, but the compressed heat wiped out the myriad of weapons hurtling toward Saber in an instant.

…

They both gradually relaxed as they conversed. Finally, Saber lowered his branch. No sooner had the magical energy coiled about it dissipated than the wood crumbled to dust.
“Oh, I knew it,” Saber sighed. “Once is the limit with wood.”

Boundary Field Creation

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Enkidu commands the forest their Master is in to form some kind of natural magical barrier to protect it.

Seconds Earlier — Western Snowfield — Large Forest
“Master, I’d like you to wait here… just for a little while.”
Enkidu brushed the cheek of the silver wolf, who looked at him with anxious eyes. Then, he knelt on one knee before his Master, and softly splayed his fingers in the earth.
“It will be all right.”
As Enkidu smiled, the surrounding trees began to rustle.
“The forest will protect you.”
They were suddenly concealed from the sky by a frantic movement of branches and leaves, and powerful mystic energy began to flow into the earth. It was as if the forest had a will completely of its own, and deliberately formed a natural magical barrier.
“I have to go. If I meet him here, the forest would be killed, and I’d have no way to protect you. Can you forgive me?”

…

“What’s going on?”
“The flow of mana has changed. It is likely that the woods are now under its control.”
As he said this, Faldeus felt an enormous power streaming through the forest. Silently, without harming the woods, it moved as if gliding upon the earth. One could even call it the wind.
In awe of the presence of this Heroic Spirit that had become one with the forest, Faldeus confirmed its bearing, and then issued orders to his subordinates.
“...As you withdraw, stay as far away from the desert as possible. We’ll deploy UAVs and familiars in that area.”

Enkidu turns the forest into a Boundary Field and senses a strange presence with his Presence Detection.

“...I sense a strange presence.”
Enkidu, the Lancer Heroic Spirit, who had spent a day with the silver wolf who was his Master turning the forest into a Bounded Field, sensed a disturbance in mana flowing from the city, and muttered wonderingly.
“Seven souls in service around one powerful one. And another strange soul beside them. I wonder what they could be.”

Enkidu’s power was making the forest surrounding Snowfield shift as if it were one creature.

“It seems my friend is in quite a festive mood as well,” he chuckled, looking out at the great forest that extended as far as the eye could see. “I mean, making such a vast wood dance...”
Tine, hearing those words, looked toward the forest as well. As one of the Protectors of the Land, she soon realized what was happening. The whole forest was shifting and rustling as if it was a single creature.

Zealot’s Meditative Sensitivity vs Enkidu’s Forest Boundary Field. Exposition on how Enkidu’s Boundary Field behaves.

Assassin had been wandering in the forest for half a day now. She was sure she had chosen the shortest route back to the city, but for some reason she could not seem to get clear of the trees. After using Meditative Sensitivity: Zabaniya to make sure of the surrounding terrain, she had arrived at a troubling conclusion — it seemed that the entire forest was shifting in obedience to someone’s will. The terrain would shift slightly, and even her orientation would change. With a liberal use of Meditative Sensitivity, she would be able to escape the forest easily. Then an idea struck her.

…

With that thought in mind, Assassin advanced cautiously toward where the magical energy was thickest. At last, she came in sight of two Heroic Spirits, squaring off among the trees.

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart vs Enkidu’s Boundary Field and Enkidu’s ability to perceive it.

“You’ve done well to make it this far, although I doubt you could have managed it unless you are loved by the forest, or have some special power.”
“I got Locksley — a friend of mine — to show me the way.”
“Oh? I see. You do appear to have a lot of friends.”
Saber answered Lancer’s words with a broad grin.
“You can see them?”
“A little.”

Transfiguration

Nasu on Enkidu’s stat parameters circa Strange Fake Volume 2

Now, when the first book came out I received a lot of letters, etc., asking, “I know Enkidu’s stats change, but what about his fundamental point total?” I vividly remember consulting with Nasu-san before it went on sale.
Me: “About Enkidu’s stats, he has ‘Transfiguration,’ so I wanted to set his point total...”
Nasu: “Hmm. He is Enkidu, and he’s A rank, so all As.”
Me: “All As!? But isn’t that even higher than Berserker in the 5th!? Everyone’s going to say, ‘Heroic Spirit favoritism! He’s a Mary Sue!’ (A general term for ‘Here’s my ultimate OC who’s way stronger and more popular and luckier than all the characters in the original work! Yahoo!’-type characters in fan works, etc.)”
Nasu: “Don’t let it get to you.”
Me: “But, I mean, all As is even higher than Karna.”
Nasu: “Don’t let it get to you.”
Me: “To be honest, it’s so high that even I think his stats are too exaggerated...”
Nasu: “I said, don’t let it get to you!”
Me: “Eep!”
Nasu: “If you think about it the other way, it’s Nemes*s... All As is his base, and if he raises his strength to A+, another stat goes down two ranks...”
Me: “What cool-headed and precise worldbuilding...!”
Nasu: “And if... (etc., etc.)”
The editorial supervision I received was along those lines. As a result, please consider that, as of book 1, Enkidu’s total stat points are hovering at “a little less than all As.” But if his Master, the silver wolf, completely recovers, then even all As aren’t just a dream. (The “etc., etc.” is still a secret.)

Presence Detection

Enkidu’s presence detection allows him to perceive Gilgamesh at a large distance away.

Suddenly, it turned to look northwards.
Using its class ability, Presence Detection —it detected a presence far, far to the north. A very familiar presence.
Indeed, it detected the presence right as the golden-armored Heroic Spirit walked out of the cave.

Enkidu’s Presence Detection senses Pale Rider

A chill wind blew behind Enkidu.
While continuing to control countless weapons of sand, he looked to the north.
“It’s coming.”
“Oh?”
Sensing that it was no bluff, Gilgamesh also turned his attention northward, but he could feel nothing.
It was probably because Enkidu possessed the highest level of Presence Detection that he was able to pick up on the subtle presence.
Originally, neither Gilgamesh nor Enkidu would have paid such a feeble aura any mind. In fact, they had completely ignored the familiars spread out across the area.
But this was different.
It was far fainter than the birds and insects that served as familiars. A strangely weak presence.
Enkidu instinctively felt a bizarre pressure from the aura.
“...Something terrible is coming. It’s probably the sort that’s my natural enemy.”

Enkidu turns the forest into a Boundary Field and senses a strange presence with his Presence Detection.

“...I sense a strange presence.”
Enkidu, the Lancer Heroic Spirit, who had spent a day with the silver wolf who was his Master turning the forest into a Bounded Field, sensed a disturbance in mana flowing from the city, and muttered wonderingly.
“Seven souls in service around one powerful one. And another strange soul beside them. I wonder what they could be.”

Enkidu’s Presence Detection lets him sense Gilgamesh and Alcides are fighting and that they’re equally powerful. It also lets him sense Hipplyta.

“Gil... seems to be fighting someone strong...”
Enkidu abruptly stopped what he was doing and turned his gaze to the northeast of the forest. It was merely an expanse of tress, but Enkidu could see something else. Using his Sense Presence skill, he was able to sense Gil’s strong aura from afar, as well as another, equally powerful presence.

…

“Oh?”
With the result that, barely a few minutes later, he sensed another abnormality. Another, entirely different presence had suddenly appeared right beside where his friend and the other were fighting.
“Another presence... and another strong one.”

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart vs Enkidu’s Boundary Field and Enkidu’s ability to perceive it.

“You’ve done well to make it this far, although I doubt you could have managed it unless you are loved by the forest, or have some special power.”
“I got Locksley — a friend of mine — to show me the way.”
“Oh? I see. You do appear to have a lot of friends.”
Saber answered Lancer’s words with a broad grin.
“You can see them?”
“A little.”

Enkidu senses the summons of Sigma’s Servants

“...”
Enkidu, who possessed the highest class of the “sense presence” skill, sensed a certain “abnormality.” He did not, however, think that it might be due to the summoning of a Heroic Spirit.
He narrowed his eyes slightly, and cast them apologetically down at the ground.
“I wonder... if I’ve angered them a little.”
The only one to hear the Heroic Spirit’s words was the silver wolf crouched beside him.
Without anyone to understand them, Enkidu’s words were absorbed into the dense foliage.

Enkidu detects/senses Zealot’s presence despite Presence Concealment. Not even Richard noticed her.

Lancer placed a wild fruit in Saber’s outstretched hand, then turned to the trees a short distance away, and asked again.
“Would you like some as well? You’ve been watching us for some time; you must be hungry.”
“...Huh?”
“What?”
Ayaka and Saber turned, wide-eyed, just in time to see a lone figure emerge from the trees. It was the black-clad Heroic Spirit who had been present when Ayaka and Saber first met.
“Ah!”
“I’m surprised. Not even I noticed her,” Saber said, steeling every nerve in his body to fight at any moment.

Not even Enkidu can detect Filia/Ishtar or Humbaba

“She’s completely isolating her presence. She’s also utilizing her power in spite of that, so she
must be remarkable. It isn’t just Watcher; even Enkidu, who possesses presence-detection abilities
of the highest level, hasn’t noticed her existence, or that of Haruri’s Heroic Spirit.”

Perfect Form

The shell of magical energy surrounding Gilgamesh was powerful enough to melt Enkidu’s skin, Enkidu subsequently regenerated.

Without answering Tine’s question, Enkidu stared at his friend’s corpse, enveloped in a shell of magical energy drawn from the land’s leylines, and murmured:
“It’s like the cages of the underworld. What would Ereshkigal say if she saw this . . .?”
Then, he reached out a hand into that shell.
His skin melted and peeled back on contact with the torrent of magical energy, but Enkidu instantly regenerated it as he touched his hand to Gil’s chest in its center.

Physical strength, speed, and durability?

Enkidu vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Original Myth

Description of first fight between Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

And then, the doll, now endowed with the body and the wisdom of a human, stood before that mighty king.
They fought a battle that shook the heavens and the earth, and once the battle was over, each acknowledged the other’s strength.

Richard and Enkidu are mutually impressed by eachother. Richard surmises Enkidu only used half their power. More allusions to Gilgamesh and Enkidu fighting for 3 days and nights straight with no settled victor.

“This much power with a tree branch... I’m shocked.”
“And? Do I pass the test?” Saber asked without lessening the power he was putting into the branch. “From what I can see, you’re not using even half of your real strength.”
Saber did not know who Lancer was, but those few minutes had been enough to convince him that Lancer was exceptional even among Heroic Spirits, himself included.
“You are strong. I don’t know what my friend will say, but I think we’ll manage if you run while I hold him off if it comes to that.”
“...Is this ‘friend’ even stronger than you?”
“He might be. In the old days we fought for three days and three nights without settling it.”

Richard compares Gilgamesh to Enkidu and notes Richard himself has no chance against Gilgamesh

The golden Heroic Spirit probably far outclassed him. The strength of his Spirit Origin rivaled
that of the beautiful Lancer Richard had met in the forest. He could tell at a glance that he
had no chance of winning if they fought head-on.

Here, a depiction of the collateral from the Strange Fake manga.

Here, Gilgamesh avoids Enkidu's Age of Babylon. Here, Enkidu repels GIlgamesh's Gate of Babylon Noble Phantasm fire. Here, Gilgamesh and Enkidu physically clash evenly.

False Grail War First Battle (Fate/Strange Fake)

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake Manga.

Gilgamesh pulls Ea from the Gate of Babylon, he disappears from sight to fight Enkidu. Enkidu does much the same to fight Gilgamesh.

Night — Northern Snowfield — Wide Valley

...

While he spoke, the distortion in space converged on a single point.
A single sword emerged from the distortion in front of Gilgamesh. It was nothing like the earlier key-sword, but it was certainly no normal weapon. The sword had a strangely shaped blade.
As if enjoying himself, Gilgamesh spoke directly to the sword.
“O Ea. It may be unpleasant to wake from your slumber, but I shall soon provide you with a feast.”
An instant later, the King of Heroes moved.
“No, you won’t be bored. No one will."
He was graceful in every gesture, and arrogant in all respects.
Then, taking a stride filled with unconcealable jubilation, Gilgamesh’s figure suddenly vanished from sight.
With a single step, he had gone somewhere else.
That was all he did, but even to Tiné who was learned in magic, Gilgamesh’s gesture was imbued with an overwhelming fire she had never experienced before, and perhaps might never again.

…

Seconds Earlier — Western Snowfield — Large Forest

…

At the same time that Gilgamesh had disappeared from the company of Tiné and her allies, Enkidu also made a single stride on the earth.
He was as modest as the wind, and as pious as a spring. Having said that, the joy expressed in Enkidu’s powerful footsteps was no less than that of the King of Heroes.
“...This is bad. Let’s leave the forest.”
Faldeus, sensing an anomaly, ordered his men to retreat over the radio.

...

Then, in the skies high above Snowfield, a great force seemed to disrupt the atmosphere, and something of equally monumental power passed through.
Faldeus felt this flow of power several seconds after he issued the order to retreat.
“Could it be?”
Was something happening there?
After calculating the possibilities, Faldeus came to a solution, and rejected it..
Or rather, he hoped that it wasn’t true.
“We haven’t even begun to grasp their power… do they intend to start already?”

…

Southern Snowfield — Desert Region
There was an expansive desert to the south of the city.
It wasn’t as large as the deserts of Colorado or Arizona, but it continued as far as the eye could see from the city, and someone who wandered in carelessly could easily be stranded.
In the middle of this desert, they faced each other.
From here, the forest and the city were no longer visible, and there was nothing but sandy ground, save for some sparse desert-adapted flora.
The Heroic Spirit of the spear, Enkidu, had arrived earlier, and was quietly gazing at the night sky.
There, a golden figure hovered in the air, as if to smother the countless twinkling stars. The Heroic Spirit of the bow was clad in golden armor, and he gripped something in his hand.

Gilgamesh and Enkidu, had they not been interrupted, would have fought for 3 days and nights straight.

“Yes. I shall tell you about him sometime, if the mood takes me. Still, our reunion banquet was quite replete. If only we had not been interrupted, we would have gone on for three days and three nights.”
That tremendous battle... for three whole days...
Gilgamesh’s words made Tine feel faint, and nervous sweat ran down her back. It was no joke; if the King of Heroes said so, then he really could fight for three days and three nights. If there was any reason he could not, it would be because she was his Master.

Enkidu vs Richard the Lionheart

Richard’s charge vs Enkidu’s Age of Babylon. Enkidu’s physically stronger, Richard’s slightly faster. Ayaka considered the exchange between the two to not just be metaphorically “lightning quick” as it reminded her of actual flashes of lightning.

There is an expression, “lightning quick.”
It is normally intended metaphorically, but the scene that burned itself into Ayaka’s eyes in that instant was so intense that it really did remind her of flashes of lightning.
Innumerable weapons, born from the Earth, launched themselves into the air. Threading his way through all of them, Saber closed in on the long-haired Heroic Spirit and unleashed a sharp right hook.
His opponent quickly dodged back, but Saber stepped in to match him and threw out a slanting left uppercut.
Again the Heroic Spirit dodged, but Saber’s fist past through a lock of his waving hair, and several strands fell, neatly severed, to the ground. The force of the blow had turned Saber’s fist into a blade sharp enough the slice through hair swaying in the breeze.
Saber kept up his advance, sidestepping the tendrils of earth his opponent threw at him, and occasionally using even the weapons at their tips as stepping stones. All the while unleashing a flurry of blows worthy of a pro boxer.
The long-haired Heroic Spirit was impressive in his own right. He continued to repel the vicious fists closing in on him with perfect timing.
Saber had the slight edge in actual speed, but his opponent appeared to have the better of him in immediate physical strength and deadened Saber’s speed to the extent that he knocked his blows aside. The result was an even contest.
Another volley of earthen weapons flew at Saber, causing him to fall back and make a fresh start.

Enkidu’s surprised Richard’s faster, Richard alludes to his Rounds of Lionheart casting reinforcement magecraft on himself. Apparently Richard taught himself boxing from just watching it from a movie combined with his own previous combat style.

“You’re fast. I’m surprised; I didn’t think you’d be faster than me. Was that reinforcement magecraft?”
The long-haired Heroic Spirit shook his head in amusement.
“Well, it isn’t mine,” Saber answered, his eyes still blazing. “More importantly... it looks like I really can’t get through to you with my fists.”
“So the magecraft is your ‘friend’s’ doing... Have you studied boxing as well?”
“A little. I tried combining techniques I saw in a movie earlier today with the fighting I’ve learned, but I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. I can’t go killing someone I’m trying to forge an alliance with, so I thought I’d try knocking you out with a punch, but...”
“Moving like you just did after only a little training and spectating is quite impressive in its own right,” the long-haired Servant laughed, and his presence subtly altered.

Enkidu decides to crank up the difficulty, Ayaka surmises Richard is faster than Zealot.

“I’m going to come at you a little more seriously, as a member of the Lancer class,” the Heroic spirit addressed him.
“Saber. Pleased to meet you.”
Once they had announced their classes, both grinned broadly and sprang into action.
Again, the sight of the exchange seared itself into Ayaka’s eyes like dancing sparks.
She recalled what Saber had said when the black-robed woman had leapt around the opera house fast enough to leave afterimages in her wake:
“I’ve never seen anyone lighter-footed than Loxley before!”
Ayaka did not know much about lightness of foot, but when it came to pure, instantaneous speed, she suspected he outpaced the woman in black.

Enkidu raises his speed via Transfiguration reducing both his Endurance and Magic Energy by a rank each. His strength remains the same as he’s now as fast as Richard and slowly pushing him back with his physical might.

Saber, meanwhile, had doubts of his own as he threw out flurries of punches.
What conjuring trick is this? This Heroic Spirit’s even faster than he was before...!
He had no way of knowing, but when Lancer’s aura had changed a moment earlier, he had used his Transfiguration skill to lower his endurance and magical power by one rank each and boost his agility.
They were now equals in speed, but, as Lancer had not lowered his strength, his deft strikes were gradually pushing back Saber’s rapid blows.

Richard launches a magic infused drop of water at Enkidu, basically functions as a flash grenade with some kick and pushes Enkidu back.

The next instant, Saber’s right hand threw a water droplet infused with magical energy instead of a punch, releasing a flash of light and creating distance between him and his opponent. He used that distance, however, not to launch another attack on Lancer, but to retreat further himself.

Richard rushes into Enkidu’s guard and slashes at them with the branch still lit up by the vestiges of light of Excalibur, Enkidu Transmutes his hand and catches the strike by turning his fingers into blades and half-burying them into the Excalibur branch.

He kicked off the ground with the same speed as before, and a moment later he was inside Lancer’s guard. He swung the branch, still coated in vestiges of light, to cut down the startled Lancer.
That blow, however, was intercepted by the supposedly bare-handed Lancer.
“Man... Those look like they’d come in handy for cracking walnuts.”
Saber sounded impressed. He was looking at the right hand Lancer had used to block the tree branch. Lancer had turned his fingers into sharp blades and skillfully stopped Saber’s slash by half-burying them in the branch through its thick coating of magical energy.

Richard and Enkidu are mutually impressed by each other. Richard surmises Enkidu only used half their power. More allusions to Gilgamesh and Enkidu fighting for 3 days and nights straight with no settled victor.

“This much power with a tree branch... I’m shocked.”
“And? Do I pass the test?” Saber asked without lessening the power he was putting into the branch. “From what I can see, you’re not using even half of your real strength.”
Saber did not know who Lancer was, but those few minutes had been enough to convince him that Lancer was exceptional even among Heroic Spirits, himself included.
“You are strong. I don’t know what my friend will say, but I think we’ll manage if you run while I hold him off if it comes to that.”
“...Is this ‘friend’ even stronger than you?”
“He might be. In the old days we fought for three days and three nights without settling it.”

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Richard the Lionheart?

Spoiler

Source

Translation

Class: Saber
Master(?): Ayaka Sajou
Name: Richard I [The Lionheart]
Gender: Male
Height/Weight: 178cm/66kg
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Strenght: B
Endurance: B
Agility EX(B to A++)
Magic: B
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: A

Class Skills:
Magic Resistance: B
Riding: A

Personal Skills:
Lion Heart: A
A Skill the embodies the name Lionheart. The bravery not to fear anything, turned into a Skill. It invokes fear and wariness into enemies and raises the morale of allies.

Talented in Every Field: A
From his stories of displaying talent in multiple fields, like martial arts, fine arts, and sexual affairs. He can do anything he practiced when he was alive at B Rank or higher, and learns faster than normal for matter he only just got started.

Godspeed: A
The technical skills engraved in his Saint Graph from the extent of his marches and from his almost lightning speed on the battlefield. The longer the battle continues, the more his Agility stat increases.

——————————

Noble Phantasms:

Excalibur (Ever Distant Sword of Victory)
Rank: D to A+
Type: Anti-Army Noble Phantasm
Range: 1 to 99
Max. Targets: 1 to 1000
A Mystery he obtained during his life, as result of his idolization of King Arthur and his life-long wishes to be his successor. Its power forcefully names any weapon he picks up “Excalibur” and turns it into a Noble Phantasm. He can treat all forms of picked weapons as Excalibur. It’s power level changes according the weapon used, but it will never reach the level of the real Holy Sword of the Planet. Not even if he is holding the real Excalibur in his hands.

Rounds of Leonhart (Play the Lion’s Melody on the Round Cross)
Rank: A
Type: Anti-Army Noble Phantasm
Range: -
Max. Targets: -
A Noble Phantasm that manifests people he was connected with during his life as attendants (or in many other forms, like instructors or retinues) by using his own Saint Graph as a catalyst. The number that can be called varies according to the Master’s mana reserves and aptitude of the land where he was summoned. It can summon Heroic Spirits recorded in the Throne, but they will manifest very weakened compared to their regularly summoned forms. They can be of help to Richard, but they actually consume a huge amount of mana to stay manifested, so in most cases it’s impossible to manage them as normal Heroic Spirits.

Noble Phantasms not withstanding, Jester evaluates Zealot’s chances against Richard in a head on fight to be slim.

He could say with certainty that there was something unusual about the Heroic Spirit who appeared to be Saber. As far as Assassin’s Master was concerned, she had had slim chance of victory, Nobel Phantasms excluded.
“You would almost certainly have lost in a head-to-head firefight. But not to fear; you are an assassin. Seek your opening from the shadows, and deal him certain death from behind! Upholding the honor of what you believe in through such dishonorable means is your very way of life!”

Richard senses Jester and relates that he had fought a Dead Apostle during the Crusades.

Saber was walking down a corridor in an area a long way from the lobby, when he suddenly stopped, and turned to look at something. He was staring in the direction of the lobby where the chief and his officers were fighting, but he had no way of knowing that.
“What’s the matter?” Ayaka asked.
Saber narrowed his eyes slightly, and answered:
“...I sense the presence of a monster.”
“A monster?”
“...Yes. It’s an old story.” There was a hint of sadness in his expression, rare for a man who usually exuded a wild air. “It was during a war. Monsters forced their way into a battle between me and my rival, slaughtering men of both camps. I sense a similar presence now.”
“I don’t really get it, but does that mean a monster got summoned as a Heroic Spirit?”
“No, I don’t think so. It’s not a Heroic Spirit. I don’t know whether or not they can even go to the Throne in the first place.”
Saber, experiencing a sense of foreboding, determined to be more wary of his surroundings and get Ayaka outside as fast as he could. He recalled those monsters’ peculiarities as he began to walk, and continued:
“To make a long story short... in your culture, they would probably be called ‘vampires.’”

Richard senses Enkidu

Once they had said their thanks to the mohawk man and his bandmates and left the club, Saber had suddenly announced:
“Alright, let’s ally with someone.”
After that, they had entered the forest, from which he claimed to sense the presence of a Heroic Spirit particularly strongly, and encountered a long-haired Servant beautiful enough to take Ayaka’s breath away, although she could not tell if they were a man or a woman. Saber had launched into conversation with considerable familiarity for a first meeting, but the other did not appear to take offense.

Richard alludes to a fight he had with a Dead Apostle during the Crusades and how he fought alongside Saladin and the Hassan-I-Sabbah of his era.

“If it harms humans,” Saber answered seriously. “When I was alive, one of their kind not only interrupted a battle between me and my distinguished rival, but also slew a number of my followers...”
Saber paused. He sounded both nostalgic and regretful for the past. He seemed to resolve himself before continuing.
“Although that time, my rival — with whom I had planned to have an interview on the battlefield — and I... along with your chief, the ‘Old Man of the Mountain,’ somehow managed to destroy the creature together.”
“...I have heard the story. How... terrifying you must have been at that time.”

Richard compares Gilgamesh to Enkidu and notes Richard himself has no chance against Gilgamesh

The golden Heroic Spirit probably far outclassed him. The strength of his Spirit Origin rivaled
that of the beautiful Lancer Richard had met in the forest. He could tell at a glance that he
had no chance of winning if they fought head-on.

Richard evaluates From Hell Alcides to be beyond himself too

And then there was the grotesque bowman with demon’s horns sprouting from his head, with whom he had conversed earlier. He could tell that this Heroic Spirit was likewise so powerful that he had no hope.

Alcides considers Richard fast, about as fast as Hippolyta and outmatches Alcides himself. From Richard’s speed alone, Alcides deems Richard worth caution depending on his Noble Phantasm.

“...He’s fast.”
The grotesque bowman, Alkeides, kept his distance and observed the new contender’s capabilities with a cool gaze that belied his wild appearance.
His dexterity was probably about on par with the Amazon Rider’s on horseback.
Alkeides could sense no divinity from him, which told him that the Heroic Spirit had been formed as a pure human.
His speed, however, surpassed human limitations and the magical energy that swirled around him was shrouded in a strange magical energy that was neither human nor divine.
He isn’t strong enough to make my blood run cold. But purely in terms of speed, he may outmatch me. Depending on his Noble Phantasm, he merits caution.

Tine compares Richard to Hippolyta, possibly being a bit beyond her.

Even going by what she could see of Saber through her far-seeing spell, his Spirit Origin did not seem to be a match for the King of Heroes or Alkeides. It struck her as being on the same level as the Amazon queen who had called herself Hippolyte or perhaps a little higher.

Flat compares how Richard moves/dodges to infinitely executing a dodge and animation cancel.

“Wow... That gold guy’s attacks are cheating, but that guy who’s dodging them is almost as bad! It’s like he’s doing an action game dodge infinitely and canceling every move he makes!”

Alcides reasoning for not just wantonly slaughtering Clan Calatin (he’s being cautious of Richard, Gilgamesh, Zealot, and Jester)

The grotesque bowman—Alkeides—was wary, not of the police force, but of other factors—Saber, who had appeared without warning, and the King of Heroes, who had entered combat with him. They were fighting each other for the moment, but there was no telling when they might turn their attacks on him. He could also sense another Heroic Spirit’s Spirit Origin on Saber’s side and the presence of the monster that had stopped his initial attack on the hospital with a “shield of water” had not vanished.
This was not a duel to be fought honorably; it was a never-ending melee in which one had to outwit one’s opponents and could not afford to show even the least opening at one’s back.
Alkeides understood that. He could slaughter the police force spreading out and attacking him in an instant, but he would have to proceed carefully to do it without creating an opening. That was because the police force possessed more than a certain level of power. What they had acquired, the resolve to risk their lives, had not been for nothing.

The amount of magical energy Ayaka is able to provide Richard is abnormal.

“Are you feeling all right, miss?” The overseer priest asked her quizzically.
“Huh...? Oh, now that you mention it, I do feel a little tired...”
“A little. I see...”
After a pause for thought, Hansa said:
“What are you, miss?”
“What?”
“The ability to provide a Heroic Spirit with that much magical energy isn’t normal. At the
very least, anyone short of a first-rate mage should have run dry by now, but you...”
“I don’t know what you mean... I don’t even really know what this ‘magical energy’ stuff is...”
Ayaka frowned, looking troubled. Hansa was observing her with great interest, when:

Gilgamesh has not only noticed Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart, but also notices something off about Richard’s Spirit Origin.

Saber laughed, blood trickling from the corners of his mouth.
“Mongrel...what do you hold within you?” The golden Heroic Spirit looked at him and asked
haughtily, without anger or disdain.
“...? What...do you mean?”
“I do not mean your retinue. I mean the foundation of your Spirit Origin.”

Excalibur

vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Richard picks up one of the Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon thrown weapons to wield for himself. He waxes on about the quality of it being amazing.

“I see, I see! So, blades as fine as these cause disasters just by sticking in the ground!” Richard called out, moving with incredible swiftness and seizing one of the Noble Phantasms lodged in the ground—a weapon in the shape of a long sword. “What magnificent workmanship! Just holding it makes me feel as if I had an army at my back! I don’t just mean the quantity of magical energy it contains; I mean this craftsmanship, this construction, this composition! It’s plain to see that even its least decoration is both simple and complete! If each of these arms is the work of the planet, they form both the headwaters and the fertile plains! Hey! Listen! This is marvelous! Are all these other weapons as fine?! And you toss them down like they were nothing! Where are you maharaja of? Oh, I tell you frankly and with respect: You are magnificent and I envy you!”

Richard’s Excalibur, launched without a true name release, carves a path through Gilgamesh’s onrushing Gate of Babylon assault

Richard readied the sword in his hand while contorting his body and slashed upward into the air with all his might. The radiance that overflowed from the arc of his swing scythed through the onrushing blades and created a new path for him to launch his own attack.

Richard was starting to counter Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon through sheer speed and his ability to swat away a few of Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon shots with Excalibur w/o a true name release. Richard was still getting faster.

Then, Tine gasped. In the image she saw through her far-seeing spell...Saber was still alive. In fact, he was beginning to counter the King of Heroes’ offensive.

…

“So fast...”
Tine Chelk was forced to realize that, as the Saber Class was hailed as the best, every Saber must have something “extraordinary” about them.

…

And yet, that Saber was still alive in the midst of a fierce onslaught from Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon. He was not countering every blow like the Lancer Gilgamesh called his friend, nor was he taking every blow like Alkeides, who was currently facing the police officers—Saber was continuing to evade the entire rain of weapons. He occasionally made the sword in his hand shine and struck away a few Noble Phantasms, but he kept those attacks to the bare minimum necessary.
If he was only running away, Tine could have understood it, but the strangest thing about that Saber’s actions was that they seemed clearly to be an “offensive,” not a retreat.
“It can’t be...”
Sweat ran down Tine’s brow as she watched Saber gradually closing in on Gilgamesh.
“He’s still...getting faster...?”

Gilgamesh retreats from and continues to fire at Richard, Richard uses Excalibur (named release), Gilgamesh defends himself with countless shields taken from the Gate of Babylon. The band of light from Excalibur was dissipated and the countless shields dispersed.

As good as declaring that he had only just begun, the golden king leapt backward while firing his Gate of Babylon in an effort to put more distance between himself and Saber.
But his efforts gave Saber the perfect opportunity.
“Ex...calibur!”
Saber’s sword shone, the arc of its swing becoming a massive band of light that flew at the airborne golden Archer.
“Not so fast!”
Gilgamesh materialized countless shields in front of him, dispersing the band of light.
“To think that you would strike at me with a mere imitation of a relic of the planet. Were we not in the middle of your trial, such folly would merit death, mongrel! ....Hm?”
When the scattered light dissipated and the countless floating shields scattered, Saber was no longer to be seen in front of the golden king.

Richard fires a blast of Excalibur an order of magnitude more powerful than the last, Gilgamesh’s countless shields defend him from Richard’s Excalibur. Both Gilgamesh and the shields were pushed back and sent several meters into the air.

As he landed, he sensed immense magical energy from behind him, lower down the slanted roof of the church. The golden Archer turned to look, his eyes narrowed, and saw Saber with his sword poised to strike.
“Ex...calibur!”
A second band of light was fired up the slope. It was blocked by the countless shields, as the first had been...but this strike was an order of magnitude more powerful. It pushed the shields back, lifting the golden king several meters into the air.
“How dare you...”
The golden king saw through the gaps in his shield wall that Saber was holding one of the Noble Phantasms that he himself had fired.
“I told you I was going to borrow them, didn’t I?”

Richard slips in underneath Gilgamesh to continue his Excalibur assault. The quality of Noble Phantasm from the Age of Gods Richard borrows from Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon is sturdy enough to let Richard use multiple true name releases of Excalibur. Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon summoned countless shields hold up as Richard fires 20 true name Excalibur at Gilgamesh with ever increasing speed and decreasing interval of release.

Saber, still clutching the long sword, instantaneously slipped in directly underneath his airborne foe and made radiance envelop the blade once more.
The first time he had released the true name of his Noble Phantasm, the decorative sword he had originally held had shattered with a single strike. The Noble Phantasm shrouded in the aura of the age of the gods, however, remained intact after his second true name release and retained its properties as his Noble Phantasm.
He unleashed magical energy in a third band of light.
The golden king deployed shields beneath him and blocked the attack, but he was pushed higher into the air.
Then came the fourth band of light.
Saber gave his opponent no time to recover and followed it with a fifth and a sixth slash of light aimed skyward from the church roof.
Even more frighteningly, the interval between strikes was steadily shrinking. By the time he got past his twentieth slash, they had become a massive, continuous band of light firing from the earth into the night sky.
As if to say that this, too, was both an infinite series of blows and a never-ending single strike.

…

“Lord Gilgamesh!”
Tine, on the top floor of Crystal Hill, viewed the king who was her Servant, not through a farseeing spell, but with her naked eyes.
Gilgamesh was being forced upward to the height of their base on the building’s top floor. His golden armor was completely engulfed in an even more radiant band of light and it was no longer possible to perceive his figure.
Not only Tine, but also the other nearby members of her tribe were wide-eyed.
The pillar of light that grew into the heavens from the church roof had ascended so high that its end could not be seen.
Not even the King of Heroes could be engulfed in that torrent of power and emerge unscathed.

Gilgamesh amassed the weapons of his Gate of Babylon and fires them as if they were a single titanic surge. This surge, displaying complex movement previously unused and trajectory directed by his chain Enkidu, overpowers Richard’s Excalibur attack onslaught.

Not even the King of Heroes could be engulfed in that torrent of power and emerge unscathed.
Tine, sensing that, was on the verge of using a Command Spell to recall him... when she sensed Gilgamesh’s magical energy swell within the pillar of light.
It might be more accurate to say that massive concentrations of magical energy had appeared around him.
It was the same thing that he had been doing all along.
Merely firing Noble Phantasms from his treasury out of empty space.
Only... the natures of the Noble Phantasms he deployed were a little different.
The myriad Noble Phantasms, although each shrouded in immense magical energy, formed a single, titanic surge that coiled around the torrent of light itself, dispersing the light by brute force.
The Noble Phantasms that he had so far fired monotonously now displayed complex movements like a gigantic serpent.
But Gilgamesh was not using magical energy to control his armaments—golden chains that reached out of thin air on all sides were entangling the swarms of Noble Phantasms and forcefully adjusting their trajectories.
Gilgamesh emerged from the dispersed light and, by gathering together the rain of Noble Phantasms, transformed them into a waterfall that plummeted earthward accompanied by a furious surge.
It was like a great, golden dragon devouring the light Saber unleashed as it advanced.

…

Saber, who was continuing to fire his Noble Phantasm from the roof of the church, sensed that the magical energy he unleashed was being driven back.
Then, seeing the compressed swarm of Noble Phantasms bearing down on him, he could not keep sweat from beading on his forehead.
Gazing up at the oncoming dragon of Noble Phantasms, Saber closed his eyes for a moment...
and, forcing an intrepid grin, poured his magical energy into his next strike.

Hansa endeavors to strengthen the wards of the Church’s boundary field, despite this part of the Church’s roof caves in from Gilgamesh’s attack on Richard (Richard had diminished the overall power of Gilgamesh’s attack). Gilgamesh’s armor had been damaged a bit by Richard’s previous Excalibur assault. Richard was playing the part of a Babylonian pincushion for his efforts.

“No, we haven’t got time for questions. You’d better get farther inside.”
“...Why?”
“I’m strengthening the wards,” the priest answered, staring up at the church’s high ceiling,
“but the roof is about to cave in.”
“?!”
The next instant, a portion of the roof gave way and a figure dropped through the opening it left.
Ayaka narrowly avoided a direct hit from the rubble thanks to Hansa’s yanking her arm.
Before the situation could penetrate her brain, however, a haughty man’s voice rang out through the hole in the roof.
“I had intended to obliterate you along with the church. I suppose I should praise you for stopping me.”
It was a man in golden armor.
His armor was cracked in places, but his arms were crossed imperturbably and he was looking down at the center of the rubble piled in the middle of the church.

…

Why had the man in golden armor been speaking to the center of the rubble?
“I suppose I should praise you for stopping me.”
Who had stopped him?
Ayaka tried to think, but the answer came to her at once.
She had recognized the thing in the center of the rubble.
For an instant, Ayaka had mistaken the figure with numerous swords and spears sprouting from its body for part of the rubble. It was unquestionably... Saber, who had so recently walked beside her, making friendly conversation.
While his heart and head were intact, his stomach, shoulders, and thighs were impaled by a number of weapons—enough to kill an ordinary human.
“Sa...ber...?”

…

“You could have avoided those wounds, had you dodged. Did you intend to protect this church? I ought to execute you for your hubris, but you did succeed in cancelling out a single strike. For the moment, you have my praise.”

vs Enkidu

Richard evaluates the weapons Enkidu is producing with Age of Babylon to be represents the pinnacle of human craftsmanship, he takes this to mean Enkidu was a great hero

“...More impressive than I expected. You must be an incredible Heroic Spirit. All those weapons growing out of the ground... and every one of them represents the pinnacle of human craftsmanship. To have all of them pointed at me...” Saber broke off with a little laugh. Then another, and another, and an instant later, he loosed his pent-up fire in a peal of wild laughter.
“Superb! You must be a great hero! There could be no greater honor! We give Our heartfelt thanks to you, to the Holy Grail... and to Avalon, the far-off paradise of the forefather of Our nation’s kings, for granting me the opportunity to challenge a legend who walked the earth in the age of the gods!”

Enkidu readies to fire his Age of Babylon by pouring magical energy into it. Richard, sans Sword, charges into the weapons Enkidu fires. Richard’s original sword was purely ornamental. Allusions to Richard’s “Excalibur” and how it came to be.

As if in answer to Saber’s sudden excitement, the long-haired Heroic Spirit smiled and began pouring powerful magical energy into the ground and the numerous “Noble Phantasms” stabbing out of it.
Ayaka gasped.
Wait a minute! The police confiscated his sword... and it’s still at the station, so... he’s bare-handed! And he’s not even wearing his armor!

…

Ignoring Ayaka’s panicked attempts to stop him, the long-haired Heroic Spirit fired all his weapons from the ground in unison.
At the same time, Saber gave the ground a powerful kick and launched himself into the swarm of blades. As he charged, still elated, he uttered a single, joy-filled sentence:
“Now... let’s get started.”

…

“Well, Caster? Have you learned anything from the sword I sent you?”
The response the chief of police got from the Heroic Spirit on the other end of the telephone sounded exasperated.
“To hell with it all. This thing’s not a Noble Phantasm; it’s just a fancy-lookin’ sword. I do like the design, though. Can I keep it?”
The chief had sent Dumas the ornamental sword that Saber had left in the police station.

...

“More importantly, he apparently fired lightning-like blasts from that sword, destroying falling rubble from the opera house. The officers who witnessed it have already undergone memory manipulation, but one of them even described it as resembling a ‘beam cannon.’”
The chief had surmised that the power of that sword had also been responsible for destroying the ceiling of the opera house in the first place. As far as he had been able to judge, it was no more than an ornate sword.

…

“Yeah. And speaking of Lionheart, guy was a huge King Arthur fan. Grew up hearing legends about Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table for bedtime stories. His court minstrels were always singing about how great Arthur was, too. Guy was a bit of a prodigal son when he was younger, and some even say he roamed all over the place looking for relics of King Arthur.”
“I’ve heard that as well.”
The chief considered it just another of the anecdotes with which later generations inevitably embellish the life of any hero and did not put much importance on it. Caster’s response, however, was almost grave.
“Minstrel culture grew out of techniques for passing on the oral traditions of the druidic mysteries to posterity... Or so one theory has it. Either way, you’d best not underestimate contemporary song and poetry. If you make someone here something every night as a bedtime story, it’s plenty possible for it to alter their soul like a curse, or a blessing.”
“...Isn’t Richard the Lionheart a hero from an age of relatively weak mystery?”
“I’m sure it was, on the continent. But while he may’ve been from modern France, it’s England he was king of, and England’s an island nation. Hard for the mystery to leak out when you’re surrounded by water. I wouldn’t be too strange if he touched some of it while he was alive and kicking. The ‘Clock Tower,’ one of the big mage headquarters, is there right now. That ought to give you an idea.”

…

“They called him... ‘The Wandering King.’”

…

“I don’t understand,” the chief asked doubtfully. “Where did Richard the Lionheart wander, then?”
“Over the border between history... and myth.”
“...”
There was power in those simple words. Enough to make the chief fall silent in spite of himself.
“Means he was the last king with one foot in an age when faeries and runes were still out in the open. Not something you want to take lightly.”

Richard picks up a tree branch while evading Age of Babylon. Enkidu sends another volley at Richard so dense that it did not seem possible Richard could evade them all even with his speed. Richard’s Excalibur blast with the branch counters the Age of Babylon volley by vaporizing it. Exposition on Richard’s Excalibur.

Scanning the ground, he bent down — evading tendrils of earth and flying weapons all the while — and with one hand lifted a thick tree branch lying beside him. Then, pointing it at Lancer, he grinned.

…

A bead of cold sweat rolled down Ayaka’s cheek. As if at its signal, another massive volley of weapons launched from the earth, their points trained on Saber, who was brandishing his branch. The blades were so densely packed that it did not seem possible he could evade them all, even at the speed he had just been moving.
To Ayaka, the situation looked desperate.
The next instant, however, the scream that had been about to escape her throat was intercepted by an even greater shock:
What should have been an ordinary branch had begun to give off a dazzling light.

…

“You see, old Coeur de Lion took his Arthur-mania too far. Didn’t even matter if he was on the battlefield or going about his daily business... Apparently he named every sword he ever owned ‘Excalibur.’ By the end it wasn’t just swords; everything he could hold in his hand and fight with was ‘Excalibur.’
“Even the knife he used for cutting up his food, or a rolled-up parchment... or a stick he found lying on the ground.”

…

“Ex... calibur!”
That must have been the third time Ayaka had seen that light. The brilliant slash that had collapsed the opera house ceiling and cut through the falling rubble in front of the police officers.
This time the streak of light was smaller than it had been then, but the compressed heat wiped out the myriad of weapons hurtling toward Saber in an instant.

…

They both gradually relaxed as they conversed. Finally, Saber lowered his branch. No sooner had the magical energy coiled about it dissipated than the wood crumbled to dust.
“Oh, I knew it,” Saber sighed. “Once is the limit with wood.”

Richard rushes into Enkidu’s guard and slashes at them with the branch still lit up by the vestiges of light of Excalibur, Enkidu Transmutes his hand and catches the strike by turning his fingers into blades and half-burying them into the Excalibur branch.

He kicked off the ground with the same speed as before, and a moment later he was inside Lancer’s guard. He swung the branch, still coated in vestiges of light, to cut down the startled Lancer.
That blow, however, was intercepted by the supposedly bare-handed Lancer.
“Man... Those look like they’d come in handy for cracking walnuts.”
Saber sounded impressed. He was looking at the right hand Lancer had used to block the tree branch. Lancer had turned his fingers into sharp blades and skillfully stopped Saber’s slash by half-burying them in the branch through its thick coating of magical energy.

Richard and Enkidu are mutually impressed by each other. Richard surmises Enkidu only used half their power. More allusions to Gilgamesh and Enkidu fighting for 3 days and nights straight with no settled victor.

“This much power with a tree branch... I’m shocked.”
“And? Do I pass the test?” Saber asked without lessening the power he was putting into the branch. “From what I can see, you’re not using even half of your real strength.”
Saber did not know who Lancer was, but those few minutes had been enough to convince him that Lancer was exceptional even among Heroic Spirits, himself included.
“You are strong. I don’t know what my friend will say, but I think we’ll manage if you run while I hold him off if it comes to that.”
“...Is this ‘friend’ even stronger than you?”
“He might be. In the old days we fought for three days and three nights without settling it.”

vs Zealot/No Name Assassin

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Richard the Lionheart, using an Excalibur blast far less than his full power destroyed half the Snowfield Opera House.

The sword he gripped in one hand radiated the vestiges of a magical brilliance.
Yes, vestiges, meaning—
The faint glow of the sword was the trace of it having been swung, just moments prior.
It was an attack far short of the Heroic Spirit’s full strength.
Nonetheless, it indeed left its mark on the opera house.
The audience seats on the ground level were wildly pulverized. The mezzanine and upper levels had been completely destroyed, and even some of the ceiling had been blasted open, allowing the starry night to peek through. Simply put, the Heroic Spirit had destroyed half of the opera house, which had been the pride of the entire state.

…

“Excalibur”
“Sword of ______ Victory.”
He had shouted this as he attacked, and obliterated half of the huge building.

Richard uses Excalibur, Zealot appears to escape from it, the Opera house is left half destroyed.

“Ha ha, being compared not to your liking? But splendid work, as always,” the aristocratic young man muttered to no one in particular, then drew his sword with a smile.
It was exquisitely wrought. Even Ayaka could tell that it was the kind of sword that royalty used. Then, still smiling, he let out a cry... and swung.
“_____calibur.”
Once again, light enveloped the interior of the opera house. It surged from the man’s mana-infused sword like a lightning strike, and made a beeline for the black-robed woman, who was beating a hasty retreat. Then—
A violent crash, followed by the sounds of something collapsing reached Ayaka’s ears. When she timidly opened her dazzled eyes, she saw... the starry sky peeking through the collapsed roof of the partially-destroyed opera house.

…

“Be at ease, it doesn’t seem any of the common people were caught up in it. On the other hand, it appears that the rebel escaped as well... Humph, she did well to get clean away from me. Still, there’s no going back now.”

…

Then he looked up at the nearly half-collapsed ceiling and heaved a sigh.
“Is this a theater? Oh dear...”
He narrowed his eyes as if he had received a shock of some kind, and crossed his arms as if lost in thought.
“So modern playhouses are as fragile as that... I suppose the knowledge I got from the Throne isn’t enough to really understand...”

…

As she rested her body, the woman Assassin silently closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. Although she had been caught up in Saber’s powerful strike, there was not a single wound on her. Perhaps she had employed some kind of secret technique.
Nonetheless, she still knew neither her opponent’s fighting strength, nor his Noble Phantasm, nor even his true name. Her temporary withdrawal had probably been tactically correct. Yet the fact that she had retreated in the face of the enemy at all had sunk her heart into a deep abyss.

If Excalibur as it was fired in the Opera house was all Zealot needed to deal with, Zealot was confident her own Noble Phantasm would suffice to defeat Richard.

If that Saber had been a man whose only skill was unleashing those powerful slashes of light, she could deal with him as things stood by making liberal use of her own Noble Phantasm. The possibility of using up her mana and vanishing as a result would be high, but she would have no regrets about that. She had not yet noticed the flow of mana that still linked her to her Master.

vs Opera House Ceiling Debris

Richard uses a low powered blast from Excalibur to atomize a piece of ceiling debris falling towards some cops.

He broke off in mid-sentence. Part of the half-destroyed ceiling had begun to collapse again.
“Look out...” Ayaka mumbled instinctively.
The officers noticed it as well and tried to run, but it did not look like several of them would make it in time.
Then the man in the VIP seats laid a hand on the sword at his hip, and drew it in a motion reminiscent of Japanese Iai.
The power could hardly compare to his earlier strike, but a streak of light nevertheless extended from the blade and smashed the chunk of falling stone to atoms.

Rounds of Lionheart

Reference to Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart

The black-robed woman was on her guard and jumped back out of the light, but Ayaka, who had only just been released from her restraints, could not even stand. The best she could do was to squint in the direction the light seemed to come from.
There was a figure in the light.
Multiple human figures.
Ayaka could not believe her eyes.
The scene only lasted a few seconds, but time in that space seemed to have stopped. Several of the figures kneeled on the spot... and welcomed the last, and darkest, figure to appear.
As the light faded, the multiple figures vanished before Ayaka could notice them go, and only the last and most vivid figure remained: A blond man, still young and magnificently dressed. Here and there his golden hair was broken by streaks of red, and a pair of blazing, bestial eyes were set in his beautiful face.

…

The white woman had called it a “Heroic Spirit,” but she had also said that there would only be one of them. So why had she been able to see multiple figures in the light earlier? Had it been the man himself who fired that arrow when he was in danger?

More allusions to Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart.

The woman Assassin cemented her resolve as she devised countermeasures for the man. She sensed an air of unrest ever since Saber had been summoned. Just before he appeared, there had certainly been multiple presences in the light. Some of them had been clearly inhuman. Later all the figures had coalesced into one... but there was the arrow that had knocked away the arm of her Delusional Heartbeat: Zabaniya. That Saber did not appear to have fired it. Furthermore, the arrow had been laced with a powerful poison. Because she had acquired resistance as a result of her training, it had had no effect on her, but it would have numbed the sinews of an ordinary person, rendering them immobile. The man had not seemed the type to use poison for preference, and there was still the mystery of why the arrow had flown out of his shadow. That meant she could not fight him recklessly.

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart alert him to a spell and its nature within a given space.

“What do you mean, ‘a good reason’?”
Saber fell silent for a few moments, but when he had reached a point a short distance removed from the cells, he started to mutter under his breath. It sounded like he was objecting to something.
“Hey now... Tell me things like that sooner. If I’d known, I’d have cut down the door and gotten her out at once.”
“Who are you talking to?”
“Oh, sorry. Just pretend I’m talking to myself,” he offhandedly apologized before answering Ayaka’s question. He still spoke as if he was reporting something he had been told.
“Apparently there’s a spell built into the ceiling of that cell... designed to control the composition of the air, and suffocate the human inside.”

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart vs Enkidu’s Boundary Field and Enkidu’s ability to perceive it.

“You’ve done well to make it this far, although I doubt you could have managed it unless you are loved by the forest, or have some special power.”
“I got Locksley — a friend of mine — to show me the way.”
“Oh? I see. You do appear to have a lot of friends.”
Saber answered Lancer’s words with a broad grin.
“You can see them?”
“A little.”

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart informs him of the state of the Police Station.

“What is it?”
“Oh, nothing. I just got a friend of mine to check out the police station, and they tell me the prisoners have been temporarily evacuated.”

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart would be able to produce Ayaka a horse were Richard to spend some magical energy

“No need to thank me. I really am poking my nose in where I’m not wanted. If you thank me just for acting on my whims, it might encourage me to be even more officious. I know; if you’re tired of walking, why don’t I fetch you a horse? I’m sure William will produce one if I spend a bit of magical energy...”

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart exposition

“What was...?”
Ayaka was bewildered by the unreal scene she had been shown.
“Pierre Basile. A master archer.”
“Who?”
He had called it an introduction, but the name alone meant nothing to Ayaka. She was about to ask for further explanation. When she heard Saber’s next words, however, she ended up just flapping her lips wordlessly, like a goldfish.
“The man who killed me.”
“...What?”
“I can use two Noble Phantasms — my trump cards,” Saber began to explain his peculiarities as a Heroic Spirit to a dumbfounded Ayaka. “One of them is to take the souls of several fellows I choose — with their consent — transcribe them from the Throne, etcetera, and make them accompany me.
“I can’t manifest them and keep them materialized from throughout. If I wanted to make them corporeal as well, it would require an unreasonable quantity of magical energy. So much that any ordinary mage would run dry in no time at all.”
“Oh, umm...”
“On the other hand, I can use my own magical energy as a medium to have them assist me with their skills and magecraft. Like the arrow that deflected that woman’s arm in the opera house, or the glowing droplets I used in the police station when it was pitch black. Also, they can converse normally with me, but it seems they can’t talk with you, Ayaka, unless we make a fresh transfer of magical energy, like we did just now.”
“...Okay, wait.”
Ayaka’s face stiffened. It was not as though she had not understood his explanation. She was ignorant of magecraft, but the white woman had pounded the bare minimum into her head, so she knew what his words meant. It was because she understood that Ayaka could not accept what Saber was doing.

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart is protecting Ayaka

Ayaka had been in the mansion throughout. As for whether she was defenseless, however, the shadows reported that “the mage Saber brought with him” was protecting her. A Noble Phantasm that summons allies... I never expected that. Heroic Spirits have hidden depths.

Zealot wasn’t taking any of Jester’s mana, Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart were supplying her now instead

Assassin was currently patrolling the area around the mansion. She was refusing to use magical energy from her Master, the hematophage, and was apparently being supplied by the aforementioned mage summoned with Saber’s Noble Phantasm in exchange for a temporary truce.

Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart warn him against Gilgamesh and Alcides

Richard’s Spirit Origin tensed and insistently warned him of danger. The alarm came from the fragments who were not quite Heroic Spirits and who accompanied Richard due to his Noble Phantasm.
“Do you want to die for nothing? Retreat before it’s too late,” Locksley the assassin, Pierre the bowman, and the other fragments of Spirit Origins continued to cool-headedly sound the alarm.
He could also sense the Spirit Origins of an indifferent-seeming swordsman and a mage who merely smiled faintly, but Saber himself was focused on the overwhelmingly mighty opponents standing before him, his eyes shining.

After half a day, Richard the Lionheart has recovered from his injuries that he received from fighting Gilgamesh. He was healed through one of his companions in his Rounds of Lionheart.

Seeing Saber in front of her and remembering what had been happening before her dream, she leapt up.
“You . . .! What about your injuries?! Are you all right?!”
“Yes. I’m not completely recovered, but I can move now. It has been more than half a day, after all. Although I’d be in trouble if that golden Archer’s attacks had been the kind that consume you Spirit Origin and all or poison you . . .”

…

“I’m sorry! I borrowed a lot of magical energy from you to get one of my companions to use healing magecraft on me. That’s probably why you ended up sleeping passed noon. Sorry.”

Richard the Lionheart’s Rounds of Lionheart is unable to use magecraft that repairs destruction like was caused at the Church.

“I’ve already been dragged into it. I mean, just earlier I almost got blown away along with the whole church and . . .” Ayaka started to say. Then, she realized.
The ceiling that Saber was looking up at was the church’s.
The church, which should have been in ruins due to the golden Heroic Spirit’s attacks, was completely unscathed.
“No way. . . . What’s going on? Is this the ‘magecraft’ you talked about, Saber . . .?”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but if I could do that, I would have repaired the theater I destroyed right after I was summoned. There are some things even I can’t do.”

vs Zealot/No Name Assassin

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot’s so fast as to give the impression that she had split into dozens of people through the afterimages she left behind.

“The way you’re dressed, and the flow of ‘power’ I sensed just now... Are you a follower of the ‘Old Man of the Mountain,’ by any chance?”
“...!?”
The atmosphere instantly changed. The man’s words sounded like nonsense to Ayaka, but they seemed to strike a chord with the black-robed woman.
“Either way, as long as we both seek the Holy Grail, we must be enemies. What will you do?”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the black-robed woman sprung into action with a surge of murderous intent. It was like a shadow on the ground had leapt into the air. She bounded into the wings in a single breath, and left afterimages in her wake as she darted between the pillars that encircled the stage. When she flew past gaps in the curtains, it created the illusion that she had split into dozens of people.
“Ha ha! Magnificent! I’ve never seen anyone lighter-footed than Loxley before!”

Zealot becomes even faster, she disappears from Ayaka’s sight, she goes to attack Richard the Lionheart with Delusional Heartbeat after jumping out of his shadow, Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart shoots an arrow from within his shadow to fend off Zealot’s attack.

As if she had taken his praise as a challenge, the woman leapt still faster, and then... suddenly vanished into thin air.
“She... disappeared...?” Ayaka murmured, dumbfounded, and looked up. Just then... the black-robed woman appeared from the blind spot of everyone there. She jumped out behind the man, not from above the stage, but out of the shadow he cast on the floor.
A weirdly long arm stretched from her back, and made for the center of the man’s back, just above his heart. An arm of clear death, identical to the one that had slaughtered the mage just a minute before.
But that arm never reached the man’s body. An arrow fired from nowhere sent it flying off course.
“...!?”
The black-robed woman’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. As far as she was concerned, the blow had come from a complete blind spot. For you see, that arrow had appeared suddenly at the man’s feet — indeed, from within the shadow he cast on the stage floor.

Physical strength and speed?

Richard jumps to the top of the tallest vehicle without use of his hands, only using his legs.

However...
The man being led by the police suddenly leapt forward — still handcuffed — and reached the top of the tallest vehicle there, a fire-engine, in a mere few bounds.
The crowd was taken aback by the fact that the man had dashed up the engine without using his hands at all, relying only on the strength of his legs. The flustered police officers pointed Tasers at him. And amid the noise and tumult…

Watcher asserts Richard can dodge shots from Sigma’s assault rifle

“The man in front of you is probably fast enough to dodge rounds from that ‘assault rifle,’ or whatever you call it. As you are, you have no hope of victory. If you wish to struggle through certain death, however, if you wish to challenge him as a trial, I will not stop you.”

Richard the Lionheart vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Gilgamesh fires the Gate of Babylon at Richard, Richard draws the ornate sword he had on himself to swat a few of the attacks out of the air, but dozens still remain to deal with. Using the space he created from swatting a few of the weapons aside, Richard managed to dodge the rest of Gilgamesh’s assault. Had this assault struck Richard, it would have proven fatal.

The golden-armored Heroic Spirit spoke dispassionately, without changing his expression.
“Be gone at once.”
At that, the space behind the Heroic Spirit distorted and countless weapons emerged from holes in the air. When they moved, it was with the intent to kill Saber, who opened his eyes wide in astonishment.
Like arrows loosed from drawn bows, numerous weapons shrouded in magical energy on par with Noble Phantasms fired at the spot where Saber stood.
Sigma must have sensed the danger in advance, because he had already retreated to an alleyway by the church.
Saber, left to stand alone, hesitated for a moment, but then spoke as if he had made sense of the situation.
“When you said, ‘be gone,’ you meant from this world!”
He drew his own sword with a cheerful grin.
“Ha ha! What droll fellow!”
It was a dull-bladed ornamental sword that had adorned the walls of the mansion in the wetlands that Sigma had made his base of operations. But as far as Saber was concerned, having a grip was enough to make it a fine weapon.
The sword flashed for an instant and began swatting the weapons launched from behind the golden Heroic Spirit out of the air.
Even so, it was only able to strike down a few of them—a drop in the bucket compared to the dozens of Noble Phantasm raining down.
The golden Heroic Spirit was apparently convinced that that would suffice and had already turned his attention back to the monstrous Archer. That demonic-looking Archer, however, turned to look at Richard. His expression was indiscernible behind the strange cloth that covered his face.
Richard’s instincts as a Heroic Spirit immediately alerted him that he was being evaluated for some unclear purpose, but he had no time to consider the point. In less than a second, the countless weapons were nearly upon him.
Richard leapt, swinging his sword once again, and danced into the tiny gap left by the several weapons he had knocked aside. He had dodged the onslaught by a hair’s breadth, but the weapons struck the ground around him, smashing the asphalt. The torn-up earth became a new threat to Richard, pouring down on the spot where he stood.
Richard, however, was no longer there.

…

Despite having just evaded an attack that, had it struck him, would certainly have proved fatal, Richard’s eyes sparkled like a child’s.

Gilgamesh fires dozens more weapons from the Gate of Babylon. They’re both slightly faster and more numerous. Richard dodges through them and uses the rubble they kick up as stepping stones.

By the time he finished speaking, he had already taken action and launched dozens more weapons out of thin air. They rained mercilessly down on Richard, who held both the new sword he had taken and the one he had come with.
They were slightly faster and more numerous than the previous attack.
Richard weaved between the weapons, planting his feet on the chunks of rubble they flung up and using them as stepping stones to leap high into the air.

Richard evades more of Gilgamesh’s rain of weapons from Gate of Babylon through his Rounds of Lionheart’s magecraft user. Upon reaching Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh parries Richard’s attack that otherwise forced him down to the roof below.

“Since I’m risking my life for this joke, I’d like another favor from you!”
Then, twirling like an acrobat, he unleashed a weighty series of strikes.
“What I want isn’t blood on your weapons.”
“Oh-ho...”
“It’s to leave just a little scratch on your magnificent armor.”
Evading the oncoming swarm of deadly blows, Richard changed direction in midair.
He completely changed course without a stepping stone of any kind.
Although he must have been under considerable strain, he contorted his body still further, adding the force of his rotation to make his sword reach the golden Heroic Spirit.
Seeing that, the scowling Heroic Spirit drew the sword in his own hand.
“So, you, a mere gladiator, weave magecraft!”
The golden Heroic Spirit parried the nearly-surprise attack and dropped to the roof one level below the belfry, glaring at Richard, who held one of his treasures.
He did not shout angrily or lose his composure; his tone remained one of rebuke for a lack of courtesy.
“No, that wasn’t me.”
Richard judged that he was still unable to so much as bring the golden Heroic Spirit down into his arena and readied his swords again, grinning provocatively up at his opponent.
“It’s a little joke my retinue played on you.”

Gilgamesh continues his Gate of Babylon assault, Richard continues to dodge

The golden Heroic Spirit kept up a relentless series of attacks while still managing to appear unruffled. He, nevertheless, shot the occasional inquisitive glance at Richard, who continued to dodge his assault, and posed a question to him without dropping his haughty demeanor.

Gilgamesh ramps up his Gate of Babylon after hearing Richard made friends with Enkidu

“You’ve scraped through a similar predicament before, haven’t you? I can tell by the way you dodge.”
“Yes,” Richard answered with a shrug, “I went through the same thing yesterday. It was all the other side up, though.”
“...What became of your opponent?”
“We made friends. Our Masters—well, contractors—seemed to get along too.”

…

“I see... They may be my friend, but they are as soft on others as ever.”
The golden Heroic Spirit spoke with a wry smile. His words puzzled Richard, who had a bad a feeling about what was coming.

…

Then, Richard noticed that, unlike earlier, all the space around him had begun to distort.
Oh, this looks like I’m going to die, doesn’t it?
Surrounded on all sides by the Noble-Phantasm-launching distortions, Richard sensed “death” with every inch of his body.

…

The golden hero addressed him just as the Lancer Richard had met in the forest had said he would.
“I shall test you to see if you are worthy of my friend.”

…

“Circumstances have changed. Mongrel, I acknowledge you not as riffraff, but as a ‘seeker’ worthy of my trial. If you survive, you will be my friend’s ally and my certain ‘enemy.’
“Should that time come, I will permit you to leave your blood on my treasures again, this time as a ‘person.’ Consider yourself honored.”

Gilgamesh fires from the Gate of Babylon for his test to Richard, Richard’s speed and agility once more proves sufficient to avoid Gilgamesh’s assault. One wrong move for Richard would prove fatal, he’s not able to survive Gate of Babylon’s spam.

The instant he stepped forward, the distortions in the air around him began to shine. Then, as if all the stars that blanketed the night sky had fallen, innumerable Noble Phantasms rained down on Snowfield.
Richard leapt to the roof of the building next door to the church as “judgment” closed in on him from all sides. It was both an infinite series of blows and a never-ending single strike. Death closing in from every direction with no end in sight.
But Richard was not a beast to simply let himself be hunted. He was, after all, a Heroic Spirit who had manifested in the Saber Class, said to be the “best” of the seven.
Faced with the trial of the unfathomable golden Heroic Spirit, Richard began to unleash his own power as a hero with the Spirit Origin of a king.
The rain of Noble Phantasms poured down, some fast and some slow. Richard leapt on the roof as he wove his way between them.
Onrushing Noble Phantasms.
Richard kicked one of the weapons and twisted his body, dodging the flurry of blows that followed by a hair’s breadth.
His movements were too rough to be called acrobatics and too elegant to be called combat. He charged into the center of the oncoming blows, any one of which would prove fatal if it struck him, and as he had just declared, used his overwhelming speed to launch an invasion of that territory of death.

…

Even so, one wrong move would still cost him his life.
He walked that fine line between life and death with superhuman speed and muttered, not to anyone, but to encourage himself.
“I may not have many qualities that can match yours.”
It was almost like a contract with himself.
“But...
“When it comes to speed, I’m more than your match.”

Richard was starting to counter Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon through sheer speed and his ability to swat away a few of Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon shots with Excalibur w/o a true name release. Richard was still getting faster.

Then, Tine gasped. In the image she saw through her far-seeing spell...Saber was still alive. In fact, he was beginning to counter the King of Heroes’ offensive.

…

“So fast...”
Tine Chelk was forced to realize that, as the Saber Class was hailed as the best, every Saber must have something “extraordinary” about them.

…

And yet, that Saber was still alive in the midst of a fierce onslaught from Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon. He was not countering every blow like the Lancer Gilgamesh called his friend, nor was he taking every blow like Alkeides, who was currently facing the police officers—Saber was continuing to evade the entire rain of weapons. He occasionally made the sword in his hand shine and struck away a few Noble Phantasms, but he kept those attacks to the bare minimum necessary.
If he was only running away, Tine could have understood it, but the strangest thing about that Saber’s actions was that they seemed clearly to be an “offensive,” not a retreat.
“It can’t be...”
Sweat ran down Tine’s brow as she watched Saber gradually closing in on Gilgamesh.
“He’s still...getting faster...?”

Richard continues to dance around Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon with his speed. Exposition about Richard possesses his speed. His efforts are rewarded as he continues to draw closer to Gilgamesh until Richard drew close enough to reach Gilgamesh with his sword.

To a casual observer, it looked like a beautiful dance.
Tine and the other mages actually watching the scene through farseeing spells were captivated by the sight of Saber dancing in the gap between life and death with incredible speed.

…

The golden king and judge showered Saber with attacks without ever dropping his guard. Nonetheless, the king once said to “have the heart of a lion” kept up his advance, pushing himself to even greater speeds as he narrowly avoided death.
Superhuman speed.
It was usual for a battle between Heroic Spirits to appear superhuman. Even taking that into account, however, Saber’s swiftness was extraordinary.
Speed due to his fundamental abilities as a Heroic Spirit.
Speed boosted through magecraft.
Speed that could only be attributed to some kind of “divine protection” associated with anecdotes of his exploits and bestowed on him by the Throne.
By combining all of them, he darted this way and that across the cluster of buildings that had become his battlefield with singular speed even for a Heroic Spirit, circling as he slowly but steadily closed distance.
The Lionheart’s advance, once begun, was like a gale scything across land and sea. The peerless speed of his march was so great that legend had it “only a general blessed with protection against wind had finally succeeded in halting it.”
Incredibly, the Lionheart, said to have raced across the battlefield with three times the speed of an ordinary charge, at last drew close enough for his sword to reach his opponent.
“So, you have the insolence to stand before me.”

Richard the Lionheart should have been able to avoid Gilgamesh’s final assault, but he didn’t in order to protect Ayaka and the church from being killed and demolished.

“If you’ve got time to worry about me, try taking care of yourself . . . This isn’t self-flagella¬tion, Saber; I’d say the same thing if I were a king or a queen! You need to take better care of yourself ! Oh, damn it, there’s a lot more I want to say, but I’m not good at finding the right words . . . And . . . umm . . . thanks. You ended up protecting me again . . .”
Ayaka understood.
Saber could probably have avoided the attack on the roof of the church if he had wanted to.
But if he had, the church would have been demolished, and Ayaka, inside, would most likely have died.

Richard the Lionheart vs Enkidu

Richard’s charge vs Enkidu’s Age of Babylon. Enkidu’s physically stronger, Richard’s slightly faster. Ayaka considered the exchange between the two to not just be metaphorically “lightning quick” as it reminded her of actual flashes of lightning.

There is an expression, “lightning quick.”
It is normally intended metaphorically, but the scene that burned itself into Ayaka’s eyes in that instant was so intense that it really did remind her of flashes of lightning.
Innumerable weapons, born from the Earth, launched themselves into the air. Threading his way through all of them, Saber closed in on the long-haired Heroic Spirit and unleashed a sharp right hook.
His opponent quickly dodged back, but Saber stepped in to match him and threw out a slanting left uppercut.
Again the Heroic Spirit dodged, but Saber’s fist past through a lock of his waving hair, and several strands fell, neatly severed, to the ground. The force of the blow had turned Saber’s fist into a blade sharp enough the slice through hair swaying in the breeze.
Saber kept up his advance, sidestepping the tendrils of earth his opponent threw at him, and occasionally using even the weapons at their tips as stepping stones. All the while unleashing a flurry of blows worthy of a pro boxer.
The long-haired Heroic Spirit was impressive in his own right. He continued to repel the vicious fists closing in on him with perfect timing.
Saber had the slight edge in actual speed, but his opponent appeared to have the better of him in immediate physical strength and deadened Saber’s speed to the extent that he knocked his blows aside. The result was an even contest.
Another volley of earthen weapons flew at Saber, causing him to fall back and make a fresh start.

Enkidu’s surprised Richard’s faster, Richard alludes to his Rounds of Lionheart casting reinforcement magecraft on himself. Apparently Richard taught himself boxing from just watching it from a movie combined with his own previous combat style.

“You’re fast. I’m surprised; I didn’t think you’d be faster than me. Was that reinforcement magecraft?”
The long-haired Heroic Spirit shook his head in amusement.
“Well, it isn’t mine,” Saber answered, his eyes still blazing. “More importantly... it looks like I really can’t get through to you with my fists.”
“So the magecraft is your ‘friend’s’ doing... Have you studied boxing as well?”
“A little. I tried combining techniques I saw in a movie earlier today with the fighting I’ve learned, but I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. I can’t go killing someone I’m trying to forge an alliance with, so I thought I’d try knocking you out with a punch, but...”
“Moving like you just did after only a little training and spectating is quite impressive in its own right,” the long-haired Servant laughed, and his presence subtly altered.

Enkidu decides to crank up the difficulty, Ayaka surmises Richard is faster than Zealot.

“I’m going to come at you a little more seriously, as a member of the Lancer class,” the Heroic spirit addressed him.
“Saber. Pleased to meet you.”
Once they had announced their classes, both grinned broadly and sprang into action.
Again, the sight of the exchange seared itself into Ayaka’s eyes like dancing sparks.
She recalled what Saber had said when the black-robed woman had leapt around the opera house fast enough to leave afterimages in her wake:
“I’ve never seen anyone lighter-footed than Loxley before!”
Ayaka did not know much about lightness of foot, but when it came to pure, instantaneous speed, she suspected he outpaced the woman in black.

Enkidu raises his speed via Transfiguration reducing both his Endurance and Magic Energy by a rank each. His strength remains the same as he’s now as fast as Richard and slowly pushing him back with his physical might.

Saber, meanwhile, had doubts of his own as he threw out flurries of punches.
What conjuring trick is this? This Heroic Spirit’s even faster than he was before...!
He had no way of knowing, but when Lancer’s aura had changed a moment earlier, he had used his Transfiguration skill to lower his endurance and magical power by one rank each and boost his agility.
They were now equals in speed, but, as Lancer had not lowered his strength, his deft strikes were gradually pushing back Saber’s rapid blows.

Richard launches a magic infused drop of water at Enkidu, basically functions as a flash grenade with some kick and pushes Enkidu back.

The next instant, Saber’s right hand threw a water droplet infused with magical energy instead of a punch, releasing a flash of light and creating distance between him and his opponent. He used that distance, however, not to launch another attack on Lancer, but to retreat further himself.

Richard the Lionheart vs Zealot/No Name Assassin

Richard stops Zealot from stabbing Sigma

Before Sigma could finish speaking, a black figure stood between him and the girl.
Just as Assassin was about to thrust a knife hand at Sigma, a leather jacket-clad arm appeared from beside her and held her back.
Assassin glared silently at its owner. The man with red-streaked blond hair who wore the jacket beamed back.

Durability?

Richard the Lionheart vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Gilgamesh amassed the weapons of his Gate of Babylon and fires them as if they were a single titanic surge. This surge, displaying complex movement previously unused and trajectory directed by his chain Enkidu, overpowers Richard’s Excalibur attack onslaught.

Not even the King of Heroes could be engulfed in that torrent of power and emerge unscathed.
Tine, sensing that, was on the verge of using a Command Spell to recall him... when she sensed Gilgamesh’s magical energy swell within the pillar of light.
It might be more accurate to say that massive concentrations of magical energy had appeared around him.
It was the same thing that he had been doing all along.
Merely firing Noble Phantasms from his treasury out of empty space.
Only... the natures of the Noble Phantasms he deployed were a little different.
The myriad Noble Phantasms, although each shrouded in immense magical energy, formed a single, titanic surge that coiled around the torrent of light itself, dispersing the light by brute force.
The Noble Phantasms that he had so far fired monotonously now displayed complex movements like a gigantic serpent.
But Gilgamesh was not using magical energy to control his armaments—golden chains that reached out of thin air on all sides were entangling the swarms of Noble Phantasms and forcefully adjusting their trajectories.
Gilgamesh emerged from the dispersed light and, by gathering together the rain of Noble Phantasms, transformed them into a waterfall that plummeted earthward accompanied by a furious surge.
It was like a great, golden dragon devouring the light Saber unleashed as it advanced.

…

Saber, who was continuing to fire his Noble Phantasm from the roof of the church, sensed that the magical energy he unleashed was being driven back.
Then, seeing the compressed swarm of Noble Phantasms bearing down on him, he could not keep sweat from beading on his forehead.
Gazing up at the oncoming dragon of Noble Phantasms, Saber closed his eyes for a moment... and, forcing an intrepid grin, poured his magical energy into his next strike.

Hansa endeavors to strengthen the wards of the Church’s boundary field, despite this part of the Church’s roof caves in from Gilgamesh’s attack on Richard (Richard had diminished the overall power of Gilgamesh’s attack). Gilgamesh’s armor had been damaged a bit by Richard’s previous Excalibur assault. Richard was playing the part of a Babylonian pincushion for his efforts.

“No, we haven’t got time for questions. You’d better get farther inside.”
“...Why?”
“I’m strengthening the wards,” the priest answered, staring up at the church’s high ceiling,
“but the roof is about to cave in.”
“?!”
The next instant, a portion of the roof gave way and a figure dropped through the opening it left.
Ayaka narrowly avoided a direct hit from the rubble thanks to Hansa’s yanking her arm.
Before the situation could penetrate her brain, however, a haughty man’s voice rang out through the hole in the roof.
“I had intended to obliterate you along with the church. I suppose I should praise you for stopping me.”
It was a man in golden armor.
His armor was cracked in places, but his arms were crossed imperturbably and he was looking down at the center of the rubble piled in the middle of the church.

…

Why had the man in golden armor been speaking to the center of the rubble?
“I suppose I should praise you for stopping me.”
Who had stopped him?
Ayaka tried to think, but the answer came to her at once.
She had recognized the thing in the center of the rubble.
For an instant, Ayaka had mistaken the figure with numerous swords and spears sprouting from its body for part of the rubble. It was unquestionably... Saber, who had so recently walked beside her, making friendly conversation.
While his heart and head were intact, his stomach, shoulders, and thighs were impaled by a number of weapons—enough to kill an ordinary human.
“Sa...ber...?”

…

“You could have avoided those wounds, had you dodged. Did you intend to protect this church? I ought to execute you for your hubris, but you did succeed in cancelling out a single strike. For the moment, you have my praise.”

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Zealot/No Name Assassin?

Spoiler

Source

Class: Assassin
Master: Dead Apostle Jester Karture
True name: - (By the time she gained the properties of a Heroic Spirit she had forsaken her name)
Gender: Female
Height/Weight: 163cm 53kg
Alignment: Lawful Good

Strength: C
Endurance: B
Agility: A
Magic: C
Luck: D
Noble Phantasm: B+

Class Skills
■ Presence Concealment: A-

Personal Skills
■ Zealotry: A
Normally unattainable mental strength can be obtained by having so much religious faith in something that it is beyond the understanding of those around her. Trauma is instantly overcome, strong resistance to mental interference type magecraft is obtained.

Noble Phantasms
■ Zabaniya: Phantasmal Pedigree
Rank: E~A
Type: Anti-Unit, Anti-Army Noble Phantasm
Range: -
By allowing the body to freely alter itself, it is an ability that reproduces the past 18 works.
In actuality, harsh body remodeling and the like was conducted. By becoming a Heroic Spirit, the body can freely alter its form.
In comparison to the power of the original works, they are higher or lower on a case by case basis.

Zealot and Jester can sense the fight of Gilgamesh and Enkidu

Until something caught her attention.
It was south of the city. There was only desert on the horizon.
“...”
But the zealot did not avert her eyes, intently scowling at the valley between Heaven and Earth.
“Oh… has the party begun?”
Observing Assassin from the rooftop of a different building, the bloodsucking magus, Jester, also sensed the anomaly.
His powers of perception were not especially strong. Nonetheless, a tingle ran up his spine as he sensed the presence of… something.
Perhaps it was the instinct of someone who had lived so long on the margin between life and death.
Right now, somewhere in that desert, something was happening.
Noting this premonition of a sense other than that of magical perception, he smiled a dastardly grin and sneered.

Zealot can sense several mages through the Boundary Field

As a result of more focused observation, she detected the “presence” of several mages inside the building.

Zealot wasn’t taking any of Jester’s mana, Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart were supplying her now instead

Assassin was currently patrolling the area around the mansion. She was refusing to use magical energy from her Master, the hematophage, and was apparently being supplied by the aforementioned mage summoned with Saber’s Noble Phantasm in exchange for a temporary truce.

Alcides reasoning for not just wantonly slaughtering Clan Calatin (he’s being cautious of Richard, Gilgamesh, Zealot, and Jester)

The grotesque bowman—Alkeides—was wary, not of the police force, but of other factors—Saber, who had appeared without warning, and the King of Heroes, who had entered combat with him. They were fighting each other for the moment, but there was no telling when they might turn their attacks on him. He could also sense another Heroic Spirit’s Spirit Origin on Saber’s side and the presence of the monster that had stopped his initial attack on the hospital with a “shield of water” had not vanished.
This was not a duel to be fought honorably; it was a never-ending melee in which one had to outwit one’s opponents and could not afford to show even the least opening at one’s back.
Alkeides understood that. He could slaughter the police force spreading out and attacking him in an instant, but he would have to proceed carefully to do it without creating an opening. That was because the police force possessed more than a certain level of power. What they had acquired, the resolve to risk their lives, had not been for nothing.

Phantasmal Pedigree

Zealot can use all 18 Zabaniya of the Hassan.

The past grandmasters of the cult had all performed a miracle bearing the name of Shaytān, and in doing so earned their titles.
Each and every one of them was shocked by her deeds.
None of them was prepared to believe what they had seen. She was but a young girl, a mere lamb—
How could she master all the miracles performed by the preceding 18 grandmasters?

...

That is to say, she had talent enough to master the abilities of all the grandmasters of the past. She had the strength to bear the pain she went through as she mortified her flesh. She had the fortitude to face any hardship through strength and willpower. But she was not endowed with the talent needed to bring about a miracle of her own invention.
That was only half the problem. Her ability to master so many miracles, when mastery of a single one would take an ordinary person a lifetime—that was the other half. The people may well have feared her, knowing that she was able to achieve those miracles in a matter of years.

If Excalibur as it was fired in the Opera house was all Zealot needed to deal with, Zealot was confident her own Noble Phantasm would suffice to defeat Richard.

If that Saber had been a man whose only skill was unleashing those powerful slashes of light, she could deal with him as things stood by making liberal use of her own Noble Phantasm. The possibility of using up her mana and vanishing as a result would be high, but she would have no regrets about that. She had not yet noticed the flow of mana that still linked her to her Master.

Zealot’s Zabaniya exposition

Assassin reconsidered the powers she possessed. Imitations of the chiefs’ techniques. But while they were the same in kind, they were not completely identical in strength. She herself considered that all her techniques fell short of the chiefs’, but their actual effectiveness varied. Some had the same power as the techniques used by the actual Old Men of the Mountain, while others surpassed them, and still others were inferior.
For example, there was a skill called Delusional Poison Body: Zabaniya, which had once been wielded by an Old Man of the Mountain known as “The Tranquil.” The power that “The Tranquil” herself had acquired had been truly fearsome. It had turned every part of her, including all her bodily fluids, her nails and skin, and even her breath, into deadly poison. A dreadful legend told how she had slaughtered an entire army by spreading her poison in the wind.
Assassin, however, merely mimicked that power temporarily by concentrated poison in her own blood. It was said that this was because she imagined a scenario in which indiscriminately scattering death on her surroundings might result in the deaths of comrades or innocents, and the concentration of the poison was consequently reduced.
Capricious Fleeting Shadow: Zabaniya was a technique for extending and controlling the hair on her head, but oral tradition had it that the Old Man of the Mountain who had actually used it had been capable of making each strand of their hair as fine as a spider’s thread, and lopping off their target’s head with no one being any the wiser.
On the other hand, unknown to Assassin, her Ichor of Reverie: Zabaniya, which manipulated her targets with song beyond the realm of human hearing, surpassed its original in power. Against a large group, as she had used it earlier, its effects ended at jolting her targets’ brains and causing their magic circuits to go out of control, but if she concentrated her “song” on a single person, it was capable of bringing the average Servant to their knees, or completely dominating a human brain. The original had not been so powerful. Even if she had known that, however, she would not have accepted it. As far as she was concerned, the instant she had worked it out with her own power, it was an irreplaceable, divine work.

…

“Meditative Sensitivity: Zabaniya” — a technique that allowed her to sense every feature of the surrounding terrain as part of her own body. It was the art she had employed to locate the police station’s power source. Concerning that technique alone, she could not shake a strange feeling that something was not as it should be.
It was said that this venerable technique had been used by an Old Man of the Mountain, but in what era they had lived had not been definitely known. Not only to herself, but also to her peers, her instructors, and even to the present Old Man of the Mountain. Only a tradition that an Old Man of the Mountain had used such an art remained. She had attempted to recreate the skill based on that, and yet…

Zealot’s weakness

“She has more than ten Noble Phantasms and she’s capable of deploying more than one at a time, but she freezes for just a moment when she uses a new one. I think aiming for that opening might be your best chance.”

Zealot NP exposition

Does she even need to use Noble Phantasms to kill someone of my level? Sigma wondered as he dodged the countless lunging strands of hair.
“Not for you,” his answer came in the Captain’s voice. “She’s wary of a Servant attack. Of course, we shadows have no way of launching one.”
Multiple simultaneous deployment, Sigma thought, listening to the Captain’s stifled laughter. That means that she invoked a perpetually-active Noble Phantasm like that hair in order to protect herself from being targeted when she fires a single-shot technique... If she has a perpetual offensive Noble Phantasm, what about a defensive one…?
“She has one. A Noble Phantasm that protects her by turning her skin into a special crystal.”
As soon as he heard the boy with the snake staff’s voice from behind him, Sigma stared behind Assassin and shouted:

Capricious Fleeting Shadow

vs Clan Calatin

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot’s Capricious Fleeting Shadow. The best most of Clan Calatin can manage to do is block or evade her attack. One member (John Wingard) lost their arm. Orlando Reeve cuts through it with his blade to save a subordinate who’s arm had been grabbed. Its an attack that basically weaponizes her hair like it were a bunch of blades.

She made up her mind. At the same time, she murmured softly. Murmured the name of the karma she bore of her own free will; the name of the power she had borrowed from the great chiefs.
“...Capricious Fleeting Shadow: Zabaniya...”
An instant later, darkness spread from the opening of the hood that concealed her features.
“...!”
The chief saw the “darkness” that stretched out from the probable Assassin coming towards him, and immediately leapt back. He escaped by a hair’s breadth.
When the “darkness” reached where he had been standing, it shredded the marble floor like cheese.
It spread throughout the lobby, with the black-robed Assassin’s head as its center. Even the officers armed with Noble Phantasms were hard pressed to do more than block or evade such an attack.
Then one of the officers at the chief’s side lost an arm to the “darkness.”
“Gwah...!”
It coiled around the man’s arm like a tentacle, trying to lift his whole body off the floor.
“...”
Silently, the chief leapt, instantaneously drawing his sword. The blade gleamed bewitchingly as it sung through the air, bisecting the black tendrils that grasped at his subordinate’s arm. He felt resistance as it cut, and saw the severed “darkness” flutter gently to the ground.
Hair...!?
A mystic art that caused her own hair to grow explosively, and allowed her to control it more freely than her own hands and feet.
That was the chief’s initial assessment, but, looking at the rents in the floor, he slightly revised his ideas.
No, this isn’t hair anymore. She’s taken it into the realm of blades.
So, this is her Noble Phantasm.

Cyber Fantasy

Here and here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot uses Cyber Fantasy on some nameless putz

As she looked upon Jester’s disciples emotionlessly, the black-robed woman said just one thing.
Indeed, it was ephemeral.
“Our god most-compassionate... has no chalice....”
Perhaps they heard her, or perhaps they didn’t. Either way, one of the men drew a magical-seeming dagger and leapt towards her, trying to impale her through her back.
And then—
A wet, aberrant sound echoed around the chamber as her shoulders began to warp.
Her left arm reached backwards at an abnormal angle and ever-so gently touched him and—
“Cyber Fantasy.”
And right away, his head burst into flames and splattered everywhere, accompanied by an explosive noise, as if his head had itself become a bomb.
Hearing the blast and seeing a flash of light, the mages all cowered in fear.
Only two of them had perished—but that was enough to convince them that they were dealing with a real, honest-to-god Servant: a being against which they were utterly powerless.

Zealot uses Cyber Fantasy on one of the Demon Beasts and bursts its head open.

It landed on the head of the berserk demon beast that had stopped in front of him. Then...
“Cyber Fantasy: Zabaniya...”
The Heroic Spirit whispered, and, at almost the same instant, the beast’s head burst apart.
“...!”
Was that... another Noble Phantasm? Just how many does she...?

Delusional Heartbeat

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Description of Zealot using Zabaniya Delusional Heartbeat

Lying beside her was a human corpse.
There was no external wound, but the man’s body was stiff, with a look of anguish as if his heart had been crushed. She could not detect the least sign of life.
To Ayaka’s eyes, it had appeared that a hand really had crushed his heart. but... that heart was gone now, and there was no trace of a tear in his shirt, let alone a wound on his chest.
And the “someone” who had crushed his heart was gone as well.

…

Corporeal “death” swept down on the opera house stage.
But not on Ayaka; behind the mage who was to have been her executioner.
“Emerge from the ring of restraint, O Guardian of the... scales...?”
How long had “it” been there? To Ayaka’s eyes, at least, it looked as if it had materialized out of thin air.
A petite human figure swathed in shadow-black robes. Ayaka could see that its whole body was covered in black cloth, but she could not make out the face. All she remembered clearly was the moment a weirdly long arm stretched through a gap in the robes, and came to rest on the chest of its victim.

…

It was hard to say which came first, the almost audible shiver than ran down Ayaka’s spine, or the black-robed intruder crushing the heart-like thing that appeared in its long hand.
“Gah... bah...?”
The mage vomited blood, still not comprehending what had happened to his body. It was doubtful if he even realized who had killed him.

vs Jesture Karture

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot uses Delusional Heartbeat on Jester Karture

“Are you... the mage... who has summoned me... to attain the Holy Grail?”
She rubbed the black cloth wrapped around her mouth and spoke deliberately and delicately.
Relieved that she had finally spoken, Jester stepped forward. Brimming with a newfound confidence, he spread his arms as if to welcome her into this world.
“Indeed, I am. I shall ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒ ‒”
“Delusional Heartbeat.”
The moment she spoke, time stopped.
Jester felt something brush against his chest. He lowered his head to look at it.
What’s thIs?
And tHen—he saw somethINg Red in frOnT of his torso, and he
NÖTICeDThaTiTwAs ïn facT HÒlDing ontO soMeThInG rEd, ANd
HÉ realiZe d Tha T T h e T hINg iT WASh OL d iN g Ẅ As Ac T u a Lͅ Ly HIS
he ā rT,A nd
He did not raise his head back up. Jester’s body collapsed to the ground.
“How...!?”
Seeing their master’s body suddenly turn utterly immobile, Jester’s disciple-mages panicked. Their eyes grew wide as they looked at the situation unfolding before them.
A third arm, red in color, had sprouted from the woman’s back. It extended all the way to Jester’s body, and where it brushed against his chest—
How strange. That red hand came to hold a heart—and then crushed it.

…

In the basement of the lakeside cottage where the nameless Heroic Spirit was summoned, there were no men; only corpses.
By the time Assassin departed, this became an even more certain truth.
“Kha!”
A pristine laugh rang out.
But the truth was what it was.
In that room, there were no men; only corpses.
“Khaa! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
A peal of laughter echoed. It sounded like the laugh of a child, jubilant from the bottom of its heart; but at the same time, it was warped— somehow perverted.
But the truth was still what it was.
In that room, there were no men; only corpses.
“Wow, that was a surprise! To think that the Holy Grail would bring me such a kooky little maverick!”
The man bounded up like a jack-in-the-box, the Command Spells on his right hand still gleaming.

…

Jester was having the time of his life. Paying no heed to the corpses scattered around the room, he began to unbutton his shirt. Magical looking emblems appeared on his bare chest—emblems that were entirely unlike Command Spells.
It was a ring of six red marks, similar in form to the cylinder of a six-shooter.
However, one of the six marks—the one closest to his left breast— had turned dark.
“She crushed my concept-nucleus with such ease! I was as careful as I could be! And it didn’t even matter! With her arm, she could return even a being far stronger than me to naught!”
Jester touched the darkened mark with a finger, whereupon his fingertip was sucked into the skin of his chest. Strangely, not a drop of blood fell from the mark. He shoved his hand up to the wrist into the muddy flesh-colored morass and squelched at his own innards.
“My mage-soul has been utterly destroyed.”
Then, like a gear, or indeed, like a revolver, the six marks rotated, almost as though they were wriggling. The darkened mark shifted to his left flank, loading a new red mark on his left breast.
“In that case, I had best put on a new face from here on out.”
And then, somehow—just as those six marks had moved, his body and face pulsated. A moment later, he had the appearance of an entirely different man.
He withdrew his finger from his chest and placed it on the darkened seal at his side. He was in a state of ecstasy as he rubbed his finger around it.
“That concept-nucleus was shielded by countless layers of protective magic. And despite that, she made all of that as unto less than nothing with that red arm. Her fingers reached the very core of my being.... An arm so simple, and yet ever so fiendish! And yet—nay, thus!—it is beautiful! A Noble Phantasm—what a thing!”

vs Sigma

Sigma dodges Zealot’s Zabaniya after being given warning by Watcher

Sigma was in the process of tracing an escape route in his head when Assassin’s lips moved.
“…Zabaniya…”
At the same moment, the Captain’s voice sounded.
“Here comes her hair. Look lively, now.”
Just as Sigma grasped the meaning of those words, hair really did extend from the shadows of Assassin’s hood, aiming to coil around his windpipe. Sigma avoided it by a hair’s breadth, and Assassin’s eyes narrowed. Apparently she had not expected him to be able to dodge. As a matter of fact, without the Captain’s warning, he would not have been in time and the hair would have closed around his throat.
Seeing the hair carve away part of the column he had dodged toward, Sigma felt certain that he had just slipped through “certain death.”

…

Does she even need to use Noble Phantasms to kill someone of my level? Sigma wondered as he dodged the countless lunging strands of hair.

Delusional Poison Body

Description of Zealot’s Zabaniya mimicked from Hassan of Serenity.

How should I deal with that man?
There was a Noble Phantasm related to her poison resistance — a technique of scattering poison that a chief called “The Tranquil” had once employed — but that would also effect people other than her target. In life she had ceaselessly trained herself for the duties of an assassin. But all of that was for bringing ruin to the enemies of the faith, not for massacring innocent people.

Febrile Inspiration

Here and here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot uses Delusional Heartbeat to attack Orlando Reeve, Orlando Reeve cuts the offending arm but still doesn’t drive her off, a nameless Noble Phantasm Gun that possesses magic as if having existed since the Age of Gods causes Zealot be sent flying away. Zealot escapes the attack from the gun unscathed via Febrile Inspiration.

The chief groaned inwardly, but it did not look like Assassin was going to give him time to think rationally. She used the force of the explosion to flip over, and a weirdly elongated arm stretched towards him from her back.
“Delusional Heartbeat: Zabaniya...”
“Ngh!”
Seeing the length of his opponent’s arm, the chief judged that even if he drew back, it would still overtake him.
In which case... my only option is to cut through it! He judged, and drew his katana.
Its edge sliced into the long, warped appendage, but Assassin kept coming. She stretched out her hand to the chiefs body, heedless of the blade lodged in her arm. Her fingertips were mere inches from the chief’s chest, when...
A loud gunshot sounded, and Assassin was sent flying.
“...Are you unharmed, sir?”
When the chief turned to look, he found his secretary aiming a large revolver. It was clearly not police issue. Based on what it had done to the Heroic Spirit, it must have been another Noble Phantasm.
The weapon ought to have been too modern to qualify, but the potent magical energy seeping out of it seemed to declare that it had existed since the age of the gods.
Not even a Heroic Spirit could take a bullet fired from such a gun and emerge unscathed. Or so the police thought.

…

Thanks to Febrile Inspiration: Zabaniya, which made her skin as hard as Demon Realm Crystal, she had suffered no direct damage from the bullet. But magical energy was rapidly leaking from her body where it had struck. Perhaps it was an effect of the Noble Phantasm.
If the bullet had actually penetrated flesh and made a deep wound, it would have depleted an average Heroic Spirit’s magical energy on the spot.

Ichor of Reverie

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot uses Ichor of Reverie to kill the rest of the nameless magi.

It seemed like she was allowing the magi time to flee—but they did not. In unison, they took a great leap backwards and unleashed the full force of their magical energies on the women.
Witnessing this piteous sight, the black-robed Servant slowly shook her head, an almost-despondent look in her eye—
And yet, without a trace of mercy, she spoke words of power.
“Ichor of Reverie.”
And then—silence descended upon the chamber.
The black-clad Servant was surrounded by the corpses of magi.
All of the mages that had tried to release their magical energy upon her had —for some reason— been consumed by their own mighty flames. Their remains were strewn about the floor.
The only one who had any idea what happened was the Servant. She hastened up the stairs out of the basement, still silent.

vs Clan Calatin

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

As all Clan Calatin’s forces are about to attack/pounce on Zealot, she begins to use her Ichor of Reverie.

The chief clicked his tongue in annoyance, and turned his eyes back to Assassin, who was unleashing fresh hair-tentacles from near the ceiling.
The evil spirits fluttered through the air, and the panther-like demon beasts circled Assassin, walking upside down on the ceiling. They would all pounce simultaneously, and the officers with long-range Noble Phantasms would fire in unison, shooting through spirits, demon beasts and all.
It was a brute force approach, but it would be enough to measure whether or not their attacks would work on the Heroic Spirit.
The chief recited a brief incantation to control his familiars, and the evil spirits lunged toward Assassin in unison. The officers readied their Noble Phantasms. Then...
“...Ichor of Reverie: Zabaniya...”
No one in the lobby caught the black-robed figure’s murmur. Just as only one other person could hear the “song” that emanated a moment later from Assassin’s throat.
“Ugh! What the—?”
Hansa had been about to sip his coffee — now lukewarm due to the blackout — when the cup nearly slipped through his fingers. He pressed his hands over his ears, and turned to look at the source of the sound. He could see that the Heroic Spirit was indeed singing through an opening in the explosion of hair.
Narrowing his eye, Hansa attempted to rationally analyze the sound.
“Well now... this lady’s got a range most people can’t hear.”
As he said, the noise was inaudible to the chief and his officers. But that didn’t mean their bodies were deaf to Assassin’s song.
Soon, its results began to register in their eyes.
“Ngh...?”
The chief sensed an unusual heat coming from his own magic circuits. At the same time, the scene around him began to spin drunkenly.
What? What’s happening to me?
The change sprung on the chief and his officers before they could grasp what was happening.
“Wha—?”
One of the officers was being attacked by a demon beast. He caught its fangs on his curved sword.
It was more than just the one beast. All the familiars that should have been attacking Assassin were beginning to lash out at the surrounding police officers.
And that was not all. The officers themselves were unsteady on their feet, as if they — like their chief — were experiencing something like vertigo.
“She’s... making our magic circuits go out of control...!”
Despite his faltering legs, the chief managed to call off the beasts. An instruction to his familiars was enough. If he had tried to use offensive magecraft, the magical energy would likely have escaped his control and destroyed his own body.
It probably has a direct effect on the brain of even a non-mage.
It was possible that the reason for their intoxicated state had nothing to do with magic circuits — that something had delivered a direct shock to their brains — but at the very least it seemed to be entirely separate from the hair-extending technique.
I was careless. She must have two assassination techniques worthy of the title “Noble Phantasm.”

Meditative Serenity

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot’s Meditative Serenity exposition.

She mentally prepared herself as she raced through the station’s long passageways. The special training she had undergone meant that she needed no light to move. Sensing the movement of air, the flow of magical energy, and the echoing sounds of wind, she was able to see her surroundings with her entire body, and even sense the flow of energy within them. This was another of the arts attained by the great chiefs: “Meditative Sensitivity: Zabaniya.” A superhuman sensory ability that enabled her to feel currents of power — such as magical energy, water, electricity, or wind — whether natural or artificial, as if they were part of her own body.
She had made use of that power to locate the station’s power source, and destroy it.

Zealot’s Meditative Sensitivity vs Enkidu’s Forest Boundary Field. Exposition on how Enkidu’s Boundary Field behaves.

Assassin had been wandering in the forest for half a day now. She was sure she had chosen the shortest route back to the city, but for some reason she could not seem to get clear of the trees. After using Meditative Sensitivity: Zabaniya to make sure of the surrounding terrain, she had arrived at a troubling conclusion — it seemed that the entire forest was shifting in obedience to someone’s will. The terrain would shift slightly, and even her orientation would change. With a liberal use of Meditative Sensitivity, she would be able to escape the forest easily. Then an idea struck her.

…

With that thought in mind, Assassin advanced cautiously toward where the magical energy was thickest. At last, she came in sight of two Heroic Spirits, squaring off among the trees.

Zealot/No Name Assassin uses Meditative Sensitivity: Zabaniya to check Sigma and confirm there was no abnormal magical energy in his body.

Assassin, who visibly frowned at Sigma’s example, waved a hand in his direction and confirmed that there was no abnormal magical energy in his body using the perception that came with Meditative Sensitivity: Zabaniya.
“. . . I can see no signs of any strange spell on you. I’m not able to detect mental ties that don’t rely on magical energy, but . . .”

Unfeeling Patrolling Spirits

vs Jester Karture

Zealot employs her Noble Phantasm Unfeeling Patrolling Spirits: Zabaniya

The “thing”—the dead apostle that called itself Jester—actually shed tears of joy as he spoke. Assassin, watching him, had already sprung into action.
Stifling her emotions, but putting all the indignation she had built up until a moment before into her magical energy, she leapt at the monster that was her Master.
In place of the fiend’s magical energy, she had the temporary supply Saber had leant her. She poured most of it into her Noble Phantasm.
“...Clad me in black sharpness...”
“Unfeeling Patrolling Spirits: Zabaniya.”

Zealot vs Jester

The scene before his eyes bore no resemblance.
The girl Assassin transformed the dense mist that shrouded her body into numerous shapes—massive beasts, great serpents, beautiful women, giants—and somehow attacked the man who seemed to be a hematophage—no, a monster called a Dead Apostle—with physical force.
She attacked the man-shaped monster who delightedly danced across the battlefield, sometimes dodging, sometimes having a limb torn off and immediately regrowing it.
“Ha ha ha! Are those jinnīya? I’m amazed your control extends to them! Really, there’s never a dull moment with you! I’ll let you command even more powerful jinnīya if you accept me.
Don’t you want to be like the great Sulayman?”
“. . . I do not control them. You insult my great forebears and their teachings . . .!” Assassin whispered with hatred, then leapt into the fray herself and lunged at her enemy alongside the great beasts and giants formed from her mist.

Seeing the fiend take even that assault and regenerate with a laugh, however, Assassin could not help narrowing her eyes.
“Monster . . .”

Presence Concealment

Enkidu detects/senses Zealot’s presence despite Presence Concealment. Not even Richard noticed her.

Lancer placed a wild fruit in Saber’s outstretched hand, then turned to the trees a short distance away, and asked again.
“Would you like some as well? You’ve been watching us for some time; you must be hungry.”
“...Huh?”
“What?”
Ayaka and Saber turned, wide-eyed, just in time to see a lone figure emerge from the trees. It was the black-clad Heroic Spirit who had been present when Ayaka and Saber first met.
“Ah!”
“I’m surprised. Not even I noticed her,” Saber said, steeling every nerve in his body to fight at any moment.

Boundary Fields

Zealot can make boundary fields to make it so ordinary people can’t perceive a given location’s entrance.

The partially-constructed building stood on a site slightly removed from central Snowfield. Under normal circumstances it would be deserted at night, after the construction people had gone. Now, however, a black-robed woman — the Servant Assassin — had erected her barrier there, and ordinary humans could no longer so much as perceive the entrance.

Physical strength, durability, and speed?

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga. Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake commercial.

Description of the Boundary Fields surrounding the Snowfield Police Station

A great number of mystic barriers had been erected on the site of the police station, transforming it into a fortress that completely shut out all except those who approached through the legitimate entrances. Even if she were to erase her presence and attempt to get in through the front door, barriers designed to expose such subterfuge were set up five or six layers thick. The bounded field had been formed so skillfully that it was hidden even from the nearby mages. She had passed by it during the day and not noticed a thing.

Zealot smashes through all the barriers surrounding the Police Station.

She drew a deep breath, and resolved to storm the enemy camp.
The chief of her time had been able to slip — practically dance — through any barrier. She knew that she herself was not so skillful. All she could do was to make use of the techniques she had developed in imitation of previous generations, and fight.
She would go on running until she smashed into a wall. Nothing else mattered. If even her immature self could accomplish something, then her life would have meaning.
No, she did not need meaning. She did not need to think; only to break through.
She digested her silent resolve beneath her black raiment, and took a huge leap into the air. As she fell, she forcibly shut down all the barriers. Her opponents would notice her presence, but she did not care. She would eliminate all enemies. Having made up her mind on that, she became a cannonball hurtling towards the police station.
Several seconds later, all the barriers spread in the skies above it shattered at once…

…

But it had not seemed like a prank call, either. The chief was already well aware that Caster’s intelligence-gathering skills were abnormal. But what did it mean that he had now progressed to issuing warnings in real time? No sooner had the doubt crossed the chief’s mind, however, than...
Crackle.
Every vein in his body set up a distorted wailing. To be precise, the magic circuits that ran through it did.
The barriers... Shit! What’s going on?
The anti-mage barriers erected many layers thick had been destroyed in an instant, with a force like a missile plowing into a shelter.
Picture slipping through the security system of a bank or an art museum without triggering it even once, and successfully carrying out a theft without allowing even the fact of your infiltration to be noticed. That was the kind of barrier breaking the chief had envisioned.
This, however, was like a bomb striking the building and tearing open a hole in the wall to make an entrance. In other words, it meant that whoever had broken the barrier did not care if their intrusion was detected. This was no infiltration; it was an “impact.”

Zealot saves Sigma from Jester’s trap

Sigma, who had heard that information from Watcher, decided that he could therefore afford to make a little noise and attempted to take the shortest route from the rear of the hospital. He advanced quickly through the back garden...but when he had made it about halfway across, Assassin grabbed the collar of Sigma’s gear and yanked him hard to the side.
“?!”
Before he could ask what she was trying to do, they rained down on the spot where Sigma had been standing.
Numerous bits of metal stuck into the ground.
They were twisted weapons of death—spears formed from countless scalpels, scissors, and other sharp instruments half-melted and fused together.
Seeing them rain down, Sigma guessed that they contained every scalpel, scissor, and bone cutter in the hospital.
“Right, boy. He’s spent this short time gathering sharp objects from all over the hospital,” the shadow in the form of the captain smirked a short distance away.
“Now, time for the second trial. Overcome it and grow, boy.”

Zealot/No Name Assassin vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Zealot might be able to survive a hit from a stray projectile from Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon

They stealthily crossed Main Street and drew closer to the hospital. The police force and the bowman had begun to fight and the other Archer—Gilgamesh—and Saber were also engaged in combat. Assassin might survive a hit from a stray projectile, but Sigma certainly would not.

Zealot/No Name Assassin vs Clan Calatin

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

One of the cops can use magecraft to emulate light fixtures and emit light to see. Zealot is fast, but still no match for the speed of light, and is thus seen by several cops before she can hide herself.

Flowing down the stairs like a waterfall, she finally arrived at a space filled with disordered currents of it. That is, at the most spacious area in the police station — the front lobby.
“...!”
At almost the same time the woman Assassin leapt into the lobby, the uniformed man in its center deployed magecraft to light the space, matching the positions of its existing lighting fixtures.
A mage!
Assassin promptly dematerialized, but even she was no match for the speed of light. In the instant before she disappeared, Assassin’s image was burned into several pairs of eyes, the mage’s among them.

Zealot avoids an arrow fired by a member of Clan Calatin, the arrow is powerful enough to possibly down an average Heroic Spirit.

Until an arrow imbued with brutal magical energy came flying down the hall towards her.
“...!”
It came from a total blind spot. Without the keen sense she had acquired to run in the dark, she would not have even noticed she had been attacked until it struck her.
Picking up the disturbance of nearby magical energy and the faint creak of a bow being drawn, she realized she was being targeted.
The woman Assassin twisted, flexing her joints farther than seemed humanly possible, and evaded the arrow that had been closing in on her heart. It flew straight on down the corridor, and struck what was — from the shooter’s perspective — the opposite wall.
The impact wrought incredible destruction. The wall burst apart. The room beyond peeked through a hole bored clean through the reinforced concrete.
She did not know how it had destroyed the wall. All she knew for certain was... that the strike had been powerful enough to being down any human, and possibly even an average Heroic Spirit.

Zealot jumps up to the ceiling of the Atrium after feeling a chill. This lets her dodge the Naginata strike from a member of Clan Calatin.

Having concluded that her opponent was a Servant, Assassin immediately shifted to an offensive posture. She controlled her center of gravity in order to start moving as she landed. The instant she did, however... she caught the faint sound of rubber soles rubbing the floor right beside her.
“!”
Assassin felt a chill. She neither distanced herself from nor approached the bow woman; she leapt straight up with all her might. She flipped her body 180 degrees vertically, and landed on the ceiling of the atrium.
She saw a black man in the uniform of a police officer. Hardly surprising. But he was swinging a weapon shaped like a naginata in a horizontal sweep.
If she had moved backward or forward, she might have been caught by that blade.
Another Noble Phantasm... What can it mean...?

The Naginata wielder of Clan Calatin blocks Zealot’s attack, but is sent flying by the force.

Despite her doubts, Assassin kicked off the ceiling and aimed a kick at the naginata man.
“Guh!”
He blocked by a hair’s breadth with the haft of his weapon, but the kick still sent him flying down the hallway.
No resistance. Is he not a Heroic Spirit?

Zeolat dodges the charge of a Greatshield wielding member of Clan Calatin.

Despite her confusion, Assassin landed in a different spot, still wary of the female officer’s bow. But while she kept her eyes on the far end of the hallways, she neglected the break room door in the wall opposite the atrium. No sooner did she pass in front of it than a large man smashed through the door, charging at her with a giant shield.
“!”
The giant approached her with the force of a cannonball, covering his body with the greatshield. But it was not the man’s large build — more than two meters tall — that made Assassin sense danger; it was the density of the magical energy covering his equally large shield.
Another Noble Phantasm...!
In which case, it was dangerous to think of the attack as a mere charge.
Assassin leapt again, worried what hidden properties the shield might have. She landed in the gigantic umbrella of light that shone from the roof of the atrium.

Description of Zealot’s perception of Clan Calatin and their weapons.

About thirty police officers had gathered unnoticed in the lobby, as well as in the open sections of second and third floor hallways. It was obvious that they had not just overheard the disturbance and come running. They grasped a wide array of armaments, each wrapped in unusually dense magical energy. It seeped out of them on numerous different wavelengths, warping the atmosphere of the entire room.
All of it pointed to one fact, a fact that could upset the entire concept of the Holy Grail War: Every one of those nearly thirty weapons was unmistakably a Nobel Phantasm.

Orlando Reeve uses a mystic code gun to activate a number of magical traps in his police station lobby (including several demon beasts and several dozen evil spirits).

The chief held his sword in his right hand, and drew a gun from his breast pocket with his left.
“I’ll use up this block before you destroy it.”
It was a mystic tool, loaded, not with ordinary bullets, but with special rounds designed to activate spells.
The chief aimed his gun up and fired, as if to signal a shift from defense to offense.
He wasn’t aiming at Assassin. He was aiming at the traps built into the ceiling of Orlando Reeves’ police station — his mage’s workshop — around her.
The built-in magecraft activated, temporarily strengthening the barrier around the police station lobby and isolating almost as thoroughly as if it had become another world. If a tank were to open fire inside the lobby now, no one outside would hear a thing.
At the same time, several demon beasts and several dozen evil spirits were summoned around Assassin, and pounced on the “intruder” the chief had designated with unmistakable hostility.

Zealot replicates her feat of speed that she displayed against Richard at the Opera House in order to attack Orlando Reeve. He’s saved by the warning shout of his subordinate in order to dodge.

The woman Assassin leapt from atop the lighting fixture, thrusting at a newly-created opening in the officers’ ranks. At the same time, the hair spread throughout the lobby began to converge. It was being sucked back into the black robes that covered her head.
The black-robed shadow leapt from pillar to pillar, seeming to ignore gravity. It was the same way she had moved at the opera house, and like then, it looked to anyone who saw like she had split into countless copies.
And, like at the opera house... she leapt out behind the man who appeared to be leading the police officers with the force of a cannonball.
“Chief! Behind you!”
“!”
The chief swiftly turned, reacting to his subordinate’s shout. He narrowly evaded the assassin’s hand closing in on him.

Clan Calatin was growing more adept at wielding their Noble Phantasms as the battle continued forward.

As they fight... they are adjusting to their Noble Phantasms.
A mere few minutes of battle had convinced her that she was fighting humans, not Heroic Spirits. Their Noble Phantasms, however, were unmistakably genuine.
She did not know or care how humans were able to wield Noble Phantasms, but it appeared that they were not used to using them in actual combat. Even during this short battle, however, she could tell that their bodies were acclimatizing. The more they fought, the more power they would draw from their Noble Phantasms.
Even restricting her attention to nearby weapons, the power of their strikes and slashes was beginning to rise. Some had even begun to display traits unimaginable in ordinary weapons, such as a blade that emitted flames from its edge.

Jester evaluates how the fight between Clan Calatin and Zealot would play out if left to its own devices.

“Let me see... In my humble opinion, if you keep going like this, around the time she’s slaughtered seven tenths of you, the remaining officers will fully accept their Noble Phantasms as parts of themselves, and awaken. Once that happens, the odds will be fifty-fifty. But if even one mage capable of seeing through the nature of her Noble Phantasm remains, the scales will tip in favor of the ladies and gentlemen of the police.” After taking the initiative to forecast the flow of the battle, the young man continued: “Exquisite. I mean that. If you make use of your experience in this battle, and manage to replenish your numbers, then you may indeed be able to fight Classes for the battle-mad, like Saber or Archer, head-on.”

Zealot/No Name Assassin vs Richard the Lionheart

Here and here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Zealot’s so fast as to give the impression that she had split into dozens of people through the afterimages she left behind.

“The way you’re dressed, and the flow of ‘power’ I sensed just now... Are you a follower of the ‘Old Man of the Mountain,’ by any chance?”
“...!?”
The atmosphere instantly changed. The man’s words sounded like nonsense to Ayaka, but they seemed to strike a chord with the black-robed woman.
“Either way, as long as we both seek the Holy Grail, we must be enemies. What will you do?”
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the black-robed woman sprung into action with a surge of murderous intent. It was like a shadow on the ground had leapt into the air. She bounded into the wings in a single breath, and left afterimages in her wake as she darted between the pillars that encircled the stage. When she flew past gaps in the curtains, it created the illusion that she had split into dozens of people.
“Ha ha! Magnificent! I’ve never seen anyone lighter-footed than Loxley before!”

Zealot becomes even faster, she disappears from Ayaka’s sight, she goes to attack Richard the Lionheart with Delusional Heartbeat after jumping out of his shadow, Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart shoots an arrow from within his shadow to fend off Zealot’s attack.

As if she had taken his praise as a challenge, the woman leapt still faster, and then... suddenly vanished into thin air.
“She... disappeared...?” Ayaka murmured, dumbfounded, and looked up. Just then... the black-robed woman appeared from the blind spot of everyone there. She jumped out behind the man, not from above the stage, but out of the shadow he cast on the floor.
A weirdly long arm stretched from her back, and made for the center of the man’s back, just above his heart. An arm of clear death, identical to the one that had slaughtered the mage just a minute before.
But that arm never reached the man’s body. An arrow fired from nowhere sent it flying off course.
“...!?”
The black-robed woman’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. As far as she was concerned, the blow had come from a complete blind spot. For you see, that arrow had appeared suddenly at the man’s feet — indeed, from within the shadow he cast on the stage floor.

Richard uses Excalibur, Zealot appears to escape from it, the Opera house is left half destroyed.

“Ha ha, being compared not to your liking? But splendid work, as always,” the aristocratic young man muttered to no one in particular, then drew his sword with a smile.
It was exquisitely wrought. Even Ayaka could tell that it was the kind of sword that royalty used. Then, still smiling, he let out a cry... and swung.
“_____calibur.”
Once again, light enveloped the interior of the opera house. It surged from the man’s mana-infused sword like a lightning strike, and made a beeline for the black-robed woman, who was beating a hasty retreat. Then—
A violent crash, followed by the sounds of something collapsing reached Ayaka’s ears. When she timidly opened her dazzled eyes, she saw... the starry sky peeking through the collapsed roof of the partially-destroyed opera house.

…

“Be at ease, it doesn’t seem any of the common people were caught up in it. On the other hand, it appears that the rebel escaped as well... Humph, she did well to get clean away from me. Still, there’s no going back now.”

…

Then he looked up at the nearly half-collapsed ceiling and heaved a sigh.
“Is this a theater? Oh dear...”
He narrowed his eyes as if he had received a shock of some kind, and crossed his arms as if lost in thought.
“So modern playhouses are as fragile as that... I suppose the knowledge I got from the Throne isn’t enough to really understand...”

…

As she rested her body, the woman Assassin silently closed her eyes and clenched her teeth. Although she had been caught up in Saber’s powerful strike, there was not a single wound on her. Perhaps she had employed some kind of secret technique.
Nonetheless, she still knew neither her opponent’s fighting strength, nor his Noble Phantasm, nor even his true name. Her temporary withdrawal had probably been tactically correct. Yet the fact that she had retreated in the face of the enemy at all had sunk her heart into a deep abyss.

More allusions to Richard’s Rounds of Lionheart. Zealot’s training has given her resistance to powerful poisons.

The woman Assassin cemented her resolve as she devised countermeasures for the man. She sensed an air of unrest ever since Saber had been summoned. Just before he appeared, there had certainly been multiple presences in the light. Some of them had been clearly inhuman. Later all the figures had coalesced into one... but there was the arrow that had knocked away the arm of her Delusional Heartbeat: Zabaniya. That Saber did not appear to have fired it. Furthermore, the arrow had been laced with a powerful poison. Because she had acquired resistance as a result of her training, it had had no effect on her, but it would have numbed the sinews of an ordinary person, rendering them immobile. The man had not seemed the type to use poison for preference, and there was still the mystery of why the arrow had flown out of his shadow. That meant she could not fight him recklessly.

Noble Phantasms not withstanding, Jester evaluates Zealot’s chances against Richard in a head on fight to be slim.

He could say with certainty that there was something unusual about the Heroic Spirit who appeared to be Saber. As far as Assassin’s Master was concerned, she had had slim chance of victory, Nobel Phantasms excluded.

“You would almost certainly have lost in a head-to-head firefight. But not to fear; you are an assassin. Seek your opening from the shadows, and deal him certain death from behind! Upholding the honor of what you believe in through such dishonorable means is your very way of life!”

Richard stops Zealot from stabbing Sigma

Before Sigma could finish speaking, a black figure stood between him and the girl.
Just as Assassin was about to thrust a knife hand at Sigma, a leather jacket-clad arm appeared from beside her and held her back.
Assassin glared silently at its owner. The man with red-streaked blond hair who wore the jacket beamed back.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So Alcides?

Spoiler

Source

Class: Avenger/True Archer
Master: Bazdilot Cordelion
True name: Alkeides
Gender: Male
Height/Weight: 203cm 141kg
Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Strength: A
Endurance: B
Agility: A
Magic: A
Luck: B
Noble Phantasm: A++

Class Skills
■ Avenger: A

■ Independent Action: C

■ Magic Resistance: A

Personal Skills
■ Distortion: A
Forced distortion of the class he was originally called forth in. He has received the other class's specialty as proof. Conversely, either of the class skills has declined. In Alkeides's case, Independent Action has dropped to C rank.

■ Eye of the Mind (True): B
Insight fostered through training and discipline. In Alkeides's case, having his god given abilities thrown away, the techniques he accumulated as a human make their appearance.

■ Bravery: E
A skill that brushes aside mental interference and increases melee damage.
The divine curse lodged inside him has be brought out by the Command Spell. The score has decreased considerably.

■ Battle Continuation: A+
Can continue fighting even with wounds that place him on the verge of death. An ability representing his strong will to stay alive on the battlefield.

Noble Phantasms
■ King's Order: Twelve Glories
Rank: C~A++
Type: -
Range: -
Losing his divinity along with his immortality meant obtaining [proof of crushing the labors]. Starting with [Pelt of the Divine Beast] and [War God's War Sash], this is the embodiment of [having owned the Noble Phantasms in one's legend]. One's own tools can be fully used. However, as using this crushes a convention of the Holy Grail itself, magical energy consumption is increased manifold.

■ Nine Lives: The Shooting Hundred Heads
Rank: C~A+
Type: Unknown
Range: As the occasion demands
The technique that has become a Noble Phantasm is called [Style: Shooting the Hundred Heads], and can be performed in various ways with a weapon or perhaps even bare-handed. Drawing the maximum power from the weapon, from anti-unit to anti-army, up to sieging, various forms depending on the circumstances are on display.

■ Reincarnation Pandora: Usurper of the Celestial Wind
Rank: EX
Type:
Range:
Max Targets:

Alcides stats surpass Gilgamesh’s

When first caught sight of the archer through the golden ring, she had immediately been surprised by how high his statuses were. In terms of pure statistical values, he could even be said to surpass Gilgamesh.

Alcides feels only by using Ea will he and Gilgamesh be equals.

“...Draw the sword in the deepest recess of your storehouse. Then we shall be equals,” the mysterious archer declared to the King of Heroes. Whether he had received the information from someone, or had sensed an exceptional presence from within the “treasury” during the earlier attack, he was telling Gilgamesh to “come at me with your most powerful weapon.”

Enkidu’s Presence Detection lets him sense Gilgamesh and Alcides are fighting and that they’re equally powerful. It also lets him sense Hipplyta.

“Gil... seems to be fighting someone strong...”
Enkidu abruptly stopped what he was doing and turned his gaze to the northeast of the forest. It was merely an expanse of tress, but Enkidu could see something else. Using his Sense Presence skill, he was able to sense Gil’s strong aura from afar, as well as another, equally powerful presence.

…

“Oh?”
With the result that, barely a few minutes later, he sensed another abnormality. Another, entirely different presence had suddenly appeared right beside where his friend and the other were fighting.
“Another presence... and another strong one.”

Due to having been able to skin something as tough as the Nemean Lion himself, Gilgamesh has high hopes for Alcides as an opponent. He also goes on to praise the skill Alcides possessed to sweep his Gate of Babylon’s initial volley aside with his bow.

The set of Gilgamesh’s lips softened slightly.
“What is it, Your Majesty?”
“Oh, just that if he skinned the beast himself, I have high hopes for him.”
Seeing the wry smile on the King of Heroes’ face, Tine realized what those words meant. This Heroic Spirit — the epitome of strength — hoped that the archer standing before him possessed strength to rival his own. Surely he would have condemned an ordinary Heroic Spirit who relied on the power of a Noble Phantasm to swat aside his treasures as irreverent.
Tine was reconfirmed in the belief that the bowman under her gaze was a fearsome enemy. He was, after all, sufficient to give this great and proud king “high hopes.”
“Even without his armor, sweeping my Noble Phantasms aside with his bow was a feat of consummate skill. It was worthy of praise, although I would never be so common.”

Gilgamesh insinuates Alcides was toying with Hippolyta.

“...If you insist on continuing to get in my way, I’ll eliminate you first, Golden King.”
At that point, the King of Heroes gave a scornful laugh.
“In your way, am I? Are you certain you did not mean your salvation, girl who calls herself queen?”
“What...?”
Gilgamesh glanced at the bowman standing imposingly before a heap of rubble as he answered the dubious rider.
“If you cannot even realize when you are being toyed with, how do you intend to hunt that man?”
“...You say I’m being toyed with?”
“As Heroic Spirits, you and he belong to different orders. You cannot be so cheap as to fail to realize that.”

How Tine perceives the status of Servants as a Master and how Gilgamesh, Alcides, and Hippolyta all compare to one another through her eyes. Exposition on how Goddess of War raises Hipplyta’s parameters.

Even Tine, observing the Heroic Spirits from the shadow of Vimana, was able to grasp the King of Heroes’ words.
Masters in the Holy Grail War were granted the simple clairvoyant ability to know their opponents’ general strengths and weaknesses, divided into status, strength, agility, and so on. The way this information appeared to each Master varied depending on their sensibilities. Tine visualized it as the difference in the speeds of the currents of six rivers flowing from a mountain.
As far as she could see, all the rivers ran swiftly for the King of Heroes and the cloth-shrouded bowman. Compared to them, the horsewoman’s flowed at a gentle pace. The river governing luck, in particular, stood out as slow in its course. Even in a simple comparison of basic abilities, she seemed to be at a slight disadvantage. It appeared that she was raising her natural power several ranks by housing the divine aura of her Noble Phantasm in her own body. Against an opponent who possessed the same Noble Phantasm, however, it would not be sufficient to give her an advantage. There might possibly be a difference between housing the power of a god in one’s own body and using it as a tool, but Tine was unable to conjecture what effect that difference might have.

Orlando Reeve asserts a stray shot from the fight between Gilgamesh, Hippolyta, and Alcides would demolish a building.

“I can’t just leave them to it. At this rate, a stray shot could easily demolish a building. I’ll sound out Faldeus for help as well, although I doubt it will do any good. Even if he can’t directly intervene in the fighting, it’s better to tackle the cover-up sooner than later.”

How Bazdilot was able to upkeep the high powered consumption of Alcides Noble Phantasms.

“O Master, what is the source of your magical energy? Even simply maintaining that ‘sacrificial mud’ would be beyond any common mage.”
“Are you worried that my magical energy will run dry?”
“You must know the number and nature of my Noble Phantasms.”
“...”
In a battle between Servants, how freely each was able to employ their Noble Phantasms was often a deciding factor.
A mystic pass now linked Alkeides to his Master, but he was still unable to fathom the limit of Bazdilot’s resources. To be precise, he could roughly sense the overall capacity of his Master’s Magic Circuits, but the volume of magical energy flowing through the pass between them clearly exceeded it.
“It’s simple; I’m merely using ‘batteries.’”
Bazdilot reached a hand into his pocket as he spoke. It emerged holding an object the size of a baseball.
At first glance, Alkeides did not realize what it was. Once he did, however, he gave a low grunt of admiration.
The thing in Bazdilot’s hand was a crystal wrapped in an air of mystery. Though transparent, it refracted light in complex patterns. It resembled the mystic crystals used by jewel mages, but it seemed several orders of magnitude more pure.
Alkeides had seen such distinctive crystals before. It had the same aura as the “Mana Crystals” that the witches of Greece had once refined from the Mana in the very air. If that was the case, it would mean that Bazdilot had been extracting vast quantities of magical energy from this crystal.
A Mana Crystal stored was like a battery of magical energy, but it was not for boosting or immediately replenishing a mage or Servant’s Od. They were primarily used in order to add external magical energy when casting a spell.
Bazdilot, however, was using a trick; by using the “mud” to pollute the energy, he was able to take it into himself and then channel it into his Servant. Using such a method, the corruption of that warped magical energy — which might justly be called suffering itself — would ordinarily have spread to his brain and driven him mad. Bazdilot was casting his “domination” magecraft on himself in order to manipulate it while keeping his right mind.

The number of mana crystals Bazdilot showed Alcides convinced him that he could fight for half a day at full power. That still may not be enough to defeat Gilgamesh in that time frame.

There was a mountain of Mana Crystals piled up in a corner of the room. Alkeides could sense the high-density magical energy packed into every single one.
“...With that amount,” he emotionlessly declared, “I could fight for half a day at full power without difficulty.”
“That’s half a day?”
“Are you dissatisfied? It is true that it might take longer than that to settle things with that golden king...”
“No. That will suffice.”
As he spoke, Bazdilot unrolled a map on his desk and showed it to Alkeides. After he lifted several layers of concealment, several glowing red points appeared on what had been an ordinary map of the industrial district.
“If that’s enough to sustain you for half a day...”

Bazdilot has enough mana crystals to let Alcides fight a full power for several months. “Only” took the sacrifice of 24,976 people to produce them all.

“If I put together everything I’ve prepared for this War, you should be able to fight continuously at full strength for several months.”
When he heard those words, Alkeides understood. The various tanks indicated on the map were all fakes, designed to keep up appearances. Inside, they were vaults full of Mana Crystals identical to those in this workshop.
“...To produce such a quantity... How many have you sacrificed to this contraption?”
The question was meant sarcastically; he realized that there must have been too many victims to count. Bazdilot, however, answered without batting an eyelash.
“Oh, just twenty-four thousand nine hundred and seventy-six people.”

Alcides can sense Haruri, exposition on why he can’t sense Filia (Ishtar)

“It-it’s the Einzberns! An Einzbern homunculus is here, and…”
That was as far as the subordinates got. There was an intense burst of noise and the call cut off with a sound like a person collapsing to the floor.
Wordlessly, Bazdilot rose to his feet and turned his eyes to the stairs that led above ground.
Alkeides appeared to have noticed that something was out of the ordinary as well.
“…There’s only one presence,” he muttered, bow in hand, “but it seems as though there’s more than one of something.”
Perhaps it was a hero’s intuition, or perhaps it was something to do with his mind’s eye.
Alkeides suspected that the diminutive presence he sensed and whatever had defeated Bazdilot’s men were separate entities. To prove it, he could soon hear the clangs of two pairs of feet descending the stairs.

…

At that point, Bazdilot and Alkeides understood. The reason that neither of them could detect even a trace of the presence of the woman who appeared to be an Einzbern homunculus was that she was forcing her magical energy to circulate only around herself.
Faced with a dome of dense magical energy with a radius of several meters, Alkeides wordlessly set his hands on his bow, while Bazdilot spoke with a look of imperturbability.

Richard evaluates From Hell Alcides to be beyond himself too

And then there was the grotesque bowman with demon’s horns sprouting from his head, with whom he had conversed earlier. He could tell that this Heroic Spirit was likewise so powerful that he had no hope.

Jack figures it would be a piece of cake for Alcides to blow away a hospital

“In that case, that bowman who stole my power will probably blow away the whole hospital. That would probably be a piece of cake for that Heroic Spirit... Wait.”

Nine Lives

vs Gate of Babylon

Alcides Nine Lives vs Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon. Gilgamesh fired hundred of Noble Phantasm at around the same time Alcides fired Nine Lives. The Noble Phantasm Gilgamesh fired were not the weak ones Gilgamesh had used in his first fight with Alcides. He aimed each shot at the parts of Alcides body not covered by the Nemean Lion Pelt. Each of Alcides arrows shot down multiple of Gilgamesh’s Noble Phantasms. Of the shots Alcides arrows didn’t block, Alcides turned his body to ensure they impacted his Nemean Lion Pelt.

Nonetheless, his opponent, the King of Heroes, recognized it as a weighty step, charged with Alkeides’ whole being.
“My great foe and pitiful fellow, dance along with my mad rush.”
Then, Alkeides, his posture still relaxed, spoke with force.
“...Nine Lives.”
At almost the same instant Gilgamesh deployed his Gate of Babylon, Alkeides fired his bow.
Hundreds of Noble Phantasms were fired.
Not the weak Noble Phantasms that Gilgamesh had attacked with during their confrontation in the wasteland—each and every one of these would be sure to smash his opponent’s Spirit Origin.
If they had been fired with conceit, the myriad Noble Phantasms would have fallen as a rain of vicious bloodlust with no thought for efficiency or any other consideration.
Now that he was standing on the same land as his friend Enkidu, however, Gilgamesh had no conceit.
His onslaught consisted of accurate Noble Phantasms aimed precisely at the parts of Alkeides’ body that the Nemean Lion’s pelt did not cover. It was a lethal swarm that would have obliterated any ordinary Heroic Spirit.
And yet, the rapid barrage of arrows that Alkeides fired while leaping to one side were downing those Noble Phantasms by matching them shot for shot.
Each arrow shot down multiple Noble Phantasms, but even more shocking than their force were their unusual trajectories and the speed of the barrage.
Alkeides was nocking two or three arrows at once and drawing his bow too fast for the eye to follow.
And that was not all. His arrows changed trajectory in midair as if each shaft had a will of its own, precisely shooting down Gilgamesh’s oncoming Noble Phantasms.
Those he could not completely evade, he blocked with the pelt by twisting his body, nullifying them.

Gilgamesh, upon seeing Alcides Nemean Lion Pelt was undamaged, Gilgamesh began to fire manmade elemental attacks at Alcides. Alcides fires Nines Lives (manifested as 9 arrows shrouded in Grail Mud magical energy) to combat Gilgamesh’s Noble Phantasm spam and elemental attacks.

Seeing the pelt undamaged, the King of Heroes snorted and made his next move.
“I shall personally assess...”
A large distortion in space formed beside him.
“...how well that pelt of yours can recognize the work of man.”
From the air to his left, blazing white flames.
From the air to his right, shining silver liquid.
To be precise, the liquid itself was colorless, but the moisture in the air around it froze instantly, giving it the appearance of a silvery gleam.
As they were in the King of Heroes’ treasury, both fire and liquid must have been human creations.
They were joined by manmade thunderbolts, and the storm of fire, ice, and lightning assailed Alkeides.
“...”
Alkeides, for his part, drew his bow back especially far.
The longbow bent back. Just as it seemed about to snap in two, it was released... and “it” took form in the sky above the church.
It was nine arrows shrouded in ominous magical energy whose twisting trajectories looked like titanic serpents.
They covered the sky over Main Street like the Hydra of legend, devouring not only the onrushing Noble Phantasms, but flame, cold, and even lightning alike.

Exposition about the nature of Alcides Nine Lives. The shots are covered in the Hydra’s venom.

Had the bowman been his proper self, his shots would have been shrouded not in the sinister, mud-like magical energy, but in pure divinity.
It was originally a culmination of skill and divinity said to be “clad in dragons.”
That Noble Phantasm, which unleashed with a sword, it was a breathless dance of nine strikes and with a spear a series of nine blows, was no secret art passed down from father to son. It was a myth that the great hero had created and perfected alone.
The shafts he fired having become a disciple of vengeance, however, raced between the skyscrapers with appearances that suggested vipers or evil dragons.

…

“Hydra venom? It may be the way of the world for a king to be served poison, but you lack artistry, mongrel.”

Despite the power of Alcides Nine Lives, Tine figures there was no need for Gilgamesh to draw Ea to counter it.

But what Tine saw of the exchange convinced her that her own Servant, Gilgamesh, would triumph. He seemed to be deflecting all of his opponent’s attacks, and these nine bowshots that seemed to be a Noble Phantasm must be one of Alkeides’ trump cards.
Judging from circumstantial evidence, Alkeides possessed a Noble Phantasm that stole his opponent’s Noble Phantasm, which smacked of foul play. But the way things were going, Gilgamesh would not even need to draw Ea, the Sword of Rupture, to unleash Enuma Elish, so there would be no risk of its being stolen.

Due to Gilgamesh’s distraction, Alcides Hydra venom tipped arrows pierced his shoulder, arm, and leg. 3 of Alcides poisoned arrows were able to impact Gilgamesh. The remaining arrows possessed too much force for Gilgamesh to deflect with his sword.

The instant he heard that roar, the King of Heroes had flinched.
Impossible.
It’s not true. My eyes are playing tricks on me.
Tine did not even have time to finish her thought before her farseeing spell showed her a tragedy.
The instant that one of the arrows bearing down on the King of Heroes pierced his shoulder.
“Ngh...!”
It had barely missed his vitals.
But with a poisoned arrow, that hardly mattered.
The other arrows, which he had evaded, were closing in on him.
His treasury refused to open.
The one arrow impact had unbalanced him.
And the swarm of arrows was bearing down on him with too much force for him to deflect with his sword.
With nothing more to be done, a second and third shaft pierced the King of Heroes’ arm and leg.
The remaining arrows would be sure to strike vital points.

vs From Hell

Alcides can counter From Hell Jack and Natural Born Killers with Nine Lives

“What you have built does indeed have value. I could counter with Nine Lives… but your power is too valuable to merely defeat.”

vs Fillia/Ishtar

Filia/Ishtar strikes down the remaining shots of Alcides Nine Lives. The intention seems to be in order to make Gilgamesh suffer in a drawn out fashion.

That instant, when it seemed to everyone that the King of Heroes was about to fall in a shocking upset... a “spears of earth” flew out of nowhere, passing by the King of Heroes to strike down the arrows.
The magical energy shrouding the shafts was deflected with a thunderous crash, shaking the window glass in the surrounding buildings.

…

Ishtar’s only reply was a faint smile. Instead of answering Gilgamesh, she surveyed the area and broke into a broad, cheerful grin.
“I’d really love to play with you more... but it looks like things will get annoying if I take any more time.”
“What...?”
“A servant of Ereshkigal... or Nergal, maybe? I suggest you run. It said that it’s eaten its fill, but you’ve just suffered ‘divine punishment,’ you know?”
Perhaps she had overheard his conversation with Saber. With those dispassionate words, she and the gigantic Heroic Spirit turned their backs and left with a parting shot.
Leaving behind her a last remark accompanied by a smile that was too wicked—or bewitching—for a deity.
“I went to the trouble of sparing your vitals, so suffer as long as you can.”

King’s Order

Pelt of the Divine Beast

Hippolyta’s Goddess of War arrow fire is further amplified in Divinity, her next shot hits Alcides at the speed of sound right where his heart sits. His Nemean Lion Pelt protects him from all damage. Gilgamesh further explains that this is how Alcides managed to come out of his previous Gate of Babylon spam unharmed where a punch from Hippolyta sent Alcides flying. Overall Nemean Lion Pelt exposition.

But it was the horsewoman who moved first. She was refining a divine aura, even more potent than before, behind the archer’s back. She had leapt off her steed as she fired, and, using it as a decoy, had gotten behind her enemy.
“...Impudent,” the archer muttered, and started to turn. Before he had the chance, however, an arrow struck his back, just where his heart was, at the speed of sound.
And yet, for some reason, no sooner had the arrowhead struck the man’s body — struck the cloth draped over his head — than it splintered, scattering to the winds without eating into his flesh.
“I knew it...” The rider he had called “queen” groaned at the sight. More than surprise, the groan seemed to imply the confirmation of her conjecture.
“...I see,” Gilgamesh muttered. He had temporarily re-boarded Vimana, and been surveying events from the ground.
“Has Your Majesty learned something?” Tine timidly inquired.
“How that mere bowman was able to defend against all my Noble Phantasms,” the King of Heroes replied amusedly, “as well as why he failed to defend against a blow of that mere horsewoman’s fist.”
“There is a reason, then...?”
“A trifle. His armor is special, that’s all.”
“His... armor?” Tine asked, turning to look at the archer, who had returned to earth.
The archer was wearing almost nothing that could be called armor. The only things covering his upper body were the strange, patterned cloth draped over his head, and other patterned cloth wrapped around his arm.
“It is most likely the hide of some species of demonic or divine beast. It can have been no small task to work it into that form, but it was probably originally something like an Ugallu.”
Gilgamesh gave the name of a Babylonian monster as an example, but that was not enough to satisfy Tine.
“You mean that this hide repelled all of Your Majesty’s tremendous blows?” She pressed.
“Numbers do not enter into it. Divine or demonic beasts sometimes reject human civilization itself in that way. A moment ago, I hit him with anything and everything — not only my first-class armaments, but even the Noble Phantasms of lower orders that I would ordinarily not even bother firing. I do not believe he repelled them all with skill alone. If he did so with his body, or some form of magical energy, however, it would fail to explain the fact that the hide is completely unharmed.”
At that point, the King of Heroes narrowed his eyes, and tightened his grip on Merodach, the sword of selection.
“Occasionally a creature of that sort appears — a singularity that rejects human civilization itself. At the very least, no tool created by humans will pierce that skin.”

A person striking with their fists would ignore the protection granted to Alcides by his Nemean Lion Pelt. Such an attack would require possession of great magical energy to scratch Alcides.

If he struck with his bare fists, the blow would ignore the protection of the Nemean lion’s pelt, but in that case the attack would not even scratch him unless it was charged with a great deal of magical energy.

A stray shot from Gilgamesh would prove fatal to Alcides if it was fired at one of the gaps in the Nemean lion’s pelt.

The King of Heroes, in particular, was capable of sending a lethal strike his way even while crossing swords with Saber. Even a “stray shot” could prove fatal if it happened to strike a gap in the Nemean lion’s pelt.

vs Gate of Babylon

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Gilgamesh fires 1000s of Noble Phantasm at Alcides. Alcides comes out of the rain from all directions unscathed due to his Pelt of the Divine Beast.

“...I see you have light fingers. In that case... how about this?”
With a malicious grin, Gilgamesh deployed his Gate of Babylon over a wide area of the rise. The entrances to his treasury, deployed so as to surround the archer on all sides, began to twist like a tornado. Then they fired innumerable Noble Phantasms with the force of machine guns, raising a veritable whirlwind of lights and impacts high above the eminence.
Tens, hundreds, thousands of Noble Phantasms poured down on the man who stood in the tornado’s center. They were blades or wisdom; suffering or salvation. There were dragon-slaying long swords; cursed swords that bring ruin; hero-killing spears; formless thunderbolts. The originals of every Noble Phantasm that human hands had ever possessed or created were being hurled out unsparingly. A hellish rain of mankind’s legends, fired from every conceivable angle.
Tine, witnessing that fearsome scene, imagined that not even a single scrap of the archer’s flesh would survive it. As the whirlwind settled, however, it disclosed a sight that betrayed both Gilgamesh and Tine’s expectations — the archer, unharmed and brushing dust from the long cloth that covered his body, and mountains of innumerable Noble Phantasms piled about him.

…

“Blindly hurling your arms... You would do better to throw sand,” the mysterious archer continued in spite of the atmosphere. “Only a real weakling — or a mindless beast — would be felled by such child’s play.”

vs Clan Calatin

The Nemean Lion pelt of Alcides easily tanks the Noble Phantasm of Clan Calatin

Remembering the lion to which the hide that covered his own face had belonged, Alkeides further heightened his vigilance. He was wondering if he should materialize anything else with King’s Order… when a light impact ran across his back. Of course, it only felt light to Alkeides — properly speaking, the impact had enough force to pierce through the body of an armored car.
The thing that the Nemean lion’s skin deflected was a spear hurled by one of the police officers.
“…Damn it… Shrugging it off ’s not fair… This again?! Why? Why the hell? Are you another one of those Dead Apostles or whatever, you bastard…?!”

From Hell Alcides tanks every attack Clan Calatin has thrown at him despite Clan Calatin having vastly improved since fighting Zealot

The attack on John had triggered every police officer with strength to spare to spring into action at once. Each of them held a different Noble Phantasm. “Fake” Noble Phantasms—mere relics that had lost their original Mystery and magical energy, but whose legends had been overwritten by Caster.
It would be fair to say that they attacked with every trick they could think of—feints, sneak attacks from blind spots, and more. It could even be justly said that their teamwork had improved since their battle with Assassin at the police station.
And yet Archer, having stolen Berserker’s Noble Phantasm and gain the power of a demon, did not even make an effort to dodge them or to deflect them with his weapon. He took every blade and projectile aimed at him, but they had no apparent effect.

…

While they thought, the now-grotesque Archer advanced.
But every attack they aimed at his vitals was stopped by the cloth he wore. When they attacked his exposed arms and sides, in contrast, they felt their attacks connect, but never managed to reach the level of an effective blow.
On top of the cloth that completely nullified their attacks, his bare body’s specs must have been extraordinary as well. Given that he had also absorbed the demon’s power—although the police officers did not understand exactly what had happened—they supposed that his endurance and resistance to magical energy must have improved as a result.

Goddess of War

Alcides Goddess of War exposition

A new cloth materialized in it. At first glance it appeared to be a sash painted with a plain design, but those capable of viewing things from another perspective would immediately be able to tell how strange it was.
“That is unmistakably... a Noble Phantasm...!”
Even to Tine’s eyes, the magical energy coating that sash seemed abnormal. When Gilgamesh saw that cloth, so coated in a divine aura so thick that it seemed an actual god must have used it, his eyes narrowed slightly.
“It differs somewhat from the gods I know, but it seems the principle is the same...”

Both Hippolyta and Alcides possess Goddess of War as a Noble Phantasm

The situation being critical, Tine attempted to at least discover their opponent’s identity. One fact, however, deeply confused her. The cloth wrapped around the archer’s arm had seemed to be a Noble Phantasm, and yet the exact same cloth was wrapped around the arm of the girl in front of her. It was not just the pattern; even the potent divine aura that seemed to shake the air around it was identical.
It couldn’t be... the same Noble Phantasm...?

Goddess of War exposition and how both Alcides and Hippolyta use it differs (Alcides only applies the divinity to his weapons, Hippolyta channels it through her body directly).

“But what are those Noble Phantasms wrapped around both of their arms...?”
“Most likely some sort of legacy a god forced on humans. Observe; they are the same item, but each of them uses it in an entirely different manner.”
There was indeed a difference. The horsewoman was circulating the high-density magical energy — worthy of the name divinity — throughout her body. The bowman, however, only applied it to his weapons; he never accepted the power into himself.
“Why...? If he channelled that divine aura into a body with the qualities his has, he could probably overwhelm his opponent.”
The King of Heroes grunted, and pondered Tine’s words. Then a shade of joy entered his expression, as if he had discovered a curious toy.
“I merely find the gods I know disagreeable... but it seems that fellow despises the gods he believed in so deeply that he wants to kill them.”
“He hates... his gods?”
“Comical, is it not? I’m sure it was those same gods who created that sturdy body of his. Imagine, maintaining such force of will while despising his very existence. The fool shows promise.”

Stymphalian Birds

Description of Alcides bronze arrows and how they transform into Stymphalides. Humbaba strikes them out of their flight.

Filia swallowed her words in mid-sentence. Reflected in her eyes were several dozen arrows flying out of the sky that peeked through the open ceiling. Who knew when he had found time to fire them. Based on the fact that their trajectories precisely targeted Filia, however, it seemed unlikely that he had simply shot countless shafts into the air and waited for them to come down.
Then, Filia noticed — the bronze arrows were transforming as they fell, becoming birds with metal wings and beaks.
“Are those… the Stymphalides, familiars of the western war god…?”
The sight of the arrows transforming one by one into giant birds with bronze-coated beaks, wings and talons was fantastical. As the birds were rushing at her full of bloodlust, however, Filia had no time to be fascinated.
“…Not half bad.”
Filia spoke as if she was impressed, but she wiped all expression from her face as the innumerable birds attacked.

…

Meanwhile, in another part of the workshop, another mass of iron scythed through the air above Filia, smashing all the bronze birds born from arrows in a single strike.

Alcides fires numerous arrows transformed into Stymphalian birds in order to assault Flat. Flat hastily erects a magic barrier and disturbs the air currents around himself in order to defend against the birds. Alcides arrows penetrate Flat’s defense, but the Flat that was “killed” proved to be some kind of decoy.

Alkeides took advantage of that momentary opportunity to fire the multiple arrows in his hand at once.
In the twinkling of an eye, the shafts metamorphosed into birds of war with bronze beaks and talons, which launched themselves at the distortion in space on the sidewalk down Main Street.
The distortion was torn at each pass of the magical-energy-shrouded birds, revealing the figure of a young man in what had appeared to be empty space.
“Whoa! P-P-Play ball!”
The young man disturbed the surrounding air currents to avoid the birds’ attacks while hastily erected a mystical barrier.
A mighty shot from Alkeides, however, threaded through the whirlwind-scattered birds and pierced the pit of the young man’s stomach.
“...”
The avatar of destruction had torn its way through without regard for strong winds or mystical barriers.
It had accurately annihilated the young man’s core, shattering the surrounding flesh and bone as it destroyed his organs.
The Magic Crest marked onto the mage’s body might activate automatically, force his fatal wounds to heal, and revive him, but Alkeides would not give it the time for that. He had already fired a second and a third arrow to destroy the mage’s entire body, Crest and all. The birds, which had gotten free of the gale, had also begun to peck at it.
However...
Just as the destruction was about to begin, the young man’s body began to fade like mist.
“What...?”
For a moment, Alkeides suspected an illusion, but he was quickly proven wrong.
He had definitely felt the “birds,” which were a part of his Noble Phantasm and linked to him by paths of magical energy, pierce his enemy’s body.
But it was a fact that the corpse was vanishing, almost like a Heroic Spirit’s.

…

“I had to get this close for it to work,” the mage who had been hiding among the crowd of Berserkers said, revealing a relieved smile.
The Berserker corpses around him began to vanish. At the same time, the corpse of the mage Alkeides had just shot through disappeared completely.
It had been Berserker in the form of the mage Flat Escardos.

Cerebus

Alcides’ Cerebus has poisonous breath

It was a gigantic dog exhaling poisonous breaths through the razor-sharp fangs of its three heads. It took the officers a short while to recognize it as Cerberus, a creature they had seen in myths and movies often enough to lose interest in it. That was the extent to which the awe and fear it inspired surpassed the Cerberus of their imaginations.
The air was thick with magical energy. The bowman standing on the creature’s back, however, showed no sign that it fazed him. If he had held a great scythe instead of a bow, anyone would have screamed, taking him for Death.

Alcides can summon Cerebus through his Noble Phantasm King’s Order

Kerberos, the guard dog of Hades he had once captured, summoned through the Noble Phantasm King’s Order.

Limitation of Alcides Cerebus

“…So, it can’t achieve divine beasthood without that cursed Hades’ blessing,” Alkeides spat, glancing at the fallen Kerberos, then turned his attention back to the gigantic shadow in front of him.

vs Jack the Ripper (Berserker)

Cerebus noms on a number of Jack copies transformed into Police officers

What is Kerberos doing?
Despite the fact that he had just given the order to kill, the police force’s numbers showed no sign of decreasing. In fact, they seemed to be growing.
“…What?”
Alkeides realized that there were indeed more police officers than there had been. Moreover, Kerberos was indeed doing as Alkeides had ordered it. There were several human bodies in each of its three mouths. More than a dozen officers were pinned beneath its feet. And yet, they still resisted.
It appeared that the officers had also noticed something unusual about the scene.
“H-hey…”
“…Who are those guys getting eaten?”
Alkeides heard the confused murmurs and furrowed his brows. Then…
Another dozen or so officers appeared before his eyes and immediately leapt at Kerberos. They did not appear to have any weapons that could be Noble Phantasms. They rushed in to challenge Kerberos with nothing but pistols and batons. It was almost as if they wanted to be the first to be eaten.
“Absurd…”
“There’s nothing absurd about it.”
Alkeides turned at a voice from behind him. There stood a perfectly ordinary police officer, watching countless identical others be devoured. He spoke with a grin heavy with madness.
“I am originally a criminal who claimed to come from Hell, a murderous fiend whose sins are beyond redemption.
“Being continually gnawed on by the hound of Hades suits me perfectly.”

…

“It’s not an illusion. What is it…? Solid bodies are actually appearing and being eaten by Kerberos.”
Watching the scene unfolding on the street below, Jester furrowed his brows.
The mystery police officers had appeared just when he was wondering whether to mount a serious counter attack or to abduct Tsubaki and make his escape. At first, they had made for Kerberos, identical officers appearing one after another and keeping Kerberos’ claws and mouths in a state of saturation. Now they were attacking the unnatural bowman as well, swelling their numbers as they continued the fight.
“Is there a Heroic Spirit like that…? What country’s hero could it be…?”

Description of From Hell Jack and Jack’s demonic self wounds Cerebus with heat vision

It must have been about five meters tall.
A raw sensuality accompanied the thing that stood atop the puppet show “hell.”
Its skin was a toxic blue-purple, like a cross between a blueberry and a poisonous insect.
Its long, unusually developed arms ended in glittering, saber-like claws.
Long, twisted horns and sharp fangs protruded from its face, like a skull transformed into a demonic beast.
The wings that spread from its back cast deep shadows all around it, fluttering like black cremation smoke.
“______________________”
At the sight of it, Kerberos pounced.
At that, the thin skin of the thing’s chest swelled and the beating of a heart that gave off a barbaric gleam resounded through the surroundings. As the beat sped up, its eyes shone red.
Two rays of heat from its eyes pierced through Kerberos’ body in an instant.
“________________”
A scream that genuinely seemed to echo from the bowels of hell escaped the three heads and shook the eardrums of every member of Clan Calatin on the street.
That, however, was not the end of Hades’ guard dog.

Cerebus jumps to attack From Hell Jack, From Hell Jack disembowels Cerebus

The demonic hound only bared more of its fighting spirit and propelled its massive frame in an effort to rend the thing with its three sets of fangs. An instant before those fangs connected, however…
The claws that the thing swung down from above cut diagonally into Kerberos’ body at the shoulder, biting into entrails and spine as they bloodily shredded fur.
Kerberos’ massive body crumpled to the ground with a low rumble.

Horses of Diomedes

Alcides had been able to avoid Pestilence’s Doomsday Come by using a trio of Horses of Diomedes summoned through his Noble Phantasm King’s Order as a decoy while escaping on the fourth.

Alkeides was one of the few participants in the battle on Main Street the day before who had not vanished and remained in Snowfield.
The previous night, when the “black smoke” that overflowed from the hospital had been about to envelope him . . . Alkeides had summoned four of the Horses of Diomedes, one of the powers of his Noble Phantasm King’s Order, sent three into the black smoke as decoys, and succeeded in escaping the scene on the back of the fourth.

Erymanthian Boar

The effect the Hydra Venom was going to have on Alcides. Alcides was able to mitigate some of it with the Grail Mud, but was not able to prevent it from taking route in his body. Through his King’s Order, he called upon the Erymanthian Boar in order to draw upon the immortality of Kheiron to function as a substitute extra life. Regardless of this strategy, Alcides surmises he only had 3-4 days of sanity left despite these means.

Bazdilot, however, dispassionately asked about the other side of his Servant.
“How many more days can you last?”
Alkeides answered with surprising alacrity.
“I can remain sane for another three or four days.”
“I see. That erases our advantage over the fakes . . . No, given that being overtaken by madness won’t destroy you on its own, we still have the upper hand.”
Alkeides had indeed been poisoned with hydra venom.
He had used the vile sludge to consume it and prevent his bodily destruction . . . but that deadly poison, which had led to his own death and indirectly driven his third wife to suicide, had still been taken into his body.
It was the influence of King’s Order that kept it from eating away his flesh.
He had drawn out the power that he had taken from the Erymanthian Boar.
It was not, however, the boar’s own power.
The boar was not the greatest thing he had taken and conquered during that expedition.
It was the thing Alkeides, during his penance, had taken from his mentor Kheiron.
It was none other than Kheiron’s immortality.
Kheiron, a centaur bestowed with the power of immortality, had been struck by hydra venom due to a stray shot from Alkeides.
The pain had been so intense that, unable to bear it, Kheiron had surrendered his own immortality to Prometheus and ended his life.
Therefore, while Alkeides had lost the twelve substitute lives that his proper Spirit Origin possessed, he did possess a single substitute lifespan, Kheiron’s immortality until it was ceded to Prometheus, as one of his Noble Phantasms.
Activating it, however, meant nothing less than experiencing the same pain Kheiron had suffered.
At that very moment, that ceaseless agony—the same agony that had led him to choose death while alive—continued to torment him. He was currently cancelling it out by transforming that pain and suffering into strength through the influence of the “mud.”

…

“. . . The mud is winning at present, but this venom is the symbol of my death. Little by little, it is eating away at the root not of the body, but of the mind of my Spirit Origin.”
But he showed no fear of that.
Despite the mitigating effect of the “mud,” an agony beyond any ordinary toxin was coursing ceaselessly through his veins. And yet, Alkeides maintained his usual mental state, forcing himself to endure out of his lust for vengeance.
That, however, would only last the number of days he had just told his Master.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Alcides Part 2?

Spoiler

Reincarnation Pandora

Alcides steals Jack’s From Hell with Regeneration Pandora. Alcides is powered up with magical energy several times stronger than he’d previously possessed using From Hell.

“Unknown killer, I will usurp you with respect.
“You are worth stealing.”
Then, the avenger activated his own Noble Phantasm. Neither Nine Lives nor King’s Order.
His hidden, third Noble Phantasm, activated by his being warped into the Avenger Class.
“Regeneration Pandora.”
That instant, fate, hope and despair all changed places.
In an instant, the swarm of demons flitting through the air transformed into a crowd of powerless humans. The innumerable Jacks, having lost the power of flight, plummeted to earth.
“You… Impossible…”
The Jack whose claws had been buried in Alkeides’ shoulder had reverted to the form of an ordinary police officer. The sight that met his widened eyes… was Alkeides with the same horns that Jack had sported until a moment before poking from under his cloth, wings like black smoke sprouting from his back, and, most importantly, shrouded in magical energy several times stronger than his had been thus far.

The completeness of Reincarnation Pandora’s theft of a Noble Phantasm for Alcides

“...If we beat that guy, will your Spirit Origin go back to how it was?”
“Don’t ask questions you already know the answers to. You can see it, can’t you?”
“...Yes. From what I can see, the Spirit Origins have already completely fused... It’s like they’re melting together in some kind of super creepy mud-like stuff... I wonder what it is...”
“Yes. Even if we destroy that thing, that power probably won’t return to me. Not unless I’m destroyed and re-summoned from the Throne.”

Vera produces more magical smoke screen. From Hell Alcides flaps his wings to conjure a number of small magical whirlwinds to gorge on and get rid of the magical smoke sceen.

Vera, thinking that the latter would be preferable, produced another several test tubes and scattered them around her. No sooner had the tubes, thrown with the aid of magecraft, flown through the air to cover a wide area than bullets shattered all of them, spreading more smoke over the area.
Vera was about to order someone to scout out the hospital room, taking advantage of the delay, when...

“A wasted effort.”
The grotesque Archer flapped the demon wings that grew from his back, kicking up a wind charged with dense magical energy around him. The wind carrying sinister magical energy formed a number of small whirlwinds and began to catch the smoke as if devouring it.

Alcides’ From Hell transformation he acquired from Jack the Ripper (Berserker) appears to be contained within him, looking now like he had after being summoned and transfigured.

The “demon” power he had stolen from Berserker was currently contained within him. At first glance, Alkeides looked as he had immediately after being summoned and transfigured.

Grail Mud

How Herakles becomes Alcides

“Do not makes excuses.”
The hero let out a startled cry as one of Bazdilot’s Command Seals shone... and its potent magical energy began to eat its way into his brain.
Impossible.
Even including past Grail Wars, the hero’s magical energy was top class. The witches of the age of the gods would be one thing, but no modern mage should be capable of interfering with his mind. But, although it was through a Command Seal, “something” in the mage before his eyes had begun to jolt his brains. The hero recalled that he had experienced a similar gnawing sensation once before. Something of the same kind was being loosed into him by the man before his eyes.
“What... have you...”
“There is no need to hide your crimes, or your regrets. Lay bare your depths. I will see it all.”
Bazdilot, still expressionless, tempted the hero in a voice that seemed to sound from the depths of hell.
“I do not need your power as a hero. I need the avarice that will drive you to stick at nothing for the sake of your goal. I need the deluded conviction that will drive a man to choose any vicious means without hesitation, even in pursuit of noble ends,” he murmured to the now motionless Heroic Spirit, and raised his left hand a second time.
“By my Command Seal, I order you once more: remember the humans you have seen.”
There must have been some special meaning in those words. Otherwise, they must have been charged with some malefic intent.
The Command Seal, become a mass of magical energy, took the order that shook the hero’s ears and caused it to seep deep into his brain.
His vision flickered. In the intervals, the faces of all the human beings the hero had encountered in life floated. There were distant descendents of gods among them, but before him they had all been no more than “mere humans.”
A tyrant, a picture of cowardice, wailed, too frightened to stand:
“I understand! I’ll praise you! On my honor as king, I’ll praise you!
“S-so don’t come any closer, monster!”
A blond man, remarkable for his haughty bearing, said:
“Incredible! I’m jealous! The rumors were true: you are a monster! Have no fear. I will treat you well, and put you to good use. So long as you are with me, you are a monster no more.
“You are a great hero, the guardian of a future king.”
Just before she had chosen her own death, the woman he had loved said:
“You’ve done nothing wrong.
“So please, don’t curse the world. Don’t hate your own blood.
“You’re strong, so I’m sure you can do it.
“I couldn’t.”
Just before he stove his head in and flung him into the flames, what should have been an enemy soldier had said:
“Fath—”
Human figures piled up, many, many layers deep, without regard for the order he had met them, and vanished. As if they were calling to each other, an unnatural volume of magical energy came pouring into him through the Command Seal.
Impossible. No human of this time possesses this much magical energy! It’s like... a witch of my own era…
The matchless hero fell silently to his knees on the spot.
Confronted with that unbelievable scene, Bazdilot’s men were baffled. A being of a clearly higher order was suffering before a mage, their own superior.
A Master-Servant relationship.
Everyone who beheld that scene understood that it could not be explained away so simply. They did, however, realize that a definite toll had been exacted.
In the Holy Grail War, the Command Seals that each Master possessed amounted to lifelines. They were trump cards capable of enforcing an order or prohibition on a Servant, and even feats, such a instantaneous transportation and emergency escape, that approached Magic. And Bazdilot had spent two of his three. When they considered that the last remaining Command
Seal had to be held in reserve in case the Servant rebelled, Bazdilot effectively had no more usable Command Seals for the duration of the Grail War.
The mages felt worried that he had taken on a definite handicap, but a species of trust, which accompanied their fear, put their minds at ease that Bazdilot would manage somehow. That ease, however, collapsed just a few seconds later.
“By my Command Seal, I order you once more:”
The words froze the mages in the underground workshop. Bazdilot was going to expend all three of his Command Seals in his summoning. Faced with their superior committing an action so foolish that even a child, if they were familiar with the Grail War, would not do it, the mages prepared to die this time for certain.
The Heroic Spirit, meanwhile, also resolved himself as he held back the magical energy worming its way into him.
This mage is dangerous.
He did not see Bazdilot expending his final Command Seal as folly. He had realized that, although it did not show in his expression, the mage was taking his life in his hands. He was gambling his whole existence in order to transmute the Heroic Spirit into something else.
Whatever order he gives with his final Command Seal, I must at least eliminate this man.
Even the Heroic Spirit was not able to grasp the nature of the power eating into him. If he was not careful, however, this corrosion could spread to the other Heroic Spirits who had been summoned for the Holy Grail War. Even as he desperately suppressed the curse from his own lifetime welling up inside him, the great hero remained noble.
I must stop him. I must stop the wicked tyrant who would dominate this era.
Even as the mental pollution passed a point that would likely drive most Servants mad, this great hero still reached out his hand, not to defend himself, but for the sake of the other Heroic Spirits and the inhabitants of this era, who he had not yet even met. He did not care if he was called unprincipled. He did not care if he was called a mad spirit that turned his hands against his own Master. The man famed as a hero among heroes was determined to throw even his own honor to the winds, and slay the mage in front of him for the sake of someone he had not yet seen.
Then, just as he had shaken off the mental pollution and his hand was about to reach the mage’s neck... Bazdilot spent his last Command Seal, as if to sneer at the hero’s nobility.
“Accept human nature — the robe of earth.”
Everyone in the workshop, except for Bazdilot himself, saw “it.” The moment that Bazdilot had expended all his Command Seals, another, reddish-brown tattoo peeked out of his left cuff... and began to squirm like some ghastly creature

…

It was a bizarre scene.
The reddish-brown something that had flowed into the Heroic Spirit’s body along with the power of the Command Seals were eating away at it. The Heroic Spirit released magical energy of his own to oppose it, blowing away more than half the barriers around the workshop. Several of the mages, bombarded by more magical energy than they could handle, collapsed twitching.
Even as he was exposed to the torrent of magical energy, however, Bazdilot kept his piercing glare locked on the Heroic Spirit.
“Celebrate, affirm, and love that which they rejected. Do not hold back.”
He launched not only the power of the Command Seals, but also his own accumulated magical energy through his outflung left hand. He continued to force the reddish-brown something that stretched from his hand into the Heroic Spirit, making use of even the oriental folk magic that the Clock Tower spurned as heresy.
He was cutting through the wall of magic resistance with his primitive sorcery, clearing the way for the shadowy, writhing, reddish-brown thing to worm its way in directly. The cost was now greater than it seemed conceivable Bazdilot’s cumulative magical energy could cover. The Heroic Spirit suspected some kind of trick, but he could not afford the effort to expose it.
Clutching his own body, clawing at every inch of it, the Heroic Spirit remembered the pain of the poison that had brought about his death. The suffering he felt ought to be of another kind, but his instincts dragged the torment of the poison out of his memories. His instincts were screaming that the power flowing into him now was just as dangerous.
Even as he bore the almost indescribable pain, the Heroic Spirit struggled desperately to repress the “urges” that prodded him from within and without. The next instant, however, the “mud” Bazdilot had sent into him had intertwined with the “curse” he had harbored within him as karma, and the kneeling hero let out a bellow that shook space itself.
“__________________________________________________________________!”
As if in sympathy with that roar, a dramatic change took place in his body.
Just as it seemed that the Heroic Spirits whole body had been enveloped in reddish-brown mud, the muscles dropped from his thick, burly limbs. His height shrunk almost 50 centimeters, as if his very skeleton had contracted. The mud-like something that coated his body became a dye, and stained the hero’s skin reddish-brown. Then the other type of power that had intertwined with the “mud” formed a white pigment, and marked his chest with a radial design, like a scar from having his heart gouged out. As it did, the hero’s scream suddenly stopped, and he rose silently to his feet as though nothing had happened.
“How does it feel to have rid yourself of excess?” Bazdilot asked coolly, his left hand still raised. “From now on, that mud should give you power to make up for it.”

Alcides is using the power of the Grail Mud to subjugate the power of divinity granted by Goddess of War to his will.

When she heard that, the horsewoman finally noticed the thing flowing deep into her opponent’s body. A power like scorched poison, utterly unlike that of a god, filled the bowman. He was using that power to control the energy that radiated from the “war belt” by force, as if it was his familiar.
Readying his bow, imbued with the mingled powers of a god and something else, the archer uttered words like a curse, imbued with mingled rage and scorn, from behind his cloth.
“It should be forced to submit, trampled underfoot... and ruled by the might of man.”

Alcides can teleport, apparently

“Golden king, mightiest of kings, who the kings of my acquaintance cannot even hope to equal, we shall meet again. Next time, I shall trample the divine power that slumbers in your innermost depths beneath my feet.”
He had barely finished speaking when the muddy magical energy that oozed from him enveloped him completely. It bored an empty hole in the forest’s snow-covered floor. An instant later, even the mud was gone, and the bowman had vanished as completely as if he had never existed at all.

The power of Grail Mud from Alcides and the power of Pale Rider would cause trouble for the whole world were they to get into the Holy Grail

“Oh no. At the moment, they’re just a black ‘curse’... and a lump of reddish-brown ‘mud.’”
Lancer’s usual smile dropped from his face, to be replaced with a look of anguish, as he told of the presences he had sensed in the past day.
“But if they fused and seeped into the Grail...
“Not just the Grail, but this whole world might be in a bit of trouble.”

Due to the Mud of the Holy Grail that empowers Alcides, the hydra venom that would have otherwise killed Alcides and entirely eaten through all 12 lives of God Hand was incapable of finishing off Alcides as planned.

“If the power you were given had been a divine blessing, I would have slain you at once, but the power coursing through you is born of man and earth. The gods had no hand in it. And so, I praise this world, this age. You may have used the water serpent’s venom, but I congratulate you on producing a technique to destroy me while rejecting divine aid.”
Was his calm speech the mark of a Heroic Spirit who realized his end was near and meant to meet it with dignity?
John was under the illusion that it was, until Alkeides continued:
“And... I pity you, hero.”
“What...?”
Alkeides’ side was eaten away by the venom, melting into a black wound before John’s puzzled gaze...
But an instant later, the jet-black toxin was consumed by “mud” of an even more sinister hue.
“What?!”
The police officers, Flat, and the Berserkers froze in spite of themselves.
The mud-like mass of magical energy that welled up from Alkeides’ body enveloped the Hydra venom as if to consume it, to consume “death” itself, and was then sucked back into the wound.
“If I had merely thrown off the robe of godhood, I would have suffered and then gone to my rest.”
The poisoned wound that eaten so deep it exposed his ribs and hipbone vanished, leaving his body fully restored in its place.
“Before my Spirit Origin twisted, I would have been willing to fall to that scratch. This venom alone may have been able to eat through all of my countless lives.”
Then, he stood before the speechless John and declared:
“But... we have both been unfortunate.”
There seemed to be a faint hint of resignation in his voice, but it immediately turned to anger.
“I have lost my twelve lives... but know that you cannot vanquish me, afflicted as I am with vile mud, with deadly venom.”
With rage, not at John and the others, but at himself, at limitless “power” itself, Alkeides bellowed as if pronouncing a curse.
“It will take more than venom to dye my corrupted blood... the flames of vengeance that my soul harbors!”

Alcides releases more magical energy, tinged with the taint of the Grail Mud. Clan Calatin mourns Alcides hadn’t been serious, Jack denies that, suggesting he had been serious in scouting. Now he was just fully devoted to murderous impulses.

Then, his magical energy overflowed.
It was a writing of magical energy, but it became a physical wind that buffeted the bodies of all nearby.
A vortex of magical energy stained a dark red swept over the area. It was as if Alkeides had become a monstrous tornado.
The familiars that had been observing the battle were blown away. Magic Circuits screamed.
The mere touch of the wind drove some to their knees.
Alkeides had not done anything.
This was the result of his mere presence.
“He wasn’t even... taking this seriously...” One of the officers muttered with a look tinged with despair.
“No, he was,” a Berserker answered with a wry grin.
“Until now, he’s been seriously scouting things out... I suppose. He’s been wary of everything around him.”
He was also wearing a look that said there was nothing more to be done and clearly considering how to make an escape with his Master.
“That was why we had to kill him completely here... before he devoted his full power to his murderous impulses.”

Gilgamesh seems able to see through the corruption of the Grail Mud and what it can accomplish upon the Holy Grail.

“I see you have been unmasked, clown. I will permit you to remove your cloth as well,” Gilgamesh continued, as if to say that the dark-red magical energy shrouding his opponent’s body was of no concern to him. “I would look on your tear-stained face.”
“...My tears have long since run dry. I shed them all that day when the divine tyrants took everything from me.”
“So, you drip mud from your eyes instead? I see you’ve brought quite an eyesore... I shall make the organizers of this ritual pay for defiling the Grail, one of my treasures, with mud sullied with a mongrel’s obsession.”
After insinuating that he had perceived the nature of the red-black, mud-like magical energy, Gilgamesh asked Alkeides, as if to test him:

Eye of the Mind (True)

vs John Wingard

Alcides senses Richard’s Excalibur attack on Gilgamesh. Alcides Eye of the Mind True warns him not to take his eyes off the approaching John Wingard.

Alkeides raised his arm and waited for the police officer concealed by the darkness and smoke to approach him.
Then, that instant, he sensed immense magical energy swell up behind him.
“!”
This magical energy... Saber.
The Saber who had been fighting with Gilgamesh must have fired some kind of Noble Phantasm. Sensing that its magical energy was aimed not at him, but at the sky, Alkeides did not take his eyes off the small threat closing in on him from the front. It was an action born of his refusal to drop his guard against even the weakest enemy.
No.
It was not that he did not look away.
He could not look away.
It was an effect produced by his “mind’s eye.”
It was not instinct.
His accumulated skill and experience, his honed senses, and the flesh and blood that comprised him all dominated his spirit and refused to let him look away.
It was not the other Heroic Spirits he ought to truly be wary of.
It was the lone police officer closing in on him.
Everything he had built up told him so.
The reason why would soon become clear.

vs Jack the Ripper (Berserker)

Jack begins to use his Natural Born Killers and transform into an Officer again to fight Alcides. Alcides handles him without even turning around via Eye of the Mind True and his From Hell given wings.

Those were the thoughts running through the minds of more than a few officers...
When they realized that there was another police officer, apart from John, behind the grotesque bowman.
“!”
The officers wanted to shout at him to follow Vera’s orders, but raising their voices would only alert their enemy.
When they focused their attention on the officer to see who was ignoring orders...they realized.
Before they knew it, the one officer behind the bowman had become two, who then soon became four.
It was not one of them.
It was none other than the Heroic Spirit who had been battling the archer in the guise of a police officer shortly before—the Servant Berserker.
Berserker—Jack the Ripper—had become a swarm of police officers.
Those officers, whose ranks had swelled noiselessly to sixteen, attempted to launch a surprise attack on their enemy’s rear to support John.
But they were easily scattered.
Without turning to face them, the bowman twisted the grotesque wings that sprouted from his back and sliced through the first several Jacks who sprang at him.

Archery?

Alcides fires an arrow and creates a small crater 10 meters in circumference in the asphalt

One of the officers shouted, realizing what the words meant. His angry voice was drowned out by the roar of an explosion.
The shaft the bowman had loosed by way of a threat pierced the asphalt, blasting a circumference of ten meters to smithereens and creating a small crater. A number of nearby officers were caught in the blast. Several lost consciousness on the spot.

Alcides plans to destroy the Hospital, no one present doubts he can do it with his bow

“You need not answer; just don’t interfere.”
Then, the bowman pulled his bow taut.
The police officers soon realized what he was planning to do. This bowman intended to completely destroy the large, ten-story hospital with nothing but his bow. After seeing the crater he had left in the asphalt with a warning shot, no one found the idea absurd.
Then, before the police could move to stop him, he unleashed a strike from his fully drawn bow.

…

Alkeides issued instructions to the gargantuan beast not of this world and carefully surveyed his “enemy” on the roof of the hospital. He readied his bow to seriously destroy the building himself.

Alcides vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Here, here, and here as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Alcides fires his bow from 20 kilometers away from Gilgamesh, the shot fired surpasses the speed of sound (neither dropping in speed as it traveled or altitude). The shockwaves of its travel shatters the glss of every building below the arrows trajectory.

A red clay ravine several kilometers further north of the cave where Gilgamesh had been summoned.
The man stood on a rise that reached almost the same elevation as the top floor of Crystal Hill. A lean, wiry man, just over two meters tall. His hands clutched a bow. It was larger than an ordinary longbow, but it seemed a little undersized in the tall man’s hands.

…

The man — who looked at first glance like he was about to appear in a horror game and chase its protagonist around — smirked under the cloth that covered his face, and silently drew his bow taut.
Then his fingers released the bowstring, and loosed an arrow. An arrow that flew far faster than the wind, and outstripped even the speed of sound.

…

A wind like a blade carved a straight line through the city of Snowfield. It split the air, throwing off shockwaves. By the time a roar like thunder filled the area, the wind had already passed.
At the wind’s center was a single arrow. It was headed toward the top floor of a skyscraper in the heart of Snowfield — Crystal Hill.
The arrow shot by the mystery man plunged ahead like a laser, defying the laws of physics by never slowing or losing altitude. It had already traveled more than 20 kilometers. That alone was enough to prove that the archer was no human, and no ordinary mage.
Shockwaves raced through the sky over the city. The impact and noise together shattered the glass of every building below the arrow’s trajectory one after another.
No human — no, not even a Heroic Spirit — could survive a direct hit from such a missile unscathed. The strike would reduce their entire upper body to mincemeat before it even pierced their skull.
The arrow was charging straight toward its target: Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, who had taken up his position on the highest floor of Crystal Hill.
Or rather, the head of the girl standing beside him — his Master.

Gilgamesh’s auto defensors defend Tine from Alcides arrow. By the time the arrow had come within 20 meters of the hotel, the lightning was released from where the defensors floated around at the top of the hotel. By the time the arrow was just short of reaching Tine, the lightning had reached the arrow and disintegrated it.

By the time she sensed the wind being ripped to shreds, it was already too late. A tiny point of death was closing in on the girl, too close for her to react in time. No matter what she tried to do now, there was no way of avoiding the supersonic arrow.
At least, not for her.
“...”
An instant later, when the arrow had come within 20 meters of the hotel, thunder sounded outside the glass. There was a dazzling flash, and countless tiny bolts of lightning streaked through the sky. One of them appeared to strike the arrow, and what should have been a killing blow disintegrated in the air just short of its target. The shockwaves, however, still shattered the glass, and assailed everyone in the room.

…

“What was that lightning...?”
“The very thunderbolts are my Noble Phantasms. It appears they have intercepted some attack,” Gilgamesh replied offhandedly.
“An attack?” Tine could not keep from blurting out.
When she looked out the window, she saw that there were a number of discs floating around the top of the building. The Noble Phantasms continued to make their rounds, clad in miniature lightning, inscribing beautiful geometric designs against the vista.
“Auto Defensors. There was a chance that my friend might jestingly launch a surprise attack. I set them up as a precaution, but...”

Alcides fires his second shot. Gilgamesh’s auto defensor lightning acted to intercept the shot, but the arrow slipped through the gaps in the bolts straight for Gilgamesh. The arrows are as fast as the speed of lightning. Gilgamesh materializes his armor and bats the shot aside with his left gauntlet. Gilgamesh’s armor cracks and fragments where impacted.

Tine was wary. Gilgamesh, however, remained expressionless.
“...Are you coming?” He muttered.
But the second shot had already been fired.
The Auto Defensors’ lightning activated to intercept the arrow, but although several bolts struck home, it slipped through the gaps in the bolts to fly straight at Gilgamesh. The speed at which electricity travels through air — that is, the speed of lightning — while slower than light, still should to have been more than sufficient to catch any ordinary arrow. The speed of that arrow, however, was beyond human limitations.
Gilgamesh immediately materialized his armor, and swept the arrow aside with his left gauntlet. It seemed that it could not completely kill the shot’s momentum, however, because a portion of the armor cracked, and fragments of gold showered the floor.

Gilgamesh’s dozens of interception systems protect Vimana from Alcides arrow fire by shooting all his shots down.

Gilgamesh took up an imposing stance in the prow, and set the ship on a straight course toward the archer. Arrows — presumably fired by his target — flew at the him periodically, but the dozens of interception systems Gilgamesh had deployed around the ship were shooting them down perfectly.

From 10 meters away, Alcides fires another arrow at Tine. Vimana’s interception Noble Phantasms shot it down in the nick of time. Tine would have been able to deaden the shockwave of the arrow with her wall of wind, but couldn’t block the arrow itself.

In response, the uncanny archer, who stood roughly ten meters ahead of him, slowly raised his head.
“...”
“Do you have any last words?” Gilgamesh asked.
The mysterious archer, however, gave no answer. He silently drew his bow taut... and unflinchingly launched an arrow at Tine, who was poking her head out from behind Vimana’s rear seat.
“!”
The supersonic missile rushed at Tine’s face. She might be able to deaden the shockwave with a wall of wind, but she could not block the arrow itself. Tine was once again conscious of death approaching before her eyes, when... Vimana’s Options — the interception Noble Phantasms — shot it down in the nick of time.
“Fool. Did you imagine they would deactivate when I disembarked?”

Alcides’ arrows are fired with enough force to threaten to pierce Vimana’s armor.

Ignoring Gilgamesh’s words, the archer fired a second shot, and then a third in quick succession. Tine had already hidden herself inside the craft, but he continued to ply his bow with a force that threatened to pierce Vimana’s armor along with her.

Alcides rose into the sky with the boulders he launched, Alcides fires numerous arrows with enough force to shatter the giant boulders flung into the air and pull the shards they were reduced into the vacuum the shots created in their wake. Both Gilgamesh and Hippolyta counter the arrows with the Gate of Babylon and her own arrows respectively.

Numerous giant boulders were flung so high into the air that Tine had to crane her neck to see them. Then several of the stones suddenly shattered, and arrows shrouded in vast quantities of magical energy appeared from among the fragments. The mysterious Archer had flown up with the rubble, and loosed countless arrows from behind the soaring rocks.
The rain of arrows, each one accompanied by its own tornado, sped down at Gilgamesh and the female Heroic Spirit, pulling the shards of the shattered boulders into the swirling vacuums as they came.
An instant later, Gilgamesh launched weapons from his Gate of Babylon, while the female Heroic Spirit nocked multiple arrows to the bow that appeared in her hands, and fired them all at the same time. The weapons and arrows, fired at speeds too fast for Tine’s eyes to follow, were warding off the violent whirlwinds one after another.
It’s only to be expected of His Majesty... but just who is that Heroic Spirit...?
Based on the fact that she had appeared on horseback, she was most likely Rider. Based on her skill with a bow, however, she could just as easily be Archer. But that would mean that three different Archers had manifested in the city.
Or can she use a bow with that much force, despite not being an archer...?
Impossible, Tine thought. That would be like an archer competing with the other classes in swordsmanship.

Alcides jumps high into the air and aims to fire an arrow at Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh counters the arrow with Gate of Babylon.

A moment later, Alkeides sprang into action.
His target, however, was neither the police force nor Berserker.
As if to say that they were now beneath his notice, the lone avenger kicked the earth.
That kick carried Alkeides high into the air... where he drew back the arrow he had nocked and loosed it without hesitation.
Loosed it at the Archer who, shrouded in an aura of divinity, was at that moment about to pass judgment on Saber.

…

He was about to deliver a verdict, not as a king, but as a “judge,” when a tempest of dark-red magical energy swirled around him and an intense bloodlust bore down on him.
“...How boorish,” Gilgamesh tutted with an icy expression, halting his judgment in mid-sentence.
Space rippled and Noble Phantasms launched out of Gate of Babylon to intercept the oncoming arrow.

Alcides vs Hippolyta

Both Alcides and Hippolyta’s Goddess of War divinity enhanced arrow fire clash evenly with one another.
The horsewoman was facing him, the sun at her back, and drawing her bow coated in concentrated divinity.
“...I see.”
“Archerrr!”
Baring her powerful animosity, the woman put her whole being into the shout.
“...So it’s you, queen of treachery,” the archer muttered.
He readied his own bow, not even bothering to evade, and made concentrated divinity well up from the cloth around his own arm. Then he intercepted the five arrows the horsewoman had fired with as many arrows of his own. The arrowheads collided without so much as an inch of deviation. The magical energy they had been imbued with clashed, rebounded, and assailed the surroundings as a great wind.

Alcides and Hippolyta continued to clashing with both long and close range attacks.

The bowman and horsewoman with the same Noble Phantasm continued their battle, mixing long and close range attacks. The horsewoman had produced a spear and bow from the magical energy with a pronounced tint of divinity that was native to her frame. She made skillful use of both in conjuction with her trusty steed as she kept up her assault on the bowman.

Hippolytpa dodges around fire from both the Gate of Babylone and Alcides’ arrow fire while riding her mount.

“You are not worthy of existing in the same place as the true king — myself. Be gone.”
With the air of a man sweeping a pebble from the roadside with his foot, the King of Heroes launched a swarm of Noble Phantasms from his Gate of Babylon.
“...!”
Instinct must have warned the horsewoman that taking a direct hit from them would be unwise. Skillfully handling her steed, she weaved her way through the rain of Noble Phantasms.
Then the cloth-covered bowman loosed a pointed shaft, his aim fixed on the horse.
“!”
The horse dodged the arrow by a hair’s breadth, but lost its balance.

Alcides vs Humbaba

Humbaba and Filia/Ishtar vs Alcides. Alcides arrows look like laser beams to Haruri, Humbaba both tanks and swats them out of the sky. Filia/Ishtar’s attacks are swept aside by Alcides’ bow.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw demonic beasts that had gone out of control with the destruction of the workshop skirmishing with the Scradio Family’s black suits while Berserker mowed down two smokestacks rising from a factory at once. She could also see a bowman racing up the toppling smokestacks, leaping high into the air and firing arrows that resembled laser beams.
The arrows scored a direct hit on Berserker’s back. Berserker’s creaking scream resounded throughout the district. The bowman continued his barrage. This time, however, Berserker used the cables and wires that shrouded its body like tentacles to swat them out of the air.
She could also see Filia weaving through the gaps with her counterattacks. The bowman scattered them with a sweep of his bow. It seemed like the tide of battle was seesawing back and forth.

Alcides vs Fillia/Ishtar

Filia/Ishtar deflects Alcides arrows once more with her magical energy and uses them to slay demonic beasts.

Out of nowhere, an arrow flew at her blind spot. As before, however, the dense magical energy that surrounded her deflected its trajectory, hurling it into the ongoing torrent of demonic beasts. The beasts it struck were blasted to smithereens. Bazdilot’s Servant — presumably Archer — fired more arrows under cover of the spraying blood.

Alcides vs Clan Calatin

Alcides shatters Clan Calatin’s rear guard formation with only several arrows having been fired. These arrows amounted to diversionary shots. Alcides was trying to retain the concealment of secrecy, hence Clan Calatin and the city remained intact.

They planned to support John, and in the meantime find an opportunity to send half of their number inside the hospital as he wished...but several arrows launched by their enemy shattered their formation in an instant.
A burly officer a large shield Noble Phantasm tried to block one, but the instant the arrow struck, a shock like a blast from an adhesive grenade ran through the surface of the shield and launched him backward.
And the bowstring had not even been pulled fully taut.
The arrow had been just one of several diversionary shots fired without leaving an opening.
The officers were painfully aware that the only reason they, along with the city around them, had not been reduced to scraps of meat was that the Heroic Spirit had reason and, either by his Master’s order or on his own initiative, was making some effort to maintain the Concealment of Mystery.

 

[ChaosTheory123]

So, Alcides Part 3?

Spoiler

Physical strength and speed?

Vera can employ some kind of magical smoke screen. Alcides just kind of leaps over the thing to avoid dealing with the magical energy perception jamming.

Her next action was to take a little glass test tube that did not match her modern gear from her belt of equipment. She threw it in front of the enemy bowman and fired at it with the peculiarly decorated revolver she held.
Her bullet accurately pierced the test tube. A moment later, a smokescreen spread over a wide area.
And no ordinary smokescreen—a smokescreen charged with magical energy of a randomly shifting nature. Call it jamming for magical energy perception.
Watching the dense smoke—which naturally also obscured his vision—spread, the bowman muttered in a low voice:
“...Impudence.”
Then, he moved his enormous body in a great leap, avoiding the smoke.

Alcides vs Gilgamesh (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5)

Here, as depicted by the Strange Fake manga.

Alcides deflects dozens of shots fired from the Gate of Babylon without suffering a scratch.

A moment later...
“But such acts are permissible only because it is I who do them! They are not for the likes of you!”
Bellowing a declaration that stretched the limits of credulity, Gilgamesh launched countless Noble Phantasms from his Gate of Babylon, which opened behind him.
The archer seemed helpless under the rain of blades, some of which were of high rank. He, however, brandished his bow with his left hand, and went about sweeping aside the shower of Noble Phantasms with a speed that defied even a Heroic Spirit’s expectations.
“What?”
“...”
The Heroic Spirit, who had deflected dozens of Noble Phantasms without so much as a scratch, wordlessly stretched an arm out to Gilgamesh, palm up, and beckoned provocatively to him with his fingers. When Gilgamesh saw that, his eyes narrowed, and he struggled to keep fury out of the voice that resounded across the rise.

Alcides vs Hippolyta

Alcides bursts out of the rubble he’s under. Its roar is compared to an erupting volcano.

As Tine wondered, and Gilgamesh stewed in his rage... the rubble of the collapsed rise burst with a thunderous roar like an erupting volcano.

Alcides launches a mountain of rubble so high into the air Tine has to crane her neck up to view them

That instant, the mysterious Archer, who one blow from the female Heroic Spirit had buried under a mountain of rubble, had sent that rubble flying like a volcanic eruption.
Numerous giant boulders were flung so high into the air that Tine had to crane her neck to see them.

Hippolyta fires more Goddess of War enhanced arrow fire at Alcides, Alcides parries her arrows that each possess the power to destroy armies.

Gilgamesh’s words had not reached the horsewoman, but as she loosed arrow after arrow at the archer, she shouted:
“Why? Why do you not take my father’s power — the power of the war belt — into yourself? Are you looking down on me!? Mocking me!?”
“The power of a god is not for housing in one’s own body,” the bowman answered solemnly, parrying her shots, each of which was imbued with the power to destroy armies, with the bow in his hand.

Alcides and Hippolyta continued to clashing with both long and close range attacks.

The bowman and horsewoman with the same Noble Phantasm continued their battle, mixing long and close range attacks. The horsewoman had produced a spear and bow from the magical energy with a pronounced tint of divinity that was native to her frame. She made skillful use of both in conjuction with her trusty steed as she kept up her assault on the bowman.

Alcides vs Humbaba

Alcides vs Humbaba

the one showing the industrial district that contained Bazdilot Cordelion’s workshop. On the screen, one of the factories’ smokestacks slowly collapsed, and an unnaturally large, grotesque silhouette was visible in the ensuing dust cloud.
“…What’s that? A giant monster? The big spider from the Cave of the Crystals?”
The boy Prelati sat up on the bed and watched with interest. The giant grotesquery and Alkeides appeared to be engaged in combat, and serious destruction was beginning to ripple out into the industrial district.

…

At that point, Francesca discovered a familiar face running away in a corner of the picture.
“Haruri?”
Francesca could not see clearly at that distance, but, the next instant, it looked as if the giant, monstrous shape moved to shield the girl from flying rubble, blocking every piece.

Description of the collateral between Humbaba and Alcides

He saw a gargantuan mechanical spider on a rampage and a bowman-turned-avenger challenging it alone. The factories around them were destroyed. There was no longer any trace of the meat processing plant. He could see scraps of otherworld and ward-induced static, as well as demonic beasts that had spilled out of the workshop. A scene of chaos had begun to unfold.

…

The meat processing plant was no longer recognizable. It seemed, however, that the surrounding factories were also mage’s workshops of some kind. Berserker recognized them as enemies and was busy dedicating itself to their destruction. By the time Haruri saw Berserker spit fire and turn the grounds of one factory into a sea of flame, she had already given up thinking about his actions.

The battle between Humbaba and Alcides left the meat processing plant in ruins. Francois Prelati’s Noble Phantasm seemingly made it so it was restored.

The battle between the gargantuan, mechanical Heroic Spirit and Alkeides had left the meat processing plant in ruins.
Thanks to Francois Prelati’s Noble Phantasm, however, it was apparently restored.

…

The man’s gaze rested on the hulking machine developed by the mage Atrum Galiasta to convert human life force into Mana Crystals. It has been damaged in the battle with the gigantic Heroic Spirit the day before and was currently inoperable.

Alcides vs Fillia/Ishtar

Alcides fires an arrow at Filia/Ishtar, Filia/Ishtar redirects its back at Alcides via sheer strength of her magical energy surrounding her. Bazdilot is able to react to and avoid the redirected shot, Alcides is able to catch the shot.

“…A divine vessel?” Alkeides asked the woman, drawing his bow.
“That’s right.”
“You claim to be a god, then?”
“A goddess, actually, but… Hey!”
The Einzbern homunculus’ eyes widened as she spoke. A thunderous roar passed by Bazdilot.
A gale sprung up in the room. A death-clad arrow flew at the self-proclaimed goddess, drawing in the magical energy in the workshop.
The woman appeared flustered, but quickly released magical energy from her hand to envelop the arrow, which then began to make loops around her as if guided by invisible rails in the air. Then, without losing velocity, the arrow Alkeides had fired flew back at Bazdilot.
“…”
Bazdilot tilted his head slightly to the right and dodged the arrow by a hair’s breadth. The shockwave assaulted his skin, eardrums and eyeballs, but the mystically-reinforced surface of his body repelled it with brute force. Behind him, Alkeides grabbed the arrow with one hand. A moment later, a tremor ran through the air of the workshop.
Having viewed the sequence of events, Bazdilot narrowed his eyes.
No special magecraft. She parried Alkeides’ shot with pure magical energy control.

Humbaba and Filia/Ishtar vs Alcides. Alcides arrows look like laser beams to Haruri, Humbaba both tanks and swats them out of the sky. Filia/Ishtar’s attacks are swept aside by Alcides’ bow.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she saw demonic beasts that had gone out of control with the destruction of the workshop skirmishing with the Scradio Family’s black suits while Berserker mowed down two smokestacks rising from a factory at once. She could also see a bowman racing up the toppling smokestacks, leaping high into the air and firing arrows that resembled laser beams.
The arrows scored a direct hit on Berserker’s back. Berserker’s creaking scream resounded throughout the district. The bowman continued his barrage. This time, however, Berserker used the cables and wires that shrouded its body like tentacles to swat them out of the air.
She could also see Filia weaving through the gaps with her counterattacks. The bowman scattered them with a sweep of his bow. It seemed like the tide of battle was seesawing back and forth.

Alcides vs Jack the Ripper (Berserker)

Jack copies vs Alcides description

What am I looking at?
John Wingard, member of Clan Calatin, had only just obtained his new prosthetic hand.
What he saw was a police officer who looked identical to him.
But that officer wasn’t one of his comrades. He was appearing around the bowman, being struck down, disappearing, and then appearing again unscathed and unnoticed. No matter how many times his body was twisted apart or pierced with arrows, the same officer continued to challenge the Heroic Spirit.

Alcides vs John Wingard

without Musketeer Masquerade

Alcides blitzes Clan Calatin’s John Wingard and smashes his bow into John’s neck, sending him flying and breaking it.

“...You have courage, son of man. I would not call you foolhardy. For that, I pity you.”
“...?”
“No...” The bowman said to the bewildered John. “It’s none of your concern.”
The next instant, the bowman was standing right in front of John.
“Wha...?”
The movement appeared instantaneous, but it was achieved not through speed due to physical strength, but by moving in a gap in their attention.
The movement testified to the fact that the grotesque bowman did not rely solely on physical strength, but was also possessed of skill achieved through superhuman training. John, however, did not despair at it.
He had no time to appreciate the difference in power before the massive bow struck his neck.
Then, before he even knew what had happened to him, and before he had a chance to prove that he could fight with the prosthetic arm Dumas had given him...John Wingard was sent flying with a broken neck and smashed into the hospital’s glass entrance door with a loud crash.

Musketeer Masquerade

Alcides fends off John’s attacks with his bow, his Eye of the Mind True had been what alerted Alcides to Jack’s previous surprise attack. Jack’s been reduced even below the level he had been fighting Alcides at earlier before From Hell was employed due to damage to his Spirit Origin.

“...So, you can still move.”
The bowman spoke without looking behind him, in a tone that was equal parts admiration and exasperation.
While he spoke, he continued to fend off John’s attacks with his bow.
The superhuman sense that had allowed him to deal with Jack approaching silently from behind him was truly worthy of the name “Mind’s Eye,” one of the remaining Jacks thought and called out:
“I’m impressed that you can use your newly stolen wings so well.”
Other Jack’s lunged at the bowman as he spoke.
The new Jacks no longer even had the appearance of police officers. They were an assortment of ordinary townspeople, doctors, the young and old, men and women.
Possibly Jack could no longer afford the effort to keep his appearances uniform. The Jacks looked like a pitiful human crowd gathered to assault a demon out of legend, or else to throw themselves on its mercy.
“Absurd.”
Ultimately, Jack’s power was not even what it had been earlier. Their movements were sluggish.
The bowman seemed to realize that, because he kept the majority of his attention on the human police officer in front of him.

Flat hides himself via illusion and conjures multiple black arms from Jack’s shadows to ensnare Alcides as Alcides continues to deflect John Wingard’s assault. Alicides is able to find Flat through the illusion. This tactic of Flat’s is meant as a diversion.

An instant later, however, his assessment changed completely.
Countless black arms grew from Jack’s shadows and wrapped around the bowman’s body.
“Hm...?”
Shadows.
He was surrounded by a jet-black vortex that seemed to swallow even the darkness of night.
Having recognized it as magecraft, the bowman—Alkeides—let his attention range around the area while continuing to deflect the police officer’s prosthetic hand with his bow.
He discovered a distortion in the scenery.
It was a crude illusion. No ordinary person would ever have seen through it, but it was obvious to a Heroic Spirit of Alkeides’ caliber.
“...So, you’ve come out of your hole, mage.”
Alkeides judged that it was Berserker’s Master and immediately grasped what the shadows meant.
They were merely a diversion.
If they had been a type of magecraft that inflicted direct harm, he would have been impervious to them.
It would be a different story if his adversary were a mage from the Age of Gods, but assuming that Berserker’s Master was a human mage and not a Heroic Spirit, that was impossible.
According to intelligence supplied by his own Master, Bazdilot Cordelion, Berserker’s Master was a genius from the headquarters of the Mages Association known as the Clock Tower. As long as he was a modern mage, however, his magecraft was nothing to fear, and the mage ought to be equally aware of that.
In which case, he ought to regard the shadows as a diversion.
As a matter of fact, Alkeides was aware that in his current situation, with multiple Heroic Spirits in his vicinity, a diversion was far more dangerous than any half-baked attack.

John and Jack were forced to retreat by Alcides bow swing.

John and the Berserkers were forced to retreat before the force of a horizontal swipe of his great bow.

John Wingard’s condition after his fight with Alcides.

The voice from behind Vera came from John, who seemed to be already awake.
His prosthetic hand was half-destroyed, and he had lost the hydra-venom blade.
Of course, it would have been incredibly dangerous if his hand had been broken with the blade exposed, so, in a sense, that was fortunate.

Alcides vs Clan Calatin

Clan Calatin throws numerous attacks at Alcides, he swats them aside with his bow. Alcides fires another arrow and produces another crater

As if in answer to the officer’s scream, the rest of the nearby force poured out what seemed to be ranged Noble Phantasms one after another.
“…Dull.”
Alkeides swatted them aside with his bow. The shot he fired through the gaps between them produced another crater in the road.

Durability?

Alcides vs Hippolyta

Here, as depicted by the Stranga Fake manga.

Hippolyta’s attack with Goddess of War shook the earth. Alcides endures her strike.

The archer smiled behind his cloth, and made ready to unleash the power of his Noble Phantasm. A few second later, a blow imbued with divinity shook the earth.

…

A blow imbued with divinity shook the earth. But it was not the mysterious archer who had launched it.
“...What?”
Tine, who had peeked her head out from Vimana’s rear seat, could not believe what she was seeing. Just as the archer had been about to unleash the power of his cloth, a horse had appeared out of nowhere, and the girl riding it had landed behind him.

…

The girl, who gave an overall impression of activity, soundlessly approached the archer from behind with a look of cold dignity on her face.
“...?”
Gilgamesh furrowed his brows. The archer, noticing his gaze, tried to turn... and the girl’s fist embedded itself deep into his cloth-covered face.
The sound of the impact seemed like nothing less than an explosion. The archer’s body was launched with the force of a bullet to lodge itself in the side of another small eminence, which then began to crumble.
After a moment of silence, a simple fact dominated — the girl’s slender arm had sent a man on whom the Noble Phantasms Gilgamesh fired from his Gate of Bayblon had had no effect flying.
The girl glared at the pile of rubble that had buried the archer alive with eyes filled with a powerful hate, then glanced behind her at Tine and Gilgamesh, and declared

Alcides had sustained injuries from Hippolyta as he escaped Pestilence’s Doomsday Come. Despite this, the physical injures Alcides had suffered that day had now already been recovered from.

Bazdilot turned to face Alkeides and asked a question of his own.
“You seem to have recovered from your physical injuries. It looked like you took quite a beating.”
“It’s no cause for concern. Although facing pursuit from Rider . . . the queen of the Amazons in that state was troublesome.”

…

He had, however, suffered an attack from Rider—the Amazon queen Hippolyta—who had chosen that moment to appear, and sustained injuries.
Both those injuries and the hydra dagger wound in his side had now completely vanished.

Alcides vs Jack the Ripper (Berserker)

From Hell Jack is a threat on a level to warrant the intervention of the Burial Agency

“…It doesn’t seem like a genuine demon. A temporary existence as a phantasmal species…?
Still, to become something that fiendish, even temporarily…”
Hansa pressed a hand to his eye patch and muttered to himself about the thing Flat’s Heroic
Spirit had become — that is, about the entity that most ordinary people would call a “demon.”
“If I didn’t know it was a Heroic Spirit… I’d be calling on the Burial Agency right about now.”

Numerous From Hell Jack’s begin to hammer Alcides with heat vision and physical strikes alike. The strike drives Alcides deep into the street and the heat pierces Alcides shoulder. From Hell Jack can also fly.

“You said that I would die because I am human, didn’t you, weakling? But does not the sort of monster you are reducing yourself to fall at human hands?”
Alkeides spoke challengingly. Jack’s pure-white eyes, now far from human, crinkled, and he laughed. He just laughed.
“…No, you’ve got that wrong, slave of the gods reduced to humanity.”
Seeing the demon’s eyes gleam again, Alkeides assumed a defensive posture. When the attack came, however, it was from a total blind spot — out of the sky behind him.
“Nngh?!”
He turned as a ray of heat pierced the top of his shoulder and saw… a demon, identical to the one in front of him, flying through the air.
“Humans do not slay us. Humans are the fools, the sages, who create us — no more than cannibal prey.”
At the same time, the swooping claw strike of yet another demon drove Alkeides’ body deep into the street that had become the paving stones of hell.

Description of Jack’s From Hell and Natural Born Killers and how they function while Jack has a master like Flat at the helm.

Then, the true hell began.
What Alkeides, driven into the ground, saw when he raised his eyes to the sky… was a great army — tens, hundreds strong — of the enemy Heroic Spirit that had become a demon looking down on him.
Jack the Ripper’s Noble Phantasm, Evil Fog Perishes With the London Dawn: From Hell, materialized rumors that Jack’s true identity was a demon from hell as an ability. The theory had grown from the phrase “From hell” in a letter said to have been written by Jack himself. When it spread to the countryside, where superstitions were more deeply held than in urban areas, anecdotes that “Jack the Ripper was a demon, or possessed, or a devil worshipper” put down deep roots.
Having used its power to become a demon… Jack had added the other Noble Phantasm he possessed.
That Is Not Worth the End of Tragedy: Natural Born Killers.
“Jack the Ripper was not a single person, but a group.”
It was a Noble Phantasm built of such anecdotes. It incorporated a wide variety of elements, from idle speculation that “Jack’s crimes were all committed by unconnected people; no one in the world can be Jack the Ripper,” to the theory that it was a ritual performed by a religious cult, which had gained force at the time.
The maximum number of people varied based on the strength of the Master’s magical energy. Paired with Flat Escardos, it was confirmed to be capable of “dispersing” into a maximum of five hundred and twenty at one time.
Such numbers were of course impossible with both Noble Phantasms deployed simultaneously… but it easily reached over two hundred demons, all attacking the “human” Alkeides.

From Hell Jack and his Natural Born Killer copies relentlessly beat upon Alcides, his Nemean Lion Pelt beyond its natural toughness is worthless against both Jack’s physical attacks without weapons and his heat vision. Alcides endures the assault.

The next series of blows assailed Alkeides, standing on the ground, before he could even begin to act. They hit hard, most importantly because, as they were not delivered with weapons, the power of the Nemean lion’s hide had no effect on them. Its inherent toughness prevented it from being torn to shreds, but a portion of the attacks still pierced it, so that the claws and heat reached even Alkeides’ guts.
The ceaseless rain of blows no longer permitted him to so much as stand. If there was such a thing as the pains of hell, it was certainly his current predicament.

…

Would that bowman even be recognizable by this time?
No sooner had someone thought that… than a change appeared in the situation.
“...Impressive.”
As his low, but carrying voice reverberated in the surroundings, Alkeides exposed himself to the claws of the airborn demons in the center of the pulverized asphalt.
The claws bit into Alkeides’ shoulder with a dull thud. It seemed to the onlookers that it could easily have been a mortal wound.
Alkeides, however, pinned the arm of the gigantic demon whose claws were eating into him and seized one of its fangs with his free hand as it tried to bite him. The other demons launched a simultaneous heat ray attack, but Alkeides did not release his grip.
Then, he commended the hero he had deemed worthless. He spoke words of heartfelt praise, acknowledging that the modern serial killer without so much as a scrap of divinity was indeed a worthy foe.
“…Impressive, weakling. You’ve done well to corner me. You’ve done well to climb this high.”

Summary of From Hell Jack vs Alcides

The sight was like a fantasy.
Not, however, in the sense of a delightful paradise. It was fantastical in the sense of a battle between gods or a vision of Hell.
Berserker, Jack the Ripper, had transformed into more than two hundred demons.
Their overwhelming domination, which had slaughtered the three-headed demon dog that had belonged to the “true” Archer, who called himself Alkeides, and had seemed poised to overwhelm the Heroic Spirit as well... when that power to become a demon—the Spirit Origin called a Noble Phantasm—had been completely stolen by Alkeides’ Noble Phantasm “Reincarnation Pandora: Usurper of Heavenly Winds.”
A Noble Phantasm that stole Noble Phantasms.
Its power defied reason. With it, Alkeides had acquired grotesque strength.
He kicked Jack aside and raised his weapon to slaughter the police officers who stood in his way.

Alcides vs John Wingard

John Wingard attacks Alcides with speed faster than Alcides was anticipating and delivers a knee to Alcide’s nose. Alexandre Dumas’ Musketeer Mascerade has increased John’s magical energy and let him enhance both his body and reactions several fold.

Behind Alkeides, a pillar of light pierced the sky and illuminated the face of the approaching police officer before him. At the sight of that face, which appeared through a tear in the smokescreen created by the whirlwinds, Alkeides muttered:
“What...?”
It was unmistakably the face of the man whose neck he had broken and who he had sent flying into the hospital entrance a short while before.
“Ooooooaaah!”
The officer let out a wordless roar and kicked the ground.
His instantaneous acceleration exceeded Alkeides’ expectations. His arm moved to block, but before it could reach, the man’s slight frame sprang at Alkeides with the force of a bullet...and delivered a flying knee to the bridge of the grotesque Archer’s cloth-covered nose with all his might.
“J-John?!” The police officers shouted in surprise.
The way John had been sent flying earlier had put the words “instant death” into most of their minds. He might have Magic Circuits, but he lacked the Magic Crest which only one child in a lineage could inherit. If he had had a Crest, which would have performed self-restoration magecraft when he was on the brink of death, it would have been a different story, but no one had imagined that John could survive without one, much less reappear so much stronger that he seemed like a different person.
But he had.
He had reappeared shrouded in magical energy that far surpassed that of an ordinary mage and made use of that energy to enhance his body and nerves severalfold.

John starts to beat on Alcides with his increased power and melee skills, the force of his blows cause Alcides some pain, John’s power now rivals that of the enemy Generals Alcides had fought in life back in Ancient Greece. Compared to Hippolyta’s Goddess of War enhanced blows, John’s attacks were like a child’s by comparison. Alcides Eye of the Mind True warns him to be wary of John because of the Hydra Poison Dagger buried in John’s prosthetic right hand. John’s attack with his Hydra Venom prosthetic blade causes Alcides to retreat.

John.
I see. So, this man’s name is John.
Alkeides, despite taking the flying knee and being knocked backwards, coolly noted information about his opponent as he spun in midair and landed feet-first.
Those feet, however, were swept out from under him by John, who had circled around even farther behind him without his noticing.
“Oh-ho...”
Alkeides sounded impressed. He then caught himself with one arm on the ground and used his free arm to block John’s follow-up attack. The shock ran through Alkeides’ whole body with a creaking of flesh and bone.
John followed it with a series of bare-handed strikes, continuing to batter Alkeides without giving him a chance to ready his bow.
What happened? He’s like a different man... Or should I say he’s matured?
He had gone beyond the level of ordinary humans, even for a mage. The experience Alkeides had built up over his lifetime warned him that the power surging from the police officer before him rivaled the enemy generals he had fought in ancient Greece in brute strength.
Is it his Noble Phantasm? Did Caster do something?
Alkeides noted that his body was being damaged, but it was not enough to make him register danger. Compared to when the Amazon queen had struck him using her Noble Phantasm, the pain was like being punched by a child.
And yet...he regarded the man before him with the greatest possible caution.
Why? Alkeides wondered as he fended off the flurry of blows. Why was I wary of this man?
The vortex of magical energy that had sprung up behind him ought to have concerned him more than strikes like these. And yet everything he had accumulated was telling him not to take his eyes off this human.
His strength is certainly more than human, but it hasn’t reached the level of a warrior Heroic Spirit.
So why, he wondered as he continued to take blow after blow. His attention was first drawn to the unnaturalness of his opponent’s attacks.
...Why doesn’t he use his right hand?
Throughout his flurry of unarmed strikes, the police officer called John never attacked with his right hand.
This difference in his center of gravity... A prosthetic?
While attacking and defending at split-second intervals, Alkeides instantaneously deduced the truth of his opponent’s unnatural movements.
That being the case, he wondered what that prosthetic hand could be.
Does it conceal a weapon? If so, it won’t penetrate this pelt.
No, this man should already know that. Should I assume that it conceals magecraft, then?
Alkeides focused every nerve in his body on John’s right arm while evading his close-quarters attacks.
It must be some kind of—No, is it...?
He felt a presence. A slight presence—a unique magical energy, or perhaps a curse—was escaping from the man’s prosthetic hand. The instant that presence, which retained faint vestiges of the Age of the Gods, tickled Alkeides’ nostrils and skin...
A chill of fear ran down Alkeides’ spine.
Having noticed it, his instincts as a Heroic Spirit made him freeze in shock for just an instant.
No matter how much his Spirit Origin changed, it had a special meaning for him. It was because he knew its dangers better than anyone, because he knew the terror of it better than anyone, that he himself had soaked his special arrowheads in it.
“Damn you...!”
The instant Alkeides shouted, John’s right arm shone darkly...and a peculiarly shaped blade appeared from it, forming the back of his hand.
A black liquid writhed around the prosthetic blade like a curse with a will of its own. It was one of the greatest calamities and most awful curses of the Age of the Gods, one that had killed countless heroes and even driven a certain great hero to take his own life—Hydra venom.
The blade coiled in that incomparably fiendish toxin closed in on a gap in Alkeides’ cloth.
Impossible!
Has it survived into this era?! That water snake shouldn’t be able to exist on the surface anymore!
He felt keenly how naïve his thinking had been.
The mages of this era could not hold a candle to those of the Age of the Gods, but they were intelligent enough to wield its remnants. Considering that his own Master likewise harbored the toxic, cursed mud in his body, he should have considered the possibility that his enemies possessed Hydra venom.
Faced with a weapon capable of killing him, Alkeides gripped his bow and leapt backward with all his might.

John goes to hold Alcides off, he alludes to Alexandre Dumas’ Musketeer Masquerade increasing his power, John senses Alcides is about to fight seriously with his bow as Alcides acknowledges John’s ability to kill him.

“...! Hurry! To the hospital!” John shouted to his nearby fellow officers once he was sure
Alkeides had distanced himself. “I’ll buy as much time as I can! Secure the target while I do!”
“John... What happened to you?!”
“I don’t really understand myself...but it looks like Mr. Caster pulled something off for me!”
John then made to dash off, as if to say that they could talk later...when a chill ran through his body this time, causing him to stop in his tracks in spite of himself.
“...?”
John strained his eyes, his whole body breaking out in a cold sweat.
The grotesque bowman stood over twenty meters ahead of him. The intimidating air rising from him had magnified severalfold.
John had no difficulty figuring out why—the bowman had nocked an arrow to his bow.
He had fired arrows several times before, but this was different. He was serious.
The grotesque bowman spoke, paying his respects to John, who was trying to advance inspite of the chill.
“You who possess the means to kill me, I acknowledge you as my foe.”

Alcides Eye of the Mind True had been dulled by previous circumstances piling up, John goes in to attack Alcides via the opening Flat gave him. John’s attack breaks the sound barrier, the shockwave sends Flat and nearby rubble flying. While the impact felt weak to Alcides, but John’s prosthetic hand’s blade snapped off. The hydra venom blade stabbed Alcides.

Circumstance piled on circumstance dulled Alkeides’ mind’s eye for an instant.
And that momentary unbalance... created a fatal opening.
A roar struck Alkeides’ ears.
It signaled that the police officer called John had poured all his strength into a desperate strike... and by the time it reached his ears, John was already upon him.
The blow momentarily broke the sound barrier.
It created a shockwave that sent Flat and the nearby rubble flying.
It took just an instant.
An impact ran through Alkeides’ side, feeling so weak to him that he almost doubted it.
It may have been a supersonic blow from a prosthetic hand transformed into a Noble Phantasm, but that was all it could do to Alkeides’ superhuman physique.
As a matter of fact, the impact had broken off the prosthetic hand’s blade at the base and the recoil had sent John tumbling to the ground several meters away.
But it had been enough.
John had put all his might into that blow of his prosthetic hand—a thrust of a blade dripping with hydra venom.
It would have been a fatal wound to almost any Heroic Spirit... but there was a reason it ate into Alkeides’ Spirit Origin with especial ferocity.
Death.
The pure curse of deadly poison.
The thing that had once driven Alkeides to end his own life coursed through his veins.
As it entered his body, Flat spoke the phrase that concluded his spell, signaling that his stratagem was complete.
“...Game over.”
He had created an opening for John, who possessed a strike worthy of being called final.
The steps he had taken to produce that moment of time were simple and obvious.
He had offered up his soul.
He had offered it to a Heroic Spirit of the Caster Class, whom he had known for only a few minutes.

Alcides vs Flat Escardos

Flat begins his counterattack on Alcides. He uses Alcides magical energy against himself and causes the magic circuit in Alcides body to become a chain reaction of internal explosions to tear Alcides apart. Alcides tries to counter Flat’s attack by pouring his unstable magical energy into the ground beneath him. Regardless, due to Alcides taking Jack’s From Hell into his Spirit Origin, Flat was able to bypass Alcides otherwise innately strong magic resistance.

Alkeides’ primary focus shifted to the question of the Master he had killed for only a few seconds.
And in those few second... he was completing his complex and bizarre spell.
“...Game select.”
The voice came from right beside Alkeides.
From among the Berserkers who had become corpses in that short time.
In the midst of that pile, one body Alkeides could not remember slaying moved its mouth and hands and rapidly performed magecraft.
A moment later... one of the arrows Alkeides had nocked burst, causing his now-grotesque frame to stagger for an instant.
Impossible.
Alkeides immediately realized what had been done to him.
The current of magical energy necessary to activate the Stymphalian Birds, part of his Noble
Phantasm, King’s Order, had been tampered with and made to short-circuit.
That, however, was only the beginning of the spell.
“Ngh...!”
Just as he tried to regain his footing, he was struck by another wild burst of magical energy.
Alkeides was not a mage, but as his body was itself a mass of magical energy, every vein and nerve in it could be called a Magic Circuit.
All of them had become fuses and were setting off surges of uncontrolled magical energy one after another in a chain reaction.
Magical energy burst in his lean, steely arms.
Magical energy burst in the toes of his feet, so well-honed that they sometimes became blades.
Magical energy burst in the veins that ran throughout his body, deep and strong as the roots of the world tree.
Magical energy burst in his beautifully woven nerves.
Magical energy burst in each of his alveoli before he even had a chance to breathe.
Magical energy burst behind his eyeballs, hidden by his cloth.
Magical energy burst in part of his brain stem.
It burst, and burst, and burst...
The interval between bursts of magical energy grew shorter and shorter until at last he felt a massive explosion of magical energy near his heart.
He could not distinguish the pain from the heat of it.
Half of the wings on his back and the horns on his head snapped off. There was even an
explosion of magical energy in the hand that held his bow, tearing off several of his thick talons.
The magical energy ran out of control inside his body as well, shredding parts of his organs.
But his Spirit Origin, once renowned as a great hero, was to be feared.
“...No!”
With a shout of effort, he stamped his foot down onto the street and poured his rampaging magical energy into the earth.
A moment later, the asphalt lifted in patches all along the street, which ran for several hundred meters, and ruptured pipes shot fountains of earth and water into the air in unison.
Many Heroic Spirits might have burst entirely at that point, but he had held his body together by the force of his sheer physical strength.
Even so, the resulting damage was extraordinary.
The backlash had torn up the street around him and a number of cars that had been parked along it were overturned and half scrapped.
Alkeides’ insides, however, had suffered far greater damage than the cars.
It would ordinarily be inconceivable for a single mage to inflict such damage on a Heroic Spirit.
Alkeides’ Spirit Origin, with its extraordinarily powerful Anti-Magic, was impervious to modern magecraft.
Meaning... it had backfired.
There was one part of his Spirit Origin whose Anti-Magic was weak.
It was also a part of Berserker, meaning that a path of magical energy had linked it to the young man who had until recently been its Master.
The mage had introduced a spell that disturbed the flow of his magical energy through the power of the Noble Phantasm he had stolen from Berserker—the part of him that had transformed into a demon, a kind of phantasmal.
Even so, it was no easy feat.
Unless the mage had a complete grasp of the complex flow of his magical energy in this condition, it would be impossible.
Meaning that he had accomplished that.

Flat further empowered his counterattack on Alcides via repurposed command spell, an explanation on the mechanics of how despite not being Alcides Master.

At that, Alkeides shifted his gaze to Berserker’s Master, Flat Escardos, who was just picking himself up off the ground.
A second of the Command Spells on the back of his left hand was faded.
Alkeides realized that it had been the “final push” behind the spell that had sent his magical energy out of control.
“...So, you repurposed one of your own Command Spells.”
Command Spells only affected Servants contracted to their user.
It was impossible to overturn that principle and enforce a command on someone else’s Servant... but by skillfully rewriting its immense magical energy and using it to “hack” the path of magical energy that linked Alkeides to his Master... Flat had forced him to run a spell equivalent to ordering him to take his own life with a Command Spell.“Well... I guess it was kind of a gamble... Your Master already used all their Command Spells, right, Mr. Archer? If they had even one left, I think I would have bounced off the strength of that connection.”
Seeing Flat smile that he had been lucky with a look of relief, Alkeides realized how abnormal the young man was.
“I see. I never expected you to have the ‘sight’ to perceive so much...”
Then, he muttered to himself in a voice too low for Flat to hear:
“So... it’s you.”

Alcides vs Clan Calatin

From Hell Alcides tanks every attack Clan Calatin has thrown at him despite Clan Calatin having vastly improved since fighting Zealot

The attack on John had triggered every police officer with strength to spare to spring into action at once. Each of them held a different Noble Phantasm. “Fake” Noble Phantasms—mere relics that had lost their original Mystery and magical energy, but whose legends had been overwritten by Caster.
It would be fair to say that they attacked with every trick they could think of—feints, sneak attacks from blind spots, and more. It could even be justly said that their teamwork had improved since their battle with Assassin at the police station.
And yet Archer, having stolen Berserker’s Noble Phantasm and gain the power of a demon, did not even make an effort to dodge them or to deflect them with his weapon. He took every blade and projectile aimed at him, but they had no apparent effect.

…

While they thought, the now-grotesque Archer advanced.
But every attack they aimed at his vitals was stopped by the cloth he wore. When they attacked his exposed arms and sides, in contrast, they felt their attacks connect, but never managed to reach the level of an effective blow.
On top of the cloth that completely nullified their attacks, his bare body’s specs must have been extraordinary as well. Given that he had also absorbed the demon’s power—although the police officers did not understand exactly what had happened—they supposed that his endurance and resistance to magical energy must have improved as a result.