Berserker of Red

Berserker of "Red" ("赤"のバーサーカー) is the Berserker-class Servant of the Red Faction in the Great Holy Grail War of Fate/Apocrypha. It is unknown which of the five puppet Masters of the Red Faction first summoned him, and unlike the rest who eventually become the Servants of Shirou Kotomine, he contracts with Caster of Black when captured by the Black Faction. He is one of the Servants of the Protagonist of the Grand Order conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.

Identity
Berserker's identity is Suparutakusu, the Gladiator (剣闘士), a gladiator captured by Romans who became a symbol of rebellion. He was affiliated with a gladiator training camp in the region, but escaped with seventy-eight of his comrades in 73 B.C. He managed to repulse an assault force of nearly three thousand dispatched by the Romans, leading to him being known as a hero who inspired armed uprisings by slaves in many places. His army grew to seven thousand men, and they kept defeating the Roman army without losing a single battle. They were unable to cross the Alps and instead decided to head to the island of Sicily. They hired pirates to make the voyage, but were betrayed and attacked by the Roman Legions. It is believed his body was scarred beyond recognition after he fell in that battle. Being his first and only loss, he remained a shining beacon of hope to the undertrodden slaves.

Appearance
Berserker is described as "pure muscle", the only words that can truly do him justice. At over two meters tall, those who look upon him will be drawn to his extraordinary mass and find a sense of hopelessness as they look up to try to gauge the height of the giant of a man. He has pale skin covered in innumerable scars to show the immense amount of training and battle it has weathered, and he is covered in leather straps tightly coiling about his body and face. He smiles through all of it, as if enjoying the act and asking if "is this all that constricts me?" He can be considered very frightening when his scar-riddled face remains composed and smiling regardless of whether he is being struck or striking his opponent.

Personality
Berserker hated all oppressors in life, and he fought the masters to protect the weak, care for them, and heal them. His will to fight was set aflame by those with power, and more than anything, fought them to stand in defiance. He never questions his faith that it is a strength of humanity to endure anything. He only ever acts according to one single thought: "to revolt against the oppressor and to protect the oppressed." Following the most virtuous option, he will choose the path of suffering. He will not strike an enemy in numerical inferiority, and he will only fight back against an enemy stronger than him. He strikes back after stopping the enemy's attack, and turns the table back to grasp victory only at the last minute.

Due to his unique rank of Mad Enhancement, he can speak things like "Those who are bound are strong! For until the time when they are set free, anger and sadness will continue to be accumulated", but he cannot actually communicate on an even level with others. Always fixated with thoughts of "always making the most difficult choices", he cannot be controlled and never listens to others. It is impossible to come to a mutual understanding of intentions with him due to this. Rather than disobeying commands, he cannot truly understand them in the first place. Although he can recognize others and converse, it is only in the context that his current course of action is the correct one. He identifies that the Red Faction Servants are not enemies, while painting the Black Faction as his sought out oppressors. He will not even consider strategy, putting off any such suggestions as foolish and even very likely turn his anger on any Red Servant attempting to forcibly stop his march.

He is entranced by battle, showing a wide grin as he strikes his opponents and takes their blows from start to finish. Rider of Black describes him as someone born to fight and kill, not enhanced by the Berserker class, but rather unfit for any other from the start. Rather than showing any such measure of sanity as anger against his enemies, he fights, kills, and crushes all with an expression of ecstasy that is nightmarish to his opponents. This unnerves both his opponents and onlookers, even causing those with diluted emotions to become infected by his madness and flee. The constant smile during his battle leaves both Archer of Red and Lancer of Red with a chill down their spines. Even Rider, who had no fear in facing giants and rampaging beasts in life, is frightened by his smile, showing that one is greatly confident or no longer cares about which side has the upper hand in his insanity. The only thing able to change his expression is the idea of being enslaved, turning his smile into an expression of murderous rage. As despair itself, it is a fate worse than death.

He has no motive to seek the Holy Grail; his dearest wish is just to proceed to fields of battle. For him, who only aspires to rescue the oppressed and rebel against the oppressor, the battlefield is a place where there is only the weak and the strong and also a place full of the everlasting pain and trials that he desires. He can be said to be a fool, but not delusional in his madness. As he reaches the head of his oppressors, joy and glory follow after the clouds of battle clear and the suffering ends. With "absolutely perfect" logic with no flaws, he has forgotten the fact that all that awaited his own suffering was a cruel and tragic death. His will to keep moving forward in the face of all logic goes beyond "hatred" and "conviction", but, in spite of his madness, has carved an unbreakable resolve onto his own heart. Lancer of Black describes his rebellion as the embodiment of his noble spirit, unable to accept that the strong will always trample the weak. Fighting until he has turned the strong into the weak, he does not fight out of altruism for the sake of the weak, but rather for a world where all are equal.

Fate/Apocrypha
Upon being summoned, he is noted to frequently rampage, searching for an "adversary for his rebellion." While they had planned to use him in a more coordinated strike, Caster of Red, "feeling pity" for Berserker, reveals to him the location of Yggdmillennia's headquarters in Trifas. He begins his march straight there despite the Red Faction's arguments, taking the most direct route. Shirou Kotomine decides not to stop him because even a Command Spell would only delay the inevitable. Shirou must follow in his wake to deal with any trouble Berserker causes to the public, and he sends Archer of Red to support him for the moment. As he has no chance of breaking through seven Servants on his own, she is to attempt to stop him, even though such an action is futile, or to support his actions until it becomes too dangerous. The Black Faction takes notice, planning to capture the lone Berserker as a pawn for themselves.

Berserker does not dematerialize due to not possessing logical thinking, instead taking up a slow march that leaves him seen a number of times. Taking two days to reach Trifas, he is pursued by Archer for much of it, and he simply laughs off her attempts to persuade him, as it is a matter of course to him to seek out "their oppressors." Although she hopes her experience in dealing with wild beasts can be put to use, she decides to instead support him like ordered rather than having him turn upon herself. Rider of Red soon joins them, explaining to Archer that their role is to support him as rearguard as long as it is reasonable to gather information on the enemy. Berserker continues on without taking notice, and they continue following his slow, unwavering stride.

After the sun sets three hours later, he is impeded by the Black Faction's homunculi and golems, numbering over one hundred. Rider and Archer stay back to watch the battle because the enemies are nothing that requires assistance. He tells the "wretched puppets of the oppressor" that they will find peace by his blade and fist, and in a one-sided slaughter, he decimates them after taking their blows, his grinning face prominent as he rips them apart with his sword and his bare hands. He looks over the destruction and carnage. nods his head in satisfaction, and returns to his march. Rider and Archer are unnerved by his ecstasy in battle, believing that it shows he his one who could be nothing but a Berserker. Upon encountering the Black Servants, Rider and Archer join in the battle.

Berserker encounters Rider of Black and Archer of Black surrounded by half of Yggdmillennia's force of golems. Archer returns to a position on the castle, while Rider engages him. Excited by Rider's declaration, he charges to crush Rider's arrogance, easily forcing Rider back with just the force of the blow gouging the earth. Rider charges at him while wielding the Trap of Argalia, and he seeks to meet it head-on, certain that he will strike Rider down after being pierced. It instead forces his legs to return to spiritual form, dropping him to the ground. Not shocked or upset in the least, he plans to continue on regardless. With their goal of capturing him, Rider commands the golems to attack and press down on him, but he continues to beat them off him although each weighs over a ton. Even without his feet and overwhelmed and pressed by the golems, he rips through them and proceeds towards the castle.

He cries out in glee as the golems cover his body, still advancing to find the "oppressors" who will soon be before him. As Lancer of Black appears before him and claims to be he who stands atop the "oppressors", he stretches out his hand to reach even closer to his goal at the height of his ecstasy, although he has forgotten that the end of his suffering only lead to a tragic death. Not faltering in the least, he raises his sword arm, but he is pierced by Kazikli Bey and has his movements sealed against his will. Lancer pierces him numerous times while only avoiding a killing blow on his spiritual core, but he still moves forward towards his oppressor. Wishing to ascertain if Berserker is simply a foolish rebel or something more, Lancer concludes that his rebellion is worthy of respect for the first time, but tells Berserker that they will change the direction of his rebellion. Enraged at the prospect of slavery, his smile leaves his face for the first time. Caster of Black causes the golems to fuse together into a stone prison he cannot even escape, and Lancer loses interest after ascertaining that he will become a subordinate.

Other Appearances
In Type-Moon's April Fools' Day 2015, he is a producer in the Imperial Roma talent agency. His TMitter user account is @tmtt15_spa_P. He goes around trying to recruit idols and eventually gets arrested.

Abilities
Berserker appears at first glance to have a low rank of Mad Enhancement due to his ability to speak, but he is actually an irregularity far from the normal understanding of a Berserker. He is an uncontrollable Berserker with ranked-up parameters and loss of most reason. While he can hold a conversation, he cannot actually understand or truly communicate with others. Once he has set his objective, he will not change his mind at all, and even a single Command Spell will only apply weight to him. It requires two to completely stop him from acting, but it is still only delaying the inevitable.

His strength requires a mighty Noble Phantasm to kill him, and it is possible that even if he is injured that it will be impossible for some Servants to actually kill him. The leather around his waist and between his legs are not protection in the least and he has nothing covering his pectorals, but it can be said that his flesh is not something meant to be contained within armor. The immensity of his mass makes it unnecessary to protect, shown by the countless scars that make it obvious that not one of those wounds had truly "pierced" him in life. Like taking a paring knife to a ball of metal, his body is a steel mass that may be cut, even drawing blood, but goes no further. With arms the "size of crocodiles" and legs that trudge with the force of mammoths, it is clear that his body's toughness is virtually armor in itself.

Berserker fights with his sword, fists, and grappling techniques, focusing only on his power in which he takes much pride. He proceeds into battle without the need for technique or proper judgement of the situation, allowing him to be thought of as a walking disaster in battle and causing every slash and punch to leave corpses behind him. His strength is great enough to be able to take down a Servant of lesser physical ability with a single strike and blow them back with the force of the swing even if they should avoid it, and he is much more nimble than his appearance would suggest, charging like a raging boar into battle. He throws enemies, cleaves them with his sword in wide, powerful arcs, suplexes multiple enemies at once, and tears his enemies limb from limb.

Taking no measure to avoid attacks and even seeming to leap into their paths, he takes all strikes while only growing more battle-lusted by the second. Attacks coming at him do not bring fear, but rather joy in that the more intense the strike, the deeper the despair it causes him, the more pleasurable his own counterattack will become even should he be run through by the enemy's attack. Pain heightens his combat focus and allows him to tap into his full potential with his Crying Warmonger Noble Phantasm. Without injury, he cannot fight at full strength due to the fundamental practice of his tactics being "one must first conquer the pain inflicted by the enemy to attain absolute victory." His Honor of the Battered skill allows for his injuries to be healed at a quarter of the cost normally required by magecraft, and he will also heal naturally over time.

Creation and Conception
Berserker was designed by Gen Urobuchi and illustrated by Katsuya Terada for the original canceled online game project.