Link vs Saber

Interlude
Wiz: Wielding holy blades and serving as paragons of justice, these two knights in shining armor have stared evil right in the face, fought their inner most demons and no matter how hard life gets and when all hope seems to be lost, they will never give up.

Boomstick: Like Arturia Pendragon, King of Knights.

Wiz: Link, the Hero of Hyrule.

Boomstick: He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick

Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, skills and backgrounds to find out who would win .... a DEATH BATTLE!

Saber
Wiz: The only child of Uther Pendragon, the King of Britain, Arturia Pendragon had cast aside her humanity, disguised herself as a man, and accepted the burden of ruling Britain as King Arthur. Boomstick: So in this world, King Arthur was a.... girl? Wiz: But though she proved to be a fair and just king, Camelot was poisoned from within by treachery, falling eventually to ruin, and the king was mortally wounded at the battle of Camlann. Yet, as she lay dying, Arturia made a plea to the world and became the Servant Saber for the Fourth Holy Grail War, seeking the Grail to save the kingdom she had failed. Boomstick: Fast-forwarding a couple of centuries, she happened to be summoned by Shirou Emiya, a near-ordinary high-school student who happened to know a little bit of magic from his late father. And with a good helping of pure dumb luck, he succeeded and was bonded to her as her master. Wiz: Being a Saber, Arturia excels in many areas of fighting and has a very high magic resistance. She is often considered the best Servant type, but due to Shirou's shortcomings as a Master, she cannot reach her full potential. Boomstick: Saber is proficient with all weapons, ridiculously strong and has reflexes so fast she can dodge attacks going into the massively hypersonic range! She is also one hell of a tough customer, being able to survive city busting attacks, magical projectiles exploding right in her face and beatdowns from Servants many times stronger than she is.

Wiz: Saber is never without her Noble Phantasms, symbols of Heroic Spirits which represent their legend. These crystallized mysteries most often take the forms of weapons, but not always. Noble Phantasms can not only be support items, but also even abstract concepts such as abilities or curses. Noble Phantasms can be activated by channeling prana -- magical energy -- into them and invoking their true names.

Boomstick: Invisible Air's main purpose is to make Saber's sword invisible by surrounding it with light distorting wind, but it also has a secondary ability where the stored wind can be discharged as a short wind razor attack.

Wiz: Her other Noble Phantasm, "Excalibur, The Sword of Promised Victory". The legendary sword of King Arthur, Excalibur is nearly as famous as Saber herself. It is the pinnacle of holy swords, created from the collective wishes of mankind and effectively forged within the planet itself before it was collected by the Fair Folk. It briefly passed into the hands of mankind when it was bestowed upon Arturia by the Lady of the Lake after the traditional sword of the Kings of Britain -- Caliburn -- was broken.

As a celestial sword, Excalibur possesses the divine protection necessary to withstand Saber's magical energy-fuelled attacks, converting her prana into photoelectric energy which can be released at whatever intensity she chooses.

Boomstick: This baby is ranked A++ and at full power, can release blasts of destructive power capable of annihilating an entire city! Now where can I get a sword like that? Saber's ultimate Noble Phantasm, Avalon is basically the ultimate defense, as it allows her to negate pretty much any attack and increases her healing capacity to insane levels.

Wiz: But like the light that shines brightest, there is the shadow that grows longer as you get closer to the light. After being exposed to the Holy Grail's curse, Saber gained the ability to transform into state where she gains several powerful new abilities and her personality shifts to the one of an cold blooded killer.

Boomstick: As Saber Alter, she is practically immortal, strong enough to nearly send Archer flying from a successful parry and her Excalibur Morgan completely shamed the previously shown version of the same Noble Phantasm. Even Berserkcales did not stand a chance against her this way despite the fact that he was stronger than her.

Boomstick: Arturia is supposedly the strongest Saber, which is supposedly the strongest class, but she is inferior to Berserker and little more than an ant to Gilgamesh, and routinely gets wrecked by other Servants, to the point where Caster, the one class the Saber class should never even be able to lose to defeated her in one of the Bad Ends, even without backup from Kuzuki.

Wiz: The reason she is called the "strongest" servants, is because the Saber class are usually the most well-rounded in terms of physical statistics and the Saber-Class Servants manage to survive to the end of the Grail War in all past Holy Grail Wars.

Boomstick: With a proper Master to empower her, she's one of the best Servants around, matched only by the likes of Herakles and outshone only by the likes of Gilgamesh. However, with that douchecanoe, Shirou as her Master she has to struggle in every fight.

Wiz: Arturia also knows some decisions she makes are going to screw her over, yet she feels bound by her honor and rules of fair play. As an example, she charged a temple single handed after everyone agreed it was suicide to do so, was commanded not to go and was perfectly aware that at best she would be severely wounded.

Boomstick: I won't be too surprised if her stupid code of honour gets her killed in this fight.

Wiz: Wielding the holy sword Excalibur as her Noble Phantasm, Arturia is a knight first and foremost, exceptionally skilled in swordsmanship and riding, and will always act in accordance with the chivalric virtues she held to so dearly in her mortal life.

(Saber: It is the sacred duty of a knight to act in accordance with the virtues of chivalry, and the sacred duty of a king to serve the people with just laws and actions, in humility and mercy.)

Link
Wiz: Though he originally had simple dreams of becoming a Skyloft Knight, fate had a greater destiny in mind for Link. Chosen by the goddess Hylia as her mortal champion, his quest to find his lost childhood friend would take him across the length and breadth of the land that would someday become Hyrule.

Boomstick: And an epic generational saga spanning several decades!

Wiz: Despite his effeminate looking appearance, Link, is a seasoned adventurer, is stronger, faster, and tougher than an average human. In at least one case, he was able to overpower  Ganondorf  in a contest of strength.

Boomstick: Every hero's got their shtick-- a certain mode of dispensing justice that sets him or her apart from all the other heroes out there. The Belmonts have a whip. Leon S. Kennedy keeps a shotgun handy. Mario jumps on people's heads. Sonic's got the whole speed thing. As for the Hero of Time himself, he's got a big, bad arsenal of evil-eradicating weapons at his Hylian fingertips.

Wiz: Throughout his travels Link has amassed quite the array of gadgets, tools, weapons, and relics to help him in his travels, and seems to have an infallible knack for figuring out how to use them.

IDW!Starscream: But arguably his deadliest weapon is the Fierce Deity’s Mask. When activated Link is given an almighty god-like form capable of annihilating a being like Majora with ease.

Boomstick: With the power of an almighty god on your side, Fierce Deity's Mask is all kinds of awesome. Link gets a kickass sword that allows him to spam a beam that is almost guaranteed to hit, capable of extreme rapid fire and attacks from all sides!

IDW!Starscream: With the blessed Master Sword and the guidance of Hylia herself, he's convinced that there's no challenge he'll turn down, if it means saving Zelda and Hyrule.

(Link: You use me when it suits you, truly… but, right now, it goes without saying — my spirit will always stand with my friends!)

DEATH BATTLE!
It was a beautiful, peaceful night.

A silent night for this centuries-old English forest.

The forest was almost completely devoid of life. Birds were sleeping in oak trees, badgers were curled up in their burrows and the bears that roamed the forest were fast asleep, hibernating until spring arrived. A sheet of virgin snow blanketed the tree tops in a thick layer of brilliant white frozen crystals. The wind blew softly, causing the ancient trees to sway and creak rhythmically in the bitter cold air.

On a hill overlooking the forest, an ancient castle lorded over the forest. It's mighty stone skeleton dominated the landscape and had survived countless centuries of exposure to the elements - a powerful symbol of the time when English kings had commanded the world. Lit by the moonlight, the castle ruins seemed rehabilitated to its majestic days when it stood guard over the countryside. The moon's radiance spilled through a break in the clouds, illuminating the turrets and sculpted ramparts of the fanciful medieval style castle.

The unmistakable sound of clinking armor reverberated through the castle ruins, as a noble young lady, dressed in blue, nonchalantly paced around the castle's courtyard. She was wearing a blindingly brilliant suit of alabaster armor that marked her out distinctively from the darkness of the night. The girl's light blonde hair was tied up in a delicate fashion and a royal blue bow adorned it. In her right hand was a gust of magical wind, that swirled around in regular time. The girl paused to drink in the cool, sharp and flavourful night air, sprinkled with the fresh smell of pine and a wintery chill.

The brilliant majestic glow of the moon bathed the young woman in its light as she became one with the peaceful atmosphere shrouding the ruins. A thin coat of shimmering frost on her armor sparkled and glinted in the soft white glow of the moon. Suddenly, the peace and serenity occupying the ruins was disturbed by the sound of leather boots slamming against the stone pavement of the courtyard. Arturia Pendragon forced her closed eyes open to see a young man clad in a dark green tunic and creamy white trousers calmly stride towards her.

The boy appeared to be no older than sixteen and had a medium sized, dark blue shield with a winged crest strapped across his left arm. A green Phrygian cap sat the back of the boy's head, revealing a head full of blonde hair and a pair of dull brown leather boots protected his feet from the hard, stone surface of the courtyard.

This boy was Link, the Hero of Time and the champion of Hyrule.

Several seconds passed, as their eyes locked- no movement, no flinching or blinking. In those few seconds, the Proud King of Knights and the Hero of Time engaged in a conversation.

A conversation without verbal interaction.

Without those words, they silently came to an agreement, sealed by Link drawing the Master Sword and pointing it directly at Saber. A tense atmosphere settled over the ruins, as a cool wind caressed Link and Saber's skin gently, blowing back their blond hair in the wind. Saber raised her invisible blade and her burning emerald green eyes met with the Hero of Time's sapphire blue eyes. As their gazes locked, the two heroes readied their respective swords and prepared themselves for combat.

Only one of them would walk away from this battle alive.

FIGHT!

== Results == Boomstick: *sniffs* We sure slammed on the feels button hard, didn't we?

Wiz: Both Link and Saber are accomplished adventurers and have several incredible feats to their names. But only one of them could walk away alive and as much we hate to admit it, Link outclassed Saber in nearly every single category across the board.

Boomstick: Speed? Link's fast enough to keep pace with lightning-timing Onox, who can move at speeds of Mach 938.91! Strength? Come on, people! This wasn't even a contest, without the Golden Gauntlets, Link is strong to lift and throw an 119 ton stone statue!

Wiz: Link has also been in the adventuring game longer than Saber has. He's been fighting monsters and the forces of Ganondorf for over 10 generations or 250 years. While, Saber has in two Holy Grail Wars and that's just about it.

Boomstick: There's also the fact that Link is packing much more weaponry than just a sword. He's got a bow, a shield, a Hookshot, a bunch of town-busting bombs, a city-busting hammer, and a boomerang. Saber just has an invisible sword that fire off beams of light, blasts of air and a scabbard that makes her invincible... for like ten seconds.

Wiz: Speaking of weaponry, the Master Sword trumps Excalibur in offensive options and has more versatile uses than repelling evil. Yes, Excalibur boasts greater destructive capacity and can fire off Kamehameha-stye energy beams, but the things the Master Sword can do are ridiculous. It can grant immunity towards certain dark magic, fire destructive air slashes, absorb energy in various forms and dispel magical barriers that are seemingly unbreakable.

Boomstick: In other words, it's like comparing a combat knife to a penknife. One is better suited to stabbing the shit out of people while the other is designed to work in a variety of situations and more options for torturing the fuck out of people!

Wiz: I'm...going to pretend... that I didn't hear that.

Boomstick: What? I'm just joking! Anyway, thanks to the Hylian Shield, Saber had little means of penetrating Link's defenses, due to the fact that it's basically indestructible and she is lacking in serious firepower... apart from Excalibur, which couldn't even put a dent in it.

Wiz: But, what ultimately won Link the match and lead to Saber's defeat were two crucial factors.

Firstly, the differences in their respective mentalities. Saber is a knight first and foremost, meaning that she is a big believer in the concept of honor and refuses use to use underhand tactics in battle. It's the sort of stupidity that would get one killed in - say - Game of Thrones and pragmatic opponents would take advantage of in an instant.

Boomstick: Link on the other hand? He doesn't give a flipping fuck about that chivalry and honor bullshit. Multiple generations of adventuring have taught him that the best way to kill a someone in his way is to shoot at their weak spot or find a flaw in their strategy!

Wiz: Secondly, the vast differences in their "Super Modes" power. When Saber transforms into Saber Alter, she sacrifices her immense speed for raw strength and power. Link, with the Fierce Deity's Mask gets a huge boost in speed, strength, and durability.

Boomstick: And sure, Saber Alter one-shotting Hercules, who is basically the Nasuverse's equivalent of the Hulk and Doomsday, can instantly revive himself twelve times in a row and is strong enough to be able to hold up the sky single-handedly is an awesome feat. But, Fierce Deity Link has a feat under his belt that eclipses every single feat performed by Saber Alter...

Wiz: He is fought all three forms of Majora's Mask on equal footing and won. Not impressive you say? Majora's Mask was capable of using its magic to pull Termina's moon from its orbit and wipe out the planet's surface. Fans with too much time on their hands and who are extremely nerdy have calculated the exact amount of energy released upon the moon striking Termina. Such estimates – believe it or not – range from 25.813 petatons to 1.087 exatons. That's basically more than enough energy to destroy Oceania, the smallest continent on Earth several times over.

Boomstick: And let's not forget that Fierce Deity Link is immensely superior to the Four Giants in strength, ''who held up that goddamn moon without even straining! Wiz: ''It's basically safe to say that the second Link and Saber accessed their respective transformations, the battle was all but won.

Boomstick: Looks like Saber went knighty-knight!

Wiz: The winner is Link.