Saber (Fate/Crossover - Suzaku Kururugi)

**Saber** (セイバー, *Seibā*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

*"Just want you to ask yourself: when you gain results the wrong way, what are you left with in the end? Only dark regret and a deep emptiness that have nowhere to go."* - Suzaku Kururugi

## Profile

### Identity

Saber's true identity is **Suzaku Kururugi**, the deuteragonist of the Sunrise anime series Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, one of the antagonists of Code Geass: Akito the Exiled, and one of the protagonists of Code Geass: Lancelot & Guren.

### Appearance

Suzaku is a young man with light brown hair and forest green eyes. He is rather tall, being slightly shorter than Lelouch. Like most characters in the series, he also is rather skinny, belying his extreme physical prowess. In the first season, his face is mostly seen as calm and relaxed. However, after Euphemia's death, his eyes and mouth are typically furrowed, showing his incredible hatred.

In the first season, he is usually clothed in a white knightmare frame battle suit or the Ashford Academy uniform, and is also seen wearing a prison outfit and a soldier's uniform on separate occasions. However, in the second, he often wears regal clothing with a long blue cloak of the Knights of the Round which was more decorated and ornamented upon becoming the Knight of Zero and a different knightmare battle suit. His long blue cloak becomes black upon becoming the Knight of Zero. He now permanently wears the Zero uniform.

### Personality

According to Lelouch, prior to the Britannian invasion of Japan, Suzaku was somewhat selfish, rarely putting others before himself. He also acted in a rather bratty manner when he first met Lelouch, beating Lelouch up and bullying him.

After Japan was conquered and Suzaku killed his father, Suzaku's personality was significantly changed. He dedicated his cause to not endorse terrorism or rebellion, which he believed would only result in pointless killing. Unwilling to sacrifice the innocent, Suzaku held a more positive outlook on Britannia, believing that it could be changed for the better. He also held a strong sense of loyalty, never questioning the orders of his superiors. Despite that, he was shown to be willing to stab them in the back if necessary. Suzaku also wished to take responsibility for his actions, and his ultimate goal was to atone for the killing of his father. Though Suzaku did not openly admit it, both C.C and Lelouch have deduced that more than anything, Suzaku wanted to die to escape the guilt. But when Zero uses his geass on Suzaku when Schneizel cornered them into a suicidal blow, Suzaku become someone who desperately wants to die, but is unable to.

After Euphemia's death, Suzaku developed a firm resolve to kill Zero and, by extension, Lelouch. He considered Zero to be an evil, immoral individual who was only focused on results and cared nothing for innocent lives. Suzaku twice rejected Zero's offer to join him, even when Zero held him at gunpoint. Later Suzaku would continue honoring Euphemia's memory by continuing his quest to change within by becoming the Knight Of One so that he could have the privilege of ruling an area on his own and transform Area 11. He also held a quill given to him by Euphy and customized his Lancelot's shield with a Knight Of Honor as a mark towards her.

After Zero was exposed as Lelouch, Suzaku began to paint Lelouch with the same brush with which he painted Zero. Suzaku had a hard time acknowledging Lelouch's past actions, such as the Orange and Lake Kawaguchi incidents. This struggle was shown during the time he was transporting Julius Kingsley during the Europian Campaign. During this time, Suzaku had a more hardened personality and seemed willing to use more underhanded tactics, such as attempting to use Refrain on Kallen, though he discards it soon after. He was not, however, willing to use methods similar to Lelouch's. Suzaku was willing to kill anybody standing in his way, which was shown during the first battle of the Tokyo Settlement for his bloodlust revenge against Zero. While clashing with the Holy Order of Michael, Shin believes Suzaku's true nature to be similar to his own, that he hates the world and wants to destroy it with the darkness within him. During the E.U. campaign, Suzaku gained the nickname "White Reaper" by the Europians, as he slaughtered countless people and, in one fight, told the army to surrender but decided to kill them since they refused. During Kaguya's conversation with him about the leaders of the Six Houses of Kyoto, Suzaku showed no remorse for the fallen members, as their execution couldn't be helped. Regardless, Suzaku hasn't lost faith in Lelouch, as he wonders why he killed Euphie since there could have been another way but despises Lelouch for casting a Geass on him to live even though it was Suzaku's goal to die. After Lelouch reminds Suzaku of his father's past and their confrontation at the Kururugi Shrine, Suzaku realizes that Lelouch is the kind of person who would take all of the lies to make everyone's dreams into reality, indicating that Suzaku's view of Britannia had started to change.

After destroying the Tokyo Settlement with the F.L.E.I.J.A. and causing the deaths of approximately 25 million people due to the influence of Lelouch's Geass command, Suzaku takes some time to reflect within the crater he created. After a one-sided conversation with Jeremiah Gottwald, he laughs maniacally, desensitized by the countless deaths he inadvertently caused. He then abandons his self-righteous nature and resolves to achieve his goals regardless of the means. This saddens Bismarck, the Knight of One, who claimed that Suzaku's compassionate core was the source of his strength. This ultimately leads him to make a deal with Schneizel in order to become Knight of One by slaying the emperor, leading to the confrontation in C's world.

Through out the warfare and his ironic justice naive decisions that had lost their dearest ones and witnessed humanity has been sullied their hands with the blood of thousands on this world, Suzaku finally decided to fulfill his own destiny - The Ultimate Destruto. Through the experience in the thought elevator with Lelouch and C.C. expanded his perspective,thus decided to ally himself with his fondly known equal: Lelouch. He understands that the cycle of hatred must be broken for a peaceful future, and though it can only be done by Zero, no one would accept Lelouch as Zero because of the Geass, and devises the Zero Requiem with him. Lelouch describes him of powerful willpower, as he transforms Lelouch's Geass command 'Live' positively into an energy boost. He becomes shocked with Lelouch when Nunnally is still alive and declares them both enemies. Afterwards, he shows a vicious dedication to its completion, and takes the responsibility of being 'Lelouch's Sword' to conquer both his enemies and weakness. He fakes his death in his battle with Kallen, reappears under the guise of Zero and fatally stabs Lelouch. Lelouch smiles at him as his death draws near, and thinking of the Geass as a gift that allows one to do something the other can't, touches Zero's mask in an affectionate gesture and offers him the Geass of changing the world. He tells him that Suzaku Kururugi is no more, and that there exists only Zero, who should strive for peace and justice, to bring about a brighter future. Suzaku accepts the Geass, though crying as he had killed his best friend. Later, he is shown wearing the guise of Zero protecting Nunnally, with which one can only conclude that Suzaku had truly accepted the fate of Zero and would never lead a normal life as Suzaku Kururugi. With this we can deduce that despite his frequent changes in character when facing grief, guilt and self-loathing throughout the series, he was a dedicated and loyal man who wanted peace.

## Abilities

While Suzaku possesses no outwardly superhuman powers such as Geass, his physical prowess is top-notch. He possesses superior hand-eye coordination and has extensive military training in both firearms and hand-to-hand combat. Before Britannia's Invasion of Japan, Suzaku was trained by his instructor, Kyoshiro Tohdoh, in martial arts, and has spent most of his time training to become stronger. He is also skilled in the art of kendo despite the fact that he had quit Kendo. His physical prowess seems almost inhuman at times; such as, when Mao kidnaps Nunnally, Suzaku manages to destroy a camera-mounted machine gun with a lag time of 0.05 seconds without being struck once. At the time he assassinated Lelouch under the guise of Zero, he was also able to dodge incoming gunfire from 6 separate Knightmare Frames.

As the pilot of the Knightmare Frame Lancelot, Suzaku is an extremely skilled pilot, with a 94% efficiency rating from Lloyd-based from his simulator scores. His lack of tactics and strategies baffles Lelouch, since he fights with instinct instead of thinking or using his mind. The mecha's superior abilities also help, as few other Knightmare Frames can match its astonishing speed or overcome its considerable defenses even if they outnumbered the Lancelot by a tremendous degree. This has been mitigated as of the year 2018, wherein newer Knightmare Frames have filled the technological gap. Even when Lelouch managed to predict his movements, Suzaku's reflexes allowed him to narrowly escape what would have otherwise been certain death. As seen during the Britannian massacre of the Shinjuku Ghetto, he got the Lancelot to perform a mid-air kick, the same move he used on Lelouch in the underground tunnels.

Despite not possessing a Geass power, Suzaku does have an unusual ability to detect those who grant the power, such as C.C.. C.C. speculates that this is either due to her using her abilities on him or another as-yet unidentified factor. Following the events of Shikine Island, Suzaku is also placed under a command by Lelouch to "live." As this command gives no time or event limitations, it activates every time Suzaku feels suicidal (or otherwise accepts his death as an inevitability) and forces him to survive by any means. It also activates to a lesser extent when his life is in immediate danger, but Suzaku is able to resist such activations. He can also use the command to his advantage, allowing him to react faster than he would normally be capable of. An example during his battle with Kallen aboard the Damocles, using the power of the command, Suzaku is able to fight on par with Kallen's Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements in his technologically inferior Lancelot Albion. By the end of the fight, although the Lancelot explodes, the Guren is essentially destroyed as well, having lost both of its arms and its head, or when he managed to defeat the mighty Knight of One Bismarck Waldstein enhanced with his Geass's predict movements abilities.

Suzaku's abilities aren't solely physical, as Lelouch has stated, Suzaku has an impressive mind, not only because he was able to disarm his plans many times but because Suzaku can make use of the Geass command used on him to fight more effectively. He also shows to have a very good instinct, as seen when he made accurate guesses about Zero's identity and, based on that, predict what Lelouch is likely to do. During his time as the Knight of Zero, he showed a more casual use of the "live" Geass command used on him and his ability to know what Lelouch is thinking and how to act based in that, as seen during the final battle when both of them stopped a F.L.E.I.J.A. from detonating in the small window of 19.04 seconds.

### Noble Phantasm

#### **Lancelot Albion: "Knightmare of the White Reaper"**

The Lancelot Albion is a Knightmare Frame used by Suzaku Kururugi in the TV anime series Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2.

Developed by Camelot, this newly built frame acts as the 9th-Generation version of the experimental Knightmare Lancelot, succeeding the Lancelot Conquista following it being crippled in the Second Battle of Tokyo. It has mobility and firepower rivaling the Guren S.E.I.T.E.N. Eight Elements that was developed before it. Besides the Guren, the Albion was the series' only other 9th generation KMF. It was the strongest KMF of the Britannia led by Lelouch. A highly elegant machine, it inherits many elements of its predecessors, Lancelot and Lancelot Conquista.Following Lelouch's ascendency to the Britannian throne and Suzaku's appointing as the Knight of Zero, the Albion became Suzaku's new personal unit and remained as such for the remainder of R2.

## References

https://codegeass.fandom.com/wiki/Suzaku\_Kururugi

https://codegeass.fandom.com/wiki/Lancelot\_Albion

https://animeandmangauniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Suzaku\_Kururugi