Archer (Fate/Crossover - Vincent Valentine)

**Archer** (アーチャー, *Āchā*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

*"When a person has someone they care about that much, giving their life is sometimes the least they can do. And maybe that's what makes us human."* - Vincent Valentine

## Profile

### Identity

Archer's true identity is **Vincent Valentine**, a former Turk with a mysterious past, Vincent's secrets tie him directly to several of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII's main antagonists.

Formerly a member of the Shinra Company's special unit known as the Turks, Vincent was assigned as a bodyguard of the scientists in charge of the Jenova Project in Nibelheim, which revolved around a life form they had recently discovered and identified as Jenova. During this time, Vincent fell in love with one of the project researchers, Lucrecia Crescent. However, Lucrecia, having accidentally caused the death of Vincent's father during another experiment, pushed Vincent away out of guilt and went to someone else, Professor Hojo. Vincent's sadness turned into horror when he discovered the extent the project would go to succeed. After Lucrecia had become pregnant with Hojo's child, both scientists decided to use their unborn baby, Sephiroth, as the test subject by injecting the cells of Jenova into the embryo. Disgusted, Vincent confronted Hojo about their actions. However, Hojo shot him and proceeded to use Vincent for horrible experiments, but in the end, Hojo discarded Vincent, who remained in a near-death state. Lucrecia, however, stepped in, and in a desperate attempt to save Vincent, she inserted the essence of an ancient entity, one of the Planet's Weapons, Chaos, along with the Protomateria. The procedure succeeded, but as Vincent woke up, he discovered himself as an abomination, much to his despair.

Considering himself guilty for allowing Lucrecia to participate in the Jenova project and failing to stop Hojo, Vincent abandoned the Turks and disappeared. He sealed himself in a hidden basement of the mansion where the experiments were carried out. Decades passed, and one day, a former high-ranking member of SOLDIER, Shinra's private elite military, called Cloud Strife arrived at the mansion and found the undying man. Although initially reluctant, Vincent eventually decides to go with the SOLDIER, upon learning that Cloud was chasing after Sephiroth, realizing their upcoming journey could lead him to settle the score with Hojo once and for all.

### Appearance

Vincent is a man physically in his late twenties, and stands roughly six feet tall. He has crimson eyes and long black hair. He wears a red bandana with his fringe emerging over it. Vincent's most distinctive feature is his red cloak, held in place over his shoulders and lower face by several buckles. Underneath his cape Vincent's attire is black leather with several straps and buckles. Vincent wears a holster for his gun strapped to his right thigh, and pointed golden sabatons on his feet. He wears a golden gauntlet on his left arm.

Vincent's primary weapon in both Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus -Final Fantasy VII- is the handgun Cerberus, named after the three-headed dog which guarded the Greek underworld for its three barrels (each of which is ornamented with a dog head in place of the iron sights). There is a key chain attached to it that bears a Cerberus-shaped charm. In the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children's prologue, when the Final Fantasy VII cast is shown fighting Sephiroth all wielding their base weapons, Vincent wields the Cerberus, rather than the Quicksilver portrayed in his official Final Fantasy VII character art, even though Cerberus is not included in Final Fantasy VII.

### Personality

Dark and brooding over his past experiences, Vincent conceals many secrets. He speaks in a cryptic manner when he talks about his past, calling his traumas "sins". Despite his cold personality, he is not uncaring; at a point where Cloud admits he thought Vincent does not care about the Planet, Vincent states that is just how he is, and apologizes for the false impression.

Vincent despises Professor Hojo for his immoral actions, and it is the promise of meeting him that stirs Vincent to accompany the party in Final Fantasy VII. Vincent is reluctant to speak, although when he does, he typically has something important to say.

Kazushige Nojima has noted Vincent is naturally a loner, and had he not been a former ally of Cloud and his friends, it is unlikely he would have joined them in the battle with Bahamut SIN in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children. His voice actor, Shōgo Suzuki, noted Vincent's few appearances have a profound impact and that Tifa Lockhart's remark "they're our friends", after Vincent's arrival, shows his underlying warmth. He is noted to be similar to Cloud, only more mature, which influenced his character and voice work.

## Abilities

Vincent is an adept marksmen and wields handguns in battle. Vincent's Limit Breaks cause him to transform into superhuman monsters, each one is the result of the genetic engineering experiments performed by Professor Hojo and fused into Vincent's body as a guinea-pig. Vincent's stats average-out with his quickest growing stats Magic and Spirit. Vincent's physical durability is considered below average but his accuracy combined with his quick and potent grasp of magic, makes him a marksman/mage character with decent physical attack. Vincent's past as a Turk not only makes him highly trained but also grants him intimate knowledge of Shinra's protocol and attack strategies - allowing him to intuit Shinra attack plans as a second-nature.

### Skills

#### Class Skills

* Independent Action (A Rank): Can remain in this world for a week even after losing his Master. However, to use Noble Phantasms of great prana consumption, back up from the Master is necessary. While he fought alongside others, Archer is by nature a loner and has a high rank in this skill.

* Magic Resistance (C Rank): Cancel spells with a chant below two verses. Cannot defend against Magecraft on the level of High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals. Archer is partially a Phantasmal creature due to the experiments performed on him, thus giving him a good degree of resistance against magecraft.

#### Personal Skills

* Materia (A Rank): A form of magecraft on Archer’s world, they are the crystalized power and knowledge of the planet, enabling the wielder to cast spells. Archer is quite skilled in use of Materia and he starts the Grail War with a stock of mastered Materia to use. With this Archer can also qualify for the Caster class.

* Monstrous Strength (B Rank): An ability possessed by monsters and beasts, temporary boost of the Strength parameter by one rank for a time limit determined by the ranking of this skill. Archer is able to enhance his strength at the risk of transforming into one of the demons that are apart of him.

* Information Erasure (B Rank): The removal of information regarding the Servant's true name, abilities, and appearance from the records and memories of all witnesses, including the opponent, following the conclusion of an engagement. Archer was a highly trained member of the Turks and skilled in espionage and covert operations.

### Noble Phantasm

#### **Death Penalty; "Lucrecia’s Gift"**

Death Penalty is a demonic handcannon obtained as a gift from a former lover. It could be said to turn sorrow and regret into power. It’s a large heavily detailed revolver with five barrels forming a cross motif. It fires large blasts of black prana and is highly accurate and deadly.

In addition it’s power can be boosted by those slain by the gun, hence the rank up. With each enemy slain Death Penalty’s power will increase. The more powerful the enemy the more potent the boost. Killing humans and familiars will not offer much of a boost while defeating Servants will enhance the potency of the weapon.

#### **Four Demons; "Breaking the Limits"**

Archer’s body was modified and experimented on to give him shape-shifting powers. He is able to transform into four different demons, Galian Beast, Death Gigas, Hellmasker and Chaos. Archer’s existence therefore could be considered closer to a Phantasmal Beast than a proper Heroic Spirit.

Archer may choose to transform into any of the four beasts, but the transformations are difficult to control, providing an effect similar to Mad Enhancement. While he is granted great power even skilled Masters will find it difficult to control him and Archer will find it hard to revert back to human form. In addition the transformations all cost large amounts of prana, with Chaos requiring the largest amount.

The first three beasts all provide various different increases to parameters along with their own separates special abilities and spells. It’s possible for Archer to attempt the last forbidden transformation into Chaos, the most powerful of the transformations and a high-ranking Phantasmal Beast in itself.

Transformation into Chaos will cause a full increase to all parameters along with access to Chaos’s special abilities. It bestows upon Archer a pair of wings, enabling flight. Archer’s power is the greatest during this transformation, but it is also the hardest to control him.

If summoned as Berserker, the Mad Enhancement will be merged with this Noble Phantasm and automatically active the transformation directly to his demonic forms at his Master’s choosing.

## References

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki/Vincent\_Valentine

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Vincent\_Valentine

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Vincent\_Valentine

https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/summon-a-servant-mk4-fate-stay-night-crossovers.208968/page-64#post-10854217