Saber

The solitary Heroic Spirit traverses the long night of fate. The banner of the round table remains unfurled in a dream. Alas, the knight-king of Camelot has yet to reach that ever-distant utopia.
Though still a young maiden, she has heeded the call for this most unique iteration of the Holy Grail War. With the Sword in the Stone offering its choice once more, how shall she shatter the illusions of the past?
"The wishes I did not fulfill will end here."

If the ideal kingdom the philosophers' speak of needs a ruler, then the girl before you might just be the perfect choice. Devoted to the happiness of all, she has lived by one creed: to defend the weak and challenge the strong. Her knighthood, for instance, was called the "Round Table" to embody one principle: The king and knight stand as equals...

"Too long-winded. Shouldn't this space be used for something more useful?"

Fair enough.
For a king, only the nation's peace and prosperity truly matter. Personal struggle, pride, and shame are nothing more than chess pieces laid upon the board to achieve that aim. But here lies the twist: She now walks the world as a Servant, a special lifeform summoned from the distant tides of history, sustained only by layers of Mystics.

The rise and fall of her homeland have long been etched into the pages of history. The king once tried to change its fate... But as the old saying goes: There's no such thing as a free lunch. After all she's endured, the girl finally gained a heart at peace with the past...

"Wait, who said I'm so optimistic that I lack all regrets?
"But chasing the Holy Grail just to fulfill that desire... yes, that was indeed foolish.
"It's only by walking the long road that paradise ever truly reveals itself.
"Otherwise, even if it stood right before your eyes, you'd never know."

On a distant planet, there exists a mysterious resource known as the Holy Grail. To this day, its name is used to symbolize the greatest of triumphs, the loftiest of ideals. To those versed in the arcane, the Holy Grail is nothing less than an omnipotent wish-granting chalice, one that can effortlessly turn the impossible into reality.

"Yeah, I know, it sounds like a con. But it's real. People have even twisted its rules to deceive others."
"As a Servant, the Holy Grail is the reason I can remain in this world. Yet in the Holy Grail War I've fought in, I've shattered it more than once. You'd probably call that a bit of a running tradition?"
"...Making that initial resolve isn't easy. It is an omnipotent wish-granting chalice, after all. Who doesn't have a few selfish dreams they'd like to see come true?"

The girl's struggles as a Heroic Spirit might be best understood through the eyes of a player. When comrades turn against one another, when the homeland falls, when the round table reaches its end. Who better to see its ruin than the King of Knights herself? "If a player stronger than me had taken the reins, would the ending have been different?"
Once that doubt takes hold, it rarely lets go.
"Let someone more worthy be Britain's king in my place" — a wish even the Holy Grail might struggle to fulfill.

"So, you're asking how I see it now?
"I'm not the perfect king. But that doesn't stop others from seeing me as their 'ideal king' — and doing what I never could.
"I'm grateful to a friend who helped me realize that."
"He said even a counterfeit has its own worth."

Though every knight of legend is said to master countless martial arts, the girl's most renowned weapons remain to be
Sword in the StoneCaliburn and Sword of the LakeExcalibur. The first marks the beginning of her kingship. The second represents the peak of her sovereign power.

"That's right, what you see now is the Sword of the Lake. The Sword in the Stone? I broke it a long time ago. One time, it couldn't handle the magical energy I poured into a swing and crumbled to dust..."
"Maybe the mage who forged it never imagined I'd grow so fast. In the end, he had to take responsibility and plead with the Lady of the Lake for a replacement. That's the sword I hold now."

Legend has it that when wielded with enough magical energy, the Excalibur can obliterate any foe — hence its name. But like many legends woven with contradiction, its true power lies not in the blade, but in the scabbard that shields it.

"Only something that can protect all is worthy of wielding the power to destroy all.
"No matter how sharp the blade, how swift the arrow — they only protect the companions when they strike down or drive off the threat.
"In short, if a weapon causes both ally and enemy to perish, it protects nothing. And a king, who is also a weapon of the people, is no exception."

What makes an ideal king?
What makes a mighty king?
Some have defeated every foe beneath the heavens. Some have amassed all the wealth in the world. Some have conquered all lands... And yet, in the end, the nations they vowed to protect dissolved like reflections on rippling water, lost to the currents of time and legend.

"For a long time, I lived in the shadow of losing my scabbard.
"But later, I came to realize something...
"If I can't find something that can take its place, then fate will never return it to me."

"It's not some grand revelation," the girl says with a quiet smile. "It simply means... Servant and Master must learn to treat each other as equals and support one another."

Before she ever became a king, the girl once wandered her homeland freely. Back then, the world felt newly born. Unknown flowers bloomed in quiet valleys, nameless streams shimmered beneath the early spring sun. To her, many things had no names. She could only point and ask questions, again and again, to a certain knowledgeable companion.
Feeding the horses, chopping firewood, running until breathless... Her familiar life was about to draw to a close. But she didn't mind. Each night, she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of the adventures yet to come.

"A true king doesn't live that way.
"A king must never stray from the castle, and that castle isn't made of stone or brick. Its foundation is the people's trust.
"A king must not long for adventure. Every choice must come from deliberation, free from the pull of personal desire as much as possible.
"A king must not pursue a life of their own. A king stands as the nation's symbol, and in every word they speak, no matter to whom, they must carry the strength to lead."

To most, such a role would be an unbearable weight. But the mage who discovered the girl had a discerning eye — she took on the role with ease. Even presenting herself as a man raised no suspicion. Though, of course, a touch of magecraft helped with that.

"The funny thing is, her troubles didn't come from being bound by these rules.
"It is quite the opposite — what she struggles with most is the loss of all her restraint.
"Ah... I know, that's probably hard to grasp. Maybe it's better to explain with a more familiar example."

At the edge of the cosmos lies a planet ravaged by harsh weather, where endless threats loom over humanity's fragile home. To protect it, the people appointed a "king," and scheduled her every hour from dawn to dusk. And in doing so, the planet became one, united and ordered. Their efforts to defend their world fell into place with perfect precision.

Years had passed when the king discovered blatant gaps appearing in her schedule. Though she felt rest was a luxury she couldn't afford, everyone around her offered various explanations. With her sharp intuition, she pierced through their words to the underlying truth: "We no longer know what more we can do to make tomorrow better than today."

"To outside observers, the king seemed finally free to pursue her desires.
"Yet the moment she considered her options, she realized that perhaps every choice she could now make was somehow wrong.
"This is a terrifying negative spiral — the more thoughts you have, the fewer who truly understand your burden."

This curse followed the king to her grave. Her most trusted knightLancelot parted ways with her, while her most promising adopted childMordred drew steel against her.
The kingdom she raised to greatness ultimately met its downfall through her own hands.

"If only someone more worthy had taken the throne." Such was her self-judgment in her dying breath.
But rest assured. The girl she is now no longer scrutinizes herself through such harsh eyes.

"If we consider the outcome, then everything transformed when I participated in that fateful Holy Grail War.
"But please understand — the Holy Grail War was just an opportunity —
"It stopped you in your headlong rush, allowing you to finally see the beauty that had always surrounded you.
"I am still the king, and this is just another method of fulfilling my duty.
"Like the flowers of spring... by the time you notice their beauty, you're usually only on time to witness them withering. Yet thankfully, though flowers eventually fade to soil, the branches that produced the bloom endure.
"These branches, full of promise, will forever await the next springutopia's arrival."