Dark Pit vs Saber Alter is an episode of SoMaShadow's Death Battles. It features Dark Pit from the Kid Icarus series, and Saber Alter from the Fate series.
| Dark Pit vs Saber Alter | |
|---|---|
| |
| Season | Zero |
| Season Episode | 8 |
| Air date | Soon! |
| Written by | SoMaShadow |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Steven Universe vs Star Butterfly |
Next TBD |
Description[]
Kid Icarus vs Fate/Stay Night! The darkness within one's heart personified; these dark reflections of idealistic heroes serve their own goals. When pit against a similar foe, which one will prevail?
Interlude[]
Wiz: We hold up heroes as incorruptible paragons of virtue. Pillars of strength to lead by example. However, not every story has a happy ending, just as not all heroes are immune to the darker desires within.
Boomstick: Thanks to a little not-so-divine intervention, these mirrored reflections are the darker feelings and emotions of our heroes made manifest.
Wiz: Dark Pit, the Dark-Winged Doppelganger from Kid Icarus: Uprising.
Boomstick: And Saber Alter, the Dark-Tainted Tyrant from Fate/Stay Night. He's Wiz and I'm Boomstick!
Wiz: And it's our job to analyze their weapons, armour and skills, to find out who would win... a Death Battle.
Dark Pit[]
Wiz: Let us return to the distant past, to an age long ago, when gods and man lived together in harmony. The world was ruled by two goddesses: Palutena, the Goddess of Light, and Medusa, the Goddess of Darkness. As you’d expect, humanity revelled in Palutena’s gifts, and Medusa soon grew disdainful of them. Withering their crops and turning them to stone, a feud soon broke out between the goddesses, resulting in Palutena transforming the beautiful Medusa into a monster and banishing her to the Underworld.
Boomstick: Rightfully pissed, Medusa began to gather the monsters and evil spirits of the Underworld into her own army to fight against Palutena’s own. Waging war against Palutena and the inhabitants of Skyworld, Medusa’s forces took the advantage with a surprise attack, and were actually able to win the war, sending a weakened Palutena into hiding! However, one of Palutena’s most elite warriors, a young angel named Pit, was able to escape captivity in the Underworld and fight his way back to the surface.
Wiz: Eventually, he was able to engage Medusa in combat and emerged victorious, freeing Palutena and saving the world from her dark reign. Promoted to Palutena’s right hand man and captain of the Icarus Army, Pit would continue to protect the world and everyone lived happily ever after… Until Medusa came back 25 years later, seeking revenge and looking better than ever. So Pit got right back on the job, taking out the Underworld forces as they came, including Twinbellows, the Underworld Watchdog, Hewdraw, the Three-Headed Dragon, and Pandora, the God of Calamity.
Boomstick: All of Medusa’s best commanders fell to our favourite Underworld butt-kicker, but the latter had a trick up her sleeve. See, the Underworld knew just how good of a warrior Pit was, and they wanted a piece of that for themselves, so they got the Mirror of Truth, which duplicates anything that stands before it, creating an identical copy aligned with the Underworld. Seeking to prevent the Underworld from using the mirror, Pit dropkicked right through it, but the process of creating a dark clone had already begun. As Pit emerged from one side of the mirror, Dark Pit emerged from the other.
Popup: As the Mirror of Truth cracked in the middle of the process, Dark Pit was born a free agent, unbound to any faction. Likewise, he was not born evil as the Underworld intended, just merely rebellious and with a strong sense of independence. Additionally, while he is technically an incomplete or flawed clone, this only refers to his premature creation and independent nature, as he is considered to be an equal to Pit in every other aspect.
Wiz: Despite his name, Dark Pit wasn’t the perfect evil clone that Pandora intended, though he did perfectly replicate Pit’s inability to fly on his own. The destruction of the Mirror of Truth interrupted the cloning process, and Dark Pit instead gained his own sense of self and independence. That said, he’s still the physical manifestation of Pit’s dark side, representing the repressed feelings that the dutiful angel keeps to himself: pride in his skills, the desire for freedom and agency, doubt in the gods and ferocity in battle.
Boomstick: So when Pandora tried to put him to work against the OG Pitty Pat, Dark Pit wasn’t having any of it. He took her out alongside Pit and absorbed the remains of Pandora, granting him an unlimited Power of Flight. See, since Pit can’t fly on his own, he needs Palutena to grant him the Power of Flight, which allows him to fly for up to five minutes. After that, his wings will burn up and he’ll fall. This blessing isn’t just limited to Palutena though!
Wiz: Other gods have the same ability to give others this power, like Viridi, the Goddess of Nature, and Pandora herself. By absorbing her, this let Dark Pit circumvent the time limit and fly on his own, completely uninhibited. Flying away on his own two wings, it wouldn’t be long until Pit and Palutena caught up with him, battling it out while the Underworld Army closed in around them. True to his nature as a clone though, he and Pit were evenly matched. Like a second Pit. Pit two, or Pittoo, as Palutena affectionately called him. And much to his chagrin, the nickname stuck.
Boomstick: Turns out Pittoo wasn’t a big fan of the Underworld Army either, shooting down Medusa’s offer to join them immediately. And who could blame him? He’s just as strong and skilled as the original Pit, who’s got over 25 years of experience under his belt! Plus, he’s a master with nine different types of weapons, and has access to over 100 weapons total, though he does have his favourites. The First Blade and EZ Cannon are classics, and the Violet Palm and Ogre Club are super versatile. Plus, he’s got Guardian Orbitars and the Electroshock Arm, which you’re no doubt familiar with if you’ve played Smash Bros.
Popup: To clarify, Dark Pit can equip 108 weapons across the nine classes of Blades, Staffs, Claws, Bows, Palms, Clubs, Cannons, Orbitars, and Arms, all of which are imbued with the power of the gods, making humans incapable of wielding them. Additionally, he can access up to 62 Powers, which grant special effects in combat. These are categorised into the Movement, Special Attack, Attack Enhance, Debuff, Ability Enhance, Special Effect, Recovery, Item, Miscellaneous, and Unknown categories.
Wiz: But his trademark weapons are the aptly named Dark Pit Staff, and the Silver Bow. The former deals exceptional damage at long range, though a unique application allows for massive damage to be dealt to those closest to him, and the latter can be broken apart into two blades for melee combat. When in bow form however, Dark Pit can remotely control the direction of his arrows, and send out a hailstorm of them all at once, letting him take foes by surprise. Something he has no qualms about doing, as he’s far more aggressive and pragmatic when compared to Pit, willing to do whatever necessary to achieve victory.
Boomstick: Still, his rejection meant he was on Medusa’s bad side too, and after another scuffle with Palutena’s best angel, he took to plowing through Underworld Forces like it was nothing. Hell, even the Underworld Gatekeeper, who was giving Pit trouble while he had the Three Sacred Treasures equipped, couldn’t stand up to him! Those were stolen back from freakin’ SPACE PIRATES by the way. And sure, it was weakened from its fight with Pit, but a swift kick to the side took it out entirely. What a badass.
Wiz: Inadvertently helping Pit defeat Medusa and the Underworld Forces, Dark Pit was pretty content to sit back and chill for a bit while the gods had their feud. But as it turns out, Hades was behind the whole ordeal. Relishing in the chaos and destruction of others, Hades tricked the humans into thinking that the mythical Wish Seed had been taken, which in-turn caused a massive war to break out amongst their own species. The war between Skyworld and the Underworld, alongside the humans’ wars of their own, then drew out Viridi, who was none too pleased at the situation.
Boomstick: Yeah, Little Miss Cactus was pretty pissed at the humans for ruining the land, so she sent out these nature nukes called Reset Bombs to restore the balance of nature by eradicating mankind. So now we’ve got a three way war on our hands, but just wait ladies and gentlemen, it gets better! All of this chaos and destruction caught the attention of the Aurum, an alien species that sought to destroy the earth and harvest its resources for their own agenda. This caused all the gods to form a temporary truce until the party crashers were dealt with, cause there’s nothing worse than an uninvited guest to your war.
Popup: After the defeat of Medusa, Dark Pit would join Arlon and the Forces of Nature in defending the Lunar Sanctum when Pit arrived to destroy it; Arlon noting that the mention of Pit's presence alone was enough to convince him. And though he was absent from the story during the Aurum invasion, Dark Pit would still scale to all the feats performed by Pit, and those he would scale to.
Wiz: And speaking of uninvited guests, the Sun God, Pyrrhon got in on the action too, much to the chagrin of all of the other gods there. Fending off the Aurum invasion alongside Pit, he would secretly plan to betray his allies and fuse with the Aurum Brain to take control of their fleet. He got a bit in over his head though, and was corrupted instead, forcing Pit to take him out. Thankfully, Pyrrhon was able to wrest control long enough to push the entire fleet back to the other side of the galaxy. Sure, it took him a while, but even just in seven seconds, the raw energy output of him pushing it away from Earth would require up to 318 Teratons of TNT!
Boomstick: Not only that, but good old Pitty Pat is a master of destroying massive space structures, blowing up both the Aurum Hive during their invasion, and Arlon’s Lunar Sanctum when fighting against the Forces of Nature. The former being a feat requiring over 78 Gigatons of TNT to accomplish, and the latter needing over 63.5 Megatons to destroy. So he’s clearly packing some heat in that little body, and Dark Pit’s his exact equal in combat, so there’s no doubt that he’s just as strong.
Wiz: There’s more to the destruction of the Lunar Sanctum then would be seen at first glance however. In truth, it was an orbital prison for the creature known as the Chaos Kin, and by destroying the structure, it was set free. Once everyone was finally done with the Aurum, it saw the perfect opportunity to strike, and possessed Palutena’s body. Turning all of Skyworld against the humans, it also sealed Pit’s soul within a ring, putting him in a coma for three whole years. Unknowingly, the exact same thing happened to Dark Pit, leaving him in a state of “less than nothing”. Unconscious. Un-himself.
Boomstick: They’re connected, like two sides of the same coin. So no Pit, no Pittoo. Luckily, Pit was able to return to his body, which returned Dark Pit to his own. Each trying to understand what happened in their three year power nap, Pittoo came to the realisation that their lives were linked, and he couldn’t keep fighting against him, or else risk dying himself. They were one and the same, so they might as well try to get along. Thus, Dark Pit resolved to help Pit save Palutena, and the two of them made one hell of a team.
Popup: The actions of the Chaos Kin caused Dark Pit’s personality to progressively change, going from a belligerent antagonist to close ally, if a bit abrasive. They would put their lives on the line for each other and ended up forming a much more stable relationship, though still maintaining a somewhat friendly rivalry. Other characters have even commented that they’re like brothers.
Wiz: Working alongside Viridi, they were able to borrow the Lightning Chariot from the aptly named Chariot Master, and smashed through the barrier protecting Palutena’s Temple. There, Pit engaged and defeated the Chaos Kin in battle, but it retreated to the Chaos Vortex with Palutena’s stolen soul, wherein they both gave chase. Pit handled eight consecutive waves of replicated enemies, but once Pittoo joined in for the final five, it was pretty much a cakewalk for the duo, and the Chaos Kin soon fell as well, thus freeing Palutena’s soul. The Chaos Kin had one last trick up its sleeve however, as the ashes of its corpse sprung to life and grabbed hold of Pittoo.
Boomstick: Sending him plummeting into the depths of the Chaos Vortex, Pit rushed after him and used the Power of Flight to try and save him, but because he’d already exhausted his flight prior, his wings caught fire. Even through this, he was able to reach Pittoo, but this put Pit in great danger himself, nearly on death’s door with his wings burned to a crisp and body charred. In order to save Pit, Pittoo ventured to the City of Souls in the Underworld to find the Rewind Spring and bring Pit back from the brink of death, restoring his wings in the process.
Wiz: During the trip, Dark Pit and the gang would learn of Hades’ true plan, disrupting the natural balance and using the souls of those fallen in war to make his Underworld soldiers. Just in time for Pandora to emerge from his wings and use the spring to return to her true physical form, Amazon Pandora. Though his unlimited flight was unfortunately lost, Dark Pit was able to defeat her once more, and Pit was returned to good health. Returning home with Viridi’s help, they began to prepare for the final battle. Sort of.
Boomstick: Yeah, see, Pit goes after Hades with the Three Sacred Treasures, but even they can’t stand up to the God of the Underworld, and he gets trapped in the Hades’ internal dimension. Definitely chalking that one up to a loss, and Dark Pit had to come in clutch at the last second with the Lightning Chariot, driven by the unicorns Phos and Lux. And by coming in clutch, I mean he rammed the entire thing through Hades’ chest to get to his heart and save Pit! Now that’s just hardcore. Especially since these things move so fast that even gods and angels can barely keep up.
Popup: Due to Pandora reclaiming her power and body, Dark Pit has to rely on the gods for flight, namely Viridi and Palutena. As an angel, he can directly commune with them, and can access this power whenever he needs to. Thanks to this connection, he can also be revived if slain in battle, though this resurrection occurs within the god’s territory, and returning to combat takes a while.
Wiz: Keep in mind that Pit has fought evenly with Phosphora, who can turn into, and move as fast as natural lightning, and that he’s once flown from Earth to the Proxima Centauri star in only around 15 seconds! To cross such a distance in the timeframe that he did, Pit would have to be moving at speeds of nearly 9 million times the speed of light! It’s not just travel speed either, as he can clearly react and fight at the same speed, and Dark Pit fights on par with him, and the enemies they face. So if the Lightning Chariot is even faster than that, then it’s clearly something you don’t want to mess around with.
Boomstick: With the Three Sacred Treasures destroyed, Pit sought out the God of the Forge, Dyntos, who granted him the Great Sacred Treasure after enduring numerous tedious trials. Though it was gradually destroyed in the final battle against Hades, Pit was able to vaporise the Lord of the Underworld with the treasure’s cannon, finally bringing an end to the war against the Underworld. With the Power of Flight now being supplied by Viridi and Palutena, both Pit and Dark Pit flew off into the sunset; their war finally over, peace brought to the realm and a new, brighter day ahead of them.
Wiz: After the fight, Dark Pit eventually found himself a new role as an officer in the Forces of Nature, working alongside Viridi, as their goals happened to overlap. Which you think might be a bit awkward considering she has a thing for the regular Pit, but hey, if they were able to work out their differences, I’m sure it’ll be fine. We can just hope it doesn’t take another 25 years before we get a new game in the series.
Boomstick: But you’d better believe that if someone’s out disturbing the peace Dark Pit fought so hard to achieve, they’d better start praying to whatever god they believe in that he doesn’t come for them next.
Dark Pit: You got me confused with the other guy. This Pit is no pawn. I'll take care of him, but only after I finish you!
Saber Alter[]
Boomstick: The Holy Grail War. A time-honoured ritual between seven Masters and seven Servants each battling it out to claim the Holy Grail for themselves. Established in the 1800’s in Fuyuki City, Japan, it was created by the three founding families of Tohsaka, Matou and Einzbern in order to enact the Third Magic, Heaven’s Feel, which would let them reach the Root and obtain the capabilities of God. Okay, I know that sounds really complicated, but trust me, it makes sense once you get used to it.
Wiz: To clarify, a Master is a magus chosen to participate in the Holy Grail War. They are given three Command Spells used to ensure control over their Servant, which is a Heroic Spirit bound by a contract to the Master, like a familiar. Heroic Spirits are the spirits of heroes who achieved great deeds in life, having become objects of worship after their deaths, and their souls put into the Throne of Heroes. To summon these heroes into the modern day, the Greater Grail makes a copy and places it into one of seven vessels prepared beforehand.
Boomstick: Usually, anyhow. These vessels are the Classes that each Servant is summoned into. Archer, Lancer, Rider, Berserker, Caster, Assassin, and perhaps the most powerful of them all, Saber. Every 60 years, the Servants summoned into these Classes duke it out alongside their Masters in order to obtain a wish from the Holy Grail. Sounds pretty sweet, right? Well, it was, but the Einzberns were so dead-set on winning the Third Holy Grail War that they broke the rules and summoned an Avenger Servant. Good in theory, but boy did it backfire on them big time.
Wiz: They aimed to summon the Zoroastrian God of Darkness, Angra Mainyu, and while the summoning of Avenger was a success, it was far from what they’d expected. In truth, he was just a simple villager forced to endure agonising torture all his life to ease the minds of his people, and became a Heroic Spirit after death. Instead of being a living calamity that would easily win them the War, he was extremely weak, and died by the fourth day. By design, the Grail is set to absorb the Servants it summons back into itself, but absorbing Angra Mainyu tainted the Grail system forever.
Popup: As Angra Mainyu is the manifestation of his people’s wishes for a scapegoat to pin All The World’s Evils on, his corruption of the Holy Grail made it only able to grant wishes through destructive means. This also allowed it to summon and sustain anti-heroic and antagonistic figures for future Wars, such as Gilles de Rais in the Fourth, and Medusa in the Fifth.
Boomstick: So when the Fourth War rolled around, the Einzberns were taking no chances. They hired the famous mage-killer, Kiritsugu Emiya to serve as their surrogate Master, and excavated the scabbard Avalon to serve as the catalyst to summon the Saber Class Servant, King Arthur himself. Err, herself. This King Arthur was Artoria Pendragon, the very same King of Knights they sought, only female. Alongside his wife and the Homunculus set to become the Lesser Grail, Irisviel von Einzbern, Kiritsugu made it all the way to the end of the War, wanting to use his wish to create world peace.
Wiz: However, whilst Angra Mainyu chose him as the victor during his battle with Kirei Kotomine, the destruction it would cause in order to grant his wish was too high a price to pay, and he rejected it. Commanding Saber to destroy the Grail with all of her energy, he was able to prevent Angra Mainyu’s emergence into the world, but as she only destroyed the vessel and not the contents, the black Grail Mud still spilled from it, causing the catastrophic Great Fire of Fuyuki that claimed the lives of over a thousand people. Kiritsugu was only able to save a single child, who he would adopt and name Shirou, implanting Avalon within him to save his life.
Boomstick: And here’s when things go from bad to worse. Local old man who just won’t die, Zouken Matou, gathered pieces of the destroyed Grail in order to implant them into his newly adopted granddaughter, Sakura, to make her a secondary Lesser Grail. Additionally, due to the Grail being destroyed prematurely, this lowered the time for the next War to start to only ten years, and five years after the Great Fire of Fuyuki, Kiritsugu would succumb to the curse laid upon him by Angra Mainyu, never able to see his daughter, Illya, again, and his adoptive son taking up his dream to be a hero, for better or worse.
Wiz: Thus, in 2004, the Fifth Holy Grail War began. Due to his internal connection to Avalon, Shirou was able to summon Saber just in the nick of time to save him from an attack by Lancer. However, his relationship with Artoria was far more friendly than hers with his father, as they relied on each other as allies, instead of Master and tool. From here, there are three distinct routes which the story can follow, each revolving around the heroine Shirou loves. The Fate route is mostly Saber’s, and Unlimited Blade Works focuses on Rin Tohsaka, though it also delves deeper than the other routes into Shirou as a character.
Popup: Servants possess several innate abilities such as enhanced senses, empowered vocal cords, and the ability to interact with ghosts and other spiritual beings. They do not need food, sleep or oxygen, and can keep fighting and regenerate most non-fatal wounds as long as a constant stream of mana is being supplied to them. Servants such as Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, who Saber has fought, can fight at Mach 15 and are stated to have reactions at near light speed.
Boomstick: Our focus is on the Heaven’s Feel route, which features Sakura Matou as the main love interest. Now, the first couple of days proceed normally enough, but old man Zouken saw how down bad Sakura was for Shirou, and figured he could use that to bring out the Black Grail earlier than he’d originally planned. So instead of remaining passive and just watching events unfold, he decided to join the War as well after the embarrassing loss his grandson Shinji endured against Shirou. The first order of business was a quick stop in at Ryuudou Temple.
Wiz: Defeating the temple guard and False Assassin, Sasaki Kojiro, Zouken used his body to summon the True Assassin, Hassan of the Cursed Arm, in gruesome fashion. At the same time, Sakura begins to subconsciously manifest a physical form of the cursed contents of the Grail, referred to as the Shadow, and begins to devour the innocent citizens of Fuyuki for mana, or magical energy. Using the Shadow, Sakura absorbs Caster Medea and her Master, Souichirou Kuzuki, working alongside True Assassin to lure Lancer into a trap the following night in order to devour him as well.
Boomstick: With Servants disappearing and entire neighbourhoods of people just vanishing overnight, Shirou and Rin work together to destroy the Shadow. However, as Shirou and Saber investigate Ryuudou Temple, they’re ambushed by True Assassin and Zouken. Saber takes on the Assassin and Shirou fends off the Matou patriarch, but they’re fighting a losing battle, and Saber is exhausted from fending off her foe. Eventually, she’s lured into a trap, and is absorbed by the Shadow, using the last of her energy to sever Hassan’s Cursed Arm.
Wiz: However, unlike Caster and Lancer, Saber was not fully consumed by the Shadow. Instead, she underwent a process known as Blackening, which taints one’s being into an alignment of evil. Corrupted and empowered by Angra Mainyu, Saber thus became an Alter Servant, aptly named Saber Alter. The fans also call her Salter, for short. Artoria’s physical appearance was changed, and her armour was dyed jet black, increasing its power with extra weight, as well as gaining a visor which covers her eyes. Stoic and cold-hearted, she is merciless in battle, caring not for conversation; only fulfilling her mission, though she does appear to have a penchant for gothic Lolita fashion, as seen in Hollow Ataraxia and Carnival Phantasm.
Popup: Heroic Spirits with a strong ego such as Gilgamesh, or distorted nature, such as Archer EMIYA or Hassan of the Cursed Arm, are able to resist the effects of the Grail’s tainted ichor. While both Gilgamesh and Artoria were physically incarnated by the Grail, only Saber turned into an Alter, and the Blackening of Heracles merely put his body under Sakura’s control. Other methods such as Tiamat’s Chaos Tide or Pandora’s Box can also create an Alter Servant, though some individuals such as Solomon and Jeanne d’Arc cannot naturally possess Alters.
Boomstick: Regurgitated to serve as an enforcer for Sakura, Saber Alter’s Servant parameters have been increased opposed to when she served under Shirou, kind of like stats in a video game. Her Strength and Endurance have been boosted to A, whilst her Agility has fallen to D, and her Luck to C. Her Mana has ranked up to A++, due to her connection to the virtually unlimited source of mana the Grail provides, meaning she’ll never run out of energy as long as Sakura, and by extension, the Grail doesn’t. Her final stat is her Noble Phantasm, which is similarly ranked at A++.
Wiz: Noble Phantasms are powerful armaments made using the imagination of humans as their core, and the ultimate weapon or ability of a Heroic Spirit. They embody the ultimate mysteries of a hero as symbols of their existence through historical fact and anecdotes, and can take the form of many different things, from swords to rings, or even a Reality Marble, just to name a few. They’re the trump card of a Servant, but in order to unleash their full power, the use of their True Name is required. This can be detrimental for a Servant trying to keep their identity a secret if their opponent survives, so it’s usually a last resort or finishing move.
Boomstick: Salter’s Noble Phantasm is Excalibur Morgan. The very same Excalibur she once wielded but tainted with evil, it is no longer cloaked with the Invisible Air Noble Phantasm as regular Artoria’s is, however still retains its status as a holy blade. By unveiling its True Name, Salter can unleash massive blasts of blazing black flame, gathering energy into her blade before slashing downward, eviscerating anything in her path. An Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm, it uses up large amounts of her magical energy, but due to her connection to the Grail via Sakura, she can blast these off pretty much whenever she likes.
Wiz: Saber Alter additionally possesses skills unique to her in the current Class she’s summoned in. For her, these are Magic Resistance and Riding. However, due to being tainted by the Grail, her Magic Resistance is dropped to Rank B, and her loss of fine control while Blackened makes it impossible for Saber Alter to ride beasts, so the skill is pretty much lost. She does retain all of her Personal skills, of Charisma, Instinct and Mana Burst, however the former is ranked down to E, making it useful for improving her leadership skills, but decreases the morale of her troops. Unlike her other two, this skill isn’t useful for Salter in direct combat.
Popup: Saber Alter’s connection to the Grail’s nearly limitless source of mana does not provide her with unlimited power, merely a nearly inexhaustible source of energy to draw from. This allows her to continue fighting perpetually, if need be, and heal non-fatal wounds. In the Bad End, Sparks Liner High, Saber Alter states that it would take her ten minutes to heal from her shattered spine and destroyed internal organs, which would normally be debilitating for her.
Boomstick: Her Instinct skill is the ability to instantly identify “the best personal course of action” during combat, even allowing for the prediction of trajectory on ranged weapons like bows or guns. Salter’s got Rank B for this because she’s constantly suppressing her rage, which neglects her surroundings and dulls her senses in order for her to maintain reason. On the other hand, it makes her more likely to take offensive action due to her behaviour being distanced from that of a hero’s, so she’s gonna be coming at you full force. Like a runaway train with no fine control.
Wiz: Finally, her Mana Burst is an instantaneous release of the magical energy in her body and sword, increasing her power in a matter similar to jet propulsion. Not entirely dissimilar to the manner in which she unleashes her blasts from Excalibur, just on a much smaller scale, and not as powerful. This is at Rank A for Saber Alter, and in external media where she is not contracted to Sakura, it can cause problems for her due to her vast consumption of mana. Without magical empowerment however, Saber’s physical strength is average, and was noted to be weaker than Rin Tohsaka, who is a regular, if not extremely impressive, human.
Boomstick: With all of these skills and a virtually unlimited source of energy, Salter’s like an unstoppable force of death! So when the Shadow decided it was time to absorb Berserker, it needed her to soften him up first, cause there’s no way you’re taking down motherfucking HERACLES without one hell of a fight. And what a fight it was! God bless Studio Ufotable’s Unlimited Budget Works. But back to Heracles; this is the guy strong enough to destroy a mountain in a single strike, which could take up to 12.5 Megatons of TNT to pull off! And Salter was able to physically match and surpass him.
Wiz: Better yet, the use of Saber’s Excalibur to destroy the Holy Grail during the events of the Unlimited Blade Works route resulted in an explosion worth over 101 Megatons of TNT, and Saber Alter can fire off blasts just as strong as that all the time. Additionally, the argument could be made that due to Excalibur Morgan being an A++ Ranked Noble Phantasm, that it would be even stronger than fellow Heroic Spirit, Siegfried’s A+ Ranked Noble Phantasm, which could match the dragon Fafnir, who was going to destroy the entire Orleans region of France. An feat which would require around 2.9 Teratons of TNT to accomplish!
Popup: In Carnival Phantasm, Artoria possesses the ability to shift between her regular and Alter forms by removing her hair ahoge, though this is non-canon and intended to be a joke, given the comedic nature of the series. Furthermore, she is contracted to Shirou in this series instead of Sakura, and is not corrupted by Angra Mainyu like she was during the events of Heaven’s Feel. Thus, there is no reason to believe that Saber Alter, as a Blackened Servant, could revert back to regular Artoria, as it has never been accomplished in the series.
Boomstick: With power like that, even the mighty Heracles eventually fell, having several of his lives taken by Salter during their fight. While she dipped shortly after taking him out, she made one hell of an impression on Rin, Shirou and Illya, returning for the Einzbern heir a few days later under Sakura’s command in order to make her the vessel for the Holy Grail. She was also sent to take out her former Master alongside the Blackened remains of Heracles, but Shirou had gotten one hell of an upgrade with Archer’s left arm replacing the one he’d lost during the War, and was able to defeat him, with Salter retreating until next time.
Wiz: Though their next confrontation would be their last together. With the preparations set to bring Angra Mainyu into the world, Saber Alter would guard the path to the Greater Grail in the cavern beneath Ryuudou Temple. While she let Rin pass, Salter prepared to fight Shirou and Rider Medusa, despite Medusa’s Mystic Eyes lowering her Parameters by one rank. Duelling with the pair at light speeds, she put them on the back foot from the get-go, and Medusa had to utilise her Noble Phantasm, Bellerophon, which Saber Alter matched with Excalibur Morgan.
Boomstick: However, Shirou used Archer’s arm to project the shield Rho Aias over Rider, protecting her from Excalibur Morgan. Eventually they broke through, and Saber Alter was knocked down, after which Shirou put an end to his former friend’s life with the Azoth Dagger given to him by Rin. Despite this, it was what she actually wanted in the end, and Shirou could go on to save Sakura. With a few heartfelt parting words, Shirou thanked her for saving him in the past as she began to disappear, and he moved onward into the cave, eventually saving Sakura, defeating Kirei Kotomine, preventing Angra Mainyu’s birth and winning the Holy Grail War.
Wiz: Although corrupted against her will and made a pawn to dark forces beyond her control, Artoria Pendragon was a knight until the very end, and her sacrifice inspired a hero to rise and set things right when she could not. Though as a slave to dark designs, there is no question that this cold, black tyrant has left an everlasting impact, and as the perfect unfeeling executioner, there’s nothing that will stop her from fulfilling her mission until the bitter end.
Saber Alter: No, that does not concern me. The only thing that matters is that you armed yourself. Insignificant though it may be, I will regard it as a hostile action. Come. A body such as yours will only last a few minutes.
DEATH BATTLE![]
(Cue Viridi‘s Solo Menu – Kid Icarus: Uprising)
The fading afternoon light filtered in through the lush canopy above, painting the area in a soft amber glow. Thick vines and branches decorated the rows of trees which surrounded the entryway of this divine sanctuary on both sides, wooden planks forming a path from the door to the first hall. Upon reaching the main platform, two side doors branched off, leading the way to the Practise Range on the left, and Arms Altar on the right. This was but a mere part of the divine sanctuary of the heavenly goddess of nature, Viridi. Far further in, one could find the throne room, training grounds, meal rooms, resting quarters, and every other facility expected within the holy abode of a goddess and her servants.
This specific wing was specifically delegated toward servants of the winged variety, a joke which had once been brought up by one of its frequent inhabitants, much to her ire. The jovial angel, whose back-and-forth banter with the goddess brought her more joy than she’d admit, was not here at the current moment, as he was out on a mission of his own, assigned as such by the goddess he served, Palutena. Instead, the one currently striding across the organic and fully natural floors was the clone of that angel; Dark Pit.
A rhythmic tapping sound was produced each time his sandals hit the floor, and his charcoal-coloured wings flapped out to his sides as he stretched them in preparation for use very soon. His red eyes caught the slight rustle of the leaves in the canopy surrounding the entryway as a light breeze blew through, rustling his short, black hair as well. His chiton tunic was of the same colour, though decorated with purple and gold trimmings, and fastened on the shoulder by a golden fibula with a purple gem in the centre. Under the tunic, Dark Pit also wore black tights, with a purple belt above both items of clothing, both of which featured the same golden trim as the chiton.
Completing the outfit, the dark angel sported a pair of black and gold cuffs around his forearms, and singular gold bands on his upper left arm and right thigh. His sandals were decorated with crossing, gold bands, and were edged at the top with gray fur, alongside a golden laurel crown holding his wild hair in place. Culminating in the signature look of the angel cloned from Pit, his sharp, crimson eyes stared out toward the exit, knowing the time for departure was near. As twilight began to cover the land, Dark Pit prepared himself for the mission at hand; equipping the Powers he would use, and the weapons he would bring along. Whilst adequately set for whatever task Viridi required of him, he still hadn’t got the full story on what was going on.
“So, you mind filling me in, Viridi?” Dark Pit asked, knowing that the goddess would hear him, though not physically present. He leaned against the wall to the side of the door leading to the Arms Altar; Silver Bow held safely in his grasp.
“It’s a… rather complicated matter, and we’ve got quite the trip ahead of us. If you start to get a move on, then I’ll explain it on the way” the petite deity replied. At the opposite end of the room, a spectral door of light opened up, with the ends of vines just barely visible from where the dark doppelganger was standing. His arsenal prepared, there was nothing left to do but move out.
(Cue Danger Zone (Instrumental) – Kenny Loggins)
“Then I’m outta here!” Dark Pit declared energetically, sprinting toward the opened doors and leaping out of them with his wings unfurled and at full attention. The nature goddess granting the power of flight to the angel, Dark Pit’s wings shone with green energy, sparkling as they took to the night sky, unabashedly free. In front of the Forces of Nature officer, a sprawling city unfolded before his eyes, clearly in a very different part of the world than he was used to visiting on his missions as it was technologically advanced beyond anything he’d seen of the humans thus far.
“This is Fuyuki City,” Viridi explained. A large city divided into two sections; the traditional one, Miyama, and modern one, Shinto, the city was lit up as the glistening lights caught the gleam of the ocean it was set against. From his position just below the clouds, Dark Pit had to admit that under the moonlight, it was nothing short of breathtaking. Though he had a mission to get to, he couldn’t help but let out a small whistle in admiration. “Hey, cut it out!” Viridi chastised. “Look at what these humans have done to nature here! Towers of metal that reach into the skies, and what little areas of grassland they have are tainted with evil! There’s no end to the destruction they’ve wrought! One of these days they’ll have a Reset Bomb headed their way, and nature can properly return to the way it was meant to be.”
“And how exactly is the reconstruction process on the Depot going? For all the time you spend over at Palutena’s Temple, I haven’t heard a word about progress. Not that I’m super enthused about wiping out all the humans, mind you. But perhaps there’s another reason you’re so eager to spend time there, hmm?” Dark Pit teased; his intentions clear as the rise he sought to bring out of Viridi was quickly rewarded.
“Just what are you getting at?!” the goddess of nature snappily responded. “There’s nothing going on between Pit and I!” she declared, a blush heavy on her cheeks, but Dark Pit didn’t need to see it to see through her lie. Or the unintentional slip-up she’d made.
“I never mentioned anything about Pit,” he said simply, allowing the goddess to realise her mistake on her own. Realisation dawning on her, the petite deity was flushed even more, embarrassment turning to anger as she tapped into her powers to take out her rage on Dark Pit.
“Why you little!” she shouted, controlling Dark Pit’s flight path to shake him about in the air. The dark angel shouted in surprise and worry as he was flung about against his will, though he soon returned to a stable flight path as the goddess cleared her throat. “I trust we can keep this between us, yes? You wouldn’t want a repeat of that on a much greater scale, now would you, Pittoo?” she threatened, using his nickname to solidify her seriousness regarding the issue.
“Alright, alright, I hear you! Jeez…” he relented, acquiescing to her terms. “Moving on though… What was it you said about the area being tainted with evil, or something like that?” Wings flapping as he was propelled through the sky, Dark Pit descended downward and slowly made the move to fly horizontally, soaring across the surface of Fuyuki River, rippling the clear and reflective water behind him. As he passed under Fuyuki Bridge, his path took a sharp ninety-degree turn, sending him directly upward until he was parallel with the highest arch of the bridge. Landing safely on the top of the structure, Dark Pit could see the entirety of Fuyuki City, the dazzling lights painting a picturesque image of the bustling city beginning to wind down for the night.
“That’s right. About ten years ago there was a catastrophic fire in Shinto, over to your right.” Turning his head to face the direction Viridi was referring to, Dark Pit could see where she was indicating; already feeling a permeating sense of hatred and anguish. Though not something a regular human could detect, Dark Pit was perfectly attuned to such supernatural phenomena. “A bunch of foolish humans trying to access godly power beyond their control partially let loose a manifestation of all the world’s evils, which caused the fire and tainted the land with evil. That’s the kinda stuff we’re dealing with here. Typical human behaviour.”
“’All the World’s Evils’, huh? I bet Hades would’ve gotten a kick out of that,” Dark Pit dryly replied. “Good thing he isn’t around to torment us about it, at least.” His wings taking to the sky, Dark Pit was brought along the flight path Viridi had set for him, flying directly toward the Fuyuki Outskirts; adjacent to Mount Enzo, the Homurahara Academy grounds, and the Foreign Residential District.
“That’s one thing we can be thankful for!” Viridi agreed, already exasperated at the thought of more interactions with the lord of the Underworld. Shaking her head to remove the thought from her mind, Viridi found herself much more a peace, though such contentment would only be short-lived. “Anyway, there’s been signs of a similar event happening again. Civilians have been murdered and consumed in cold blood by this… shadow THING which gives off the same energy as that cursed mud which caused the fire in the first place, and worse yet, it’s been eating away at the life of the surrounding forests and wildlife! Left unchecked, it could pose a great risk to the environment as a whole!”
“So I’m here to take it out before things can get worse? Alright, sounds simple enough,” Dark Pit responded, noticing that his flight had begun to slow down as he neared the frontal edge of the forest. “But I feel like there’s a catch…”
“Yeah…” Viridi winced. “Thing is, it’s only a small part of the bigger issue. Not only is it eating away at the Earth like a virus, it brings forth enforcers to protect itself, which are destructive in their own right! Plus, it’s tethered to this HUMAN, so we’ve gotta take her out next, and once we’re FINALLY done with that, we can destroy the main source of this evil altogether, but we’ve got to finish it off BEFORE it’s brought into the world. It’s such a chore!” the deity complained, clearly sick and tired of all the work these humans had put her through just in order to protect the planet that they lived on. The nerve of it all…
“I hope you aren’t expecting me to do all this alone,” Dark Pit asked sarcastically. “It’s a bit of a tall order for just one angel.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll regroup with Pit and Palutena once we’re done with taking out the shadow thing, or at least its enforcers.” Setting Dark Pit down at the beginning of a trail that led further into the forest ahead of him, Viridi continued. “Normally, I’d send you right into the action, but the forest is pretty dense here, and it doesn’t help that there’s a Bounded Field around this part of the woods. Not that it’s any trouble for a goddess such as myself to dispel, but it would alert the inhabitants. The power of flight also only has about a minute or so left, so you’ll have to make it on foot, but I can speed up the process significantly.”
“Thanks, Viridi. Appreciate it.” Dark Pit spoke, taking off into the Einzbern Forest as his wings sped him up considerably. Running like a bullet train through the forest, the dark angel weaved in and out between the numerous trees, evading every obstacle with practised ease. “So, any idea where exactly the ‘action’ is at?” the clone said as wildlife sped past him, naught but a blur to the godly speed he’d been blessed with.
“Yep! We’re coming up on the Einzbern Castle now, and we’re gonna want a good overhead view, so prep yourself for landing.” Mere seconds after she’d finished, Dark Pit broke through a clearing in the woods, immediately spotting a gigantic castle taking up residence in the middle of the forest. His wings starting to get a bit warm, he took to the air as he scaled the building, landing safely on the top of the mansion’s rooftop garden as the power of flight began to fade. Knowing that land battle would soon be imminent, the angelic clone eqipped the Dark Pit Staff, searching the area for whatever his target would be.
“You see those kids over there, yeah?” Viridi pointed out, directing Dark Pit’s attention toward where a group of three teenagers were standing in close proximity to each other.
“Uh huh.” In Dark Pit’s line of view, he could see them clear as day. An orange-haired high school student in plain clothes, alongside a brunette wearing a fashionable crimson coat. They seemed rather comfortable around each other. Next to them was a small albino child, standing proud alongside an absolute giant of a man. Something about the hulking behemoth seemed almost familiar to Dark Pit, as if he’d recognise a similar man from stories he knew of back home. Viridi seemed to be of a similar mind, perking up at the sight of the protective giant guarding the small girl.
“Wait just a second, is that-!” Viridi began to exclaim before being cut off as a sudden wave of dread rolled over the forest.
(Cue She Rules The Battlefield – Fate/Stay Night: Heaven's Feel II. Lost Butterfly)
In the middle of a small clearing, a cocoon-shaped object appeared from nowhere, rising up as it grew to a size slightly larger than a human. Dark purple in colour, it was formed as hundreds of ribbon-like tentacles wrapped around each other to form the dome, expanding outward as a sinister energy began to wash over the area like a wave of malice. The ground was painted an ominous mixture of violet and black before turning almost entirely crimson; a girl dressed in clothing as dark as night emerging from the sphere as it suddenly burst open, pushing the liquid corruption further.
“I take it she’s the target?” Dark Pit asked, all but certain that she was what they were here for. The sheer malice radiating off of her in waves was unlike anything he’d seen, and the longer he stared at her, the more uneasy he felt. Her dress was a curious gothic Lolita style, frilling out at the bottom, whilst showing a generous amount of skin at the top. Her skin was alabaster, a pallid complexion one could easily mistake for illness. This was only furthered by her deathly pale blonde hair and sickly yellow eyes; an eerie sight for any who lay eyes upon this girl. Despite having the appearance of a fourteen-year-old, she was well into her thirties; her physical ageing halted due to magical forces beyond her control.
“Without a doubt” Viridi replied, her voice indicating to Pit’s dark clone the seriousness of this objective. Raising her right hand into the air, a tiny sphere of cursed energy formed above her palm, suddenly expanding into a lengthy obsidian sword, with red circles along the blade. Grasped firmly in her hand, the woman swung it down to her side instantaneously, spider-like cracks appearing in the ground as the sickening grail mud spread across the land. Simultaneously, jet black armour as dark as night appeared on the swordswoman, with faint ruby lines appearing like cracks throughout the armour, a sign of her blackening.
Her chest plate, gauntlets and greaves all featured the same ominous design, and a combat visor appeared on her face, covered in the same lines. Whilst it would look like her vision would be obscured, this was not the case, and merely served as facial protection. Curiously, her boots featured heels, slightly elevating the girl to height above her norm. Sprouting up from her chest place, thin armour to guard her neck was visible, furthering the cursed crimson lines to spread to her jaw; an emotionless visage set with a stony expression. In such a woman, there was no emotion, no feeling. Only cold efficiency remained in the place of the woman once known as Artoria Pendragon. Now Saber Alter was all that was left.
“Then let’s finish this quickly” Dark Pit concluded, already having his Dark Pit Staff trained on the target from the moment she emerged. Letting loose a charge shot that travelled the mile between them in an instant, the cloned angel was expecting the corrupted enforcer to be blown back by the projectile, but instead she tilted her body to the side, evading the shot as she turned around to face Dark Pit; the shot hitting the ground beside her and destroying the dirt beneath its area of impact. Neither the angel, nor the king’s expressions changed. They simply regarded the foe in front of them, and their capabilities. Despite the distance between them, both understood that their foe was dangerous and needed to be eliminated. With weapon in hand, they aimed to do just that.
FIGHT!
Conclusion[]
Original Track[]
The track for this fight would be called "Altered Reflections".
It references Saber's Alter form upon being blackened by the Grail Mud, and Dark Pit being created from the Mirror of Truth as a reflection of Pit's light-hearted nature. Both can also be seen as a "reflection" of idealistic heroes, taking on a darker form, as Dark Pit reflects emotions Pit subconsciously holds and Saber Alter reflects a side of Artoria without restraint and compassion.
Trivia[]
Dark Pit vs Saber Alter is an episode of Web Surfer Jon's Death Battles. It features Dark Pit from the Kid Icarus series, and Saber Alter from the Fate series.
| Dark Pit vs Saber Alter | |
|---|---|
| Season | TBD |
| Season Episode | TBD |
| Air date | TDB |
| Written by | Web Surfer Jon |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous TDB |
Next TBD |
Description[]
Kid Icarus vs Fate!