Shirou Kotomine

Shirou Kotomine (シロウ・コトミネ) is the Master of Assassin of Red in the Great Holy Grail War of Fate/Apocrypha.

Identity
Shirou's real identity is Amakusa Shirō Tokisada (天草四郎時貞), the teenage leader of the. After his rebellion ultimately failed, Shirou was sentenced to execution by decapitation.

Background
Differing from the timeline of Fate/stay night's Third Holy Grail War where the Einzbern family summoned the Avenger-class Angra Mainyu, they instead brought forth Shirou as a Ruler-class Servant. With Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia successfully stealing the Greater Grail, the only survivors in Fuyuki City were Shirou and Risei Kotomine. He remained materialized afterward and joined with the Church. He adopted Risei's surname, though he remained distant from Risei's own son. Taking up a position in the Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament, there was little information left to be gleamed about him from those who would search for it.

As the Mage's Association decided to seek one Master from the Church in order to have their involvement prove the legitimacy of their cause, Shirou was dispatched by the Church's Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament as one of the Masters of the Red Faction. He gathered with five of the other Masters of the Red Faction, and he used an unknown method to manipulate them into allowing him to control their Servants.

Appearance
Shirou wears the vestments of a priest and a golden cross around his neck. He has an innocent, boyish face showing that he has yet to have aged past twenty years of age. Though incarnated decades ago, Left Hand - Xanadu Matrix has granted him his still youthful appearance. His body is covered in scars and he has two Command Spells on his chest, the seals are very similar to Kirei Kotomine.

Personality
In his lifetime, Shirou walked the path of suffering and despair. He and his comrades fought for their faith and beliefs, and in return, they failed and died. He once hated everything, from God to humans. He claims that he hated humans, not because they had killed him or his comrades, but how humanity easily accepted it as a repeating system in history where life is priceless yet has no value. He finds humanity to be just like, eating themselves in order to grow. Shirou admitted to his failure, his mortality and his guilt. So, he forsook his heart filled with hatred, for the sake of humankind's salvation. He claims he doesn't hate humanity anymore, and that he will save the current six billion people and the people from past and future. He desires to make use of the Holy Grail to fulfill his own ambition.

Shirou appears to be a benign man with an innocent smile; he is in actuality a manipulator who would destroy his adversary with no hesitation in order to fulfill his own ambition. He is essentially a character who looks light on the outside and has a darker personality inside. Kairi sees him as being overly judicious given his supposed age.

Development
Before Nasu wrote Fate/stay night, he claims he was a big fan of, which involved battles between dead historical figures from around Japan. Amakusa Shirou Tokisada was the major antagonist in Samurai Resurrection who commands the historic dead. The character Shirou Kotomine was planned by Nasu, Takeuchi, and Higashide, but the character development was written by Nasu.

Fate/Apocrypha
Shirou dreamt about his past and as he woke up, he found his head on the lap of his servant. The two talked about the current situation and the loss of Berserker was of no importance, since he could not be controlled in the first place anyway. He spotted Ruler at the Black faction location. As Assasin's Hanging Gardens of Babylon had been completed, the Red Faction prepared for an all-out assault.

As they assaulted Shirou went alone, as he ran in the forest he encountered Berserker of Black. Shirou, who had eavesdropped on the Black base beforehand, knew the true name of Berserker. He tried to entice her over to his side, but negotiation failed. Assassin sent a duplicate to observe the fight and aid her master. Since Black Keys are not very effective on Frankenstein, Shirou switched to using his enchanted katana. The two were even. Shirou was only an adept swordsman, but it was enough against a Berserker. Shirou detected Jeanne approaching and to avoid contact, he quickly retreated, easily passing 60km/hour when running. Berserker defied her master orders and pursued Shirou. To assist Shirou in his escape, Caster of Red temporarily materialized and used his Noble Phantasm "The Globe: Seat of The King" to stall Frankenstein.

Shirou later ordered Archer of Red to retreat, letting Ruler to gain Berserker of Black's attention. Shirou discussed the transformation of Sieg with Assassin, he concluded that his short-term transformation will not affect the outcome of his plan and it can be ignored.

When Lancer of "Black" transformed into his Legend of Dracula vampire form, Shirou deliberately cut off the mana supply of the Red Servants luring Lancer towards the Greater Grail. Shirou sealed the movements of the vampire with his Black Keys, following up with a Baptism Sacrament in order to exorcize the vampire. Ruler following the vampire, encountered Shirou and realized the truth about him. Shirou reveals the truth about himself and the other Red Servants decide to obey him for now. Shirou asks for Black faction to surrender, and Caster of Black decides to switch sides. Just when things look bleak for Ruler and Archer of Black, Saber of "Red" crashes in and helped them to escape.

Abilities
As a Ruler class, he has the abilities to track down any Servants and learn their identity, skills and parameters. However there are certain limits, for example Saber of Red's Noble Phantasm Secret of Pedigree can mask out the details of her identity.

As part of the Church's Assembly of the Eighth Sacrament, Shirou is skilled at using Black Keys (黒鍵) and is an expert in Baptism Sacrament (洗礼咏唱).

He is an adept swordsman and he wields a katana when Black Keys aren't effective against his opponents. The katana is enchanted by Caster of Red as a C ranked Noble Phantasm.

He possesses two Noble Phantasm, Left Hand - Xanadu Matrix and Right Hand - Evil Eater.