Saint Longinus

**Lancer of "Silver"** ("銀"のランサー, *"Gin" no Ransā*) is the Lancer-class Servant for the Silver Faction appearing in **Fate/Genesis**.

## Profile

### Identity

The true identity of Lancer is Longinus (ロンギナス, *Ronginasu* ), a saint and martyr in many Christian traditions. Prior to sainthood, he was a centurion in the Roman army. At some point in his life, he was wounded in battle and this left him nearly or completely blind. For this, he became mocked and disrespected by his peers.

Eventually, he would be present at the crucifixion of Christ. When the holy Son of God finally released his last breath, Longinus was sent in to insure that the Word made flesh was truly dead. He pierced the side of Jesus Christ with his spear, delivering the final Holy Wound upon the body of Christ. Upon this, blood and water flowed from the wound. Some of the holy blood landed in Longinus' blind eyes, and his vision was restored. An earthquake followed the final Holy Wound being delivered. Upon this, Longinus exclaimed “Truly this was the Son of God!” From here, his peers mocked him once more for this statement.

After this, different accounts claimed he fell to different fates. One account, in a supposed letter from Herod Antipas to Pontius Pilate, Longinus was condemned to a cave where every night a lion came and mauled him until dawn, after which his body healed back to normal, in a pattern that would repeat until the end of time. The later tradition and more well known one is that he converted to Christianity after the blood of Christ restored his sight. Longinus claims both of these to be true, in a way. He states that he did not truly accept Jesus as God for some time after the crucifixion, but that he dreamt of a lion visiting him every night in a cave to fight him. It wasn't until he accepted Christ as his own personal savior that the dreams ended with the lion, representing Christ fighting for him to convert, leading him out of the cave. The legend that he was sealed there for all of time was simply the result of Longinus describing the dream to one of the soldiers in his cohort, and from there the story being passed along to mock him. The tale changed little by little each time it passed from the mouth until Herod wrote of the eventual saint being sealed away to suffer from wounding the body of Christ.

After he fully converted, Longinus left the Roman army that had mistreated him for so long. He then took instruction from the apostles of Jesus and became a monk in Cappadocia. During his time there, Longinus was arrested for his faith. Part of his punishment led to his teeth being pulled out and tongue cut off, all while enduring the severe pain that came with it. Despite these cruelties, Longinus miraculously continued to speak clearly and managed to destroy several idols in the presence of the governor. The governor, who was made blind by the demons that came from the idols, had his sight restored when Longinus was being beheaded. This was because Longinus' blood came in contact with the governors' eyes as he was decapitated, and his blood recreated the miracle that happened for Longinus.

Following his death, Longinus would eventually be decreed a saint and a martyr for the faith. He is a patron for soldiers, and is represented most often with his spear. The spear itself became a major holy symbol for the Roman Catholic Church.

## Abilities

As a centurion, Lancer is known to possess great skill in combat. While he is skilled in most areas of combat for the era he lived in, his fights best with his holy spear. The Holy Lance, while it possesses great power, shines best when it is against divinities outside of the realm of Christendom and demonic entities. Further, when Lancer pierced the side of Jesus Christ, water flowed from the wound. The water blessed Lancer and allows him to recreate the miracle of Jesus walking on water.

As a simple soldier that is unnamed in typical books of the Bible, Lancer is not the most well known of servants. He only receives fame bonuses in his hometown of Lanciano in Italy, then known as **Anxanum**. He also seems to be stronger when he fights upon sacred church grounds that belong to churches that venerate him as a saint.

### Combat

Lancer wields a long spear, and it possesses about 2.5 meters of length. This gives it an impressive range to strike with, making it harder to close in on Lancer. Lancer's reach combined with the length of the spear allows him to strike outside of the standard two and a half meters of length, giving him a strike range of much great length. This great length allows him to from a defense against other servants just by piercing ability alone. While he could throw it, Lancer doesn't seem to mix this into his still of combat, and just uses his agility and spearmanship to ward off others.

Lancer possesses a high level of agility. Combining his spearmanship and raw speed, Longinus can speed around enemies and stab them multiple times with whatever openings he sees or has visions of. He mostly uses his speed as to keep out of range of others as opposed to running to fight them head on. However, should he be caught in a fist fight, he possesses impressive strength and can hold his own for a bit; however, his lower endurance will start to drive him to either return to attack at a distances with his spear, or evacuating the fight.

### Skills

As one of the Knight-class Servants, the Lancer-class, Lancer possesses the skill **Magic Resistance** (対魔力, *Tai-Maryoku*). This results from it being standard for the class, and is a fair level due to his religious piety. However, as Lancer only converted to his faith later in life and was killed soon after, his resistance isn't as high as compared to another saint.

Another one of his skills is **Disengage** (仕切り直し, *Shikiri-Naoshi*). With this skill, Lancer can immediately eject himself from battles. It is handy, as Lancer is not exactly one of the strongest servants. His power is situational. Disengage allows him to escape should battles get too rough, allowing him to fight another day.

Lancer possesses another skill called **Military Tactics** (軍略, *Gunryaku*). This is based on how he possessed the rank of centurion, a military leader, in life. With this, he can empower his Noble Phantasm's power more, and can increase the power of his allies' Noble Phantasms as well.

**Protection of the Faith** (信仰の加護, *Shinkō no Kago*) is a skill that Lancer possesses. With it, it appears that some of the damage of his body fades and that is defense increases, making him harder to take out.

Lancer possesses **Revelation** (啓示, *Keiji*). It is said the blood of Christ restored the sight of Lancer's eyes. This is crystallized in the form of this skill, as it is visions from Heaven that he sees and allows him to react to things well. With it, he can weave in and out of attacks even faster than others.

**Soul of a Martyr** (殉教者の魂, *Junkyō-sha no Tamashī*) is a skill that allows Lancer to avoid attempts to weaken him. Things that would decrease his ability to attack or to make him easier to hit can be voided with the use of this skill.