Shine Brighter and Surpass All, O Distant Comet
Etsgiin Gereeslel
Type: Anti-Unit
Rank: B++
Range: 5-99
Max Targets: 1
"Your next line is: "There's no way you can defeat me! I'm invincible!" I've heard it all before, so screw all that! I'm gonna defeat you anyway!"
Throughout her life, Archer was known for constantly defying expectations. At first, none expected her to be more than a woman whose only role was to get married and become a dutiful wife, yet she continued to reject her suitors, none of them able to surpass her in battle. Even then, none expected her to be more than a princess used to secure political alliances, only for her to lead armies into battle as a warrior on the front lines. Finally, none expected her to surpass her previous feats and become more than a warrior princess... only for her father to appoint her as the next Khan in his last will, despite protests from her brothers (during a time where a woman doing anything outside of household affairs was utterly unthinkable). While she never got to become Khan in the end, nonetheless, her legend became a tale of surpassing limits and never giving up against adversity.
This Noble Phantasm is a crystallization of her life, imbued with the concept of "destroying assumptions and surpassing expectations". Upon invoking it's True Name, Archer marks a target and releases a single arrow of light towards their direction. For this Noble Phantasm's effects to work, the target must directly witness Archer invoking the True Name and releasing the arrow. Once the conditions are met, the arrow takes into account the target's assumptions and expectations, and modifies its characteristics specifically to counter them. For example, a target thinking "the arrow will miss" would grant it sure-hit properties, "I can block it with my Skill/Noble Phantasm" would grant it barrier-piercing effects, and "it can't possibly hurt that bad" would greatly increase its damage output. Furthermore, this Noble Phantasm's damage also increases the more the target believes there to be a gap in power between themselves and Archer.
As a Noble Phantasm made specifically to counter hubris and exploit weaknesses, the only way to escape its effects would be to treat Archer as an equal in combat, accepting that no matter how unlikely it may seem, Archer
will be able to stand on the same level as her enemies, if not higher. In which case, this Noble Phantasm would only serve as a flashy, if not decently powerful projectile. In a sense, this Noble Phantasm is a "great equalizer" of sorts, allowing Archer to prevail against seemingly impossible odds, the same way she lived her life.
None Shall Sleep Until Your Name is Known
Nessun Dorma
Type: Anti-City
Rank: C-
Range: 1-500
Max Targets: 500
"Man, I'd really hate to use this, but I guess you've proven yourself worthy, so I can let loose a bit. Not that I enjoy it, though."
A Noble Phantasm not belonging to Archer herself, rather, to the cold-hearted princess Turandot. Archer gains access to this Noble Phantasm due to being the historical basis of Turandot's legend. Turandot was known for challenging her suitors with three impossible riddles, executing anyone who failed to answer them. As tales of her infamy spread across the land, eventually, one prince appeared before her in disguise and managed to solve her riddles, Unwilling to accept her loss, Turandot threatened to execute the prince, only for him to come up with a challenge of his own: guess his name before sunrise. And so Turandot forced every citizen in her kingdom to partake in this challenge and obtain the prince's name through any means possible, ranging from diplomacy and bribery to violent threats and witch hunts. Not a single citizen may sleep on that fateful night (
nessun dorma) in search of the prince's name, or they will all be put to death come morning. Turandot essentially held the entire kingdom hostage in pursuit of her victory.
There are several requirements for this Noble Phantasm's activation, in order to bring her legend closer to Turandot's:
1. It must be nighttime.
2. Archer must mark one target with an identity unknown to her. This can range from enemy Servants by mentioning their class ("Rider") to other individuals that she encountered before ("Rider's Master").
3. Archer must consider the target her equal, or she must have "lost" to them at some point. Usually this condition is fulfilled if they survived her first Noble Phantasm, of if they defeated her in single combat.
When all three conditions are fulfilled, Archer can release this Noble Phantasm's True Name. By doing so, she establishes a bounded field enough to envelop a small district, and the moon turns red, symbolizing Turandot's brutal legacy. Save for the target themselves, everyone within this bounded field is inflicted with a type of mass hysteria that drives them to obtain the target's identity at any cost. While their methods may vary at first, as dawn approaches, they will gradually be filled with an underlying sense of dread that leaves them more prone towards reckless, violent actions. A mental resistance Skill ranked C or higher is required to resist this madness.
Two things may happen at the end of this Noble Phantasm:
1. If the target's name becomes known before sunrise, the bounded field is dispelled and the target suffers a permanent rank down to all parameters whenever they face Archer in combat, symbolizing her absolute superiority over them.
2. If the target's name remains unknown at sunrise, Archer drains massive amounts of mana from all her "citizens", symbolizing her putting everyone to death. At the same time, she is also penalized with the same rank down to all parameters when facing her target.
Despite its terrifying effects, Archer is extremely reluctant to use this Noble Phantasm due to her hatred towards Turandot, as well as her personal philosophy of fighting her own battles, which differentiates her from the infamous princess. The negative modifier may represent her partially suppressing this Noble Phantasm's range and effectiveness, consciously or not. That said, this Noble Phantasm's true power may be released if one summons Archer under another class, not as a warrior princess, but as Turandot herself.