Fate Apocrypha – Episode 14 Review

Clearly the sides have blurred, because this is a dream team.

The fourteenth episode of Fate Apocrypha open with a flashback to the past where a man observes the horror of war and vows to save the world by bringing paradise to it before cutting back to the present day, where Mordred and her Master talk about the battle. Mordred is troubled over saving Astolfo, though he assures her that there was nothing wrong with killing the crazy broad in doing so since they’re all in the war for their own reasons.

Then we cut back to Ruler confronting Sieg about becoming a Master and Servant, not wanting him to get involved in the war given her own experiences in the past. Sieg, however, sticks to the belief that he did the right thing and so she has no choice but to recognize him as a participant. At the same time, Chiron reports the status of their faction in light of the events of the past and reveals that Avicebron needs a core for his golem. While Gordes was the initial choice, the other magus who fits the criteria just so happens to be with him right now: Roche.

Roche is naturally feeling hurt since he worshipped Avicebron as a fellow golem-maker. But those feelings weren’t mutual since Avicebron dislikes people and further dehumanizes Roche by calling him the core as he’s fully absorbed into Adam. Giant golem in hand, he then sets out to destroy everything.

Sieg and Astolfo then have a moment before they notice Adam basically attacking their castle and absorbing more homunculi. The humans have no choice but to retreat since if they get touched they will be absorbed into it, but the Servants can and Chiron wastes no time in killing Avicebron for betraying them. However, killing him doesn’t stop the Golem at all and only serves to cut it loose from whatever restraint it had before.

Worse, Ruler also explains that the giant transforms the world uncontrollably and warps reality. That means she has to put it down and works alongside Chiron, but they can’t actually stop it since plain wounds will heal. And once it finishes transforming its surroundings, it will be entirely unstoppable.

Chiron states they can kill it if they have another Servant, so Ruler calls in Mordred. She’s all for it (providing Ruler gives her an extra Command Seal) and Sieg has to join in too, but they’re warned they’ll only get one shot at it or the world is screwed. So they go all in with Ruler and Rider, putting it down for good.

The episode then ends some time later, with Fiore and Chiron meeting with Kairi in order to talk since they aren’t enemies for the moment.

Okay, Review Time.

This episode brings about both the death of Caster and signifies an official change in the war itself. Given the grail has been stolen, there’s no reason for Kairi and Mordred to fight against the Black Faction until they actually get it again. That’s probably why the meeting at the end happens, with Fiore being the leader of the Black Faction now that her uncle has died.

You can tell why Avicebron sided with Shirou in the opening of the episode. Just like him, his goal is to save the world, so why wouldn’t he side with the person who will give him a chance at bringing Eden to the world. He was a misanthropist, something that Shirou also seemed to be given that he considered Sieg becoming more like a person or Servant as a downgrade, but they both seemed to have the same idea in mind, fulfilling it in their own ways.

Chiron taking offense to treachery also caught me by surprise considering how chill he normally is. Maybe there’s something in his backstory facilitating it that I didn’t notice (I’m not up to par on my Greek mythology). But he remained very level-headed and guided the group to victory in a supporting role.

Mordred also seemed to share some kinship with Sieg in this episode, being pretty buddy-buddy with him despite trying to kill him a few episodes ago. Then again, she can probably relate to him considering her backstory. Her MVP status remains unsullied though, and it’s looking like she’s going to be in it for the long-haul.

So, it was a great episode and I’m looking forward to the next.