Archer, the Hero

"If one is saved, one is abandoned, and with that shatters the hope."
-Archer

Basics

Character Theme:

Name: Archer (true name: Emiya Shirou)
True Age: Estimated around 1600 Years
Gender: Male
Element: Blades
Personality: ~Anti-Social~
Archer is not someone you would invite to a party - not only because he wouldn't show up anyways, but because of how cold he acts. Not caring for anyone, always alone, if you get a chance to see him, he looks like a lone statue facing the greatest storms in history. It's rare to see Archer smile at all, but a confident smug look can sometimes be seen.

~Broken Ideals~
Once, Archer followed the ideal to save everyone. After an unknown event shattered all of his hopes and dreams into peaces, he fell into a deep depression that holds him until this very day. He doesn't believe in ideals anyone, and those with strong ideals will usually have to face Archer as their worst enemy - he claims to be the enigma they can't defeat, the power that crushes their dreams and lifes to show them reality. The warrior claims it is mercy that he shows by doing that - killing an idealist is better than having him live until his ideals betray and backstab him, for he knows that pain.
His ideal from way back was simple - to save everyone, no matter the cost. How exactly it was shattered is not known.

~Cynism and Sarcasm~
One big point anyone who ever talked with Archer knows is his gigantic sarcasm and cynism. His voice seems to be permanentlsy annoyed and mocking partially, often pointing out the fails of a person. One of his most memorial quotes is "Take your meaningless pride to the dogs", which he said to a Shinigami that died by refusing to eat dog meat as a human before fighting and killing him. Enraging his opponents, he is often able to calmy analyze them.
He also is not above hurting peoples feelings with his words, often mercilessly beating someone down with words only.

~Anti-Hero~
Despite his usually 'evil' actions and methods, Archer actually still believes in his ideal - at least a bit. His methods have changed to where he would kill one person to save another, but it still actually pains him to see someone die - killing all would-be heroes is something he truely considers mercy on his side.

~Big Sofite~
Under that thick, anti-social and 'badass' shell, Archer can be a real sofite. He's always questioning himself and each new ideal he picks up only to discard it, thanks to his past memories. The only one who can really claim to 'know' Archer is Rider, who shares his mysterious origins.

General Appearance

Appearance:

Archer is a tall man, with slightly tanned skin and completely white hair. His eyes are in an unusual grey, looking as if they are actually metal instead of pupils, but they are actually normal. His black clothing consists out of a shirt that shows off his well-build body, and black pants. His red clothing on the upper body is held together by a metal plate on his back, and the sleeves end in gem-like objects that help reduce the force Broken Phantasm puts on Archers hands. Without them, they wouldn't be useable by now anymore. Like the lower part of a mantle, the red cloth is held by a metal belt around his waist. On his feet, Archer wears black boots.
Height: 1,90 meters
Animalistic Traits: None
Appearance Age: Around the mid 20's
Weight: Average

Natural Abilities

Techinques: Analyzation
For normal objects, this skill is a special scan with the use of ones own spiritual energy, analyzing the structure, weakpoints and even estimating the time until the destined death of an object, with enough focusing on it. This allows for easier use of Reinforcement Magecraft.
However, when Archer just looks at a bladed weapon, an enhanced Analyzation comes into play - he is able to read out information even about sealed blades, understanding the process of them, and saving that memory in his heads storage, the 'Unlimited Blade Works', for later use. No blade that is physically visible can hide from his view and understanding of them.

Mind's Eye (True)
Archer is able to see through battles with incredible calm of mind and clearance, which allows him to even turn a only 5% chance of victory into a bigger chance just by being in the battle. Effectively, this makes it nearly impossible to confuse him by normal means like dirty tactics or trash talk. Since he is no perfect being, though, certain circumstances can even break his calm Mind's Eye.

Clairvoyance
Honed skill and magecraft have increased Archers eyesight to levels where he can easily see for large distances where others would need a scope to even spot a single dot that could be his target. Needless to say, this is quite usefull for an Archers fighting style.

Archery
As expected from someone with the name 'Archer', he is very skilled at bow-shooting. He can make Arrows out of thin, glowing blue metal, which have a bit more strength than a regular Quincy arrow. Furthermore, he can use...

Broken Phantasm
With a traced weapon (see below for more info), Archer is not able to bring out the full power of any weapon besides his favorite pair of twin swords. Using Broken Phantasm, Archer discards a weapons durability for enhanced power, which, together with Alteration (once more, see below) turns the weapon he traced into either an explosive arrow, or an arrow that has the ability to unleash the true full power of a Zanpakuto or Sacred (Bankai, full Zenou, Kyuu Kyou) for one strike only. This requires the same amount of energy as making the weapon in the first place, and Archer has to forge them again in his mind if he wants to use them again.

Bone of the Sword
Archer has the ability to channel a former wielders or actual wielders knowledge. In practice, it makes him able to use a weapon that is not originally his with almost the same amount of skill as the original user, but he will always be inferior to the original by at least a little bit.

Magic: Archer is especially proficent in Boundary Fields, being able to use all of them. Normal Magic of the Sugiura is useable by him, but he is not able to use Shinkai. Rho Aius, though, is one of his strongest spells. Furthermore, Archer knows three forms of 'Magecraft', magic only useable by Magus type Sugiura, and the last of them is Emiya Shirous very own magic embedded into their very being, unable to be used by others, even if they would spent ages trying to learn it.

Reinforcement
The hardest to use Magecraft of them all - because it adds to something already complete. Analyzing an object, the user channels Reiatsu into an object, filling out weak spots, repairing damaged parts, and generally strengthening something in multiple ways. This magic needs careful application, and is hard to master, since a wrongly done Reinforcement will either break the object or don't do anything. Reinforcing another persons body is the hardest, since their Reiatsu will repell invading Reiatsu. Reinforcement can't be used on Projected objects (see below).

Alteration
An offspring of Reinforcement, this magic is more complex, but easier to use. It works by 'adding to what is complete', just like Reinforcement, but it alters the original item, making it 'better' at a certain aspect - a sword could grow in length and cutting strength, a shield could be made larger, and so on. It basicially alters whatever it is used upon. After all the Reishi stored inside of the object is used up, it returns to the original state.

Gradiation Air
Gradiation Air, or Projection, is the art of creating something out of ones own spiritual energy. While not the hardest magic to use, it is the most expensive usually - the bigger the item produced, the higher the cost grows expotentially, and the item will disappear after a maximum of one hour, being erased by the world not allowing dreams to be real. Also, special effects of Projected items are not present. This Magecraft is seen as useless for anything but magic rituals which require rare ingridients.
However, Shirou and Archer have their own version of Gradiation Air, directly linked to the 'Reality Marble' of their mind. Analyzing blades which a simple glance, both Shirou and Archer can make a near-perfect replica of an item. They lack the strength to completely draw out a weapons potential (Bankai/Kyuu Kyou for example), and the weapon will generally be weaker than the original. Still, the most important part is how fast this magic works. The process is broken down into a few steps by them in their mind:
1. Judging the concept of creation
2. Hypothesizing the basic structure
3. Duplicating the composition material
4. Imitating the skill of its making
5. Sympathizing with the experience of its growth
6. Reproducing the accumulated years
7. Excelling every manufacturing process
This would normally take long to do, but this is where their Reality Marble kicks in. It provides all necessary resources and tools to replicate each and every earthly weapon - only completely alien things like Ea can't be traced.
Tracing is the name of this special Projection, and it has multiple stages and variations, but in general, each and every Projection done by Emiya is not 'creating out of nothingness', but 'creating inside of Unlimited Blade Works', and 'pulling it out' of his mind into reality. This is what makes his Projection unreachable by others.
Trace On: Usually the incarnation to copy a weapon someone is holding and to instantly project it, also spoken at the beginning of the fight to 'mold' himself into the fighting mind and be able to instantly project weapons recorded previously. Can be skipped for single weapons by Archer thanks to his insane skill at Projection.
Trace Off: Used to signalize the 'pulling out' of multiple weapons made in Unlimited Blade Works at the same time, sometimes Trace On is spoken before it to enhance his speed at copying and manufacturing them, depending on the amount of blades made. These blades are shot out like bullets and arrows, with top speeds of Mach 10. They can also be controlled by light telekinesis by Archer - while he can't make them fight on their own, he can change their direction while they are flying slightly, and make them rip out of the ground and fly to him into his hands should he miss.
Full Trace, Continuus Fire: Emiyas strongest move besides Unlimited Blade Works, this sends out an instantly traced storm of copied blades, previously and newly recorded ones. This move works much alike to the Gates of Babylon, and is the natural enemy of the storm of blades it produces.

Unlimited Blade Works
Besides being the source of Tracing, Unlimited Blade Works is a Reality Marble, a world within ones mind. Since their inner world was defined before they obtained Guardian Beasts, Emiya is an individual that can't wield an own Sacred. Unlimited Blade Works of Archer looks like a barren wasteland, with embers and smoke flying up from countless hills, gigantic constructs moving in the sky, and a red, clouded over and dark sunset. Scattered through this rust and brown collored world, countless swords are stabbed into the ground, the objects recorded into Archers mind, who is an owner, not a wielder of weapons - one who can use all, but master none. The true path of the Faker, nothing in this world is his own.
Unlimited Blade Works can be summoned outward, and acts much like a full release of other Sugiura. After incarnating the spell, a ring of fire that can't hurt anyone expands from him, turning the world into Unlimited Blade Works. Instantly, all swords of his mind are projected here, and the reality marble takes constant supplies of energy to continue existing. Archer can leviate the blades here freely, and summon them into his hands instantly. He can also more easily reforge broken blades in this dimension.
The spell is the following:
I am the bone of my sword
Steel is my body, and fire is my blood
I have created over a thousand blades
Unknown to Death, nor known to Life
Have withstood pain to create many weapons
Yet these hands will never hold anything
So, as I pray...
Unlimited Blade Works!

Small addition: Transformation swords can't be copied. This includes things like Resurreccions from Arrancar, or Otoyas Dark Kiva transformation, but a simple wardrobe-change won't hinder Tracing a blades abilities. Copied transform-types only grant the sword skill of the original wielder and no special moves normally, unless they can perform those naturally.

Sacred Weapon: Archer is a rare type of Sugiura called 'Magus' - he is unable to have a Sacred of his own, or Guardian Beast, but is great at using magic. In fact, he can use the spells normal Sugiura need a Sacreds support for alone and without a weapon.

Recorded Weapons: These are the weapons recorded in the Unlimited Blade Works, and their abilites when traced. Besides these weapons, Archer can 'make' countless blades in different shapes, even axes and spears, but they'll all lack powers. They are mainly for ammunition made out of steel flying at mach 10 speeds.
Kanshou and Bakuya (干将・莫耶) are "married" twin swords representing yin and yang encountered by Archer at some point during his lifetime and added to the numerous weapons recorded and stored in Unlimited Blade Works. They are his favored weapons to project, having become his symbols after wielding them all his life. He and Emiya Shirou find the craftsmanship of the blades, rather than what they represent, to be extremely captivating and beautiful, and the swords suit their natural style of fighting. Despite not having a wielder in the legends, they are still Conceptual Weapons crafted by the blacksmith Gān Jiàng, whose wife, Mò Yé, gave her life in order to melt the metal used to create the swords during the Spring and Autumn Period. They were crafted more for the sake of crafting, as if questioning the meaning of the swordsmith, than for any real idea behind their creation. They were created without vanity, and lack a sense of purpose found in other swords. They contain no fighting spirit to defeat others or competitive spirit to beat other weapons, and they contain neither the desire to be famous nor the faith to accomplish great deeds.
They are identical in shape with the only difference being their color. Kanshou, the black Yang sword, is covered in a hexagonal pattern, and Bakuya, the white Yin sword, has less of the shine of a polished metal in its ore than it has the haze of a cloud. Their quality as swords is high due to being made with the best materials and a human sacrifice, and they have shamanistic and ritual aspects as enchanted weapons. The quality of the grips, which are quite big and heavy, are more important than their ornamental value. They are rather low ranking compared to other Conceptual Weapons, but the duel-wielding style, their experience, and their tracing time make them very reliable. The main ability of the swords is their strong bond with each other, which not only allows them to attract each other, but it is also said they will return their owner even if events cause them to be lost. If one is thrown while the other is held, the thrown sword will return to the wielder much like a boomerang. This works well with projection, allowing an already projected sword to identify a new projection as its partner sword. When both are wielded, magic resistance and physical resistance improve.
It also represents Crane Wing Three Ream (鶴翼三連, Kakuyoku Sanren?), a strategy that is the cumulation of Archer's use of the swords, the true meaning behind them, using three consecutive pairs traced ahead of time and the pair of swords' attraction to each other to deliver a fatal attack by projecting them when necessary.
While using this technique of the weapons, an incarnation has to be spoken while performing it. Without the incarnation, the technique lacks the Overedge.
Spirit and technique, flawless and firm
Our strength rips the mountains
Our swords split the water
Our names reach the imperial villa
The two of us cannot hold heavens together
—Two great men, sharing a life.
In Archer's version, the first pair is thrown at the enemy with the purpose of being deflected, while the second is prepared for close range combat. While the enemy is off guard, he slashes with the second pair, and the thrown pair returns and hits the enemy from behind. Finally, the third pair is modified through reinforcement, called Overedge, which makes them twice the size and covers the blade from the ridge to the edge with feather-like splinters, and he performs the final strike with them.
If Archer succeeds in fully executing Crane Wing, and his enemy doesn't find a way to escape it, the result can easily be fatal.

A Conceptual Weapon Archer encountered during his life at some point. It has incredible attack power, but also requires a lot of energy to trace and use. It is formed like a drill, and besides being great at piercing Hierro and similliar armor, it's main use lies in Broken Phantasm. A Broken Phantasm arrow of Cadalbolg reaches the power levels of a Cero Oscuras used by an Arrancar on Archers level. A maximum of five of them can be used in one thread, this number is doubled if Unlimited Blade Works is in effect, to a maximum of 10 while it is active.

Another Conceptual Weapon that Archer got to see during his lifetime, it has the curse of hitting an enemy engraved into it. It makes slashing at the enemy much easier to do, but it's main use, like Cadalbolg, is as an altered Broken Phantasm arrow. Reaching the strength of a Gran Rey Cero of an Arrancar on Archers level, this move can change directions and follow the enemy until either hitting a large obstacle or being deflected and nullified, constantly dodging won't do a thing. A maximum of 10 can be used per thread, 15 should Unlimited Blade Works be used.

Guardian Beast

Guardian Beast: N/A


Guardian Beast's World: N/A

Sacred Unleashed

Joushou: N/A

Zenou: N/A

Kyuu Kyou: N/A

Alter Form

Alter Appearance: N/A

Alter Personality: N/A

Alter Powers: N/A

Past & Roleplay Sample

Character Background: Archer is the future version of Emiya Shirou, quite literally. After nearly dying as a kid, Shirou lost most of his concern for his own life. In memory of his father, he longed to become a hero since he was a child - a true hero who was able to save everyone, an unreachable dream. Everyone should be saved, that was his ideal - even the villains, the unthankful, and the like, to create a perfect world of harmony.

His exact actions during the 'Artifact War' are blurry and unknown to him fully. He knows that he had a lover at some point, and that the war went over without someone actually getting their hands on the Grail. In a later war, Shirou used all his power to stop it with all of his newly aquired experience and strength, but eventually, was framed for causing the war, condemned guilty and seemingly executed.
Sitting on a hill of blades, in a field of swords, after the war had ended, multiple swords were pierced all through his body. But in this moment, he was happy. Because his sacrifice had saved everyone in the war by ending it without a large bloodshed, so his own life had meaning, and his empty self was filled with satisfaction.
But in the end, he was not allowed to die. As his spirit began to fade, a strong magician of the Sugiura Clan rscued his body from the embrace of death. This near-death experience for the second time was what caused his memories to start to blur out.
This magician who rescued his life did so out of a strange love for Shirou. Being hidden from the public now as her 'Servant', he took on the title of Archer to hide his true identity as Emiya.

But then, the true darkness struck the world. Heroism, who had been thought dead after the Artifact War, had been the true cause over the war that made everyones attention turn away from the Holy Grail - and after killing the holders of the keys in a fatal ambush, he unlocked the key to the darkness.

With his wish, the Holy Grail turned into the absolute darkness, Angra Mainyu. Many small beings of black mud, all corrupting the life and land around them, turning them into mad twisted images of their former selves, Archer, at the side of his 'master', saw a rather small group of people surrounded by the monsters all worlds waged war against. That was when his voice, as the first voice of any Sugiura, reached beyond the veils of reality to the root of all things.

"I beg of you... Akasha, give it to me, the power to save all that my eyes can see! Give to me, give me... &%$§§?!)§(" !"

Fire is my body, and glass is my heart.

This was the first time Archer was able to use the Reality Marble, a magic that made him able to destroy the Angra Mainyu parts attacking the group infront of his eyes completely. On that day, the one who had been outlawed was declared a hero. At the same time, amongst those people, there was a lone blonde girl, holding a Sacred of legendary strength. This girl, Arturia, was the queen of the people Archer helped save that day, the last of her country she failed to protect. On that day, she swore to protect Shirou at the cost of her life, if she had to, and took on the name Saber.

"For sure, this life was...

However, their war was a losing one. The first world to fall was the Sugiura Dimension - being the heart of the invasion of darkness, the king and queen of their people died fighting - ripping apart time itself, Otoya bought the survivors the needed frame to converse out a counter-attack.
Thankfully, though, this was the future. Some of the survivors were indeed scientists - scientists that, together with the True Ancestor, had developed a way to create new Conceptual Weapons. As the forced fought, Soul Society and Hueco Mundo were abandonned. It didn't matter anymore who was a Shinigami and who was a Hollow - Heroism had betrayed them, and the Arrancar under the rule of Zefonse joined up with Archers army.
But in the end, nothing helped. When the dimensional barrier broke, so did the world. The black mud that was covering the lands and seething into the spirits of people corrupted and killed whatever it could, turning the rests of the already devastated human world into a wasteland. The only way to stop it was simple - to never let it happen in the first place. To defeat an undefeatable enemy that could be damaged and driven back, but never killed, this was the only way.
They named the Time Ark the Vis Dei - the glorious airship to carry the hopes of all worlds. But as the conceptual weapon was being made, the remaining heroes had to constantly fight. In a battle of an abandonned kingdom, Archer met another imprisoned unfortunate being - a woman that called herself Rider. With the help of his female white-haired master and Saber, he managed to hold of Angra Mainyu in that area for long enough to save her, and some other survivors.

Quickly, Karakura Town became the bastion of hope, being the building place of the Vis Dei. However, each day consumed more lifes of the defenders, and their deaths were etched into the minds of the survivors.
Ravana, the brave vice-commander of the Vizard Corps, was the first to fall - followed by his enraged commander Chisei, because even God Hand held no effect against the Angra Mainyu. Saving the lives of many, they gave their own. But the next darkness was only about to come - when Lancelot, the brave and honored knight of the True Ancestor, was consumed by the ultimate darkness and turned against his fellow fighters once more, Shiro herself took the life of the man in the stained armor, while sacrificing her own. Without the light of Aura on their side, all chances of actually defeating the core of Angra Mainyu vanished.
As time passed, more and more died. Ichigo, Chad, Ishida, Orihime - one after another, the darkness claimed their lives. Soon, only Archer, his Master, Saber, Rider, a few scientists, Rin, and another Magus remained protecting the civilians - as the Vis Dei was finally finished. Zefonse was the last to fall before them, buying them time to start up the airship.

Up to that day, Archers heart felt more and more pain, as he was unable to save anyone. For each life he saved, another one ended, and his absolute ideal began to crack. But until that moment, his master and last true love was at his side, so he was able to stay sane.

As they borded the Vis Dei, Archers incredible analyze-ability helped to weed out survivors who had been tainted by the Angra Mainyu - they had to stay behind. Tears, regret, bitter regret - but he had to stay unmoved, hard, demanding. Even the slightest taint of the Angra Mainyu would in the end turn someone into a part of the evil spirit itself.

Finally, everyone was on the airship besides the defenders - Rider and Saber entered before him.

"Quickly! Rin, Sakura, get inside!"
Suddenly, Sakura turned around - with a saddened expression. "I'm sorry, Senpai. Go on without us." Shedding a last tear - Sakura turned. She had been tainted long before the war - but she had mastered it to the extend to use Angra Mainyus powers against it. As the black mud was nearing from all directions, Archer could not believe his eyes as they laid upon the blade in Rins hands - the mystical sword of the dead goddess Shimura, but even more - a dark veil of veins from pure evil were strain through her. With a last pained smile, she drove forward into the darkness - a beautiful and sad image burned into his mind, the sisters fighting with all their might.

What more happened, both on the ravaged earth of the future, or the Vis Dei, is unknown. Only one scream pierced the veil of all time.


But when the Vis Dei crashed into the here and now, nobody was left alive. The Angra Mainyu had somehow found it's way into the airship, and killed everyone to make them slaves - Archer, Saber and Rider cut them down, protected by Archers projected demon-killing swords. With his heart and ideal broken, he gave up the damaged time-ark to the Hashia, to give them a weapon against darkness that can't be defeated - but now he has set out on a quest to kill the one who is responsible for Heroisms success in stealing the keys.

Archer has only one target: To kill Emiya Shirou, his past self, create a time-paradox and save the future.

Approved, great app, 0-5+ =w=