Shirou Emiya

## Summary

**Shirou Emiya** (衛宮 士郎, Emiya Shirō?) is the main protagonist of Fate/stay night who acts as the Master of Saber during the Fifth Holy Grail War. He is the adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya, the adopted brother of Illyasviel Von Einzbern and the younger self of EMIYA.

Orphaned by the devastation caused by the destruction of the Grail ten years before, at the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War, he was rescued and adopted by Kiritsugu Emiya, who saved him from death by embedding Avalon into his body. Kiritsugu disclosed his identity as a magus, and Shirou badgered him until he agreed to teach him magecraft, though Kiritsugu only taught him the basics.

Plagued by intense survivor's guilt as the only survivor of the Fuyuki City fire, Shirou decided that he didn't deserve to have any goals or dreams for himself and had no choice but to prioritize others. He thus inherited Kiritsugu's dream to be a Hero of Justice as his only purpose, feeling joy only when he helps others and otherwise feeling empty. Over the course of each route of Fate/stay night, he confronts his ideals and trauma to grow as a person.

## Powers and Stats

**Tier:** **5-B**. **High 3-A** with Unlimited Blade Works. **2-A** with the Strongest Noble Phantasm, **higher** with Archer's Arm

**Origin:** Fate/Stay Night

**Age:** 19

**Powers and Abilities:** Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Magecraft, Enhanced Senses (Can make out fine details from kilometers away and snipe targets from such a distance), Statistics Amplification (Can reinforce objects and himself with mana), Power Mimicry (Can copy any weapon he sees down to the soul (barring Divine Constructs), replicating the physical abilities and fighting skill of the original wielder), Energy Projection with Caliburn, Homing Attack, minor Spatial Manipulation with Caladbolg II, Regeneration Negation with Gáe Bolg, Magic Negation with Rule Breaker, Pocket Reality Manipulation with Unlimited Blade Works, possesses incredibly strong willpower (Survived being exposed to All The World's Evil through sheer willpower), Resistance to Magic (All magi have basic resistance to magical effects; due to his ineptitude, Shirou's resistance is minimal, but still enough to allow him to stay alive within Blood Fort Andromeda, which quickly melts the skins of normal humans and digests them), Forcefield Creation (Avalon Shuts out all interference up to the sixth dimension, including True Magic, can block attacks from a "higher order dimension"), Regeneration (Low-Mid; Avalon, combined with Unlimited Blade Works, allows him to regenerate from lethal wounds such as being nearly cut in half by Berserker and Gilgamesh, regenerating his destroyed organs and reattaching lost limbs), Soul Manipulation (According to Angelica Ainsworth, all magus have the ability to absorb souls to replinsh their magic energy, similar to Servants), Resistance to Mind and Soul Manipulation (Resisted being exposed to the All World's Evil, which can eat away the mind, soul and body through sheer willpower)

**Attack Potency:** **Planet Level** (Matched Archer and stabbed him, Matched Gilgamesh and ripped off his arm, Traded blows with Saber Alter, albeit with Berserker's help). **High Universe Level** with Unlimited Blade Works (Unlimited Blade Works is a reality marble that overwrites the real world. Rin described it as a forbidden curse that eats away the whole world, serving as a background for the user's imagination. Posed a threat to Gilgamesh to the extent that he forced him to bring out Ea, something that Gilgamesh only did against Iskander and Arturia). **Multiverse Level+** with the Strongest Noble Phantasm (Destroyed the Holy Grail with Excalibur Morgan. Can copy the Jeweled Sword Zelretch, a mystic code taking the form of a ritual dagger with a jeweled blade, with mystic codes being used by servants such as Nero, Tamamao-no-Mae and Archer to combat the likes of BB and Kiara Sessayion), **higher** Archer's Arm (Replicates Archer's powers, memories and abilities when said arm is unsealed)

**Speed:** **FTL+** (Can keep up with Saber at her prime after said Servant became Rin's Servant. It should be noted that Saber at her prime was capable of keeping up with Gilgamesh, who dodged Excalibur's light beam in *Fate/Zero*)

**Lifting Strength:** **Class E** (Can overpower the likes of Berserker, who can lift the entire sky with his hands)

**Striking Strength:** **Planet Class**. **High Universal Class** with Unlimited Blade Works. **Multiversal Class+** with the Strongest Noble Phantasm. **higher** with Archer's Arm

**Durability:** **Planet Level** (Survived brutal hits from Berserker). **High Universe Level** (Protected Shirou from a barrage of Noble Phantasms from the Gate of Babylon, which easily killed Berserker. Survived a low-powered Enuma Elish head on) to **Multiverse Level+** with Rho Aias (Combined with Rider's Bellorophon, Was able to overpower Excalibur Morgan). **Low Complex Multiverse Level** with Avalon (Shuts out all interference up to the sixth dimension, including True Magic, can block attacks from a "higher order dimension")

**Stamina:** Extremely high. His willpower lets him move even in a grievous state, such as forcing himself to his feet after being nearly cut in half by Gilgamesh to continue fighting, even projecting Avalon. In Heaven's Feel, he survived and kept on fighting for a day after releasing the Shroud of Martin, something that should've killed him instantly, even after repeatedly projecting past his limits. Even before the beginning of Fate/stay night, he was capable of maintaining a harsh training regimen for his magic on a daily basis for years, turning parts of his nervous system into a Magic Circuit over the course of an hour despite the pain - described as being equivalent to having a burning steel rod shoved into his spine.

**Range:** Standard melee range, Extended melee range with weapons, Tens of Meters with thrown Kanshou and Bakuya, Hundreds of meters with several Noble Phantasms, Kilometers with Unlimited Blade Works.

**Standard Equipment:** Azoth Sword, Avalon and The Shroud of Martin.

**Intelligence:** While academically average, Shirou is skilled in combat, and is trained in combat by Saber in all three routes, mostly defensively, as attempting to train him to fight on even grounds with a Servant is a lost cause. He has an undeveloped Eye of the Mind, and can calmly analyze any situation, no matter how dire, considering multiple options and making intelligent decisions. He is incredibly stubborn, putting his all into everything he faces. In Unlimited Blade Works, his exposure to Archer causes his combat skills to develop much faster, and in Heaven's Feel, he can call on Archer's knowledge directly. However, Shirou is quite naive, and his self-destructive thought processes tend to hold him back and put him into dangerous situations.

**Weaknesses:** Shirou is naive, inexperienced, and often self-destructive. He is dependent on his projections and is somewhat powerless without them. He needs to be able to recite the full incantation for Unlimited Blade Works to bring it into existence as a Reality Marble. His low mana means that he can't use Unlimited Blade Works for long and only has a limited amount of projections - though enough to match and overwhelm the Gate of Babylon - before he runs out of mana. He can lose control of Unlimited Blade Works' regenerative capabilities and die as his body bursts apart into swords. In Heaven's Feel, Shirou cannot access Archer's abilities without unsealing the Shroud of Martin, which will eventually kill him by transforming his body into swords and overwriting his mind. Projecting past his limits will only accelerate this. His armor of swords doesn't protect his head.

**Notable Attacks/Techniques:**

**Magecraft:** Shirou is an incredibly inept magus with no formal experience, having only been taught the barest essentials by his father. He is not really a true magus, but more a Spellcaster, who does not follow the normal way of a magus. His formal magical knowledge is never going to really surpass that of an apprentice, as he fully focused his efforts on the magecraft he was most skilled in, Reinforcement and Projection. He's skilled at using magecraft to analyze an item's structure, and then, by using Reinforcement, filling in the gaps in the object with magical energy to improve any of the object's qualities. While this normally just makes the object stronger, he can also raise his eyesight to superhuman levels. He generally uses it to either reinforce random items for use as weapons or to reinforce his own body to become stronger.

**Projection** (also known as Gradation Air): A high-level magical skill that allows for the materialization of physical objects from magical energy. It is a more complex form of Reinforcement, and thus, Shirou is highly skilled in its use. These items slowly fade not long after being created, though the better the user's image of the item in their imagination, the more stable it is. Despite its utility, Projection is generally seen as effectively useless by most magi, as it is incredibly inefficient. Shirou utilizes a unique type of Projection, Tracing, which is special in that it not only duplicates an object's shape and structure but its history as well.

To trace and reproduce something, Shirou must see it first. Objects duplicated through tracing are inferior to the originals, but only slightly. Reproductions of more powerful weapons such as Noble Phantasms are even weaker, decreasing in rank. Due to the greater effort put into tracing, the projections Shirou creates through it can last much longer than normal projections. He is most skilled in the projection of swords due to "Sword" being his Origin and Elemental Affinity. He has his limits, however, and is not capable of projecting Divine Constructs under normal circumstances, though he can project a degraded imitation, and was able to project Avalon in Fate due to his connection to Saber. Shirou can also duplicate the special abilities of magical weapons such as Noble Phantasms, due to Unlimited Blade Works.

> "*I am the bone of my sword.*
>
>
> Steel is my body and fire is my blood.
> I have created over a thousand blades.
> Unaware of loss,
> Nor aware of gain.
> Withstood pain to create weapons, waiting for one’s arrival.
> I have no regrets. This is the only path.
> My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works.*"*
>
>
>
> ― Shirou activating Unlimited Blade Works
>
>

**Unlimited Blade Works:** Shirou's Reality Marble, the source of his incredible skill in Projection and his unique Tracing, born from his Origin and Elemental Affinity of "Sword". Shirou subconsciously records every single weapon he sees, analyzing its structure and storing it within his internal world. When he traces and projects something, he is really creating it within his internal world and then bringing it into the real world. While he mostly just produces weapons in this way, he can trace and project shields such as Rho Aias, though it takes more mana to do so. Normally, it would take twenty years to train and be able to use it, but in Unlimited Blade Works he is able to impose it on the world normally due to his exposure to Archer. While in his Reality Marble, Shirou can create his projections instantly, outpacing the fire rate of the Gate of Babylon. However, manifesting his Reality Marble pushes him to his limits and drains a lot of mana.

While mostly used offensively, Unlimited Blade Works has some passive defensive effects, subconsciously manifesting recorded weapons within Shirou's body to protect him in response to physical trauma. It also changes the nature of Avalon's regeneration to something that stitches together his wounds with swords. These abilities allow him to survive lethal attacks from Rider and Gilgamesh; even after being nearly cut in two by Merodach, Shirou willed himself to his feet, and his wounds healed.

The items Shirou has seen and stored in Unlimited Blade Works include Kanshou and Bakuya, Rho Aias, Caladbolg II, Hrunting, Gáe Bolg, Rule Breaker, Avalon and Caliburn (only in Fate), Berserker's Axe Sword, the Jeweled Sword Zelretch, a number of Noble Phantasms from the Gate of Babylon, and a degraded Excalibur Morgan, which he can only use at the cost of his life.

* **Avalon:** The Everdistant Utopia: Excalibur's sheath, a Divine Construct of the same make. Avalon was implanted into his body as a child, to save him from the injuries he sustained in the destruction of Fuyuki. It is responsible for his Origin and Elemental Affinity of Sword, as his life only really began then, when he was saved by a Holy Sword, and is thus the ultimate source of Unlimited Blade Works. As long as he is linked to Saber, it provides Shirou with the full effects of its passive regeneration, allowing him to regenerate from normally lethal injuries, such as an attack from Berserker that nearly cut him in half and destroyed most of his internal organs. Kiritsugu was even able to regenerate from having his heart and lungs crushed by Kirei. While it remains inside him throughout Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel, he is not able to use it to its fullest extent, as he loses his connection to Saber in both routes, while in Fate, he ultimately removes it and gives it back to her. Despite this, Avalon remains effectively merged with Shirou and its image perfectly preserved in his mind, allowing him to bypass all his normal steps to project it perfectly, without any degradation, and use its effects as a "portable fortress" to cut off all interference all the way up to the sixth dimension.

* **Caliburn:** Golden Sword of the Victorious: The holy sword that Arturia Pendragon pulled from the stone in her youth to become king. While it is weaker than Excalibur, as it is a blade forged by mortal hands, out of the two, it is Arturia's preferred weapon, as she trained with it in her youth. Shirou is able to project it in the Fate route after seeing it in Saber's dreams, though he cannot use it to its full potential on his own, needing her assistance. Similar to Excalibur, it converts the user's magical energy into heat and emitting it as a beam of light. While wielding it with Saber, Shirou was able to instantly kill Berserker seven times over in a single strike with the release of its true name, overloading it together with their magical energy. When he projected it on his own, the experience and memories contained within the soul of the sword allowed him to deflect a barrage of Noble Phantasms from the Gate of Babylon, irritating Gilgamesh enough to draw its prototype, Merodach.

* **Kanshou and Bakuya: Gan Jiang and Mo Ye:** Archer's - and thus, Shirou's - favored melee weapons, a low-ranked pair of short swords. They are warded by various protective spells added by Archer, and they rank up Shirou's Magic and Physical resistance when wielded. Their strong bond to each other causes them to return as boomerangs when one is thrown and one is held, even reacting to another traced copy. This forms the basis for his Triple-Linked Crane Wings technique, throwing the first pair as projectiles with the purposes of being deflected, a second pair for slashing the opponent as the first pair returns to strike them from behind. If his opponent somehow blocks all of his strikes, he projects a final pair to slash down at their chest in an X-motion now that they're defenseless.

* **Nine Lives Blade Works:** After tracing Berserker's Axe Sword, Shirou is able to duplicate his most trusted Noble Phantasm, Nine Lives, the technique he used to kill the Hydra. Using it, he performed nine near simultaneous attacks, surpassing the speed of sound, destroying an eighth of Berserker's body with the first eight slashes before he could launch his own attack, and killing him with the ninth.

* **Rho Aias: The Seven Rings that Cover the Fiery Heavens:** Archer's greatest defense, the shield of Ajax, the only shield capable of blocking Hector's Durindana. It takes the form of seven petal-like layers to represent the flower that bloomed from Ajax's blood when he died, however, without Archer's knowledge, Shirou can only project a weaker version with four petals. In addition, Shirou takes damage for every layer that is pierced, but even his four-layered version can deflect Archer's Hrunting in Fate/hollow ataraxia and help Rider overwhelm Excalibur Morgan in Heaven's Feel.

**Note:** Shirou's skills and abilities vary depending on the three routes of the game. Regardless of the route, however, it can be assumed that Shirou eventually reaches the same level of power as Archer.

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