Energy

**Energy**, as portrayed in By the Blade, is the essence of one's being. It can be derived from an individual's physical, spiritual/mental (will power), or emotional strength. It can simply be describe as a living being's life force.

## Overview

Energy is the essence of an individual's being and is constantly circulating throughout the body, similar to one's lifeblood. It is interwoven with every fiber and every cell of any given being. This energy can be harnessed, manipulated and utilized outside the body. In this manner, an indeterminate amount of techniques have been created and continue to be created. Energy is used by well trained fighters from all realms to manifest their natural abilities into what is known as flow.

Energy is created through the molding of a given fighter's physical, spiritual, mental, or emotional strength, most commonly physical or spiritual. Physical energy can be derived from one's cells and can be increased through training, exercise and steroids. Spiritual or mental energy is collected from one's inner being, a manifestation of their will power, inner desire, courage, or simply their will to live. It is most commonly the drive for why one fights. The same goes for emotional strength, as one's energy can be directly affected by one's emotional state, either amplifying or weakening it. By strengthening the source of one's energy, one's energy itself will in turn grow more powerful as well. An individual's stamina will also increase and determine how much energy a fighter has within them. There are some techniques that allow the user to temporarily increase one's pool of energy beyond the body's limitations but often times damages the user as a result.

Any fighter also has a maximum amount of energy that their body can produce. While one may be able to strengthen the power and energy they have within, one cannot surpass their body's natural limitations. Thereby, one individual can be naturally born with a larger energy reserve than another. However, this does not automatically mean that they are inherently stronger. This can be determined by an individual's control and strength of their energy, which can, theoretically, grow infinitely stronger. Essentially, while one could theoretically grow infinitely stronger, they cannot create more energy than their body is capable of on its own. If one were to attempt to increase their energy pool further than their body can handle, the body would die from exhaustion. In the opposite direction, one's energy pool cannot drop below a certain point or they would die as well. While a fighter could be capable of using every ounce of their energy for flow techniques, they could subsequently kill themselves in the process.

Additionally, all individuals possess a unique signature to their inner energy source. This acts as an individual's "spiritual fingerprint," as no one's energy is exactly like another. However, energy is created in a hereditary fashion, meaning that though every signature is unique, the layers within one's energy can be similar to another, thus tying people to their family, clans, and race. Certain techniques exist that allow the user to "sense" energy in the atmosphere around them. It has been noted that energy signatures also give off their own feel, color, taste, smell and even sound.

## Energy Control

Although the amount of energy one can possess in their body can vary, this is not the deciding factor in what makes a fighter strong. The key to strengthening's one energy is their control over it and their ability to conserve it, using it in small bursts as to be able to endure prolonged battles. Specifically, a fighter is considered a good or better fighter depending on how well they are able to control their energy; only using the amount necessary to perform any given technique. Similar to stamina, using excess energy than what is needed will cause the fighter to tire out much faster, rendering them useless. However, if a fighter uses too little energy, the technique can be significantly weaker, if performed at all. Additionally, because energy is so closely connected to the user's very being, in some cases, the energy needed to perform a technique can be amplified by the user's emotions. This can be both advantageous and disadvantageous, as some different emotions cause different effects on the stability of the user's energy. For example, a fire type technique could be a focused beam of flame, but if the user is enraged, the flames of the technique could grow more wild and sporadic, causing the flames to perhaps spiral out of control. Inversely, the same can be applied if an attack is meant to be more erratic and spontaneous, if the user is too calm or focused, the attack will be performed as such. Additionally, energy control can give the individual to ability to temporarily mask their spiritual presence, making it virtually impossible for sensory type flow techniques to locate them. However, the larger the energy pool of a person, the more difficult it can be to hide. People born with excessive amounts of energy are even known to constantly "leak" energy, meaning that their spiritual signal can be very easily located.

## History

As energy is an extension of a given being's strength and ability, the energy used to create special flow techniques has always been present within each realm of the Septisegyai. However, though it is a naturally occurring phenomenon, without the proper training, one can go completely unaware of possessing the ability to harness energy to create flow. Nonetheless, the presence of energy and flow has been present since the dawn of time and will forever be interwoven with every species of being in every realm, great or small, within the Septisegyai.

## Users

### Nightmarians

*Main article: Nightmarian*

Nightmarians and hybrid Nightmarians are naturally adept to using energy and manipulating it into several flow types. They are regarded as one of the most powerful races in all of the Septesegyai. They also have naturally high energy pools, though because of this, their power tends to "leak out" more than normal, making them much easier to pinpoint using energy sensory abilities. Nightmarian energy signatures are commonly dark in color.

### Eldites

*Main article: Eldite*

Eldites are an extremely powerful race of beings who are also quite proficient at using energy. As the Elder Realm is home to exceptionally powerful elemental energy, beings from the Elder Realm usually have an affinity to elemental flow, possessing power from either the main four elements or a mix of two or more elements. Edlite energy signatures usually have a yellow tint in their color.

### Shadites

*Main article: Shadite*

Shadite are another powerful race of beings with natural affinity to psychic flow types. The majority of the Shadow Realm's fighters are capable of using their mental capacity to influence the world around them, including creating, projecting or manifesting platforms, armor, weaponry and more out of pure emotion. Others are capable of interfering with the minds of their opponents and doing damage from the inside out. Shadite energy signatures often have cobalt or navy blue tints.

### Phantous

*Main article: Phantous*

Phantous energy is commonly green in color.

### Hollows

*Main article: Hollow*

Hollow energy is often white in color.

### Dreamanese

*Main article: Dreamanese*

Dreamanese energy is commonly tinted with orange.

### Earthen

*Main article: Earthen*

Earthen energy signatures are almost always soft blue in color.

## Trivia

* The concept of energy was inspired by chakra manipulation from Naruto.
	+ It can also be attributed to how ki attacks work in the Dragon Ball franchise.
	+ Bleach was another source of inspiration, specifically how spiritual pressure and spirit ribbons are explained in the franchise.