Kirika Hotsuin

"The weak are simply prey for the strong! That's why we need power.. the power to stand up against any foe, no matter how strong they are!"

- Kirika Hotsuin to Tsuruko Sejren, in Amadam's Secret, Daybreak S2

Kirika Hotsuin (キリカ・ホツイン, Kirika Hotsuin) is a wandering young woman whom is known to be a complete enigma while having a lust for power. Aside from her being a unique type of Soul Armour Knight who uses the GingaOh Driver to transform and having a thirst for violence, nothing else is known about her, at least initially. While she is referred to as the Queen of the Zodiac Knights; she does not have a Hellion infused within her, being mostly normal; as she is simply a freelance mercenary hired by Joker to serve as. Kirika is the main antagonist in Daybreak S1; and Tsuruko Sejren's main rival.

Growing up poor, she always believed that the weak warriors are exploited after the Magic Council took everything from her life. Seeing that modern society is a rotten system where the weak are persecuted by the strong, Kirika works tirelessly to improve herself so that she can survive in such a world. She has a very powerful and disciplined work ethic, and tries to pass that along to others. While Kirika will betray almost anyone to achieve her goal of gaining the Philosopher's Stone, to have her wish of people remembering her and not just forgetting the injustices her family suffered, becoming more than a "mere bad dream". Even though she holds power over all forms of morality, Kirika has a more altruistic side that she only shows when a bigger threat comes along.

When she scans the Change Ring over the GingaOh Driver, Kirika is able to invoke the power of the Origin Demon, Varian sealed within her belt to become the Super Galaxy King (超銀河王, Chō Ginga Ō). After freeing herself from Varian's influence by absorbing his power and destroying the rest, Kirika is capable of transforming into the true form of the Super Galaxy King, known as Soul Armour Knight Airgetlam (神鎧纏最高戦士 (ソウル・アーマー・ナイト) ・破婁 (アガートラーム), Sōru Āmā Naito Agātorāmu lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Tearing Bond).

Appearance
Kirika has the appearance of a young woman in her mid-twenties—she appears strikingly similar to Giselle Mercury; something that Tsuruko makes fun of, stating to Giselle that "she [Kirika's] crazy enough to make herself look exactly like you"; something that Giselle considers an actual possibility; however, the connection is something far more complex- or rather, a red herring. Kirika has pale-fair skin and red blushy cheeks. Her eyes look to be a powerful purple while her hair appears to be a pale-silver colour. She is taller than Giselle, but her exact height is unknown. From what can be seen, she seems to a perfect figure, and her breasts are maybe a D-Cup. Her white hair loosely flows outward and seems to be about waist length. She has cold, unmoving eyes, she never breathes nor does her hair move, and her arms and legs are full of holes which are masked by her gloves and boots, something which vanishes once she absorbs Varian.

Normally, Kirika's outfit is fitting for a melee character such as herself. It consists of a red and black strapless sports bra, and torn blue gi pants that has a red flame design on the bottom of the left leg. They are tied to her waist with a red and black martial arts belt. Her pants are ripped to where the right leg is only covered mid thigh and there are several tears that show the orange inside with one on her right leg revealing her blue and white striped panties. She doesn't wear shoes. Kirika also wears black fingerless gloves with red cestus gloves with six silver spikes on each hand. As an accessory she wears a silver dragon charm in all-caps attached to two chains as a necklace.

Personality
Kirika is the polar opposite of Tsuruko in almost every respect. Though she has a thirst for learning, a similar theatrical demeanour, and determination to get what she wants, she is much, much different. Whereas Tsuruko wanted to be a superhero that fought villains from her childhood, just like Phoenix Knight, Kirika wanted to be a villain who defeated superheroes. While Tsuruko is somebody whose insane power comes naturally, Kirika had to work extremely hard to get her strength.

Kirika believes firmly in the doctrine of "the survival of the fittest" in that the weak are nothing but prey for the strong; however, she views herself not as one of the strong, but actually as one of the weak; she believes that it's imperative for the weak to obtain power to prevent themselves from being preyed upon and abused. This attitude was born when the Magic Council shut down her father's company, Caledfwlch Industries, as part of their efforts to gain control over Hargeon, leading Kirika to gain a rather significant grudge against them and everyone associated with them, desiring the power to get back at them. Interestingly, despite the council's less then savoury actions overall, Kirika is apathetic to such things as the persecution of those who aren't united underneath them- all she wants is revenge against the government for ruining her life and indirectly killing her parents.

Though Kirika has a burning hate for cruelty and those who abuse their power, she also believes that compassion holds people back from obtaining the strength necessary to protect themselves; essentially dooming oneself no matter what stance a person takes and creating a never ending cycle of wrath and violence. Normally, Kirika acts kind and affable; certainly a person you'd love to sit back and have a cup of coffee with; however, this is only a front to her true personality—deceiving people into believing that she is a kind person; though she is actually quite kind, which is shown more when she mellows out thanks to Deen Lhant's influence. Even before this, when the chips are down, while Kirika may make a big show of being a cold-blooded supervillain with a Darwinian philosophy, she either fails to follow through on it or conveniently reinterprets her philosophy so that it'll allow her to do the right thing. Digging further, however, shows that Kirika possesses some degree of innocence that her psychotic behaviour has not entirely ruined; she has a soft spot for children—in fact, this is the closest to a humanizing emotion that she has. She also appears to have some desire for a normal life, a chance at redemption, as even though she had changed sides, she did not change her attitude towards others, but Deen Lhant's words did manage to strike a chord within her.

Though she relishes the prospect of combat, most of the time, Kirika purposely invokes fear, cranking up the rumours the Magic Council has spread about her –namely, being a sadistic felon with a love to maim and destroy anything in her random fits of rage- in order to gain a reputation as the most powerful and feared criminal to ever live so that no one would dare be foolish enough to challenge her, showing a ruthless and merciless edge in combat that most other characters in Daybreak lack; indeed, her ruthlessness and aggression leads to fear and a nervousness that inhibits characters from her unshakable intent or sheer power in combat. However, in the heat of battle, Kirika always uses exactly the right amount of force she needs to in order to achieve victory: no more and no less. This is due to the belief that if she underestimated her enemies, it could give them an opening they could exploit, and if she overestimates them, she tends to get bored in a fight.

Despite her words, the narration mentions several times that Kirika has never killed anyone who didn't deserve it (her targets are usually unsavoury people such as human traffickers and terrorists) and goes out of her way to incapacitate targets that are of 'good values'. There is some sort of twisted justice behind her methods, as she only kills those she sees as 'evil'; as shown during her own arc, where she pretends to be infatuated with Kira Hase, a young man from the Dark Guild Hell Seekers so that she could slaughter the whole guild for their crimes against the innocent. Kirika also has an arrogant streak a mile wide; however, while she looks down on the weak, she never boasts about her own power, and more than anything she believes that it's human nature to seek power. Kirika also has a special dislike for cheating and dirty tricks, as she likes to win fair and square, knowing the risks of non-controlled attacks with large areas-of-effect and how it could endanger onlookers. Kirika often goes out of her way to make fights and duels to be as honourable as possible so people can show their true strength; this is why she usually waits for her opponents to power up or transform before they attack. This is one of the reasons that she opposes Amadam's Empire in S2; they want to wipe out six billion humans to save the human race while she wants the Hellion Invasion to occur unopposed so each individual human can show their own strength and worth.

Deep down, Kirika secretly possesses jealousy towards Tsuruko; her attitude towards Tsuruko was hinted at during her own arc, when it is shown that she both idolizes and is slightly jealous of Tsuruko's heroic personality, and is outright shown when she and Tsuruko fight for the final time during the last arc of S1. Thanks to their pasts, Tsuruko and Kirika are very similar, but their methods are like opposite sides of a coin; Tsuruko is able to protect her loved ones without killing and is able to stand by their side, while Kirika protects the only person she considers really close to her through violent methods and even admits that she is unable to stand by their side. Kirika does care deeply for those she sees as 'worthy', such as what happened when Leanne Rockwell's weapon struck a roof and had Deen's arm broken; rather than fighting on like she expectedly would, Kirika immediately goes to Deen to protect him instead of finishing Leanne off.

Kirika's own love of battle is both her greatest strength and weakness: she interprets every challenge as an enemy to be defeated, and always has to be focusing her energy on achieving something. Case in point: during the early stages of Daybreak S3, with nothing to do, even though Kirika has few applicable or even social skills other than fighting and has been consequently fired from several jobs in one day, she puts all of her energy into becoming a professional chef, though the end result could be considered "giftedly bad" at best. Kirika is always prepared to do anything that has impressed her and she will almost never hesitate to do it, as long as it grants her more power; an example of this is seeking out Origin to absorb its power just as she did for Varian; and she will participate in any competition as long as it will allow her to become stronger, even if it is completely ridiculous. The reason for this is that at times, she can be a bit worried when not fully prepared. Unfortunately, this trait of her means that after Kirika has defeated all of her enemies, with no villains left to exert her power against, she revives her rivalry with Tsuruko one last time, challenging the latter to one final battle at the very end of the Daybreak era.

Kirika's problems with parental figures and such is a rather unique one; because of her own past, she is normally wary about them, believing that people who guide others are control freaks, and being a 'sheep' is the opposite of true strength. However, although she abhors her father's greediness after the Magic Council bought Caledfwlch Industries, resulting in the lives of her family being ruined and her father's downfall into a alcoholic abuser, she still remembers her father's former kindness prior to the Council's arrival and her mother's kindness. Whenever she witnesses something that reminds her of her own family issues, like what Kaguya's older brother did to her; as his greediness resulted in him nearly killing her to take over the family fortune, Kirika, for a lack of a better term, flipped her shit decided to teach the abuser and the victim a lesson, starting with saving the victim from the abuser first by murdering him, and teaching the weak victim how to stand up and strong against the abuser.

Indeed, Deen's kindness towards her has proven to be beneficial to both her and everyone around her—as indeed, they are no longer in constant danger; a major sign of her kindness is shown when she saves Deen multiple times. Deep down, she is someone that aches for the light, as shown when Deen was able to walk up to her and slowly take a gun from her hands before she tried to finish off Alexis after their second bout. Amusingly, she seems to really enjoy teasing Deen—and openly acts lovey-dovey with him, something that embarrasses him. She has a habit of clapping when talking to others, often for no apparent reason which only further signifies her insanity. Kirika has a few unusual tendencies and quirks, however, such as turning away from the people she speaks to, or over-dramatizing her hand gestures when delivering a speech, even flexing her fingers in an unusual manner, as if itching to grab something.

History
Kirika Hotsuin was the daughter of a construction worker in Hargeon back when the town was slowly advancing; her father was the one was working under his mysterious CEO, the head of Caledfwlch Industries on the Bifrost Bridge (ビフレスト・ブリッジ, Bifuresuto Burijji), a bridge that would connect the technologically advanced Hargeon to Four. The people of Four lived in poverty and worked for the richer Hargeon; they weren't allowed to cross into the city. The CEO of the company, definitely not the biggest fan of racism or classism, decided to connect the two, hoping to bring the two people closer. People thought he was crazy at first, but after seeing his progress and determination, they began to help him as they hoped for a better future in the city; Kirika's father was one of these people, as he had married into his wife's family, taking upon her last name- he was originally a migrant from Four.

Some people frowned at the idea and forced construction to halt. The CEO became wanted by the Magic Council, and the helpers gave up, figuring it would be hopeless once the man was captured. Eventually, the CEO was cornered by the Magic Council; though he intended to talk it over with them, the Council wouldn't have any of that- though the man could effortlessly bring them down, due a dislike of violence, and not willing to be caught and spend the rest of his life in jail, the man ran along the bridge and flew off to the other side of the sea. After this, businessmen from the Magic Council came and bought Caledfwlch Industries for a large sum of money, monopolizing their technology while laying off every worker there- Kirika and her family became poor.

After the council took over Hargeon, now on the streets, Kirika's father became a drunkard after he got duped for his money by people who got close to him, pretending to be nice to him, and grew violent against his own family, turning his wrath against his wife and child. In the end, Kirika's parents committed suicide, with her father hanging himself and her mother poisoning herself- Kirika's anger towards people who abuse their power began to manifest after this; however, she was placed in an orphanage which was located near the small shack that was home to one of the Four Heavenly Kings, Laura Bryant, who Kirika had only seen once or twice—however, her desire to destroy the council burnt bright; she sought the power to destroy the government.

Sometime after, Kirika was found by an old friend of her mother's –an influential author-, offering to take her in and look after her as her own. However, Kirika, disgusted with anyone who took pity on her, angrily declined, though she did thank her for the offer, albeit begrudgingly. Even so, the old woman gave her enough money to get an education, hoping that she would make something of herself. This was actually the reason why she was able to find the strength to continue on in life. When she was fifteen, she bumped into a seven year old Tsuruko Sejren, who was in Hargeon on an orphanage excursion- Kirika found Tsuruko weak for apologizing to her instead of fighting her. Soon after, Kirika found the GingaOh Driver while she was fishing, the belt wrapping around her as Varian began to speak to her, offering her the power to get revenge on those who wronged her.

Soon after, the old woman who helped her came under fire from the legal guilds around Hargeon for her anti-magician books, with several guilds beginning to cause a ruckus, breaking her property and making it harder and harder for her to get some rest. Kirika, naturally, took offense to this. Transforming into the Super Galaxy King for the first time, she slaughtered the alliance in a matter of minutes as a rather twisted "thank you" for her help. While grateful (yet still uncomfortable about all the murder that had occurred), the council began selling her land (and later, her house), and would charge ridiculous sums of money for her to buy it back. It was at that moment that Kirika decided to work as a freelance mercenary, sending money back to her friend in order to allow her to keep her home. At the same time, she wanted to make an impact on the world so that nobody would forget the hardships she had endured, becoming more than a "mere dream".

Equipment
Manifestation Demolition Blade: Stormbringer (示現崩剣・ストームブリンガー, Jigenhōken Sutōmuburingā): The Manifestation Demolition Blade: Stormbringer is the name of Kirika's specialized sword—it is classified as a High-Frequency Blade (高周波の剣, Kōshūha no Ken), which is a sword reinforced by a powerful alternating current and resonates at extremely high frequencies, creating an extremely sharp blade. The Stormbringer takes the form of a single-sided chokutō with a laser edge built in to only enhance the power of the high-frequency blade—the sword itself is easily recognizable due to its length as a Japanese nodachi blade. The colour of the tsuba (guard) and tsuka (hilt) are blue and gold and entirely black respectively; it is around approximately six-to-eight feet long, being a fair bit longer than Kirika herself is tall. The oscillation of Stormbringer weakens the molecular bonds of anything it cuts, thereby increasing its cutting ability. Striking, cutting, and thrusting attacks are performed with the blade, with the sharpened edge and point used for lethal attacks, and the blunt edge used as a clubbing weapon. She is also able to wield the blade with such accuracy and speed that she is able to deflect bullets. They can also be superheated from friction to be hot enough to sear anything that it comes into contact with. It sports a bolted steel base and blade, and there are two holes on the blade near the hilt. It has been specially customized with a motorcycle-like gear shift which, when pulled, sprays a flammable propellant across the blade and opponent, greatly increasing the power of its blows; it can be revved up to three times, and can be released either in one incredibly powerful strike, or as three lesser, but still strong, blows; increasing the range and inflicted damage of its attacks. For certain techniques this changes their performance entirely. Because enhanced attacks inflict more damage, this is one of Kirika's most valuable assets in a battle. This system is also strong enough for Kirika to be able to use it as a jet; this allows the Engine Blade to have three different elemental abilities imbued in it, each based on a different type of engine: Jet (ジェット Jetto), allows Stormbringer to fire jet blades or a blade energy wave; Electric (エレクトリック Erekutorikku) allows Stormbringer to do high powered electric slashes, and Steam (スチーム Suchīmu) creates a wave or wall of steam. This and several other modifications makes Stormbringer nearly impossible for anyone but Kirika to wield.
 * Sheath-Gun of Stormbringer: The sheath of the Stormbringer blade is in the form of a powerful-looking rifle; the rifle's lock and barrel is gray while the stock is a dark red. The stock itself is rather longer when compared to the barrel and lock. As the sword covers and blocks the barrel of the rifle, it is unable to fire normally unless the sword has been unsheathed. Although it is small and light weight, the rifle component is capable of fully automatic fire. The sheathe of Stormbringer has the slightly more mundane use of making its cutting force even higher at the press of a button due to pressurized air in the sheathe. When using the rifle as the sheathe, it can launch from its "sheathe" at the press of a trigger, making her strikes ten times more deadly, and can also be linked to its sheathe via chain so it can swing through enemies and come back to Kirika.

Sawed-Off Shotgun: This unnamed weapon is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel, with an absent stock, designed to be easy to conceal. The Sawed-Off Shotgun was obtained by Kirika from a black market; Compared to a standard shotgun, the sawed-off shotgun has a shorter effective range, due to a lower muzzle velocity and wider spread of shot. Its reduced size makes it easier to maneuver and conceal. Powerful and compact, the weapon is especially suitable for use in small spaces. It has a tube magazine attached to the underside of the barrel which limits the minimum barrel length to slightly longer than the length of the magazine tube, when only the barrel is modified. Shortening the length of a shotgun barrel does not significantly affect the pattern or spread of the pellets until it is decreased to under 50% of a typical barrel length. The pattern is primarily affected by the type of cartridge fired and the choke, or constriction normally found at the muzzle of a shotgun barrel. Cutting off the end of the barrel removes the choke, which generally only extends about two inches (about 5 cm) inward from the muzzle. This results in a cylinder bore, which causes the widest spread generally found in shotgun barrels. For an even wider pattern, special "spreader chokes" or "spreader loads" can be used, that are designed to spread the shot farther. It can fire twin lasers from its barrels, can have a small grappling hook attached to it and also comes with a knock-out gas feature. Presumably, the gun is powered by some sort of nuclear fusion reaction; and later on, Kirika links the gun up to a miniaturized black hole in order to augment the output of the cannon, increasing its power astronomically. The cannon is presumably telescopic, as she keeps it stored retracted in her left arm when not in use. Its powerful blast is enough to knock Amadam back three city blocks (although there was a building in the way) and requires Kirika to use both of her arms to steady the aim; as without balance, it could knock Kirika herself backwards a slight distance due to recoil.

GingaOh Driver (ギンガオー・ドライバー, Gingaō Doraibā): The GingaOh Driver is a special Driver Belt that was created as one of the Prototype Driver Belts—while the Planet-Eating Beast Varian's power was world-shattering, it was not destined for habitat in this plane of existence, and thus, it, along with it's twin, Origin, sealed themselves away—Varian itself was absorbed into the GingaOh Driver as of the Universal Reboot, resurfacing in Hargeon. took the form of a peculiar Driver Belt. The GingaOh Driver enables the user to harness the power of Planet-Eating Beast Varian, which has been converted into the form of the belt in order to fuel their transformation into a Soul Armour Knight; however, thanks to Varian's influence, the Soul Armour was corrupted and Kirika could only use its Proto form at first.The GingaOh Driver takes the form of a silver and black belt which has a triad of purple crystals engraved upon the buckle. It also stores the genetic structure and memories of its host, so that if the host is injured or killed, it regenerates that host from even the smallest bits of genetic material, even regenerating scars made by past wounds. During the joining with the GingaOh Driver, Kirika's body was changed permanently. The GingaOh Driver left two growths on the back of her that acted as a form of catalyst for the Drive Lever while also being able to sense other users of the Driver Belts nearby. The GingaOh Driver is known to be infused with pure darkness—and eventually, it would eat away the mind of the wearer; however, Kirika is capable of withstanding its negative side-effects, as her unstable psyche actively encourages the addicting power of the GingaOh Driver and turns it back on Varian to further amplify the power received by using the GingaOh Driver; essentially, Kirika is so determined that there is nothing for Varian to devour—this makes her a one of a kind demonic host. However, during the Silver Flash arc, Kirika's sheer willpower overpowers Varian with the power of her Blazing Heart, absorbing the Planet-Eating Beast's power while shattering its existence, essentially killing the Origin Demon- this act allows Kirika to utilize the GingaOh Driver Soul Armour's true form, the silver knight Airgetlam. Like other Prototype Driver Belts, Kirika is capable of transforming and activating her Soul Armour's secret powers without the need for Super Soul Rings.

Powers and Abilities
""How is it that you can stand up to the power of the true Dragon King so easily!?" "Really wanna know? I eat, watch action movies, and sleep! I don't need nothing else!""

- Black Dragon Nidhoggr and Kirika Hotsuin, on the source of the latter's power, Daybreak S2, Darkened Abyss

Ways of Combat
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: A master of the sword, Kirika's fighting style is known as Killing Move Sword (必殺剣, Hissatsuken). She attacks very quickly, leaping through the air to strike enemies with her long sword, carving a trail of destruction through the area. She is even capable of employing her swords effectively using her feet, by wielding their hilts between her hallux and second toe. Her swordsmanship is enough for her to slash through intangible airspaces, and to deflect hundreds of bullets which were shot at her by a Rune Knight with relative ease. In addition, her sword slashes possess so much force behind them that they are able to slice through metal using only the air pressure from the swings. Kirika has an incredibly aggressive style: she is constantly on the offensive, and eschews any defensive moves in favor of speed and strength, striking heavy and hard while lightning fast. She prefers an off-hands style that is best suited for her own tastes, relying on a combination of power, strength, and speed, always on the offensive, attacking with wide, fast, and powerful swings, performing amazing feats of acrobatics, such as somersaults and backflips, not only for attack, but also to evade the slashes and strikes of her opponents. Running, jumping, and spinning are all emphasized in her style, allowing Kirika to move at high speeds and rain strong blows, jumping and attacking through the air. Powerful and quick spinning attacks are utilized from all angles, either from ground or air, appearing like a blur to her opponents, attacking from all directions—the front, the sides, overhead, or behind. However, Kirika's fighting style is highly demanding in terms of both physical and kinetic energy expended, this is because of its broad focus and deeper utilization within her blows. The Killing Move Sword has abundant amounts of paradoxical and unpredictable concepts that would make the fighting style difficult to use for anyone else—but this is why Kirika likes it so much. Sometimes, Killing Move Sword is described as more than a mere swordsmanship style—it requires Kirika to enjoy the fight, desiring the satisfaction of victory above all else. By accepting the anger of the opponent, Kirika morphs them into half of a superconducting loop, with the other half being realized as the anger and hate that dwells within the opponent. In order to use Killing Move Sword, Kirika must emit a constant stream of fighting spirit from her body, with a hardly contained detonation of fighting spirit which allows Kirika's attacks to appear nothing but unconnected and seemingly unpolished. The Killing Move Sword Style is Kirika's personalized style of swordfighting, developed in order to enforce the cruel reality of sword fighting—the moment that a sword is able to make successful contact with the body, any sort of skill, training, or prodigal talent that one has is rendered null and void, becoming useless. Essentially, any sort of "sword style" betrays the true nature of sword-fighting, leading to the Killing Move Sword to place emphasis on this harsh reality as much as possible.

Hissatsuken is focused around swift draws; similar to the art of Iaidō; sword style where the user quick draws the blade extremely fast to strike, then re-sheathing it after every attack. Kirika's speed is so fast that she prevents opponents from reciting magical incantations and releasing their powers making it highly effective against mages, however, if one has no need for incantations or have short release commands, then they could hamper Kirika's advantage. Kirika is able to strike so fast that the opponent does not realize they have been cut until she sheathes her weapon; slicing up to ten times in a row in the span of a few moments. It is a style of sword fighting that is free in its movements, sparse, restrained, adapted to brawls and to duels, than to the fields of large scale battles. With this style of swordsmanship, the user takes into account and adapts to the opponent's weaponry, contrary to other ways of battle which taught to impose dominance without taking into account the opponent. Hissatsuken takes into account the geography of the terrain, the hour of battle, and other parameters. It is effective against ranged weapons and magical blasts for this reason; being almost undefeated. Hissatsuken is an extremely powerful way of fighting; and as such, is only usable by the most skilled of warriors. The user learns to use the sword not only to defend their position but to also have the "power of adaptability" in facing different individuals, much as a captain must consider the winds and change sails in order to travel in the best direction to reach their objective. It is similar to a hunting hawk, which must constantly reconsider the best trajectory in which to strike effectively. Like the raptor, it is necessary to be able to anticipate, to be able to assess and definitively act. "Move with the mind, in order to move with the body" is one of the central tenets of style. If the user's sword does not stop the movement of the enemy, then they try to fit to the opponent's rhythm, thus entering into the mind of the adversary to find their weakness. When utilizing it, Kirika has one goal in mind: kill fast. The incredible level of speed that Kirika is in possession of is what makes the style so effective. Releasing her true speed, a frame of slow motion would show that pieces of skin are ripped off as she darts around, winds scourging Kirika's bare flesh and bone before her infected body repairs itself. The combination of skill and violence that this technique requires makes it almost inherently a technique exclusive to Kirika; a sword style above all others.
 * Sword Pressure (剣圧, Ken'atsu): Sword Pressure is a basic ability which can be learned by almost everyone and their mother, but it sure is deadly if utilized properly; it is the most basic techniques that one can perform with their sword. When performing the Sword Pressure technique, the user swings forward with their sword, swinging the blade so swiftly that it seems that the user is able to utilize air itself to slice enemies, focusing a current of wind to the point where it takes on a sharp edge, which the user launches at foes; sending it through the air towards the user's enemy. It is a powerful blade of pressure that appears as faint ripples of wind that is launched towards the foe at high speeds; this attack enables the user to assault things which are out of their sword's range, sending slashes which fly through the air itself; and can even remain floating in it until the right moment to slash. The person struck by the sword pressure is assaulted by countless invisible blades which happens so fast that they would normally be unable to properly react in time, carving up their body. Also, the strong wind power will blow away all incoming projectile weapons and will even make the opponent unable to stay on their feet; this technique possesses enough power to slice down many trees in a forest. This technique can deflect both physical and sound wave attacks and attack at the same time, making it both an offensive and defensive technique. These blades of wind possess incredible range and devastating power; and at its highest level of mastery, the sword pressure is capable of cutting through barriers of magical energy; and they can even remain floating within the air until the right minute to slash. Kirika's version of Sword Pressure has heated wind due to the friction caused by her fierce slash. Once it makes contact with the enemy, the now heated wind will proceed to tear into the opponent as well as sear their wounds preventing any rapid regeneration from taking place, beginning to slice the target apart on the molecular level. Kirika has also shown the ability to manipulate the form of the sword pressure, creating a tornado to envelop and lift her opponent, while also cutting them several times; she is skilled and accurate enough to cut away the armour of a Rune Knight without injuring the wearer. Due to her intimacy with her sword's inner workings, Kirika is able to effortlessly change the size and direction of the attack, as well as pour more power into the attack in order to increase the damage it inflicts. Kirika can also separate the attack into several sections and utilize them for multi-directional onslaughts.
 * Whip Mastery: Due to her Arms Weapon being a snake blade, Kirika is more than skilled in the art of utilizing a whip—or more precisely, a bladed whip. Kirika treats the Shining Caliber like an extension of her own body, making her a versatile fighter because of this, and to effectively wield it is a testament to her skill; as she is capable of bringing out Arms Weapon's full potential in a variety of ways; as she can use its extension ability to attack an opponent from behind, or either the left or right, without giving away the variation of her attack until it is too late. Kirika has shown considerable skill in using the snake blade's extension capabilities to constrict opponents, surrounding them from various angles and then retracting her Arms Weapon in order to crush her adversaries. Due to Kirika's immense strength, best exemplified when swinging the weapon, often one lashing is more than enough for the enemy to fall to Kirika—as she swings the weapon around, enemies will fall ever so effortlessly. When Kirika fights, the terrain around her becomes an extension of her blade; from a single sweep of her Arms Weapon, howling winds surge forward as incredible tornadoes ripping apart the landscape, a simple stab into the earth capable of causing tremendous earthquakes, upturning entire sections as fissures and chasms spread outward. Her fighting style is a force of nature itself turning even the surroundings into a raging maelstrom of death and oblivion.
 * Vega Slash (ベガ・スラッシュ, Bega Surasshu): Vega Slash is Kirika's most prominent finishing attack and one of Airgetlam's Limit Breaks. When performing Vega Slash, Kirika charges her fighting spirit into her Arms Weapon, before attaching her Arms Weapon to the elbow of the gauntlet on her left arm, before instantly dashing forward with surprising burst of speed to meet her targeted enemy with furious speed, utilizing the Wings of Light of her Soul Armour as propulsion. The entire sword emits raging torrents of fighting spirit as the attack is performed, meaning that the attack can also hit anyone directly behind Kirika when she releases the attack. The blow Kirika unleashes is so powerful that it instantly discharges the fighting spirit as to release a god-speed blow of overwhelming, monstrous power that has no equal, as the opponent is overwhelmed by Kirika's fighting spirit from where they were slashed; this is instantly built up and condensed upon their body, creating a supreme cutting force that can slash through any body. This single blow pierces through many an obstruction and tears through the air itself. The attack produced after utilizing this technique is capable of tremendous power, able to destroy even magical barriers and demolish a portion of a house from a distance with the strike; even if Kirika is not in close-range, the fighting spirit is discharged from the blade, releasing a large projection of Varian, formed by fighting spirit, which shoots forward instantly, capable of obliterating anything in it's path from incredible distances with relative ease, enhancing the potential of this technique a hundredfold. This attack is augmented by converting all of her defensive power into a single, maximum-powered attack. The moment that Vega Slash strikes the opponent, the artificial gravity well generates a "custom" shockwave, transforming all particles in contact with its striking surface into Kirika's fighting spirit, essentially granting the slash more than enough sheer destructive power to erase opponents while leaving their souls intact; Kirika's powerful strike causes them to disappear into light; the sheer power of the strike releases fighting spirit capable of destroying anything it comes in contact with. Despite is ridiculous power, Vega Slash has earned the reputation of being one of the most predictable and avoidable Limit Breaks due to its slow startup time and introduction sequence, which gives Kirika's opponents in range the chance to completely dodge the move. However, for this drawback, the sheer power that is granted is more than worth such a risk. Even so, this Limit Break is powerful enough to kill Gemini, a member of the Zodiac Knights in her Symbiote Soul Armour in a single blow.
 * Killing Move Sword Secret Art: Dimensional Slash (必殺剣・奥義・次元斬, Hissatsuken Ōgi: Jigenzan): Jigenzan is one of the "space-time attacks" (時空剣技, Jikūkengi) that Kirika developed by branching out with Hissatsuken; not only that, it is known to be one of the strongest Sword Magic spells to exist as of currently. When performing the Jigenzan, Kirika gathers and condenses magical power within Stormbringer; once it is compressed, she grips the hilt of the enormous sword; unsheathing it at incredible speeds from any range that she wishes. It is manifested by collecting magical energy, absorbing magical particles from an opponent or gathering magical particles, giving Kirika many ways to form this attack; however, each and every way of materializing this attack is functionally the same. It allows Kirika to postpone the dimension in which she exists and enables her to go through all matter and create the "ultimate blade". This technique is like a saw, moving back and forth between dimensions, which means that it cannot cut if it cannot move. The moment that Kirika unsheathes Stormbringer at incredible speeds, she releases the magical energy that she has gathered by projecting it outwards—there is no movement, but rather, the magical energy has been fired right at her opponent, hitting immediately with enough power to bust an adversary to shreds. Its principal use is to strike at adversaries outside of the sword's range. Essentially, it breaks the air with a slash and forces out a powerful blast of pure magical energy that instantly hits the enemy. Because it is essentially the release of focused magical energy, it is capable of destroying anything with a decisive, explosive strike. What should be noted is that Jigenzan possessing homing properties; tracking the foe's heat signature in order to sniff them out and deal damage if they barely manage to evade the strike. Kirika's mastery over this technique is such that she does not need to unsheathe the blade, but simply use it as an attack at close range. Defensively, this technique can be used to postpone the dimension of her entire body, allowing her to pass through walls and nullify an enemy's attacks. Kirika has perfected this technique to the point where making contact with the target is unnecessary to make a hit. All she has to do is slash in the direction of her intended target and the cut travels the distance to it at lightning speed, with the same end result.
 * Killing Move Sword Secret Art: Great Helix Slash Kick (必殺剣・奥義・大捩斬脚, Hissatsuken Ōgi: Dairazankyaku): The Great Helix Slash Kick is one of the "space-time attacks" (時空剣技, Jikūkengi) that Kirika developed by branching out with Hissatsuken; not only that, it is known to be one of the strongest Sword Magic spells to exist as of currently. Dairazankyaku is a powerful technique performed with a sword; however, it is noted to be highly unorthodox. When beginning the technique, Kirika, naturally possessing incredible acrobatic prowess, tosses her sword into the air and clutches it with one of her feet; simultaneously, she performs a one-handed handstand; gathering rotational force in the hand she is utilizing to support herself; by an impressive display of breakdancing movements, Kirika whirls around swiftly, holding the leg which is clutching her sword outwards; slashing away at any opponent who is within the reach of the blade. While powerful, it is known to be erratic; more often than not catching her foe off-guard while dealing a multitude of strikes; it is enhanced by the wind generated by the spiral formation that Kirika spins around in; and thus it traps foes in a vicious cyclone of slashes which deals up to thirteen hits while damaging all the foes in the radius of her sword. Dairazankyaku is said to be an upside-down Kaiten Giri (回転斬り, Rotation Cut); an attack where the swordsman stands on one leg and spins around swiftly while holding their blade out, dealing multiple strikes. A bit of trivia, Dairazankyaku is a reference to how Gai wields his blade in the Rising Phoenix series.
 * Demon God Connecting Fang Slash (魔神連牙斬, Majin Rengazan): Demon God Connecting Fang Slash is a powerful sword combo exclusive to Kirika. When performing this attack, Kirika utilizes her eternano molding in order to manifest a duplicate of her Strombringer. The first hit is a horizontal swing from left to right with the right sword, immediately followed by an uppercut with the left sword. The user then jumps up and slashes the target with both swords from left to right while spinning, twice; the user lands facing the target and slashes an X from top to bottom, before inversely slashing the X again from bottom to top. The user then leaps at the target and makes two diagonal slashes from the same starting point, with the left sword heading from top to bottom to the left, while the right sword heads from bottom to top toward the right. Afterwards, the user reverses their grip on the two swords and slashes another X with both swords from top to bottom. The user then does a barrel-roll like maneuver while slashing at the target, like a corkscrew. The user then slashes another two X's at the target, first from top to bottom and then bottom to top. The user then makes a diagonal slash with the right sword, top-right to bottom-left, then spins left and uses this momentum to deal a horizontal, right to left slash with the left sword. The user then, at a very high speed, makes an uppercut with the right sword; then another with the left sword, a downward slash with the right sword, then a downward diagonal slash towards the right with the left sword, spins and repeats the previous attack, and thrusts the right-handed sword out. The final slash is a forceful downward lunge with the left sword.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Kirika is a very well known for her hand-to-hand prowess; indeed, she is stated to be an equal to Giselle in that department. Kirika uses the style of Gekiha Renshūken (月気発蓮蹴拳, Moon-Heart Explosive Lotus Kick Fist); Gekiha Renshūken is an elegant fighting style that is only available to fighters that have mastered all other forms of martial arts. This style is considered to be the strongest, most elegant, school of martial arts in existence and relies on fast footwork in order to focus on fending off enemy attacks with the arms and using the legs to counterattack with powerful kicks. The sheer strength of her body, coupled with her superb footwork are positively reinforced by her strength, stamina and footwork, making her one of the deadliest practitioners of hand-to-hand combat around. With this style, her destructive power is without equal and can slaughter enemies with her devastating slicing techniques, focusing on rapid kicks which stab the enemy to death. She uses her instincts to fight as well; attacking savagely and unpredictably in order to overwhelm her opponent. Most of Kirika's combat moves focus on using graceful and delicate movements, similar to ballet moves, to strike precise and hard blows at her opponents. When attacking, she tends to use her feet when launching physical blows. Kirika utilizes many graceful flips, twirls, and cartwheels, mixing in pirouetting kicks, twirls, and one-handed backflips with her hand-to-hand combat, overwhelming an opponent through multi-directional attacks with relative ease. Attacks are aimed at the most vulnerable parts of the body, and training is not limited to techniques that avoid severe injury. With her extensive training in this discipline, Kirika can defend against all variety of attacks and counters in the quickest and most efficient way. Gekiha Renshūken fixates on countering as soon as possible; attacking pre-emptively to gain the upper hand, as well as targeting attacks to the body's most vulnerable points, such as: the eyes, neck/throat, face, solar plexus, groin, ribs, knee, foot, fingers, etc. Overall, Gekiha Renshūken enables Kirika to match Giselle's Seishin Dairinken (星心大輪拳, Star-Mind Large-Ring Fist) blow for blow. Upon using this fighting style, Kirika is able to fight at incredible speeds and is able to react and move in microseconds.
 * Burai Kick (無頼・キック, Burai Kikku lit. Ruffian Kick): Burai Kick is Kirika's unarmed finishing attack and one of Airgetlam's Limit Breaks. When performing the Burai Kick, Kirika imbues her leg with air pressure, while focusing even more power around her foot; this intensifies the leg, focusing so much power upon her limb that it begins to shine silver. From there, she harnesses her immense speed by kicking off the ground ten times in the blink of an eye –the first kick releases a small shockwave with special properties- in order to leap a good twenty feet or so into the air, before using her speed once more to propel herself downward at an angle at an overwhelming velocity—when in motion, she thrusts her leg forward, her overflowing fighting spirit forming several seals of energy shaped like the Varian emblem- the silver energy still imbued within her right foot as she impacts on the opponent with a diving kick, smashing through them with ease. This attack promises absolute destruction, which is granted by causing friction with the hydrogen in the air by the sheer ferocity of the blow, generating a medium-sized explosion upon impact. The resulting power of the diving kick can crush the target and is particularly dangerous to magic users. It is capable of tearing through diamond and even through weak defenses. Because of the sheer velocity of the move, Kirika's movements seem to cause fire to be released behind her figure during her descent; the impact of her body releasing a powerful shockwave of pure power that is capable of destroying everything in the vicinity for meter away from touch-down. Kirika's motion carves a violent trail of destruction wherever it moves, destroying everything in a straight line as a tornado trails around it as it completely overwhelms all it devours, as by colliding with most structures and opponents, grinding into the opponent like a powerful drill that is capable of piercing through any and every defense; striking them with such incredible power that the sheer force of the attack is enough to upturn steel, and wipe her enemies away with a force akin to an inferno.

Physical Abilities
Immense Strength: In stark contrast with her slim and womanly figure, Kirika possesses positively enormous amounts of physical strength, having been repeatedly shown capable of lifting and dragging around objects many times her own size and weight, most prominently due to her habit of carrying around a sword as large as she is tall. The fact that she is capable of swinging Stormbringer one-handedly without any strain is a true testament to her titanic strength. In fact, she is so powerful, that she is capable of splitting the hydrogen in the air just by merely punching, allowing her to cause a small explosion that inflicts decent damage. Another feat of strength is that she can punch the ground with enough force to cause small fissures. Kirika is able to lift and press a hundred and twenty metric tons, and she can perform other amazing feats such as punching holes right through thick steel, shatter boulders to smithereens and lift objects many times her own size and weight without a care in the world; a shocking display of fearsome power in itself. Her strength allows Kirika to create thin shockwaves of air that cleanly cut through anything they come in contact with. Kirika also has enough power to break magic with her bare hands, and break through diamond; her inherent immense power is only amplified by the momentum at which she moves; making her strong enough to cut through enemies (though not all shields), burrow through the ground, smash through surfaces by stomping, or break down walls. Furthermore; she shows the ability to pulverize large boulders and the like with a single strike using her finger, while others marvel at the level of strength she possesses. She is able to further manipulate the kinetic energy of her strikes well enough to the point of being capable of accumulating said energy into her fists, thereby greatly enhancing her punches while also allowing her to create extremely powerful bursts of kinetic energy on impact which are capable of sending even Wizard Saint-tier opponents flying. Another testament to Kirika's monstrous brute strength is that she is able to split the hydrogen in the air by punching, strike out with her fists or throw objects through the air with such force that she can make them ignite and punch the ground with enough strength to cause fissures, flaming shockwaves, and even kick up small volcanic eruptions over a wide area; to the point of causing massive explosions around herself; in which it was strong enough to push debris out of her way while causing damage at a much wider range than before. She has demonstrated that she is strong enough to enable her to knock out people with normal durability with as little as a tap to the head. Kirika can press between eight hundred pounds to one ton with her lower body and lift about eight hundred to a thousand pounds in her upper body.

Tremendous Speed: Without using any particular type of movement-enhancing technique, Kirika usually moves at speeds rivaling those of a Wizard Saint, as Kirika has shown to be immensely fast, befitting her small size and waifish build. Her tremendous raw power, allows her to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between her and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight in the span of a millisecond. She can effectively use her agility to use the battlefield to her advantage, jumping from wall to wall to keep her opponents unsure of her attack patterns. Kirika moves at such a speed that her foes more often than not can't register her movements, until she's made them; she's also skilled enough to dodge at tremendous speeds, even if she's assaulted from behind. When launched into the air, she can perform several tricks before finally landing on ground. Kirika's practical reaction time is several times faster than a normal human's and the speed at which her brain processes information is heightened to a level commensurate with her bodily speed, enabling her to perceive her surroundings while traveling at high velocities. She has also shown on several occasions that she can jump incredibly long distances, up to several hundred meters by applying speed to her jumps. She is capable of moving so fast that she can decapitate an entire army of foes without them even having time to react. For speed purposes; Kirika can utilize her sheer willpower to dash and propel herself in large distances through short bursts of energy expenditure, moving at supersonic speeds, even nearing that of hypersonic speeds, so swift that more often than not her opponents are unable to track her movements, merely appearing as a flash of jet-black energy that bursts through the air, and her speed enables her to attack almost a multiple of fifty times in a row per second. Kirika reacts so swiftly to current events in her battles that it seems as if she has a sixth sense of sorts; even being able to react to attacks before they're released; it has been shown time and time again that Kirika's reflexes enhance her speed even further, to the point that it seems as if Kirika has the ability to teleport with every movement that she makes. She is also incredibly precise, as she is able to remove small objects from a person's skull without damaging the person's brain in any way.

Incredible Durability: Kirika is unnaturally resilient as the result of her own training. Her skin itself is unnaturally hard; as she is able to block sword strikes with a single finger without feeling anything, and occasionally she deflects elemental magic up to Dragon Slayer caliber with a single swipe of her hand. Even after suffering a fierce onslaught by the hands of Giselle, Kirika is still able to stand again and again without receiving tremendous physical harm. In addition, she can keep fighting despite suffering broken bones as if she never suffered those injuries in the first place. She is capable of withstanding nearly any and all onslaughts thrown in her direction. Her durability enables her rise from attack after attack after attack on numerous occasions, more often than not surprising and confounding her foe, striking fear into their hearts. She can smash several barriers of magical energy with her fist without showing any sign of pain or injury; and she can shatter almost any non-Soul Metal armour with her fist without showing any sign of pain or injury. It is also worth noting that, for nearly all the battles Kirika has endured, with the exception of one, she has never been crippled, nor has she displayed any serious injuries. Additionally, she can survive free-falls from extreme heights, falling face-first from a high point in a skyscraper twice, merely shaking it off after landing. She is durable enough to the point that if a person beats her with a thick wooden stick, the stick would eventually break and Kirika would show little discomfort. Kirika's body is adapted towards the rigors of high-speed running; indeed, her cardiovascular and respiratory systems are many times more efficient than those of a normal human being. She metabolizes an estimated ninety-five percent of the caloric energy content of foodstuffs, meanwhile, normal humans use only about twenty-five percent. The chemical processes of Kirika's musculature are so highly enhanced that her body does not generate fatigue poisons, the normal by-products of locomotion, which force the body to rest. Rather, her body constantly expels waste products during her accelerated respiration through exhalation. Kirika's durability is high enough to where she can take blows from beings with absolutely immense strength and not be fatally injured. She is also capable of going extended periods of time without sleep, being fully capable of fully resting with not much over an hour of sleep. This durability makes even her soft tissues extremely durable, and more than up to the task of rendering her virtually immune to firearms.

Other
Immense Intellect: If there is anything to fear about Kirika more than her heritage, it is her immense intellect and vast library of knowledge and secrets. Kirika possesses a perceptive eye and remarkable intuition. She possesses a genius that is rarely matched, and it is prevalent through her ways of fighting. While others were content simply to achieve the power, speed and technique of their regular powers, Kirika was interested in developing her own type of power, creating a variety of techniques and abilities to suit her needs. She has a great talent for analyzing and observing everything in her presence, allowing her to quickly understand a person's pattern of thinking and better talk to them. In battle, Kirika's preference is to concoct strategies based on deduction of her opponents' abilities and fighting style, all while under the facade of acting like a berserk. Later, she also starts to display good strategies in battle, like when she was able to take out the Rune Knights with a sawed-off shotgun, which she utilized for the first time against them, along with exploiting her immediate environment and psychological tactics to her advantage, without using her magic. Against Rizevim Oberon, Kirika displayed the ability to calculate and analyze all the 25,000 different kinds of energy of Rizevim's Dark Matter, while fighting at par with her and protecting the bystanders, to update her pain tolerance. Kirika has molded herself into a master strategist, tactician, and analyst. She is frequently the first person to point out or find a weakness in her opponent's abilities or fighting style and exploit them to her advantage. Nevertheless, her ability to think several steps before the enemy almost always ensures her victory.

Indomitable Will: Being a born fighter with a code of honour; as the Magic Council took away everything she had in a dirty way, Kirika is determined to survive on her own in a cleaner way. This incredible willpower translates to Kirika having one of the highest Ardor gains around, as her burning desire to make her own fate results in her fighting spirit reaching truly insurmountable heights, granting her a drastically enhanced fighting time compared to other characters and an immunity to anything that could disrupt her one-track mind. A notable instance of this is that even though thanks to the Origin Demon, Varian, being sealed within her Driver Belt, constantly tempting her to unleash its full power and allow it to take over her body, Kirika compares its influence to a fly buzzing in her ear. She is shown to be able to use her fighting spirit to create structures from nothing and has been shown to be able to convert other forms of energy, including her own magical energy, into fighting spirit, which is what grants her the ability to go over the Soul Armours' runtime of 99.9 seconds, albeit only doubling the time she is capable of harnessing her armour. Kirika has also been shown to be able to use her fighting spirit to survive life-threatening injuries; this is seen when she is able to keep herself alive after having her arm torn off and then fight off her opponent, ignoring the pain she suffered long enough to later get a prosthetic. This incredible fighting spirit also translates to Kirika being completely immune to any illusion-based or mind-affecting supernatural powers, or any corruption at all.
 * Resolve-Based Physical Abilities: Thanks to her absolutely immense Ardor gain, Kirika has been shown to be capable of using her fighting spirit to achieve feats that defy many physical laws; because of her strong convictions, Kirika's body's natural limiters were released; granting her a physical prowess far above normal humans and even other races, like great strength, speed, agility, accuracy and coordination. Despite being, for all intents and purposes, a normal human –albeit one who has a connection to the Origin Demons- thanks to her overflowing resolve, Kirika's fighting prowess and physical abilities are on par with her rival Tsuruko, whom is a hyper-advanced android developed to destroy demons and, at full output, can destroy an entire dimension with her ultimate weapon. Deen notes that most of the things that Kirika does are impossible by human standards, such as running across particle beams, punting a skyscraper that was buried several stories underground with a sprained ankle, and she is capable of an unassisted fifty-foot vertical jump (the world record is four). Thanks to her incredible willpower, she is capable of surviving in a vacuum for some time with no permanent harm, killing armies, dragons, demons, and other foes, surviving hits by bullets, taking multiple hits from tranquilizer-darts with no effect, and otherwise being virtually impervious to pain.
 * BlazingHeart.gifBlazing Heart (ブレージング・ハート, Burējingu Hāto): Blazing Heart is the absolute manifestation of Kirika's fighting spirit; it's a power exclusive to her and her alone. Blazing Soul is a new ability awakened by Kirika pushing her fighting spirit to its utmost limits, allowing her Ardor to ascend to an even higher level than ever before. This causes Kirika's aura to manifest in the form of unquenchable scarlet flames that keep rising, while her eyes shine red. In this case, this burning fighting spirit enables Kirika to overpower and subjugate the wills of those weaker than her, allowing her to draw upon the powers of her soul and create a miracle through desire alone. If Kirika harnesses the power of Blazing Heart on a non-human being whose power could be harnessed as an augmentation of her own strength, Kirika's burning fighting spirit can overpower her target's as her willpower asserts itself over the target, stealing and absorbing its power for Kirika's own usage and erasing the target from existence. Essentially, this power is the embodiment of Kirika's will to overcome every obstacle in her way, refusing to bow to anyone. The first use of this ability was during the climax of the Silver Flash arc of Daybreak S1, where Kirika, confronting Varian, the demon who created Gehaburn and Elysdeon and was sealed within her Driver Belt, in her mind, activated Blazing Heart after the latter attempted to force her into invoking the demon's full power, her burning desire to start anew after Deen's words inspired her overpowering Varian's influence with ease, enabling her to absorb its power, destroy it, and unlock her Soul Armour's true form, Airgetlam, all through her burning passion.

Magical Abilities
Intense Magical Power: Kirika possesses an enormous amount of magical power, even rivaling that of a Wizard Saint's. Her skill and control at using manipulating her demon energy aura allows her to perform a variety of abilities. Kirika has undergone numerous experiments in order to raise her magical energy to this insurmountable level. Kirika has natural control over the exertion of her magical power, keeping it contained to the point where it is virtually impossible to detect her by normal means, though the constant effort can be taxing. The presence it exudes is completely at odds with her personality; the magical energy itself is a vibrant golden, crackling intensely when Kirika focuses; when Kirika's power is at it's peak, it transforms into the frightening visage of a dragon which surrounds her, striking fear into the hearts of her foes. It is so great it can be felt from a great distance and it has the tendency to make people perspire in fear. Additionally, the sheer aura radiating from her person has the additional effect of affecting entire areas to the point of disrupting spells from enemies, as well as affecting others from seemingly miles away. Magic originates from a Magic Origin (魔原, Magen), which is exactly what the wording indicates—it is a special organ that is located within the body of a magician, that absorbs eternano and bunches it up into clusters, which is processed into magical power. Every Mage has a container inside their body that determines the limits of their Magic Power; this is precisely what a Magic Origin is. If the case becomes empty, eternano will come from the atmosphere and enters the Mage's body and after a while, their Magic Power is restored. Interestingly, Kirika is capable of morphing the properties of her magical power; as it normally saturates the vicinity as scarlet puffs or clouds of magical power, that usually shift from the texture of a raging scarlet to a mystical golden; these clouds are the embodiment of Kirika's thoughts, brought forth by her absolutely enormous magical power—people will perceive her magical energy all around the area, instead of it originating from Kirika's body, leaving them unable to exactly pinpoint Kirika's existence. As a 'cast-off', Kirika's magic is considered "pure", and she can utilize her magical power in order to power those around her and herself, giving them an inexhaustible amount of magical power, and increasing all of their attributes twentyfold.
 * Kirika_Power.gifMagical Aura (魔力の霊気 Maryoku no Reiki; lit. Aura of Magical Power): Magical Aura is a common term given to the exertion of magical energy into a form outside of the user's body that isn't used in the formation of spells. It has been demonstrated by various mages of varying potency, and is a common means of intimidation. A magical aura is created when the body's container of eternano particles exceeds the limits of what it contains, or is purposefully released by the user. Upon doing so, the magical energy surges around the body and is exerted outwards in the form of an aura, which holds considerable pressure surrounding it. Depending on the level of magical power one possesses and the control behind it, it can be used as a means to intimidate another individual, or as a preparation for a powerful spell. A single magical aura can have a wide variety of effects dependent on the power an individual exerts; Kirika's aura almost consumes her in its colour, leaving nothing but a phantom-like apparition to remain. It should also be noted that the aura is far wider, and is generally uncontrolled by Kirika. However, her aura isn't limited to intimidation, and can be used for the preparation of a spell. It is also worth noting that the pressure exhibited from such an aura can form a large column of energy, leaving the pressure enough to visibly cause strain on people even from a considerable distance away from the exertion of the aura, indicating at the sheer level of power within this aura. Thanks to the sheer power of her aura, Kirika's magical power is capable of dominating the magical auras of those around her; such as knocking those with weak magical powers unconscious; she can pick out weak mages in a large group and knock them out without affecting those around them. However, those with stronger magical power can resist or even ignore the effects of Kirika's Magical Aura. The ability to knock someone out depends on the difference in strength between Kirika and the person or persons she is trying to knock out. The greater the power gap, the easier it is to knock the victim out. It seems that upon recovery, victims of Kirika's aura experience the sensation of chills running throughout their body. Kirika can activate this power in two ways; the first and most common way is in a quick burst that will knock out those with weaker magical powers relatively easily. The second method is to release her pressure continuously, which will not only knock out those of weak magical powers around Kirika, but also put pressure on the surroundings, actually affecting other physical objects besides living beings.

Magic in General
Assorted Magic (雑魔法, Zamahō): Magic is the main form of combat for Mages; it is the physical embodiment of the spirit. When the physical spirit of an organism connects with the spiritual flow of nature, the spirit forms Magic as a product of the connection. To utilize Magic, a Mage must use Magic Power (魔力, Maryoku) in their body. Magic Power is the source of Power for all Mages, it is composed of Eternano (魔子 (エーテルナノ), Ēterunano lit. Magic Particles), which is the term coined to name particles of Magic. Eternano dwells inside all living organisms and throughout the atmosphere. Nobody knows when Magic began, or how Eternano originated. Eternano is the source of Magic Power for all Mages; and every Mage has a container inside their body that determines the limits of their Magic Power. If the case becomes empty, Eternano will come from the atmosphere and enters the Mage's body and after a while, their Magic Power is restored. Eternano has near-zero rest mass - though, like any particle, its mass increases to reflect its potential or kinetic energy - and can carry either a positive or negative charge. In order to cast spells, a magician derives the power necessary from two sources: their own body's Magic Origin (魔原, Magen), and the atmosphere. A Magic Origin is exactly what the wording indicates—it is a special organ that is located within the body of a magician, that absorbs eternano and bunches it up into clusters, which is processed into magical power.

Every Mage has a container inside their body that determines the limits of their Magic Power; this is precisely what a Magic Origin is. If the case becomes empty, eternano will come from the atmosphere and enters the Mage's body and after a while, their Magic Power is restored. It appears that the concept of using a proportion to the user's Magic Origin or the atmosphere is dependent entirely upon the magic used in question. With internal magic such as High Speed, one requires the use of their own magic far more than external magic such as Fire Magic, where they generally rely more on atmospherically magic. By collecting eternano and subsequently imbuing it with a certain 'command' through either an incantation, hand gesture or a simple spell name, allow it to then mysteriously take upon a characteristic unique to that spell. Interestingly, some magicians, if they are descended from unique families, have shown that they are capable of replenishing their eternano faster thanks to unique traits. However, recent studies have identified another, unused, part of a Mages' Magic container that contains a large amount of dormant power: the Second Origin. If a Mage somehow manages to unlock their Second Origin, they will then receive an enormous boost in Magic Power, or they can wait until the right moment to unleash the Magic Power of their Second Origin in order to gain an advantage in the battle.

Despite her incredible amounts of magical power, Kirika isn't too fond of magic, other than what she has already learned, which is to say all of three spells. She believes magic to be a "cheap trick", and prefers to get up close and personal with her opponents, fighting like a berserker without any regard for ranged attacks, essentially sacrificing variability for overwhelming physical might. Indeed, because of her desire to focus on close combat, the three spells she has learnt have been honed to utter perfection, the reason for which is because while she mainly goes about smashing her opponents around, she would logically need some sort of failsafe in case she finds herself in a bind. Thus, Kirika solely relies on her Soul Armour, her swordsmanship, and hand-to-hand combat to get herself through battle.
 * Kurokage (黒影 (クロカゲ), Black Shadow): Kurokage is the name of Kirika's signature spell. It is an uncategorized spell; or rather, it probably does have a branch of magic that is belongs to, but Kirika doesn't really give a damn about naming it. Interestingly, Kurokage is one of the very few non-basic spells capable of being utilized in conjunction with Soul Metal; Kirika refers to it as a "gift by Varian", whom inhabits her Driver Belt. It is considered a subspecies of Elemental Body (エレメンタル・ボディ, Erementaru Bodi), which is a special spell that any Elemental Magic user is capable of—but only if they have mastered their magic. When performing Elemental Body, the user takes the concept of "absorb the element into your body to give you a boost" one step further; the user integrates the element of their choice into their flesh and fuses it with their body. Together with the signature intangibility of Elemental Magic, which allows the user to let physical and Magical attacks pass harmlessly through their body when they're transformed, this form also grants the user some traits typical of the real element, which vary from version to version. Due to the velocity in which the user attacks, the user's attacks are enhanced drastically; however, their attacks become more predictable the more that the battle drags on, and when transporting themselves, the user can only transport to one point of a place per transport, changing a point in space is next to impossible during transport. In essence, it enables her to transform her body into a gaseous form that can ensnare and lift opponents off the ground, among other things. In order to initiate the transformation, Kirika releases extremely high purified magical particle concentrations; and in that instant burst, her magical energy envelops her and reduces her body to wispy black smoke and embers; which is actually her own magical energy influenced by her inner darkness. This gaseous form grants her near unparalleled speed and an immunity to harm when transformed; essentially granting her the status of semi-flight. With this spell, Kirika is capable of closing the distance between herself and enemies, and can even use it go through them, attacking and then re-materializing continually as a form of a 'speed blitz'. Since she is capable of transforming her body into smoke, Kirika can use the smoke dash to go through structures with openings, like chain-link fences, iron bars and pipe-like structures; this is a major reason why the Magic Council has never caught her, as she can simply escape through the ventilation systems and anything that has the smallest of openings, making her virtually impossible to corner unless under specific circumstances. The smoke is virtually insubstantial, so Kirika can use this power to avoid injury. She can control the flow of the vapor through the air, allowing her to, as mentioned before, fly, squeeze herself through tight passages, or move objects about -she could pull a person out from under a mob attacking them by dispersing and reforming them nearby, or steal her opponents' weapons by vaporizing them into their hands and bringing them to her own. She can move around with a partner, or send objects to a new location within traveling with them, providing she can visualize the new location in her mind; an extension of this is that Kirika is capable of engulfing a target with smoke by sending it towards them instead of using it to surround herself, this causes the target to float above the ground, being guided by her hand in a similar manner to that of Telekinesis. However, the weakness of this spell is that it normally takes her a split second to transform her body into smoke, preventing Kirika from moving out of the way of enemy attacks if she is too slow to activate the spell. The maximum speed that Kirika moves at is over three hundred kilometers per hour, which is the maximum velocity at which she is still able to breathe.
 * KirikaBarrier.jpgDefenser (魔関 (ディフェンサー), Difensā lit. Magic Barrier) is a basic magic spell, and one of the first spells any magician learns—it, along with Magic Ray, are the two defining powers of a magician. When performing Defenser, the user releases their magical energy outwards, utilizing Shape Transformation in order to mold their energy into the form of a hexagonal structure that surrounds them—before their magical energy reacts with the ambient eternano saturated within the environment, solidifying the structure, causing it to take the form of a hexagonal barrier that surrounds the user's body which acts as a shield in order to defend against the attacks of the enemy. The shield itself is similar to a geodesic dome, made of tessellating hexagons. The shield protects against magic, bullets, explosions, and other projectiles—however, enemies are still capable of passing through it if they nullify their magic. Also, if Defenser successfully guards an attack, it unleashes a spray of light around the dome that does damage equal to the enemy's attack power to anything hit by the light. In fact all attacks can be reflected, with correct timing. The user can manipulate the barrier into a number of relatively simple forms: rectangular planes, cylinders, globes, domes, cones, etc; it is an extremely powerful form of defense. The complexity of the shape is limited by the user's ability to imagine, as in, mentally visualize a particular form and keep it in sharp mental focus: not even the user is able to see the forms that they create. The size of a given magical force projection is also limited by the user's ability to imagine. The smallest force projection they can visualize and maintain the visualization is the size of a marble. The largest solid force projection they can visualize and maintain is about one hundred feet in diameter. The user can project larger force-objects if they are hollow. For instance, they could visualize and project a dome one foot thick about a mile in diameter (five thousand, two hundred and eighty feet) and a dome one inch in thickness the user can project for about three point two miles. Small objects at high speeds become missiles; large objects at slow speeds become rams. The user can make these objects grow or shrink as desired. In any case, the barriers can be very complex and elaborate barriers, or very simple shaped barriers such as circles or squares. These barriers can also hide the presence of the things it coats or even make the target invisible. However, Defenser is slightly difficult to use has it can only manipulate so many magical particles at a time and it required precise timing—despite this, once the user gets the hang of casting Defenser, it will be incredibly simple to harness it in any way that they wish. However, despite being far more advanced than any other barrier, it still suffers from magical draining. The barrier can only be used for a total of one hundred and five seconds and requires one hundred and twenty seconds to cool down. If the user has no other defensive measures this leaves a window of fifteen seconds where they have no defense against attacks. A special trait of Defenser is that with any Elemental Magic, the user is capable of infusing their element into the barrier, granting it special properties that make Defenser an extremely versatile spell. Kirika's version of Defenser is drastically more versatile and powerful than nearly any other version—indeed, the barriers are strong enough to defend against even an Abyss Break spell. The shield can also be used for offensive purposes, launching forward to create powerful forces to strike the targets, or to deflect forces sent by enemies right back at them. Kirika can also use the attack to shield others by swinging the energy towards her ally and then covering them in the coat of magical power and thus giving them greater protection from oncoming attacks. Activation of this technique makes it necessary for Kirika to provide double the magical power to form the shield due to its unique construction, and if it is struck, she will feel pain and receive damage in accordance. Kirika can also materialize it from a distance, allowing her to shield Deen from Amadam without either of them realizing it during Daybreak S2. This wall can also disperse the resultant force of an impact at the instant of receiving an attack with the starry energy as a concentrated explosion that is automatically returned along the attack's opposing trajectory. It is able to protect from enemies, magic, and some other hazards and after hitting one of aforementioned alternatives, the shield disappears and Kirika must wait to re-summon it.
 * Defenser Counter: Defenser is also capable of being utilized as a form of counterattack, allowing the user to deliver damage to the attacker when the user is hit; essentially, it is just as it is labeled; a counterattack. When performing Defenser Counter, the user kicks Defenser away from them upon the moment of the spell being activated, before returning to them as magnetized. This serves not only as a reflector, but also as an unpredictable approach to opponents. If timed correctly, it will trip opponents, leaving them vulnerable to follow-up attacks. Upon contact with the opposing technique, Defenser reverses the opponent's attack, whether it be close-range or projectile, upon them, returning it to sender, causing the user to retaliate in any way that they wish as well. If the attack is a projectile, it will simply be deflected behind them and upwards at about a thirty degree angle. It's worth noting explosive projectiles can still explode and will still do damage if they are struck when the Defenser is dissipated. If the attack is a powerful spell such as a Secret Art, then the attacker will be knocked back at a ninety degree angle. The user is capable of leaping out of the counterattack, allowing them to take the opponent by surprise. Essentially, a Defenser, when used to counter, multiplies a spell or technique's damage by one point five percent when there is a successful counter. If a projectile is reversed several times, then this method of harnessing Defenser will be rendered null and void, as the user loses the energy to retain the stance, and the projectile just passes through the stance and damages the user normally. Defenser is capable of being used for regular offense, as with it, the user is capable of knocking their opponent downwards. Defenser, when used as a counterattack, weaker when used against airborne opponents, and doesn't become invincible. It can travel through enemies unhindered, though. However, since the user kicks it, they cannot hold it in place, meaning that timing is crucial in reflecting projectiles. Note that when Defenser comes back to the user, it can also reflect any projectiles back at any angle at the last second.

Aura Magic
Aura Magic (霊気の魔法, Reiki no Mahō): Aura Magic is a special Lost Magic that has been passed down through generations; it is also known as Sendō (仙道, The Way of The Wizard). Aura Magic was created at the dawn of humanity with the purpose of fighting off the dragons' influence on the world. This also includes the creation of minor demi-humans, known as demons, created through the Stone Masks, and stopping them from ever achieving perfection through the Primordial Duo. The Aura Magic users have built many devices and temples across the world to help them train and learn from one another. Aura Magic is one of the few types of magic capable of slaying dragons which isn't Dragon Slayer Magic; and thus, it is extremely coveted by many. As the Lunarians taught mankind Aura Magic eons ago to fight against The Exalted One; Kirika has the ability to use a more powerful version of Aura Magic thanks to her heritage.

Aura Magic is noted to be a special fusion of the sun and the magical energy of the user. However, not everybody can utilize Aura Magic, as Vita states that only one in ten thousand are capable of using it, and the main characteristic of driving Aura Magic comes from the pressure one has felt through harsh situations in life. Those who are not capable will still be able to use the fighting style, but only to an insignificant extent. Aura Magic is based on using the energy of the sun's rays through breathing and empowering the body with solar energy, and then merging it with the user's magical energy to affect both animate and inanimate things in a variety of ways, as long as they are touching it; while it can be used to destroy beings with evil in their hearts, it can also affect inanimate objects. Aura Magic has been known to work as a form of regeneration. With the addition of Aura Magic, her blows possess phenomenal stopping power, making Vita demonstrate destructive power far in excess of many other beings.

Many of the most powerful techniques are classified as 'overdrives', and are colour named. An object that is impacted with the force of the overdrive will carry Aura Magic through it, and will become lethal to the touch of the opponent; this can be used to strike an enemy in another room by breaking through a wall and causing its solar energy to disintegrate the target. Ordinary humans can also be affected by Aura Magic attacks as well, as Aura Magic would have caused an ordinary person to feel pins and needles before fainting, similar in nature to heavy exposure to the sun's rays. Aura Magic is also transferrable between users. Despite the many uses that it possesses, Aura Magic's main use is to allow the user to perform martial arts enhanced by sunlight; and launch blasts of sunlight from their feet and palms.

Liquids conduct Aura Magic especially well (and the user's Aura Magic shows on liquids as ripples), and it can even be used to increase the surface tension enough to allow the user to walk on water. It was mentioned by Vita, that objects covered in oil can conduct Aura Magic much easier. While the Aura Magic users can make the most simplistic of objects into lethal weapons and become themselves dangerously powerful, they are not without weaknesses. The user must be able to constantly breathe, if this breathing is stopped or reduced due to injury she slowly grows weaker to the point that they can be easily defeated even by a wild beast. Additionally, the removal of heat from the user of Aura Magic causes their blood to move slowly and, makes them unable to attack as rapidly and effectively as before.
 * Vehemence Edge (暗黒方躍進 (ヴィエメンス・エッジ), Viemensu Ejji lit. Darkside Onslaught): Kirika's signature Aura Magic spell; it is a power akin to Giselle Mercury's Shining Onslaught and Tsuruko Sejren's Lucifer's Hammer. When performing Vehemence Edge, Kirika condenses stray energy onto Stormbringer, adding her own power into the mix as solar energy erupts; the solar energy swells around the sword, before converging at a singular point—the tip of the sword; intensifying the kinetic energy that is about to be released by convergence and acceleration. Swinging forth, Kirika unleashes a massive horizontal slash in the form of a wave of solar energy that is released in a semicircle that is centered around Kirika. To enhance the attack, Kirika can use the swords floating behind her in the form of wings as bullets coated in Aura Magic alongside the blast of energy; and she generally readies numerous swords at a time, upon snapping her fingers, the seemingly infinite number of swords can be fired without pause. They move and take aim at the target according to Kirika will, being launched with high velocity. Due to an enormous amount of swords being fired at the same time, it is incredibly difficult to block many of the strikes. She starts out with lower numbers of swords, but increases the number of swords fired in a volley depending on the situation. Upon firing them, she can allow them to pierce the ground after striking the target, causing a large amount of destruction with each lance similar to a carpet bombing; the speed of the attack is so swift that most foes cannot realize that they have been struck until she has finished her assault. The wings are mostly used to surround her foe, able to exploit any available opening at a moment's notice. Due to this, this version possesses the additional effect of being able to surprise the foe no matter how much they have witnessed the technique as it is easily adaptable. The whiplash of the attack can be quite huge, usually blowing apart anything behind her at the time of attack. The beam is powerful enough to strike multiple enemies and even two adjacent foes simultaneously while its mere presence covers any exposed light in aura; violently pushing the intended opponent and objects around them away from her with overwhelming blunt force. Despite being such a small beam, the range of Vehemence Edge is vast and its attack power is positively enormous; this is because the thin beam contains all the power of the aura compressed; essentially a wave of aura which shoots forwards towards the opponent with extreme force. The compacted nature and moving speed of the aura that composes the spell allows the attack to grind into whatever it comes in contact with to inflict major damage. This tends to launch the target backward after being hit or, if the opponent is knocked to the ground or being launched towards the ground, the destructive force is enough to form a crater. The spell locks on to Kirika's opponents no matter their position, chasing after them. The blast can dodge obstacles in it's way, unless it is not physically possible, never ceasing it's hunt until it catches it's prey. Along with its astounding destructive power, the attack has a delayed effect if the initial blast should fail, wherein the target will be blasted by residual effects left over by the spell; while not as overwhelming as the initial blast, the after-effect can catch foes off guard. The attack seems to possess highly destructive power, having caused great damage to the area it affected, destroying the ground and piercing through buildings alike, and appears to have a long range, wreaking havoc wherever it passes, as shown when it crossed the entire distance of Hargeon, generating a large explosion. It has been shown to be immensely powerful, devouring large fragments of rocks and erasing extremely high powered spells with ease. The beam carves a violent trail of destruction wherever it moves, destroying everything in a straight line as a tornado trails around it as it completely overwhelms all it devours, as by colliding with most structures and opponents, grinding into the opponent like a powerful drill that is capable of piercing through any and every defense; striking them with such incredible power that the sheer force of the attack is enough to upturn steel, and wipe her enemies away with a force akin to an inferno. It is capable of blasting through even magical forms of defenses, as the beam's movements swaths through the barriers, and supernatural defenses erected in vain to protect them, striking the foe formidable might, dealing physical damage. It should be noted that activating this technique costs little to no power, and thus, Vehemence Edge is easily one of Kirika's most useful techniques.
 * Arm Blade (手刃, Tekken): With a simple flick of her wrist or a single swift movement of her arm, Kirika releases aura, sending it shooting towards her foe. Utilizing her magical energy, Kirika modifies the small pooled aura to transform and harden, becoming a crescent shaped arc of aura. If in close combat, Kirika slices her wrist, and then in the arc of her arm's swing, uses her energy to harden the aura into a blade that remains affixed to her arm, enabling numerous follow-ups. The true advantage of Arm Blade's close-combat variant is that it can liquefy at a single thought, enabling Kirika to negate her foe's attempts at defense upon impact; and Kirika, immediately afterward, can follow up with another attack. The result of being struck by Arm Blade is being simultaneously drenched in aura and slashed simultaneously, giving this attack great power. Lastly, this technique is nearly unblockable as the aura blade can easily cut through steel. Furthermore, if an opponent is stabbed, the aura spreads to their body, causing them to catch ablaze. Its slashes are capable of trailing large amounts of aura in its wake, which can damage the opponent. The moment that the blade makes contact with the foe via impaling them, the composition of the aura blade is altered to cause additional, smaller blades to protrude from the blade inside of the foe's body, drastically increasing the number of wounds dealt to the foe. Both variants of the technique can be utilized in swift succession; since most of the time, the opponent is forced to focus on blocking the first blast, rarely figuring out that the second blow is coming up immediately. Kirika can also launch multiple aura swords to make a lancing-type move; where she directs the sabers towards her target, aiming to impale them with incredible speed and force. However, mid-flight, the sabers veer off wildly in different directions, homing in on different targets in order to attempt to take out multiple opponents at once. When making contact with the opponent, the sabers drench them in aura. Kirika can utilize the aura blade as transportation; the sword moves at high speeds to the point that she becomes a blur. At any moment, Kirika can leap off of her transportation and strike her foe, either downwards or overhead with tremendous force.
 * End of Fragment (千魂冥烙 (エンド・オブ・フラグメント), Endo obu Furagumento lit. Thousand Souls Dark Branding): End of Fragment is Kirika's second most powerful Aura Magic spell; it is more often than not reserved for her finishing technique. Once the End of Fragment spell is activated, a glyph of solar energy appears on the ground, from which six red and blue spherical objects rise, hurting anyone who happens to be touching them. Kirika raises her arms, gathering magical energy within her and forging a link between the realm of the dead and the current plane of existence. From there, she summons the souls of the fallen Aura Masters, and they lend her their power—with this convergence of power, Kirika bends her right arm backwards, the fist clenched, and extending frontwards a mildly bent left arm, tiny streaks of aura gathering before the outstretched fingers from the surrounding area; charging the attack. From there, they settle around Kirika, who then rises up, taking the spheres with her. The spheres turn vertically and connect with each other to form a circle, before Kirika fires a series of energy blasts from the orbs; the blasts are touted to chase their foes to the ends of the earth, no matter where the foe is standing, even if they possessed high speed, as they would catch their foe eventually. The blasts can move at impossible angles, that always manages to reach its target; they will always change their path around any obstacles or pierce through any wall in order to reach their target. Following this, a larger glyph appears in the center of the circle, from which a large, multi-hitting energy laser fires, accompanied by smaller lasers from the six spheres. All of a sudden, the energy of the deceased Aura Masters and Kirika's own Aura is instantly released; resulting in a positively gigantic, horizontal column of pure energy shooting forth from the spheres and five kilometers behind them, creating impressively enormous explosion upon contact which is capable of traveling great distances, wreaking havoc wherever it passes, absolutely destroying the target and anything within range of the spell. After this finishes, End of Fragment ends and Kirika drops back down to the ground, completely unharmed, but drained of her magical power.
 * Return of the Gods: Orochi-Beheading Violent Sealing Hunger (神帰り・大蛇斬頭烈封餓, Kamigaeri: Orochizantō Reppūga): Return of the Gods: Orochi-Beheading Violent Sealing Hunger is Kirika's most powerful spell. When performing Return of the Gods: Orochi-Beheading Violent Sealing Hunger, Kirika charges aura upon her blade; before lifting it skyward as if proclaiming the victory, before instantly dashing forward with surprising burst of speed to meet her targeted enemy with furious speed. The entire sword emits raging torrents of aura as the spell is performed, meaning that the attack can also hit anyone directly behind Kirika when she swings her sword. The blow Kirika unleashes is so powerful that it instantly discharges the aura as to release a god-speed blow of overwhelming, monstrous power that has no equal, as the opponent is washed by aura from where they were slashed; this is instantly built up and condensed upon their body, launching the foe away with high speed. This single blow pierces through many an obstruction and tears through the air itself. The attack produced after utilizing this technique is capable of tremendous power, able to destroy even magical barriers and demolish a portion of a house from a distance with the strike; even if the user is not in close-range, the aura is discharged from the blade, releasing a large dragon of aura which shoots forward instantly, capable of obliterating anything in it's path from incredible distances with relative ease, enhancing the potential of this technique a hundredfold. This dragon is manifested by converting all of her defensive power into a single, maximum-powered attack. The moment that the dragon strikes the opponent, the artificial gravity well generates a "custom" shockwave, transforming all particles in contact with its striking surface into aura. The dragon has more than enough sheer destructive power to erase opponents while leaving their souls intact; Kirika's powerful strike causes them to disappear into light; the sheer power of the strike releases aura and energy capable of destroying anything it comes in contact with. Despite is ridiculous power, Return of the Gods: Orochi-Beheading Violent Sealing Hunger has earned the reputation of being one of the most predictable and avoidable "ultimate moves" due to its slow startup time and introduction sequence, which gives Kirika's opponents in range the chance to completely dodge the move. However, for this drawback, the sheer power that is granted is more than worth such a risk.

Ring Magic
Ring Magic (指輪魔法, Yubiwa Mahō): Ring Magic is a Holder-Type Magic that allows the caster to cast different Magics and spells with special rings. The rings are meant to enhance the wielder's Magic Power, granting them the ability to cast various spells for different purposes; some can be used for everyday use (generally speaking) or solely for combat. The properties in each ring are completely varied. In addition, while there are various types of Ring Magic that can be used, some are simply spells without a proper Magic for them to back it up. Like the other magic rings in the series, Kirika's rings are infused with magical stones, which possess powers that vary between the kind of the stones used in the crafting. The Magic Stones (魔宝石Mahōseki) are special gemstones with magical properties; they are one of the two essential components of the rings, the other component being the ring itself. Without a Magic Stone, the rings would be as useless as any other ring. Each ring projects a magic loop (環状/帯状魔法陣Kanjō/Taijō Mahōjin); which are part of the ring's powers; all different in colour and composition. They appear around the caster's arms in numerous spells or skills, which is used for strengthening and accelerating the magic charge. Depending on the amount of energy released, the circle may spin faster or slower. The circle is white with a glow depending on the caster's magic colour. Although this is uncommon, an individual who has mastered more than one magic system can manifest magic circles of different form, depending on the currently used system. For example, the summoners apparently only manifest their Squares when summoning extremely powerful creatures, and use regular Circles or Triangles otherwise. Unlike the other Ring Magic users in the Daybreak/Dawn series, Kirika has access to only two rings—the Change Ring, which enables Kirika to become the Super Galaxy King, and the Maximum Ring; this allows her to perform her finishing attack. While this would normally make it extremely limited, the sheer power of both rings are what makes Kirika one of the most powerful characters in Daybreak/Dawn.
 * Change Ring (チェンジ・リング, Chenji Ringu): The Change Ring is the very first Super Soul Ring to ever be forged. Unlike other Super Soul Rings, the Change Ring is forged from gold, not silver, and the magic stone embedded within the ring changes colours every few moments—it is an amalgamation of every single magic stone shown to exist in that time period. The Change Ring has tentacles that reach into Kirika's brain and is the hard wiring of the Super Soul Ring that allows Kirika to use the power of the Galaxy King.
 * Final Strike Ring (ファイナル・ストライク・リング, Fainaru Sutoraiku Ringu): The Final Strike Ring is Kirika's last resort—otherwise known as her finishing move; only capable of being used when in her Super Galaxy King form. The Final Strike Ring itself is textured golden and silver, with a purple magic stone engraved into the ring. When Kirika slips the Final Strike Ring onto her finger, it enables her to perform the finisher known as V Maximum Overdrive Attack (V・マキシマム・オーバードライブ・アタック, V Makishimamu Ōbādoraibu Atakku). When performing this attack, Kirika begins to overload her body, causing blue sparks to emit from her body and a chemical reaction which forms the aura, is triggered; Kirika jumps into the air as hope energy gathers at her feet before launching forward towards the foe, paralyzing the foe's legs as she gathers hope and magical energy upon her feet. However, this union of Yin and Yang would not last for long; shooting forward like a bullet as she forms a destructive energy field around her body that can burn through or penetrate any substance, and flies towards her target at four times her own, already high, acceleration, allowing her pierce through any substance in her way with a flying side kick, causing the energies to take upon their true form as crimson energy which burns through anything it touches, giving it immense penetration power; upon impacting upon the foe, the energy devours the vicinity like a wildfire upon their bodies—all of this, focused upon her legs. This attack focuses on piercing penetrating damage, and the drawback of this attack is that it cannot be sustained for extended periods of time, since its unfavorable performance cost has Kirika strain her body beyond its limits, and could potentially destroy Kirika herself. The V. Maximum Overdrive Attack is a reference to the 1985 anime Blue Comet SPT Layzner, whose protagonist possessed a nearly identical attack also named V-MAX.

Soul Armour
Soul Armours (神鎧 (ソウル・アーマー), Sōru Āmā lit. God Armour) are specialized armours worn by various powerful warriors known as Soul Armour Knights (神鎧纏最高戦士 (ソウル・アーマー・ナイト), Sōru Āmā Naito lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior); they are human or humanoid warriors who transforms from a natural human form using a Driver Belt into a superhuman form clad in the armour. The Knights secretly patrol their respective territories to protect civilians from demons. Armed with special magical equipment, the knights carry an eternal war to maintain the light over the darkness in the realm. When transforming into her Soul Armour, Kirika slips the Change Ring upon her finger, and scans the ring over the GingaOh Driver; causing the belt to expand around her waist like a deck of cards wrapping around. When the power of the Galaxy King is called by Kirika, its appearance causes a destructive burst that damages anything within a few feet of her body. While the transformation process takes under a second, a skilled opponent can use that chance to prevent Kirika from donning the armour and/or even rob her of her armour if they are capable enough; it would render Kirika limited in combat strength, as she leaves the projections, everything about her changes completely. In S1, her Soul Armour is the Super Galaxy King (超銀河王, Chō Ginga Ō) which is actually a corrupted version brought upon by Varian's fusion with Kirika; however, in the Ancient World arc, her Soul Armour undergoes an evolution to its true form; which is known as Soul Armour Knight Airgetlam (神鎧纏最高戦士 (ソウル・アーマー・ナイト) ・破婁 (アガートラーム), Sōru Āmā Naito Agātorāmu lit. God Armour Clad Supreme Warrior Tearing Bond).
 * Armour Purge (霰弾銃散 (アーマー・パージ), Āmā Pāji lit. Shotgun Scatter): Armour Purge is one of two actual Soul Armour spells; it was designed to allow the user to fire their Soul Armour as a buckshot, shooting it over a wide range after forcibly releasing it from their body. The ability also completely cancels the transformation. When initiating Armour Purge, the user focuses their fighting spirit, and instead of concentrating it at a single point like it is required to harness the other powers of their Soul Armours, the user focuses it into their fists, feet, and chest, burning brighter until that fighting spirit becomes impossible to control, causing the Soul Armour to forcibly disengage, portions of the armour flying in all directions similar to a scattershot or shrapnel. Since the Driver Canceller caused a forced drop in the user's link coefficient, not only does it lower the effectiveness of the Soul Armour's battle strength, but it also brings about damage to the user from the backfire created by an imbalance in their belt's Ardor output. Therefore, it is an effective weapon to utilize against knights. Although this is a technique that can only be used once, and is a gamble with high risk for the user, Kirika frequently uses it with little regard for the potential fallback which resulted in not only avoiding any damage she would have to endure from the backfire, but also instantly obliterating numerous opponents if they are in the vicinity. However, the use of this ability, naturally, removes the user's Soul Armour, making it a risky move if there are enemies still lurking around. Interestingly, even before it was officially named, Armour Purge was utilized in the climax of the Silver Flash arc when Kirika first unlocked Airgetlam, where she used it to shed the carapace of the Super Galaxy King armour to reveal Airgetlam's shining frame underneath. In addition, when Kirika is utilizing Airgetlam's Super Mode, she is capable of using Armour Purge to shed the bulky wings of Deadheat Airgetlam, allowing her to wield them hand-to-hand as blades.

Deen Lhant
Kirika's most unique interactions are with that of the Rune Knight known as Deen Lhant- indeed, they have a dynamic relationship that is almost universally agreed by the fans of Daybreak to be the most rewarding portions of Kirika's own story arcs. Their relationship got off to a rocky start in S1, where Kirika approached both Deen and her rival, Tsuruko Sejren after the latter had first activated the DTD Program in public, laying waste to Cancer and Gemini of the Zodiac Knights. Laughing at her "allies" defeats by a berserk Tsuruko, Kirika jokingly mentioned that she would date him if they weren't enemies because of how caring he was- ironically, later on as they interacted more, it became more ad more obvious that she meant it. After Kirika had achieved her goals of dividing herself from Tsuruko using the Philosopher's Stone and joined Tsuruko to fight against Amadam, Kirika unconsciously or not protected Deen from several of Amadam's magical blasts- she was taken out of the battle as Amadam had switched Deen's place with Excellen, causing Kirika to rush towards him and shield his body from the full blast of an Abyss Break. Even so, Deen didn't really understand Kirika's motives for doing so.

However, during the Nega End, Kirika was the first person to find Deen and gave him a place to stay- as the group had all been separated due to the force of the world-enveloping darkness that transformed Earth Land. When Kirika tried to kill Alexis, Deen tried to stop the two from fighting- and when a stray blast of Alexis' struck a roof and had Deen's arm broken; rather than fighting on like she expectedly would, Kirika immediately goes to Deen to protect him instead of finishing Alexis off. Even so, Deen was disgusted with her desire to kill, and the two had a fight- Kirika managed to momentarily render Deen speechless with her answer to "why are you so at ease with killing!?" -Kirika left after that. Despite this, after a talk with Giselle Mercury over whether or not power corrupts, as it had nearly done to Kirika, Deen decided to search for Kirika and help her reach the light. Finding her once more nearly about to kill Alexis after her fight with Alexis' Magitek Dragoon, with a gun pointed to Alexis' forehead, Deen was able to talk her down and showed her that she really wished to become normal, as Deen was able to walk up to her and slowly take the gun from her hands.

After this, Kirika and Deen's relationship improved immensely- as Deen reaching out to her and showing her that she was never alone, and he'd be there for her was what allowed Kirika to really fall in love with Deen, instead of jokingly flirting with him. Interestingly, Deen is perhaps the only person that Kirika will listen to more often than not; meaning that Deen serves a leash to Kirika's more violent impulses. Amusingly, she seems to really enjoy teasing Deen—and openly acts lovey-dovey with him, something that embarrasses him.

Designer's Notes
Kirika holds the role of "A strong rival"; something that wasn't in Rising Phoenix. However, if I just made her an enemy she would just be feared as the Big Bad yet one wouldn’t exactly call her a strong rival if she was just the Big Bad's underling either. Kirika was always designed as a warped person who invokes the fear of someone you can't empathize with/someone that can't empathize; and while the reveal of her true nature might throw people off, further revelations of her past will make you feel a bit sorry for her, but it won't excuse her actions; ironically, in that way, you may empathize with her. It requires courage to write a character holding contradictions, yet once I got over that I've decided that Kirika is one of my favourite characters.

The other thing I wanted to base Kirika on was "A Tsuruko that took a step down the wrong path". It stems from the fact that when you think about it, hope too extreme will become the antithesis, despair—mirroring the fact that in the end, the Soul Armour Knights and the Zodiac Knights are the same. Not only that, Kirika and Tsuruko are exact foils—Kirika is a symbiote with a Kaizorg trapped inside, while Tsuruko is a Kaizorg with a symbiote trapped inside. But they're also foils in another way. Tsuruko's symbiote, Star Phoenix ultimately became more heroic as the series progressed due to Tsuruko's own heroism. Kirika retained her humanity because she was already a monster to begin with. They're not just foils in what they are, but who they are.

Tsuruko and Kirika are both the exact opposites of each other yet still extremely alike. It's for the sake of conveying such a theme in a vivid manner, that she exists. The matter of both resembling in looks may also be an inevitability, if you conform under the idea that outward appearance would grow closer the more the ideology would match.

Quotes

 * "Ah, Tsuruko Sejren, you don't understand what it means to have a real world! What I am for...a world where every person in this nation will control their own destiny. A world of the truly free, dammit. A world of action, not words, ruled by strength, not committee! Where the law changes to suit the individual, not the other way around. Where power and justice are back where they belong: in the hands of the people! Where every person is free to think - to act - for themselves! Fuck all these limp-dick lawyers and chickenshit bureaucrats. Fuck this 24-hour MageNet spew of trivia and celebrity bullshit! Fuck Earth Land pride! Fuck the media! FUCK ALL OF IT! Earth Land is diseased. Rotten to the core. There's no saving it - we need to pull it out by the roots. Wipe the slate clean. BURN IT DOWN! And from the ashes a new world will be born. Evolved, but untamed! The weak will be purged and the strongest will thrive - free to live as they see fit, they'll make Earth Land great again! ...In my new Earth Land, people will die and kill for what they BELIEVE! Not for money. Not for oil! Not for what they're told is right. Every person will be free to fight their own wars!" -Kirika Hotsuin, to Tsuruko Sejren, Shining Victory, Daybreak

Trivia

 * Kirika's theme is Cannonball Hard Revenge from Mega Man Zero 4.
 * Kirika is described by the author to be like Kamen Rider Ouja from Kamen Rider Ryuuki; referring to her being the evil counterpart to the protagonist, her homicidal tendencies, her ability to rack up a large body count of supporting characters, as well as her dedication to her goals.
 * Each arc goes for six chapters. in the third arc, on the last chapter, Kirika is introduced. Her birthday is on Feb 6. If you think about it, three is half of six. So six plus six plus six. This is inhumanly subtle foreshadowing for her nature as Varian being sealed within her belt.
 * When in kanji, her name is spelt Kirika Hotsuin (峰津院・霧花, Misty Flowers of the Imperial Palace on the Peak overlooking the Tidal Wave).
 * Kirika's first transformation process into Soul Armour Knight Airgetlam (briefly assuming the Super Galaxy King form before disengaging it to unveil her true Soul Armour) is a reference to most the Cast Off sequence from Kamen Rider Kabuto, as well as Kamen Rider Gaim's transformation from Kachidoki Arms to Kiwami Arms.
 * Kirika's stats are: