Assassin (Fate/Extra)

Assassin (アサシン) is the Assassin-class Servant of Julius B. Harway in the Moon Cell Holy Grail War of Fate/Extra.

Identity
Li Shuwen. 1864~1934. A Chinese martial artist from -. A prominent martial artist in the history of Chinese martial arts, renowned as "a second strike is needless, so long there is one it will suffice".

The progenitor of the Li clan's branch of Bājí, Li Shuwen excelled in the use of spear to the point of being nicknamed "Divine Spear Li". The "" that he used was a basic weapon of the Bājí-branch and, if one is to accept this extreme logic, it can be said that the unarmed techniques of the Bājí-branch (the Bājíquán) are nothing but preliminary steps to learn the techniques of this great spear.

Appearance
In his youth he has long tied back red hair. He also wears traditional chinese clothing. In his older days, he has short gray hair, he wore a tan coloured chinese clothing. He wore a fur long coat over his shoulders. While making the original design, Takashi Takeuchi also drew an older version much like how he is said to appear when summoned as Lancer.

Personality
Assassin is prideful, serious, and energetic when fighting in battle. But when his Master refused to be deleted from the program and infused Command Seals he got from another Master he killed previously, a Master with a Berserker class Servant, Li Shuwen loses his mind with the new Command Seals and his class changes to Berserker.

Demon Fist Master
A master of martial arts who fundamentally keeps the morality of the innate goodness of man, but at same time also accepts evil. Said to have brought much hatred due killing too many opponents and finally had his life ended by being served poison.

As a Servant, Shuwen's morality had deviated from the general common sense, but his humanity itself is that of a "sensible person" that esteems rationality.

Does not see great difference in justice and evil, but if someone's behavior offends his rationality...like with much futility..., blunt disgust will be pointed towards that someone. In cases when that someone is a scoundrel that lust for profits, and there are pleas by those damaged by that someone, under the terms of "a connection has been made", Li Shuwen will confront that someone and commit murder as a result.

At a first glance this would seems as an act of chivalry, but since the chivalry of China is "pick up a sword out of passion", his way of thinking is the exact opposite. Rather than rational, Li Shuwen's character is something better described as being close to that of modern people.

Li Shuwen was someone who simply (not purely) sought for strength, but it has been said that, in his late years, he discovered the valor of the strength of conviction, one's way of life, instead the strength of violence.

He acknowledges that he is a kind of professional killer rather than a martial artist, but that is neither a self-depreciation nor a boast. Given that he often learned, often fought and often murdered in his previous life, he really does not carry any regrets or grudges. Since he was summoned as a Servant, he swings his wicked fists as the concealed weapons of his master Julius without hesitation, but....?

Fate/Extra
He was summoned by Julius B. Harway as an Assassin class out of compatibility.

After the battle against Dan Blackmore, Hakuno Kishinami would stumble across bodies of dead students. Assassin would force Hakuno to be teleported into an arena and attacks, however Hakuno's Servant would appear to protect it's master.

During the fifth round, Hakuno fights against Julius. Assassin ambushes Hakuno's Servant during conversation with Julius on first day in the arena, fatally wounding them, however Hakuno is able to restore his/her servant to health in a few days time. They confront Julius and Assassin, which he challenges them to duel in school but are halted by Kotomine. So they fight in the arena instead. The battle ends with Hakuno's Servant unable to land a single hit on him due to his Presence Concealment. Hakuno discusses with Rani/Rin (Depend On route) and set a series of traps that she uploaded into the arena. Though he acknowledges Hakuno's presence, he falls into his/her trap and lost the ability to control his Presence Concealment. Though he lost one of his abilities, he taunts Hakuno's Servant to show their true power.

After he loses in elimination battle, he talks to Julius and tells him to accept his fate. However, Julius refuses and tries to resist the moon cell's deletion and disappears in a flash.

He appears along Julius again on first day of the final week. Due to Julius' new command seal, which he stole from the Master of a Berserker, Assassin is now of the Berserker class, however most of his abilities are restrained because he lost his sanity and cannot control them.

Abilities
Originally his Class was supposed to be Lancer, but in this case he would appear with the figure of his late years. It is thought that he appeared as Assassin due to his Master, Julius, desired a young and ferocious Li Shuwen out of compatibility. He later becomes a Berserker after avoiding deletion.

An additional digression, it seems there was once a swordsman who, similar to Li Shuwen, could use just human techniques to freely create split selves, without using any Magecraft. The name of this secret sword was Tsubame Gaeshi. Oddly enough, it was a mystic art from the Assassin Class.

A Second Strike is Needless
In the history of, this was the second name confered to a martial artist famous as one of the strongest. The martial artist awarded with this title was a master of said to snatch away the life of his opponents during matches just by touching them, no matter how light of a touch.

Presence Concealment
Though Assassin is lacking in the standard class skill of Presence Concealment (気配遮断), he is capable of achieving a lack of outward discernibility through use of the meditative Qi technique of the Sphere Boundary (圏境).

Under normal circumstances, the utilization of vast quantities of prana serves as a telltale indication of any form of invisibility attained through Magecraft -- clearly indicating to a magus of sufficient training that "Magecraft is being used." Being that elimination of presence through the use of the Sphere Boundary a martial arts technique unreliant upon and unrelated to Magecraft, it effectively functions as an 'invisibility' technique that those trained solely under the system of thaumaturgical theories will absolutely fail to perceive -- a technique beyond the domain of man.

Incidentally, though this is a digression, Assassin's capacity to become indiscernible is an essential point of meditation in accordance with the method of the Sphere Boundary.

Skills
He utilizes Focused Chi to conceal his presence and increase strength for his next move. He utilizes Heightened Chi to increases the effectiveness of his attack, and he utilizes Charged Chi to increases defense.