Sakura Matou (間桐 桜, Matō Sakura?) is the Sakura Matou of the alternate reality from which Miyu Edelfelt and the Ainsworth family originate. She is the Card User of a Berserker Class Card from an unknown Ainsworth Holy Grail War.
Profile[]
Background[]
Sakura's life initially resembled her main counterpart, being sold to the Matou and being tortured by Zouken and the Crest Worms. However, five years ago, the Fourth Ainsworth Grail War occurred and killed, among others, the entire Matou family, leaving her as the only surviving Matou; Sakura also lost her variant of Rin Tohsaka from said war, which also made her the only survivor of the Tohsaka bloodline of Miyu's world.[1] This is implied from Sakura's comment that her brother has been dead for a long time, and Shinji, upon remembering his death, making reference to the day of the Fourth War along with "Me, grandfather, everyone."[2]
At some point in the past, Sakura's daily life seemingly mirrored that of her usual counterpart, going to school and taking part in Archery club activities. While the extent of her relationship with Shirou Emiya is unclear, it is apparent she had developed a strong infatuation with him at some point in the past.
During the period of the Fifth Ainsworth Holy Grail, she was given an Archer Class Card that was supposed to be the Card of Gilgamesh. She wanted to give it to Shirou in order for him to participate in the war, but they are attacked by her deceased brother, Shinji Matou, whose mind was placed into a Doll body.[3] As she tries to Install the Card to protect Shirou, it's revealed that it was only a Nameless Class Card because the Ainsworths were aware that she would eventually betray them.[4]
She is ultimately killed by Shinji's Assassin Class Card's Noble Phantasm, Zabaniya: Dead Heartbeat Melody and her body is engulfed by a black shadow.[4] She later receives the same treatment as her brother and is placed into a Doll body and given a Berserker Class Card to act as a war doll.
Appearance[]
Personality[]
Due to the implication of having five less years of abuse by the Matous before their destruction, Sakura has a much stronger and independent persona than her main counterpart, being able to express herself more freely, however as shown with her encounter with the Rin Tohsaka of Illya's world, she had a close relationship with her Rin and was clearly traumatized by her death.
Prior to her death, Sakura exhibited a much more confident and cheerful persona, even teasing Shirou for 'being mean' for never talking to her about his problems. She only briefly shows her demure, closed-off personality when inquired about her past. Her confidence is shown when she was willing to fight her brother to defend Shirou, stating that even if Shirou rejected her, she still loves him so she will protect him.
Having her personality damaged after being brought back to life, Sakura appears to be mentally unbalanced, possessing an obsessive disposition towards the Shirou Emiya of her world. This goes to the extent of wishing to kill those whom she perceives as getting in the way of this relationship. She considers herself the only one who can truly understand and love Shirou, the only one who can touch him and in turn be touched by him and when pushed, the only one permitted to kill him.
This imbalance is exploited by Julian Ainsworth, who, taking on Shirou's image, manipulates Sakura to do his bidding. When being spoken to by Julian's illusion, Sakura becomes distinctly more placid, accepting his instruction with minimal resistance. At this time, she seems to be under the impression that she still had club activities to perform, and when corrected, states that she has been absent minded of late, showing a somewhat disassociation between herself and the current situation. Upon having her heart returned to her, her madness fades and her personality returns to what it originally was.
Role[]
Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!![]
Sakura after installing the Berserker Class Card.
As a Doll, Sakura first appears as Julian's last line of defense when Shirou attacks him. Seemingly appearing from the mud below Julian's feet, she catches Shirou by surprise and severely wounds him using the power of the Berserker, Lancelot. Sakura is then attacked by Miyu from behind, who is installed with the Archer class card.
Despite the onslaught of weapons Miyu uses, Sakura is able to take control of them. When Miyu tries to launch another barrage, her personality starts to be overtaken by that of her own class card, so Julian interrupts and takes the Archer card from her.
No longer possessing that power, Sakura proves to be overwhelming, nearly killing Miyu before Julian intervenes again. Using the power of his Assassin class card, Julian restrains Sakura and, after taking Shirou's image, convinces her to halt her assault. She is last seen being dragged back into the mud by the Assassin's Noble Phantasm.
She is brought back following the return of the Ainsworths in order to act as a guard of the pathway leading to Julian and Pandora's Box. She becomes the opponent of Chloe von Einzbern and Miyu who were trying to pass her vigilance. During their fight, she first faces Kuro who was in reality making Sakura reach her limits and buying time to allow Miyu to poison Sakura with her Assassin Class Card of Hassan of Serenity. Enraged, Sakura summons black ribbons in order to clean up the poison.
The ribbons are revealed to be made out of Imaginary Element and Imaginary Numbers, and she covers herself with them, gaining a new appearance. After blocking a powerful beam shot from Miyu using the bridge they were in, she is injured by Miyu's Schneiden. She then manages to steal Kuro's projected Rule Breaker and tries to stab her with it, but Miyu pierces Sakura with Gáe Bolg. However, the weapon has no effect, as Miyu notices that the Doll never had a heart. Suffering from the previous attack, Sakura jumps into the water while asking why Shirou isn't coming to save her.
Sakura later returns after the world is overrun by the mud and Headless Giants, but is confronted by Shirou, who knew she would appear at the Emiya residence because that's where she lost her heart.[5] When he vowed to dispose of her, Sakura denies him to be Shirou, as her senpai wouldn't treat her like that, nor use guns and explosives.[6] But despite Shirou's best efforts, he is bested by Sakura.[7]
However, just as she is about to kill him, she is shot in the back by Rin Tohsaka and Luviagelita Edelfelt. This angers Sakura, only for Rin to shout at her to listen to her "sister", which causes her to call Rin a liar due to the fact that her version of Rin died five years ago. This in turn causes Rin to sigh in relief and tell her that she is happy that they can be sisters in a world like this, before getting shot by a combined Gandr, with Shirou and Angelica using this opportunity to defeat Sakura by having Shirou stab her as they fall into the mud.[1]
As they float through the Imaginary Space, Shirou finds Sakura's heart, which Sakura transported there seconds before Shinji could destroy it.[8] As the two emerge back from the mud, with Sakura now resurrected thanks to getting her heart back, she starts to cry, pleading for Shirou to not throw his life away, and then proceeds to use Chloe's Rule Breaker to destroy Shirou's contract with EMIYA, saving his life. EMIYA then appears and thanks the two as he shoots at Darius.[9] After this Sakura, Rin and Luvia help Shirou as he was talking to EMIYA who then asks the latter if his behavior is worth boasting about as he disappears.[10]
Other appearances[]
Abilities[]
As a member of the Archery Club, it could also be assumed that she has some ability with a bow and arrow. Having hidden her heart seconds before Shinji's Noble Phantasm killed her, Sakura initially does not possess a heart. This caused Gáe Bolg, a spear that reverses causality to always strike the heart, to miss as Sakura is "an already-dead person without a heart".[11][12]
Berserker Class Card[]
Sakura seems to be imbued with the powers of Lancelot of the Lake, as he appeared in Fate/Zero. Whether this ability has been granted from a class card, or via interacting with the mud from which the corrupted heroic spirits appeared, was unclear but later on it is revealed that she was installed with a card since 2 months, making her more like an evil wraith of her old self. It gives her use of Lancelot's most devastating skill Knight of Owner, which allows her to use the armaments of others as her own, making her particularly effective against the likes of Shirou Emiya and Gilgamesh.
Imaginary Element and Imaginary Numbers[]
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After being poisoned, Sakura as a Doll shows the capacity to summon black ribbons resembling the Black Shadow from the Heaven's Feel route of Fate/stay night. Rin Tohsaka describes it as a rare element that doesn't belong to any of the Five Great Elements. A natural-born imaginary element that was further developed and brought out thanks to the Matou clan's magical attribute, absorbing and binding. It is noted to be the worst enemy of Chloe von Einzbern because it can even absorb Heroic Spirits into one's own body. Upon touching Kuro, her fingers become paralyzed and when it touches Hassan of Serenity's poisoned body, it absorbs it.[11]
She is able to surround her body with them, forming a black dress and a mask. It then produces a black mist with an unobservable imaginary numbers domain surrounding the area, which prevented Chloe from teleporting in that area.[11]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 70.2: "Twinkling Stars"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 35.2: "Snowflakes Oath (2)"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 34.1: "The Only Thing Remaining, a Counterfeit (1)"
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 34.2: "The Only Thing Remaining, a Counterfeit (2)"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 68.2: "The Stars are Still in the Sky"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 69: "That kind Senpai that's only mine"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 70.1: "Severances and Attachments"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 73.1: "With Just That Swing"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 73.2: "Shoot"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 74.1: "That is Who I am"
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 49.1: "Form Change"
- ↑ Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA 3rei!! - Chapter 49.2: "If It Was Illya"