Kiritsugu Emiya

Emiya Kiritsugu (衛宮切嗣) is the father of Illyasviel von Einzbern and Emiya Shirou. He has a minor role in Fate/stay night and is one of the major characters in the novel prequel Fate/Zero. He was a freelancer and infamously known as the Magus Killer (魔術師殺し).

Early years
Born on an Arimago Island, Kiritsugu lived with his father Emiya Norikata, fourth family head of the Emiya family and a magus who received a Sealing Designation. He became friends with - and had a crush on - Norikata's assistant, a local girl called Shirley who was four years older than him. However, disaster struck when Shirley somehow became a vampire and pled for Kiritsugu to kill her. Their village is overrun by Executors from the Church and Enforcers from the Association, both groups having arrived when they heard rumors of a magus researching into vampirism. Kiritsugu was the only survivor of the 'cleansing', saved by Natalia Kaminsky, a freelancer and part-time Enforcer who wanted information on the magus responsible.

Returning to the hidden Emiya residence, Kiritsugu confronted his father on his research and Shirley's death. Noritaka explained that he wanted to become a Dead Apostle to continue with his research on Magecraft longer. Shirley apparently drank one of his potions out of curiosity. Just as Norikata was planning their escape, Kiritsugu shot him in the back with a pistol - Natalia figured that the only person who could prevent Norikata from escaping and ensure his death was his own son. In the end, Natalia took Kiritsugu with her.

Magus Killer
Realizing that the tragedies he saw in his childhood were common occurrences in the world, the teenage Kiritsugu became a freelancer like Natalia to hunt down heretical magi around the world. Natalia trained him not only in Magecraft, but in tracking, assassination, and all types of weaponry.

During one mission, they were following a Dead Apostle who was on an Airbus A300 jumbo jet; Natalia was in the plane during the flight while Kiritsugu waited at the destination. As every single passenger had become undead, Kiritsugu deemed the situation too risky and shot the plane down before it could land, sacrificing Natalia in the process. In their last conversation via radio, he admitted that she was like a mother to him. It was then that he became disillusioned with his ideal of becoming a 'hero of justice', as it was impossible to save one person without losing another. However, he continued to fight for this dream, to ensure that everything he had given up would not be in vain. He was eventually branded as a Magus Killer by the Association.

Around eleven years before the fourth Holy Grail War, he took on a younger soldier as his apprentice, who he eventually named Hisau Maiya, training her in much the same way Natalia trained him. She became his assistant in the field and also his 'lover', in a purely sexual context.

Two years later, Kiritsugu was hired by the Einzbern family to be their representative in the coming conflict. Believing that the Holy Grail could grant his wish for world peace, he left behind his work as a 'hero of justice'. Using his sperm, Irisviel von Einzbern artificially conceived a child, named Ilyasviel, who was born one year later.

Personality
Kiritsugu has spent his life going through countless battles while trying to obtain a utopia that could never be fulfilled. After finding out about the existence of the Grail, he wishes to use it to obtain that utopia. He attempts to kill off most of his emotions, acting as the "machine that is Emiya Kiritsugu", in pursuit of his goal, though he is prone to fall into moments of extreme emotion and despair occasionally. When examining the Contender, he begins to wonder if he will remember the touch of his wife and daughter after the Grail War ends, and falls into self-derision upon realizing the eight year old Ilya weighs less than a rifle.

He has a close connection to Maiya that is older than than the one with Irisviel, sharing a blood-stained existence not even his wife has ever seen. Despite being close and having a sexual relationship for a duration of time, he shares no romantic feelings for her and attempts to simply regard her as a tool that will eventually die to serve her purpose. During the last moments of her life, he attempts to tell her that her tasks are complete and that she will die, but instead he almost finds himself crying for her. She eventually reminds him of his purpose, allowing him to tell her that her task is complete.

He stopped smoking while with the Einsbern family, but takes it up again during the Grail War. Part was because he couldn’t find his favorite brand, but it was mostly out of consideration for his wife and child. He instantly buys a pack out of habit and once again begins smoking as if hadn’t been ten years. Being a Japanese native, he feels better while in the country despite being used to travel.

Fate/Zero
Despite being the true Master of the Einzbern, Kiritsugu operated mostly in the background during the conflict, ambushing other Masters when they were otherwise occupied, while Saber, who was summoned using Excalibur's lost sheath as a catalyst, was partnered with Irisviel and made to act out in the open. This was to avoid conflict between Kiritsugu and Saber, as the methodologies of the two conflicted with each other too much. Saber and Irisviel traveled from Einzbern's castle in northern Europe to Japan by plane, while Kiritsugu took a different route, entering Fuyuki by ship and meeting with Maiya.

In the climax of the war, Kiritsugu fought the last Master, Kotomine Kirei to a standstill, both being consumed by the black 'mud' flowing out from the Holy Grail. There, Kiritsugu met 'Irisviel' again, now completely merged with the Grail. In his mind, he was forced to confront the fact that his methods will eventually lead to him becoming the ultimate enemy of humanity, equal to Angra Mainyu itself - and, 'Irisviel' proclaimed, this path is correct. Kiritsugu, now realizing that the Grail is corrupted, rejected 'Irisiviel', who placed a curse on him - to never be free of regret until his painful death. Kirei, having went through the same experience, asked Kiritsugu why he rejected the Grail; Kiritsugu killed him after a vague response.

Kiritsugu appeared during the final battle between Archer and Saber and used all his remaining command seals to force Saber to destroy the Grail with Excalibur, causing her to fade away. However, Kiritsugu realized immediately after that this was a mistake - without a vessel to contain it, the 'mud' spilled from its core onto the streets below, causing a fire that eventually destroyed a large part of Shinto.

Fate/stay night
With the war's end, Kiritsugu discarded his merciless facade and sought to atone for his gruesome deeds. When he stumbled upon a dying Shirou, seemingly the only survivor after the fire, he was overjoyed at the opportunity to save a life. In order to revive him, Kiritsugu implanted Avalon into Shirou's body. Kiritsugu later adopted him as a son, settling in the new Emiya residence that he bought during the war.

He met Fujimura Taiga sometime after, and took a liking to her due to her similarity to Shirley. Once Shirou was old enough, Kiritsugu left Fuyuki several times, traveling back to the old von Einzbern castle, trying to save his daughter. However, he never managed to find his way past the bounded fields, having lost most of his magecraft abilities.

To ensure the destruction of the Great Grail, Kiritsugu used explosives to create a 'bump' in the nearby leyline, which would ensure a earthquake in thirty to forty years' time. By doing so he hoped to prevent a fifth war, but did not realize that the incomplete ending of the fourth war would cause the next war to occur in just ten years.

Angra Mainyu's curse eventually cost his life, as his limbs were lame, his sight failed, and most of his circuits became useless. He died at the age of thirty-four, five years after the end of the War, passing onto Shirou his ideal of a 'hero of justice'. He is buried in the graveyard behind Ryuudouji, though Shirou rarely visits.

Abilities
Kiritsugu is only average as a magus, and instead specializes as a "Magus Killer." He has a number of specialties that would not make him very notable within the Mage's Association, but instead make him useful for higher-ups when they need an assassin to kill other heretical magi. His relationship with the Association is much like how the Church treats its Executors. His abilities are great enough that even the Church considers him to be "an individual that requires surveillance."

Combat tactics
Kiritsugu is a very unconventional magus, known as a Spellcaster, that treats magecraft as a mere tool in which he has acquired knowledge rather than the object of his lifelong goals, and he freely supplements it with the use of modern technology to gain an advantage over enemies. Compared to someone like Tohsaka Tokiomi, who refuses to use phones and the like despite their convenience, he freely uses anything at his disposal in order to accomplish his goals. He has the mindset of skilled assassin, and rather than facing another magus in a direct duel of abilities, such as in a battle between their Mystic Codes, he makes use of various plans, traps, and schemes that utilize both magecraft and modern weaponry in order to take out his targets. He relies on the fact that a self-conscious magus, having stepped into a world of mysteries beyond human intellect, is unable to relate to the stereotypes of a narrower world, such as the conditions of a battlefield or scenarios a regular soldier may face.

He follows the methodology that the attack the enemy doesn't expect is a shortcut for all battles. He preys on the weak point of magi, their negligence from arrogance, which makes them believe that the only threat to them cannot be anything other than a similar magus. They constantly stay on alert to the slightest trace of magecraft, and only hone their skills and counter measures towards such threats. They ignore any attack that is purely physical and void of magecraft, viewing the sharpest knives ans strongest bullets as secondary menaces they have no need to fear. Before such an attack actually pierces their flesh, they are confident in their illusions, paralysis methods, and defensive bounded fields being able to completely negate any such attacks. They despise technology and underestimate what a human without magecraft can accomplish, which makes them weak to non-magical attacks from Kiritsugu's experience.

While Kiritsugu is able to fight most magi with modern weaponry, there are some special cases he calls "formidable enemies." Following the methodology that technology is a blind spot to most magi, he finds that most them can be defeated by night vision and a heat sensor scope. Though most magi won't deviate from that generality, there exist those that cannot be measured with rules and experience. Against those who Kiritsugu's normal strategies will not prevail against, he must act as a magus and use his Mystic Code, which is his most powerful weapon. Even facing such an opponent, he is extremely adept at forming strategies and analyzing enemy movements and magecraft. Within just one encounter with Kayneth's Mystic Code, he is able to find three weaknesses, form a countermeasure against it, and plan for his final assault.

He is very familiar with the workings of Magic Circuits and the related temperature changes in the body of the practitioner. Having trained and studied the correlation, he is able to read the current status of the Magic Circuits through the heat distribution of the practitioner when viewed on the thermal output of a heat detecting scope. He is able to tell the difference between an ordinary person and a magus, allowing him to seize an opportunity to shoot upon the release of prana. Compared to magecraft, which can see through the dark better and detect the position of an enemy magus, it can be said guns falls behind. Its advantage is that it takes no prana to use firearms, leaving a magus unsuited to the battle conditions of a soldier trapped in the dark and unable to detect any prana.

He is extremely skilled in penetrating Bounded Fields, allowing him to break through the Tohsaka residence's strong bounded field in three hours. It is an almost miraculous method allowing him to overcome a first-rate security system specifically guarding against magi that wouldn't be broken even if attacked continuously for a whole year by magecraft. Due to it being created with magi in mind, he was able to overcome it precisely because he is someone who does not seek results by way of magecraft and from his experience in fighting against magi by perceiving traps wrought through magecraft. He supplements familiars with miniature CCD camera tied on the abdomen as a measure of recording the true nature of the area. There are often illusions and camouflaged bounded fields based on using suggestions on an observer, but most magi would never develop countermeasures for electronic-based threats. Even though it slows the the familiar's speed, it is also useful to have video records to rewatch events at a later time or show them to others.

Hisau Maiya
His relationship with Hisau Maiya is that of a pupil and a teacher, but due to viewing magecraft as a tool, there isn’t a single sense of master and pupil between them. He has only taught her a “way to fight” so that he may also freely use her as a “tool.” Out of all of his teachings, she is most skilled with using bat familiars supplemented with cameras. She is a "supporting machine" whose actions are even more akin to a machine than those of the machine called Emiya Kiritsugu, and an " indispensable final weapon" to help him win the battle. Due to years of working together, they are very in sync with each other's actions. She acts as a vanguard scout, and she makes use of a Steyr AUG assault gun with a replaced night vision scope while still remaining under five kilograms. He generally trusts her with reconnaissance and scouting due to her skills with familiars, and allows her to procure all of his equipment.

They have exchanged strands of hair between them, which Kiritsugu used as the basis for a spell in order to act as a measure indicating the worst-case scenario in which it has become impossible to use a wireless network or familiar to convey information. The enchanted strands were embedded in the subcutaneous tissue of their pinky fingers with the purpose of sensing if the Magic Circuits of one of them entered a state of extreme stagnation, the stage at which one's life force was weak on the verge of impasse with death. If the hair embedded in either one of their fingers starts to burn, it is a warning to notify them of the existence of danger, and it really essentially acts only as a signal to inform that "it is already too late."

Equipment
Kiritsugu lacks the various ritualistic catalysts used by normal magi like a dagger, cup, talisman, elixir, or spiritual container. He instead uses all state of the art weaponry that are unable to store any prana, which is the "heresy" that earned him his title. He utilizes a large number of different firearms and weapons to kill his targets. He also makes use of personal hand grenades, stun grenades, smoke grenades, C2 plastic explosives, and landmines, and he is skilled in incorporating them into traps with trip wires and hidden fuses. He has number of Claymores, which simultaneously release around seven hundred steel balls with diameters of only one or two millimeters. They radiate outward in all directions in a fan formation with enough power to destroy an infantry unit in one strike. He is also familiar with setting up surveillance systems, allowing him to use a number of concealed CCD cameras throughout the Einzbern castle.

He also has specialized magical equipment, such as an eye drop bottle filled with a liquid made from refining the body fluids of a succubus. It is sensitive to the blood of men and aged things, allowing it to immediately identify such substances. It is capable of comparing substances and distinguish differences accurately, allowing him to compare left over residue from shaving to a bloodstain to identify both as being left by Tokiomi.

Calico M960
The Calico M960 (キャリコM950) is a submachine gun used by Kiritsugu and Maiya as a reserve side arm. It has a compact size similar to a large handgun with a reinforced plastic that makes it look more like a toy when compared to the Walther. It has a unique helical magazine that allows for fifty Parabellum rounds fired at a rate of seven hundred shots per minute. It is also equipped with a sound suppressor, laser sight, and foregrip.

Thompson Contender


The symbol of Kiritsugu as a magus: his Mystic Code, a customized pistol with a grip and forearm carved in walnut, reminiscent of a dagger in its scabbard. It is a conceptual weapon designed to fire Kiritsugu's special 'magic bullets'.

Walther WA2000
The Walther WA2000 (ワルサーWA2000) is a super heavyweight, semi-automatic sniper rifle of the highest class and performance that is the pinnacle of the latest electronic techniques. It costs $12,000 due to only being one of the 154 units produced. It is a rifle with a compact size measuring a little over ninety centimeters in length with the bullpup structure of the gunbarrel with a gas-operated magazine measuring at a length of 65 centimeters. It uses a .300 Winchester Magnum shell that has an effective range of one thousand meters. It doesn’t have the standard Smith & Bender sighting device, but rather he installed a pair of extra-large optic devices as a special scope mount fixed in parallel above the barrel and on the left flank.

The unit on the main side is the AN/PVS04, the latest night vision scope used by the US armed forces that has been banned from being exported to prevent the leaking of technology to other countries. It uses a super sensitive video camera that acts as a light electrical amplifier with a lens, raising and displaying a perfect brightness. Acting as an electronic "owl eye", it multiplies the range of vision by 3.6, allowing it to view up to six hundred yards under the moonlight or four hundred yards in starlight. The second unit is a specter IR heat detector scope installed as sideways support. It is also electronically equipped for night vision, but displays the subject's heat pattern on the image display rather than acting as an intensity amplifier. It can perceive temperature variations from -5 to 60°C up to two hundred meters with an 1.8 magnification.

The scopes are large and bulky, being the size of a plastic bottle and giving the compact gun an air of unbalance, which brings the total weight of the gun to over ten kilos. Even with the steady progress of miniaturization, they are still large even compared to standard optic devices. It is a weapon more suited to a support fire squad more than a sniping weapon, and its practical use is hindered. Despite the challenge, it was within his calculations in best managing to make use of the weapon. The joint use of both scopes allows him not only the ability to fight in darkness, but they have also been configured to allow him to face off against a magus. Sensing the Magic Circuits within the dark, it can fire upon them from hundreds of meters away without them being able to detect him at all.

Magecraft
Due to his father's crimes, Kiritsugu was unable to fully inherit the Emiya Thaumaturgical Crest. The body was retained by the Association under the Sealing Designation, so he was only able to obtain the "dregs" of the crest, which was a fragment that contains less than twenty percent of the entire thing. He had little interest in the crest due to the fact that the Emiya bloodline focused on "time manipulation." Only interested in the parts of it that could be applied to use in combat situations, he has used the abilities in his own style of magecraft. While he relies on modern technology, he is still capable of using various different spells and techniques in his work. He is capable of using night sight by focusing prana to his eyes, allowing him to instantly see with impeccable clarity in the dark. He is proficient in using familiars, and he has taught Maiya how to use them as well.

Kiritsugu's Elemental Affinity is the dual attributes of Fire and Earth, and as composite attributes, they are linked to his dual Origins, Severing and Binding (「切断」と「結合」). The previous generation of the Emiya familiy was at a loss upon finding the nature of his Origin, and named him Kiritsugu due to the strange results. Severing and Binding is different from the idea of "destruction and rebirth." There is no chance of "recovery" in the case of binding, such as a string being cut and connected back together by tying the two pieces. While it is once again whole, there is forever an irreversible "corruption" in the form of a change in thickness where the knot it tied. It takes form in his everyday life when doing hands-on work, which caused him to become particularly aware of his Origin. While he can fix normal contraptions, he is not very skilled in working with delicate machinery. His unskilled hands suddenly cause everything to become the opposite, and the more he wants to fix something, the worse the damage becomes for the machine. He can use handcraft to piece together a snapped metal wire while still restoring the original function, but fixing a delicate electric circuit using the same principles will have fatal results. It is not something that will work as long as everything is connected, and if the connections are out of order, the circuit will lose its function. Rather than being caused by his personality or temperament, it is the true essence of the root deep within his soul.

Innate Time Control
固有時制御 - koyuu jiseigyo

Like the ability of the fifth War's Archer, this is an imitation of magic: a bounded field close to a Reality Marble that is physically limited to Kiritsugu himself, allowing him to regulate time within the field - that is, speeding up (accel) or slowing down (stagnate) his own body. As it is deployed in its smallest scale, it can adjust time by a few seconds at most.

However, there will be inconsistencies between the flow of time inside and outside the field; as soon as the field is removed, natural forces, the world itself, will forcefully adjust the 'incorrect time'. This damages Kiritsugu physically every time Innate Time Control is used, to the point of crushing his bones. Due to this, he apparently never went beyond double accel, though he effected triple and quadruple accel in his battle against Kirei as he had Avalon's potent regenerative abilities at the time.