Rho Aias

is the shield used by Aias the Great and the only shield capable of stopping Durindana of the great hero Hector. It was a bronze shield covered in seven layers of oxhide, which the aforementioned javelin, having never before been blocked during the , pierced to the seventh layer before stopping. Its existence was sublimated into a Conceptual Weapon that is said to be an absolute defense against any thrown weapon.
==Variations==
===EMIYA===
Archer came in contact with at some point in his life, and added it to his library of weapons and defensive armaments stored in Unlimited Blade Works.
In its greatest form, it is said to be seven flower petals made from light. It takes the form of a seven layered Bounded Field in the shape of an iridescent flower in reference to the rocket larkspur () flower that bloomed from Aias' blood as he died, with seven petals representing the seven layers of oxhide. Each flower petal layer has the defensive power of a fortress wall, and Archer cannot personally recall any thrown lance that would be capable of penetrating even the first layer. It is necessary for its user to provide constant magical energy to form the shield.
File:RhoAias.jpg|Seven petal and four petal versions, and petals dissipating after being destroyed
Rho Aias gae bolg ufotable 2.gif|Rho Aias in Unlimited Blade Works (ufotable) struck by Gáe Bolg
File:Shirou projects the full Rho Aias vs Gilgamesh (UBW anime).gif|Shirou projecting the full Rho Aias against Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon
He uses it as his main defense as it is the one in which he has the most proficiency with, and Shirou Emiya cites it as Archer's greatest protection. He uses it to defend against Cú Chulainn's Gáe Bolg which manages to pierce up to the seventh layer before finally stopping. This action takes much of his energy as it takes three times the amount of magical energy as a weapon in order to project it, and still leaves his arm and body damaged afterward. He can also project it from a distance, allowing him to shield Shirou from Gilgamesh's Enuma Elish without either of them realizing it. If it is used by Shirou after having access to Archer's knowledge, he is only capable of generating four petals in the Heaven's Feel route and Fate/hollow ataraxia. It is still powerful enough to help Bellerophon overpower Excalibur Morgan and temporarily deflect a charged shot of Hrunting. Shirou is able to project the full version during Unlimited Blade Works after "pulling it from the hill" of the Reality Marble in order to protect himself from Gilgamesh's onslaught of swords.
In the alternate universe of Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, in the alternate dimension of the Ainsworth, Shirou does get Rho Aias at some point in time. He used it to protect Rin Tohsaka, Luvia Edelfelt and Bazett Fraga McRemitz from a massive ranged attack by the Grail mud-born "heroes" who were under the control of Julian Ainsworth. He also uses it to push Miyu and Illya out of the blast radius of Beatrice Flowerchild's thunderbolts in the air. Kuro can also actualize Rho Aias, albeit with only four petals.
In Thomas Edison's Interlude, he attempts to combine Medea's Rule Breaker with Cú Chulainn's Gáe Bolg in order to make an anti-magic spear that will always seek the heart of an enemy using EMIYA's Rho Aias to act as a test subject for the experiment. However, during the test, Medea states that Rule Breaker cannot work on Rho Aias due to the magically created flower petals being real and having the actual strength of a fortress wall. Due to this, Rule Breaker fails to destroy the magic that created them and breaks off from Gáe Bolg.Fate/Grand Order - Thomas Edison Interlude I: Can You do It?
===Rin Tohsaka===
In The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II, three years after the Fifth Holy Grail War, Rin Tohsaka has devised an imitation of the Noble Phantasm Rho Aias. With a six-verse incantation, it takes the form of a flower with five petals, instead of the seven petals, though it could more appropriately called a canopy than a shield. It's a defensive spell Rin holds in reserve, as it makes use of a year's worth of her savings.The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II Volume 3: The Devil of the Wandering Sea (Lower) - Chapter 6
When Bai Ruolong's Nega-Keraunos clashed with a copy of it that Ergo created with Per Djet, just the shockwave from the two blasts clashing was enough to break through four layers of Rho Aias.
==References==
vi:Rho Aias
Category:Noble Phantasms
Category:Unclassified Noble Phantasms
Category:Unknown rank Noble Phantasms
Category:Conceptual Weapons
Category:Armor
Category:Bounded Fields
Category:Spells
Category:Noble Phantasms introduced in Fate/stay night
Category:Noble Phantasms in Unlimited Blade Works