| “ | You appear to be a brave person, unlike my master. I shall kill you kindly. | „ |
| ~ Rider before attempting to murder Shirou |
Summary
Rider (ライダー, Raidā) is the Rider-class Servant of Sakura Matou during the Fifth Holy Grail War, though, due to Sakura's unwillingness to participate in the conflict, she acts primarily as Shinji's Servant. Her true name is Medusa (メドゥーサ, Medūsa), the Gorgon of Greek Mythology, cursed by the goddess Athena to be a monster. She was originally an Earth Goddess, living on the Shapeless Isle with her sisters, Stheno and Euryale. As she protected her island and sisters from the humans that came to kill them, she slowly grew into the monstrous Gorgon.
Powers and Stats
Tier: At least 7-B, at least 7-A with Bellerophon | At least 7-B, at least 7-A with Bellerophon
Name: Rider, Medusa
Origin: Fate/stay night
Age: Unknown
Gender: Female
Classification: Rider-class Servant, Gorgon
Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Enhanced Senses (Her non-sight senses are much more precise and potent than her sight, allowing her to act normally when blinded by Breaker Gorgon), Absorption with Blood Fort Andromeda (Breaks down everyone in the range into a bloody slurry, releasing their magical energy, which Rider and her Master absorb), Soul Manipulation (All Servants can consume souls to replenish their mana), Illusion Creation with Breaker Gorgon, Petrification, can summon Pegasus, Flight with Pegasus, can "ride" any vehicle or mount with supernatural skill, can increase her own strength, Invisibility and Intangibility in spirit form, Immunity to conventional weapons, Resistance to Magic (Including effects such as Petrification, Spatial Manipulation, and Mind Manipulation), Regeneration (Mid-Low; all Servants have basic regenerative abilities)
Attack Potency: At least City level (Though outmatched, she was able to put up a fight against and trade blows with Saber), at least Mountain level with Bellerophon (Offset 90% of Excalibur's light, but was instantly completely destroyed in the process). Can ignore conventional durability with Cybele and Blood Fort Andromeda. | At least City level (Stronger than she was before, was able to inconvenience Saber Alter), at least Mountain level with Bellerophon (Was able to match and overpower Excalibur Morgan with help from Shirou's Rho Aias). Can ignore conventional durability with Cybele and Blood Fort Andromeda.
Speed: Massively Hypersonic (One of the fastest Servants in the Fifth Holy Grail War alongside Lancer, surpassing him in average speed. Outpaced Saber and easily ran circles around Saber Alter).
Lifting Strength: Unknown
Striking Strength: At least City Class | At least City Class
Durability: At least City level, at least Mountain level with Pegasus (Its natural defenses are on par with a dragon and its magic resistance surpasses Saber's) | At least City level, at least Mountain level with Pegasus
Stamina: High.
Range: Extended melee range, tens of meters with her nail daggers, further with her Mystic Eyes and much further with Bellerophon
Standard Equipment: A pair of nail daggers, Breaker Gorgon, and Bellerophon.
Intelligence: Being a former earth goddess, Rider has an exceptional number of skills and Noble Phantasms, even for someone of her class. She favors low-risk, high reward tactics (i.e. Hit and Run and Guerrilla Warfare) regardless of the means and will harm innocents if it means reaching her goal and protecting Sakura. She can be somewhat overconfident at times (which gets her killed in Unlimited Blade Works) but is skillful enough to clash with any of the other Servants and simply ran circles around Saber Alter rather than fight her directly.
Weaknesses: Blood Fort Andromeda takes time to set up, requiring over ten days to be utilized at its full power. Using Bellerophon or Cybele takes a great toll on Rider and she thus prefers to avoid doing so if possible. Overusing her Monstrous Strength skill will eventually turn her back into the Gorgon.
Noble Phantasms
Bellerophon: Bridle of Chivalry: A shining golden bridle and whip that can be used to fully control even a great Divine Beast. While it is useless without a mount, Rider uses it with her mount, Pegasus. Her Pegasus is a special case that has, due to its age, ascended to the level of a Phantasmal Beast, possessing defensive power comparable to that of a dragon and Magic Resistance that far surpasses Saber's. However, it is a gentle, docile creature, and Rider must use Bellerophon to get it to fight. Once the riding set is fastened, Rider charges her target like a comet, dealing extreme damage on impact.
Blood Fort Andromeda.
Blood Fort Andromeda: Outer-Seal, Blood Temple: The "Temple of Blood" that enclosed the island that Medusa and her sisters lived on. Rider is able to use it as a Bounded Field, using it to collect magical energy by converting humans to a bloody, organic ooze. She uses her blood as a component, setting it up around an area to slowly build up energy. It takes over ten days to fully store all the energy needed to utilize its full power. When activated, it cuts off escape routes and makes contact with the outside world near-impossible, and slowly converts everyone within into blood. It will remain active even if Rider dies, and can only be deactivated by Rider's own will or if she completely dissipates.
Breaker Gorgon: Self-Seal, Temple of Darkness: A powerful Bounded Field used to seal Medusa's powerful Mystic Eyes. While it nullifies her sight, her other senses are keen enough that this is no issue. It can also be used to seal magical properties and trap a target in their mind, within a nightmare world where they lack any special properties they may have had in the outside world.
Class Skills
Magic Resistance: An innate ability that grants protection against magical effects. Unlike the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether. Rider's B-rank cancels spells with a chant below three verses, making it difficult for even High-Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals to affect her.
Riding: The ability to ride mounts. In Rider's case, creatures on the level of Phantasmal Beast and Divine Beast can be used as mounts, though it does not apply to members of the Dragon Kind. With this skill she can also ride any modern vehicle to extreme speeds, allowing her to casually outpace cars with a mere "granny bike" and surprise Servants with the sheer speed and maneuverability provided by her riding technique.
Personal Skills
Divinity: The measure of one's Divine blood, reflected in high ranks by the user becoming part Divine Spirit, though it decreases if the user dislikes the gods. It allows Rider to reduce "purge defense" in proportion to the rank of her Divinity, allowing her to break through defensive abilities such as Achilles' Andreas Amarantos. Rider has an E- Rank due to originally being a minor goddess that was cursed and eventually turned into a monster.
Independent Action: The ability to remain independent and exist in the world without the magical energy supplied by a Master, allowing the Servant to act autonomously and the Master to save their own magical energy for spells. Rider's C-rank in Independent Action is gained by supplementing her magical energy with energy she drains from the blood of her prey, allowing her to remain in the world for lengthier periods of time.
Monstrous Strength: An ability possessed by monsters and beasts that allows Rider to increase her physical strength beyond the norm, giving her an edge in combat. However, it will eventually transform her into her monstrous form as Gorgon. Despite this, Rider has to make regular use of it in combat to enhance her somewhat lacking strength.
Mystic Eyes: The possession of Mystic Eyes, abnormal eyes that can influence the World. Rider possesses the Mystic Eyes of Petrification, Cybele, which allow her to petrify anything within her line of sight. Her eyes are gray and crystalline, with square pupils that don't normally take in light. Her irises are solidified, and she thus can't close her eyes. It doesn't matter if they're looking at her or not. Even if they have their eyes closed, they are still looking upon Rider with their mind's eye, and they will thus be petrified.
Anyone without considerable resistance to magic will be instantly petrified, and those who don't have enough to completely negate it will still be slowly petrified. Even those who have enough magic resistance to avoid this will be weakened, taking penalties to all their stats. Rider cannot control them on her own, requiring Breaker Gorgon or Mystic Eye Killers to do so, though it is possible to cancel the effect if it has not reached a certain point by looking away.
Key: Shinji | Sakura
Gallery
Others
Notable Victories:
Notable Losses:
Inconclusive Matches: