Saber Gaheris

I may have wrote this one a bit close to home to say the least.
"By your command, Gaheris of the Shadows has answered your call. May this blade serve one who cheers and weeps, may this gaze follow them as they lead a life of joy and sadness."
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Class: Saber
Alternative Class: Assassin, Avenger
True Identity: Sir Gaheris
Titles/Nickname: Knight of the Shadows
Origin: Arthurian Myth
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: B
Mana: A
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: B

Class Skills
Magic Resistance - B+
Grants protection against magical effects. At this rank, spells with a chant below three verses are canceled. Even if targeted by High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, it is difficult for Saber to be affected. Moreover, it is essentially impossible to negatively afflict Saber with curses and contracts. At birth, he was cursed by his mother Morgan le Fay with a geas that would force him - at the perfect moment - to slay King Arthur. He did not only break the contract but beheaded her as well without any side effect.

Riding - B
The ability to ride mounts and vehicles. At this rank, most vehicles and animals can be handled with above average skill, even vehicles that did not exist in one's time period. However, the likes of Phantasmal Species such as Monstrous Beasts can't be ridden. This rank is only natural for a Knight of the Round Table, but as Saber isn't known for any particular riding feat, the rank can't rise further.

Personal Skills
Knight of the Shadows - A
A unique composite Skill exclusive to Heroic Spirit Gaheris. It grants both Presence Concealment and Information Erasure of the same rank, allowing Saber to enact incredibly deadly ambushes that far surpass the performance of most Assassin-class Servants, who are usually limited to targeting Masters. He can only be detected once he draws his blade to attack and all evidence of his battles - whether digital or physical - are erased upon retreat, alongside the memories of those involved. However, those who knew him in life will keep remembering Saber after the first meeting. Saber is the Knight of the Shadows who walked alongside his comrades but was never acknowledged. When tales of the brave knights of Camelot were sung, no lips would spell his name. Even in history, he was never remembered for anything aside from a murderous act which King Arthur was forced to punish him for.

Magecraft - B+
Knowledge about modern Thaumaturgy. Saber is especially talented when it comes to curses and hexes, but no one would question it upon learning that he is Morgan's son. Mordred was a tool, Agravain acted like an obedient boy, Gawain and Gareth were disappointments who lacked the proper temperament - it was only Gaheris who truly inherited Morgan's essence as a supreme witch who rivaled Merlin. Although Gaheris' right arm was cursed to strike at King Arthur, Mordred and Agravain were expected to be the ones who would actually overthrow him. His main role was that of an heir who could act in her stead if needed. He is a more capable magus than most modern humans, but being summoned as a Saber limits him and he doesn't possess enough qualifications to manifest as a Caster.

Mystic Eyes - B
A Skill indicating the possession of Mystic Eyes, capable of imparting magical effects and interfering with the outside world. Saber possesses "Anti-Magecraft" Eyes that disrupt the flow of magical energy and the composition of spells he looks at. They are permanently active; Agravain often mocked Gaheris "for being dull", but that was because he often stared at the ground to prevent his Mystic Eyes from interfering with world around him. A gift and a curse granted by his mother Morgan, they were originally meant to hinder Merlin "just in case he got in the way": their effectiveness is such that even a mage of Merlin's caliber would find himself troubled and - for most Casters - it would be a hopeless fight. It is highly ironic that - due to these eyes - Gaheris was able to cut through his mother's neck despite the many wards and spells she had erected.

Noble Phantasm
Morgan Llaw Dbu: 'Slay, Black Hand of Betrayal' - B (A)
Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm
The cursed right arm of Heroic Spirit Gaheris, a burden forced upon him by his mother Morgan le Fay. Its name is inspired by the legendary King of Britons, Lludd Llaw Eraint - Llud of the Silver Hand - so it also symbolizes her dark ambitions.

It was said that Gaheris hid his right arm because it was longer than his left one. Knights who believed such a rumor thought it foolish to be ashamed for something that could grant increased prowess in battle, but only his siblings were aware of his arm's true nature.

Any weapon wielded by Saber's right arm turns into a demonic armament that temporarily turns whatever it touches into an exploitable "weak point". For the next attack, even the greatest of armors or toughest of bodies will become as fragile as paper.

It is essentially a curse, but a high-level one that can't be compared to similar assassination techniques whose effectiveness depend on factors like amount of magical energy or fate. It was due to this power that he was capable of slaying the evil giant Aupatris despite his low combat prowess in direct fights compared to other Knights of the Round Table: Aupatris - unable to even trouble Gaheris - had his limbs shattered one after another before finally falling.

Calling upon the Noble Phantasm's true name releases its function as a "tool of betrayal" devised to assassinate King Arthur when he least expected it. Saber's right arm releases dark magical energy - the same kind of power possessed by Morgan and the blackened King of Knights - and condenses it into a conceptual slash that ignores distance, armor or shields to cut off the target's head.

The curse's original aim - killing King Arthur - remains even after Gaheris' ascension to the Throne of Heroes. The chances to actually deal a fatal blow increase the more the target resembles the existence known as King Arthur.

It doesn't matter whether it's due to traits such as having a Dragon's magical energy reactor, wielding a holy sword, being a king or even having a similar history, a similar appearance or a similar personality - anything that would fan the flames of Morgan's hatred is acceptable. Needless to say, its effectiveness against the actual King Arthur is absolute.
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History
The gloomy child born from the union of Morgan le Fay and King Lot, he was the third heir to the Picts after his brothers Gawain and Agravain.

His magical talent was immediately recognized by Morgan, who had sought a successor to inherit the supernatural cursed blood running through the veins of the Pendragon family. Gawain resembled his father too much and lacked the right disposition, while Agravain had an attitude that suited magecraft but lacked the talent.

In a train of dark and selfish thoughts that any proper mother would have found shameful, Morgan believed that as long as Gaheris had the talent, she could mold his personality to suit her needs.

He liked nothing, disliked nothing, nothing made him happy and nothing made him unhappy. Eating was just an action meant to fill his stomach and obeying Morgan was all he was instructed to do.
Rather than being forbidden from interacting with others, he simply saw no point in it, so he never formed a relationship with his father King Lot and knew nothing about his siblings beyond their appearance.

One could call his childhood unhappy, but that would assume that Gaheris had ever experienced happiness in the first place. Every day was filled with nothing but pain, but he couldn't even fear failure since he never developed as a person.

He received his Mystic Eyes when he was four years old and - just a year after that - Morgan filled his right arm with thousands of curses aimed at King Arthur in a painful process that permanently scarred Gaheris' mind and made him unresponsive to pain and weak external stimuli.

The pain shocked him into feeling fear for the first time. After being left to recover for a few weeks, he began interacting with his brother Gawain.
Morgan was an authority figure he couldn't afford to disappoint while Agravain was nothing but a familiar face he occasionally met. Gawain - and later Gareth - were the only individuals he could trust and were akin to a sun that brightened his dark days.

Following the death of King Lot - who had opposed King Arthur's unification of Britain under a single banner - at the hands of Round Table's supervisor, King Pellinore, all of them joined King Arthur's court.
Agravain was secretly an assassin sent by Morgan, but he eventually swore genuine loyalty to the ruler of Camelot and so came to resent Gaheris, whom he viewed as nothing but the treacherous Morgan's tool.
Gawain, on the other hand, proved his prowess as both fighter and knight and was accepted as a member of the Round Table. Gaheris worked under him as his squire until he was eventually knighted and joined the Round Table as the member holding the sixth seat.

Just as King Arthur's inhumane perfection deeply affected Agravain, Gaheris matured by observing the King's humanity. As the shadow who would eventually stab him in the back, it was only natural to stalk him under the pretext of acting as a bodyguard.

By pure chance, he happened to witness a genuinely beautiful interaction between the King and Guinevere.
The King smiled. It was just a slight upturning of the lips, but the emotions in his eyes was something that Gaheris had neither experienced or seen in his life.

Ever since childhood, he had obediently follower Morgan's teachings and joined the Round Table per her request.
He never sought a reason or thought about it - to him, Morgan le Fay was an entity of absolute authority. Defying her never crossed his mind.

But the King's smile changed that. For the first time in his existence, Gaheris asked himself "why am I doing this?". He questioned Morgan's orders and wondered if extinguishing the life of an inhumane King who could still smile like that was something he truly wished to do.

He never got his answer - or perhaps he did, for he stopped spying on on his king. He told Morgan that he would "not report for a while" under the pretense of Merlin's presence in court being too much of a risk. Gaheris was easily believed - after all, Morgan was a woman of absolute confidence in herself; she never doubted that someone she had manipulated from birth could ever deceive her.

Deciding to act as a proper knight, he went through many adventures. He proved his prowess by saving his brother Gawain twice, rescued Agravain and Gareth from the lord of Newcastle and slayed the giant Aupatris.

At the time, his relationship with the other Knights of the Round Table was almost flawless: he befriended Percival and continuously supported Tristan on the matter of Iseult.
However, Agravain's suspicion towards Gaheris only intensified when he started acting as a "proper knight" rather than fitting his vision of him as Morgan's puppet. He began belittling him, calling him "dull" for always averting his gaze from others, saying that he shamed their king by not walking with pride.
This drove a wedge between Gawain and Agravain and one could say that it was only one of the many causes which would eventually ruin Camelot.

Frustrated by Gaheris' lack of progress and repetitive justifications, the impatient Morgan gave birth to another son. It was not a natural existence born from the deceased King Lot, but rather an artificial human manufactured with King Arthur's seed.

This development is what ultimately prompted Gaheris to cut ties with Morgan.

It wasn't as if he was deluded into believing that his mother actually loved him.
That sort of self-deception was something that belonged to his childhood, when his self briefly dreamed of hope.
Perhaps Morgan "cared" for Gaheris, but it was only a selfish affection that fundamentally only benefited her.
Gaheris didn't truly "hate" his mother, for he never truly hated anyone.
However, witnessing the pure disregard with which she replaced others when she was inconvenienced, and the lengths to which she would go for the purpose of slaying her own brother opened his eyes to his long-unanswered question.

King Arthur is a man who pretends to be a monster, but Morgan le Fay is a monster who pretends to be a human.

In his memories, Gaheris treasured the honest smile that King Arthur showed to Guinevere as it reminded him of what he truly wished.
To protect the King's smile and perhaps - someday - to be able to smile like that as well.

But the Round Table began to fracture. Sir Tristan - whose internal struggle did not permit him to suffer any further by witnessing King Arthur's similarly tragic situation - left Camelot after unintentionally allowing sharp words to slip out and criticize his own ruler:

"King Arthur does not understand the hearts of men."

These words "cursed" the other knights and precipitated the kingdom's ruin by provoking conflict between Sir Gawain and Sir Pellinore, who had killed the former's father King Lot. Sir Pellinore, fiercely loyal to the king, harshly insulted Sir Tristan and looked down on him as a traitor who did not understand the king. Gawain - unwilling to let even a comrade slander the name of his friend - argued on the subject of "traitors" until the supervisor of the Round Table accidentally mentioned King Lot.

Both were admirable knights, but it was because of their pride as knights that reconciliation became impossible. One too passionate to leave the argument and the other too prideful to ask for forgiveness, the dispute escalated until the two battled under the sun a few days later.
Needless to say, the battle was completely one-sided. Rather than a duel, it was more akin to a slaughter. Pellinore's wife wept, denouncing Gawain as a coward who committed shameful treason by fighting when the conditions so clearly benefited him.

At the same time, Gaheris secrely followed Pellinore's son, Lamorak. He had no intention of exacerbating the conflict between Gawain and Pellinore. Rather, he was doing it as a favor to Lamorak's brother - Sir Percival - who claimed that Lamorak had been acting strangely.
Gifted in magecraft, Gaheris had no trouble concealing his presence and stalked him until he reached a hidden hut, clad in blackened magical energy that made the identity of its owner obvious.

He discovered that Morgan had charmed Lamorak to fanatically love her, turning him into a puppet that would accelerate the crumbling of the Round Table.
Gaheris - even with his Mystic Eyes - had been unable to detect the charm, but it did not surprise him given the caster's abilities.
However, the fact that the charm didn't wear off under his gaze suggested that its nature was more akin to that of a curse tied to Morgan's life.

"Then what I must do is clear."

With no hesitation or regret, Gaheris swiftly unsheathed his blade and cut Morgan's neck, ending her life. Undoubtedly, something of this caliber would fail to terminate an existence as powerful as her, but it would take time for her to recover. As Gaheris proceeded to destroy the entire body to prevent Morgan's soul from inhabiting it again, Lamorak fled in confusion.

However, as he returned to Camelot, the dazed knight came across Mordred. Instructed by Morgan's soul - which was fleeing back to her workshop - to erase any evidence of her presence in Camelot, Mordred stabbed Lamorak in the back and made arrangements so that Gaheris would be blamed for his death.

Made to kneel in front of King Arthur to answer for his crimes, the King's duty was painfully evident. Gawain had slain Pellinore in a duel, as "unfair" as it was, but Gaheris had supposedly killed Lamorak from behind.
Of course, no true comrade of Gaheris believed him capable of cold-blooded murder and even Agravain - who had antagonized him for years - was skeptical.

However, civil unrest denied an investigation and demanded a rapid resolution.

King Arthur, although outwardly impassive, was struggling to pass judgment on one of his most trusted knights.
Unwilling to let his king suffer, Gaheris threw away his cape - alongside his title as a Knight of the Round Table - and resigned of his own volition.
Gaheris did not wait for the King's response, nor did he wish to. As he exited the hall, he failed to ignore Gawain's trembling frown and Gareth's shocked expression.

For weeks, Gaheris could do nothing but witness the Round Table's collapse from afar, powerless and unable to change anything. He attempted to stop Agravain from exposing the affair between Lancelot and Guinevere, but was only met with indifference as his brother admonished him:

"You are no longer a Knight of the Round Table. Therefore, you do not possess the right to question my actions. Leave, Gaheris - there is no place for you here anymore."

Those were his brother's last words. A few days after Agravain's death at the hands of Lancelot, Queen Guinevere's execution was announced.

Gaheris attended, but even he was unsure of what to do.
He bitterly cursed his powerlessness which could not prevent Agravain's actions, thus failing to protect King Arthur's smile.

He saw his sister Gareth - hints of her once cheerful disposition nowhere to be seen - standing guard. As their eyes met, her sad smile conveyed both her joy at reuniting with her brother and her despair at being forced to do so on such a somber event.

Then, as sudden as a lightning strike, a knight in white armor rode in.
Galloping towards the Queen's execution site, he drew his sword.
No one failed to recognize the fairies-blessed sword of the lake, but that made it even harder to accept the reality of the situation as Arondight slashed Gareth in two, staining Lancelot's pristine armor in bloody red.

Gaheris met his own end after not too long.
As the crowd dispersed in fear, he kept starting at his sister's corpse, her expression suggesting happiness that had just began to morph into confusion and shock.
Even after being ruthlessly cut down by the object of her adulation, her beautiful lily-white fingers still weakly grasped her sword.
In a haze of fury and rage, Gaheris took it and - as he briefly exchanged blows with the Knight of the Lake - cursed his name in a hoarse voice:

"Die, suffer, despair, cry! Writhe in pain and weep, Lancelot!"

Gaheris - failing to even scratch his armor - was cut down as well.

However, his right arm welcomed the curses he had aimed at the knight and - even with the death of its owner - corrupted Lancelot's white armor, staining it with a black stigma meant to reflect his betrayal.

Personality
Having been the subject of Morgan's experiments since his earliest years, Gaheris' development was hindered on both a physical and mental level. Despite being just a few years younger than Gawain, his looks are more properly defined as pretty rather than manly, fooling many into the impression that he was Gareth's twin rather than her older brother.

Before being welcomed into King Arthur's court, his personality was best described as non-existent, but after experiencing fear for the first time he slowly began to develop an ego through his interactions with Gawain and later Gareth.

As a Knight of the Round Table, he is quiet but extremely so. He only speaks if prompted, but one shouldn't even expect him to contribute to the discussion any further. Rather than rudeness, it's because he is always unsure when it comes to conversations.

Because of his poor communication skills, it is easy to misunderstand his actions or grow frustrated with his unresponsiveness. Precisely due to the fact that it is hard to bond with him, he treasures his friends greatly and is willing to even antagonize a king for them. However, he will never compromise when it comes to his personal beliefs, even if it involves his siblings.

He tends to be blunt, such as reporting a knight's death to his wife and walking away without consoling her. Although he has the self-awareness to recognize his mistakes when pointed out to him, he finds it hard to correct them. He has a "needlessly" kind side that shows concern towards the troubles of commoners and peasants - in more than one occasion, he spent his own coins to prevent farmers from dying due to an unlucky harvest or an animal devoured by wolves - but his ignorance regarding inherent goodness makes him dismiss the whole matter as pure objectivity on his part.

It is hard to anger him, but once slighted he will never let go of a grudge. It is not because of pettiness, but because only a truly awful crime would enrage him. In this aspect, he truly inherited his mother Morgan's dark nature. Had he survived his fight against Lancelot, he would have utterly ruined his life and made him even more miserable than he was after King Arthur's death.

His gaze is always pointed downward, making other perceive him as constantly lost in thoughts, so many are surprised by its intensity when starting directly into his eyes. This and his soft demeanor drew many comparisons between Sir Gaheris and Sir Tristan, although not an undeserved one given their close relationship.

People formulate judgments based on the assumptions they built over the years, but Gaheris lacks the sort of experience that would allow him to do that. When he meets someone, he doesn't categorize them as "evil" or "good". As a Knight of the Round Table, he will protect the innocents and battle the wicked, but only because that's his duty. Similarly, he didn't cut ties with Morgan because she was "evil" but due to her inhumanity.

Compared to most Knights of the Round Table, he holds less loyalty towards King Arthur - or perhaps it might be more accurate to say that he isn't as fanatical. Unlike those who saw the king as a great ruler detached from regular beings - both in terms of power and personalty - Gaheris considered King Arthur "an admirable person".

He is devoted to the king because the king is human, so his admiration is personal rather than dutiful. Unsurprisingly, the restraint he set upon the holy lance Rhongomyniad is "The battle must not be inhumane." - in other words, King Arthur must retain his form as someone who loves and suffers like anyone else.

In battle, he is completely merciless. Whether it's a child or an elderly, his blade won't waver at all. One might accuse him of being without morals, but his decisiveness is simply a trait born from a lack of the prejudices that commonly associate a "child" with "innocence". Of course, he won't kill unless provided with a reasonable justification.He's practical in both combat and tactics, to the point that many would point out "How are you not an Assassin?".

In regards to his Master, he applies the same standards he holds for King Arthur. Instead of "good" and "evil", compatibility relies on whether one is "humane" or "inhumane". Due to how a typical magus' mind operates, he is a bad fit for most "proper" Masters.
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Artoria Pendragon
Gaheris: "It is because the king is human that she is deserving of such loyalty. You disrespect her efforts by pretending the perfection of a goddess."

Artoria: "Sir Gaheris... more than any other knight, I could always trust him to aid his fellow comrades in their time of need. To this day, I regret that he was forced to bear the burden of leaving the Round Table of his own volition. I'm sincerely thankful that such loyalty is offered to such a worthless king."

Artoria Pendragon (Alter):
Gaheris: *Unsheathes Sword*

Artoria: "Oh, to point your sword at the king... Your surprising audacity never fails to impress me, Knight of the Shadows."

Artoria Pendragon (Lancer):
Gaheris: "That's... no, perhaps not..."

Artoria: *worried look, wondering if he's fine*

Gawain:
Gaheris: "I would hesitate to call anyone aside from the king perfect, but I truly can't point out any flaw he might have. Ah, but those mashed potatoes are..."

Gawain: "My Master, this knight will never be able to repay this debt even after a hundred battles. I failed to protect him from a crime he never committed, failed to comfort him and failed to stand at his side until the very end. To embrace my treasured brother once more..."

Gareth:
Gaheris: "She is so impossibly charming that even the grumpy Agravain failed to admonish her. Of course, I am no exception. I fear that a regular human would just end up getting swallowed by her appeal, Master."

Gareth: "BROTHER GAHERIS!"

Tristan:
Gaheris: "They accused you of not being a proper bowman? Incidentally, I was also mistaken for a rogue by a group of skull-faced Servants. I wonder why we keep having so many things in common..."

Tristan: "Ahh, my friend... yes, how sad. Your features are flawless, but a child's countenance would only draw in a special kind of ladies... oh, pay me no mind."

Mordred:
Gaheris: "I have been unfair to her. After all, just as how Agravain never saw me as anything but Morgan's puppet, I never considered Mordred as anything but Morgan's tool. She mirrors, perhaps, a possibility that I could have embodied had I not witnessed the king's smile and rejected our mother's darkness."

Mordred: "Gaheris, uh? Mmph... yeah, this gloomy dude pissed me off a little. When he stared at me, I felt as if my helmet was going to split in two from some strange pressure. And Gareth never stopped blathering about him, even though we were riding together! But... well, although it was never my idea in the first place, blaming him for something he never did was pretty shitty of me and he was sort of cool when he tried to avenge Gareth, so I should at least apologize for that."

Agravain:
Gaheris: "I do not hate him, but a reconciliation is truly impossible. When it comes to how the king should be, our disagreement is inevitable. To him, I am nothing but our mother's puppet."

Agravain: "Gaheris... you fool. Despite having thrown away your cape, you still could not abandon the king and even lost your life in a meaningless struggle..."

Lancelot:
Lancelot:
Gaheris: "One who not only destroyed the king's happiness but ruined the queen's life, betrayed his country, betrayed his friends, betrayed his beliefs, betrayed his oaths. Utterly incapable to respect the image of the virtuous man others claimed him to be, only a filthy black armor would suit such a liar and scoundrel."

Lancelot: "... On that day, my resolve was absolute. May King Arthur punish me and my comrades curse me - for love, I was willing to endure all of this. However, that day, I did not strike down a Knight of the Round Table, but a brother devoured by grief after witnessing the murder of his sister at the hands of a selfish barbarian. My life belongs to the king, so I can't offer it, yet apologies achieve little. Is my punishment being unable to seek a solution to this conflict?"
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Appearance
Gaheris wears a high collar sleeveless indigo shirt, black pants and boots, and black cloth covering his right arm and leg. He has a shoulder pauldron, and his chest is covered by two straps, held in place by a badge representing a Wolf, the outfit itself was made for someone more Rogueish and Agile and thus lacks the armor of most of the Round Table however, much like their armor what he has comes magically enhanced to protect him, underneath the sleeve is a set of chains that are used to bound and seal the effects of the arm, removal of them can activate the arm. This was the outfit he died in and not the armor that he wore as a member of the Round Table, besides the Singular Pauldron and Chains.

Gareth does not wield a singular blade or has one, but rather he has a Sheath located on the back of his waist that holds set of six swords, the blades come in a variety of shapes and sizes and are thus suited to a variety of combat situations, what makes these swords unique is their magical property to fuse together into a massive greatsword, though because this is never mentioned in his legend nor even commented upon each blade is merely just a 'Magical' Sword then a Noble Phantasm outright.

They are composed of six swords that assemble into a single large sword: a main blade —the First Sword— a hollow blade that serves as the front edge, two identical (but asymmetrically opposite) blades that form the back, and two identical (also asymmetrically opposite) smaller blades that attach to the sides.

The main blade, called Fenrir by himself resembles an exaggerated two-handed sword and is the main one he uses when not using the others.