Description[]
Fate Stay/Night vs Fire Emblem Awakening. They went down in legend as great heroes, but their failure in life lead to a death they still rose from. Who's legendary blade shall carry them through this fight?
Interlude[]
(*Cues: Wiz & Boomstick - Brandon Yates*)
Wiz: Blessed by dragons with their status as warriors second to none, these two kings are legendary for their skill in battle, and their ability to inspire has left them an immortal legacy.
Boomstick: But today's the day we finally see who's the true kings of legends.
Wiz: Artoria Pendragon, the daughter of King Uther and iconic Saber servant from Fate Stay Night.
Boomstick: Chrom, the descendant of the Hero King Marth and legendary hero from Fire Emblem Awakening.
Wiz: As both Saber and Chrom are a part of vast series full of several spin-offs with debatable canonicity, for this battle we will only be taking into account their original stories and anything directly connected to them. There will be no Fate/Grand Order, no Fire Emblem Warriors, no Fate/Extella, and no Fire Emblem Heroes.
Boomstick: It's just the original stories today! He’s Wiz and I’m Boomstick!
Wiz: And it’s our job to analyze their weapons, armor, and skills to find out who would win a Death Battle!
Saber[]
Wiz: The 5th Century, still the early days of human history. The Kingdom of Britain was in a constant state of chaos and war faced with the threat of the Roman Empire and a White Dragon who would spell Britain's demise. The King of the time, Uther Pendragon, chose to heed the warnings of his court sage Merlin, and had a child who was destined to end the conflict and unite the Kingdom. That child was Arthur Pendragon.
Boomstick: Except, not really, because Uthur actually had a daughter named Artoria. But hey, who’s to say chick’s can’t be kings? Anyways, just like my dad, Uther gave Artoria away, in this case to Merlin, who then promptly turned around and gave her to Sir Ector, just like step-dad.
Wiz: Being raised with Sir Kay as a brother-figure, Artoria spent her entire life training to be a Knight under Sir Ector’s tutelage, mentally preparing herself to become something no longer human so she could become the perfect king, until the day finally came when she pulled the Sword in the Stone Caliburn from it’s resting spot, cementing her place as the once and future king.
Boomstick: Following ten years of more training and acquiring a new magic spear in Rhongin...Rhiang...Rhonga...
Wiz: Rhongomyniad.
Boomstick: Yeah, that thing. Anyways, she used the new magic spear to kill King Vortigern, taking the throne of Britain.
Wiz: Under Artoria’s rule with the guise of being Arthur, Britain prospered. Attempts of invasion were all foiled by Artoria directly as she fought on the front lines alongside the Knights of the Round Table. To many, she was the perfect King.
Boomstick: You guys know how the Arthurian legends go, the foundation of Camelot, Knights of the Round, Caliburn broke, Lady of the Lake, Excaliburn, Guinevere shacked up with Lancelot, Camelot fell, fought Mordred, Artoria died, the end.
Wiz: Except, not really, as on her death bed Artoria made a pact with the world, a desperate plea to be granted the chance to claim the Holy Grail and change both her and Britain's fate by selecting a different person to be the one destined to pull Caliburn. Thus, Artoria's consciousness was frozen in time as she ascended to become a Heroic Spirit.
Boomstick: And I gotta say, probably the best choice she could’ve made. As a Servant, Artoria is summoned into Holy Grail Wars by a Magus to fight at their side against six others. Each Servant is divided into one of Seven Classes, but Artoria manifests as a Saber, which while not my favorite because they aren’t packing heat, are still pretty powerful since she still has superhuman strength, speed, and endurance.
Wiz: As a Saber, Artoria has access to special skills related to said class. Her Magic Resistance skill is Rank A, granting her nigh invulnerability to all but the strongest of magic based attacks, and near immunity to the inferior modern Magecraft.
Boomstick: She’s also got the Riding Skill, Rank B, since she rode horses a lot, which means she rides horses really, really good.
Wiz: Actually Boomstick, the Riding Skill applies to not just horses, but all manner of vehicles. Cars, Motorcycles, she could even fly a jet-liner all by herself. Artoria also has three personal skills, each based on ability she had in life. Her Rank B Charisma represents her ability to rule and lead her country, but it’s not higher because she lacked the capacity to take over the world.
Boomstick: Her Instinct skill lets her always see the best possible course of action to take during a fight, and it’s pretty damn useful since it’s at Rank A, since with it she can survive a blow from the unsurvivable Gáe Bolg and dodge the Tsubame Gaeshi.
Wiz: However, Artoria’s most important skill is A Rank Mana Burst, which her entire fighting style revolves around. Mana Burst focuses entirely on her immense magical power being able to reference her body, and Mana Burst is so powerful it causes flashes of light simply by Artoria clashing her balde with an enemy’s.
Boomstick: And what else could that sword be then none-other than the legendary Excalibur, gifted to Artoria by the Lady of the Lake! Excalibur is a legendary holy sword forged by six great fairies and considered to be a weapon on-par with the gods themselves.
Wiz: It’s also the only weapon capable of channeling Artoria’s true power, hence why it has remained her weapon of choice all these years later. By combining the power of Excalibur with Mana Burst, Artoria can throw beams of mana outwards as projectiles or enhance her physical strikes to send massive shockwaves upon colliding with an enemy. It is the ultimate Noble Phantasm.
Boomstick: Noble Whu-now?
Wiz: The physical manifestation of Artoria’s legends and accomplishments as a Heroic Spirit.
Boomstick: Ah, so that’s why when she goes full power, the result is a-
Boomstick: -GIANT SWORD BEAM OF DEATH! Yeah, I take back what I said, I’ll take any Saber who can do that!
Wiz: It should be noted Excalibur can only unleash the full extent of its power against a threat that threatens the planet itself, but even disregarding that it’s power is still monstrous. However, because Excalibur is such a famous Noble Phantasm, it’s rather dangerous to be used so indiscriminately in battle. As such, Artoria uses a special type of magic bestowed onto her by Merlin dubbed Invisible Air, which shrouds Excalibur in a sheath made of compressed Wind Magic, turning the sword invisible.
Boomstick: You’d think having an Invisible sword would be dumb, but it’s actually really useful since it’s hard to fight a duel when you can’t see the length of your opponents longsword. HA! DICK JOKE!
Wiz: You're a degenerate. But, Invisible Air does have it’s other uses, such as forming a massive hammer of wind with Strike Air, or being used as a vortex of wind to blast Artoria forwards at high speeds.
Boomstick: She also wears kickass magic armor created that boosts her defense, and if it ever gets damaged, she can spend a little extra mana to repair it.
Wiz: With just her holy sword, armor, and sheath of wind, Artoria partook in the fourth Fuyuki Holy Grail War alongside notable Assassin and Magus Killer Kiritsugu Emiya and his wife, Irisviel Von Einzbern.
Boomstick: They...didn’t get along due to a difference in mutual ideals and such, you know cuz he was a badass assassin with guns and explosives and she was a knight with a code of honor and shit. Definitely not mutually compatible.
Wiz: Wow Boomstick, that was...surprisingly profound.
Boomstick: Thanks, something I thought of while drinking a beer this morning.
Wiz: Yeah...that makes sense. But anyways, Artoria and Kiritsugu did eventually make it to the end of the war, defeating the other five servants and masters and being left against only two other opponents, Kieri Kotonmine and the Archer Servant Gilgamesh. Despite Artoria’s best attempts, she could not defeat Gilgamesh, and she was returned to the hill on camalon to wait another ten years before being summoned back for the Fifth Holy Grail War.
Boomstick: Ironically, by Shirou Emiya, the adopted son of Kiritusuu, who was like, the complete opposite of his dad in every way. So, a horrible Magus with poor mana control and a dumbass.
Wiz: Boomstick...
Boomstick: Well okay, Shirou isn’t a complete-dumbass, he is a pretty crafty fighter. Plus he did kind of have a Noble Phantasm inside him that helped him beat that dragon-chick.
Wiz: Specifically, Avalon, the Scabbard of Excalibur. An EX Rank Noble Phantasm known for being the ultimate defensive ability. It can shield Artoria from attacks and even heal her wounds from the gravest of injuries, being able to single handedly turn the tide of any battle. Though, Avalon isn’t perfect, as it can take several minutes for Artoria to recover from more serious injuries.
Boomstick: See, Avalon was placed inside Shirou by Kiritsugu to save his life when Fuyuki city kind of...blew up. But he ended up giving it back to her, since she kind of needed it more at that point.
Wiz: Which means that unlike Excalibur, which is technically a perfect recreation made by the Throne of Heroes, Avalon is actually the genuine original artifact that Artoria once wielded in life. Representing the utopia that King Arthur retired to after his death, so long as Artoria carries Avalon in battle, no fight is unwinnable.
Boomstick: And though they aren’t standard Noble Phantasms for this iteration of Artoria, other versions of her have wielded Caliburn and the spear that I totally know how to pronounce as their main weapons, so they didn’t become totally obsolete. Hell, the spear itself still exists in the modern world too.
Wiz: It’s pronounced Rhongomyniad Boomstick.
Boomstick: Yeah, well here’s what I think of that. *Middle finger*
Wiz: *Sigh* Well, even with Avalon in hand, none of Artoria’s true power would be able to be called upon without her Magic Core, the heart of the Red Dragon that beats within her.
Boomstick: You...you mean that metaphorically, right?
Wiz: See, unlike a normal mage in Fate who possesses Magic Circuits that flows Mana through their body, Artoria’s Magic Core is literally made from the heart of a dragon, giving her some dragonic attributes. This includes the ability to produce mana at an overwhelming fast rate from actions as simple as breathing, and is how she’s able to power the bigger mana blasts from Excalibur.
Boomstick: Well damn, if having a Dragon’s heart makes her that badass, then I want one.
Wiz: Sure, so long as you don’t mind side effects that include increased vulnerability to dragon-slaying weapons, and on the off-chance she does run out of Mana, it can take a long time to get her going again, though Avalon does somewhat diminish this weakness.
Boomstick: The Fifth Holy Grail War was weird, cuz there were three possible ways it could’ve gone down, but that just means there’s three times the Saber to analyze...wait...there’s three times the Saber to analyze...ugh.
Wiz: Artoria’s skills and power are top-rate as a Servant. She’s fast enough to run up the side of a building, block Archer EMIYA’s arrows that move over ten times the speed of sound, and could even move at Mach 15 during her fight with the Lancer Diarmuid.
Boomstick: She’s endured a beating from Hercules as a Berserker, and has survived getting stabbed by Cú Chulainn’s Gáe Bolg, the spear that basically one-shots you if you aren’t a main character- I mean...have low enough stats...yes.
Wiz: With Excalibur, she was able to release blasts capable of destroying the lesser Holy Grail, and even more impressively, destroy a massive lovecraftian beast created by the Caster Gilles De Rais. Taking into account the monster and water both appearing to vaporize, as well as the volume of the monster, Artoria would be exerting a blaster of over a Hundred and Thirty-One Megatons of TNT, a blast capable of obliterating mountains!
Boomstick: Woah! Don’t fuck with this Saber! Plus, ya know, she's literally King Arthur, so she’s fought and won all the battles he did in the Arthurian Legends. And no, before you asked, we did not calc the Arthurian Legends.
Wiz: Even as just a Servant, Artoria has matched blows with Sir Lancelot as a Berserker, survived battles with the legendary Samurai Sasaki Kojiro, and took on Gilgamesh in a rematch for the ages, just barely surviving his ultimate attack Enuma Elish before ultimately defeating him in one final battle.
Boomstick: That’s around when she realized that you kinda just have to accept that just because you fuck up, that doesn’t mean everything you did was wrong, allowing her to finally find the peace she wanted without the Holy Grail. Good thing too, considering the Grail is kind of a monkey’s paw kind of deal.
Wiz: That’s...actually correct. Artoria came to accept her past, and having achieved the peace she wanted, left the fifth holy grail war behind and returned to Camalan, where she finally passed away in peace and retired to Avalon, where she remained for the rest of eternity until the day would come when her strength would be called upon once again to inspire hope for the world.
Saber: I ask of you, are you my master?
Chrom[]
Wiz: Long ago, there existed a Kingdom known as The Halidom of Ylisse, a nation formed from the Kingdom Altea that was saved and prospered by the Hero King Marth. It’s first Exalt once battled the demonic Fell Dragon known as Grima with the blessing of the Divine Dragon Naga, sealing it away and bringing the world into a state of peace and prosperity.
Boomstick: A thousand years later though, and things aren’t so peaceful. The most recent Exalt had waged a war on the nation Plegia that caused the death of so many soldiers, they had to start recruiting untrained farmhands to keep fighting. Things were looking pretty shitty...until the Exalt died.
Wiz: With the Exalt’s death, his TEN YEAR OLD daughter Emmeryn took the throne as the new Exalt who had to spend the next fifteen years trying to rebuild the country after the senseless war waged on Plegia. To help protect the Kingdom from a rise of brigands and potential attacks from other nations, Emmeryn put together a special sect of their military known as the Shepherds, the most elite forces of Ylisse’s military.
Boomstick: Elite my ass! One of them can’t walk two steps without falling on her god-damn face and another one isn’t even wearing a fucking shirt! But their leader is definitely a badass warrior, the Prince of Ylisse…
Wiz: Chrom.
Wiz: Despite his reckless and headstrong attitude, Chrom was a fairly kind man who fought alongside his friends and allies. Everything changed one day however when Chrom headed down to check on a village that had been having brigand problems with his younger sister Lissa and their retainer Frederick when they stumbled upon a mysterious woman named Robin laying unconscious in a field.
Boomstick: After informing this Robin person that there were, in fact, better places to take a nap then the ground, Chrom immediately turned around and made this weird ground-nap taking person the tactician of his army. What an idiot, who would do something like that?
Wiz: Well Robin actually was an incredibly skilled tactician, and you did exactly that with one of our interns.
Boomstick: Nuh-uh, no I didn’t! Anyways, soon after finding Robin things got pretty bad to Ylisse because Plegia was back with a vengeance, so Chrom had to start fighting to save his country. Good things he and Robin were really fucking strong, because I dunno if they’d have made it otherwise.
Wiz: Having trained with swords for most of his life, Chrom naturally gravitates towards those as his primary weapon. Armor piercing rapiers, quick-cutting katana’s, and the mighty lightning firing Levin Sword. But Chrom is not solely reliant on swords, as he also wields a javelin that he can chuck at enemies or the legendary Gradivus, a lance which has been passed down across generations that can heal him.
Boomstick: He also knows a couple special skills like Sol, an attack that heals him when it hits, and the Luna skill cuts a foe's defense in half, literally even, on account of them being cut in half. He can attack faster with Dual Strike and with Rightful King, he can increase the odds of a skill taking effect.
Wiz: But Chrom’s ultimate weapon is his family heirloom, the legendary Falchion. The Falchion is a mighty sword created from the fang of the Divine Dragon Naga, making it’s blade indestructible. In addition, it possesses the innate ability to slay dragons, likely a magical effect due to what it was forged from.
Boomstick: The Falchion is even capable of choosing who wields it, since it’s magically bonded to the Exalt bloodline like some weird sword-symbiote. Not only do you need to have exalted blood, but the sword itself still needs to find you worthy, otherwise it’s blade will just be dull, which in all honesty is a pretty fucking sweet security system. Need something like that for my shotgun.
Wiz: Chrom also has several special techniques he uses in conjugation with the Falchion, like the hard-hitting Flare Blade, the physics defying Soaring Slash, and his multi-hitting Double Edge Dance, likely inspired by the similar move used by Marth long ago. Armed with the Falchion and with his allies by his side, Chrom led the charge against the invading Plegian forces led by the Mad King Gangrel. Despite their victories, things ultimately changed for the worse when Emmyren was captured by Gangrel...and soon took her own life in an attempt to quell Plegia’s for vengeance.
Boomstick: Woah...but uh...it actually worked, because most of the Plegian forces actually stood down afterwards, allowing Chrom to finally kill Gangrel and avenge his sister.
Wiz: With the war now over, Chrom took over as the Exalt of Ylisse, and eventually found love in the woman who would become his queen whom he had a daughter named Lucina with. While it’s impossible to truly know who his queen was…
Boomstick: Let’s be real, it’s either the amnesiac or the klutz.
Wiz: Two years after the war with Plegia, Chrom rallied his forces once more when Ylisse’s ally nation Regna Ferox was under attack from the forces of Valm, led by Wallhart the Conqueror. Stepping up to battle the mighty King, Chrom brandished the Falchion once again alongside a new relic, the Binding Shield.
Boomstick: The Binding Shield is the sister weapon to the Falchion, a magical shield from another one of Naga’s fangs that serves as the ultimate protection. It can repel attacks from Earth Dragons, and thanks to the five gemstones within it, nullify enemy attacks, heal Chrom’s wounds, raise the power of his attacks and allows him to grow stronger at a faster rate.
Wiz: However, Chrom initially held only one of the five Gemstones, as the first Exalt had chosen to split them up years ago as a way to promote peace across the nations, though he soon began collecting them when he learnt that his daughter Lucina had come back from the future to warn him of his future, that he would be slain in battle and the Fell Dragon would revive to bring ruin to the world.
Boomstick: After getting the second and third gemstones from the Divine Dragon Tiki and Fearox’s East Khan Basilio, Chrom defeated Walhart in an admittedly pretty good boss battle to recover the forth gemstone, and then the Plegian Nation attacked-
Wiz: During the ensuing battle with Plegia’s new king Validar, who just so happened to be Robin’s father, he stole the Binding Shield from Chrom so he could complete it himself and allow Robin to be possessed by Grima. To defeat him, the two came up with a plan. That plan…
Boomstick: Was to let Robin stab him with a magic bolt and fake his death! ...I mean damn, if that isn’t the ultimate display of trust I don’t know what is.
Wiz: Surprisingly...that actually worked. They got the drop on Validar and took him down for good, reclaiming the last Gemstone and completing the Fire Emblem. Things seemed like they were finally over...until they learnt that the Grima from Lucina’s future had come back in time and been pulling the strings since the very beginning, and merged with its counterpart from the past to return to it’s complete form.
Boomstick: Because that makes sense. In order to even stand a chance in putting the mad dragon down, Chrom and company traveled to Mount Prism to commune with the spirit of Naga. And by combining the Falchion with the Binding Shield, which sent him ON FIRE with Naga’s Holy Flame’s to determine if he was pure of heart.
Wiz: And...he was, allowing him to survive Naga’s flames without taking any injuries. Instead, she allowed the full power of the Falchion to awaken, the Exalted Falchion. Aside from being strong enough to kill Grima, who’s true form can casually put out energy worth Three Hundred and Forty Gigatons of TNT, the Exalted Falchion is capable of sealing away evil entities and even passively heals Chrom over time.
Boomstick: It’s also the perfect weapon to combine with Chrom’s ultimate technique, the Aether! First, he dashes in and strikes with Sol, healing himself as he breaks his enemies guard, then lunges in again to strike with Luna to put his enemy down for good!
Wiz: It’s an especially hard technique to avoid given Chrom’s speed, as he can consistently dodge lightning moving over two hundred times the speed of sound even before awakening the Falchion, making Chrom’s Aether a skill capable of ending fights as soon as they begin. With the allies he’d rallied to his side, Chrom struck Grima down, bringing about an age of peace across the nations, but at a cost. Robin had sacrificed their own life to deal the final blow to Grima.
Boomstick: And yet, Chrom never stopped searching for his lost friend, tirelessly looking for the friend who’d helped him through so much to become a better king, and eventually, found them free from Grima’s hold, forever. Hey Wiz, would you ever do something like that for me?
Wiz: Not a chance in hell Boomstick.
Chrom: I tell you again: I make my own future. And it's one you'll not live to see!
DEATH BATTLE![]
Wizard: Alright the combatants are set, and we’ve run the data through all possibilities.
Boomstick: It’s time for a DEATH BATTLE!
(Desert Coliseum)
The crowd within a packed coliseum watches in boredom as the sun shines over the arena in the middle, two nameless knights fighting before one finally kills the other. The Coliseum master sits in his special box, waving his hand to signal the surviving knight to be taken away before one of his aids whispers something into the master’s ear, getting his attention and excitement as he stands up and speaks out.
Coliseum Master: My Friends, we are all here to be entertained aren’t we!? Well, you shall be entertained! I give you a battle between the pinnacle of warriors, two mighty KINGS!
In the Arena, one of the gates opens as a man walks out carrying a Golden Shield, his blue hair and white cape flowing in the wind, none other than Chrom, the Exalt of Ylisse. Chrom looks up at the Coliseum Master, a cautious look in his eyes.
Looking back ahead, one of the Coliseum Master’s Minions has finished carving a red circle into the arena floor before placing a Golden Scabbard in and and running away through the other arena gate. The circle glows brightly, and Chrom recognizes it as a summoning circle just before the Scabbard floats into the air and is engulfed by a white light before an armored woman steps down, Artoria Pendragon, the King of Knights.
Saber: Servant, Saber. I have heeded your summoning to fight.
Chrom: Well then, let’s make this the best fight we can!
Smirking, Chrom reaches to his side and draws the Falchion as he takes his battle stance, and Saber responds by holding one hand out and forming an invisible aura of air that she then grips with both hands.
Insert Music: Exalted Kings - Brandon Yates
Music Stand-In: Come, Join Us (Together We Ride) - Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon (Vetrom Remix)
Chrom moves first, leaping forwards and striking at Saber with a quick strike that she blocks before swinging Invisible Air to push Chrom back away from her. The wind around Invisible Air lights up before it blasts her forwards, sending her straight into Chrom as she swings her blade to strike at him, Chrom bracing himself as he slides back blocking the attack, sparks and wind flying out from their swords clashing.
A blast of wind suddenly blasts out from Invisible Air and Chrom stumbles back, Saber swinging her blade forwards to perform Strike Air, sending Chrom flying backward with a hammer of wind. Crashing into one of the walls, Chrom shakes his head as Saber leaps into the air and fires out multiple blasts of air as projectiles from her sword, and Chrom leaps into the air to challenge her.
Flying past the projectiles, Saber attempts to attack with Strike Air again, but this time Chrom is able to block it with the Binding Shield before striking Saber with the Falchion, then slamming her to the ground with his Soaring Slash. Saber clutches her chest for only a moment, but then let’s go as her wounds heal.
Saber: You are indeed a strong warrior, that I can tell. It is an honor to duel you, mighty king.
Chrom: There’s no need for such formalities. Here, we are equals, and I am merely Chrom.
Saber: Then there is no need for me to hold back, nor hide my true name!
Music Stand-In: Boomsticks to Fight - Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works OST
The wind surrounding Saber’s sword fades away, revealing the golden aura of Excalibur. Leaping forwards, Saber clashing the blade against the Falchion, Chrom’s arm’s shaking from the force he took blocking the attack. Excalibur begins glowing before a pulse of mana suddenly expands from it, causing Chrom to fly back and for the Falchion to go flying from his hands and stab into the ground.
Saber presses her attack and swings her sword, Chrom barely dodging the attacks before unsheathing his Killing Edge, but when Chrom uses it to counterattack the steel blade shatters against Excalibur’s might. Stepping back, Chrom grabs a Levin Sword and fires a lightning bolt Saber deflects, and so Chrom instead jabs as Saber’s armor with his rapier instead.
A single swing of Excalibur sends Chrom flying backwards, crashing into the ground with his Rapier snapped in half.
Music Stand-In: Bloodlines - Yates
Saber: You fought honorably, Chrom. My true name is Artoria Pendragon, King of Britain. And this battle is over!
Chrom: Not yet!
Saber swings Excalibur down, and Chrom leaps to the side and grabs the hilt of the Falchion, pulling it from the ground and holding it to the sky, the Binding Shield’s gemstones glowing as the Falchion takes on a gold aura, the split in it’s hilt turning blue, and the Falchion’s power awaked.
Chrom: Your end has come!
Leaping through the air, Chrom swing the Exalted Falchion and slammed it against Excalibur with the Luna skill, ducking under one of Saber’s attacks and he let the magic of the Exalted Falchion power up before he swings it forwards with Flare Blade, the short blast of mana coming from the blade causing Saber to be pushed back and put some distance between the two of them.
Saber however, capitalizes on Chrom’s action to swell mana into Excalibur, and she holds her sword at her sing before swinging it forwards and firing a blast of mana.
Chrom raises the Binding Shield to block the incoming mana burst attack, but he’s still pushed onto the backfoot by the force of the attack, only barely still standing. When the light and mana clears, Chrom looks up, only for Saber to dart in and slams Excalibur into the golden shield, which releases a pulse of magic that nullifies Saber’s attack and sends her backwards before Chrom strikes her across the chest with Sol, the magic of his Exalted Falchion healing him as he then strikes Saber repeatedly with the Double Edged Dance.
Music Stand-In: Destiny: Ablaze - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
As Saber stumbles back and winces at the wounds inflicted on her by Chrom’s sword, her armor begins repairing itself with mana as her wounds slowly begin healing up, and she keeps her eyes locked on the Exalted Falchion, making sure she remembers to avoid letting it hit her if she had any chance of winning this fight.
Chrom presses the attack and swings the Exalted Falchion at Saber again, but this time she holds her hand out and forms Avalon, the Scabbard of Excalibur that brought her here initially, and it repels Chrom’s attack with a shockwave of mana that sends him stumbling backwards and allows Saber to swing Excalibur in counterattack, landing a blow on Chrom’s chest that draw’s blood.
Chrom, however, just raises the Binding Shield to block Saber’s next attack as the Exalted Falchion heals his wound, then dodgdes to the side to attack Saber’s blind spot. He thrusts his sword forwards, but Saber is quick enough to respond by raising Avalon to block it, but this time Chrom is quick enough to shield himself from Saber’s attempt to counterattack him, bringing the two to a stalemate.
At least, until Saber calls on Strike Air once again, this time aimed at the ground, sending her flying through the air and to the other end of the Coliseum, she lands on the wall and launches off herself off it and straight at Chrom, who barely manages to block her attack with the Binding Shield without getting knocked off his feet.
Pause Music
Saber lands on the ground and stares at Chrom, the two on opposite ends of the arena. She takes a deep breath, raising Excalibur and holding it before her as the sword begins glowing with a golden light, then raising the sword above her head.
Saber: Chrom! I think it’s time we bring this duel to an end!
Chrom: I couldn’t agree more, Artoria!
Music Stand-In: Sword of Promised Victory - Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works OST
Chrom raises his hand holding the Exalted Falchion and gets ready to launch himself forwards, gripping his sword tightly in one hand as he focuses his eyes on the enemy before him, but his eyes drift up to the sword in Saber’s hands instead.
A golden light fills the Colosseum, the sword shining in the dream as all warriors scattered in battle, past present and future, hold and mournfully exalt as their final moments approach. She carries their will as her pride, bidding them to remain steadfast in their loyalty.
Now, the undefeated king sings aloud the name of the miracle she holds in her hands.
Chrom darts forwards and starts running at full speed as Saber yells out one word, the name of the divine construct in her hand.
It’s name is…
Saber: Exsu…CALIBUUUUUUUUUUUR!!!!!!
As Saber yells out, she swings Excalibur down from overhead, and the pillar of light released from the sword. The ground cracks, light filling the arena as Chrom rapidly approaches the incoming attack, he raises the Binding Shield to protect himself as he closes his eyes and charges the attack head on.
Music Fades Out
…
Light engulfs everything for a moment.
All is still.
…
Chrom: ANYTHING CAN CHANGE!
Music Stand-In: Fire Emblem Theme (Heroic Origins) - Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Chrom leaps out from the attack, his outfit torn and his expression that of pain, but he pushes forwards and lands on the ground, leaping forwards and striking Saber with Sol, the Exalted Falchion knocking Excalibur to the side as it inflicts a major wound onto Artoria’s chest before Chrom leaps back, ready to launch forwards.
And he does, flying forwards straight at Saber, who makes her last stand by raising her hand and releasing the Scabbard of Excalibur once again to block the attack.
Saber: AVAL-
Chrom: AETHER!!!!!
But Chrom strikes faster, and with one last strike, the Exalted Falchion breaks through Avalon’s defenses and strikes Saber dead on, the dragon-slaying sword tearing Saber’s Magic Core apart in one clean stroke.
Music Fades Out
Chrom sighs as he takes a deep breath, looking back as Saber falls down to one knee, clutching where her heart used to beat. She looks up at Chrom, her expression not of anger, but a content smile as the mana that composes her body begins fading away.
Saber: Thank you, for blessing me with this battle, Chrom...
Chrom: ...the pleasure was all mine, Artoria.
Saber’s body fades away, leaving behind Avalon on the ground where she once was. Chrom sheaths the Exalted Falchion and walks over, picking Scabbard up before he looks to the sky, his cape flowing in the wind.
Chrom: Farewell, Artoria. Until we meet again...
Conclusion[]
Boomstick: Woah-ho! Now that was a battle!
Wiz: Both Chrom and Saber were great leaders, talented warriors, and inspirational figures, but in the end only one of them would be able to win. Armed with Excalibur, Avalon, and her magical armor, Artoria certainly put up the best fight she possibly could have, making this a rather close fight to determine the victor of.
Boomstick: But unfortunately for everyone's favorite baeber, her best just wasn’t good enough.
Wiz: Artoria definitely held a few key advantages, she was older than Chrom, which gave her more overall experience in battle, and she had more overtly destructive abilities. Certainly, it’s possible she could have landed a killing blow...if it weren’t for a few things.
Boomstick: Yeah, like how Chrom was no slouch when it came to sword fighting himself. Saber wasn’t going to be taking him down easily in a straight up duel, especially since Chrom was so much faster. While Artoria could react and fight at speeds likely faster than Mach 15, it’s still hard to say exactly how fast she is. Chrom meanwhile, could dodge freaking lightning, which moves over 200 times the speed of sound!
Wiz: What this meant was that while Artoria did hold an edge in skill and experience over Chrom, she lacked a way of landing any serious hits on him, making this battle extremely tough for her.
Boomstick: Not to mention, Chrom had a lot of counter’s to many of Artoria’s abilities.
Wiz: Right. Chrom’s speed and Dual Strike Skill made Artoria’s Instinct and Luck skills harder to rely on, since he was attacking so much faster then she could reasonably react too, those were not surefire methods of being able to avoid Chrom’s attacks.
Boomstick: Chrom could counter Mana Burst with Sol and Luna to an extent, and even Avalon’s broken-ass healing wasn’t going to be enough to win this fight.
Wiz: Avalon may have had the ability to bring Artoria back from the brink of death, but it still took several minutes for it to fully heal her after she clashed with Gilgamesh’s Ea. In contrast, Chrom had several methods of healing himself, from the Sol technique used in Aether, the Exalted Falchion’s passive healing, and the Blinding Shield’s Lifesphere, which were capable of bring Chrom back from the brink of death at a much faster rate.
Boomstick: Hell, the Binding Shield and Avalon themselves did a lot of the same things. Boosting defense, blocking attacks, healing, they were near perfect counters for each other. Same for Excalibur and the Falchion, only difference was...the Falchion was way stronger.
Wiz: While the full power of Excalibur could put out blasts worth upwards of a Hundred and Thirty-One Megatons, the Exalted Falchion is strong enough to slay Grima, which would require an attack worth Three Hundred and Forty Gigatons of TnT. And that’s without factoring in Artoria’s additional vulnerability to the Falchion’s dragon-slaying properties due to her Magic Core, which ironically turned her greatest asset into one of her biggest weaknesses.
Boomstick: Hell, Excalibur itself couldn’t even bring out that much power, since it can only unleash its full power when being used against someone that threatens the planet itself, and sense Naga considered Chrom to be someone pure of heart who could wield the Exalted Falchion, that meant Artoria couldn’t even use it’s real full might against Chrom.
Wiz: Artoria ceretently kept this fight from getting one sided, as her skills, arsenal, and training, matched Chrom’s blow for blow, but with such a massive difference in attack power, speed, defensive options, and the superior sword against her, it was only a matter of time before Chrom landed the hit in he needed to claim victory.
Boomstick: Saber ended up getting Excali-burnt out, it’s just too bad she couldn’t Change Fate in this battle.
Wiz: The winner is Chrom.
.png){kind=link}
Original Track[]
The track for this fight would be "Exalted Kings" by Brandon Yates. It is an orchestral rock track track that uses a central melody to with themed from both Fate and Fire Emblem, including "Sword of Promised Victory" & "Souls to Fight" from the Fate series and "Destiny Ablaze", "Together We Ride", & "Fire Emblem Theme" from the Fire Emblem Series.
The tracks title is a reference to both fighters status's as kings of their respective nations, as well as Chrom's specific title as "Exalt of Ylisse".
The cover features the Falchion and Excalibur clashing in front of the Binding Shield and Avalon with both fighters respective symbols, the Brand of the Exalt and the Shirou Emiya's Command Spell's on the side of the weapon they belong too. It was created by GamingMechanic.
Additional Credits[]
Credit to GamingMechanic, who created the Exalted Kings CAC displayed in this blog.
Credit to Sharaku Jr., who beta read this fight and created the two sprite renders seen in this blog.
And of course, Saber and all related images belong to TypeMoon, and Chrom and all related images belong to Nintendo.