Kei Munakata: The killer who doesn't kill
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Shirou Emiya: A magus who states the obvious
Kei Munakata[]
| “ | If you kill a person, they will die.
— Kei Munakata
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| “ | Although he has that calm and cool face, he's one crazy guy.
— Kouki Akune
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Kei Munakata's Abnormality awoke at a young age; while he was walking through a city, he realized how fragile life is and experienced an overwhelming impulse to kill. He does not actually want to kill others, however, and so isolated himself afterwards, putting on a fake persona of viciousness and even creating a false file on Japan's Most Wanted list. He joined the Flask Plan and the Thirteen Party in order to try and find someone who would be friends with and trust him, despite his killing impulse. While there, he was taught the use of the Hidden Weapons skill by Maguro Kurokami.
A few years later, Medaka Kurokami and her Student Council discover the Flask Plan and the ambitions of the school's chairman. They break into the Flask Plan's laboratory to stop it, and come across Kei on the second floor. He strikes by surprise, coming closer to victory over Medaka than any other antagonist in the story, bar the final. Zenkichi steps up to challenge him, and they fight. Zenkichi realizes that he doesn't actually want to kill people, and uses this to win, after which the two become friends. He later sides with them against the Plus Six, and fights evenly with them as part of the Loser Team. He, like the others, is overpowered by Misogi Kumagawa.
After this, he starts training and regularly hanging out with Zenkichi. He grows skilled enough that, when he rematches Kumagawa, he not only fights on even ground but wins, using his newfound skills, Abnormality, and his cunning. After killing Kumagawa, he loses his abnormality. This match takes place slightly before his rematch with Kumagawa. He next appears when Iihiko goes on a rampage, stabbing him repeatedly. Ten years later, he has taken over the Munakata family and makes a living by hunting demons.
| “ | He pulled another sword out of his ass! How many does he have in there?
— Zenkichi Hitoyoshi
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Kei's main combat ability is known as "Hidden Weapons." Taught to him by Maguro, it has evolved from its original purpose. He is now able to conceal immense numbers of nearly any weapon on his person, from knives, swords, and axes to spears, bazookas, and Gatling guns. There's no apparent limit in size or weight to what he can stow. While having so many weapons does slow him down, he is naturally fast enough that he still moves at peak human speed (see the Super Speed tab for more of an explanation).
Due to having so many weapons, Kei is principally a "wielder", not a "user". He has no attachment to any of his weapons, nor any special skill at using them. He will not hesitate to discard his weapons if they put him at a disadvantage.
| “ | The same way you guys think of these things as nothing, they all lead to killing for me
— Kei Munakata
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Kei's Abnormality is his "Killing Impulse." He has a natural instinct and ability to kill. Said instinct is so powerful that he is barely able to interact with others, as he has to continually fight off the urge to kill them. His instincts are so well-developed that he can kill with his bare hands, and can even kill sound. As an instinctive expert in how to kill, he is also an expert in how not to die. His abnormality allows him to know when his own life is in danger, as well as how to dodge.
Despite his abnormality, however, Kei does not wish to kill people. He uses his abilities to inflict non-lethal injuries instead, striking where his instincts tell him not to.
| “ | No one can catch up to Munakata-kun when he moves at full speed
— Misogi Kumagawa
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Shirou Emiya[]
| “ | People die when they are killed.
— Shirou Emiya
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| “ | Just because you're correct doesn't mean you're right!
— Shirou
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Shirou lived a relatively normal, happy life for his first five years. All that changed abruptly when Kiristugu Emiya won the Fourth Grail War and rejected the grail, causing a massive fire that wiped out his residential area. He wandered through the devastation for hours upon end, watching people die senseless deaths. Kiritsugu himself eventually rescued him, and implanted Avalon inside him to prevent him from dying. Kiritsugu would later adopt Shirou, raising him as his son and teaching him magecraft. Five years later, Kiritsugu would pass away, leaving his dream of being a hero to Shirou.
Shirou had developed a more twisted personality than Kiritsugu, and tried to protect and help everyone. After about five more years practicing magecraft and fixing heaters, the Fifth Grail War starts. At the outset, he gets attacked by Lancer and dies. Rin comes across him as he's dying and uses magic to heal him, making him basically a zombie. He summons Saber, and enters the war. During the course of the Unlimited Blade Works route, he allies with Rin for the duration, which eventually develops into a romance. Over the course of the war and through his interaction with Archer, he learns Projection and matures.
After defeating most of the other Servants, Archer and Shirou fight. Shirou wins, as his determination to uphold his ideals firmly puts him on a different path than his future self. He and Rin then form a contract so that he can use his reality marble at will, and they confront Gilgamesh, who is trying to summon a corrupted grail to kill off humanity. Shirou invokes Unlimited Blade Works and wins, while Rin rescues Shinji, who had been forcibly made into the core of the Grail. After they graduate, Shirou follows Rin to the Clock Tower and beyond, as her apprentice/manservant/sex slave.
| “ | TRACE ON!
— Shirou Emiya
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Projection (Trace Version) is the personal variation of Projection that Shirou and Archer use, which is also known as Tracing. Any component of this magic requires Shiro to say "Trace On" to activate it. Tracing reproduces the shape and substance of an object as well as its entire history. Products made with Tracing are slightly inferior to the originals, as information is gathered by sight alone; Noble Phantasms, for example, are degraded by an entire rank. The only exception to this is Avalon, which Shirou can replicate perfectly. Objects need to be seen directly in order to be traced, and objects seen through shared memories can be considered "seen".
Trace Version requires extra effort on the part of Shirou compared to normal magic, and so can produce stable ordinary items that can remain in the world for hours after their creation. Additionally, when replicating Noble Phantasms it is possible to faithfully copy and use their special abilities, though creating powerful Noble Phantasms is beyond Shirou for the simple reason that he doesn't have enough mana. This is only possible in the first place because Tracing is a component of Unlimited Blade Works.
One major weakness is that if the image of the projection is interrupted in any way, the item will be physically weak and shatter upon physical impact.
| “ | Strengthening basic components...
— Shirou Emiya
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Reinforcement is the easiest and the most difficult Magecraft, with the purpose of pushing the target to its utmost limit, increasing its metaphysical attributes. It floods the target's metaphysical structure with mana, increasing and strengthening its abilities. This requires very fine control, and failure will cause the reinforcement to be treated as a "poison" and be rejected by the target, often breaking it if not causing other, irreparable damage. The exact nature of the enhancement varies depending on the object; a knife, for example, will become sharper, food will become more nourishing, etc.
Living things are the hardest to reinforce, as they naturally reject this type of magic. Shirou is capable of putting reinforcement to multiple uses, such as: strengthening a poster to act as a shield, repairing a soccer ball, or fixing a heater. Reinforcement can be used on items Shirou has Traced or simply pulled while within Unlimited Blade Works.
| “ | King of Heroes, do you have enough swords?
— Shirou Emiya
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Unlimited Blade Works is Shirou's ultimate and true magic ability. It is a Reality Marble, basically a sort of personal alternate dimension with specific properties that he can manifest into the real world. Unlike most Reality Marbles, Shirou is so in tune with it that he suffers no penalties from The World when he manifests it. In order to activate it, he must recite the following chant:
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.
Notes[]
- As neither warrior wishes to kill, battle is to either a KO or until one side is too injured to continue fighting.
- Kei will not use his guns and explosives in this match. He may use them in the sim, but for voting purposes he doesn't have them.
- Votes with good edges or at least 10 relevant sentences count as a full vote
- Votes with meh edges or at least 5 relevant sentences count as a half vote
- All others count as no vote
- Well-reasoned rebuttals can lower the count of a vote by half.
- Well-reasoned counter-rebuttals can restore the half-point.
- I have the final say in how much a vote counts for. If I feel a vote merits counting differently than these guidelines, I will do so.
- Voting ends when the battle's finished