Yuri

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 is an ancient swordsman who transforms into .
==History==
===Early Life===
Yuri was born in Kievan Rus' a thousand years ago, which has become part of Russia and Ukraine in modern day.https://www.kamen-rider-official.com/saber/19 He was acquainted with Tassel and previously friends with Bahato and an unnamed swordsman, both of whom would be corrupted for absolute power. Yuri became the wielder of both Ankokuken Kurayami and Kougouken Saikou to strike down evil. In order to prevent both swords falling into the wrong hands, he gave up his humanity and merged himself with Kougouken Saikou, sealing both himself and the King of Arthur Wonder Ride Book within Avalon.
===Touma Kamiyama's Trials===
A thousand years later, Yuri congratulated Touma Kamiyama when he arrived in Avalon. While he warned to Touma about King of Arthur's power, Yuri suggested him to leave Avalon if he's not ready to claim the power. Yuri then gave some test to Touma in order to get the power of King of Arthur. After Touma passed the test, Yuri promised that they would meet again once he unlocked King of Arthur's true power.
After leaving Avalon, Yuri would continue to observe Touma Kamiyama's progress. He was present as Kento Fukamiya collapses in Touma's arms from a distance with Tassel. After Saber had unlocked the power of Dragonic Knight from the large book he gave him, Yuri acknowledged Touma had completely passed the test he gave to him in Avalon.
===The Light Swordsman===
Yuri decided to make his presence known after seeing Touma in danger. When the Sword of Logos' swordsmen attacked the novelist, Yuri rescued him and Mei Sudo. He transforms into the Sword of Light, Kamen Rider Saikou, and manages to force the Northern Base swordsmen to draw back. Meanwhile, the Megid enacted to turn humans into their kin, leading Yuri to join forces with Touma to separate them back to normal.
While moving into Fantastic Bookstore Kamiyama, he read every book inside the store to catch himself up to the modern era, but initially distained the comic book, Sword X Man. Despite his initial disdain towards the comic, Yuri warmed up to the story overtime and continued reading the comic. Despite a rough beginning between the him and Touma, Yuri presented his ability to separate the Megid from their human host. Yuri as Kougouken Saikou can be wielded by Saber in battle, while also having Saikou Shadow to autonomously assist Saikou in battle.
As the battle between the Megid was getting fierce, Yuri reunites with Tassel to help regain his swordsman body and basing it off Sword X Man. Though Tassel was unsure of this at first, he was able to lend a hand as he gave the Wonder World Story of Kougouken Saikou to Yuri, allowing him access to Saikou X Sword Man in order to fight in a humanoid form. Despite a slight struggle since he hasn't fought in a body in quite some time, Yuri had regained his swordsman prowess as he did millennia ago.
Yuri remarked how the Sword of Logos has changed after a thousand years, believing in Touma that there could be a mysterious force behind the scenes manipulating everything. While Touma's teammates at the Northern Base came around to fight with him, they would later come to face against the reemerged Kamen Rider Calibur, later revealed to be Kento on a pursuit to seal every Seiken. Yuri would continue to assist Touma as he is being compelled by the Primitive Dragon and was there to witness his evolution into Saber Elemental Primitive Dragon.
===War against Master Logos===
Following the rescue of Rintaro Shindo, Yuri recounted from his encounter with Kamen Rider Durendal and was unaware of the existence of Jikokuken Kaiji. While he tried to visit Tassel over the revelation, Yuri couldn't find his friend anywhere and told by Tassel's bird that he had gone missing. Yuri returned back to the base where the Megid and the Shindai siblings raid the base. Yuri and Touma engage the Shindai siblings, where Saber is able to counter Durendal's time skip technique, leading Master Logos to force Durendal to withdraw.
After discovering Luna is alive, Yuri assists Touma in opening up a portal to reach his friend. However, their duel is interupted by Kamen Rider Falchion, whom Yuri recognizes as his old friend Bahato. Saikou was later caught in the crossfire between Saber, Calibur, and Falchion and sealed into Kougouken Saikou. While the Seiken and Wonder Ride Books were taken by Reika Shindai as part of Master Logos' ritual, Touma managed to foil Master Logos' ritual to summon the Almighty Book, restoring Yuri back to normal.
However, Master Logos is able to obtain a portion of the Almighty Book and transform into Kamen Rider Solomon, who proved to be a formidable adversary. Yuri learnt of Kento's plan to sacrifice himself to save the world, warning Touma and Rintaro to stop him while he and Mei attempt to make peace with Bahato, but is scoffed. As Solomon enacted his destruction to the world, Yuri stood alongside the other swordsmen, as well as Kento who finally agreed to rejoin the team. Yuri would bear witness to Haouken Xross Saber's creation and Touma becoming Kamen Rider Xross Saber. Yuri congratulated him for his victory, with Touma granted a new power forged by the swordsmen's wishes to save the world. 
======
One day, Touma was sent to the world of with Mei Sudo and Yuri as a result of Asmodeus' awakening. As a result of Shotaro Ishinomori's unsatisfaction, Yuri was amoung the heroes who vanished. When Asmodeus raised more monsters, Touma and Shotaro arrived with their latest creations. Touma unveils Super Hero Senki, while Shotaro unveils Kamen Rider 1 and , allowing the Kamen Riders and Sentai Rangers to remanifest. Yuri as Kamen Rider Saikou joins his fellow swordsmen, the Kamen Riders, and the Super Sentai to battle Asmodeus's forces, emerging victorious in the ensuing battle.
===Final Battle against Solomon===
During the final battle against Master Logos, Solomon's attempts to wield Kougouken Saikou and Ankokuken Kurayami, forcing Yuri against Touma. Once Xross Saber used the power of his comrades' Wonder Ride Books to access Featuring Saber, the Kamen Riders were able to finally vanquish the former Master for good.
===Storious' Endgame===
Though they were victorious against Master Logos, Tassel arrives at the Northern Base and reveals his backstory and how the Megid and the Sword of Logos came to be. After Tassel left to bring Luna only to not return, Yuri went to his house in Wonder World and discovered his death. Storious merges with Charybdis and the remnants of his five former allies and transforms into Kamen Rider Storious, resurrecting the Four Sages in the process as his loyal followers.
Yuri learnt that his existence is slowly fading due to Wonder World's encroachment caused by Tassel's death. He would keep this fact a secret from other swordsmen until they learned of it once the encroachment spreads even further. Yuri was able to maintain his existence due to his connection with Kougouken Saikou along with Sophia but is unsure how long it will take for him to live.
Together with the rest of his comrades, Kamen Rider Saikou join the swordsmen as they storm Storious' Tower of Destruction. Yuri initially stayed behind outside with Sophia, who had assumed the role as Calibur, to hold off the Shimi army so the others can proceed into the tower. Following the battle against the Shimi, Yuri enters the spire and begin healing the injured swordsmen one by one despite his body being unstable. He would finally reach his limit when he used his power to heal Kento, losing his physical form shortly after.
===One Year Later===
One year after the victory against Storious, Kougouken Saikou had lost the entirety of its power, and thus Yuri never returned. However, when Touma changed destiny using his powers as the new guardian of Wonder World, Yuri is immediately returned into existence, along with the power of Wonder Ride Books and the missing people from the Megid's rampage. He would later be present with the others when everyone welcomed Touma back home.
===Kamen Rider: Beyond Generations===
Yuri would arrive at Fenix Skybase and meets with George Karizaki and Hiromi Kadota just as the demon Diablo, who emerged to threaten the Earth's future. This leads to Fenix's Kamen Riders and the Sword of Logos joining forces to stop Diablo and his Crispers. They would also encounter time-displaced Shocker scientist Ryunosuke Momose, who sought to make amends with Hideo, his young son he left behind in 1971, who is now an adult man in 2021. 
Yuri joins Touma, Rintaro, Vice, Daiji, and Sakura to venture to the future and protect Ryunosuke. He would meet an elderly George Karizaki, who assisted the heroes by granting them to access to Clone Riders forms. Yuri would assume the forms of Ex-Aid Muteki Gamer, Agito, and Zero-One. Upon returning to the present, he would arrive in Sibera to assist Kamen Rider Buster in defeating the Leonidas Crisper.
===Kamen Rider Saber: Trio of Deep Sin===
Eight years after saving the world, the multiple swordsmen within the Sword of Logos have begun to disappear, with Yuri catching wind of strange phenomenon. While he was with Sophia discussing the possible causes, they came across Mamiya, who used Amazing Siren's power to erase them. However, he would be restored back to normal after Mamiya reset reality.
==Video Game Appearances==
==Personality==
Like Rintaro, Yuri has no experience in the outside world since leaving for Avalon a thousand years ago. As such, he became heavily curious about the modern world and can be entertained easily by even the smallest things (i.e., comic books, women's fashion), despite having no basic understanding of such. As a result, Yuri has developed a habit of shouting "the best" when feeling amused, including the aftermath of beating his enemies. His words can also be misleading and "outdated", as Touma was unaware that Yuri's method of "striking a Megid down" was in fact the same as his. 
Since merging himself with Kougouken Saikou, Yuri no longer has any need to perform actions partaken by the conventional human, such as eating food and drinking liquids (however he is seen eating éclairs in a Hyper-Battle DVD). This is supported through his heavy insistence that he's a sword who gave up his own humanity. Despite so, he holds the status of a swordsman highly, often criticizing the actions of the Sword of Logos, who used their Seiken for matters aside from protecting world peace, saying their definition of "justice" has been completely altered from what he knew about them two thousand years ago.
Yuri revealed to Kento that he was once similar to him before he met Touma. But by meeting Touma, Yuri has decided to believe in humanity and friendship better and leading him to not depend on Ankokuken Kurayami's vision, which is the reason of him sealing Bahato in the past including himself.
Humorously, Yuri found himself a target of Tetsuo Daishinji's attention, the latter being fascinated for his merged state with Kougouken Saikou and his ability to separate a Megid from a human. Yuri himself is disturbed by Daishinji's antics and often tends to avoid getting too close with him.
Yuri later took interest in comic books, even though he found it them absurd at first. Deciding to regain his physical fighting form, he accepts help from Tassel. As X Sword Man, he acts very much like a comic book protagonist.
==Powers and Abilities==
===Powers===
*Kougouken Saikou Physiology: After merging with Kougouken Saikou, Yuri gained numerous abilities due to his connection with the Seiken itself.
**Clothing Replication: By staring at another person alone, Yuri can replicate whatever pieces of clothing said person is wearing, and wear them as his own. 
**Light Manipulation: While transformed as Saikou, Yuri can cast a blinding light that's powerful enough to even melt the Yeti Megid's ice . He can also briefly blind the area to make a quick getaway. 
**Book Manifestation: By holding out his hand, Yuri can manifest a book in said hand.
**Memory Manipulation: Yuri can erase someone's memory over recent events just by touching their forehead or by creating a light from the tip of the sword. However, his method to do so is not soft as he will spin the head of his target.
**Healing: Yuri can speed up someone's recovery time by putting his hand on their forehead, or alternatively, create a light that can heal wound without touching forehead. However, he can exhaust himself if he were to push it to his limit. 
**Longevity: Because of his merging with Kougouken Saikou, Yuri has lived for at least two thousand years. However, this also poses a drawback, such that if the Wonder World were to be corrupted, the Kougouken Saikou would eventually lose its power, and Yuri would eventually cease to exist, until the Wonder World is restored.
**Megid Separation: One of Kougouken Saikou's abilities is to separate Megid from its human host. Although one drawback is that he cannot separate two hosts of the same Megid without the aid of a Seiken with a similar ability.
**Superhuman Speed: Yuri's speed as Saikou is said to be at 300,000 km/h in his sword form. This means Yuri can carry someone to travel across the world at rapid speeds. 
**Teleportation: Yuri is able to teleport in front of an enemy and protect his allies.
**Demon Perception: Yuri is able to see and hear Vice, who normally can only be perceived by his own host, even when the demon is not transformed.
*Interdimensional Travel: Yuri is one of the few people who is able to freely travel between Earth and the Wonder World, which he often uses to visit Tassel.
===Abilities===
*Master Swordsman: Yuri is highly accomplished in swordsmanship, he is highly regarded as the "hero" who struck down the Megid two thousand years ago using both Ankokuken Kurayami and Kougouken Saikou simultaneously. Due to his experience, Yuri is a highly trained and skilled swordsman and dual-wielder who displayed considerable skill in swordsmanship, demonstrating his mastery at using Ankokuken Kurayami and Kougouken Saikou when fighting his enemies.
*Indomitable Will: Due to his strong will, Yuri is able to break free of Solomon’s mind control.
===Weaknesses===
*Exhaustion: If Yuri exhausts himself (either in battle or via healing someone), he will temporarily revert into Kougouken Saikou, leaving him vulnerable to be captured by an enemy.
*Ankokuken Kurayami: While Yuri is able to wield Kurayami without any issue, if Kougouken Saikou were to be sealed using Kurayami's dark power, his own consciousness will also be sealed along with it.
===Former Weaknesses===
*Solomon’s Mind Control: Solomon is able to mind control Yuri and force him to do his bidding. However, Yuri’s strong will allowed him to break free of Solomon’s control.
==Forms==
==Equipment==
===Devices===
*Seiken Saikou Driver - Main transformation device.
*Wonder Ride Books - Transformation trinkets.
===Weapons===
*Kougouken Saikou - Transformation device and personal weapon.
*Ankokuken Kurayami - Secondary personal weapon.
==Relationships==
===Friends===
*Tassel: Tassel and Yuri have a long history together that stems back to 2000 years prior to the start of the series. In the present day, they would both watch Touma from afar in their fights, and he also appears when Tassel is narrating about the previous episode. Yuri would pay a visit to Tassel whenever he needed help with something. (i.e. regaining his swordsman form, or relearning the story of the Primitive Dragon). After Tassel's death, Yuri silently mourns for his friend's death, and exclaimed that he'll follow him soon.
=== Allies ===
*Touma Kamiyama's team:
**Touma Kamiyama/Kamen Rider Saber: Yuri first met Touma during Touma's first visit to Avalon. Yuri warned him that it is dangerous to obtain the King of Arthur Wonder Ride Book and actively encourages him to give it up while he still can. However, Touma showed his resolve to save his friends and the world to Yuri, who decides to place its power in his hands. He also gives him an incomplete version of the Dragonic Knight Wonder Ride Book and puts him through a series of trials to determine whether he was worthy of using its power. As Touma completes all the trials and obtains the Wonder Ride Book's power, Yuri finally acknowledges him and offers his aid to Touma as he was branded a "traitor" and attacked by his friends who were manipulated by Reika Shindai.
**Mei Sudo: Yuri saved her when she was about to be hurt by Ren, when the Sword of Logos turned against Touma, Mei notices that Yuri is much more inexperienced than Rintaro in the outside world.
**Tetsuo Daishinji/Kamen Rider Slash: After Daishinji rejoins Touma again, he wanted to examine Yuri for how he merged with his sword.
**Ryo Ogami/Kamen Rider Buster (II): After Ogami leaves the group, Yuri considers him an ally.
**Rintaro Shindo/Kamen Rider Blades (II): Once an enemy when Rintaro was in the Sword of Logos, later became allies with him after his friendship with Touma had been restored.
**Kento Fukamiya/Kamen Rider Espada (II)/Kamen Rider Calibur (III): Yuri had no doubts about facing him since he doesn't share any close relationship with him. Since Yuri is the first wielder of Ankokuken Kurayami, Yuri has noticed that Kento has foreseen the future which is shown by the dark sword. Despite that, Yuri still decides to rebel against the vision.
**Sophia/Kamen Rider Calibur (IV): After being freed by Kento, Sophia and Yuri work alongside each other. Eventually, he gives Kurayami to her as the new Calibur as they went into the final battle.
**Reika Shindai/Kamen Rider Sabela: Yuri considers Reika as a manipulative person. Also, she wants to capture him as a recruit.
**Ryoga Shindai/Kamen Rider Durendal: He fought against him while defending Rintaro and Touma.
===Enemies===
*Isaac/Master Logos/Kamen Rider Solomon: Yuri sees this "Master Logos" as a tyrant and why the Sword of Logos is so corrupt.
*Megid: Enemies, due to the fact he's allied with Touma Kamiyama's team.
*Ren Akamichi/Kamen Rider Kenzan (II): Ren is part of the Sword of Logos, so Yuri considers him an enemy. Ren wants to capture him.
*Bahato/Kamen Rider Falchion: Yuri and Bahato were once friends 1000 years ago. Due to Bahato straying from the heroic path and wielding Kyomu, Yuri was forced to seal him with Saikou and Kurayami. Thinking that Yuri has betrayed him, Bahato has held a grudge against him since.
=== Super Sentai ===
* Juran/Zenkai Juran:
==Behind the Scenes==
===Portrayal===
Yuri is portrayed by . Suit actor portrays both Saikou Shadow and Kamen Rider Saikou X Sword Man.
===Etymology===
*Given his Russian descent, Yuri's name means "the light of God".
**This can be in relation to the naming scheme of the Sword of Logos members, where their surnames would contain the kanji (or homophones of the kanji) for .
**Yuri was named after Koichi Sakamoto's son, who later directed episode 16, featuring Yuri's transformation into Saikou.『OFFICIAL PERFECT BOOK 仮面ライダーセイバー公式完全読本 SABER WONDER GUIDE BOOK』〈ホビージャパンMOOK〉、2022年2月26日。ISBN 978-4-7986-2738-0。
*Saikou's name is a combination of the Japanese words for and the compound variant of , translating the name to "Greatest Light". It is also a pun on the phrase .
*As with the naming scheme all of the Saber Riders, Saikou is named after the Kougouken Saikou, which is a Seiken in the Saber series itself.
===Concept Art===
To be added
==Notes==
*Yuri is the first Rider whose primary form is a weapon.
*Kamen Rider Saikou's speed is said to be at 300,000 km/s. If it is not an approximate value, it is actually slightly faster than the speed of light, which is 299,792.458 km/s.
*Though there is a physical suit made for Saikou Shadow, its initial appearance was masked with special effects in the show to give it a more shadow-like appearance. However, in later episodes, the effects are no longer used.
*While Kin no Buki Gin no Buki is his primary form, promotional materials and the credit sequences of Kamen Rider Saber depict X Sword Man form as his primary form instead.
*Saikou Shadow was designed alongside Kamen Rider Saikou X Sword Man with the basis that said shadow being the centerpiece of the Rider suit. It was designed after "a human shadow wielding a sword" since the original Kougouken Saikou prop can never be materialized with CG or green screen. While the mask is designed to resemble Kamen Rider Saikou, Saikou Shadow's protrusions are removed to provide it a gentler appearance as a shadow. The latter point is also highlighted by the visible hinges on its chest, those being details carried over from Kamen Rider Saikou Kin no Buki Gin no Buki.Figure-Oh 284 pages 40-41
**Related to above, X Sword Man was designed with the idea of Kamen Rider Saikou possessing its own shadow. It is also noted that Saikou's undersuit was painted gunmetal grey to avoid clashing with the black streaks of the X Sword Man armor parts.
*During the filming for Shadow's debut episode, the effect used to portray it uses a combination of green screen and CG over the suit to apply a translucent image.https://www.kamen-rider-official.com/collections/22/18 This is no longer the case afterwards, as Shadow continues to appear "physically" instead, with its own shadow sometimes casted over the filming set.
===Dub names===
In the Korean dub of Kamen Rider Saber, which aired in South Korea, Kamen Rider Saikou is renamed Kamen Rider Choi Kwang (가면라이더 최광 gamyeonlaideo choegwang).
==Appearances==
==External links==
*Kamen Rider Zukan page on Yuri.
*Kamen Rider Zukan page on Kamen Rider Saikou.
**Kamen Rider Zukan page on Kamen Rider Saikou Kin no Buki Gin no Buki.
**Kamen Rider Zukan page on Saikou Shadow.
**Kamen Rider Zukan page on Kamen Rider Saikou X Sword Man.
**Kamen Rider Zukan page on Kamen Rider Saikou X Sword Man Powerful.
**Kamen Rider Zukan page on Kamen Rider Saikou X Sword Man Wonderful.
==Navigation==
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