Ether Strike

## Luminous SkyEther StrikeAkira Complex

Ether Strike - Akira Complex
Pack (Mobile): Luminous Sky
Pack (Switch): Luminous Sky

## Anomaly

**Trigger Time: 1:26**

**Unlocks: Fracture Ray**

The Anomaly can be triggered in Music Play or World Mode.
To trigger the Anomaly on a given difficulty, the following requirements must be fulfilled:

1. Hikari (Zero) is the selected Partner.
2. Hikari (Zero)'s skill is sealed.
3. (Future only) Hikari (Zero) is **Mobile:** Level 4 **Switch:** Level 6 or higher.
4. The necessary Recollection Rate (see section below) is attained at the trigger time.
5. Fracture Ray has not already been unlocked on the current difficulty or higher, or Testify has been unlocked.

Upon meeting the above requirements, the Anomaly occurs, but the song does not transition to Fracture Ray yet. From this point until the end of the song:

* The Recollection Gauge uses HARD Recollection Rate.
* The Pause Button is disabled, forcing the player to complete the remainder of the song.
* Recollection Rate decreases by 1-3% every two seconds and upon every LOST note.
* The map gradually fades to white, and the visibility is reduced as the Recollection Gauge drops.
	+ Upon reaching 5% Recollection Rate, the Recollection Gauge is no longer visible.
* Having the Recollection Rate drop to 0% does not immediately cause a Track Lost, but any LOST note after that point will.
	+ When the track is lost, the map turns pure white before viewing the result. The Track Lost sound effect will not be heard, and the song will quickly fade out.

If successful, the song transitions into an outro with a programmed glitch chart section. All notes in this section will score 0 without the bonus score, and Recollection Rate increases by 10 per second (although reaching 0 Recollection Rate will still fail the Anomaly). On successful song completion, the song transitions to Fracture Ray, with HARD Recollection Rate and the same difficulty that Ether Strike was played on. At this point:

* Achieving Track Complete will unlock the corresponding difficulty chart.
* If Track Lost is achieved, the results screen will display the text **Anomaly Lost...**, along with an unlock percentage. This starts at 0%, and increases with every Track Lost in Fracture Ray. When this reaches 100%, the chart for the respective difficulty is unlocked. The percentage unlocked depends on score and difficulty (see Hidden Songs for formula).

### Recollection Rate Requirement

Past
The requirement is to have no LOST notes until the anomaly time.

Present

Future

## Trivia

* According to Akira Complex, Ether Strike's title is a reference to one of Freya's attacks in *Valkyrie Profile*.
* The vocal samples in this song are, in order: "an intense dissatisfaction with the world", "and a compulsion to do something about it", "heaven and earth", and "my guiding star".
	+ The first two samples come from a quote by American astronaut Edgar Mitchell.
* Ether Strike has an extended version (see above) with a BPM of 158, which differs from the original BPM (156). Ether Strike, along with Sulfur, are the only two songs in Arcaea with this property.
	+ None of Ether Strike's released versions (including in *HYPERSYNTHETIC*) include the outro played during the Anomaly.
* Ether Strike was added to maimai DX Splash as part of the first Arcaea x maimai collaboration.
* When completing a play after triggering the anomaly in Music Play or World Mode, the reward and Potential calculations only take into account the score on Fracture Ray, not Ether Strike.
* Near the middle of the Future chart, a single arc moves slowly down the playfield. This is also seen in the charts for Akira Complex's song Relentless.
* Ether Strike has the longest section requiring more than two fingers, lasting for about 23 seconds (60 beats at 156 BPM).
* With the announcement of Akira Complex's passing on the 26th of June, 2023, players began playing Ether Strike en masse, bringing the song to the top of the Paid song rankings as tribute.
	+ A similar incident occurred almost two years before on the 18th of July, 2021 with the passing of SHIKI, in which players began playing Lapis en masse, bringing the song to the top of the Free song rankings.
* Prior to mobile v2.0.0, the individual difficulties had corresponding story entries, which were relocated to Story:
	+ Past: Chapter 1-4
	+ Present: Chapter 1-5
	+ Future: Chapter 1-ZR
* Prior to v4.3, this song, along with 5 other Main Story songs, had to be unlocked through World Mode. However, this is no longer the case.

## References

1. ↑ https://twitter.com/AkiraComplex/status/1019502707126800384
2. ↑ https://people.com/archive/edgar-mitchells-strange-voyage-vol-1-no-6/