Avenger (Fate/hollow ataraxia)

Avenger is a fictional character from the Japanese visual novel "Fate/hollow ataraxia" by TYPE-MOON.

The eighth servant class, whose true identity is initially believed to be Angra Mainyu, the spirit of pure evil that was accidentally summoned during the 3rd Holy Grail War and had been imprisoned within the tainted Grail ever since. He usually has a lazy and laid-back attitude, lacking any sense of justice.

As a combatant, he seems to be the weakest of all Servants in every parameter. His Sword Breaker is weak and unreliable, while his skill in manipulating his twin daggers Tawrich and Zarich as melee weapons is only average compared to other servants. Even his Noble Phantasm poses little threat and his master Bazett has proven herself to be physically stronger and a better fighter.

Noble Phantasm

*Void Avesta: "False Copy of Inscribed Creation 偽り写し記す万象" :Rank: :Type: Anti-Unit.
:An ability that can only be used as a counterattack. Avenger is able to reflect all damage his opponents deal to him back at them, not as physical wounds but rather as the pain resulting from them. The main problem with this skill is that it is not automatic, but needs to be consciously activated, meaning that Avenger not only needs to be harmed, but remain alive and conscious for it take effect, thus making it useless against any higher-level attacks. It functions principally as a distraction or hindrance, only made truly useful by Bazett's ability to finish off the enemy.

True Identity

Initially believed to be the Persian God of Darkness Angra Mainyu. In reality, he was no more than an ordinary villager sacrificed as an evil demon by his village. One day he was randomly chosen as the "source of all evil in the world" by his villagers, and was tortured and sacrificed in the following rituals. The villagers believed that the only way to realize the true goodness of human beings was to put all the evil onto one person and blame him as the true source of any human evil. His forceful sacrifice eased the confused minds of his people, which despite being unintentional, still earned him the right to be called a Heroic Spirit. However, from his own point of view he only feels anger and hatred towards the world and the people that mercilessly assassinated him.

However, as the time passed by, as he saw many rises and fall of generations, he realized that while he still hated humans for what they did, he still loved the world. In the end, he accepts his role for the humanity, even if it means to be just the blame for their wrongdoings.

Role

During Fate/stay night, Avenger was trapped in the wish-granting spiritual Holy Grail, and his influence was the one that tainted it. After falling during the 3rd Grail War, he was trapped in the Grail; sensing its tainted state during the 4th Grail War, Kiritsugu Emiya ordered his Servant, Saber to destroy it. However, during the 5th, he was finally reborn as the Grail thanks to its immense mana. At the end of the war, Shirō Emiya destroys of the physical vessel for the Grail to prevent anymore disasters that would be brought on by Avenger's presence. Left to expire without accomplishing its role to fulfill a wish, Avenger as the Grail eventually found a wish in the dying Bazett Fraga McRemitz. They formed a contract: Avenger, to continue to exist and accomplish its new role of granting a wish, and Bazett, to stay alive even in a vegetative state.

However, six months after the 5th war, Caren Ortensia came to Fuyuki City, found and nursed the dying Bazett. With Bazett physically recovering, Avenger found that he needed to support her returning consciousness as well as her physical state. To accomplish this, he recreates the 5th Holy Grail War within a four day temporal loop; however, the war created is limited by Avenger's knowledge of events - he recreates the 5th war based on his memories of the 3th Grail War and memories of Bazett's limited participation in the 5th war while using the participants of the 5th War to fulfill the remaining roles.

While he acts as Bazett's Servant, Avenger, by night, the spirit takes the form of Shirō Emiya by day. As Shirō, he comes to care for other people, especially the mysterious Caren Ortensia, and enjoys his daily life, but remains unaware of his true identity and acts and thinks like Shirō. The spirit later explains that because Avenger himself is "0" and Shirō is "1"; adding "0" to "1" will continue to equal to one, regardless of how many times "0" is added. Discrepencies in identity result when "Shirō" realizes the temporal loop and attempts the fix the problem while Avenger begins to fill up the contents of the false Grail in order to see more and more new events which cannot occur beyond the limit of four days. As Shirō, he feels he must fix the loop and as Avenger, he continues to fill the Grail, fulling realizing that by seeking more new events, the Grail would be completed and he would return to the void.

When Bazett realizes the false reality of the temporal loop, she refuses to finish it because she believes that she will die once it ends and that Avenger would permanently return to nothingness. Bazett desperately tries to continue the loop to save them from their fates, but is finally stopped by Avenger. With some help from Caren, Avenger, as Shirō, realizes he is responsible for the abnormal loop and chooses to end it. Reaching the Grail while the other Masters and Servants fight off monsters born from the remnants of Avenger when the Grail was destroyed, he frees Bazett and returns to the void.