Challenger's Moon

The **Challenger's Moon** (候補者の月 *Kōho-sha no tsuki, lit. Contender's Moon*) is the exotic combat style unique to Miyako and few others, a combat art she learned on her travels when meeting a man known as the “Skirmisher”. He was a lancer of few words  who challenged various martial arts schools and partook in every arena battle. The combat style primarily consists of heavy stabs, thrusts, spins, and aerial attacks. Generally, it’s not that effective, but Miyako’s Thema, Aura, having a passive effect renders it far more powerful than it should be. As it is not of Japanese origins and mainly focuses on the lance, despite its flexibility with the sword, it is not derived from the Musō Jikiden Ittō-ryū.

Despite it's effectiveness in Miyako's hands, it was originally made for traditional arena and coliseum battles. Although it is unorthadox and untraditional, it is far stronger than most modern day styles attributed to polearms.

## Techniques

* **Normal Pierce**: A singular standard thrust with a lance or blade, honed to the utmost limit, breaking through all obstacles in its path.
	+ **Strong Pierce**: A singular standard thrust with a lance or blade, honed to the utmost limit. As you prepare the strike, the air caresses the edge of your weapon before a sudden strike, breaking across worlds and sky.
	+ **Shallow Pierce**: A simple, singular, unrefined thrust with a lance or blade, somehow honed to the utmost limit. A shallow pierce, a stab, a thrust. It is enough.
	+ **Paratrooper**: A piercing attack launched from above, thrusting the sword down into the ground beneath them when they fall, crushing any enemies in the way and breaking apart the ground.
		- **Aerial Assault**: A modified version of Paratrooper that causes one to shift their stance, throwing the weapon upon performing the attack and leaping down onto the handle the blade further causing more damage after the first impact.
	+ **Illustrious Festival**: The most powerful technique in the Challenger’s Moon that utilizes a single strike. After absorbing an insane amount of energy into the weapon, the user performs a prepared pierce. The resulting power is immense enough to split apart the ground.
		- **Empyrean Festival**: A version of Illustrious Festival that is performed from the air down.
		- **Fourth Spellblade | Caelisorium**: Miyako is capable of utilizing the fourth Spellblade by combining the effects of Nihil with her Illustrious Festival technique. However, as Spellblades can only be utilized with swords, Miyako is required to perform one of the two techniques using Hypnopompic’s Sword Form.
* **Axial Whirlwind**: Forcefully spin the weapon upwards, causing immense wind pressure forward and breaking enemies in close proximity.
	+ **Axial Reach**: After successfully performing Axial Whirlwind, the user throws the weapon closely in front of them, slashing through any enemies before it kicks back into their hands.
	+ **Axial Landing**: The user performs Axial Whirlwind in the air and throws it down towards a target, slashing them and kicking it back into the air where the user falls and grabs hold of the blade, striking into the ground.
* **Stormchaser**: Forcefully spin the lance around in the air, causing immense wind pressure to generate an aerial vortex around the user, pulling enemies in while tearing them apart.
* **Whirlwind Cutter**: Performs dual sets of whirling attacks, switching from left to right and back sometimes finishing with one stronger strike or leaving an opening chaining into other attacks.
* **Guard Breaker**: A technique that breaks through an opponent’s defense, although it is very situational. It uses one end of a polearm to move into their target’s guard and shift their guard violently to the side before using the other end to strike them.
* **Tempestuous Virtuoso**: A technique where the user spins the lance around at high speeds, then halts the staff within their hands. The spin sucks in the surroundings, creating a  vortex that is released generating a vast whirlwind of air that collapses anything in its path. If one is skilled enough, it can also be done without a weapon.
	+ **Grand Festivity**: A shorter version of Tempestuous Virtuoso where the user thrusts the weapon out while spinning it at immensely high speeds, creating a miniature cyclone for a brief period of time around the spear.
* **Bait And Switch**: A technique where one performs Axial Whirlwind at extremely close ranges with an enemy beforing reversing the grip and spin direction and the last moment, creating a powerful blow with the enemy. Can be combined with Miyako’s Thema for even greater power and range.
* **Meridian Strike**: An unrelenting flurry of stabs and thrusts, aiming specifically towards vital points and meridians throughout the body to cause lasting damage to an enemy or disable them for the remainder of the fight.
	+ **Vital Repetition**: A relentless series of stabs towards a singular point, often a vital pressure point or an vital organ, performed in high speed rapid succession.
	+ **Scale Repetition**: A relentless series of stabs towards various, randomized points following up with a finishing attack that uses the momentum and energy gathered during each strike to perform one blunt hit.
	+ **Drawn Repetition**: A relentless series of stabs towards a single, focused point that is drawn from a preparatory stance that seems like one is only drawing their weapon. It can be likened to something like iai.
* **Sword Breaker**: A technique that breaks through an opponent's weapon, although it is very situational. It uses the blade or end of a weapon to repeatedly strike the same area in order to damage or break the opposing weapon.
* **Eminent Sweep**: A technique totaling three strikes. The first strike sweeps the opponents off their feet, the second strike casts them up into the air and the final and third strike thrusts the weapon straight into their lower body.
* **Chain Lancer**: A technique consisting of only two strikes, where the first performs a midbody sweep towards the opponent followed up immediately by forward rush and assault.
	+ **Chain** **Assault**: A reversed Chain Lance, where the first strike rushes into the enemy, penetrating them onto the weapon and past them into the ground, only to sweep the weapon forth and upwards.
* **Turnabout Breaker**: A technique partially derived from Bait And Switch made for other weapons. Using Miyako’s Thema, the weapon pulls down into a preparatory stance, pulling enemies towards the user before they strike.
* **Technique Finishers**: A set of attack finishers meant to be performed after a technique is deployed as the finishing touch, although it can be done as a normal attack too.
	+ **Succession**: A repeated series of attacks for a finisher, as a flurry of repeated thrusts and stabs followed by a side slash.
	+ **Challenger**: A series of unique attacks for a finisher, as a heavy thrust, followed by a swift side slash then a thrust from the opposite end, finishing with a heavy strike from above.
	+ **Revolution**: A series of slow, heavy attacks for a finisher, as two side slashes followed by an heavy, even slower cleaving strike from above.
	+ **Liberation**: A series of swift, quick attacks for a finisher that can be done again immediately after, as an immediate thrust followed by two side slashes.
	+ **Twilight**: A finisher unique to Miyako for the ending where she throws the lance at the enemy, impaling them before throwing up to four javelins created through Nihil's energy, with the fourth being stronger.