Time to fight the big guy.
And he doesn’t go down without a fight. Quick to act, Rin throws Archer up on a rooftop taking smash brothers pot shots at him the entire time. Berserker tanks just about everything though and continues to fight with Saber. Saber, meanwhile, does a tremendously good job of holding him off and even lands a few blows herself. Amazing that even with someone who is not a magus essentially tampering her mana supply, Saber is still able to hold her own against an immensely powerful servant like Berserker.
We are treated to a long and interesting fight filled with tons of ufotable color correction on sword hits. Amazing watching the two go at it with very little to no dialogue to interrupt their fight – perfect, considering that neither Saber nor Berserker are particularly wordy people. But what about Berserker’s noble phantasm that Illya mentions in passing?
For those unfamiliar with the FATE series (I doubt this really pertains to anyone), a noble phantasm is a sort of “ultimate move” that is the ultimate display of the servant’s strength. Usually used as a trump card.
But what of Iresviel’s spawn, the young Illya? As it was once said, “She is a bitch.” Taking on just about nothing from her mother, she’s cunning, deceitful, and condescending – something that villains have in spades in this series. She’s certainly a capable magus too, taking on Rin herself with little effort. Thankfully, Archer bails her out, Saber “kills” Berserker, he regenerates as per his noble phantasm, and Illya pulls out, stating that she is more interested in Archer than in Saber. Look, they’re both pretty strong lady, but I think it’s worth it to be interested in a servant who killed YOUR servant, I dunno call me stupid or whatever.
I wonder how Shirou knew that Archer’s noble phantasm was coming in order to warn Saber to get out of the way? Must be a part of their connection – an interesting little bit of foreshadowing.
Was happy to see Saber achieve a temporary victory over Berserker, even if we all know it’s not permanent. Truly the strongest class if she’s able to accomplish this much.
With the first Illya scuffle out of the way, it shouldn’t be long before Shinji and goddamn Rider show up to mess up everything. Looking forward to seeing Shinji get his poser ass kicked.
