Assassin (Reynard the Fox)

Assassin is, well, an Assassin-class Servant, and his true identity is Reynard the Fox, the trickster anti-hero of a cycle of beast epics.

Legend
Reynard the Fox (or Reinaert, Renart, Reineke, Renartus, Reynardine, etc) is the anti-hero of many beast epics, a figure so famous that his name has become synonymous with the cunning animals he represents. A rebellious, self-serving fox who only sought to ensure his own freedom - freedom which he plans to abuse as much as possible, to pillage, murder, and cannibalize as he pleases. Though many remember him as a hero of the common folk who rebelled against the corrupt Church, Reynard only ever fought for himself, preying on the poor just as he did the rich.

In most tales, a figure such as this would surely meet a painful and just end, but the sly Reynard evaded every punishment handed out to him. He pinned his crimes on others, escaped by claiming that there was a vast fortune whose location only he knew, won a duel to the death against his far stronger uncle, Isengrim, and ultimately faked his death. At his funeral, all those he had wronged came to deliver half-hearted eulogies, and there, Reynard claimed vengeance against them all, and went on to live happily ever after, never meeting any consequence for his own actions.

Appearance
In his human form, Reynard is a strikingly handsome, slight man of short height. His build is lean, but still athletic, with the hints of muscle evident despite his skinniness. His eyes are an intense amber color, with slit, vulpine pupils, glistening with a constant, light-hearted humor that makes it easy to trust him. His red hair is messy, wild, and uncombed, constantly gleaming in the sun and maintaining its bright color despite its poor condition. His teeth and nails are unnaturally sharp for someone who is apparently a human. Though Reynard generally keeps them hidden, he has the tail and ears of a fox.

Instead of dressing as he did in the past, Reynard dresses in modern clothing and seeks to blend into the world as a (mostly) normal human. He wears light, loose clothing, such as faded band shirts (mostly for extremely obscure heavy metal bands) and flannel jackets. He often wears poor fitting loose, ripped jeans, and sneakers. Really, he dresses like anyone else you'd pass on the street and not spare a second glance.

Personality
An unpredictable, violent, and selfish man who only seeks to indulge his every desire and have fun doing so. Reynard doesn't have much when it comes to impulse control - he does what he wants and flippantly deals with the consequences as they arise. He cares little for others, even his own family, and his interactions with virtually everyone he knows are purely antagonistic. He is a sadist who is happy to torment others endlessly, talking them into inevitably self-destructive results, and killing and eating them as he pleases. Of course, none of this is apparent, as Reynard is a person of many faces who can easily come off as a friendly, kind-hearted man.

Reynard strongly desires to avoid consequences for his actions, and as they catch up with him, he will do anything in his power to avoid them, save for actually changing as a person. He's an exceptionally smooth negotiator who excels at talking his way out of punishment time and time again, and if faced with a fate that he can't avoid, he'll inevitably start to panic, struggling to comprehend why. Reynard is a deeply arrogant person who strongly believes he can talk his way out of and into anything and will always succeed, so failure is incomprehensible to him. He dislikes zealots, muscleheads and chivalrous knights with the same intensity, and finds more pleasure in screwing them over than anyone else.

He is someone who rejects any attempts to control him and will thus be at odds with his Master from the moment he is summoned. He may act like a faithful, devoted Servant, but Reynard will almost certainly loathe his Master and seek to kill them - painfully - and escape their control. He'll keep them alive as long as he needs to, trapped in his fortress and used just as a source of mana and entertainment. In the same way, he despises kings and stuck-up brats, and seeks to humiliate and destroy them for the fun of seeing them writhe as a shell of their former selves.

Reynard has a low opinion on humanity and all of its heroes. He sees the most heroic of the lot as naive idiots, and believes that humans are, by nature, evil, animalistic creatures who only seek pleasure and destruction. While so many others have rejected their fundamental nature, he holds pride in the fact that he has not, and remains, in his own eyes, the truest example of what humans truly are. Nature is a harsh, violent place, and to survive, one has to be just as harsh.

Despite his arrogance, Reynard is completely aware that he is pathetic and virtually helpless when it comes to physical combat. While he could hold his own against his uncle through guile alone, he has no illusions of being able to pull off a victory against the true heroes summoned as Servants on his own and therefore avoids combat at all costs. He will only fight if he has no other option or has every possible advantage, and even then, he is skittish and quick to flee if something goes wrong. He is, in a word, a coward, and he will do virtually anything if it means he'll survive. But there are things Reynard is unwilling to do, still - his overbearing arrogance is such that even if he has no other choice, he will refuse to beg for mercy if it comes to that, and will face death with spiteful dignity.

When it comes to the Grail, Reynard desires only the ability to stay in the world past the conclusion of the Holy Grail War, so that he can continue his manipulative, murderous ways.

Powers and Statistics
Tier: 7-A

Powers and Abilities: Skilled Swordsman, Stealth Mastery, Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Mind Manipulation (Assassin can easily manipulate others and talk them into believing absurd things due to his supernatural persuasive abilities, such as that he's a normal person even if his fox traits are out, that he's no threat, and that they should lay down their arms and let him inside), Soul Manipulation (All Servants can absorb souls to replenish their mana), Spatial Manipulation with Maleperduis (Transforms a building into a mess of geometry bigger on the inside than the outside), Intangibility and Invisibility in spirit form, Shapeshifting (Assassin can shapeshift into a mostly human form, into an anthropomorphic fox, or into a seemingly ordinary red fox), Supernatural Luck and Limited Fate Manipulation (Servants with B-rank Luck or higher can change their own fates to evade inevitable outcomes such as having their hearts destroyed by Gáe Bolg), Immunity to modern weaponry (Servants are Divine Mysteries that cannot be harmed by modern weapons unless they are infused with a supernatural component such as magical energy or possess a certain amount of age), Regeneration (Low-Mid over time; can regenerate from seemingly lethal injuries)

Attack Potency: Mountain level (While fairly weak for a Servant and significantly weaker than a Servant of the Knight class, Assassin can fight against them defensively).

Speed: Massively Hypersonic (Quite fast by Servant standards).

Lifting Strength: Unknown

Striking Strength: Mountain Class

Durability: Mountain level

Stamina: Superhuman.

Range: Standard melee range, Kilometers with Maleperduis

Standard Equipment: A battered short sword.

Intelligence: Assassin is an incredibly crafty and cunning opponent, representative of the animalistic intelligence of foxes, animals renowned as clever across the world. But Assassin takes these traits to another level, with ruthless, violent pragmatism and persuasive skills so great he can talk suspicious Masters into believing he is not a Servant and dropping their guard, even when all the evidence points otherwise. In combat, Assassin makes up for his weakness and cowardice by fighting dirty, constantly withdrawing to escape his enemy's reach, kicking up dust and striking for weak points such as the groin without hesitation. A master manipulator, it is inevitable that he will become the greatest threat to his own Master, and it is almost certain that he will escape their control.

Weaknesses: Assassin cannot fight in spirit form. His primary Noble Phantasm, Maleperduis, requires a massive amount of mana to maintain, mana which Assassin is forced, but all too happy to extract from humans.

Class Skills
Presence Concealment: B
 * The ability to hide one's presence as a Servant and disappear, the Class Skill of the Assassin class and one that is highly useful for not only assassination, but for spying as well. However, for Assassin, the actual act of assassinating from the shadows is effectively impossible due to his low rank, which makes it possible for other Servants to quickly detect his presence. However, this suits Assassin just fine, as it remains useful for spying, and the tool he used in his murders was not stealth, but guile, represented in the skill Fox's Wit.

Personal Skills
Disengage: B
 * The ability to withdraw from the battlefield in the midst of combat, resetting the conditions of the match to what they were when it started. In life, Assassin managed to slip away from certain death again and again, escaping into his fortress of Maleperduis. While Assassin is not only physically weak, but a coward as well, if he needs to truly fight, he fights dirty.


 * He uses his high Agility to outrun and outmaneuver foes, kicking up clouds of dust in their eyes and taking any opportunity he can get. Even if caught, he has a knack for escaping the arms of stronger opponents, and if cornered, he lashes out with surprising ferocity. These are the tactics he used to win against his uncle Isengrim, escaping his claws and violently retaliating when he could not, castrating him.

Fox's Wit: A
 * The cunning resourcefulness of the fox, allowing one to talk opponents into disadvantageous situations while simultaneously talking one's self out of what was thought to be a certain death. Throughout all of his life, Assassin was known for his terrifying cunning and persuasive abilities, which allowed him to talk his opponents into deadly situations and escape unharmed. He talked his way out of the gallows and to freedom again and again, all the while talking his prey into dropping their guard so that he could eat without risk.


 * A sinister skill that allows Assassin to easily manipulate others with words as smooth and convincing as silk. Assassin is an extremely quick thinker who can come up with excuses near-instantly. Using this skill, he can make other believe the most absurd facts, even disguising his presence as a Servant by talking others into believing his shoddy disguises are reality. It is possible for him to talk humans - even magi - into swallowing their tongues, dropping their weapons, and entering into his territory, defenseless. He can even manipulate Servants, though his supernatural abilities of persuasion are negated by Magic Resistance of C-rank or higher, and prove little use against those unhinged by Mad Enhancement or Mental Pollution.


 * The moment a Master has summoned Assassin, they have lost, as every one of Assassin's words will lead them to their demise and him to his freedom.

Nature of a Rebellious Spirit: B+
 * A temperament that rejects any lord or territory, that leads to Assassin wandering around and acting as he pleases without any hesitation or restraint. He is a wandering star that lacks the capacity to be a king, and is in the same way incapable of finding a king "worthy" of his loyalty. Assassin's restless, rebellious, and self-serving nature negate the effects of Charisma of an equal or lower rank, and due to his firm opposition and mockery of the Church throughout his life, it is ranked up against Christian heroes.

Shapeshift: C
 * The ability to change one's appearance and take on new forms. For Assassin, a therianthrope who can take on the form of a human and a fox, it is possible to transform into a fully animalistic form as a red fox, a fully anthropomorphic vulpine form, or a human form that retains his vulpine features in the form of his tail and ears, which he cannot hide.

Noble Phantasms
Maleperduis: The Fox's Everpresent Labyrinthine Refuge
 * Type: Fortress
 * Rank: B
 * Range: 1~100
 * Targets: ???

Reynard's seat of power, and the castle he shared in his life with his wife and children. It was said to be a labyrinthine fortress, filled with long, crooked hallways, and countless escape tunnels throughout all of its construction. Whenever Reynard was in danger, he'd flee to his fortress and weather out the threat within its secure halls. Now, it acts as his primary Noble Phantasm as an Assassin. He activates it by declaring any building as his seat of power and primary hideaway, necessitating the use of a small thaumaturgical ritual to activate it. Once activated, the internal layout of the building begins to shift in impossible ways, drawing on so much mana that unless Reynard has a Master of the highest class, it is necessary to fuel it with the souls of many humans.

While the building remains the same on the outside, on the inside, it becomes a twisted, gnarled mess of impossible geometries and hallways, seeming so much larger on the inside than on the outside. It is filled with deadly traps, and only Reynard knows the way around it. Pathways can shift to lead to different parts of it, even becoming exits, and Reynard is alerted to the presence of any who enter Maleperduis, and can track their locations so long as he is in his "throne room", where he has access to a screen that showcases the layout of his fortress. As Maleperduis exists longer and longer, it begins spreading its reaches into the Earth in the form of a complex network of escape tunnels. Over the course of a week, Maleperduis' tunnels will spread over the entirety of a city, allowing Reynard to appear and disappear anywhere he pleases. Only he knows the location of the tunnels, which shift in form and location like the rest of his fortress.

The largest downside of this Noble Phantasm is its absurd mana cost, which means that Reynard usually must utilize a fairly large amount of humans as mana batteries so that he can maintain it for as long as he needs. He can only declare one building to be Maleperduis, and if it is destroyed - though such a feat would require an Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm - he will be incapable of rebuilding it. When he truly dies, it will collapse with him.

Reynard Lives On: The Fox's Funeral
 * Type: Anti-Unit
 * Rank: B
 * Range: 0
 * Targets: 1 person

In Reynard's final story, he is seemingly, finally foiled by Isengrim, who gets him drunk and then defeats him in chess, winning a bet that would allow him to injure Reynard wherever he pleased. And so, Reynard was cut down by his uncle and killed, putting an end to his schemes and evil. However, in truth, Reynard faked his death, and, at his funeral, avenged himself by killing all those who had ever wronged him, claiming his final, ultimate victory. After this, he went on to live and die peacefully.

This Noble Phantasm automatically triggers when Reynard is lethally wounded - but not instantly killed. When this occurs, Reynard leaves behind a body double that appears to die just as any Servant would, but escapes in his true body with what is now an A-rank in Presence Concealment. His wound heals enough to not become lethal, but not any more than that, and he then, ideally, proceeds to escape into Maleperduis to nurse his wounds. As he recovers and his opponents think him dead, he retains his increased Presence Concealment, allowing him to slink around and spy. However, as soon as he attacks, his identity is revealed once more and he loses his improved Presence Concealment. In addition, he gains a significant boost to his damage against the opponent who killed him and any who helped them.

Reynard can use this Noble Phantasm again and again as long as he has the mana to do so, but it is rendered useless if someone sees through his improved Presence Concealment or definitively kills him, such as through decapitation or complete destruction at the hands of a strong enough Noble Phantasm.