Achilles (Fate)

Achilles, also known as Rider of "Red", is the Rider-class Servant of Cabik Pentel of the Red Faction in the Great Holy Grail War of Fate/Apocrypha. Shirou Kotomine assumes command over him before he even meets his Master, and through his machinations he later officially becomes Rider's Master. He is one of the Servants summoned by Ritsuka Fujimaru in the Grand Orders of Fate/Grand Order.

Rider, on his own judgment, follows Archer of Red as she chases the marching Berserker of Red to the Black Faction's base in Trifas, later officially asked by Shirou to provide backup after he decides that Rider would not willingly accept the task of killing Ruler. Rider attempts to make an advance on Archer when she asks his reason for being there, but her lack of any reaction leaves him only able to cough and get back to his mission. Curious about only having interacted with Shirou Kotomine instead of his Master, he asks Archer if it has been the same for her, which she affirms. As they speculate on the reasoning for them not showing themselves, they think it to be a possible magi eccentricity or plan for future battle, but find Shirou and Assassin of Red to be suspicious.

Berserker soon encounters his first enemy resistance from the Black Faction, but the two observe the battle because they are not enemy Servants. Unwilling to show his true power to the enemy, Rider only takes up his spear rather than his rightful weapon, his mount, and Archer takes to the woods to provide support from the rear. Preparing for battle, he engages Berserker of Black and Saber of Black, taunting the other side in underestimating him with just two Servants and that their entire force would be needed against him. Rider shows his superiority over Saber and Berserker by exceeding them both in skill and ability, as well as demonstrating the nigh invincibility granted to him by his Noble Phantasm, Andreias Amarantos. Due to Saber possessing no Divinity to match Rider's, he is unable to injury Rider, which prompts his Master, Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia, to use one of his Command Spells to force Saber into using his Noble Phantasm, Balmung. However, before Saber can utilize Balmung, which would reveal his True Name, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia intervenes and forces Gordes to use another Command Seal to stop the attack. Rider is disappointed and slightly confused over Saber not using his Noble Phantasm, but to his shock, he suddenly struck by an arrow that manages to injure him. This arrow was shot by the Archer of Black, who, possessing Divinity of Rank C, is capable of wounding Rider. As more arrows are shot, Rider attempts to avoid them, only to notice that the attacker is capable of predicting his movements. Knowing that he is at a disadvantage, Rider retreats, though not before claiming that he will face Archer of Black again. Archer of Red also retreats alongside him.

Rider, along with the rest of the Red Faction Servants, aside from Saber of Red and Berserker of Red, later attack Fortress of Millennia onboard Assassin of Red's Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Demonstrating the power of his mount, Troias Tragōidia, he easily tramples the Black Faction's homunculi. But his mount is stopped by Caster of Black's golems, which does little to stop him as Rider continues to kill and destroy both golem and homunculi alike until he blocks an arrow fired by Archer of Black. Rider then goes off to engage Archer of Black in the woods, deflecting all arrows fired at him as closes the distances between them. However, he hesitates to strike Archer when he sees that Archer is his former friend and mentor, Chiron. Archer uses this opportunity to attack Rider, stating to him that although they were friends in life, it has no relevance in the Grail War. Although somewhat hesitant, Rider continues battling Archer, until both retreat when Berserker of Red unleashes his Noble Phantasm, Crying Warmonger.

After the Red Faction uses the Hanging Gardens to steal the Greater Grail, Rider again faces off against Archer of Black, who came to retrieve the Grail along with Caster of Black and Lancer of Black. However, their fight is interrupted when Darnic suddenly appears and uses a Command Spell to force Lancer of Black to activate his Noble Phantasm, Legend of Dracula, turning Lancer in a vampire and combines himself with him. The Servants temporarily unite to battle the Nameless Vampire, with the recently arrived Ruler also empowering them. However, the Servants of Red suddenly fall down due to their contracts being switched to Shirou Kotomine, who also destroys the Nameless Vampire. Shirou then invites all of the Servants to join him, claiming that there is no point for the Black Faction to continue. Rider of Red and Archer of Red are suspicious of him, but Lancer of Red agrees to listen to Shirou, not allowing the others to damage him. Caster of Black also decides to ally with Shirou, while Ruler and Archer of Black flee the Hanging Gardens.

When the Red Servants later negotiate the terms of between their new Master, Shirou, Rider agrees to help Shirou, wanting to battle Archer of Black again, although he is skeptical of him. Rider later questions Shirou of his goals, with Shirou saying that he only wants to gain salvation for humanity and has no other mischievous intentions.

When the Black Faction launches their attack on the Hanging Gardens, flying on top of airplanes, Rider rides his chariot and destroys many of the airplanes while also avoiding attacks from Archer of Black. Rider of Red eventually lands down, confronting Archer on top of an airplane. He activates his Noble Phantasm's Diatrekhon Aster Lonkhe's ability, that creates a Duelfield, that no one else can enter, where Rider and Archer battle each other in unarmed combat. Although being closely equal, Rider manages to beat Archer, who is left unable to move. Before his death though, Archer manages to hit Rider's heel with his Noble Phantasm, Antares Snipe, neutralizing his immortality. He also asks Rider to loan one of his Noble Phantasms to the Black Faction, before finally dying. Rider of Red later meets the wounded Rider of Black, giving his Akhilleus Kosmos to him, out of respect for his teacher. Rider also shows up during Ruler's battle against Archer of Red, who had succumbed to madness due to her Noble Phantasm, Agrius Metamorphosis. Rider tells Ruler to leave, while facing Archer himself. He manages to defeat her, although he is mortally wounded in the process. During Archer's final moments, Rider comforts her, saying that her dream was wonderful. He also fades away afterward.

The original Light Novel has a different scene in regards of the final battle of Rider. Before finally confronting Archer, he recalled his past and why he liked her so much, namely because his father Peleus used to tell him the stories of his past, participating in the Hunt for the Golden Fleece with the Argonauts and the Hunt for Calydonian Boar, where he met a beautiful swift-footed huntress that took center stage of both events and even defeated him in a ceremonial wrestling match. Rider was inspired by the stories and considered her his idol, which hurt him when he saw her succumbing to madness and decided that he had to set her straight to preserve her image. In his victory, he was reminded with his final battle against Penthesilea, whereas after he expressed regret to kill a beautiful person, she went into rage and cursed that he would use his spear to slay a beloved person before she died, a curse that was fulfilled in the time he impaled Archer. To further comfort Archer, he's then shown crying over her own sorrow and despair over her unrewarding but beautiful dream that she kept pursuing, which was enough to grant peace to her mind, and they faded together in the same time, knowing that a journey to Hell would be all right when they're together.

Achilles appears in Alexander's interlude, having trained many sailors and pirates. He doesn't fight Alexander directly, but suggests the two may meet again some day.

Following the conclusion of the Great Holy Grail War, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, still fused with Vlad III, remained in the Greater Grail. Stilling wishing to acquire the Grail, he manifested mindless replicas of the war's participating Servants, except the Rulers to fight endlessly in a recreation of the war inside a recreation of Trifas.

Injured by Balmung, Sieg uses his influence as the Greater Grail's caretaker to convert at least two replica Servants into proper Servants. Those two just happen to be Chiron and Achilles. At Chiron's behest, who's already escaping with Ritsuka, Achilles helps Sieg escape. He brings him to Millenia Fortress, where Ritsuka and Chiron went, and puts him in the garden. He informs Chiron and Ritsuka of this, encouraging the latter to check on Sieg. After Ritsuka returns with Sieg, Chiron tells everyone they have no chance of winning with their current numbers. At his suggestion, the group discusses how to defeat the twelve Servants. Ritsuka suggests defeating at least three Servants. Chiron says he and Achilles can fight nine, while Ritsuka and Sieg take on three. He then trains the others on how to detect and dodge the Noble Phantasms of the replica Servants by nightfall. Afterward, he has Achilles help him set up Bounded Field traps to separate the nine Servants.

Later that night, the group observe from the fortress wall that the Servants are approaching the fortress. Chiron and Achilles jump down from the fortress and activate the traps they set up earlier to separate the Servants. They then fend off nine Servants, while Ritsuka and Sieg fight replicas of Avicebron, William Shakespeare, and Jack the Ripper. Eventually, the sun rises, prompting all replica Servants to disappear. Chiron tells everyone to rest for today, though he has Achilles help him reset the traps.

That night, joined by now joined by the rematerialized Avicebron, Shakespeare, and Jack, Chiron says they'll use the same tactics as last night, except this time he wants Achilles to help Ritsuka and Sieg. He also orders Avicebron to support everyone with his golems, and Shakespeare to buff whichever party he finds interesting. After Jack agrees not to aid Ritsuka, the group jumps down from the wall to defeat Spartacus, Atalanta, and Frankenstein. After the Servants disappear with the rising sun, Achilles discusses with Sieg on how it's possible for all the replica Servants, even those with divinity, to be able to harm him. Chiron then tells everyone to return to the fortress quickly upon suspecting the absent replica Shakespeare infiltrated the fortress to kill Shakespeare.

Fortunately, the group finds Shakespeare safe and sound. Achilles later asks the rematerialized Atalanta if she is the same one his father always spoke of. Atlanta realizes he is Peleus' son and recalls Pelesus as the man she threw during a wrestling match. Chiron then enters the room and asks for her help in making traps. Atalanta accepts, but she wonders what their duty is since they're are all inside the Grail. Chiron replies it is to protect the Grail and says they were enemies in reality. Atalanta finds it normal for enemies to become allies; Achilles says they were allies as Servants of Red. Atalanta is glad to have him as an ally but points out the enemy has Divinity to negate his immortality. She finds the prospect of potentially fighting herself later unpleasant. Thus, she asks Achilles to not drag her body around. Achilles replies he wouldn't do that unless he was a Berserker, to which Atalanta confesses she was joking. Despite lacking memories of the Great Grail War, Atalanta feels like she and Achilles spoke often. Achilles confesses he always wanted to meet her ever since his father spoke fondly of her. Atalanta pleads with him to stop out of embarrassment.

That night, at Chiron's behest, Atalanta launches Phoebus Catastrophe, but replica Astolfo uses Hippogriff to avoid it. In response, she, Chiron, and Achilles go to engage the enemy directly, but Chiron finds the enemy is using his tactics.

The next day, the group is joined by the re-materialized Astolfo, Siegfried, and Mordred. Achilles and Mordred nearly get into a fight but Frankenstein stops them by smacking them both, not wanting the flowers to be destroyed. It is then determined that the Hanging Gardens of Babylon is the enemy base. While agreeing with a direct assault, Chiron warns their chances of success will be low since twelve Servants will be guarding the Gardens. Avicebron advises against attacking the Gardens during the day like Atalanta proposed, as a flying golem he sent there on Chiron's order was forcibly transported outside when night arrived. Chiron asks Sieg if he can move his main body, Fafnir, now. Sieg answers he can fly at a minimum but warns he'll fall if hit by a Noble Phantasm, especially Balmung. Achilles and Astolfo, therefore, decide to fly alongside him to back him up. He agees to let Chiron ride in his chariot The next day, before the asssault, everyone eats strawberry sandwiches out in the garden. Achilles exaggerates Chiron's abilities during this time.

Later that night, the group flies towards the Gardens. Xanthus, one of Achilles' horses suspects that the enemy has summoned Achilles and Chiron, having been unable to until now. Chiron heeds the horse's words and tells Achilles for each of them to counter their respective enemy counterparts. Achilles remains skeptical, though, until he sees his enemy counterpart. Eventually, the group breaks through the enemy and enters the Gardens. Inside they defeat Semiramis and Karna, who rematerializes with a sense of will come morning. They are then guided by Semiramis to where the enemy resides, the Grail's chamber.

At the Grail's chamber, the group meets Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia, the mastermind behind the recreated Great Grail War. Sieg explains who and what Darnic is. He tries to convince him to surrender, saying a broken Grail cannot reach the Root nor activate the Third Magic. Darnic refuses and reminds the group that he already controls 87% of the Grail. He declares that as long as he possesses the Grail, none of them will ever disappear, but they will once he's gone. He then proposes using the Grail to incarnate them if they agree to join him. But they all refuse his proposal on their own principles as heroes. Expecting that to be their answer, Darnic connects to a replica of the Grail that emerges from within the Grail to Sieg's shock. He then fights the group by having the replica Grail continually spawn replica Servants. The group struggle at first since the replica Grail is using their class affinities against them, so they decide to do the same.

After the replica Grail is destroyed, Darnic refuses to give up when he's struck by Kazikli Bey from the supposedly sealed Vlad III. Unlike the others though, he retained his memories of the Great Grail War due to Darnic fusing with him during it. He eventually convinces Darnic to accept that his broken dream can never be recovered. After Darnic and Vlad disappear, Semiramis teleports the group back to the ground.

On the ground, Achilles recounts that while he was alive, he could never relax after winning a battle because he knew the next battle was never far off. He is, therefore, glad that he doesn't have to worry about that. It also pleases him that there were no citizens to be caught in the crossfire, and Hector wasn't present. He then disappears, promising Ritsuka that he'll come when called if they find themselves in trouble in Greece.

Achilles is summoned into the Atlantic Lostbelt as one of hundreds of Heroic Spirits assigned to protect Proper Human History. He is one of few to survive against Kirschtaria Wodime and the forces of the Twelve Machine Gods, led by the Lostbelt versions of his allies in life, Odysseus and Chiron. Before the arrival of Chaldea, Achilles fought with Chiron and was struck by an arrow in his heel, thus costing him his invulnerability and reducing his speed by seventy percent with the loss of Andreias Amarantos. Achilles is an ally during the Lostbelt, though he chafes with fellow ally Paris for having killed him in life, while the latter bears a grudge against him for having killed his brother Hector.

During the climax, Achilles sacrifices his armor, a Divine Construct, as one of the requirements to use Super Orion's third Noble Phantasm, Ortygia Amore Mio. After this, he sacrificed his life to give Super Orion time to shoot down the Lostbelt version of Artemis.