The Shining Saber

"Many of us are not fortunate enough to be born with power or patronage. Crippled and poor, all that we have are our dreams, and wonderful as they are, they bring little comfort when we realize that we cannot bring happiness to the people around us. Still, we must all pursue our dreams like fools, so that in the rare case we are blessed with the strength to change things for the better, we possess the character to fight for those whose helplessness we understand."

- The Shining Saber.

Shining Saber (セイバーを照らす) is the Saber-class Servant of Ionia von Einzbern as part of the Magician's Theater in the Vodnyisad War of Seventh Overture. Considered the most powerful Servant of the Vodnyisad War, he defeats The Bewitching Caster mere hours into the war.

Identity
Saber's identity is Ilya Muromets (イリヤMuromets), Knight of the Fair Sun, greatest of all of the legendary bogatyrs (medieval knights-errant of Kievan Rus). Ilya, the son of a farmer, was born in Morivsk, a village in Karacharovo, near Murom. He became seriously ill as a child and was crippled, losing the ability to walk until he was 33 years old and two pilgrims passing through the village healed him. Swearing himself to Prince Vladimir the Bright Sun, Ilya rode off to challenge the mythological hero Svyatogor, despite being forewarned not to do so by the pilgrims who had miraculously healed him. Though Ilya approached him first as an enemy, the two became boon companions until Svyatogor met his fated end. Before he died, however, Svyatogor passed the last of his legendary strength to Ilya, empowering him with the physical ability of a giant.

He then set out to liberate the city of Kiev from Idolishche, along the way single-handedly defending the city of Chernigov from a nomadic invasion and was offered knighthood by the local rulers, but he declined to stay. In the forests of Bryansk he encountered the monstrous bird-man Nightingale the Robber. The monster was able to fly and lived in the tress, yet had a human family and received drinks with his hands. With a single whistle he could paralyze strangers to his forest. Ilya survived their battle even though Nightingale's voice destroyed half of the forest and dragged the defeated monster to the seat of Prince Vladimir. Vladimir wanted to hear the monster's whistle, but the creature claimed his wounds were too great, requesting wine so that his injuries would disappear. When he was healed, he whistled and all of Vladimir's palaces were destroyed and countless lay dead. After this, Ilya took the monster to an open field and beheaded him.

In Kiev, the seat of Vladimir's power, he was made chief bogatyr and defended Rus' from many attacks by steppe people, including Kalin, the mythical tsar of the Golden Horde. Generous and simple-minded but with the fury of a berserker, he once rampaged across the land and destroyed all of the church steeples in the kingdom when Vladimir failed to invite him to a banquet, but was appeased as soon as Vladimir sent for him. His name became a synonym for outstanding physical and spiritual power and integrity, as well as wild and passionate pride. He later acquired sainthood as the only epic hero ever canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Appearances
Saber appears as a strong, lanky man in his early forties with shaggy black hair and a short beard. The surface of his heavy plate armor is clouded and battered from extensive use, and much of his form is covered by a tattered roughspun cloak. Contrary to the angelic features possessed by the knights of Christian England's iconography, Saber represents the hardiness of the farmer whose life is one of backbreaking labor, and his body is battered and scarred from a difficult life devoid of the comforts of court living. When his Noble Phantasm is drawn, his armor shines dimly in the rainbow light of its blade, granting him the appearance of a knight heralded by the cold sun in the mountains, towering above his enemies.

Personality
Honest and frank, Saber was born sickly and unable to sleep unless searing away his pain on top of a Russian oven, yet still toiled away on his family's farm, and lacks any true sense of subtlety. A man who prizes effort and intent, as well as starry-eyed optimism and the nature of dreamers, he is quick to defend the naivete of children and reprimand those whose experiences in life have left them cynical or harsh realists. He is incapable of tolerating blindly arrogant individuals or those who possess superior attitudes because they were fortunate enough to be born talented or wealthy, and do not understand the meaning of hard work. Despite the tremendous rank and reputation he achieved in life, he is a humble man aware of his lack of education and refinement. He does not have much of a sense for politics and social finery, but is respectful and attentive, and possesses excellent insight into the quality of an individual's leadership ability.

While he respects the more famous knights to be born of Arthurian legend, he believes the culture that birthed them to treat knights as ornamental "jewels" in the crown of their exalted ruler, needlessly decorated and too untainted by the harshness of the world to understand the pains of the common man. He compares the difference between the two ideals of knighthood by saying that in his time, the bogatyrs were the most honorable of men, though they were undecorated knights who slept beneath hedges and possessed the regalia and blessings of no kingdom. In talking to Ionia von Einzbern about his class, he states his belief that all knights regardless of birth should be sent to live as farmers for three years, in order to understand what it means to be an ordinary human, as well as to gain enough appreciation for all kinds of human beings so that they protect the commoners as well as the court.

He has a sense of honor that would be considered confusing by foreign knights, showing respect to anybody whose ideals he finds understandable but reserving his code of honor for those people alone. Having lived unrestricted by any established code of knighthood he came to believe that honor is reserved for conflicts in which both parties have a mutual respect for one another. Confronted by wicked forces he will not be dissuaded from attempts to convince him that everybody has a chance to reform or that by killing them he is a killer no better than themselves. Especially when protecting someone such as Ionia, it is impossible to convince him to do anything other than protect them from any and all threats.

During his time in the Vodnyisad War, he shows tremendous respect to The Roaring Archer, whose courage and spirit he finds admirable in a young ruler, and The Sleeping Jester, whose cynical attitude he can see through and identify that despite the pain she suffered in life, she will go to any length for Nadia. During his clash with The Dreaming Stranger, he kneels before her as a knight when he sees that she walks barefoot through the dirt and grime of the city.

Development
Originally it had been intended for Ionia von Einzbern to summon The Knight Redcrosse as a Saber through pure affinity in order to establish her as a sort of foil for Maximillian Lacere and The Dreaming Stranger. During the latest revision to the Vodnyisad War, however, it was decided to include a prominent heroic figure from Russian mythology who could be juxtaposed against both Stranger and the other knights. Furthermore, Redcrosse would have necessitated a certain relationship between Maximillian and Ionia that was not conducive to the events of the story.

Seventh Overture
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Abilities
Born sickly and poor, Ilya Muromets lived the difficult life of a farmer for more than thirty years, and his body was made strong by the harsh manual labor of his daily responsibilities. Lacking in any formal instruction as a knight and possessing the strength of the giant Svyatogor, Saber utilizes an unorthodox, brutal form of swordplay, swinging his enormous broadsword with one hand while grappling or swatting away the enemy's weapon with the other. Fearless and unafraid to suffer damage if facing an attack head on will allow him to deal a more grievous blow to his opponent, his straightforward style of combat centers around relentlessly minimizing the distance between himself and the enemy and exploiting his tremendous strength. In many ways, it can be said that his style would be fitting for a member of the Berserker class. Summoned in his homeland and backed by a Master with tremendous reserves of prana, he is a hero on par with Hercules in Greece or Cú Chulainn in Ireland, and in terms of sheer power is the strongest Servant in Vodnyisad.

Because he lived as a hedge knight and traveled constantly, Saber is very adept at surviving off of the bare necessities and managing his resources, and as a result requires an abnormally low amount of prana from his Master in order to maintain himself, which in turn allows Ionia to devote more of her power to his raw combat ability. He fights primarily using the sealed form of the Sword Kladenets because of its familiarity and Ionia's ability to keep its identity obscured despite the tremendous fame it has in Russia, but once his identity becomes revealed the sheer amount of prana he receives and the efficiency of his abilities makes it possible for him to utilize the power of his Noble Phantasm a dozen times where a normal Saber would only be able to do so maybe two or three times. Compared to the other Master/Servant pairs in Vodnyisad, only Alaizabel May and The Penitent Ruler have greater compatibility than Ilya and Ionia.

A lifetime of farming and living off of the land grants Saber a very natural sense of terrain and the composition of his surroundings, allowing him to create a mental map of an area almost instantaneously that allows him to exploit environmental factors. Having fought under countless conditions in every type of environment during his travels, his footing is tremendously stable despite his wild fashion of combat, and he can receive massive attacks head-on without being knocked off his feet, instead digging his heels into the ground and contesting them with his own strength. Combined with the Instinct skill, Saber would be able to withstand a tsunami summoned by The Vanishing Saver without being moved, even as the wave annihilated the entire city and swept away the ground beneath him.

Skills
Magic Resistance: B

Protection from magic spells that, rather than merely rejecting prana, passively cancels spells altogether by drowning out the opponent's magic with one's own power. Modern magical techniques can be drowned out entirely by this protection that rejects powers even from the Age of Gods. At extreme levels, it can be said that the Servant is passively evading the laws of a spell, rather than resisting the effects from it.

Riding: C The expertise of one who is capable of bringing out the maximum performance from mounts, both animal and vehicle. Experience with this skill permits the handling of complex vehicles from outside of the Servant's own era or creatures up to the highest levels of the Phantasmal Races. Only those of the Dragon type are not possible to command.

Bravery: B

Those who have the courage to charge into the fray without fear for their own well-being are strong of spirit, yes, but in choosing to uphold their ideal above all else, they draw upon the deepest recesses of personal strength that would otherwise be dedicated to self-preservation. The ability to negate mental interferences such as pressure, confusion, and fascination, this skill has the added effect of increasing melee damage. At this level, it can be said that the Servant is immunized to the conventional psychological penalties of humanity, and even divine or monstrous interferences are significantly reduced.

Guardian Knight: C The power of one who was recognized as a protector of specific lands or people, granting them increased defensive ability so long as they act in defense of another. Also the ability to know when support is needed or their charges are in danger, a sort of sixth sense for the well-being of precious individuals is possessed. At this level, increase to defensive abilities is moderate, and a general sense of the Master's location is constant.

Instinct: D The power to "feel" the most favorable developments for oneself during battle. A refined sense that allows one to fight in sub-optimal conditions, it permits the seizing of advantages that may have only be achieved by the individual through luck. Saber possesses sufficient skill to reduce penalties to vision and hearing by a small degree, as well as a minor chance to evade critical hits.

Monstrous Strength: B An ability possessed by monsters and beasts who defy the limitations of human beings that allows for a temporary boost of strength determined by the individual's level of "inhumanity". Regardless of a Servant's strength, they can only possess this skill if not wholly human. Endowed with the power of Svyatogor, a giant knight said to possess all the strength of the earth, Ilya can more than double his strength for several minutes at a time, though doing so is taxing on his body and reduces his mental capabilities.

Saint: E Indicator of one's standing as a "Saint" of the holy faith. Regardless of natural capabilities, the manifestation of faith allows the invocation of additional abilities such as raising the strength of holy sacraments, restoration of one's health via regeneration, access to the Charisma skill, or the production of holy auras. At this level of ability, though considered a Saint by many, the Servant was did not actively live to uphold the values of the faith, and cannot deliberately invoke benefits through this skill. Instead, the general boon of "good fortune" can be said to be constantly active for them.

Noble Phantasms
Saber's initial Noble Phantasm is always Sword Kladenets in its sealed form. Appearing as a six-foot broadsword hewn out of rough, cracked stone, it lacks any remarkable features other than its tremendous size, and is impossible even for other Servants born in Russia to identify it. Because it is actually a top-class Noble Phantasm and one of the principle magic items of a major country, it is impossible to destroy with anything but a superior weapon and can withstand even Saber's reckless fighting style. It possesses the characteristics of a stone weapon that only a giant could wield and is as heavy as a stone slab weighing several tons, adding to Saber's tremendous striking force. As a result, in its sealed form it closer resembles an enormous bludgeon than a sword.

The true form of Sword Kladenets is a blade of glittering star metal with rainbow light dancing across its surface, the hilt a heavy chunk of meteor ore carved in the likeness of a white merlin with its wings spread. When it is released, the heavens turn into a rainbow haze against the blackness of space, the stars burning against it more clearly than under any natural sky. It is a superior Noble Phantasm that possesses the illusion of "sky" and "wonder", twisting the fantasies of early mankind as it looked up at the sky and wreathing a blade born of otherworldly metal in it. Endowed to Ilya Muromets and representing his perpetual movement as a knight-errant, it is the crystalized dream of knights who fight on the soil of a hundred civilizations, but always under the same endless sky.

It is not a holy sword or one that has affinities against any particular kind of opponent, but is instead most powerful when utilized outside. Like many myths of Kievan Rus it morphs with respect to night and day, stronger against living bodies during the day while possessing the power to easily cut through magical energies at night. Its primary function is to redirect the sense of scale by imposing an artificial vector through which the blade can be accelerated. Simply by existing in space and moving, Kladenets generates an enormous kinetic field recognized by the pseudomythological concept "weight of the sky". The striking force of the blade is unequaled, and even legendary armor is rendered useless because the scale of the trauma transmitted through it is enough to kill a Servant.

Because of Saber's ability to economize his prana, it is possible to utilize his second Noble Phantasm, Nightingale, despite the enormous cost it bears due to being representative of one of his primary enemies in life. By withdrawing the skull of Solovey the Nightingale from his cloak and funneling power into it, a tremendous omnidirectional blast of sound can be generated that craters the earth and destroys all structures around Saber. Because of the shape of the blast, it is also possible to utilize it defensively to blow away multidirectional assaults, but due to the negative compatibility between the Noble Phantasm and Saber, he cannot control the nature of the attack itself. It is impossible for him to use it while defending another person, as they will be affected by it, even if it is Saber's Master.

It is mentioned in Data Records Unearthed that if Ilya Muromets had been summoned as a Rider, he would also possessed Sivushko, a horse with legendary strength and stamina, as a Noble Phantasm.